Trashionista

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Jaishree Misra

Jaishree Misra is the author of Secrets and Lies, a novel about friendship and mystery that's due for release on 25th June. (And trust me, it's going to be one of this summer's most addictive reads!)

Please describe your latest book in 15 words or fewer.
‘Secrets & Lies’ is about four women who share a terrible secret from their schooldays. 

What inspired you to write ‘Secrets & Lies’?
My own girlfriends, and the realization that women are capable of going to great lengths in the name of friendship. It’s a sort of celebration of female friendship, really, but with a dark heart.

Where do you do most of your writing? 
Sounds decadent, but I do like writing in bed. Mostly because my bedroom’s got a cupola on the ceiling through which morning sunlight pours in on good days. Then, before the rays reach a certain part of the wall, I have to get up and go to work! The rest of the day’s writing is scrappy and unpredictable, depending on work, hubby, daughter, home, social stuff etc etc. A friend once described the pressures faced by women authors as ‘writing between two whistles of a pressure cooker’.  

What is your favourite chick-lit book?
I enjoyed ‘Ralph’s Party’ by Lisa Jewell and I like everything Marian Keyes says and does. Humour takes precedence over romance for me, I have to say.

Do you have a favourite heroine?
I remember identifying, for all kinds of curious reasons, with Fanny in Austen’s ‘Mansfield Park’ – this, when I was a teenager growing up in Delhi and 19th century England couldn’t have been further away! Much as I tried liking Elizabeth Bennett, Fanny always came across as nicer, possibly because she wasn’t setting her cap at the richest man in the neighborhood!

Are you working on anything new at the moment? 
I’m working on my next book for Avon Harper Collins - it’s a story about hooking up with old flames, exploring the thrills and spills that can follow.  

Do you have any tips for readers who want to become published authors?
Persevere, if you really believe in your writing and know how to enjoy it even for very little reward. Then, when the manuscript is complete to a high standard (making sure there are no grammatical errors) send it around to carefully chosen agents who have had success with the kind of book you have written. Don’t be disheartened by a few rejections. If it all seems to be taking an inordinate amount of time, use the delay to start writing your next book (I did say you’d have to enjoy writing enough!). If your work is any good, an agent will soon appear on your horizon who will be doubly delighted if you have two manuscripts to show, rather than one. The rest will fall into place pretty quick. Good luck!

Thanks, Jaishree!

To find out more, visit Jaishree’s website. Or to pre-order a copy of Secrets and Lies, head on over to Amazon.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Cathy Yardley

Recently I posted the news of Cathy Yardley's new novel, Turning Japanese, and was thrilled when Cathy agreed to an interview! Here, Cathy talks books, manga, and the 'hapa' experience...

Please describe your latest book in 15 words or fewer.
An artist travels to Tokyo to follow her dream.

The manga industry doesn't appear to be represented much in chick-lit. Was it difficult to convey this to readers who don't know much about manga?
It was a little difficult to describe to editors who weren't manga fans.  I'm hoping that readers who don't know manga will try some after this!

What inspired you to write a chick-lit book set in this industry?
Two things inspired this book. I have enjoyed manga and American comic books for years: I still have my original copies of AKIRA, and the graphic novel collections of Neil Gaiman's SANDMAN series (and God, that man can write!)  Then my brother was working at an anime house, on the business side of it, and I saw what it was like to be half-Asian working for an Asian company (and specifically a Japanese company, at that.)  I'm Vietnamese-Irish-American, and I wanted to be able to capture the "hapa" (half-Asian) experience.

Where do you do most of your writing?
At home, when my son's asleep.  But I try to sneak off and write in libraries or bookstores when I get the chance and have childcare!

What is your favourite chick-lit book?
I can never pick just one!  I always loved Caren Lissner's voice in CARRIE PILBY.  I've been reading a lot of paranormal lately, and I love the Chick Lit feel of Mary Janice Davidson's UNDEAD series (UNDEAD AND UNWED, UNDEAD AND UNEMPLOYED, etc.)

