Interview
18 June 2007
I have just received a request for an interview from a brilliant young journalist of 11. Here's my answers …
Dear Ellie
Thank you very much for your message. They are excellent questions.
What inspired you to start writing?
I used to think that the idea came to me out of the blue when I was about 30 years old. I was pregnant (with my son Felix) and I couldn't find the book I wanted to read - a book about how it feels to be expecting a baby, all the emotions and worries. So, I wrote it myself. It's called Becoming a Mother and is still available from book shops today.
Becoming a Mother includes lots of interviews with other women who were pregnant or had had their babies. I really enjoyed putting in those conversations and my literary agent asked me if I would like to write fiction - stories about imaginary people. So that made me start writing novels, leading up to Labyrinth, www.mosselabyrinth.co.uk.
Much later, though, I was reminded by people I was at school with that, even then, I used to make up stories. So I think that I already had the bug when I was younger. I also wrote really bad !!! plays.
How did you become such an expert writer?
I don't know if anyone is really an expert writer. It's like homework, you just do the best you can. In a novel, sometimes the story comes easily, sometimes it's really hard work. I know more today than when I started writing. It's more that, when things aren't going so well in your story, you have more ways of trying to put them right.
Of course, now I am writing a new novel - Sepulchre - the challenges seem different once more.
When you were younger what schools and colleges did you got to and where did you live?
I was brought up in West Sussex and attended Lancastrian Infants andCentral Junior school in Chichester. Then I attended Chichester High School for Girls - the local secondary school - where I did O-levels and A-levels. Then I went to New College, Oxford, where I did a degree in English Literature.
Did your parents encourage you to be a writer?
My parents are brilliant. They always supported me in everything I have tried to do.
Did any other of your books do as well as well?
None of my other books have sold as many copies as Labyrinth or been translated into as many languages (40 translations now and still counting!)
Why did you decide to write adult books instead of books for children?
I believe that you can only write the books that live inside you. You don't really choose what to write - the ones that turn out well are the ones that you were always meant to write. You never know, I might write something for children. But I doubt it. It's a very particular skill.
Who is your favourite author?
The author who has given me more pleasure than any other is definitely Agatha Christie, the greatest, most imaginative and most intriguing detective story writer of all time.
What is the best ever book you have read?
If you asked me what were the 10 best books I have ever read, the question would still be incredibly difficult. I'm sorry - I just can't choose. It might be Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë.
What is a typical day when you are writing?
I get up at about 5 o'clock and make coffee - then start. I never know how long I will work for at the beginning of each day as it depends on how the writing is going. If I work for 5 or 6 hours, that's a pretty good session.
I almost never write in the afternoon or evening. It just doesn't suit me.
Who is your favourite musician?
I think this question is just as hard as the one about favourite books. I really enjoy Nigel Kennedy's violin playing and have several vinyl records by Yehudi Menuhin. I listen to a lot of pop music too. My favourite track at the moment is America by Snow Patrol.
What is your favourite city and why?
I am one of those people that loves, above all, to be at home - so that means West Sussex or in Carcassonne in southwest France. In Carcassonne, I love the mixture of all the modern shops and cafes sitting alongside the amazing 13th century castles and ruins.
With my novel Labyrinth, I've been lucky enough to visit all sorts of new cities and countries. I particularly liked Seattle, Tokyo, Oslo and Helsinki.
What is your favourite film?
I think it is probably The Sound of Music. Or else the first Indiana Jones movie!
What is your favourite play?
Many years ago there was a play on at Chichester Festival Theatre about the doomed exhibition of Captain Scott and his team of explorers to the South Pole. It was called Terra Nova - Latin for 'new land' - and it was absolutely wonderful. I have never forgotten it.
I was a theatre usherette at the time and the play was so good that we hardly sold any ice creams in the interval - people felt too cold!
P.S. Thank you so much.
You are very welcome.
I hope you enjoy exploring the Sepulchre.
