Roisin Meaney on Writing A Bestseller

The beginning of Roisin Meaney's writing career is just like the storyline of a novel. In winning Tivoli's 'Write A Bestseller' competition in 2002, Roisin bagged herself a lucrative two book deal and a dream start to her writing life. The book that beat off all the stiff competition was The Daisy Picker, an idea that all stemmed from a writing workshop. "The idea for the plot came to me during a weekend writing workshop I attended in County Clare. Our assignment was to complete the sentence that began 'This is the story of......' which was right up my alley as for years I'd been addicted to competitions that require you to finish a sentence in 10 words or less (after winning a Ford Fiesta with Kellogg's Cornflakes - but that's another story!). My sentence was 'This is the story of a woman who realises she's dying and gives herself a year to find a cure.' I hardly knew what I meant when I wrote it, but that in essence became the plot of The Daisy Picker, my debut book."

Roisin advises us not to hate her too much though; her third manuscript was rejected by several Irish publishers and ultimately never made it onto the shelves! She remained undeterred and thankfully for her loyal readers, continued to write fiction, ultimatley leaving her profession as a teacher to pursue her passion. "Much as I enjoyed working with children, it was no contest when it came to deciding which career to pursue. Writing won hands down. I still get my fix of children though, through storytelling sessions in my local library, author visits to schools and libraries and a drop in now and again to the school in my local hospital to chat to the young patients about reading and writing."

Roisin's even tried her hand, very successfully, at penning books for children and collaborated with top children's author, Judi Curtin on See If I Care. "I loved getting into the heads of my childish characters. Writing for children is every bit as challenging as writing for grownups - maybe even more so - but I really love it, and hope to do lots more when I have time."

Roisin lists her favourite writers as the biggest influences on her writing and reads to help improve her writing, "I hope my favourite authors have informed my writing to some extent - I certainly try my best to soak them up as I read them, in the hope that some of their talent will rub off. They'd include Ann Tyler, Ian McEwan, Raymond Carver, William Trevor, Joanna Trollope, Anita Shreve and E Annie Proulx. I was chuffed when someone called me the Irish Joanna Trollope once - not sure how pleased Joanna would have been!"

Throwing herself into life drawing classes, cooking up delicious cupcakes and listening to stranger's conversations are all in a day's work for Roisin. "My research is often pure and simple observation, as to date all my novels have been set in present day Ireland and feature ordinary people coping with real life, so I'm a terrible eavesdropper. When observation isn't enough, I'll go further - as in when I decided to base the story of my last book around a life drawing class. I enrolled in a six week class and learned all I needed to know (along with the knowledge that I'd never make a living from drawing.) When I need some specific information, say a job description or information about a medical condition, I try to find a person with that knowledge or expertise - usually a friend of a friend - as I think it's much more valuable and pleasant than trawling through the internet. When I needed to know about what happens when a person is arrested for drink driving I kept asking pals until someone gave me a Garda's phone number, and we had a very informative chat. I find that people are usually very willing to help."

Roisin's writing style and formula changes frequently, but her unique methods have never seen her miss a deadline! "I start with a rough plot sketch - a main idea and maybe a few offshoots - and I play around with it for a few weeks, in my head at first and then on the screen, until I have enough bones to launch into the narrative. The plot often changes considerably as I write, so somewhere along the way I might take a step back and revisit it, update it and play around a bit more before going back to the writing. If it sounds like I have no method really, that's because I don't! Let's call it my own peculiar style of writing." She also enjoys delving into the character's worlds and her characters reflect her too. "I identify totally with my characters. They're my family for as long as I'm writing about them. There's a bit of me in every single character I create, I find it impossible to distance myself from them. (Of course my bits are the best ones...)."

Next up, Roisin wants to explore a darker side to her writing and try something completely different. "I want to get grittier with my writing; I want to get closer to the edge. I want to write books that move away from romantic fiction, while still being about real people coping with real life. I'm toying with a few new ideas right now, but so far I haven't hit on a theme I'm happy with. Watch this space - a change is coming....”.

She's currently working on her seventh adult novel, “The Holiday Home is based on an island off Ireland's west coast - fictional, but an amalgam of various islands I've visited, both here and abroad - and concerns Nell Sullivan who decides to let out her house for six weeks of the summer to raise cash for her dream wedding. The book spans the six weeks and recounts the different stories of the people who come to stay. And here's an exclusive: my publishers Hachette Ireland are planning an interesting little promotion to coincide with the book's appearance. Can't say any more, sorry!" The holiday Home is due to hit book shops in February of next year.

You can find out more about Roisin's novels and read her blog on www.roisinmeaney.com, the paperback of The Things We Do for Love was released on Monday, it's in shops now!

(c) Sarah Downey, September 2011

Roisin Meaney was born in Listowel, County Kerry and today lives in Limerick. A former teacher, to date she’s written a number of adult novels as well as two children’s books. Three of her novels have made the top five in the Irish bestseller list, and her writing has been translated into German, Spanish, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian.

Roisin Meaney is the author of The Daisy Picker ( 2004) (which won Tivoli’s Write a Bestseller competition), Putting Out the Stars (2005),The Last Week of May ( 2007),The People Next Door ( 2008,)
Half Seven on a Thursday (2009),Love in the Making (2010)

For Children:
Don’t Even Think About It (2006) . See If I Care ( 2007 ), co-written with Judi Curtin.