And what's your favourite manga? (Come on, I had to ask!) 
AKIRA is my all-time favorite (I'm geekishly thrilled to see a live action coming out with Leonardo DiCaprio in it!) but I have a soft spot in my heart for THE WALLFLOWER series. It's very "My Fair Lady" in the most strange, Japanese, manga-way possible.

Do you have a favourite heroine?
Too many to name! :)

Are you working on anything new at the moment? (And if so, can you tell us?) 
I'm finishing up a trilogy for Harlequin Blaze, and I've got two more projects in the work that are more hush-hush: one paranormal, one YA.  Fingers crossed!

Do you have any tips for our readers who want to become published authors?
Get into a critique group: meet with other writers who are actively writing, at least once a week if you can, but no less than every two weeks.  The accountability and support will help you finish your projects and help you weather the inevitable rough spots.

Thanks, Cathy!

To read more about Cathy and her books, visit her website.

HOLLY'S INBOX: Interview!

Remember Holly's Inbox? It all started with an addictive online email account, and later released as an equally unputdownable novel. The sequel, Scandal in the City, hit the shelves last year, and people like me didn't eat or move for a day until they'd finished it. Holly's Inbox is now due to hit the States with a brand new cover and website. Author Bill Hutton-Surie (yes, Holly Denham's really a man!) talked to us about writing, life, and being Holly...

Hi Holly! Well, Bill. Introduce yourself.
Hi Elle, Thank you so much for having me on your brilliant site, I’m Bill Hutton-Surie and I write women’s fiction – as a woman

Why did you decide to write a chick-lit book?
I didn’t actually. It was initially just a way of getting more candidates to register for our recruitment agency. It’s a specialist agency for reception staff...so I thought if I wrote something where the main character was a receptionist it might interest them more. It started only as a website.

Read more from Bill after the cut...

As Holly fans know, the books are about a receptionist, told in email format. Where did you get the idea for Holly's Inbox?
The idea for the site came when we had to search through a previous ex-employees work email account. The woman in question was single, extremely flirtatious and had always loved us to bits. We discovered she was married with four children, and couldn’t stand the sight of us. The life she was leading was so full of mystery, intrigue, romance (and many many lies) that it made me wonder what it would be like to read a story told in this way.

Was it hard writing the book in email form?
I’d like to say yes, but no. I think speech is the easiest part for me, description gives me nightmares and I admire how writers manage so well. I can hear voices though – my wife who’s just come in and read this - is saying; it would be nice if I could hear HER voice then occasionally (she gets very annoyed with me drifting off all the time to Holly’s friends but I guess this kind of thing happens a lot with writers and their partners) (oh apparently it doesn’t; it’s just me, because I’m ignorant and stupid) (It’s ok she doesn’t mean it) (oh yes apparently she does) (I don’t think you need to hear this anymore so I’m going to stop typing)

What is it like, writing as a woman? Has anything funny happened to you?
I continued to run the agency whilst writing Holly’s Inbox but became less and less aware of my surroundings, immersing myself in the characters often giggling and occasionally crying in the process. My wife’s favourite story was when she had been interviewing a candidate while just across office I sobbed uncontrollably. The worried candidate had asked her if everything was ok and she had laughed and said I was only crying because I’d finally discovered she was having an affair, then continued with the interview.

And have you done any book signings? Hehe.
I remember once I organised a Teddy Bears’ picnic for Holly fans as I wanted to go along and thank them and we were going to have such a laugh in Hyde park on a sunny afternoon, until my wife pointed out that I was Bill – not Holly – and how on earth was I going to go along? I hadn’t thought it through what so ever. So I cancelled it. Shame, but I think less scary than seeing me as Holly – oh sick, nasty image in my head aaaagh get out.

What do your friends and family think of your chick-lit writing career? Did you have to keep it a secret for long?
Not really – when I left school I told my Dad I was going to be a writer – and he’d told me to grow up and get a proper job – otherwise I’d have nothing to write about.

I didn’t listen of course and for a long time tried to get something published, failed miserably. I listened to him in the end and got into recruitment for reception staff – and the writing came from that. Annoying isn’t it when your parents turn out to be right. But thanks Dad.

Have you had anything published under your own name?
Not a word, nothing. Been trying for years.

