| Susannah Bates |
 Susannah Bates was born and brought up near Ipswich, Suffolk. She taught in Tamale Nada, India before reading English at Durham university, where she co-wrote her first play, Smoke, for the Edinburgh Fringe. It was nominated for the Guardian Student theatre award.After graduating in 1992, Susannah went into Law but in 1988 she decided to give it up and and write full time. Susannah lives in West London but often escapes to write at her family home in the Scottish borders. Susannah has been compared to Penny Vincenzi by Louise Bagshawe, who described her debut novel as "Unputdownable". Susannah's books:  All About LauraMel is engaged to David, who is obsessed with Laura, who is married to Joss, who has an affair with 17 year old Alice who is determined to seduce Ned, who is to brother of David..engaged to Mel. Reader's comments: Bates isn’t one of the big chick lit names but I found this much more original than most of the dippy girl finally meets man of her dreams (who was there all the time) stories. A real find. 7.5/10  click here to buy All About LauraOther books by Susannah: Charmed Lives Chicklit talks to Susannah Bates... So, where do you get your ideas? Susannah: I start with a single thing that interests me - like, say, infidelity bothers me,' or 'I want to write about a portrait painter'. From that idea, there will be obvious links - like, 'a portrait painter would have sitters; he would have been to art school and painted nude models; he would have framers and gallery-owners in his life; he'd live in a studio; he wouldn't be rich... etc.' What drives him? Why is he an artist? What difficulties can I throw into his path? What would happen if 'x' came on the scene? Or if 'y' blurted out his secret...? By asking those kind of questions, I can usually devise a plot and build some momentum. But the thing would be dreary and mechanical without the seasoning that can be found in daily life, the scraps that can be gathered from whatever comes my way: from daytime television, or trashy magazines, or the dramas of my own life - big and small - the possibilities are endless. How did you go about finding an agent/publisher? Susannah: I sent manuscripts to 4 or 5 agents who were recommended to me. I made a point of ringing them before sending the script - to introduce myself and ask if they were interested. All of them were charming, said they'd be delighted to read my script and assured me that they'd get back within a month. Only one of them actually bothered to do this (3 years later, and I still haven't heard from the others!) - and she was the one who agreed to represent me. I think I was very lucky. Do you have a writing routine? Susannah: On a good day, I work for four or five hours in the morning, have a late lunch, do very little in the afternoon and maybe pick up again at about five o'clock and work until I get hungry or fall asleep. More usually, I will stop after lunch. It's not a normal job, and four hours' solid concentration can be highly draining. Sometimes, I don't work at all. But my general rule is that once I reach 1,000 words or 5 hours, I don't feel guilty if I stop work for the day. Any advice on going for the long haul and completing a novel when it feels like it's never going to end? Susannah: I told everybody - my family, my friends, my ex-employers - that I was writing a novel. The thought of crawling back and telling them all that I'd given up simply wasn't an option. Reviews Recently we have been reviewing and changing our review process. It is now our policy to offer a review package of: * Independent review of book * Book cover * Author interview or biography * Photo of author * Links through to author's site and/or publisher's site. We now charge £75 for this service. If you'd like to know more please visit here Other authors: Cecilia Aherne / Sophie Kinsella / Jodi Picoult |
| Posted: 31/03/2005 21:50:12 Last Updated: 09/10/2007 12:20:04 |
Chick Lit > Chick Lit Authors :: Susannah Bates