Lucy Robinson

Lucy Robinson’s latest novel, The Greatest Love Story of All Time was published in 2012. Her new novel is due to be published in 2013.

What was your route to publication?

A silly part of me believes that to be a worthy author I should have had to drag my manuscript around the publishing houses of London, begging someone to publish me. In actual fact I got spotted by an editor who encouraged me to write a novel. So I did just that and within six months I had a publishing deal. Had she not found me (via my Marie Claire blog) I probably wouldn’t have written a novel. I’d always wanted to be an author but it had genuinely never occurred to me to try – I just presumed I’d never make the grade.

Your latest novel is titled The Greatest Love Story of All Time. Can you tell us about it?

The Greatest Love Story of All Time is about Fran, a slightly bonkers journalist who, at the beginning of the novel, is living like a badger in her bed having just been dumped by the man she thought she was about to get engaged to. Her friends, who are now seriously fed up of her moping, break into her flat and demand that she pull herself together and get back out there on to the dating scene. Fran is appalled by this idea but eventually caves in, signing up to a bizarre eight-date deal that her friends have set her. But as she sets out trying to find love online she gets sidetracked by a beautiful woman called Nellie, by her increasingly alcoholic mother and by her evil cat whose life’s mission it is to eat Fran alive.

Describe your typical writing day.

The Greatest Love Story was written rather erratically because I was in the middle of making a documentary and also moving  to Buenos Aires when I started it. Once abroad I found it hard to make myself write (understandable, surely?!) and so just crammed in a few thousand words whenever I could. However, during the writing of my second novel (which will be out in January 2013) I was backpacking around South America so I had to develop quite a disciplined structure, otherwise I’d just spend all my time climbing mountains and none of my time writing books. I learned to divide my day into 45 minute periods with breaks in between. I do no more than four of these periods which sounds lazy but it works. (I have other projects on the go too.) If I write any more than this my brain goes to mush!

Which one of your characters is your favourite?

Oh that’s hard! I love all of the four main characters. But I think I’d have to say my VERY favourite character is Duke Ellington, Fran’s cat. He is pure evil and he’s the only character in the book who was based on a real person (well, a real cat.) Every single line I wrote about Duke Ellington had me laughing out loud, remembering my own cat doing the same things.

How do you approach the editing stage?

With a lot of fear! I am very good at convincing myself that I simply won’t be able to solve the problems in the book but somehow – and I have no idea how this comes about – it just sorts itself out.

What three things would you want to have with you if stranded on a desert island?

I’d take cheese, mood lighting and The Man (my boyfriend.)

Are you working on anything at the moment?

Yes, my third novel. It’s about a woman who has a wonderful singing voice but is afraid of singing anywhere other than in her wardrobe.

Five tips for new writers?

Just write. It doesn’t matter if your idea isn’t yet fully-formed. Mine never are and so far they seem to end up being something that works!

Get an agent. Mine is the best thing that ever happened to me. No way would I have a book deal without her.

Be realistic about what you’re capable of. I can’t stand it when people tell me they’re going away to stay on their own for two weeks in a remote cottage to write a book. Writing takes an enormous amount of creative effort and (in my humble opinion) you can’t just binge-write like that, hour after hour, day after day. Give yourself time off! Do other things in between writing periods! Take it slowly! I’ve found that I can write anywhere, any time, in any circumstance, as long as I’m boundaried about my time. I do not need to take myself off to a desert island to be able to write.

If you can bear to, show your work to others and ask for their feedback. I still find this excrutiatingly embarrassing but also very useful.

When you’re having a bad writing day, give up. If you soldier on through you’ll just delete everything the next day anyway. Bad writing days produce bad writing – end of!

For more information, visit Lucy’s website. 

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by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.