Fiona Walker

Fiona Walker is the author of eight bestselling novels. Kiss and Tell is her latest novel, a modern day raunchy read.

1. Fiona, to those, who aren’t familiar with you, or your writing, can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into writing.
   I started writing at twenty one, which seems wholly precocious looking back twenty years later. It was the era of the racy bonkbuster and Aga Saga and I wanted to read something funnier which related more to my life, but was no less escapist and fun. I had graduated from a Drama degree and found a job in advertising in London which made me miserable, so reading was my escape. When I ran out of things to read, I started to write instead, and the result was French Relations.
2. Who was your favourite character from all the books that you have written and what is it that you like so much about them?
   The character who is closest to me is undoubtedly Tash French (now Beauchamp) from my first novel French Relations, who subsequently appears in Well Groomed and Kiss and Tell. She has a daft, self-deprecating wit which is very endearing, yet is brave and fiercely loyal underneath which I love. I find her huge fun to write, but the character that I like the most is probably her other half Hugo who is so sexy and uncompromising and gets all the best lines.
3. What was the first book you have ever read?
   The first book I remember being read to me was The Hobbit, which my parents took turns to read and fired up my imagination – ‘What’s he got in his pocketsies?’ can still send a delicious shiver down my spine. The first books I remember reading alone were all the Pullein-Thompson sisters’ pony books, each of which I devoured in one sitting and many of which I read four or five times.
4. What authors do you admire?
   I love any writer who can make me laugh, whatever side of the literary divide they fall and whatever their era, from Jonathan Coe to Jilly Cooper, Terry Pratchett to Jane Austen. I am an avid reader and usually have at least one current book that I rave about and encourage everyone to read (like a record one plays over and over again), but inevitably I also return to favourite books to reread them and go through ‘phases’. I am going through an Angela Carter re-reading phase now and it’s absolute bliss.
5. If you were ever stranded on a desert island, which book would you bring with you to make the stay more pleasurable?
   I always maintain that it would not be any book I feel I should read for self-improvement, but a great big slice of escapist fun I trust like Riders or Rivals by Jilly Cooper or a Marian Keyes, the bigger the better. If I was feeling really noble, it would be a Dictionary; I used to carry a mini one around in my handbag for fun and delighted in learning a few new words each day.
6. I always thought the opening line to ‘The Lovely Bones’ was quite memorable, are there opening lines to books that stuck out to you?
   I am a race-ahead reader and love to really get into the characters , so I often dash through the first few chapters rather shamelessly to get to the moment where I can suspend disbelief and really get into the plot; if I pick up a book in a shop I rarely read the first page, but usually dip in half way because I know that as a writer one can spend eight times the time on that first chapter than any other one, and yet it’s sustaining the pace and quality of writing throughout that counts.
7. Describe your writing routine.
   I write rather like I read – often, addictively, and usually late at night. Juggling a young family with writing has been a tough call – I have two daughters under five and it doesn’t matter if I’ve been working until four in the morning, they still wake at 6.30 and need breakfast, dressing and the nursery run. My partner, who is also self-employed, is fantastic, and we muddle through. When I am finishing a book, its trickiest because I can put in 18 hour shifts at times, writing as much as 15,000 words in a session most of which get rewritten in the next session…)
8. Did you read any writers guidebooks during your career? Are there any that you would recommend?
   I didn’t read any when I started, although I did use the Writer’s Handbook to select agents, and my mother bought me a subscription to a writer’s magazine, but it was mostly about freelance opportunities for short story writers, not finding a publisher for a 200,000 word novel. I remember one feature was about how to analyse the graphology of signatures on rejection letters, which I found rather disheartening. Nowadays, I think there are some really good books about writing commercial novels – I know Jane Wenham-Jones has written several, and the agent Carole Blake wrote a good one. Also, the internet has arrived on the scene since my first writing foray and it has a plethora of really good sites and forums for aspiring writers.
9. On the blog, I would like to give other wannabe writers like myself some advice. What area do you suggest a budding author should concentrate on to further their abilities?
   Good dialogue is crucial; it always speeds up a book and can tell us so much about the characters. And of course in books characters do not speak as they do in real life – far less ‘umms’ and prosaic detail; speech is foreshortened. One tip is to read some really good plays, which of course are largely speech only; I find Coward and Wilde fabulous because I love the wit and tropes.

   Conversely, good narrative description is just as important, making sure the readers have a real sense of setting and time and using all five senses to establish this (the smell of haymaking for example immediately conjures rural midsummer). But be wary when describing people physically of falling into too many cliché traps, particularly in women’s fiction. The amount of sparkling blue eyes, chisel jaws, wide shoulders and rosebud mouths in opening passages is lamentable, and I count myself amongst the sinners; we all do it, but together we can try to move the genre on a bit. I have made a concerted effort for several years to cut right back on mentioning specific designer labels, for example, which is just irritating unless it really tells you something about the character.

10. When sitting down to write, what is the one item you need beside you at all times?
    A mug of tea which usually goes cold…

    It used to be a big pile of reference books (I have the most battered Thesaurus and Dictionary of Quotations ever seen), but of course one can now whiz to online sources and Wikipedia, and my desk can look quite Zen at times, although I am such a messy mare that it soon piles up with random notes, print-outs, things I’ve ripped from newspapers and magazines, leaking red pens and the girls’ cuddly toys which they bring in to keep me company.

11. 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?
    I moved house last September and amongst the many tens of boxes of books we brought with us, I found a huge number that I had never read, which was a real Aladdin’s cave of treats, and have started working my way through them, thus none of my recommendations are very up to date, but Amanda Foreman’s Georgiana (a biography of the Duchess of Devonshire) and Lisa Jewell’s The Truth About Melody Browne were amongst two gems I discovered. As I mentioned earlier, I am re-reading Angela Carter and The Magic Toyshop and Wise Children are amongst my favourite two. I’ve also adored re-reading Wendy Perrium who is a hugely funny writer. And finally, if you haven’t discovered Jojo Moyes, then I heartily recommend her; she is an incredibly talented writer, The Horse Dancer and The Last Letter From Your Lover both made me cry.
12. And finally Fiona, do you have any upcoming projects or releases on the horizon which you would like to share with the readers of the blog?
    Kiss and Tell, the third Tash and Hugo book is out in paperback this spring, and is a fast and furious gallop through the works of three-day-eventing with plot twists and love stories galore. I’m immensely proud of it because it’s big and fun and has some of my favourite characters in it, old and new, plus a hoist of wonderful, brave horses. Then in October, my next book Old Flames will come out in trade paperback, with a whole new cast of characters and coastal setting, telling the story of two ex lovers who are reunited during a family crisis with dramatic, and sometimes hilarious consequences.

Read more about Fiona Walker online or follow her on Twitter @fionawalkeruk