Dorothy Koomson - live webchat 9/3/2010 (1-3pm)

Dorothy Koomson is the author of six novels. Her first novel, The Cupid Effect, was published in 2003. After that, she didn't look back - The Chocolate Run was published in 2004, and then her "breakthrough" novel, My Best Friend's Girl, was released in 2006. It was picked for the Richard and Judy Summer Reads Book Club and went on to sell over 500,000 copies. Dorothy recently spent two years living in Sydney Australia, but is now back in England, but only for the time being, as she has been "well and truly bitten by the travel bug".

Her latest book is The Ice Cream Girls.

About The Ice Cream Girls:

"At only eighteen years of age, Poppy and Serena were the only witnesses to a tragic event. Amid heated public debate and scrutiny, the two glamorous teens were dubbed "The Ice Cream Girls" by the press and forced to go their separate ways and to lead very different lives. Twenty years later, Poppy is keen to set the record straight about what really happened, while married mother-of-two Serena wants no one in her present to find out about her past. But some secrets will not stay buried - and if theirs is revealed, their lives will start to unravel all over again..."

Read more about Dorothy on her author page

Buy the book

Comments

[Greg Eden]

A big thank you to Dorothy and everyone who joined in the webchat today and helped to make it a huge success - some terrific questions - drop me an email to [email protected] if you'd like to review more books and take part in future webchats when the opportunity arises.

Thanks again everyone

Greg Eden

[Dorothy Koomson]

Thanks so much everyone for coming on to chat with me. I've had a wonderful time and have loved every second. (Apologies for typos and anyone I didn't get to reply to.)

Thanks again.
Best of wishes
Dorothy x

[Dorothy Koomson]

Hi Sally. Thanks for saying such nice things.

I do know what you mean about moving versions of books almost changing how you experience the story. The film of Judge Dredd almost ruined the story for me and put me off buying any new Judge Dredd comics. (Judge Dredd taking off his helmet and snogging women, indeed!) But it didn't change how I felt about the Judge Dredd of my childhood and teens, though. Nothing could change that.

[Dorothy Koomson]

Hi Annika. It's generally easy to stay motivated because I've got an editor breathing down my neck! ; ) I'm joking, I'm joking!

That's why I tell people to write what they love and believe in. It's not such a chore to write if you love something. It's hard work but not something you have to force yourself to do.

I do have my wobbly moments when I want to write something else, but that always passes.

[Sarah Prior]

All good points Dorothy - thanks for answering that so well! Now that I've read the book I get a much better sense of the slight menace behind the book cover and the pivotal 'ice cream girls' day in particular, and naturally it says a lot more to me. I just hope people don't take the pastel shades at face value. However I agree that it needs to be a cover that depicts all elements of the novel and I take your point about Jodi Picoult's books and the themes she writes about. Perhaps it's a good thing that you can't and won't be pigeon-holed! It's a gripping read, and a really beautifully constructed novel with great characters. We wish you every success and can't wait for your next one! x

[Dorothy Koomson]

Thanks so much for saying that Natasha.

It doesn't matter what anyone else says, authors always love to hear that they've touched someone with their books. One of the best things you can do is tell an author you've adored their book.

I'm just sad that I don't have the time to reply to each email I get personally.

[Dorothy Koomson]

Hi Cat. Really glad you like my books. And, yes, I lived in Leeds for five years. I went to college there and then stayed for two years after that. I loved it, but it was too cold for me!

I try to set at least part of each book I write away from London because although I love my home city, it's not the centre of the universe and think more commercial women's fiction could be set away from there.

[Dorothy Koomson]

Hi Louise C!

That's a tough question! I consider myself a moral person, if that counts? I try not to judge people although it's hard sometimes. When I'm writing a book, I try to be neutral about the characters' motivations and actions although it's difficult.

In The Ice Cream Girls, I was really challenged by the idea of an older man going after a teenage girl. I don't ever find that OK, to be honest - whether he's a teacher or not - so trying to be neutral about it was hard.

But moral dilemmas make for the best books, don't you think?

