If you haven’t heard of Melissa Hill but love chick-lit then you have definitely missed one brilliant author. She is the Queen of plot-twists and is a very clever writer. I read my first Melissa Hill novel (All Because of You) last year some time and loved how well written it was. I’ve since read a few more and have her new novel to read. Here on chicklitreviews we’ve reviewed Something You Should Know, Wishful Thinking, Before I Forget & we were the first to review her new novel Please Forgive Me (which is released July 23rd). Here is our interview with Melissa!

1. Describe your latest novel in a sentence.

Before I Forget is about a girl with a head injury who tries to fight long-term memory loss by making a to-do list and having the most unforgettable year of her life.

2. What, if anything, are you currently working on?

I’m in the middle of writing my ninth book, which is so far untitled, but is another tale of love and friendship with an intriguing mystery at the heart of it.

3. Where do you get your book ideas?

Ideas can come from anywhere, really – snippets of conversation, points of disagreement (especially amongst women!) but also from my own experiences. For example, the idea for Before I Forget came after an amazing trip to the Great Barrier Reef where I enjoyed the experience so much I was determined to ensure I never, ever forgot it. But what if something happened that meant I didn’t have a choice, and the idea about a girl who is told she will lose all her memories (good and bad) was born.

4. I read on the bookseller that you’ve just signed a new deal with Hodder & Stoughton for four more novels, do you have the ideas/plots already set for all of the books? If so can you give us any hints on what they might be about?

I always have lots of ideas, but I don’t like to plan my books too far ahead as I think this would take all the fun out of the writing process. Instead I tend to start with an idea and see where it takes me. Seeing the characters and story come alive on the page is the most magical part of the process for me.

5. I’ve read four of your novels (Wishful Thinking, All Because Of You, Something You Should Know and Not What You Think) and have all of your others ready to read and have been surprised and shocked with a lot of the twists you put in - for example in Something You Should Know, you mention very early in the book something regarding Shane - I can’t remember the exact words - so when his twist came along I was shocked completely. Anyway, on to the question: do you plan the twists in advance and how careful do you have to be not to give the twists away until you’re absolutely sure you want us to know?

I don’t plan the twists as such; I usually just take a standard situation and then see how I can turn it on its head. With each subsequent book it’s becoming harder and harder to come up with surprises, because my regular readers are now starting to second-guess me and determined to catch me out. So instead of double-bluffing, I now have to triple and quadruple bluff, which as you can imagine takes a lot of mental gymnastics!

5. How did you get published, how long did it take?

I finished my first book Something You Should Know in March of 2002, sent it out to a number of publishers and somehow got one by August of that same year. I was extremely lucky but ignorance is bliss, because if I’d known from the outset how difficult the odds were, I’m not sure I would have even tried!

6. What are you currently reading/who are some of your favourite authors?

I’m currently reading a thriller, In The Woods by Tana French, which I’m really enjoying. I’m a big fan of most of the Irish women’s fiction writers, like Patricia Scanlan and Cathy Kelly, but my absolute favourite is the crime author Jeffery Deaver who because of his wonderfully twisty plots is a real inspiration to me.

7. Are any of your characters like you in anyway?

I suppose there has to be little bits of me in most of them somewhere, but I guess the character that’s closest to my own personality would probably be Leah from Never Say Never. She’s easygoing, loyal, and hardworking, and like me, is a terrible driver!

8. What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Read as much as you can and read critically. Study what works for you and what doesn’t, but don’t make too many comparisons to your own writing as you’re on a learning curve. Even now, while I’m writing the first draft of a novel, I will not – under any circumstances - allow myself to read another women’s fiction novel. I’ll read thrillers or non-fiction but nothing like I’m writing myself, otherwise, I get really disheartened despite the fact that mine is still a work-in-progress.

Thanks so much, Melissa!

Tags: Author Interview, melissa hill

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