To coincide with the release of her latest book Last Christmas, which is out tomorrow, Julia Williams agreed to do an author interview with us. It makes for fantastic reading, truly one of the best I’ve conducted this year, and you can also read what her fourth novel The Bridesmaids Pact will be about.

1. Tell us about your latest book, Last Christmas?

Last Christmas is probably my most ambitious book to date, as I follow the stories of four characters in two different locations, and flashback to what happened to them all last Christmas.

For this story I created the fictional village of Hope Christmas, but it’s very much based on the town my mother lives in in Shropshire. Some of the action involving Gabriel, a local farmer, and Marianne the new primary school teacher is set here, and some is set in London following the travails of Catherine and Noel, married with four children and a host of problems. I have four children and I thought giving my heroine four too would ensure maximum disruption to her life!

2. Please tell me you’re working on book 4? I loved Pastures New & Strictly Love!

Thank you so much! It’s really lovely to hear people like my books. As it happens I have just finished book 4, The Bridesmaid’s Pact. Well when I say finished, I use the term advisedly. I’ve finished the first draft, now the real work begins(-: The Bridesmaid’s Pact follows the fortunes of four friends as they fall in love, and out of friendship and life generally conspires against them fulfilling the pact they made as children to be each other’s bridesmaids. Did I say that Last Christmas was my most ambitious book? Scrub that, The Bridesmaid’s Pact has definitely been my most challenging to date!

3. What inspired you to write about Christmas?

Actually my editor asked me to first of all. And to begin with I couldn’t think of a story. Then one day in the swimming pool (I often get ideas when swimming!), I suddenly thought about all the dire nativities I’ve been to over the years, so I hit on the idea of writing about trying to produce the perfect one. Then I came up with Cat, whose online person of the Happy Homemaker is making her rich, while the reality of her domestic life is very far from perfect. I thought I could have a lot of fun with that!

4. Each of your novels has had quite a few main characters, how easy or hard is it to juggle their stories and plotlines?

Hmm. I have made more work for myself as time has gone on. My very first (unpublished) novel had one main character. My second was also mainly following one, but then an editor I met (the very nice Kate Mills at Orion), suggested I open up my writing to include other points of view, and I haven’t looked back since.

It is tricky trying to remember who has done what, and sometimes (as I have felt frequently writing The Bridesmaid’s Pact) I think I’ve bitten off more then I can chew. But I do enjoy weaving all the stories together and it’s satisfying bringing them to a conclusion. I have really enjoyed in both Strictly Love and Last Christmas writing from the male perspective (any boys reading, do hope I’ve got it right!) because I think often women get the focus on the emotional stuff, and men do emotion to, but probably a lot less noisily then we do! Gabriel in Last Christmas has become one of my favourite characters. I love him. (It helps that he is inspired by Richard Armitage (-:)

5. How did you get published?

I was lucky enough to spend ten years working in publishing, though I was working in children’s books. One of the best bits of advice I was given when I left my last job to concentrate on my family, was that I should join the Romantic Novelist’s Association. I spent a year writing my first book, then sent it off to the RNA’s New Writer’s Scheme. Like many a virgin writer, I thought my prose was nigh on perfect, and was rudely awakened to discover that in fact, it wasn’t. I then decided to send it for critique to the estimable Hilary Johnson, who helped me get it into a much more saleable shape. Thanks to her help, I got taken on by my agent, Dot Lumley in 2000, but it was to be seven years and two ms later before I eventually got published. I was very very lucky to get taken on by Avon when I did, and without it and a lot of fantastic support from both my agent and my many friends in the RNA I think I would have given up. So my story I hope will inspire others, persistence and hard work can pay off!

6. Who are some of your favourite authors/books?

Oh I love so many different kinds of books I could be here all day. I did English at university and retain a fondness for nineteenth century literature as my last year involved reading rather a lot of it. My favourite book of all time is To Kill a Mocking Bird , and my favourite modern authors are Margaret Atwood and Terry Pratchett, both of whom are geniuses in different ways. In the romance genre, I love Katie Fforde, Jill Mansell, and Kate Harrison, but I am also keen on fantasy. One of my favourite comic fantasy novels of recent years has been my writing chum, Marie Phillips hilarious Gods Behaving Badly. I also adored The Time Traveller’s Wife, and have a long term ambition to write a parallel universe/love story in the same kind of tradition. That might really be biting of more then I can chew though!

7. What is your normal writing day like?

Ha! There is nothing normal about my writing life I can assure you. As I have four children, and an aged mother in law to consider, I tend to fit it in as and when I can. Most of my writing takes place in my study when the sprogs are at school. bit I am a procrastinator extraordinaire and spend far too much time on twitter. I have discovered recently though that I write much better by hand, so my plan for the next book is to be disciplined and take myself off to the library to write in the mornings. We’ll see how long that lasts…

In the last few weeks I seem to have spent an inordinate amount of time at various medical appointments for different members of the family, so while in theory I have five hours a day to write, in practise it rarely happens. I keep thinking it might happen one day…

8. How long did it take to write Pastures New compared to Strictly Love and Last Christmas with it being your first book?

Pastures New probably took the best part of two years to write, and a lot of it was written in my head pushing a buggy to and from school. Having a deadline concentrates the mind wonderfully though and the last two books probably took about a year each. I like to think I’m getting a bit better each time, but I think I might be about to fall flat on my face with that one!

9. What’s the best thing about being an author?

Oh living in your head with all these wonderful characters whose stories you get totally involved in. I have always been a dreamer, and now I get paid to do it. Magic.

10. Finally, what advice would you give to those wanting to get their books published?

Be realistic. If people are telling you writing’s not your thing, they aren’t necessarily being unkind, they’re trying to help. If however you’re getting good vibes, keep at it, listen and learn from criticism, work hard and be persistent. We all need a bit of luck along the way, but no one gets published by dropping at the first hurdle.

Thanks so much, Julia! See my review of Last Christmas here.

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