Claudia Carroll

Claudia Carroll is an Irish author who lives in Dublin. Earlier in life, she starred in long standing Irish soap “Fair City” where she wrote her first novel “He Loves Me Not, He Loves Me” in the dressing rooms of RTE studios, when she was meant to be learning her lines. It was published in 2004 by Transworld and became an instant bestseller. In 2005 she wrote “The Last Of The Great Romantics” and her third book “Remind Me Again Why I Need A Man” was published and then optioned by Fox TV for a series in the US which resulted in Claudia quitting her acting career and writing full time. In 2006, she wrote “I Never Fancied Him Anyway”, followed by “Do You Want To Know A Secret”, “If This Is Paradise, I Want My Old Life Back”, “Personally, I Blame My Fairy Godmother” and “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?”

Her latest book “A Very Accidental Love Story” is just released and is currently No.1 in the Irish Original Fiction chart.

1. Your latest book “A Very Accidental Love Story” is about Eloise Elliot who thought she had the perfect life, but on her 30th birthday, she feels a pang of loneliness and realises that there is something missing from the her life and that something is baby. So it’s off to a sperm bank she goes and successfully becomes pregnant. Things are going perfect for her and her little girl, Lily until one day Lily starts to ask about her daddy and Eloise decides it’s time to look for Lily’s father. What inspired you to write this type of story?
   The inspiration for “A Very Accidental Love Story” actually comes from, of all places, the Pygmalion story by Shaw, or “My Fair Lady”, if you’re a fan of the musical. (And who isn’t?) I’ve always loved the essential of the storey, that one human being can set about molding another into their idea of perfection. So I thought, why not a gender-reversed Pygmalion story, with a heroine taking on the ‘Henry Higgins’ role and her ideal man is the rough diamond she wants to turn into her idea of what a perfect guy should be?

   But then I wanted this heroine to be a tough, almost dislikeable character right from the start, someone in a huge job who no one really likes, who’s difficult and demanding to work for, to put it mildly. The only thing in her life that keeps her going is her little girl, Lily, who as you know, she gave birth to after using a donor clinic. Lily grows up a gifted child, and pretty soon Eloise herself becomes initially interested and then obsessed with finding out who her baby daddy really is. If you had a child this special, is her reasoning, then wouldn’t you want to know about it? A leading cardiac surgeon, she reckons, or maybe even a conductor with the New York Philharmonic. Definitely someone highbrow, cultured and intelligent though, she assumes. Anyway, she sets about tracking him down and discovers he’s none of the above……he’s actually in prison with a police record the length of your arm.

   Of course, Eloise panics and tries to circumvent fate by setting this guy on the path to middle class-dom, so that in years to come, should her daughter try to track him down, she’ll find a Dad she can be proud of and not an ex-con sleeping rough and on a Methadone program. But when Eloise, the heroine decides to take him on and to help him release his full potential. Actually he’s the one who’s changing her instead of the other way round. As the story goes on, we can see he softens her and over time her character becomes far more rounded and likeable. She becomes popular, something she never was before. And that’s pretty much where the Accidental Love Story part of it comes in!

2. To the readers of the blog, that may not be familiar with you or your writing, can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into writing?
   For as long as I can remember, I’d been scribbling down short stories and drafts for longer ones, then like a lot of people, thinking that book deals were something that happened to other people and shoving what I’d written into the back of a drawer. Took me a very long time and a LOT of courage to get brave and actually put a book out there.

   Anyway, I was working as an actress on a long running soap opera in Ireland and, like so many others, had always dreamt of writing a book, but never really had the guts. Then one of our directors on the show, a good pal of mine, published her first book and advised me to get three chapters of mine to her agent who she very kindly asked to look them over. So I did, the agent, the fabulous Marianne Gunn O’Connor took me on and had a book deal for me a few weeks later. Nine years on and I’m still pinching myself…..

