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The Quiet Life by ThomasPGethin

Collated Answers from WW interviews

Al Hunter Ashton	The parties.

Alan Williams	Knowing that some editor appreciates your ideas, your writing talents and the characters that you’ve imbued with life. To have recognition, albeit on a small scale. To realise others might read and hopefully enjoy your work. Finally to be able to hold you head up when asked ‘What do you do?’ and answer with pride, “I’m an author.”

Ali McNamara	When you finally get that call.

Andrew Blackman	That wonderful feeling, every now and then, when everything feels right, the words flow and I know they are good. It’s a high that can’t be beaten.

Anne Brooke	Oh, those rare moments when I'm rocking and can't stop typing, not even to eat. When a poem goes well and the blood starts singing, or when a scene I'm working on (usually the sex or violence scenes, I have to say …) just flows and my head is buzzing with it. When I can hear the character's voice in my head and know they're part of me and I of them. Oh, that's good. And when somebody says they enjoyed something of mine they've read and I choose to believe they're not simply being nice.

Ardella Jones	The excitement of the creative process. When I have done something worth reading and get to run it by my friend and mentor, Jonathan Wolfman. We have also had great fun working on comedy scripts together, as comedy is collaborative. We worked on an American project and were phoning each other up at 3 am having serious debates about whether ‘pooh pooh’ or ‘ca ca’ was more American. Thank God my classical education was not wasted

Beanie Baby	Being able to pick up a pen and go to a fresh blank page, prferably in a beautiful new writing book; the very act of writing is for me the most rewarding thing in the entire world. Consequently, I write everything in longhand to begin with.

Bill Spence	The best thing about writing is seeing the book in hardback. But also after the story has gelled seeing the first word on paper – a great adventure lies ahead to produce an acceptable work.

Cally Taylor	Getting exciting by an idea for a new novel, living vicariously through a character’s life and those rare occasions when the words spill out effortlessly and you actually quite like them when you read them back!

Candi Miller	Not caring, because the writing is going so well.

Candy Denman	Working your own hours, having a good excuse to watch daytime telly, and as I write for television, I have to say- the money.

Caroline Rance	Finishing a first draft – the sense of achievement at having completed a book, combined with the anticipation of editing and polishing it, which is my favourite part of the process.

Cassandra Clare	Getting letters from kids who say they thought they hated reading but they loved your book.

Catherine Cooper	When you suddenly have an amazing idea which makes whatever you are writing click into place. I tend to start out with only the vaguest idea of where my books are going, which I’m not sure is a good or bad thing (probably bad.)

Skippoo	I just love shaping words. Like most artists, I love those moments where you feel really inspired and lost in what you’re doing. And also, it’s great when someone tells you they’ve been moved in some way by something you’ve written.

Catherine Richards	I find writing quite therapeutic. You can unload your brain of all the stresses and anxieties it carries around and give them to one of your characters to deal with instead. Also, unlike real life, you can play god and control how it all ends dishing out big servings of karma along the way. (Do I have megalomaniac tendencies? … very possibly.)

Cathy Glass	Sending the manuscript to my agent and publisher knowing I have done my best.

Christina Courtenay	The freedom to work whenever you want to (I’m a night owl, so used to hate getting up in the morning to go to work), meeting lots of other enthusiastic and friendly authors and being allowed to make money out of doing something so enjoyable!

Claire Allen	When the words are flowing and you know a scene is working! On a similar level, one of the most amazing experiences I've had as a writer is to read over a scene I've written after some time has passed and feel the emotions I've created on the page sweep over me as if for the first time.

Claire Moss	When it's all going well and the work just flows – on a good day it can feel like I'm just transcribing a scene that is happening for real in front of me.

Clare Sambrook	Living in the imagination, like a child, dreaming, playing, asking questions, making things, wrecking them, starting afresh.

