What inspired the idea behind this book?
I wanted to capture the feeling of falling in love with another country, another culture, the people and language. For me that was going to live on a tiny island called Île de Ré (where the book is set) off the Atlantic coast of France when I was 19. I also wanted to capture the experience of learning another language by osmosis. I’d studied French at high school and uni, but it wasn’t until I went and lived there that it really gelled for me. That wonder when you start to realise that you’re understanding everything. It’s a kind of magic. And the title, Dreaming in French, is the idea that when you begin to dream in another language is when you’ve fully assimilated it. It’s a story of a woman going on a journey of self-discovery and coming to terms with herself and her life. And part of that is reckoning with herself as a young woman. I was interested in the idea of seeing yourself grow and change over the course of your life and maybe forgiving yourself for the mistakes you’ve made in the past.
Does the creative process get easier for you with each book?
I think you start to realise that each book has its own unique journey. And that if you did it before, somehow you can do it again (although sometimes friends and family need to remind me of this!). It doesn’t get easier – in some ways you’re putting more pressure on yourself with each new book. But you have a bit more faith in the journey. Some books flow out easily, others are more difficult. But the difficult ones, the ones you nearly gave up on, when they hit the shelves they’re like a recalcitrant child that you almost abandoned and somehow you’re even more proud of them for getting their act together. Sometimes you know from the start what you’re wanting to say with a book, other times this reveals itself in the writing. And honestly, when you start each new book you think, what am I thinking, how on earth am I going to write 90, 000 words again?!
What is something that has influenced you as a writer?
I think being a journalist for 15 years before I tried writing books really influenced me in two ways. It made me not too precious about getting first words on the page. As a newspaper journalist that’s beaten out of you pretty early on. And I think being a journalist afforded me many experiences from my early 20s onwards. I was exposed to a lot of different types of people. I wrote about crime, medicine, arts, theatre, food, fashion. I interviewed directors of hospitals and churches, politicians and movie stars. I heard the stories of mothers who had lost children to suicide, people who had lost their legs in accidents. It opened up my mind to the breadth of human experience and suffering. I saw both the best and worst of humanity. How people could do terrible things to each other and also how they could rally and achieve extraordinary things. I’ve always been empathetic, but that experience caused me to really see the world through many different perspectives, which is what I do in creating characters. I did a writing exercise once that asked you to create a scene where your character has been hurt or humiliated by another character. And then to write the scene from the point of view of the person who caused the hurt or humiliation. That’s hard to do, but it’s an essential skill as a writer.
What’s your daily writing routine like and what are you working on at the moment?
It depends whether I’m doing edits or writing a first draft. If I’m drafting I really need to go for a walk in nature in the morning to help get me into a creative mindset. If I’m editing, after dropping my daughter at school I usually get straight to it because I’m usually on a tight deadline. I drink a lot of tea while writing and I light a candle. It’s a small thing, but it signifies that I am slowing down and putting my mind into the creative place. It’s a trigger for my subconscious I guess, because I really believe that’s where stories are birthed. I also use my journal to let my thoughts flow out freely. Often ideas come to me when I’m just writing about stuff going on in my life. At the moment I’m starting a new book so I’ve just returned from a walk along the coast and I’m about to make tea and light a candle and journal in the hope that the character’s voice will slowly reveal itself to me.
What is something that has influenced you as a writer?
Reading other writers. Honestly, if I’m ever disillusioned about writing/authoring, all I need to do is find a book that contains that spark of whatever it is that a good book contains, and I am reinvigorated and inspired. It’s through reading that I am able to understand why I write. When I read a beautiful sentence or am moved by a character or challenged by an idea, that makes me realise why I do it. And nature is a big influence in my writing. In each book I have a very strong sense of place. The setting – building the feel and smell and texture of a place helps me discover the story.
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