Did you always dream of being a writer?
Yes! As soon as
I realised that books were written by actual people, I knew that this is what I
wanted to do. I’ve been a life long reader and there came a day when I thought:
I have to try writing one.
How did your writing career develop?
I was always scribbling away as a child, making up
stories. Then after university I became a journalist for ten years which really
helped my writing – there’s nothing quite like a busy newsroom for learning how
to write. It also taught me the importance of deadlines. In the meantime, I’d
been writing one book or another which I never completed since I was about
nineteen, then a couple of years ago my best friend set me a challenge to
finish a book in a year and I did
Your newest novel is called A Cornish
Christmas, what is it about?
It’s the story of a young
woman who moves back home to Cornwall when she and her husband are finally
pregnant, after suffering many miscarriages. Her mother died five years before,
and she misses her now more than ever, wishing she could speak to her. When she
finds a postcard hidden in her mother’s desk, strange things start happening
and she realises that her mother never truly left her.
What was your inspiration for the book?
When my mother had breast cancer my worst fear was losing her, I was
driving to work one day, when I got the idea of a postcard and a secret message
from a mother and got so inspired. At
the time I was meant to be writing another novel while I took part in NaNoWriMo
– it was already day three of the challenge, but I couldn’t let this new idea
go. I phoned my mum who basically told me to just go for it if I felt that
passionate about it.
Can you tell us
more about the main character(s)?
Sure! The main character Ivy is a children’s book
illustrator, she is the co-creator of a children’s detective series based on
the antics of a talking bulldog named DS Fudge, who solves crimes in the animal
world. Her husband Stuart, is a former marketing executive who has a passion
for gardening, and has fashioned himself into the next Hugh Fearnely
Whittingstall, making weird and wonderful concoctions, like turnip jam.
Where and when do you write your stories?
I’ve gone full time as an author now, but I used to
write everywhere I could in the margins of my day – before work, at lunch, in
bed. Weekends were always writing days. Now I work in my little writing room in
Suffolk with my snoring bulldog as company and try to keep regular hours – try
being the operative word as there’s often days where I’m typing or editing at
1.a.m to meet my deadlines.
What do you do and enjoy when you’re not writing?
I love just getting out and about and being in nature. I’m so lucky
where I live as we are just ten minutes away from the sea and have the gorgeous
River Orwell right around the corner. I also spend a lot of my free time
reading (of course!) and occasionally I also paint and draw – I LOVE art.
If you could switch places with a characters from a book, who would it
be and why?
I think I wouldn’t want to completely switch places with any of them as
I put all my poor characters through such hell – in my first novel Ria, loses
her fiancé on the day of his wedding, and poor Ivy in A Cornish Christmas has
had such a rough road after her mother’s death and so many miscarriages. But I
would love to visit Ria’s beautiful honey coloured cottage in the mountains,
overlooking the sea in Crete in the beautiful village of Ourano, which means
heaven.
What books have influenced your life
most?
I am always influenced by books! A
Life of Charlotte Bronte by Ellizabeth Gaskell inspired me so much with my
writing, when I was at university. All of the Brontes created their stories
before they were thirty. Also they were talented n other ways too like drawing
and music. After I read it I signed up for my first art class.
Anne of Green Gables made me fall in
love with nature and whimsy. Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic made me appreciate
the beauty of language and magic in the ordinary, Terry Pratchett developed my
love of all things a bit odd and fun.
What are you working on at the
moment?
I’ve just finished my third book,
which at the moment is called A Cornish Escape. It’s about a woman who finds an
abandoned cottage and uncovers an incredible secret that goes back to the First
World War.
What do you enjoy
most about writing?
I think the creating, getting lost in the world I
imagine. Then there’s how things surprise you, little plot twists you weren’t
expecting and characters take over.
Pick three authors
you want to have dinner with and tell us why.
JK Rowling because I just adore her – I think she is
incredibly wise and has just about the best imagination ever, Neil Gaiman – who
I think is just wonderfully passionate and kind and talented – and Marion Keyes
because she is so incredibly fun and funny.
Imagine A Cornish Christmas would be turned into a
movie, who would you cast for the main characters?
Love this question though it would be hard to do –
they are sort of very real in my head, but maybe Colin Farrell as Stuart, and Carey
Mulligan as Ivy.
You also wrote The Summer Escape, can you tell us more
about it?
It’s a story of running away to find yourself. After
losing the love of her life, and being pushed too far at work, journalist Ria
Laburinthos descides enough is enough and runs away to Crete armed only with
her passport. There in the country where her beloved yaya is from she begins to
heal, she uncovers a ten year old mystery surrounding a burnt down vineyard,
and the handsome owner who is trying against all the odds to bring it back to
life.
How would you
describe your style of writing?
Tragi-comedy in a way. I like blending the light with the dark.
Coffee or tea?
Coffee!
Paperback or
e-reader?
Both.
Mountains or the
sea?
Sea!!
1 Summer or winter?
Winter in South Africa, Summer in England.
1 Sweet or salty?
Sweet, always!
About the author
Lily Graham is the author of The Summer Escape and A
Cornish Christmas, you can find out more at lilygraham.net or get in touch
with on twitter at @lilygwritesbooks and on Facebook at @LilyRoseGrahamAuthor
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