Are you working on anything new at the moment? And if so, can you tell us?
I’m writing something – can’t say much about it yet, but it will of course be a comedy romance, as I love that kind of feel good thing.

Thanks, Bill!

You can find out more about the book at Holly's website.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Elizabeth Leiknes

Elizabeth Leiknes is author of the fabulous The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns (trust me, it's a must read!) Trashionista asked her some questions on life, writing and of course, the intriguing Lucy...

Please describe your latest book in 15 words or fewer.
A good, but flawed woman commits hideous (yet justified) acts, and then finds redemption.

Where did you get the inspiration for Lucy Burns?
In graduate school I wrote a short story titled “The Furnace” in which a woman named Lucy Burns works as a Faustian henchwoman who escorts very bad people to her basement furnace and, ultimately, their death. My husband actually had a key role in helping create the story’s premise. But when I decided to expand the story into a full-length novel, I wanted Lucy to have a solid reason, one routed in goodness, for doing what she does, so I developed her back story and tempered it all with a healthy dose of Midwestern guilt.

Click over the cut to read more from Elizabeth,,,

 

What is your favourite chick-lit book?
My all-time favorite chick-lit book is a collection of short stories by Julia Slavin titled The Woman Who Cut Off Her Leg at the Maidstone Club and Other Stories. It is smart, surreal, and simultaneously sad and hilarious. I consider it chick-lit because every woman will see herself somewhere in these stories, and either laugh or cringe at what she sees.

Where do you do most of your writing?
In my dreams and fantasies, I do most of my writing from an amazing, gothic-looking desk in front of a giant picture window, which overlooks a serene pond. All of this, of course, takes place in a forest with no distractions except for chirping birds and the occasional whistling of a teapot. In reality (because I am a full-time teacher and mother of two small boys) I write wherever I can, in short, frenetic chunks of time in-between lots of questions like “May I have more juice, Mama?” and “Could the Hulk beat up Superman?” In fact, in the middle of writing this response, I was summoned to the backyard to start the sprinklers for wet and wild merriment. Now, what was I saying?

Do you have a favourite female heroine?
Strangely, it would be a tie between Dorothy Gale and Elizabeth Bennet.

Are you working on anything new at the moment (and if so, can you tell us?)
Since Lucy, I’ve completed two other novels. Black-Eyed Susan is about a woman who finds out she has three months to live, and the journey she finds she must take. The Understory is about six broken characters who become serendipitously intertwined. Currently, I’m working on a fourth novel that is too early to talk about because I’m horribly superstitious.
 
Do you have any tips for our readers who want to become published authors?
Don’t listen to what I call the Anti-Muse—that mean-spirited voice in your head (and sometimes from real people!) that reminds you what a silly, often self-indulgent practice novel-writing is. Of course, that assertion is probably right, but you must believe in your work and the story you have to tell, or no one else will.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Alison Gaylin

Alison Gaylin's first novel, Hide Your Eyes, was released in 2005. Here Alison talks heroines, writing, and her latest book, You Kill Me...

Please describe your latest book in 15 words or fewer.
In the sequel to HIDE YOUR EYES, Samantha learns that love hurts -- and sometimes kills.

What is your favourite chick-lit book?
Of all time? I'd have to say Pride and Prejudice. I first read it in high school, and Mr. Darcy still makes me swoon.

Where do you like to write your books?
Ideally? Paris. But practically speaking, I'd have to say in my home office, after my daughter is either at school or asleep.

Do you have a favourite female heroine?
I have many. Elizabeth Bennet, Jo from Little Women, Mildred Pierce... I could go on and on.

Are you working on anything new at the moment? (And if so, can you tell us?)
Yes! Here in the States, I've recently signed a three-book deal with Harper for a new suspense series. The heroine is a missing persons investigator who suffers from a very unusual mental syndrome -- and I'm having a great time writing the first book!

Do you have any tips for readers who want to become published authors?
Don't give up trying -- but also don't give up writing. If you get a lot of rejections, go back to your manuscript and see how you can improve it. The first version of HIDE YOUR EYES was completely different from the one that wound up getting an agent and a publisher. That's the great thing about manuscripts -- you can rework, rewrite, improve.

