Julie Cohen

Published March 18, 2011 | By Laura

Julie has written six novels for Harlequin Mills & Boon, another five single-title romantic novels for Headline’s Little Black Dress. Her latest novel ‘Getting Away With It,’ published through Headline Review, was released in paperback this month.

What was your route to publication?

I started writing with the goal of publication in 2000, and as soon as I’d finished my first manuscript (which was aimed at Harlequin Mills & Boon), I joined the Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA) in the UK and Romance Writers of America (RWA). I submitted my first ms to Harlequin and it was quickly rejected. I then submitted it to the RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme, which gives unpublished members a critique of their full manuscript by a published author. The critique told me I was pretty much doing everything wrong—but that I did have an engaging writing voice, and, occasionally, a way with words.

I was encouraged enough by that to keep on writing and submitting (and being rejected). In March 2004 I was thrilled when my fourth manuscript, Featured Attraction, finalled in the RWA Golden Heart contest, which is the biggest contest for unpublished romance writers in the world. Three months later, I got a phone call from an agent telling me she was interested in representing my fifth manuscript, a stand-alone romance novel called Spirit Willing, Flesh Weak. And a month after that, in July 2004, I got a call from the senior editor at Harlequin saying they wanted to publish Featured Attraction.

So after years of hard work, the getting-accepted bit happened very quickly. Publication of my first book was delayed, but I kept on writing and selling, with the result that in 2006 I had five books released by two different publishers. Since then I’ve moved on to writing commercial women’s fiction for Headline Review, which is a dream come true.

Had you always wanted to be a writer?

My ideal career path was either to be a writer or Princess Leia, but the Princess Leia job was taken, so I plumped for writing. I wrote my first “novel” at the age of 11 and I spent a lot of my school career scribbling jointly-written stories with my best friend. I wrote poetry, journalism and short stories, and had a weekly cartoon strip while I was at university, but then real life intervened and I didn’t start writing fiction again seriously until I was working as an English teacher.

Where do you find inspiration for your novels?

I’m always squirreling ideas away for my next book, no matter what I’m doing. I came up with a lot of the ideas for my current novel, Getting Away With It, whilst eating a rum-and-raisin ice-cream cone and walking along the beach in Ventnor, on the Isle of Wight, on a family holiday, which sounds quite inspiring and uplifting, but I also seem to recall that I came up with the whole good twin/bad twin idea for the same book, one day when I was removing the neighbours’ cats’ poo from my flower beds.

Describe your typical writing day.

My pre-schooler goes to nursery at 8 am, and I basically sit straight down at my computer (without brushing my hair or anything) and start writing, consuming copious amounts of tea. I answer emails and do business stuff first, while I wake up (I’m not a morning person by nature), but then I get down to writing by 9. I try to write 1000-2000 words a day when I’m doing a draft, though I quite often get distracted by Twitter. My son comes home just after lunchtime, so I spend the rest of the afternoon with him, unless my husband is kind enough to take him out to the park or something. If I’ve reached my word count, I’ll quit work for the day, but if I haven’t, I’ll need to do some more after my son’s gone to bed.

For someone who’s new to your novels, can you briefly describe your writing style?

I write fun, feelgood, fast-paced novels, which I try to make warm and romantic, but there’s usually a serious side to them. In Getting Away With It, the heroine has taken over her identical twin sister’s life, and there’s a lot of humour related to that, but there are also some deeper themes of identity and relationships.

Do you plan/research much before beginning a new project?

I’m not a big planner (not in advance, anyway), but I do tend to do quite a bit of research on things I’ll be writing about, both before starting to write, and during. I do quite a bit of background work on my main characters before I ever begin, because if you know the characters really well, they basically tell you the way the story should go. Before starting Getting Away With It, I researched ice-cream manufacture, Alzheimer’s Disease, identical twins, the life of a stunt woman, and Wiltshire (where the story is set), among other things. It’s a real perk of being a novelist—you get to research all these amazing, interesting things, and ring people up out of the blue to ask about them.

How do you approach editing? Do you write a first draft or edit as you go along?

I write a very rough “dirty” draft, from beginning to end, without editing. If I’ve really gone seriously in a wrong direction, I might trash some of what I’ve done and start it over, but I don’t make minor changes, and quite often I just write “write something better here” if I’m not certain exactly what I should put. The first draft, for me, is a process of discovering the story and I often don’t really know exactly what the story is about, until I’ve typed THE END.

After I’ve finished the rough draft, I usually have a good idea of what I need to change. I retrospectively map out the story, and make a revision plan, and then tackle the whole thing again, from the perspective of having finished.

Best/Worst thing about being a writer?

Best thing: Working in your pyjamas all day, with unlimited access to chocolate.

Worst thing: See above.

Is there an author you especially admire?

I adore Marian Keyes. Her mix of humour and observation and heartbreaking emotion—she is fabulous. I’m also a huge Stephen King fan and have read pretty much everything he’s written, since the age of 12 or so. We’re from the same state and we’re all very proud of him in Maine.

Is there a book by another author that you wished you’d written?

Carter Beats the Devil, by Glen David Gold. Romance, magic, emotion, adventure, history…perfect. I’m also jealous of Jill Mansell’s novels on a regular basis.

Is there a character from fiction that you’d like to meet?

I have a long-standing and unshakeable crush on Sherlock Holmes, though I wouldn’t mind sharing a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster with Zaphod Beeblebrox.

Who would be your ideal dinner guests?

Ever since I saw the band The Divine Comedy on stage for the first time in the 90s, I’ve wanted to bring singer Neil Hannon home and feed him. He’s so funny and wry and clever and I listen to his music constantly as I write. I’d also have Robert Downey Jr, because he’s charming and talented but basically so I could stare at him longingly over the lasagne. And Judge Judy. She would be awesome. In fact, I’d be happy just to have Judge Judy over for dinner. I bet she’s a hoot after a couple of glasses of wine.

What three things would you want with you if you were stuck on a desert island?

Unlimited paper and Pilot V Razor Point Extra-Fine pens. The two books they always give you on Desert Island Discs—the Bible and the Complete Works of Shakespeare. And ketchup, because you can pretty much eat anything you have to, if you dip it in ketchup.

Any tips for new writers?

Remember that your first draft is for you. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be. Get the story down, in whatever way seems best at the time. I find it’s really liberating just to write, without worrying about who’s going to read it; it means I give myself permission to make mistakes. And then, once it’s done, you can set about the hard work of making it suitable to be read.

Also, remember that no writing is ever wasted. Even if you don’t end up using these particular words or this particular story, you’ve learned something through the process of creating them—even if it’s only knowing what doesn’t work. Keep a file of the bits you’ve cut, and maybe one day you can use them again somewhere else.

My website:

To buy Getting Away With It, visit Amazon.