The Girl You left Behind by Jojo Moyes - live webchat 11 December 1-2pm

sneetch

I was interested in your answer about reading lots. Do you read authors who are 'similar' to you or different? Do you find it easy to keep track of your own voice and your own way of doing things and not be influenced by what you are reading?

Hi Sneetch

I read very widely. This year the books I've loved included the Game of Thrones books and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. I've just finished India Knight's Mutton, which was hilarious, and I'm about to start a biography of Raymond Carver. But yes, I know what you mean about the voice. It is very easy to be influenced if another writer's voice is very strong. If I'm not sure how well my own writing is going I tend to stick to magazines. I love the New Yorker, even though I live on a farm in Essex - the short stories are wonderful.

I read somewhere that you used to be a journalist. Is writing fiction easier or harder?

swizzle

I am interested in what made you change publishers?

Hi Swizzle

Well, I loved my editor at Hodder but sales had not been going well and I was no longer being stocked in supermarkets, which is a dangerous place to be if you write commercial fiction. Penguin had long expressed an interest in me and had a very clear idea of what they wanted to do with my books, so it was actually an easy choice in the end.

I think most writers change publishers at least once in their careers...

Hi Jojo

Haven't read you before so this was a very welcome introduction!

I have to say I was a bit put off from the cover though which was a bit girly for my liking and I didn't think 'fit' the book particularly well. I know we're not supposed to judge a book by its cover but with all the millions of books out there you have to make a decision somehow! Glad I overlooked it on this occasion though (I trust Gransnet's recommendations you see ) so I didn't miss out.

Do you have much input on the cover design? Did you like this one?

Or, so as not to upset your publishers who may be listening in , which is the favourite of your cover designs?

Your books often have an 'issue' at the heart of them. Is that how you get your ideas?

downwithcupcakes

I loved the twist in The Girl You Left Behind. Did you know from the start that it was going to be OK for Sophie and Edouard? Do you spend a long time working out plots?

Hi Downwithcupcakes

Thank you. I did have an idea that I had to give Sophie some reward, as those chapters had got fairly bleak, and it had the potential to be quite a dark book. And yes, I spend a lot of time plotting. I think if you want to include twists you have to. I'm slightly in awe of writers who say they just wing it and see what happens.
I do chapter by chapter plans, and big sprawling diagrams on my whiteboard to show what major events happen where and how they affect each character.

I was interested in your answer about reading lots. Do you read authors who are 'similar' to you or different? Do you find it easy to keep track of your own voice and your own way of doing things and not be influenced by what you are reading?

batgran

Do you have a particular reader in mind while writing? Or do you write for yourself? Did it take you time to find your voice or did it just come spilling out?!

Hi Batgran

I don't have a particular reader in mind while writing - I find that if I think about the reader I get self-conscious and it all goes wrong. And yes, I wrote three books before I got one published so it definitely took me a while to find my voice. I'm not sure I've found it yet!

swizzle

Me Before You was the first of your books that I have read. I loved it because although it was fairly chick-lit-ish in terms of the romance etc etc it had such a huge un-chick-lit premise as its central theme. Was it hard to combine the two - and has it made people see you (well your books) differently?

Hi Swizzle

Thank you! And yes, I do struggle with the chick lit identity. MBY is just about to come out in the US and it has a very different cover, with no pink at all...;-)
And yes, I think a lot of people were surprised that it covered the theme it did, but then a lot of women's fiction gets packaged in a way that suggests biscuits and fairy dust, when really it's about quite dark topics indeed. Marian Keyes is a classic case in point. Her latest is the best description of depression and intended suicide I've ever read - it made me weep at one point - and yet she's persistently portrayed as light and fluffy.

But yes, MBY has made people (hopefully) see my books differently. I like to have a bit of grit in the oyster...

I am interested in what made you change publishers?

I loved the twist in The Girl You Left Behind. Did you know from the start that it was going to be OK for Sophie and Edouard? Do you spend a long time working out plots?

flopsybunny

Whenever I have tried to write (not very well! ) I have started to feel very claustrophobic and as though I am going round in ever-decreasing circles. Do you have any tips for feeling energised and staying sane while writing?

