A few months ago I received Chrissie Manby’s new book Getting Over Mr Right and I couldn’t wait to read it as I’m a huge fan of her work. I read it a month or so ago and thoroughly enjoyed it, you can see my review tomorrow in fact. I asked if we could interview Chrissie and here it is for you all. Enjoy!

1. Tell us about your latest release Getting Over Mr Right?

GOMR is my fourteenth novel. It’s about Ashleigh Prince, a thirty-something Londoner who reacts very badly to being dumped. Very badly indeed. If you’ve ever been embarrassed by the way you obsessed over an ex, you’ll feel much better after reading this book.

2. Can you tell us about what you’re currently working on?

I’m working on a novel called ‘What I did on my holidays’ which is about a trip to Majorca that goes badly wrong. I am also working on a horror movie. Comedy. Horror. I enjoy mixing things up.

3. I really enjoyed reading Getting Over Mr Right, although I thought Ashleigh was indeed a bit mad, were any of the antics Ashleigh gets up to real? Have you ever spent £1000 on a psychic cat?

Trust me, I had to tone down some of the stalking stories I heard to write Ashleigh! Personally, I’ve never done anything so crazy as spend a grand on advice from a psychic cat, but in the past I have spent way too much time reading the horoscopes of hopeless exes to see if they’re going to have a bad month and come crawling back.

4. Where did the idea come from for Crazy In Love, it’s quite different from most of your plots.

Crazy in Love came out of the time I spent in LA, where you’re nobody unless you’re famous and everyone is obsessed with sharing their most intimate secrets to get there. Birdie, the book’s heroine, is a Paris Hilton type who learns the hard way that fame and money are nothing compared to love.

5. The only book you’ve written a sequel to is Lizzie Jordan’s Secret Life with Running Away From Richard, would you ever bring back more of your characters for a sequel or would you ever bring Lizzie back for a third book?

I’d love to bring Lizzie back since she’s probably the character closest to me. She’s getting on a bit now though. Lizzie Jordan and her Amazing Menopause, perhaps?

6. After completing your books and sending them off for publication, have you ever re-read them? If not, why, and if yes, which ones?

I don’t reread them because it’s deeply annoying to have a revelation about how a book could be better when it’s already gone to print!

7. You’ve been with Hodder and Stoughton since book one, what’s it been like having the same publisher for every single book? How did your original deal come around?

I feel like one of the family at Hodder, though the editor who bought my first book for them has long since moved on. My original deal, however, was not with Hodder at all. I wrote an erotic novella for Little Brown as a dare! The novelist who set the dare passed the manuscript to his editor. I was very lucky.

8. On average, how long does it take you to write your first draft of the book to getting it into it’s publication phase?

I’m getting faster and faster with each book. I estimate it takes about three months to write a first draft. It’s usually published a year after I start writing.

9. When you’re not writing your own books, which books/authors do you like to read?

I read whatever I can get my hands on but I especially love Anne Tyler. She captures family life so well.

10. You write your books in third-person and first-person, do you have a preferred narrative or do you find both styles easy to write?

First person is faster and you get to know your main character more quickly but third person allows for more plot twists. I suppose it depends on the book. GOMR was a natural subject for a first person narrative. Crazy In Love, with its complicated plot, needed to show action that the heroine was unaware of. That had to be third person.

11. Finally, what advice would you give to wannabe writers?

Write! Finish a whole draft of whatever it is you’re working on before you do too much tweaking. Don’t get caught in the trap of rewriting the first three chapters of your brilliant novel again and again and again. If you want to be published then you will put yourself so far ahead of the pack if you have a complete draft that could maybe use a polish, rather than 3000 perfect words. Don’t hesitate. Spew everything out and cut the dead wood out afterwards.
Remember, no-one has to read it until you let them, so let your rubbish first draft be born!

Thanks so much, Chrissie!

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