What is the key to writing a good romance novel?
Good question and I think the answer is the same as it would be if you asked: what is the key to writing a good novel…? The answer must be absolute commitment to get the material down onto the page in a way which is truthful, resonant and as gripping as you can make it. That includes the love story and the emotional roller coaster of it, the thriller, the war drama and delicious social comedy. I would like to point out that these aims sound very simple and easy to achieve … but, in my experience, they are anything but.
Do you have a favourite book that you have written?
No, they are all my children… having said that some were easier to produce than others. Revenge of the Middle Aged Woman tripped off the pen. So did Daughters and I Can’t Begin to Tell You
What is your writing routine?
Breakfast with newspaper (and cats). I cannot go without any of those. Then, out for power walk around Clapham Common (can’t go without that either). I usually settle into the office about 9.30 where I write until lunch time and then again through the afternoon. If I am on the final stages of a book, I will be work until quite late.
How do you come up with your ideas?
I wish I could tell you. I just pick up something – from a book, the paper, a conversation and, suddenly, I seem to have a subject. But I have to wait for that coup de foudre to happen. It is useless to try and force yourself to write about a subject with which you haven’t fallen in love.
Do you ever get writers block?
Yes. The trick is to do something deeply boring – such as the ironing. Exercise is another way of letting the brain solve a problem without you being aware of it consciously. Also… ahem… I find a little light retail therapy works as well.
How long does it take you to write a book?
Anything from about eighteen months to two years
Advice for wannabe writers?
Do it. Don’t talk about it. Don’t dream about it. Don’t put it off.
Do it. Try and isolate a part of the day in which you function best (are you a night owl or a lark?) and set yourself a realistic target a day. Half a page. A page. It is amazing how it grows and observing it grow encourages you onward.
Best piece of advice you have ever been given?
Was it Bernard Shaw who said: ‘If you fail, pick yourself up and fail again better’. (I am sure someone will know the quotation).
Favourite authors/books?
Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Ian McEwan’s Atonement, Anne Tyler’s Breathing Lessons Richard Holmes’ Footsteps, Kingsley Amis’ Lucky Jim, William Boyd’s Any Human Heart and Robert Harris’ Enigma. I have many more.
You are a judge for the Costa awards. Is it hard choosing a winner?
Extremely.
You review for The Sunday Times, how do you write a good book review?
Reviewing is a different animal from judging. It acts as a form of introduction to the reader. In effect you, the reviewer are saying: this is the book, this is what it is, this is how well I think it works and, now, it is up to you. If you can relay over the flavour and substance, offer acute reflection and perceive it fairly you are doing a good job. You are not really there to entertain. Having said that, reviewers who write brilliantly deservedly have a following.
What’s next for you?
I am writing the next novel, Aftermath, which is set in South London just after the Second World War. In it, I will have a fractured family who show how difficult it was to pick up the pieces having experienced violence, disruption and hatred of an enemy. There is also a death. Is it suspicious or not?
Elizabeth Buchan’s latest novel, I Can’t Begin to Tell You