Courttia Newland	Freedom

Craig Baxter	My favourite social activity is rehearsing and creating plays. I love actors. They are just attractive, outgoing versions of writers. They are needy people who need us. Hurrah.

Danny Rhodes	When the words come so fast that you can’t keep up with them. I love the rush I get when an idea takes off and begins to breathe all by itself.

Dawn Finch	When it all just rushes out in a wonderful outpouring and I can feel the imagined world grow around me. That is bliss. Times like that, when I look up and hours have sped past in the blink of an eye - that is pure heaven. Sometimes, when it all gushes out, I read back what I have written and can’t believe it was me!

Deborah Swift	To create a whole imaginary world must be one of them, and the total creative freedom a writer has. One of the best things is definitely to have readers. Even if you are not published, make an effort to get someone to read your work. It makes you feel like a writer – and it is such a great relief to find the characters exist in someone else’s head as well as your own, that they have started to be real for someone else.

Diane Samuels	The solitariness, the autonomy and the opportunity to spend my days creating other worlds and whole characters.

Domenica De Rosa	The chance to make a living from your hobby.

Elizabeth Buchan	Handling the first proofs of the latest novel. There is something quite special about that moment. Also, I have been lucky enough to receive letters from readers all over the world who tell me they enjoy the novels and I love the connection that is made between them and me. But, above all, I feel so lucky at being able to do what I love. Writing has proved to be a fascinating journey – without maps and compass at times – but it is one where I am continually learning.

Elizabeth Speller	The euphoria when you’re on a roll; when ideas just come from nowhere and go off in unexpected directions or connect up with themes you haven’t even consciously introduced. And seeing the first published copy of every new book of course.

Emilia di Girolamo	So many things - working for myself and by myself - I enjoy the isolation most of the time, the joy of having something accepted for publication, the excitement of seeking a commission, the moment when you start collaborating with actors and directors and seeing your work come to life after being alone with it for so long.

Eva Salzman	Once started, and if inspired, the feeling is as close as I’ll probably ever get to a religious experience. As transcendent as that, or sex.

Eve Ainsworth	I love seeing the ideas coming together, or a piece of writing flowing beautifully. There is also nothing like the satisfaction of typing ‘the end’ on a piece of work.

Fiona Robyn	Where to start? I love the way it helps me to pay attention to the world and to myself. I love the look of words on the page, and the sound of them. I love getting to know my characters, and helping them tell their story. I love the satisfaction of writing a good sentence. The feedback I get from happy readers is, as Raymond Carver might say, pure gravy.

Gary Davison	Sitting writing and editing every day. I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.

George Szirtes	It is the other life, the potentially real life. Lovely to feel words moving rapidly through your fingers. Words can’t really be the real world, but they pass through the real world, carrying the intelligible parts of it with them.

Gillian McClure	A letter from a child; not 30 letters after a visit to a school, all of them copied from the blackboard, but one unexpected letter from a child who loved one of my books. Response to this reader and others who love my books: they make me feel that what I’m doing is worth all the struggle and sacrifice.

Gordon and Williams	RG: When you’ve finished a piece, and it just works, and you sit back with a cigarette and a fresh cup of coffee to admire it on the screen. BW: Making things happen.

Helen Black	Everything. I never for a moment thought I’d see Damaged Goods in print and it still makes me smile each time I see it in a shop. My weekly sales figures make me whoop for joy. I mean I’m not John Grisham, but I’ve sold many thousands more copies than I ever anticipated, which, if I’m honest, was about six. I still can’t quite believe I get paid to lie.

Helen Castor	When the book or piece is finished – not (ever) perfect, but there, with an integrity and an existence that seems independent from me.

Helen McWilliams	That’s an exhaustive list, however I’d say it’s the journey that it takes you on, I’d never have thought I’d be writing articles when I was merrily penning stories and poems as a youngster. There are always different paths to take, new goals to set yourself, as well as different genres of writing to try.

