Ask the Author: Roisin Meaney
Answered Questions (13)
Roisin Meaney
Cintia - why do you want to be a writer? You sound thoroughly discouraged before you even start. Ideas are everywhere - conversations (your own or overheard), news items (TV, radio, newspapers, online), things you observe, things you daydream about - your mission if you want to be a writer is to grab onto the next thing you see/hear/read that grabs you, and play with it and tease it out and work it up until you have the bones of a story. You can't let statistics about rejections bother you - if we all did that, nothing would ever get written. Don't write to be published - if you're good enough, it will happen. Write because it stimulates and challenges and intrigues you, and persevere when it frustrates and infuriates and depresses you. Give yourself a deadline and stick to it. Write every day, even if it means getting up an hour early. Dont be discouraged, be confident. Good luck!
Roisin Meaney
Crikey - this has to qualify as the most original question I've got! Hmmmm......how about:
As the anesthetic began to take effect. the surgeon removed his mask and smiled at her. 'Sleep well,' said the man who had been stalking her silently for over a month.
As the anesthetic began to take effect. the surgeon removed his mask and smiled at her. 'Sleep well,' said the man who had been stalking her silently for over a month.
Roisin Meaney
If by fictional book world you mean a fantasy setting that doesn't exist in the real world, I'd be a bit flummoxed. I'm not a fan of fantasy; I prefer the stories I read to be set firmly in this world. They don't have to be present day, I'm happy to travel back in time (but not forwards) - so to answer your question in a roundabout way, if it had to be a non-real place I'd probably head for Hogwarts (I read the first Harry Potter and I did enjoy it), and learn a spell that would magic my books into worldwide bestsellers! But if it could be a setting in this world, I'd go back to the England of Jane Austen (because I love the dresses) and go on the hunt for a rich husband! (I know, terribly shallow. Don't hate me.) :)
Roisin Meaney
Hi Mary Lou, many thanks for the support. Hachette will most certainly be posting The Street Where You Live on Netgalley- official publication date is June 8, so however long before that they usually go up (I'm clueless), you should find it. xx
Roisin Meaney
Ha ha - good question! Sadly (or maybe not) my life up to this has been pretty much mystery-free; as far as I know, I don't even have an ancestor who got up to any kind of mischief or left any mystery behind that I could claim! So I have to depend on other people's mysteries, which I come upon any way I can: overheard conversations, gossip with pals, newspaper reports etc!
Roisin Meaney
Can't choose, so it has to be a tie between Cathy and Heathcliff and Elizabeth and Mr D'Arcy. Just struck me that the men in question are 'cut from the same cloth' - both dark and brooding, and not all that easy to get along with. Could explain why my own romantic history has been .... erratic, to say the least. Damn those dark brooding men.
Roisin Meaney
Roughly a year, which is totally dictated by my publisher contracts. First draft, which would generally involve about 90,000 words, takes six to eight months, and the rest of the time is taken up with edits, during which the manuscript usually grows a bit, anything up to 120k words. I sometimes feel I'd like a bit more time with a book, but then there's a danger I'd overwork it....hard to know!
Roisin Meaney
Haven't had serious blocks (touching wood) but if I'm a bit stuck I set it aside and try to ignore it for a while, and busy myself with other stuff like gardening or walking or doing a bit of housework (which I usually avoid like the plague). This generally works (touching more wood).
Roisin Meaney
Being able to work anywhere I want. When I'm sick of the Irish weather I pack up the laptop and take flight to wherever is warm and not too far away. Sometimes I go to writers' retreats, other times I find myself a little pad, preferably near a beach. Wonderful.
Roisin Meaney
Write every day, even if it's only for a half hour, and read lots. It's as simple as that.
Roisin Meaney
A book that's due out in July 2016. The title is The Reunion, and it tells the story of two sisters who have just been invited to the 20-year reunion of their leaving cert year in school. The book takes a look back over their lives in the intervening years.
Roisin Meaney
It's my fulltime job. I don't write, I don't eat. Easy motivation!
Roisin Meaney
That's easy - my last book, I'll be home for Christmas, was the third in a series that I set on an imaginary island off Ireland's west coast,, so I just continued the story with my old friends on the island, and introduced a new one to stir things up a bit.
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