HOW WE WRITE TOGETHER
One of the things we get asked the most is how we write as a married couple - and stay married! So we thought we'd give you a little insight into the process...
IMAGINATION + INSIGHT
Collette: We really like to draw back the curtain on a supposedly glamorous world we might know something about, but that readers may not have seen before. Our
first novel, People Like Her, was set in the world of Instagram influencers –specifically Instamums. Because I had previously worked in magazines, this was
something I understood pretty well – and our protagonists are a married couple who have just had a baby, which, having just had a baby ourselves, we also knew a thing or two about! Our second book, The Club, takes place at the opening of a private members club on an island resort and, as the former editorial director of Soho House, that was also a setting that I had a fair bit of knowledge of (although all of the characters are inventions of course). I did art art history degree at Cambridge, which is what fed into the art world inspiration for The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby, and I also lived in Dubai for a time, which is a setting we use. guess therefore it’s a mixture of imagination and insight.
PLAN, PLAN, PLAN
Paul: Plan, plan, plan. We talk our ideas through a lot before we ever sit down at a laptop, which means that when we actually do start writing we have a very clear idea of where it’s heading. We’d just get too lost if we marched off on our own without a map. And because we write in two voices, we divide these up and take a couple each for the first draft – although after that we both go through and edit the entire novel in turn. Which means that we both try to take credit for the best jokes as we can’t actually remember whose they were…
CELEBRATE THE GOOD STUFF
Collette: The majority of a writing career is sitting at a laptop, so when cool stuff happens we make sure to celebrate. Finding out we were a Reese’s Book Club Pick was a moment - I actually found out when I was with our four-year-old daughter in the cinema – I had to take her out of the film and give her a chocolate ice cream to keep her entertained while I took the call! And then getting the call from our editor and agent that The Club was an instant New York Times Bestseller – we knew it was selling well, but I hadn’t let Paul put champagne in the fridge as I was too superstitious. We were pinching ourselves - and each other.
ACCEPT EACH BOOK IS ITS OWN BEAST
Paul: We were new parents when we wrote our first book, so really quite sleep deprived and lacking in a social life (we both do other jobs alongside writing)! When we wrote The Club, we were in successive Covid
lockdowns - quite useful for what is essentially a locked room mystery! With The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby, we were able to travel to the locations we describe - Cambridge, Paris and Dubai, so we took advantage of that for research.
THE ONLY WAY TO FINISH A NOVEL IS TO START IT...
Collette: You really have to just apply bum to seat if you want to write a novel. There’s no magic bullet – although one trick I find works is giving yourself a set amount of time and a specific word count to hit – I can do 750 words in two hours. You’d besurprised how quickly that adds up over time to make a novel.
IMAGINATION + INSIGHT
Collette: We really like to draw back the curtain on a supposedly glamorous world we might know something about, but that readers may not have seen before. Our
first novel, People Like Her, was set in the world of Instagram influencers –specifically Instamums. Because I had previously worked in magazines, this was
something I understood pretty well – and our protagonists are a married couple who have just had a baby, which, having just had a baby ourselves, we also knew a thing or two about! Our second book, The Club, takes place at the opening of a private members club on an island resort and, as the former editorial director of Soho House, that was also a setting that I had a fair bit of knowledge of (although all of the characters are inventions of course). I did art art history degree at Cambridge, which is what fed into the art world inspiration for The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby, and I also lived in Dubai for a time, which is a setting we use. guess therefore it’s a mixture of imagination and insight.
PLAN, PLAN, PLAN
Paul: Plan, plan, plan. We talk our ideas through a lot before we ever sit down at a laptop, which means that when we actually do start writing we have a very clear idea of where it’s heading. We’d just get too lost if we marched off on our own without a map. And because we write in two voices, we divide these up and take a couple each for the first draft – although after that we both go through and edit the entire novel in turn. Which means that we both try to take credit for the best jokes as we can’t actually remember whose they were…
CELEBRATE THE GOOD STUFF
Collette: The majority of a writing career is sitting at a laptop, so when cool stuff happens we make sure to celebrate. Finding out we were a Reese’s Book Club Pick was a moment - I actually found out when I was with our four-year-old daughter in the cinema – I had to take her out of the film and give her a chocolate ice cream to keep her entertained while I took the call! And then getting the call from our editor and agent that The Club was an instant New York Times Bestseller – we knew it was selling well, but I hadn’t let Paul put champagne in the fridge as I was too superstitious. We were pinching ourselves - and each other.
ACCEPT EACH BOOK IS ITS OWN BEAST
Paul: We were new parents when we wrote our first book, so really quite sleep deprived and lacking in a social life (we both do other jobs alongside writing)! When we wrote The Club, we were in successive Covid
lockdowns - quite useful for what is essentially a locked room mystery! With The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby, we were able to travel to the locations we describe - Cambridge, Paris and Dubai, so we took advantage of that for research.
THE ONLY WAY TO FINISH A NOVEL IS TO START IT...
Collette: You really have to just apply bum to seat if you want to write a novel. There’s no magic bullet – although one trick I find works is giving yourself a set amount of time and a specific word count to hit – I can do 750 words in two hours. You’d besurprised how quickly that adds up over time to make a novel.
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