Jae Watson	It is the only time I feel totally absorbed in the moment with the sense that I’m where I’m meant to be, doing what I’m meant to do.

James Burge	When someone says they were moved – either to laughter or tears of something in between – by something I wrote. It is a feeling of having shared something important with a stranger.

Jane Elmor	Getting a brainwave, either as an idea for a story in the first place, or during a novel when something appears like magic in your mind that you hadn't planned. Coming up with an unusual twist – there's one in MVS that no-one's seen coming yet, as far as I'm aware (I know I didn't!) Getting a fresh metaphor when you've only been able to think in cliches for days. Re-reading something you've written that you'd forgotten about which actually makes you laugh out loud (at least, as long as it was meant to be funny.) Being on the downhill ride to the end. In fact, writing “The End” is always cause for celebration. I hate editing, but it's great when you do actually tighten things up and hone the story over the course of the editing process. And of course, it helps to free up the first draft because you know you can write any old thing as long as you get it down, knowing you'll go back over it and make it better. There are many best moments on the way – an agent saying 'I love it!' (those three little words!), signing that publishing contract, seeing jacket designs for the first time that someone else has done (not your own ideas that you've mocked up on the computer), holding a proof copy – an actual book – in your sweaty palms for the first time.

Jane Rogers	The solitude.

Jem	Knowing you’ve just written a crackin’ story, seeing your name in print, the email that pops into your inbox informing you you’ve made a sale, the money (when it finally arrives), writing “the end” and chatting to other writers on WriteWords.

Jenn Ashworth	The short bursts of time when I have faith in the process and stop being scared about how long it is taking me or how much I throw away. When it works out. It's the best feeling in the world.

Jenny Eclair	Playing God.

Jill Dawson	Everything else.

Jill McGivering	Those moments of complete engagement when I feel as if I am the characters, feeling their feelings and thinking their thoughts. It can take a lot of hard writing work for those time to happen. But when they do, it’s deeply satisfying. It’s similar to the pleasure of being engrossed in a good book as a reader but the pleasure is more intense.

John Murray	The best thing about writing is the personal responses from people who like your work. I get regular letters and emails from people enthusing about my books, occasionally saying they've had a major impact on them. About ten years ago I had an extraordinary one. Radio Activity happens to be full of Cumbrian dialect used for comic punning purposes, and I received a long fan letter from a Polish American who had read it in the States and he wrote his letter in his own version of Cumbrian dialect. It was surprisingly authentic!

John Ritchie	When people tell me I made them laugh, or cry, or I made them spit their coffee all over the keyboard, or as someone once wrote: “If I read that story as the opening page of a book, I would buy the book.” YES!

Jon Haylett	That rare moment when I sit back from a short story or a novel and know that it’s done, that, as far as I’m concerned, it’s as perfect as I’m likely to get it. Then, of course, there’s the moment when someone else agrees.

Jonathan Wolfman	Hitting a wave when writing and surprising yourself with what comes out. And obviously anyone wanting to make, direct, produce or act in what you’ve written.

Josa Young	Going down deep and letting my characters get away from me, prancing and dancing and misbehaving while my fingers fly to catch up.

Judith Johnson	Managing to get down to it.

Julia Bell	Being mistress of my own universe. . . and the huge satisfaction of completion; of finishing something that pleases me.

Julia Copus	Being able to surprise yourself. Writing allows you to step outside your normal (often overly critical) self; perhaps it even demands it. And that means it’s possible to write something the normal ‘you’ would never have come up with – never have been capable of coming up with. That’s a great – if slightly weird! – feeling.

Kal Bonner	The absolute best thing is being able to reach people. It's amazing to think that words come out of your head, into the laptop, out again as a body of work, and into someone else's head. It's like having sex, without having to worry if you've had your bikini line waxed. In other words - it's liberating.

Kate Long	The mum half of me would say it’s being at home for the children (I have two little boys) and having space and time for the family as well as for myself. But the writer side says it’s the emails you get from fans that totally make your week and remind you what you’re working towards.

