Deborah Moggach
Deborah Moggach
Deborah Moggachis an English writer. She has written eighteen novels including The Ex-Wives, Tulip Fever, These Foolish Thingsand Heartbreak Hotel...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth28 June 1948
characters months novel saw somebody spend until
Don't start writing your novel until you know your characters very, very well. What they'd do if they saw somebody shoplifting. What they were like at school. What shoes they wear. Spend days - weeks, months - being them until they thicken up and start to breathe.
characters fun halt huge novel panic trust week
Writing a novel is a huge adventure; when it's going well it's more fun than fun. When it stutters to a halt put it aside. Go for a swim, go for a walk, take a week off. Don't panic or be afraid; you and your characters are in it together. Trust them to come to your rescue.
character eye starting-up
Once a character has gelled it's an unmistakable sensation, like an engine starting up within one's body. From then onwards one is driven by this other person, seeing things through their eyes ...
anarchy breathing characters people
You need to know the characters as living, breathing people before you start the plot; otherwise, you'll feel panic, anarchy and chaos.
confident interested until
Psych yourself up until you're confident that the world will be interested in what happens to your characters. Confidence is key.
side
You can cycle through London on the side streets, which are less polluted - and much more interesting anyway.
applying executives fear found hollywood spend trying useful whether
I found Hollywood pretty bruising and uncreative. The executives are all in thrall to the boss, and spend their times double-guessing him or her, and trying to remember what he/she said and then applying them to the script, whether it was useful or not. They're all in fear for their jobs.
actions anybody believer great involve knowing life power
I am a great believer in having the power to end your life and knowing that, in extremis, you can. But I would not want to involve anybody else in my actions if it could imperil them.
normal until work
I work every day from 9:30 or so until lunchtime. In the afternoons, I become a normal person - go shopping and do the garden and look after my grandchildren.
possibly
I'd like to be a jazz singer, but I couldn't possibly do it; nobody would want me, anyway.
good men might move notice older women
Men take much more notice of older women in France, so I might move there. I think I'm a good bet.
bedroom bit carved corner easily favourite huge lovely parties poetry raised readings room
My favourite room in my house is easily the top room, which is a bedroom but also a bathroom, with a big, wooden carved bath, two huge fireplaces and a raised bit in the corner for performances. I've had some really lovely parties and poetry readings up there.
novels several tv wrote
My first novel, 'You Must be Sisters,' was started in Pakistan. I've wrote several novels and a TV drama set or partly-set there.
running trying
I'm always running my mouth off and getting myself in trouble, so I'm trying to do it less.