Ask the Author: Lucy Dillon
Answered Questions (4)
Lucy Dillon
I get my inspiration from:
The Whitehaven News
The Hereford Times
The 155 bus to Elephant and Castle
Twitter
The Basset Hound Club of Great Britain
my friends
my friends' friends
the path behind my house that goes through the orchard where I meet fellow dog walkers whose names I literally HAVE NEVER KNOWN and yet whose dogs I know from a distance of 250m
too many cafes to mention
my mum
my extraordinary agent, Lizzy Kremer
Coronation Street
... and sometimes, ideas just pop out of some weird cobwebby cupboard at the back of my head.
:)
The Whitehaven News
The Hereford Times
The 155 bus to Elephant and Castle
The Basset Hound Club of Great Britain
my friends
my friends' friends
the path behind my house that goes through the orchard where I meet fellow dog walkers whose names I literally HAVE NEVER KNOWN and yet whose dogs I know from a distance of 250m
too many cafes to mention
my mum
my extraordinary agent, Lizzy Kremer
Coronation Street
... and sometimes, ideas just pop out of some weird cobwebby cupboard at the back of my head.
:)
Lucy Dillon
Ronny Ann, what a kind thing to say - thank you very much indeed! (no need for a question mark there.)
Lucy Dillon
Hello, Zoe
Wow! That's quite an animal family! I would love a big gang of dogs like that. One of my friends talks wistfully about having 'a fleet of spaniels' which I think is such a great description of such a silky, rippling wave of dogginess.
Most of my books are about a woman and her relationship with dogs - Gina, and her greyhound Buzz; Libby and her love/hate relationship with her mother-in-law's basset hound Lord Bob; and most recently, Eva and her two silent pug companions, Bumble and Bee. I love writing about the complex yet very simple relationships we have with our dogs, the way they know us so well, what they give us that human beings often find hard, and how rewarding it is to learn a form of communication without words. I do sometimes try not to put a dog in but... one always sneaks in somewhere.
And I wish Longhampton were real too. It's somewhere I go a lot in my head when the real world is just too grim. Who wouldn't want to live in a town where there's a successful independent bookshop, a park with a coffee stand by the entrance and gorgeous displays all year round, a reliable and attractive Irish builder who always seems to be able to fit in your job, and locals who are KIND to one another?! :)
Thank you for your question, and good luck with your own writing!
Wow! That's quite an animal family! I would love a big gang of dogs like that. One of my friends talks wistfully about having 'a fleet of spaniels' which I think is such a great description of such a silky, rippling wave of dogginess.
Most of my books are about a woman and her relationship with dogs - Gina, and her greyhound Buzz; Libby and her love/hate relationship with her mother-in-law's basset hound Lord Bob; and most recently, Eva and her two silent pug companions, Bumble and Bee. I love writing about the complex yet very simple relationships we have with our dogs, the way they know us so well, what they give us that human beings often find hard, and how rewarding it is to learn a form of communication without words. I do sometimes try not to put a dog in but... one always sneaks in somewhere.
And I wish Longhampton were real too. It's somewhere I go a lot in my head when the real world is just too grim. Who wouldn't want to live in a town where there's a successful independent bookshop, a park with a coffee stand by the entrance and gorgeous displays all year round, a reliable and attractive Irish builder who always seems to be able to fit in your job, and locals who are KIND to one another?! :)
Thank you for your question, and good luck with your own writing!
Lucy Dillon
Hello! I'm so glad you enjoyed All I Ever Wanted. It's not part of a series, as such, but all my books (so far) are set in the same town, so characters do reappear from time to time in other stories, if their lives take them into that particular storyline.
I'm guessing that it was Eva's story, rather than Caitlin's, that you felt was left open-ended? That was intentional, to be honest. I try to make my books reflect real life, and some emotional situations don't tie up as neatly as others - trying not to give away any spoilers here! - but I hope it's clear from the decisions Eva makes by the end that her life has changed course, and that she's going to enjoy every step of a journey she didn't expect to take at the start. What she was looking for, I felt, was something in herself, and I definitely think she's found it.
Hmm, cryptic...
I'm writing my next book at the moment, though, and very naturally, Caitlin has reappeared in someone else's storyline - so there may be some opportunities there for some hints as to where Eva has got to in the intervening months.
Thanks for reading, and thanks very much for asking a question!
I'm guessing that it was Eva's story, rather than Caitlin's, that you felt was left open-ended? That was intentional, to be honest. I try to make my books reflect real life, and some emotional situations don't tie up as neatly as others - trying not to give away any spoilers here! - but I hope it's clear from the decisions Eva makes by the end that her life has changed course, and that she's going to enjoy every step of a journey she didn't expect to take at the start. What she was looking for, I felt, was something in herself, and I definitely think she's found it.
Hmm, cryptic...
I'm writing my next book at the moment, though, and very naturally, Caitlin has reappeared in someone else's storyline - so there may be some opportunities there for some hints as to where Eva has got to in the intervening months.
Thanks for reading, and thanks very much for asking a question!
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