[Dorothy Koomson]

Hi Sarah. Thanks for the great interview and the review at BookRabbit.

My publishers are fabulous and do give me the chance to have a lot of input into the covers. I love all my covers and I love The Ice Cream Girls one. At first glance it looks like it's a bit of an innocuous image, but it's a scene from the book - The Ice Cream Girls day and hints at the fear the pair of them feel.

Like I said in the interview, I didn't intend for the book to be a crime book or even a psychological thriller as people have called it, so packaging it up as crime book would suggest that I'm trying to write for that genre when I'm not.

A lot of Jodi Picoult's books have a crime element or a courtroom showdown, but they don't have really gritty covers. I know I don't always rush to pick up crime books, even if they aren't pure crime so I wonder if that sort of cover might put people off?

What do you think?

[Wendy Evans]

Hi again Dorothy

Thank you for answering my previous questions. It sounds very conplicated. I would never have the imagination to produce a book but really love reading them and wanted to say how much I enjoyed reading Goodnight, Beautiful which at the moment is the only one I have read of yours. However, I do have the others on my shelf waiting to be read and I am really looking forward to them and will have the tissues to hand when I do. I haven't got The Ice Cream Girls yet but it sounds wonderful and I look forward to adding it to my collection.

[Dorothy Koomson]

Hi Zoe C. Writing The Ice Cream Girls was very complicated.

I don't write in sequence anyway - I tend to write what comes into my head then piece it all together. It took while to find a structure that worked, to be honest.

I also wrote Serena's bit first, then I wrote Poppy's. Then combined them and rewrote them together.

[Dorothy Koomson]

Hi Wendy. Other authors don't inspire me to create characters but it's always good to read how other people write their characters.

When I'm writing a book I try to avoid reading anything from a similar genre because it can unintentionally influence what I'm writing.

Having said that, when I have an idea for a book, I read as many books as possible on a similar subject just to be sure my story isn't the same as theirs. It never is.

It's incredible that many, many authors can write about the same thing but all have completely different takes on it.

[Dorothy Koomson]

Hi Andrea. I do remember you from Guildford - you travelled all that way and but the traffic made you miss most of the event.

I'm doing an informal signing at Waterstones in Brighton on Saturday from 11am. And I'll be in Wolverhampton in May, then St Helens and Liverpool in July. Check my website for more details.

It's 3 years this week since I returned from Australia and I haven't been on a plane since then so don't worry, I'm not going anywhere just yet.

[Sally Hollington]

Hi Dorothy
Just wanted to say how much I've enjoyed all your books - think we personal fav is My Best Friends Girl. I really get right inside your stories, I can imagine all the faces, clothes and even the rooms that the events take place in! So although film/tv versions would be great they'd just mess with my own images of your stories! Please can we have another book soon??!! Much love Sally

[Dorothy Koomson]

Hi Katie. My favourite book is The Cupid Effect.

It's not everyone's favourite but it was my first 'born' and it was the book that made me into a published writer so I'll always love it just that little bit more than the others. The other books understand! ; ) I love all my books equally, but Cupid has that slight edge.

[Annika]

Hi Dorothy,

Once you have your idea, and you start to write, how do you stay motivated?

x

[Dorothy Koomson]

Hi Sue D. I don't find it so hard to write the sad bits in my books - it's re-reading them that gets me. Once a book is sent off to print I don't read those bits again.

Writing them is more like just putting what's in my head on the page and almost bypasses the parts of me that gets as upset as I do when I try to re-read those parts. Does that make sense?

Some sad or difficult bits are unavoidable when telling the story, though, so they have to go into the book.

[Dorothy Koomson]

Hi Lucy. I would love for my books to be turned into films or TV dramas! I actually started writing the script for The Chocolate Run a few years ago, back when I had time.

I'm constantly trying to come up with cast lists for my books. Although the look of Greg from The Chocolate Run was based on the actor Dylan McDermot. Not a lot of people know that. I had his picture up above my desk while I was writing the book.

[Dorothy Koomson]

Hi Chrissy. Hope you enjoy the book.

