Today I’m joining the blog tour for The Point Where The Ocean Ends. I’m sharing my Q&A with the author with thanks to Rachel Gilbey at Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me on the tour and to Siobhan Murphy for answering my questions!

Have you always wanted to write?

I have always wanted to write and now I’m wondering why I didn’t start my writing career a bit earlier, given I’m now in my mid-50s.  I loved writing letters to friends, I wrote short stories as a child and embarrassing diaries as a teen. When I travelled, I used to send home long emails filled with funny anecdotes and random travelling disasters which people seemed to enjoy. 

What were your previous jobs? Have they helped you with your writing process?

I have done lots of jobs – something that is the curse of the multi-passionate easily bored individual.  I’ve been photographer for the last 17 years, photographing weddings in the beginning and these days I photograph families, children and newborn babies. I’ve worked for the British Government; I’ve worked for a medical magazine. I’ve been a PA, a barmaid and a barista.  I’ve worked for a private equity firm.  I’ve worked for a company selling tanning products and one selling Cannabis products. I’ve worked on a racing yacht in paradise and a cheese stall in a local market. I am a professional people watcher and so all these jobs have planted ideas in my mind that no doubt will appear in a book one day. 

What was your inspiration for The Point Where The Ocean Ends?

This book has been nagging at me for a while. The title came to me a long time ago but was for a different book at that time. This book started as a travelogue, but it became a novel when various characters appeared and decided they had their own plans. It’s inspired by some of my real-life travels and people I met in various parts of the world. It’s also inspired by my fascination with fate and chance and coincidence. By those ‘sliding door moments’ when a different life could happen for you, or not happen. And it’s inspired by my love of nature and particularly the ocean – a place that always makes me calm. I heard somewhere that people who have a lot of fire in them need to be balanced with water. 

How do you construct your characters? Do they have traits of people you know?

For my first book the characters were inspired by people I’ve met over the years. They weren’t individual people though; each one was a mixture of elements of many people all muddled up.  So whilst they are fictional, they have the characteristics of real people within them somewhere.  The book I’m working on now is very different.  All these characters arrived fully formed with names and I can picture all of them in my mind. 

What does your writing process look like? Are you a plotter or a pantser?

I’m mostly a pantser, the first book was completely created without a pre-planned plot or outline. I enjoy discovering where it might go.  With the current book the plot arrived fully formed just like the characters. I already have most of the outline and the twists, I just need to fill in the gaps. But I trust some of that will reveal itself along the way and surprise me. 

How did you research? Did you enjoy it?

I didn’t really research the first one – it was based on personal memories in terms of the different countries that appear. The current book needs a lot of research. I’m watching a lot of documentaries and listening to first-hand accounts in interviews. I’m also reading a lot of autobiographies. I’m loving this part so far. 

Who are your favourite writers? Are you influenced by them?

I must be influenced by them I’m sure, but it’s hard to say if it’s in a general or specific way as they are all so different.  I love literary authors like Maggie O’Farrell and Toni Morrison. Margaret Attwood, John Boyne, Celeste Ng and Ian McEwen. I love the classics – Such as Virginia Woolf, Dickens, Austen and the Brontes. I also love books that I can rush through quickly, I grew up reading a lot of Jackie Collins and Jilly Cooper books, in terms of a modern equivalent I love Taylor Jenkins Reid.

If you could invite three people, living or dead, to dinner, who would they be and why?

Emma Thompson – I love her wit and intelligence and she is a wonderful actress. 

David Bowie – I’ve always found him fascinating, not just for the music but his imagination. 

Maya Angelou – Her books had a big impact on me when I was young, and I could listen to her beautiful voice all day. 

Who would you least like to be stuck in a lift with and why?

Donald Trump …. Hopefully it’s self-explanatory. 

Who would play the main character/s in a film version of The Point Where The Ocean Ends? 

Brad Pitt would have to be in there somewhere and Gillian Anderson. 

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I love to travel whenever possible. If I can’t get away for a long break then weekends way with friends or visits to places I’ve never been before.  I love to see live theatre, read, and relax somewhere pretty with a book and a glass of wine. I also love walking my two dogs. 

What is next for you?

Book No.2 is underway – It’s completely different although it lives in the same ‘universe’ as the first book and features a minor character from that novel. 

Favourites:  

Way too many ….. this is hard.  Like choosing a favourite child.  I will choose some that I go back to over and over. 

Book – Pride & Prejudice (and Fantastic Mr Fox) 

Film – Notting Hill 

Band/Singer – Adele 

TV show – Grey’s Anatomy 

Colour?  Turquoise 

Place?   Italy 

Biscuit? M&S Butter Sultana Cookies

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The Point Where The Ocean Ends is available from Amazon.

You can follow the rest of the blog tour here: