Fay Weldon webchat - Weds 27 Nov, 4-5pm

tanmack

How do you research your novels?

Well, I think of the story-I don't do any research until then. I'm sensible to have set this trilogy in an era that I know because my grandmother knew it. Then I think of the story and then I find out all the details I need to know as I go along. If it's about food or good housekeeping I look up Mrs Beeton's Household Management 1902 and look up the duties of the housekeeper, the duties of the scullery maid and the butler, and proceed from there. I think story first, historical detail second - though the detail is fascinating.

glammanana

Will we ever see a character such as the amazing Rose from "Upstairs Downstairs" in any of your fabulous novels.

I think Rose more or less appears in the new trilogy as Grace, the rather serious, unsmiling, head parlour maid, but I think head parlour maids were rather like this. They are like elder sisters - responsible and in charge, though they'd rather not be. I see Rose as my character anyway because I wrote the pilot episode of the original Upstairs Downstairs and the first words Rose ever spoke were mine.

nancy22

Hello, do you base any characters on people you know?

I base my characters on a mixture of people I know, people I invent and people I am glad not to know! They're a mixture.

Waterdown

Hello Fay,
I do love the covers of your novels - do you get to choose them or is it all in the hands of the publisher? If so, have you ever been really displeased with a cover?

I leave it to the publishers. With the trilogy Habits of the House, Long Live the King and The New Countess, they did them entirely...with a few suggestions from me, which they either responded to or did not according to taste. They've worked very well, so I'm very happy with that. In the past it has sometimes been a different matter, when one publisher brought out a series of paperbacks which all looked like chick-lit in pink jackets and silver italics, which didn't seem to me to echo the books one bit.

Izzybee

Hi Fay - I love your books, so thank you for many years of absorption! My question is, what are the books you would have your grandchildren read if you could choose? I am an avid reader but my daughter, alas, is not and I am wondering if I can help instil a love of books in my grandchildren from afar!

It depends how old your grandchildren are. If they're small, I have written two children's books-so long ago I can't remember their names! On the whole, I think they're more interesting for adults because they're concerned with quite complicated emotions and points of view. The first novel of the trilogy, Habits of the House, is a romantic tale and quite harmless and should suit anyone from 15 up-especially if they're a girl. Boys might prefer rather more blood and gore.

Buddie

I've just been re-reading your collection of short stories, Wicked Women, and I wondered if you feel there is still a place (and indeed a market) for short stories outside of the womens weekly and monthly titles?

Yes, I think there is a great new market now we have e-books. Short stories are almost easier to read electronically than long novels. I think the attention you can pay a screen and concentrate suits the short story form very well. Anything that's short is good on the screen, so I shall stop this answer now...

cinnamonstix

Hi Fay! Feminism is a big theme across your books. What do you think about 'fourth wave feminism'? Do you think there's a place for it - or is it a bit middle class, and we should be focusing our attention on genuine battles for equality (i.e. racism, homophobia)?

I think feminism has been a genuine battle, but yes, I think in Europe it has been, not quite won, but almost a victory. I think our energy should go to the women of other cultures who are now battling very bravely and in the face of physical danger, to promote the equality of men and women in other lands.

FayWeldon

cinnamonstix

Hi Fay! Feminism is a big theme across your books. What do you think about 'fourth wave feminism'? Do you think there's a place for it - or is it a bit middle class, and we should be focusing our attention on genuine battles for equality (i.e. racism, homophobia)?

I think feminism has been a genuine battle, but yes, I think in Europe it has been, not quite won, but almost a victory. I think our energy should go to the women of other cultures who are now battling very bravely and in the face of physical danger, to promote the equality of men and women in other lands.

However, the price of equality is eternal vigilance wherever you live.

CuriousCat

I also have a feminism related question...

There was a lot of press back in 1998 when you said... "Defining [rape] as some peculiarly awful crime may even be counter-productive. I'd like to see it defused for women and deglamorised for men by returning it to the category of aggravated assault."

Do you still stand by this?

Statistically, only 5.3% of rapes reported to the police end in a conviction for rape. And 89% of rapes are never reported to the police at all (according to Mumsnet's Rape Myths page). Do you think more could be done to encourage rape victims to report?

One has to be very careful indeed when answering questions like this, because what you say can be studied carefully and a lot of argument can ensue, and what you said once is not necessarily what you think now. But by and large, I think what I said then remains valid in as much as rape is used in, say, Syria, to bring women into disgrace so they can't get married and in India, where rape is a way of bringing women into disgrace. Rape is about power, not sex. If it is divorced from sexuality and turned into a more normal aggravated assault, you take one element out of it that is extremely dangerous and dreadful for women.

