Q&A with Nicola Gill

 Welcome to The Comfy Chair Blog...
Nicola Gill

Nicola Gill lives in London with her husband and two sons. At the age of five, when all of the other little girls wanted to be ballet dancers, she decided she wanted to be an author. Her ballet teacher was very relieved.

When she’s not at her desk, you can usually find Nicola reading, cooking up vast vats of food for friends and family or watching box sets. Occasionally she even leaves the house…

1.  What was your favourite childhood book/author? 
My earliest reading memory is falling in love with Enid Blyton’s Mr Meddle series when I was four. I was living in South Africa with my mum for six months and desperately missed my dad (my parents were divorced). Every week, Dad would send me a Mr Meddle book.

 

2.   What inspired you to start writing and how long has it taken you to get to this point? 
Well, I was five when I first announced I wanted to be an author (weird kid!) so I’m not sure exactly what inspired me. I think I just always liked telling stories.

 

It’s taken me a *while* to get to this point. I didn’t start trying to write fiction until I was nearly forty. I think this was for all the usual reasons – family, work – but also because I lacked the confidence to try. When I did eventually start writing, like most authors, I had a long and bumpy journey to publication.

3.  Describe your writing space - neat and ordered or creative chaos? 
I’m normally quite tidy but when I’m getting near to the end of a draft, my desk gets messier and messier and I start to feel as if I’m drowning in post-it notes.

4.   What is the easiest and hardest part of the writing process? 
I think the easiest part of the writing process is when your book really takes hold and almost seems to be ‘writing itself’. You know the characters and the story well and it’s just a matter of getting it down on the page.

 

Conversely, the hardest part of writing is when you feel that nothing is flowing and that you don’t know what to write next. When this happens you just have to force yourself to keep going and have a lot of tea and biscuits!

 

5. Which other authors are you influenced by?
Ooh, lots! I’m an avid reader and love lots of different genres. Here are a few of my favourite authors: David Nicholls, Nick Hornby, Curtis Sittenfeld, Katherine Heiny, Jonathan Tropper, Celeste Ng, Marian Keyes, Anne Tyler. I could go on!

 

 

6. What does literary success “look” like to you?
That’s a really interesting question and I think the truth is that it’s human nature to move to move the goalposts. What I mean by that is that it’s easy to think: I will be proud of myself when I finish a book/ get an agent/ get a publishing deal and then forget to feel like that when you achieve those things.

It would obviously be lovely to sell a gazillion books worldwide, be massively critically acclaimed and have my books adapted for the screen. But, in the meantime, I think it’s important to celebrate all the milestones along the way.

 7.      How do you select the names of your characters?

My process for selecting character names is quite random and I often just ‘feel’ that a certain first name suits someone. That said, it’s important to take into account things like age and background. I try to avoid names of close family and friends too

8. Do you hide any secret ‘messages’ in your book that only a few people will understand? 

I don’t knowingly hide ‘messages’ for the select few but it is interesting to see what different readers take from a story. For example, I got a really lovely message from someone who had been inspired to call her estranged sister after reading We Are Family. I felt enormously touched by that.

 

9.  If your book was to be made into a film/TV programme, which actors would play which role? 
If we choosing actors for We Are Family, I’d love Roisin Connaty to play Laura and Felicity Jones to play Jess. Oh, and we’d need someone fabulous to play their uber-difficult mum – maybe Kirstin Scott-Thomas?

 

If I’m allowed to pick actors for my other book, The Neighbours (please, I love this game!), I’d go for Karen Gillan as Ginny and Patsy Kensit as Cassie.

 

10.  What do you hope your readers take away from your book?
As long as readers enjoy the book, I’m happy. That said, I’d love it if it helps anyone to understand that there is no ‘right’ way to deal with grief and that it’s not linear.

 

Lastly, Jenn (The Comfy Chair) likes to enjoy a good read snuggled up with a cup of tea and piece of cake... what cake or sweet treat would you suggest to accompany your book? 

 

I agree that a good book, a cup of tea and a piece of cake is the perfect combination. My favourite types of cakes are the plain, unshowy looking ones that taste fab. I’m not mad about buttercream icing which means I don’t really like cupcakes. However, a nice slice of lemon drizzle, or banana cake or the coconut and raspberry slice from the Roasting Tin cookbook … mmm!

WE ARE FAMILY 

Released 3rd September 2020

Laura and Jess might be sisters, but they’re very different people. Laura is laid-back, eats cheese in bed, and takes life as it comes. Jess, meanwhile, is the classic overachiever: Chief of Chivvying, Queen of all WhatsApp groups. They’re family, but they’re not exactly friends.

When their mum dies, the sisters struggle to agree on anything, from where to scatter the ashes to whether “passed away” is an acceptable term. 

Will they realise how much they need each other before it’s too late?

AVAILABLE HERE

Please visit Nicola's website or social media for more:

https://nicolagill.com

Instagram: nicolagillauthor

Twitter: @Nicola_J_Gill