Kate Tym	If you love it, you love it. I love constructing pieces of writing. The joy of finding just the right word. I need to motivate myself to do lots of things in life, but writing isn’t one of them. And when I perform my poetry (which is mainly funny) and the audience laughs – that is such a kick.

Kia Abdullah	Getting a positive reaction from my readers. I have had readers contact me to say that Life, Love and Assimilation made them cry or made them angry or made them yell out loud and it’s such an amazing feeling to know that I can affect someone on an emotional level through my writing. It may sound like a cliché but it’s true.

Kit Peel	I find writing throws down a constant challenge to learn, travel, experiment, to be interested. Reading something you have written that you realise has taken you forward. That’s a great feeling.

Laura Watson	It’s amazing being able to play make-believe for a job and there are always new challenges on the horizon. It’s impossible to get bored.

Lee Henshaw	There’s a very small space between the page and the end of your pen – that’s where you’ll find the best thing about writing.

Lee Jackson	Hearing from readers. Ideally positive things, but even serious negative criticism is good, if you think someone has given your book a good deal of time and thought.

Lola Jaye	Someone telling you your book made them laugh AND cry. Priceless. Brilliant. Amazing. And makes all the writers block, lack of money, editing, rejection slips and staying in on sunny days, worthwhile.

A L Berridge	The release.

Lucy McCarraher	Being your own boss. Being able to give your creative side free rein and seeing where it takes you. Coming back to the computer to find out where the story is going to take you next, like your own private soap opera running in the back room of your life. Being able to use words to create a world and work out a plot.

Luisa Plaja	Getting completely involved in a world I've created myself. Or maybe that amazing feeling when other people 'get it' too.

Malcolm Burgess	Just feeling you’ve done your very best. There are few other areas where the sense of personal achievement is so overwhelming.

Maria McCarthy	The final edit – all the tough groundwork has been done and it’s just the lightweight altering and fiddling stuff left.

Mark Booth	The buzz from creating something in my head then transcribing it in a way that I and other people enjoy reading. Recording my ideas for posterity. Receiving positive feedback

Mark Liam Piggott	Acceptance

Matt Lynn	Seeing your book printed is a fantastic thrill. And so, of course, is seeing it the bookshops. My last book ‘Fire Force’, was in Tesco, next to the Twilight books, and something by Cheryl Cole. My kids were – very briefly – impressed.

Meg Peacocke	The absolute involvement in the writing process once a poem has got underway.

Michael Ridpath	Writing a scene very rapidly, usually involving an argument or some moments of tension, punching out the full stop at the end with a flourish and realising that you have written 2,000 words. It is almost as if you have spent the last couple of hours away somewhere else and have just returned to reality exhausted, but also invigorated.

Michelene Wandor	Finishing a piece of work; knowing it has gone as far as it can, and the times when people enjoy/like what I have written.

Michelle Harrison	Knowing that the only limit is your imagination; it can take you anywhere. Also hearing from people that have enjoyed your work is brilliant!

Milly Johnson	Getting paid and appreciated for doing what I would do as an unpaid hobby – and working from home too, which is ideal for a single parent like me. I don’t feel like I’m at work because I enjoy what I do so much.

Neil Forsyth	Publication, certainly, gives some weighty validation in a pursuit never slow to chuck self-doubt at you. But for me the greatest satisfaction is sitting down each day knowing I’m doing what I would choose to be doing above anything else. And I think that’s a very fortunate and privileged position to be in.

Neil J Hart	When your writing connects with somebody and they write to tell you how much they enjoyed it. It’s quite humbling to receive great feedback and it spurs you on to create better work for yourself and your readers. I saw somebody reading my book on a train once - it was great to just sit anonymously and watch them giggle their way through an hour of my work.

Neil Nixon	The occasions when the above doesn’t apply. The chance to get paid for thinking things that would be a liability in real life.