For more info about Alison and her books, check out her website.

Interview with Monday Books

So, I've yet to read Catherine Sanderson's Petite Anglaise. Many a trip to Waterstones has resulted in me exiting empty-handed due to self-restraint reasons and a 'to be read' pile that rivals Everest. But I'm a sucker for the blog-to-book offerings and so it's only a matter of time before Catherine's French tale is in my hands.

Since blogging took off (rather a long time ago, now!), many popular bloggers have been offered book deals, with loads more aspiring writers hoping their daily web diaries will land them with similar luck. I got hold of Dan Collins of Monday Books, publishers of many a blog-based novel including Diary of an On-Call Girl, to ask just what perks a publisher's interest...

Hi, Dan! How many blogs has Monday Books put to print so far?

In order of appearance:

http://frankchalk.blogspot.com/ (It's Your Time You're Wasting)
http://coppersblog.blogspot.com/ (Wasting Police Time)
http://pcbloggs.blogspot.com/ (Diary of an On Call Girl)
http://theparamedicsdiary.blogspot.com/ (A Paramedic's Diary)
http://inspectorgadget.wordpress.com/ (Perverting The Course Of Justice)

Did you approach these writers?

Yes. We do get lots of approaches to us, too, but it just happens that these were all the other way.

Click over the cut to read more from Dan...

When did Monday Books start up?

Our first book appeared in August 2006. Prior to that I had been a journalist and then a sports agent (representing most of the England rugby team which won the 2003 Rugby World Cup). During my time as a sports agent, I ghost-wrote several rugby autobiographies, including that of the England captain (and now manager) Martin Johnson. After the RWC victory, we were approached to sell the business and after we did that in 2005 I had to think about what I would do next. A good friend of mine from my journalism days, Pete Walsh, runs Milo Books near Blackpool, and with some advice from him and my experience of the rugby books I decided to go into publishing full time.
 
So are you the only ones who know the true identity of EE Bloggs?

I think her parents and boyfriend know who she is, plus her sister and one close friend. And my wife.
 
Do you get many submissions from hopeful bloggers?

We get a few but although we have published a number of blog books we don't just do blog books. I'd say we get up to a dozen approaches a month.

If so, tell us some of the best (or weirdest. Your call...)

As someone who has had his own submissions rejected (back when I was a journalist), I know how painful it can be so wouldn't like to talk about those we have rejected.
Except to say that a rejection is often not a comment on the writing, in our case it has more to do with a) my subjective view as to whether I think a book will sell (and like all publishers, even major ones, I am sure I am often wrong) and b) timing, ie when the submission comes in in our business cycle.
Right now, with the recession underway and a lot of books stacked up like planes above an airport, we are rejecting pretty much everything and anything. In 12 months' time, we might suddenly be short of decent material. (Though this may well be more a function of us being a small and still relatively new and inexperienced publisher, than a situation you'd find across the board.) What I'm trying to say in a round about way is people shouldn't be disappointed if they are rejected - try, try and try again.

What do you look for when considering a blog for publication?

In this order:

Non-fiction - fiction is way too hard to get right for us.
Subject matter - is it something we believe in or find interesting? When we published Wasting Police Time, no-one had really talked about the effect of targets and bureaucracy on policing. Copperfield made it funny, revelatory and interesting. Conversely, there are lots of very interesting and well-written blogs which just wouldn't interest us (but would certainly interest other publishers).
Originality - if someone else has said it all, it's less likely that you will get interest from a publisher.
Readership - Copperfield at his height was getting 5,000 readers a day, and 100+ comments. That is a massive indication of interest and potential buyers.
Writing - it helps, obviously, if a blogger can write (though it's not essential if they don't mind being edited).
Not all can, and not all who can can write a book (there's a lot of difference, in terms of scale, scope and structure, between blogging 300 words every few days and writing a 100,000 word book which hangs together and reads coherently.)
Anonymity - is the blogger prepared at some point to reveal their ID, or risk it being revealed? Frank Chalk would never reveal his ID, even to journalists in confidence to prove his bona fides as a teacher (ie not just someone who was making it all up). We were offered a doube page spread in the Sunday Telegraph, for instance, and interviews on Simon Mayo and Newsnight. But he wouldn't do any of it because he didn't want his identity at risk. The same is true of Inspector Gadget - this week alone we have turned down the PM programme and You and Yours (both Radio 4). This obviously means less PR and therefore fewer sales.
Copperfield and Bloggs took the opposite approach - Copperfield did absolutely everything, at great risk to his job, from Newsnight, GMTV, local TV news down to national and local newspapers. As a result, we have sold not far off 100,000 copies of his book.
Stuart Gray - the Paramedic - blogs and writes under his real name, so less of an issue.
Personality - assuming you get the publicity, will the blogger be credible, articulate, amusing etc on radio or TV or in print.

