How did I meet Roz?  I’m trying to remember.  Facebook.  Or possibly Twitter.  Yes, it had to be one of those as I’ve not been to England lately.  Roz leads a fascinating life.  Read on …

Chila:  Tell me a little bit about the gorgeous country you call home, Roz.

Roz: England. Home of Manderley, Jamaica Inn, Thornfield Hall, Wuthering Heights, Brideshead, Cold Comfort Farm and the TARDIS. Of our treasured eccentrics Kate Bush, Eddie Izzard, Vivenne Westwood and Joanna Lumley. I could mention the green hills as well, but to me, what makes a place special is its stories and characters.

 Chila: England is on my list of “Must Visits,” Roz.  Can we share a table and some cuppa while I’m there?  (Did I say that right?)  And you forgot to mention 221B Baker Street – it’s elementary, my dear Roz.

Back to the questions: You’ve been given a universal audience for five minutes—five minutes to tell everyone everywhere anything you choose … about writing.  Give me a preview of what that might look like.

 Roz: The other day a broadcaster friend was telling me how she loved radio because it was so intimate. It’s just the listener and the voice – one to one. But I find writing is even more intimate. The voice, if you are aware of one at all, is a mix of the voice of your own thoughts and the author, hypnotising you with what’s on the page.

You might say what I’m actually describing is reading. But reading is what writing becomes.

Chila: Excellent.  I have, on one of my bookshelves, a small grey book called, Nail Your Novel. If you’ve heard of it, could you give me an assessment of its contents, a kind of short book review?

Roz:  Nail Your Novel is perfect for a short book review. It is a short book to help you write a long one.

Its author, so I’m told, has seen a lot of lengthy tomes about noveling and knows that real writers would rather spend their time getting a novel finished, not procrastinating with instructions.

She is also a book doctor and knows very well the panic a writer feels when she tells them they need to unravel their structure, or up the pace, or strip out the back story, or do more research, or use their material to serve the story, or merge characters, or sort out how many Tuesdays are in a week. She knows they need a process to take their sprawling material and make a tight, well-controlled novel, and to give them confidence if they have to change anything. So she wrote a book to hold in their hand. You keep it beside you as you write. Read a bit, do as it says, read a bit more… and follow until you have a finished novel. Or so I’m told.

Chila: I want to write at least one novel in my life, and I can guarantee that your book will be right next to me when I do, Roz.

Explain ghostwriting, & the ups and downs of such a job, from your perspective. How long have you been involved with that venture?

Roz: Ghosting is writing a book pretending to be somebody else – mostly celebrities. Perhaps they’ve already published memoirs (possibly also ghosted) and have branched into novels – but need help with the craft of fiction writing. They’re not always non-writers. Sometimes the megabrand established novelists use ghosts, outsourcing early draft work to keep up with demand. And if a mega-selling author dies, a publisher might hire a ghostwriter to keep their brand alive beyond the grave.

Ups and downs? It’s a discipline all of its own. When I ghost I’m writing someone else’s idea, to please their readers – not the readers who would like my own work. I can’t use my own voice. I have to develop a style that is appropriate for the author I am ghosting. Although I develop the plot and characters, I can’t always take it in the direction I want it to go. If the ‘author’ (the person whose name is on the cover) doesn’t like what I’ve done, I have to rewrite until they’re happy. That’s not to say that I can’t put something of myself into the book, but I must be willing to change it.

However, ghostwriting can also be great fun. It’s far more collaborative than working on my own. The editor is closely involved from the start and I also have the ‘author’ themselves – who is often a mine of fascinating experiences I wouldn’t otherwise have access to. When I get stuck on a plot problem, I ring my ‘author’ and we chat about ways to solve it. I don’t have that when I’m writing on my own. It’s liberating to work on a book where I don’t have to be me. I have to research subjects I would not otherwise have been led to. I return to my own fiction with my horizons broadened and my style stretched.

Of course, not all ‘authors’ are easy to work with. Some will refuse to make time for me, even though it’s in their contract to. Some will tell me a juicy anecdote, but when I craft it into a fantastic twist they get cold feet and tell me I can’t use it. (Or the publisher’s legal department does.)

The hardest part is letting go. Once I hand over, I’m finished. I’ve been in a room while the ‘author’ talks to an adoring crowd of salespeople about the book I nursed on my hard drive for months. They take my book to signings, tours and talk shows – although I can’t say I hanker after those. Nor after the creepy stalkers. So I walk past the posters at bus stops and console myself by taking a sneaky photo for posterity…

Chila: I like your blog. A lot. Appropriately it’s called Nail Your Novel.  What do you try to accomplish there?  Do you have a daily schedule you adhere to?  How do you come up with fresh material?

Roz: Thank you! I adore having my blog. Basically I love to write about writing although I only manage one or two posts a week. Ideas arise naturally from what’s around me – a card found on the pavement, a deer stepping onto the lawn, a problem in a manuscript I’m nurturing for a client. (One of my other bow-strings is critiquing novels.)

On my blog I like to go beyond the usual writing advice and take the lid off the creative life. In the 1980s the British novelist David Lodge used to write a column like this for the Sunday Times newspaper, and it wasn’t just for writers – it was for anyone who was curious about how the creative mind operates. I have a number of readers who tell me they don’t write or have any ambitions to, but they enjoy my blog. I’ve even had people tell me they bought Nail Your Novel out of curiosity to get an insider view – and never expect to put it into practice!

Chila:  Lovin’ this interview, Ms Morris.  Next time, we’ll hit the rest of the questions, such as your favorite movies of all time (and why), your pet of choice, and several other random excursions.  It’s been great!

If you happen to be reading this and would like to leave a comment or question, feel free.  Got one on ghostwriting, perhaps?

~Chila

P.S.  As an aside, Roz’s Nail Your Novel book was self-published, and though PYP offered to contract that with her, she decided to stick with self-publishing, and she’s doing well with it, I hear.  The publishing options available today are a godsend for authors and publishers alike, really.  The freedom is refreshing.

P.P.S.  Roz, I adore that hat, I truly do.