Hi Flopsybunny

It's hard to encapsulate advice here, but I find having a whiteboard helps - and writing out a rough plot so that you have an idea where you're headed. But writing can feel very claustrophobic. It helps to change settings, and sometimes times - so you go from quite a tight emotional scene to a much wider setting, ie "many miles from there, on an island in the south pacific..."

Also read a lot. See how other people do it. It's quite hard to make yourself read analytically, rather than just enjoying the story, but it can really help. Good luck!

Do you have a particular reader in mind while writing? Or do you write for yourself? Did it take you time to find your voice or did it just come spilling out?!

topshot

Your books have always done well but the last couple have been really very successful. Do you think you just hit your stride or did something else change?

Hi Topshot

I think a couple of things happened: I changed publishers, which gave me a fresh start, and a new 'look' for the jackets, which helped enormously. But I probably hit my stride too. I think sometimes I could be my own worst enemy when writing - making characters difficult to like, or veering into complicated structures. I've tried to strip things down a little and just tell a story - and also get things going a little faster. A lot of Amazon reviewers said my books were too slow to get started - so I listened!

Me Before You was the first of your books that I have read. I loved it because although it was fairly chick-lit-ish in terms of the romance etc etc it had such a huge un-chick-lit premise as its central theme. Was it hard to combine the two - and has it made people see you (well your books) differently?

libertybodice

I enjoyed your last book very much but was a bit frustrated when I got to the end (paperback edition) and found the prequel novella advertised. I bought it - of course - but am wondering if knowing what happens next will spoil it?

Hi Libertybodice

Do you mean you bought The Girl You Left Behind? The novella is very much an add-on, and will just colour in the characters' lives before the longer book. I hope it will give you an insight into who they were beforehand - and why Sophie was prepared to risk so much. From those I have spoken to who've read both, nobody seemed to feel it mattered too much in which order you bought them.

That said, I hope you enjoy them!

Whenever I have tried to write (not very well! ) I have started to feel very claustrophobic and as though I am going round in ever-decreasing circles. Do you have any tips for feeling energised and staying sane while writing?

closetgran

Your male characters are very warm and sympathetic and believable. Do you find it as easy to write male as female characters?

Hi Closetgran

I think it depends entirely on the character. Sometimes they jump off the page, and all you have to do is put them in various settings and join the dots. Often, though, they remain resolutely two dimensional in your head and don't 'come alive' until two thirds of the way through the book.
I am writing from a man's point of view at the moment and really enjoying it - especially when he doesn't behave well. I think it may be my way of trying to understand something I don't understand very well in real life!

I enjoyed your last book very much but was a bit frustrated when I got to the end (paperback edition) and found the prequel novella advertised. I bought it - of course - but am wondering if knowing what happens next will spoil it?

Your books have always done well but the last couple have been really very successful. Do you think you just hit your stride or did something else change?

merlotgran

Aurelien is an important character in the first part of the book. His disloyalty meant that Sophieâ??s reputation in the town was lost forever. Were you tempted to keep him in the story and write an ending for him that would have evened the score?

Hi Merlotgran

I was tempted to wreak revenge on Aurelien. But I think he suffered enough. He was alienated from his family and probably suffered huge guilt afterwards, especially as he wouldn't have known Sophie's actual fate. I think he was put in a very difficult position for a hormonal adolescent boy - not to excuse his actions, but one of the things I love about writing is making people three dimensional. They don't always do the right thing, but they will believe they are doing it for the right reasons. I think Aurelien is one of those people.

Your male characters are very warm and sympathetic and believable. Do you find it as easy to write male as female characters?

distaffgran

I loved the scenes in occupied France: they felt very atmospheric. Did you go and research the area? Did you have a particular village in mind when you were writing?

Hi distaffgran - and thank you. I did go and research the area. But St Peronne is really an amalgam of lots of villages in northern France. It is a weirdly atmospheric area. I find it impossible to drive around there - past those huge open fields - without echoes of the first world war seeping in.

getmehrt

I have only recently come to your books and love them. I see you have written quite a few. How long does it take you to write a novel?

Hi Getmehrt (great name!)
They usually take me around a year. The Girl You Left Behind took slightly longer, because I decided to delete 70,000 words of it once I'd finished, and rewrite them. I wouldn't be in a hurry to do that again!

I loved the scenes in occupied France: they felt very atmospheric. Did you go and research the area? Did you have a particular village in mind when you were writing?