What’s it like ghosting as another writer?

It’s like being an actor playing a real person; you have to understand what people find interesting about them. Then you develop a voice and perceptions that will please their readers.

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One of the things that you have to learn, as part of learning to write, is what to do about feedback. As I've said in various places, including the post in Resources on the pros and cons of writing courses, it's basically a choice of accepting, adapting, or ignoring what you're told. That's true whether the feedback is about work in progress or work that's published, and it's true regardless of who's giving the feedback, although who that is will affect your choice. In fact, I sometimes think that the most comforting thing to remember, when criticism stings or even winds you completely for a while, is that this piece of work is still your kingdom. You don't have to do anything to it; you are master of your world, and no one else can have a say in running it except with your permission. Actually, you don't have to write at all: no one's holding a gun to your head, are they?

Of course, there are people who think that you don't exist and your kingdom has no ruler; there are some die-hard Theorists still knocking about in the literary-critical field who think that the author is dead, and plenty more who think that discussing authorial intention in literature is like discussing Vatican doctrine in terms of how the Pope's piles were that day: not just irrelevant but also somewhat Too Much Information, and definitely slightly nauseating.

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'Yes, but I didn't drive all the way out here to eat sandwiches in the car then linger in the tea-rooms- I came to see the house.' My husband gave me a 'Why do I have to be always have to be rushed?' look and laid aside his bridge book.

There was only half an hour left to see Knole so all we could manage was the Great Hall and the picture gallery that I remembered from previous visits. The Brown gallery is 88 feet long, with a vaulted ceiling and walls lined with Elizabethan portraits of aristos, churchmen and royalty who'd met with tragic ends; perfect for ghostly sightings. The threadbare chairs ranked along the walls and dim lighting were bonuses. Was that the Slighted Maid of Micklesham Manor, flitting in outline in front of the mullioned window, about where two volunteer guides were standing?

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Ah, the joys of a good podcast...
There’s nothing I like better when doing mindless tasks, like cleaning the kitchen or walking the dog, than listening to something absorbing on my iPod. If you only use your MP3 or iPod for music, I’m going to go all evangelical now and tell you that discovering podcasts is positively life changing. It is. Honestly.
Being of a nerdish disposition, I’ve been hunting around for a while now for podcasts that relate to books and writing and am starting to build up a nice little collection. I thought I’d share my top five with you, lovely Strictly readers.


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'Hair' at the Gieldgud Theatre.

‘I can’t understand the words’, said my companion, halfway through a frenetic matinee at The Gielgud Theatre last week. The programme described the show as 'an ecstatic rock musical'. We were enjoying an interval respite from the noise and eating frozen yogurt in Berwick Street.

‘It’s not Andrew Lloyd Webber. The words don’t matter.’


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I'm very happy to have won the Dead of Night Award 2009 for Best Author, courtesy of Screaming Dreams.

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A few times now, in a discussion about writing, I've been floored by someone saying, "Why would you read a book a second time? I never have." Sure, I know that people vary in how many books they re-read, and whether twice is enough or they're hardcore re-readivists, and in a general conversation I might have been (slightly) less surprised. But these have all been aspiring writers of one sort or another, so, Never?

I do have a bus test for how good a book is: if you left it on the bus, how much time and money would you spend trying to get it back, or get hold of another copy? Maybe it's not worth the bother at all. But assuming that the book's on your own or your local library's shelf, and you could re-read it if you chose, why would you, instead of reading something new? I suppose the obvious reason for not re-reading a book is that you've gathered everything it has to offer. If all you're after is facts, whether it's facts about Lenin, or the prevalence of the lesser spotted whitethroat in the chalk downlands of Sussex, or facts about WhoDunnit, whether the world will be saved by Alpha Male, or whether Sweet Girl is going to get her Alpha Male or Nice Single Mum find much nicer Beta Male, then a single read will supply what you desire. Or will it?

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We are thrilled to welcome best selling romantic novelist Katie Fforde to Strictly Writing. Thanks so much Katie, for taking the time out of your busy schedule to join us.


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I heard an adaptation of The Borrowers on Radio 4 the other day. It reminded me how important size can be. Writing for children, we try – whether consciously or unconsciously – to think as they do, to put ourselves into their place. In this attempt to become our past, the most obvious facts are sometimes the most easily forgotten: children are physically smaller than adults.

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