Any tips for hopeful bloggers?

Don't write a blog desperate to see it published. Write it for fun, in the knowledge that if something comes of it that's great but if it doesn't that's not the end of the world. Life is a long game, which I think a lot of people forget these days.

Do you have any other upcoming projects?

A few non-blog books, one or two blogs we're interested in. Blogs are not our main focus - they just happened to come along at once at the start of the business, probably because we needed material and I had time to look around for it. The rights to WPC Bloggs' book have been bought by John Hannah's production company and we're hoping to see that as a BBC2 comedy next year. (Hoping being the operative word.) She's also working on a follow-up for us, which I will try not to ruin with the wrong cover and title as I did the first!

Thanks, Dan!

To see more from Monday Books, check out the website.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Julie Cohen

I told you I had a few author interviews up my sleeve didn't I? Well today I'm delighted to say Julie Cohen, fab author of Little Black Dress books One Night Stand and Honey Trap (I adored both of them), is our interviewee. Her latest release, Girl From Mars, is out in June.

Please describe your latest book in 15 words or fewer:

A female comic book artist takes a vow (in Klingon) not to get a boyfriend. 

Where do you like to write your books (in bed, a coffee shop, an office)?

My lovely iMac is set up on the dining room table of our tiny two-up, two-down Victorian terraced house.  I write most of my books right there, in the scant hours when my toddler isn’t racing his cars around me.  If I get stuck, I move to writing in a notebook, and I try to go somewhere else in the house.  When I’m very lucky, I get to go to a coffee shop to write for an hour or two.  I have a great Brazilian café near me which is lovely and airy to work in. 

Your favourite chick-lit book?

I’m a huge fan of everything Marian Keyes has written, but my absolute favourite has to be Rachel's Holiday.  I can read that book over and over.  I think it’s so brilliant that though Rachel the heroine is seriously flawed, Keyes totally makes us care and shows us her heroine’s journey from self-deceiving addict to honest, loving woman.  Reading that book years ago really opened my eyes to intelligent, emotional chick-lit.

Your favourite female heroine (if different from above!), and why?

I really do love flawed heroines, so my favourite all-time heroine is probably Jane Austen’s Emma Woodhouse.  She’s insufferably smug, spoilt and naïve and yet you like her so much, even as you’re laughing at her.  And when she does realise her faults, it’s genuine and touching.

What tips would you give to any of our readers who want to become writers?

The most important thing is to read a lot and to write a lot.  Don’t wait for inspiration; use the time you’ve got and write your heart out.  Then write some more.  You don’t have to get it right the first time, because you can revise and edit later.  The more you write, the more you learn.

What are you reading at the moment?

Getting Rid Of Matthew by Jane Fallon.  I started it yesterday and I’m about halfway through.  The heroine, Helen, is another flawed woman who’s made a lot of bad choices and I’m looking forward to seeing how she gets out of the mess she’s made.

What are you working on now? (If you can give us a hint!)

I’ve got two more Little Black Dress novels to come (Girl From Mars, and Nina Jones and the Temple of Gloom) and after that, I’ve got a mainstream commercial women’s fiction novel coming out with Headline Review, in 2010.  I’m working on that now.  It doesn’t have a title yet, but it’s about a failed actress who takes over her identical twin sister’s life when her sister disappears.  It involves ice cream, soap operas and a transvestite sheep.

What question have you never been asked in an interview, but think you should have been? (Tell us the question and answer it too, if you like!)

 

Q: Superman or Batman?

