Ask the Author: Daisy Goodwin
Answered Questions (8)
Daisy Goodwin
Edith Wharton is definitely an influence. Well spotted! But The American Heiress came out in the UK before the premiere of Downton Abbey so it may be the other way round... It certainly is a coincidence that the show and the book both have American heiresses called Cora.
So glad you have enjoyed my books. Means a great deal to me to hear from satisfied readers.
So glad you have enjoyed my books. Means a great deal to me to hear from satisfied readers.
Daisy Goodwin
Not at all. In fact I think she is rather a heroine. I think she shows some tact in the scene at the photographic exhibition. But she was also a very demanding woman.
Daisy Goodwin
I go to a gallery or an exhibition and look at something interesting. Usually my problem has been solved by the time I sit down to write again. But I don't really believe in writer's block.
Daisy Goodwin
Seeing people reading your book on the train!
Daisy Goodwin
Get the words down on paper. You can't be a writer if you don't actually write. Lots of would be writers are too self critical. Remember Winston Churchill's maxim 'don't let perfection, stand in the way of the good." And when you do write always aim for a set number of words. I do a 1000 at each writing session. If you do that twice a week for a year you will have written a novel.
Daisy Goodwin
My new book is set at the court of Queen Victoria around 1869. It is a fascinating time, the Queen has been in seclusion since the death of Albert and she has become extremely close to her highland servant John Brown. My protagonist is a girl called Florence who has been raised in San Francisco but is now serving the Queen as a Maid of Honour.
Daisy Goodwin
My problem is having too many ideas. I do a lot of eavesdropping, on the bus, in the park, at the theatre. And I love reading old newspapers. They are always full of great leads
Daisy Goodwin
From a jigsaw puzzle! My father gave me a puzzle of the famous Winterhalter portrait of Empress Elizabeth of Austria where she is wearing a spangled tulle ball dress and twenty seven stars in her hair when I was a child revering from a tonsillectomy. The image has stayed with me ever since. And once I started reading about her life I knew I had to put her in a book.
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