Nick Griffiths	Forming a sentence that makes you smile or laugh. And being read by other people.

Nick Stafford	The visceral feeling that you’re on to something. Spending time with imaginary friends. Applause. Silence. I went to Paris this Xmas and my plays were stocked in Shakespeare and Co. My partner took a photo of me pointing to them. I told her about the myth(?) that writers move their books so that they’re displayed more prominently. Mine were at knee height, spine-on, so she pulled them out and placed them front-on, eye level.

Nicky Singer	It never goes away.

Nik Perring	Connecting with readers. I know it’s a bit of a cliché but there really isn’t anything better than seeing that what you’ve written has stirred up something inside someone. It can be something as simple as people laughing in the right place, or a class all going ‘eugh!’ at the same time. That for me is something quite special.

Patricia Cumper	As a playwright, sitting in the middle of an audience while they watch what you’ve written and have them respond, laugh, cry so that you know they’ve heard the story you’ve been trying to tell.

Patrick Dillon	Knowing that it is

Paul Reed	The lifestyle. I work sometimes lying in bed! I get up when I want to. Also the buzz you get after you've done a reading. It's an intense high after conquering all that fear and still doing a good job. The fact that all those people are there to see you and listen to your work. It's brilliant and I love them all!

Peter Robertson	The sense of achievement born of the implacable pursuit of perfection. I go over what I write time and time again and may not send it off until I have given it six or seven revisions. I do believe there is something remorseless about writing. The writer who masters his trade never pampers words but hammers them relentlessly into shape.

Preethi Nair	The freedom

Rebecca Connell	The best thing is when everything just flows and I don’t have to think about what I’m setting down on the page; when I read over a scene that I’ve just written and know that it doesn’t need changing; when I feel so involved with my characters that I can see them clearly in my mind’s eye as if they were real people. I find that I generally hit a couple of “purple patches” when I’m writing a novel where these things happen much more frequently – usually around the beginning and the end, which can make the middle feel like a bit of a chore!

Rebecca Strong	Seeing your characters develop as if you were documenting their lives rather than controlling them.

Ron Morgans	Releasing all those people living in my head. They are bullies. I bake them like gingerbread men, expecting them to be tasty. But they’re not, they are so demanding! ‘I’m sorry old boy. I don’t ride a bike.’ or ‘Oh, no. I wouldn’t be seen dead going out with him.’ My heroine fancies my villain. How wrong is that? Don’t they know I’m their ringmaster? Their Creator?

Rosy Barnes	Oh heck. This is the point where I’m supposed to enthuse about the amazing feeling of writing. How I live to write. How the fingers glide over the computer keys in a surge of creativity connecting me with my inner being, my deepest self, my very soul! To be honest, I find most of the writing process quite painful and often wonder why I do it. But I do get an immense sense of satisfaction when I feel I finally nail an idea, a line, a paragraph. Then it’s all worth it for the odd elated moment or two.

Rosy Thornton	Just writing really. That’s it. I love it.

Sally Nicholls	The best bit for me is when I first start writing a story and I don’t have to worry about where it’s going, I can just write what I want to write and enjoy it. And the last three months when people have been saying nice things about the book and things like translation deals keep happening have been the most exciting of my life.

Sally Zigmond	Everything else. I love getting stuck into a new project. It doesn’t happen very often but I just love it when I find I’m steaming along and several hours pass without my noticing it. But, best of all, I love rewriting. It’s so rewarding seeing a messy first draft develop from an ugly duckling into (hopefully) a swan.

Sara Maitland	Power.

Sarah Salway	Those moments when I have to keep writing so I can find out how my own story ends.

Sarah Stovell	It’s all I want to do, and I can do it without getting dressed.

Shahrukh Husain	Getting an idea commissioned. The buzz of seeing a good first reaction from my publisher or agent

Shelley Weiner	The best? When the writing’s going well and there’s that wonderful sense of fullness, of words and ideas spilling out onto the page. That, for me, is happiness.