A: Totally Batman.  Okay, Superman has amazing alien powers and you have to admit that Clark Kent is really, really hot, especially with those glasses, but Batman rids Gotham of evil with nothing more than a skin-tight costume, a kick-ass car and a near-pathological obsession with avenging his parents’ deaths.  Plus midnight blue is way sexier than bright blue.

 

Thanks, Julie!

 

For more check out her website.

 

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Rowan Coleman

I've got one or two author interviews up my sleeve and I'm delighted to say that Rowan Coleman is the subject of today's. Rowan is an author I have admired for some time. Not only does she write successful books such as The Baby Group and The Accidental Wife, but she also writes the Ruby Parker series of books for girls.

Hi Rowan, welcome back to Trashionista! Tell us about your latest book, The Accidental Family.

The Accidental Family is a follow up novel to The Accidental Mother. It picks up the story of Sophie, Louis, Bella and Izzy about six months after Sophie gives up her whole life to go and join Louis and his daughters in Cornwall. It explores their developing romance and what happens when reality comes crashing in to complicate things.

Had you always planned to write a sequel to The Accidental Mother?

I never planned to write a sequel to any of my novels! It's not something that would normally appeal to me. I have a head so full of ideas that it seems a bit mad to go back to an old one. But readers from all over the world kept asking me what happened next to Sophie and Louis and after a while I started to think about it and I found that the characters kept telling me their story and they wouldn't shut up! So in the end I relented and gave into them. I think it works as a stand alone book too, but I'm glad to be able to give the readers what they've been asking for.

Did you find it easier writing a sequel?

It was fun to be back with characters that I am so fond of again, but if anything writing a sequel is harder - you have to keep the same narrative pitch and make sure that the characters ring true and keep faith with the original. I wrote The Accidental Mother about four years ago now, so that was tricky!

What is coming next from Rowan Coleman (if you can tell us)?

I can't tell you the title because it's so brilliant I don't want anyone to steal it - it hasn't got 'accidental' in it though!! And I find it really hard to talk about a book while I'm writing it, suffice to say I am really enjoying working on it, possibly more than I've enjoyed any of my other books and I hope it will be a fun, romantic, compelling read!

Thanks, Rowan!

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Cally Taylor

Now I know I use the phrase "I'm so excited..." quite a lot here on Trashionista. In my defence it is with good reason as I do get incredibly excited about good books. However, today, with this post, I have something that I think is extra special. An interview with newly signed author Cally Taylor. And it isn't because I know her (as I do, just a little bit) but because I think she has a fantastic career ahead of her as a writer. Her book, Haunting For Beginners, is out in October this year and this is her first ever interview.

Please describe your book in 15 words or fewer:

Lucy is dead and desperately trying to be reunited with the man she loves.

How were you ‘discovered’?

I bought a copy of the Writers and Artists Yearbook and wrote a list of all the agents who accepted chick-lit and women's fiction. The first one on my list was Darley Anderson (I really liked his name. I also thought he was a woman!) so I sent him my synopsis and first three chapters. That was on a Friday morning. The next Monday afternoon he rang me up and asked me for the whole manuscript. I was so excited I thought I might pass out but managed to get myself together enough to print it off, read it through (again) for typos and send it off. Six weeks later he rang me back. He liked it and it had a lot of potential, he said, but it needed some more work. I was absolutely gutted (I’d convinced myself that he'd send me a letter if he hated it and only ring if he wanted to sign me!) but, after a couple of weeks of sulking, I started to make the changes he’d requested and sent it back five months after his second phone call. Three months after that I received a phone call from Madeleine Buston. She told me that Darley had given her my revised manuscript to read on the train to Scotland and that she’d fallen in love with it. We talked about the book and her plans for it for a while and then I (tentatively) asked, “So are you my agent then?” and she said yes!

Have you always been a writer?

Yes, I guess so. As child I loved writing stories and making up plays and sent my first ‘book’ (an ‘illustrated’ story about The Evil Weed and his flower friends) to Penguin Publishers when I was eight. I even bound it myself – in pink wool! It was rejected, of course, but I wasn’t deterred.

Where do you like to write your books (in bed, a coffee shop, an office)?

