Jojo Moyes
Jojo Moyes
Jojo Moyesis an English journalist and, since 2002, a romance novelist. She is one of only a few authors to have twice won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award by the Romantic Novelists' Association and has been translated into eleven different languages...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionJournalist
Date of Birth4 August 1969
jobs two make-me-happy
I worked out what would make me happy, and I worked out what I wanted to do, and I trained myself to do the job that would make those two things happen
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In 'Me Before You,' the two characters popped into my head fully formed, which is really strange and unusual. Other books, I sit on them for two or three months. I have a whole routine: I buy a nice book; I hand-write all their characteristics. I put them through little tests just to see how they would react to things.
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I love 'To Kill A Mockingbird' - it seems to offer up new layers every time you read it. I also love Kate Atkinson's 'Behind The Scenes At The Museum' - that's the book that started me writing.
I try to read writers who are better than me because it inspires me to be better.
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Writers divide fairly cleanly into those who only work through what they hear and those who are more visual. I am the latter, where I lie down on my office floor and play scenes through my head to - cinematically, several times with different elements - to see what works. I can't write a scene until I can see it.
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Don't set pen to paper until you know your main characters inside out. Create files detailing their appearances, likes, dislikes, and personal background. You may not use all the information, but it is a crucial step in planning your story.
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We seem to live in an age where we are quietly appalled by the idea of appetites, whether they be for sex, food or diamonds.
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We want a macho high-earner - with the sensitivity of Gok Wan. We want a man with Brad Pitt's six-pack - but one who's prepared to overlook our own muffin top. No wonder most men don't know if they're coming or going.
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You have to write the story that's at the front of your head. There is no point in trying to write for the market; it won't ring true.
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I started writing novels by not thinking about actually writing a whole novel - that felt altogether too daunting. I thought out a rough idea, then wrote chapter by chapter, and then by the time I'd hit 40,000 words, it was a challenge just to see if I could get to the end.
categories distinct former novelists takes
Novelists seem to fall into two distinct categories - those that plan and those that just see where it takes them. I am very much the former category.
focused knows
I've always been a focused person who knows how to get what I want.
driver family great love parent romantic
Love is the driver for all great stories: not just romantic love, but the love of parent for child, for family, for country.
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I have always written. I was one of those kids who would always fill exercise books with girls and telepathic ponies.