The Girl On Paper
Can you tell our readers about your current novel the Girl on Paper?
My new novel is part romantic comedy, part thriller, part road movie and part meditation on literature. Tom Boyd, a well-known author, is suffering from writer’s block, incapable of starting a single line despite having always lived for his writing. One night, a girl called Billy lands on his balcony like an angel from above. She turns out to be a character from Tom’s novels. For the writer and his “creature”, this is the start of an extraordinary adventure.
It is a very unusual concept. Where did the inspiration for the novel come from?
For a long time, I had been wanting to write a behind-the-scenes account of the life of a successful author. On top of that, I was keen to write another story based around an unlikely encounter. I truly believe that one chance encounter can change the course of a person’s life. Even, or perhaps above all, when two opposing temperaments collide, and two people who, at first glance, have nothing in common, end up needing one another desperately.
A lot of your ideas for characters arose from your time in New York. Where did the inspiration come from for the characters of Tom and Billie?
I must have been 13 or 14 when I first saw the Woody Allen film, The Purple Rose of Cairo, in which an actor “breaks out” of a movie to liven up a waitress’s dull existence.
What projects do you have lined up for the future?
After The Girl on Paper, I wrote two romantic, Hitchcock-inspired thrillers, The Angel’s Call and Seven Years Later, which I hope will come out in the UK soon. I’m currently working on a supernatural thriller.
What advice can you give to aspiring writers?
Try to find your own style. Don’t try to copy anyone else’s. Aim to be original. Success comes partly down to chance, partly to hard work and partly to talent. By talent, I mean discovering what makes you stand out from the crowd. Jean Cocteau said: “Nurture the things you are criticised for: they’re what make you, you”, and I think he was right.
The novel Wuthering Heights inspired you to write, what else do you like to read to give you new ideas?
I tend to like specific books rather than authors. Of the classics, my favourites are Belle du Seigneur by Albert Cohen and The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Kundera. From contemporary writers, The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro, Atonement by Ian McEwan, The Human Stain by Philip Roth and Bag of Bones by Stephen King, who has a remarkable ability to create a sense of unease in the most everyday situations.
What are your favourite and least favourite things about writing?
Being a writer means digging deep inside yourself to find words that express emotions beyond your own experience and strike a more universal chord. This can be both exciting and challenging, but that’s exactly what makes this strange “career” so stimulating.
How did you feel when your novel was adapted for the big screen?
I’m often approached by directors and producers interested in making film adaptations of my novels, but I won’t give up the rights unless there’s a genuine artistic project on the table.
Of course, a film cannot simply be the book “in pictures”, but I expect a director to stay true to the spirit of my story.
That’s why, when the offers came in for my first book, I turned down all the proposals to move the action from Manhattan to Paris, as well as those intent on sticking on a Hollywood happy ending which would have watered down the whole story.
Do you feel your background in teaching helped you to write you novels?
In some ways, yes. As a teacher, I tried to construct my lessons like detective stories, to keep my students interested!
Female First Lucy Walton