Before I start writing my books I scribble down lots of notes in the notebooks that I carry around with me everywhere. Ideas for characters and plot developments pop into my head while I’m on the train, walking to town and even in the pub and I always have to stop to write them down otherwise they’re lost forever. When I actually start writing a book I type straight onto the laptop which is on my very messy desk in my tiny, cluttered bedroom.

Your favourite chick-lit book?

Tough one! It’s a toss-up between Ralph’s Party by Lisa Jewell and Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner. Those were the first two chick-lit books I ever read and they opened up a whole new world of literature to me. I realised that yes, you could write books about modern women with flaws and dreams and complicated love lives, and that other women wanted to read about them too.

Your favourite female heroine (if different from above!), and why?

My favourite female heroine ever or my favourite chick-lit heroine? My favourite female heroine ever would have to be Offred in The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. My favourite female chick-lit heroine is Cannie in Jennifer Weiner’s Good in Bed.

What tips would you give to any of our readers who want to become writers?

Read a lot, write a lot, get your novel critiqued by people you aren’t related to or friends with, and then polish it until it gleams before sending it out to agents.

Develop a thick skin. Criticism and rejection sting like hell but you have to learn from them, bounce back and keep writing.

One more thing - put your novel to one side for at least 3 weeks before you start editing it and then read it aloud – it will sound very different to the way it did in your head when you wrote it, and you’ll find it easier to spot the mistakes.

What are you reading at the moment?

I’m reading Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen. I think it was a Trashionista review that made me buy it in the first place and I’m loving it. I’ve only just started it and it’s already wonderfully magical and compelling.

What are you working on now? (If you can give us a hint!)

I’m working on my second book, currently titled “Dead Romantic”. It’s about two single people in Brighton and what happens when a couple of hapless guardian angels are tasked with making them happy.

What question have you never been asked in an interview, but think you should have been? (Tell us the question and answer it too, if you like!)

If you died how long would you want your partner to wait before he moved on?

Well I’d probably tell him that two years would be just about acceptable but secretly I’d want him to mourn me forever and never love anyone as much as he’d loved me!

Thanks, Cally!

To find out more visit her website at www.callytaylor.co.uk

The following is the blurb for Haunting For Beginners,

'"What would I do without you, Lucy Brown?" he said, and kissed me softly. I held his face in my hands and kissed him back. I felt that life just couldn't get any more perfect. And I was right, it wouldn't. By the end of the next day, I'd be dead. Lucy is about to marry the man of her dreams - kind, handsome, funny Dan - when she breaks her neck the night before their wedding. Unable to accept a lifetime's separation from her soulmate, Lucy decides to become a ghost rather than go to heaven and be parted from Dan. But it turns out things aren't quite as easy as that. When Lucy discovers that Limbo is a grotty student-style house in North London she's less than thrilled. Especially after meeting her new flatmates: grumpy, cider-swilling EMO-kid Claire; and Brian, a train-spotter with a Thomas the Tank Engine duvet and a big BO problem. But Lucy has a more major problem on her hands - if she wants to become a ghost and be with Dan she has to complete an almost impossible task. How the hell does a girl like Lucy find a girlfriend for the dorkiest man in England? IT geek Archie's only passions are multi-player computer games and his Grandma. But Lucy only has twenty-one days to find him love. And when she discovers that her so-called friend Anna is determined to make a move on the heart-broken, vulnerable Dan, the pressure is really on ...

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Alison Kervin

We loved The WAG's Diary and interviewed author Alison Kervin back in 2007. After reading the news of her upcoming novel Celebrity Bride, I wanted to ask her some more questions!

How long have you been writing novels and biographies?

I wrote my first book in 1997, but I was working as a journalist prior to that (I went into journalism straight after graduating) so I've always written in one form or another. I've just finished my ninth book (three novels, the rest non-fiction). I'm much happier writing fiction rather than non-fiction now because you can just make it all up. If you make it all up in journalism, you get into a hell of a lot of trouble!

Tell us what your latest book is about.

