Last year, in September, I read one of my favourite novels of 2010 in A Moment Like Forever by Martina Reilly. It was an intriguing novel and I loved the plot twist, it blew me out of the water in fact. The book will be out in paperback this week so to celebrate, we have an interview with the lovely Martina!

1. Tell us about your latest novel A Moment Like Forever?

A Moment Like Forever is being published in paperback in March. It’s about lots of things, but mainly it’s about loneliness and the redeeming power of friendship. It tells the story of Andrea and Lexi, two best friends, who, whilst travelling through Australia were involved in an accident. Andrea was left facially scarred while Lexi vanished. The book begins two years after this event. Andrea, who still misses her friend, is now a near recluse. She enjoys her life though, working from home, taking care of her terrifying cat Baz and advising her boss Alistair on how to capture the girl of his dreams. Then one evening, Andrea’s sister asks if she and her yoga obsessed boyfriend Luke can come to stay and slowly they bring life and all it’s drama back into Andrea’s world. Meanwhile, Lexi too has found a life of sorts in a small beach town called Salue. The book follows both Andrea and Lexi and slowly and very shockingly (I hope for the reader) the mystery about Lexi is uncovered. It’s a funny comic novel but one I hope that has real heart.

2. Are you currently working on a new novel? If so, can you tell us anything about it and when it might be published? (I’m really hoping the answer to the question is ‘yes’ and ‘soon’ as I love your novels!)

Aw, thanks so much! To be honest, I’ve written a number of things in the last couple of years but the commercial fiction book is provisionally titled “Even Better Than the Real Thing” and it’s about art forgery. It asks the question – what would you do if you discovered that your dead father had conned the art world out of millions with a fake painting painted by YOU? This is the dilemma artist Eve faces and together with her attractive neighbour Larry, they head to Florida with a plan to get the fake painting back. They do this by posing as art collectors. The book is about fakes, not just in art but in life and wonders do we ever truly know anyone? And in whom can we place our trust. It’s a lot of fun, quite plot driven but it does have a serious point to make and I dare anyone not to fall in love with amoral Larry. As for when it’s coming out – hopefully 2012, but I’ll let you know!

3. I absolutely loved A Moment Like Forever, and I literally gasped when the truth about Lexi came out. Without giving too much away, did you plan that twist from the very beginning? How much careful planning had to go into Lexi’s side of the story so you didn’t give anything away sooner than you wanted to?

Yes, it was a hard twist to pull off but because people told me they were literally shocked when they read the book, I think I did it pretty well. (polishes halo) The clues are there if you reread the book, but they do slot in nicely. I never normally do twists as I am afraid of sacrificing the characters and story for the twist, but with this book, I really had no choice. I played with a few twist-less scenarios but nothing came close to making the book as riveting as telling the story in this way. A lot of planning (and research – and I can’t say what in case I do give the twist away!) went into Lexi’s story. All the details are accurate or as accurate as I understood them to be and yep, I had a lot of fun doing the research too!

4. Is it really true that you changed your name from Tina Reilly to Martina Reilly because Martina sounded more serious? Does an author’s name really hold that much weight that people think a book under Tina may be less serious than Martina?

I actually wasn’t responsible for the name change, that was my publisher’s choice. I suppose the name ‘Martina’ does sound more serious than ‘Tina’. I really don’t know if it’s that important in women’s fiction – it certainly would have been an interesting experiment to bring out my books with the two names and see which sold more!

5. The first book I read of yours was Something Borrowed, and I’m not ashamed to admit it made me cry (A Moment Like Forever did as well). The letter just before the end of the book was what did it for me. What made you write about adoption? Is it something you’ve had personal experience of, or was it just a topic that really interested you?

It was a topic that I was fascinated with. Characters that are a bit lost in the world are my bread and butter – they captivate me. I suppose you can’t get any more lost than being in a family where everyone is related to each other and you are the odd man out. And though Vicky’s family are so lovely to her, it is her perception of things that has coloured her life. All she wants is to be able to say to someone “I have your nose/eyes/hair.” It was a very emotional topic to research as I did it from all angles – adoptive parents, natural mothers, adopted children. In fact, I gained enough material to write a book from all the other angles too and I will one day!

6. Most of your books deal with a serious issue of some kind, and I don’t think I’ve come across one that hasn’t, where do you get your ideas for your novels? Friends, family or newspapers and magazines, that kind of thing?

