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JULIE CORBIN
Tell us about your latest book, Where the truth lies. It’s set in Brighton and the main character is called Claire. Her husband Julian is a barrister and is prosecuting a Bulgarian criminal. Claire finds out that Julian has been receiving emails threatening to kill their four year old daughter unless he reveals the name and whereabouts of the key witness. With her daughter’s life at stake, Claire decides to find out the emailer’s identity and to put a stop to the threats before it’s too late. What is your favourite stage of the writing process? I like all the stages – planning and plotting; first draft, uncovering the story as I go along; second draft when the plot really comes in to focus and third/fourth drafts to sort out little niggles and check that the language is the best it can be, working within the time constraints. What I don’t like is if any of these stages goes on for too long! Sometimes it’s like pulling teeth – a slow and painful process when all my ideas feel stale and all my sentences are clunky. Then it’s down to sheer perseverance - taking a breather, walking the dog, spending time with family and friends – whatever helps me return to the computer feeling optimistic and ready to do battle. Which authors have inspired you? Every book I get to the end of has something to teach me or I would stop – and frequently do – before the end. I’ve been inspired by writers as varied as Kate Atkinson, Stephen King and Ian McEwan. I like books where the writing is accurate - not too descriptive but not bland either. I like something to happen and I like characters to be pushed to the edges of themselves. Mostly I need a sympathetic character, although both Gillian Flynn’s books are excellent and her characters are not entirely likeable. I developed Paragraph Planet because my favourite stage of writing is editing and reducing the word count to improve a piece. How do your successive drafts change? That depends on what they’re like to start with. At the end of the first draft, the plot for Where the Truth Lies was full of holes, so my second draft was rewritten by about 80%. My third novel, Do Me No Harm is finished now and it was comparatively easy to write. My first draft was already about 90% there. The final tinkering is when I might pare down the word count but as I tend to under-write rather than over-write that isn’t always a good idea. Less is usually more but not in every case! Have you any tips for aspiring writers? Keep at it, find your voice and let yourself write as if only you will read it. There is a definite process involved in writing and I don’t think you can skip stages. It takes a lot of practice and a lot of faith and it’s important to enjoy the journey so that you’re not simply itching to get to the finishing line. Being published is wonderful but it’s still all about the writing and the more comfortable you are with that, the easier it will be to stay the distance. Click here for Julie's website.