Trisha Ashley

Trisha has written eleven romantic comedies. Her latest, ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ was a Sunday Times Bestseller. Her upcoming novel, ‘The Magic of Christmas’ is to be published by Avon HarperCollins in October 2011. We were very happy to get a chance to chat with Trisha, to ask her about her typical writing day. how she approaches editing and the fictional character she’d like to meet….

What was your route to publication?

That’s a long story!   I wrote satirical novels for years without getting published, then wrote two light Regency Romances which were published by Hale and large print editions.  But after that I went back to the satire and remained unpublished again until I was taken on by top London agent Judith Murdoch.  She called me down to London and during three hours tore my current novel to shreds, then told me how to put it back together again.

Almost the first thing she said to me was: ‘Trisha, this romantic comedy hasn’t got any romance in it!’ Which of course it hadn’t, because it was satire.  But once I realised that simply adding a romantic element to what I was already writing would enable my books to fit into the romantic comedy genre (which is a very wide one), I went straight back home and did just that.  Good Husband Material was published by Piatkus, the first of my romantic comedies.  

My fourteenth novel, Twelve Days of Christmas, came out at the end of last year and my next, The Magic of Christmas, will be out this October.   I’ve been shortlisted for the Melissa Nathan Award for romantic comedy two years running, and Every Woman for Herself was recently voted one of the three best romantic novels of the last fifty years:  both were great honours.

Had you always wanted to be a writer?

Yes, a writer and a painter together: that was my ideal.  I still paint, when I have the time.

Where do you find the inspiration for your novels?

My novels are very much character-driven and the characters are already lurking about in my head, waiting to tell their stories.

I get to know my heroine, where she’s come from and what has made her the woman she is today, then weave the various narrative threads I have chosen in and out of her life.  I can’t explain it really.  But while I’m writing it, the world in that novel is more real than the one I am living in and I become my heroine.

I also have a wall in my study where I stick all kinds of things that interest me – cuttings, postcards, posters, poetry, recipes, snatches of dialogue, photographs of gardens…The middle section of the wall relates to the book I’m working on, the left side to ideas for the next book, and the right to ideas for future books.

Describe your typical writing day.

I prefer to start work very early in the morning and like to write in my study, which is a tiny boxroom overlooking the sea.  I haven’t always had a room of my own, but I have always had a pasting table to work at and a wall behind it to stick things to, relating to the work in progress.  The pasting table is also very important!  I bought it during my first term at Art College, after arriving with a rucksack, folding easel and portable typewriter, because I needed a table to work on.  I could just fold it up and take it away with me when I moved.

Since last autumn my writing day has been slightly disarranged by the arrival of my son’s dog, a lively Border Collie, but I expect all the walking does me good, really!

For years now I have had a pact with two other novelist friends, Leah Fleming and Elizabeth Gill, that we will email each other as soon as we have written the first five hundred words of the day: we call ourselves the 500 Club.  I’d recommend this to anyone trying to write novels and three is the best number.

For someone who is new to your novels, can you briefly describe your writing style.

Quirky romantic comedies often set in rural West Lancashire.  Themes like food, flowers and friendship often feature strongly.  I always say that my dark sense of humour in adversity is my Lancashire heritage, mixed with a good dash of Celtic creativity from my Welsh grandmother.

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

Yes, I do a lot of research reading first and also a lot of thinking.  Then I do a timeline and put that on the wall, so that I can fit events into it.  Particularly if you are writing a long novel,  you need to think about the construction – the bones beneath the skin.  It is the same with painting: you must lay down the bare bones of what you see in pencil, or just with your eye, and then clothe it, so that it takes on shape and solidity.

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

I have always (as Stephen King also advises in his excellent book, ‘On Writing’) written the first draft with the door closed – i.e. just for me.  Then I rewrite with the door open – for the reader.

Of course, sending it off to your editor after that isn’t the end of it, because it will return at least once with a large set of editorial changes they want incorporated.

Best/worst thing about being a writer.

To quote Stephen King again (I do love that book!), writing is the most fun you can have on your own: that’s the best thing about it.   The worst is probably the assumption that all published novelists are rich!

Is there an author you especially admire?

Many – I do find that question impossible to answer! Often it’s just one particular book that I read over and over, like Pride and Prejudice, rather than one author, though there are books that I’ve read once that have stayed with me forever, like The Poisonwood Bible, The Colour Purple, Fahrenheit 451…

Then there are some that were extremely important to me when I first read them, like Catch-22 and Ted Hughes’ poetry collection The Hawk in the Rain, which I still return to from time to time.

My favourite romantic comedy writers are Katie Fforde, Jill Mansell and Judy Astley;  Leah Fleming and Margaret James for wonderfully-written historical romance; Marika Cobbold and Elizabeth Buchan for quirky and thought- provoking novels….Oh, and I’m addicted to Susan Hill’s Simon Serrailler detective novels.  I could go on and on.

I’ve just read a wonderful non-fiction book, too,  called ‘The Hare with Amber Eyes by De Waal and I keep thinking about it.

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

No.

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

I think it would be fun to have Bertie Wooster round for tea.  It would also be a good excuse to do a proper High Tea with little cucumber sandwiches, fruit cake and so on.

Who would be your ideal dinner guests?

I find all my novelist friends very entertaining and whenever two or more are gathered together the conversation is  interesting and never flags.  So I will have as many of those as I am allowed!  There are also one or two writers I haven’t met in person that I would absolutely love to invite to the feast, like Susan Hill, Elizabeth Buchan and Bel Mooney: I’m sure they would be wonderful guests.

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

An endless supply of paper, pencils and my pasting table. 

Any tips for new writers?

This may sound very obvious, but it has to be said: writers write, it’s in the nature of the job description.  You write every day and feel guilty and bereft if you have finished a novel and not started on the next.  So, don’t just think about it, do it. Get in the writing habit, if only for ten or fifteen minutes a day and then build on that.  However busy you are, if you really want to write, you will find the time.

1) If you can’t get started at all, read Natalie Goldberg’s book, ‘Writing Down the Bones’.

2) Once you’ve got into the daily writing habit, then do read Stephen King’s book, ‘On Writing ‘ – he really tells it like it is.

3)  Read my novel Happy Endings – the heroine, Tina Devino, is a novelist who also runs a manuscript critique service and there are letters  to and from aspiring novelists throughout the book.  You will learn a lot about what – and what not – to do!

4)  Read a lot of recently published novels in the genre you are aiming at.  Consider what length they are and what the readers of that kind of book expect from a novel.

5)  You will know your main characters are three dimensional when they start having conversations with each other in your head.  This is usually just as you are trying to go to sleep and you must switch the light on and immediately write down what they are saying, because you will have entirely forgotten it by morning!

For more information, visit Trisha’s website: www.trishaashley.com or to follow her on Twitter – @trishaashley

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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.