It's a romantic comedy. A modern Cinderella story about a beautiful but lowly girl (Kelly Monsoon) who meets the richest and most successful actor on te planet (Rufus George) and they fall in love. It's all wonderful, but then she discovers that life in his celebrity world is not all roses and champagne. There's murder, intrigue, devastation, joy and delight as the couple struggle to make their unusual relationship work in the spotlight. Very funny but moving, touching and shocking at times!

Where do you write your books?

All over the place. On trains, in bed, in the garden, at the Hampton Court Palace Rose Garden - the Rose Garden even features in my latest book because I spent so much time writing there...I used to chat to te gardener as he pruned the roses, and he even found his way into the book! (Tip...if you see me, don't come and talk to me, because you probably will end up in a novel somewhere. My poor friend Charlie is scared to tell me anything any more for fear that one of my characters will be doing it in the next book).

What is your favourite chick-lit book?

Horrible question...ahhh...what's chick-lit? What counts as a chick-lit book? I'll say anything by Marian Keyes though is she chick-lit? She writes beautiful, funny books with real heart and compassion. I loved the interplay between the most serious subjects and the lighter/frothier elements of her books. She pulls it off so well that it seems easy but it's really not. It's something I've done in Celebrity Bride - I've got a heroine who lived in a fun flat in Twickenham with her two mates and all their dating stories and silly tales are told, making for very humorous reading, but then there's a huge swing in the book half way through when something deeply shocking happens. I wanted to contrast the two moods within the book and have people genuinely surprised by the turn of events. This is something that I think Marian does very well.

What other writers inspire you?

This isn't the sort of question you can give a one-word answer to, so here's a selection. Graham Greene is a genius (read the first few pages of End of The Affair and look at the beauty of the language, the rhythms and simplicity of the images he creates). I’m slightly obsessed with GK Chesterton at the moment (more his journalism than his fiction). Margaret Attwood is blindingly good. I also enjoy Vikram Seth, mainly because of his impossibly clever book The Golden Gate – written in rhyme, it's funny and original and just plain showing-off. I love J.M. Coetzee and am reading a book by Bryan Magee at the moment called Wagner and Philosophy – it is stunning, a shining example of how to take a vastly complicated subject and make it human, colourful, fascinating and alive. Whether you're interested in philosophy, interested in Wagner, or interested in neither, it's a great book by a very natural writer.

Are you working on anything else at the moment?

Yes…I’ve started the next novel…it’s a big book (twice the size of my usual novel) – a dramatic tale about three very different women leading very different lives but all bound by one terrifying secret...

Do you have any advice for our readers who wish to become published authors?

It’s very hard to give sensible advice because writing’s such a personal thing. My little boy, George, comes home from school and says ‘mummy, what did the people in your head do today?’ and if you think about it – writing is an obscure way to make a living…transferring the images, thoughts, characters and situations that exist entirely in your mind, onto paper, in the hope that people will want to read about them! Since everyone’s mind is different, I guess there are always going to be different ways of doing that.

But, for what it’s worth, I think you’ve just got to sit down and do it…try and write something every day. If you write just one page a day you’ll have a book written this time next year. Make sure you read a lot too; it’s vitally important to read everything you can get your hands on. Every time you read and write you learn, so do it whenever you can.

When it comes to the actual writing, I think the key to making fiction work is to have strong, compelling characters; they drive everything. If your characters are right, you can take the book anywhere, without good characters you’re very limited. I spend most of my time before writing novels working out exactly what sort of people my characters will be. I have big sheets of paper on the wall at home with outlines of what the characters look like, where they work, what their parents do for a living, when they were born, and I’ve got pictures cut from magazines illustrating what they look like, and floor-plan sketches of their homes. As I said, all writers work differently, but for me it begins and ends with characterisation above all else.

Finally, the piece of advice frequently given to novelists is "show, don't tell". This is vitally important and distinguishes good fiction from bad fiction in so many ways. It applies to non-fiction too, and to journalism. If there's a way of getting your point across using an illustration rather than a statement, always do it. It's the little vignettes that stay in people's minds when they put a book/newspaper down. Don’t say ‘he’s brave’ – show him being brave. Don’t say ‘he was tall’ show him ducking under a door to illustrate how tall he is. It always works much better. Good luck!

Thanks, Alison!