I was inspired to write by Enid Blyton's Magic Faraway Tree books. When I was a child, I read and reread those books well past my bedtime - even by the light of the street lamp outside my window after lights out! They fuelled my imagination - I loved the way she created whole new worlds, and I wanted to be able to do that for myself.
Helen Pollard
I work really hard on characters and dialogue. You can have the best plot in the world, but if your characters aren't believable and the dialogue sounds stilted, it just won't work. When my characters start to take over and write their own story, that's when I know the book is on its way.
I'm a compulsive edit-and-polisher - I tweak and tweak until I feel that my work is the best it can be. I struggle to step away from the keyboard and leave the poor thing alone.
As a world-class cynic, I was surprised to find such a strong romantic streak coming out in my writing. My rebellious teenage self would be rolling her eyes in embarrassment, but I guess there's nothing wrong with softening a little with age.
I wouldn't have the courage to write about a place I'd never visited. I know it's possible to research everywhere on the internet nowadays, but I like my stories to be as realistic as they can be, so if I hadn't been somewhere, I wouldn't have the confidence to know if I was being accurate enough. Besides, it's not just a question of describing the facts. I like to give a real sense of a place - sights, sounds, smells, the whole experience.
I write in the attic. And it's a mess! It's where we dump everything that needs to be sorted out until we have time to deal with it … and then we never find time. I'm a naturally tidy person, so if I look around me at the heaps of goodness-knows-what, it drives me mad! I just have to keep my eyes fixed on the computer screen and don mental blinkers.
I'll cry at anything - I'm absolutely hopeless. I have to be very careful which books I read, and my husband vets my TV viewing to limit my misery!
I watch very little TV nowadays. I got out of the habit when I was juggling too many things - the job, the kids, the writing - and something had to give. A series has to be really good for me to bother following it through. I do watch the odd movie or episode of something if I need to get away from the computer. I'm particularly partial to old shows from the seventies and eighties such as The Rockford Files and Magnum P.I.
I listen to audio tapes of Simon Callow reading PG Wodehouse's Jeeves & Wooster stories every night to send me to sleep. I know them pretty much off by heart now, so it doesn't matter if I drift off in the middle.
I finally gave up the day job recently, so I could have more flexibilty juggling life in general and writing in particular. I've always worked as an administrator in some shape or form, which would seem to be at odds with creating imaginary worlds out of nowhere. Someone once drew up my astrology chart and apparantly I'm a Virgo with an Aquarius ascendant - i.e. self-critical and pedantic, with a creative, rebellious streak. It's not always an easy combination to live with!