3. What authors do you admire?
   Oh, so many! I love nothing more than discovering a new author, and am currently wading through all of Philippa Gergory’s wonderful books and loving them. But I have to say, I think the Irish gals are something else and would happily queue in the snow for a new book by Cecelia Ahern, Cathy Kelly, Sinead Moriarty, Melissa Hill or Sheila O’Flanagan. And of course, Marian Keyes!
4. All your book covers have been quite eye-catching over the years. Do you find that you judge a book by its cover?
   I try not to, but am a fickle eejit and find myself, magpie-like, picking up a book because a bright, eye-catching, glossy cover caught my eye. There you go, I really am that easily led.
5. What part of the writing process, do you find the most difficult?
   My old job in RTE was very sociable, there was always some bit of devilment going on and writing does tend to be a lot lonelier. So to answer your question, missing people and fun and messing is difficult, as writing tends to be a solitary gig, but having said that, being a full-time author really is the single best job in the world. I’m incredibly lucky and still pinching myself that I can do it full-time so no, I wouldn’t ever think of myself as ever going back to theatre or TV work.
6. Of all the characters that you have created, which one do you relate to the most?
   Hard to say, but I did love writing Annie in “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” Because she’s an everywoman character, who’s spend her whole life people-pleasing and doing what suits everyone else except herself, so when the chance comes for her to actually live life on her own terms, she grabs it with both hands.
7. Describe your writing routine.
   In a nutshell, to try to keep your writing day as close to a nine to five job as possible! Easier said than done though….see answer below!!
8. Here on the Handwritten Girl website, I would like to be able to offer potential writers like myself advice. Are there any areas you would suggest a budding writer should concentrate on to further their abilities?
   For starters, do a skeleton outline of your story before you even sit down to write a line. It makes life so much easier later on, on the days when you’re stuck.

   Get to really know your characters. A reader will quickly lose interest if they just don’t like the hero or heroine. Layer them carefully so that they jump off the page! Even write out a detailed biography for them, to make them as three dimensional as possible. Remember you’re asking a reader to go on a 400 page journey with them, so it’s vital to get it right early on.

   So many people say to me, ‘oh I’d love to write, if I had the time.’ You can make the time. The wonderful Maeve Binchy advises anyone time-poor to just get up two hours earlier in the morning and work then, when the house is quiet and no one will bother you. You’d be amazed at the clarity of thinking you get in the early hours and it’ll be worth the exhaustion when you see you published baby sitting on a shelf!

   Another thing, there are far more literary agents now than there were certainly when I was starting out. An agent will mind you, encourage you and know which is the best publisher to pitch your work to. I’d advice anyone to send their chapters to an agent first and work from there. You’ll be glad you did!

   Now this is a hard one, particularly if you’re writing from home where they are so many distractions. Even as I’m typing this, I’m looking at a big mound of ironing, just winking at me to be done and it’s SO distracting….. But remember, when you’re writing you’re working, and just as if you were based in an office or business setting, you don’t take calls, answer emails from pals or surf the net when you’re working. Takes a long, long time to get used to this one though, but soon enough your family and friends will cop on not to call you during the day, or whenever is your writing time. So ignore the door, put the phone on silent, don’t go online and you’ll be amazed at how much you’ll get done.

9. Out of the many book that you have read over the years, which one would you have liked to have said “I wrote that”?
   I’m highly suggestible, so I tend to think the book I’ve just finished is the greatest thing ever and at the moment I’m going through a mad David Nicholls phase, ever since reading and seeing the wonderful movie of “One Day”. So basically, anything at all by him, though I have to say, having worked as one myself, “The Understudy” is hysterical. Trust me, it really is.
10. I’m always reading and I’m always on the look out for book recommendations from reliable sources. What are you reading at the moment and would you recommend it?
    See above, but can I just add “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett and “What The Nanny Saw” by Fiona Neill. Really terrific. Wish I was in a book club so I could chat about them with anyone else who’s read them.
11. When sitting down to write, what is the one item you need beside you?
    A VERY large pot of tea! Which reminds me…better shove the kettle on.
12. And finally Claudia, do you have any new projects or releases on the horizon which you would like to share with the readers of the blog?
    Yes indeed, I’m working on another new book, which I think…with luck…I should have finished this week. Phew. Always a bit like finished the Leaving Cert, if you ask me. Anyway, it’s provisionally titled “You and Me” and is for publication next year, which seems miles away, but in publishing terms, sure that’s like round the corner.

    Anyway, it’s about a girl who goes missing. Just completely disappears, out of the blue. Her boyfriend and her best friend tear the city apart looking for her, but find absolutely nothing. They go to the police who say that 90% of people who go missing do so voluntarily and very often will at some point return. But it’s a huge mystery; this girl had everything going for her, great job, friends, a man she adored. It makes no sense she’d just check out of her life. Two years on, we meet the missing girl and find out about her life now and why she had to do what the did. Then circumstances suddenly shift and she has to come home again, she has no choice. But it’s not as easy as it sounds. Because in the meantime, the man she loved and still loves has now got together with her former best friend…

    I got the idea reading a newspaper report which said a very high proportion of missing people cases are voluntary, which got me thinking. I wondered why it was that someone would just choose to walk on on their whole life. Then, of course, it’s like a bereavement for the missing heroine’s boyfriend and her friend, who grow closer and closer and eventually end up together as a mutual support system. So it’s essentially a love triangle, albeit an unusual one!

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