Shika	I like the magic of writing. When out of nowhere, seemingly disparate strands of story transform into a vivid painting of John and Mary's early married life where you can smell the apple juice stain in the kitchen table even though they only shared their first kiss a few hundred words ago....

Smith Browne	Quite simple really: seeing your work in print. Is there anything else?!

Sol B River	It will be there when I'm gone. It is something that when fully realised (on, page, stage, or screen) is a great love for me, a very great love. I've worked with people of extraordinary talent and I've had the opportunity to travel and as always widen my knowledge. I'd like to believe that the best is yet to come.

Stella Duffy	The four or five sentences in a completed piece of work that actually are as lovely as they had been in my head. I find that the best of my work is maybe 50% of the perfect idea I had before I started to write it down!

Steve Feasey	Experiencing the sheer thrill of reading back your words and realising that you might actually be quite good at this writing malarkey.

Steven Hague	The best thing about writing is the sense of achievement I get from it. Sometimes I’ll read back a passage that I wrote a few days earlier and barely even recognise the words as my own, leaving me to wonder where on earth that they came from. And of course, being your own boss has its perks!

Sue Moorcroft	Success. It’s not just a case of money, although I have to contribute to the household budget just like other people. But if my work is good enough to be published, it validates me – not just my work, me! – and tells me that I’m good enough. Just getting published isn’t enough: I want to be in bookshops in airports and high streets. I want online rankings to be high and reviews to be good.

Tania Hershman	When a line, a phrase, a whole story comes out pretty much how it was in my head. I really only write for me, I write what I like to read, and when it comes out the way I had heard it, it is somehow miraculous.

Tara Hyland	Being able to go to work in my pyjamas. And making a living out of something I love.

Tim Lott	The acclaim – if it ever arrives.

Tony McGowan	The freedom to do what I want, both in terms of my work, and in terms of how I spend each day. That and the groupies.

Tracy Buchanan	Disappearing into another world.

Trilby Kent	The moment when your characters start to live on the page. Getting positive feedback from readers. Seeing your ideas and imagined worlds existing out there, for real.

Vanessa Curtis	Being different. Realising that there’s no age-limit on writing. Opening the newspaper, seeing my work in print. Writing to music - I choose certain tracks that I think will suit the mood of the current book I’m writing. For instance the book I just wrote for teenagers was written to an angst-ridden raw soundtrack comprising of bands like Green Day, Razorlight, The Killers and the Arctic Monkeys. The best, rare, days are when the writing and the music seem to blend into one and spiral up out of the ordinary and into some place where the words flow out almost faster than I can write them down. One of the advantages of writing fiction, to me, is that most of it’s coming from my own imagination; there’s no need for the books, photographs, footnotes and academic texts that I need to use for non-fiction. But paradoxically, I sometimes miss the structure of having all those tools around me. I love doing research, both for fiction and non-fiction, and sometimes it’s good to learn something new to keep the brain ticking over. I’m currently immersed in reading about the Suffragettes, just for my own pleasure.

Vanessa Gebbie	For the first time in my life I am doing something I really love doing.

William Coles	Sometimes, not very often, but sometimes, you get these really serendipitous moments, when you get an idea that just fits perfectly; or you might write a paragraph which, when you look back, makes you think, "Not too shabby". Gives you a warm glow in the evening, when you think that, for once, you've had not too bad a day at the pit-face.

William Sutton	The lack of imposed structure.

Zoe Lambert	Even though writing is, for me, always personal, the best thing is when I feel I have communicated an experience, someone else’s perspective – a teenager who is partially deaf, a Sudanese asylum seeker. And the pleasure of creating an aesthetic whole, the story.

Zoe Williams	This sounds awful, but I make myself laugh out loud. When I still worked in an office, the guy sitting next to me said the last person he’d worked with who’d done that had had a nervous breakdown.