I get my ideas from everywhere. I love life and all it offers and I also love it’s complications. I tend to start with something I’m interested in – loneliness, fakes, addiction, and go from there. I have no plan when writing, I just conjure up a set of characters and start writing and see what they do. I get to know these people just as the reader does and then when I finish the first draft, I go back and fill in some blanks. I got the idea for “Even Better Than the Real Thing” from a real life art scam I read about in the newspaper and began thinking about what makes a con man, what makes him tick, why does he become a conman? And from there I became interested in people who are not who they say they are and this included regular people too. And I wondered why do people lie about themselves and their achievements? Are they trying to be better than ‘the real thing’. So the book became about trust and trust in relationships too.

7. Is there any book in the world that you wish you had written? Any plot line that’s made you say “I wish I’d thought of it first”?

Any book that has sold millions!! Only joking. Recently I read ‘The Help’ and found it to be a wonderful life affirming book and I found myself wishing that I could write something that would make people feel the way I felt about that book. I also loved Zadie Smith’s “On Beauty” which is a story of family – and I do love reading about families. Zadie Smith is also a fantastic writer so when I read some of her sentences and her word play, I found myself wishing I had thought to express myself in this way. Sophie Kinsella’s comic timing is something I envy as well. She is probably the only writer who has made me laugh out loud. One book though that has stayed with me is Anne Tylers “The Patchwork Planet”. It’s moving, emotional and has an unforgettable central character in Barnaby. Yeah, I wish I’d written him.

8. Most of your books covers have been re-jacketed so most of them match each other nicely, are there any plans for Is This Love?, The Onion Girl or Flipside to be re-jacketed to match the others?

I don’t think so. Those first three books were published by Poolbeg in Ireland and not Little Brown.

9. Your first few books were published through Poolbeg, before you moved to Little, Brown. How did you original deal come with Poolbeg come around as well as that with Little, Brown?

The Poolbeg deal came about because I was writing teenage fiction for them. My last teen fiction won a Bisto Book Merit award and was, I suppose, quite adult in it’s themes. As a result, the editor at Poolbeg approached me to write an adult book. Initially I was terrified as I felt I’d have to grow up to write it – even though I was thirty! But I wrote about a girl called Jan, who was totally immature and that got me out of that problem. Poolbeg signed me up for three books with them. After these books had done well, I acquired an agent in England and she sold the next book to Little Brown.

10. How would you describe yourself as a writer? Do you set yourself targets to stick to or do you take it as it comes each day?

I suppose I am disciplined and I adore what I do, so to me it’s not work. I don’t however sacrifice my life for the books (much as I’m tempted to) I have two children and when they are off school, I will not write. I don’t write during the summer or on any of their holidays and I make a point of meeting friends regularly. As a result I have the best of both worlds. And strangely enough, my writing doesn’t suffer. I’ve never missed a deadline. I think the breaks do me good. At the moment, I have ‘Even Better Than the Real Thing’ written, I have two books in a series of four written (teen fiction) and I’m working on a lovely little story that to be honest won’t fit in any category so it might not even get published. It’s called “The Litter Pickers” and it’s my latest pet project. I sometimes just write for the hell of it, things no one else might ever see but things that keep me enthused about what I do.

11. What do you do to celebrate when you finish each novel? Do you buy yourself anything or do anything special to mark the day or are you used to it after 11 novels?

I hope I never become used to it! When I finish a book, I normally celebrate by taking a break for a week to recharge the batteries. I do this by meeting all my friends! And shopping of course!

12. What kind of books do you like reading yourself? Do you read what you write (ie. Chick Lit/Women’s Fiction) or do most genres interest you?

I will read anything. At the moment I’m reading something quite literary (I won’t say what it is because I hate it!) and last week I read The Priest, which was a thriller set in Ireland and was really good. I actually hate the way books are categorized because a good story is a good story no matter what genre it falls into and I’ve enjoyed many so called ‘light weight’ chick-lit books way more than this literary thing I’m reading at the moment!

13. Have you ever re-read any of your novels? If so, why, and if not, why not?

Never, ever ever. And the reason? Because I’ll find something I’m not pleased with or a line I could have said better. I do however flip through the book and read little scenes that I enjoyed writing.

14. Finally, what advice would you give to aspiring writers hoping to one day be published?

I would firstly say, write the book and enjoy every moment of it. This will show in your writing.
Please be yourself and don’t ape anyone else because your voice and the way you see the world and express yourself is uniquely yours. Then find someone you trust to read your book. Make sure it is someone who can offer constructive criticism rather than someone who says things like, “Hmmm I didn’t like that bit but I don’t know why!” Edit. Edit. Edit. But don’t over edit! This takes practice. And buy a copy of The Writers and Artists yearbook and get yourself an agent or find a publisher who will take unsolicited manuscripts. But above all, enjoy!

Thanks so much Martina!

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