Roxannee

Hello Fay. Love your books. Out of all of your novels, which one is your favourite?

I always tend to like the second before last. The second before last (at the moment) is Long Live the King, but Puffball is a great favourite of mine and of many women, and the Cloning of Joanna May thinking back, was a pretty clever piece of work.

plainbellysneetch

Hello Fay

Down Among the Women had a huge influence on me and my generation - thank you. I'd like to ask what it was like to be a bit 'ahead of your time'? Did you come under a lot of personal scrutiny from the media, which I imagine was very anti 'Women's Lib' at the time?

Being "ahead of my time" was indeed rather difficult. As an early feminist, men would walk out of rooms when I came into them. It was as if the sun would go out if a woman suggested it was not our destined place to iron men's shirts. That didn't last very long however. Men, in the end, became almost more feminist than the women.

notquitebabyboomer

Hi Fay,
You've written so many novels - how do you keep coming up with ideas, and do you think you'll continue indefinitely? Does it leave you much time to read other people's fiction, and if so, who do you read?

I think Ill probably go on writing indefinitely-I don't see any reason to stop. The world goes on with as much energy and absurdity as ever. I teach creative writing now, I am a professor at Bath Spa University, so I get to read a lot of aspiring young novelists. I'm really a kind of reading/writing machine, but I do get round to other people's books. Kate Atkinson is a favourite.

LyndaW

Hi Fay, so nice of you to come on GN and answer our questions. I read on your website that no one's interested in what happens to women after 35. Why, in your opinion is this just women, and not men? I feel I only started to get interesting around 40. How do we convince the world not to ignore us 'oldies'?

I'm talking about fiction - of course we all get more interesting as we get older. We know more, we've experience more - we know what is going to happen next. It's just that, if we're at a party, unless we're very special, men's eyes at parties tend to look past us. And, honestly, that doesn't matter very much, but a wise writer, hoping to get published, is probably wiser not to write about the domestic problems of a 50-year-old woman. Which is tough news, but it's true.

threesugars

Hi Fay, I'm interested to know what your thoughts are on ebooks and how they're affecting publishing? And general book readers? Do you have a Kindle or other e-device?

Yes, I have a Kindle. I've even got a new Paperwhite Kindle - and if only I could get it to link up with my WiFi, I would be able to use it! I think some books work better as e-books than others. I don't think e-books pay enough attention to their typography, or their spacing, or the way books are presented-which is very important. But I think they're great, and should work in parallel with the printed book, and I'm sure will in the future.

granIT

I believe you come from a literary family. So is writing in your blood? Or was it something you simply happened into?

Yes, I come from a literary family. My mother was a novelist, my grandfather was a novelist, my uncle was a novelist - and they all died rather poor. But I think an aptitude for words can be hereditary, just like an aptitude for music can be, or art, or any particular talent you happen to be born with.

getmehrt

You are - or were? - a professor of creative writing at Brunel university. Do you think the adage that "everyone has a book in them" is true? Or do you either have the talent or not (a talent which can then be honed)

I think everyone has a book in them, but not everyone is able to bring it out. Some people have an aptitude for words and write very good non-fiction, fewer people have an aptitude for making things up - they find invention difficult. If you can combine the two (an aptitude for words and the power to invent) you have the makings of a novelist. You can teach people how to handle words effectively, but you can't teach people what to say. That has to come form them.

icequeen

Hello Fay, welcome to Gransnet webchats! How old are your grandchildren? Do they know that you are famous? Do any of them write themselves?

I have no idea if my grandchildren know I'm famous, we tend to talk about ice lollies and whether or not it's time to go to bed. My children on the other hand, do seem to have noticed, but I enjoined all my children a long time ago, that they were never to read my books or talk to me about them. On the other hand, my eldest son, who is a musician, did write an operetta based on Puffball and another son wrote a film, also based on Puffball, so I don't think they've taken much notice of what I said!

petitpois

Do you find writing a lonely experience? It seems so odd to me that writers write for so long on their own and then all of a sudden are caught up in a publicity frenzy. Must be quite disorientating?

I don't find it a lonely experience. One has all these characters to keep one company and the phone keeps ringing, and the postman keeps coming to the door, or you have to go and see the dentist or the doctor. So, chance of being lonely would be a fine thing! And the publicity frenzy has evened out a lot these days, but it's true, once upon a time it was very exciting and quite terrifying. A sudden blaze of light and noise when you're accustomed to a piece of paper and a pen or, these days, a screen and a mouse.