Tag Archive | Jane Austen

Meet Author Phillipa Ashley

Nov28

I had the great pleasure of interviewing the lovely Phillipa Ashley.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Phillipa Ashley, loves writing lively, sexy, funny romantic fiction. After studying English Language and Literature at Oxford University, she worked as a copywriter and journalist.

Her first novel, Decent Exposure – titled DATING MR DECEMBER for the US – won the Romantic Novelists Association New Writers Award. In 2009, it was filmed as a Lifetime TV movie called 12 Men of Christmas starring Kristin Chenoweth and Josh Hopkins.

She lives in an English village with her husband and daughter and loves Jane Austen, hiking and body boarding.

And here is her interview:

  •  Born with a pen in your hand or writing came as a shock brigade?

Writing romance certainly came as a shock to me! I didn’t start until 2005, after being inspired to write romance by the BBC TV costume drama North & South. But I have always loved reading and writing. At school, I almost always took the nonfiction route when it came to exams and essays so it’s no surprise I ended up as a freelance journalist and copywriter. I’m afraid studying English Lit at Oxford University only made me think more that I could never write a novel. Didn’t you have to be Charles Dickens or William Golding to do that? I had no idea there were millions of romance readers out there and that there’s a huge thirst for escapist, sexy, entertaining books alongside the worthy, serious ones.

  •  Have you ever considered packing it in?

Frequently, but so far, I haven’t actually given up.  If I’m struggling mid-book, I try to take a couple of weeks break and  talk through the issues with my agent or writer friends, Nell Dixon or Elizabeth Hanbury – or even my daughter and husband. Sometimes simply talking out loud about the problems, can crystallize the solution in my mind.

  •  What do you like best about writing?

Being able to create whole ‘worlds’ and spend time with a rich array of characters, gorgeous angst ridden heroes and sparky, witty heroines in settings that inspire me. Writing is pure escapism for me. My new US release, Carrie Goes off the Map enabled me to escape, literally and in my imagination, on a road trip around the South West of England.  Instead of sitting at my desk I could stride along dramatic cliffs and listen to the surf thunder on a beach along with the characters – and get paid to do it!

 

Thank you for having me on your blog, Elle!

My pleasure!

 

Website: www.phillipa-ashley.com

 

Follow me on twitter at @PhillipaAshley or Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/phillipa.ashley

 

Phillipa’s latest releases are FEVER CURE (Samhain Publishing – e-book available now) and CARRIE GOES OFF THE MAP (Sourcebooks paperback and e book – December 1st 2011.)

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Write like a man, just write

Jun29

Why would I want to write like a man? I’m a woman.

Do I want to write like a woman? What does that mean?

I want to write like me, my own personal style. Do I write Chick Lit? No, but does that mean I look down on it? No.

All styles have their places, readers are free to choose what they like.

Writers cannot please everyone, we can only try our best, give it all and hope others will fall in love with the stories we have weaved.

As I’m nearing publication, I keep on doubting myself as I do every time. I’m not the only one. Expectations are high, my novels are my babies. Yet, once they’re out there, they don’t belong to me anymore.

I’m lucky, I have other projects on the go. In a way, I shall be relieved to get on with these, move on. Writing a novel is an emotional process for me, letting go is another. I laugh and cry with my characters as the story progresses, like a mad woman.

But back to the writing like a man or a woman controversy. Comments have been fierce following VS Naipaul‘s latest outburst. Do I care? Yes, and no. To be honest, he can think what he likes. The man likes to stir things up, so let him.

I guess I’d rather be told I write like a woman, then a man. Yes, I am an emotional person. So what? Why should that be wrong? We all have different personalities, let them shine. Why bother, if we all wrote the same stories in the same style?

Men are said to be more aggressive when submitting to agents and editors while we poor women are too weak to persevere in the face of adversity. How long are we going to keep these stereotypes alive? Men can be as emotional as women can be strong. Some women I know are way scarier than men.

So, let’s throw out our prejudices and remember what’s important. The story. Not long ago I picked up a book. I put it down after five pages when the main character turned out to be a witch. I snorted, witches, I thought this was a ‘serious’ book. However I picked it up again. ‘What’s the matter with you?’ I asked myself. I had enjoyed it thus far. Why stop at the mention of witches?

I don’t do witches and fantasy, but this book turned out to be a revelation. The writing was superb, the fantasy kept to a minimum. A beautiful love story, a woman who fights back.

My new novel is a love story, a young woman who turns her life round, proof that we don’t have to suffer our lives. We all got it in ourselves to fight back, to refuse the odds, to break vicious circles.

http://indiopress.wordpress.com/2011/05/18/the-man-who-loves-chick-lit-via/

Praise VS Naipaul

Jun2

Let’s all bow down to VS Naipaul.

No, really? Feeling this superior must be divine.

Oh, I’m sorry. I’m a woman. I have feelings. I’m sentimental.

I’m glad we are ‘different’, very glad.

So we should be, and we should embrace, celebrate those differences. Do we want to live in a world made of clones? Do we want to read books all in a similar style?

How can a person be so pompous and so arrogant?

“VS Naipaul finds no woman writer his literary match – not even Jane Austen“

“Nobel laureate says there is no female author whom he considers his equal.”

Literary critic Helen Brown described them as “arrogant, attention-seeking”.He should heed the words of George Eliot – a female writer – whose works have had a far more profound impact on world culture than his.”

Also from the Guardian:

Well, it was fun while it lasted. After 15 years, novelists Paul Theroux and VS Naipaul have finally ended their bookish bust-up, with a little help from Ian McEwan. Friends for three decades, the pair fell out in the mid-90s after the Trinidadian sold off one of Theroux’s books – personally dedicated to Naipaul – for $1,500. Theroux responded with a memoir of their friendship, Sir Vidia’s Shadow, which labelled Naipaul a racist, an egoist and a mercenary.

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