Well we finally hoodwinked an actual author - apart from ourselves, obviously- to give us the scoop on the skills and actions, as well as the focus, determination and personal effort required to make it big.
Steve Watson's tome is already a success and says something about women, society and the future!
Check him out on Twitter
Steve - Do you have a fan page on Facebook???
Have you considered a filmscript that could bring your story to the hard of reading?
I have. I love film, particularly films that have been adapted from books. I'm interested in the way that film has to work differently from a book, yet achieve the same end - they're just two different ways of telling the same story, after all. I've already been working on a screenplay of 'Before I Go To Sleep' and it's helped enormously with the redraft of the novel, in helping me to see just how pared down a scene can be yet still work. Novels will always be my first love, but screenwriting is definitely something I'd like to explore more.
Have you written many other works?
I have written my whole life. I can't remember a time when I didn't write. Stories, novels. Some poetry. But as far as work that I would be happy to call finished? Not that much. But then I think it's rare for any piece of creative work to be finished. There's always a disconnect between the idea of the work and the work itself, a tension between what you want the piece to be and what the piece itself wants to become. Plus, for me the process of writing is one of exploration. When a piece has taught me all it can I find myself itching to move on.
What do you think of the contemporary written field?
There are some great books being written. Some of them are being published. But there's an awful lot of crap being published, too. And books coming out, supposedly written by a celebrity who claims to never read? Part of me thinks it's good, if the fact that it's got a glamour model's name on the front means that someone picks it up who wouldn't otherwise, but part of me thinks it's all feeding the celebrity beast, the idea that celebrity, that being famous, is an end in and of itself. It shouldn't be. But, if I had to decide, I'd rather see the tube train full of people reading crap than not reading at all.
What do you consider outstanding mainstream ficton currently?
I'm not reading much at the moment. When I'm in the middle of a project I don't have time for much other than research. And re-reading. I re-read a lot. So I don't know. But there aren't many risks being taken in literature at the moment. Most books disappoint.
What do you eat for breakfast?
Today? Coffee and cereal. At the computer. I do my best work when I'm half asleep, and not really aware I'm doing it.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Writing. I want to have seen 'Before I Go To Sleep' published, and successful, by which I mean 'being read'. I want to be on at least my third book by then. But as long as I am in a position in which I can write then I'll be happy.