I am working on another book at the moment. It took me a while to decide between the three ideas I had but I've chosen it now and I'm slowly immersing myself in the world of these new characters.

I don't like to talk too much about a book until a lot of it is on paper because you can become tempted not to write as quickly because talking about it feels as if you're writing it.

[Dorothy Koomson]

Hi Caroline! I think the question I'm asked most is: 'where do you get your ideas from?'

And the answer is: From everyday life, overhearing things, reading things, from wondering 'what if?' about a certain scenario. For example, with My Best Friend's Girl, I started to wonder what it'd be like to be young, free and single then to wake up one day and be responsible for a child. And you haven't had the 9 months of pregnancy to prepare for it. Then I wondered why that would happen, and where the child's parents would be, and it grew from there.

[Natasha]

I ADORE all your books. The first one I read was My Best Friend's Girl and I thought it was amazing, then I got gift of Marshmallows for Breakfast realised it was by them same author and bought the rest of your books. I cried my eyes out over Goodnight, Beautiful...WOW. All your characters are so believable and I get completly absorbed reading them. Loving your work :D N.

[Dorothy Koomson]

Hi Martine. Really glad you're enjoying The Ice Cream Girls.

I do have siblings, but I hope my relationship with them isn't like the one Serena has with her sisters - they love each other but have a lot of unspoken resentment between them. I hope my sibs just love me.

Having said that, I wasn't on trial for murder in my teens, nor did I have a fling with my teacher, so I'm ahead of Serena in that I haven't done anything that bad to my family!

I love writing about families, though. They're a really interesting group of people who are all connected for ever for better or worse.

[Cat]

Hi there, I've loved reading all your books and currently got The Ice Cream Girls waiting to be read. I find it really interesting that they're set in Leeds (being in Leeds myself!) and wondered when you lived in Leeds and if you ever come back here?

[Dorothy Koomson]

Hi Katie. I do become attached to my characters. I think about them often - even when I've finished writing the books and they're published.

It sounds strange but there are bits in all of my books that I can't read again. I'll write them, rewrite them, then read them again before the book is published, but after that, I skip those parts. It's just too painful for me to read.

I've come to love the characters so much, that those bits cause me real hurt to read. I've put the characters in that situation, so I know I'm being silly, but it still hurts. In Goodnight, Beautiful, the scene where Nova tells Mal how she feels and he puts her off gets me every time. I really can't read it.

Like I say, I know I'm being silly but my characters mean a lot to me.

[Louise C]

Hi Dorothy, your books have a really keen sense of justice (and injustice) - do you consider yourself quite a moral writer?

[Dorothy Koomson]

Hi Keily. So glad you liked my books. I almost always tell aspiring writers to write what you love. Write a story that you believe in and want to tell because if - and when - you get rejection letters, you'll know not to take it too much to heart because you're doing something you love.

If you're doing it to make stacks of cash (apart from the fact you'd be better off finding another profession to do that) you won't be as inspired to keep trying as if you're writing a story because you love it; because you HAVE to tell it.

When I'm writing, I try to forget about everyone else and tell a story that I believe in and I would want to read.

There are also lots of writing tips on my website.

Oh and one last piece of advice: stop talking about it, and actually write it. That's a sure-fire way to get closer to your goal.

[Dorothy Koomson]

Hi Zoe C. Yes, I had to do lots of research about prison life - I've never been to prison, thankfully. It's actually quite horrific when you hear about what goes on and how being locked up effects people mentally and emotionally.

I also had to do lots of research on domestic violence because, again, thankfully, I've never been in that sort of relationship.

Hearing and reading those types of stories over and over again had a profound effect on me. I wrote a piece about it for the back of the paperback of The Ice Cream Girls. It's heartbreaking that people live in those conditions and are regularly and brutally abused by the people who are meant to care for them.

I didn't have to research the 80s, though. I was there, and I loved that decade.

[Sarah Prior]

Hi Dorothy, congrats on the success of The Ice Cream Girls. As you know we're big fans of it here on BookRabbit! Always meant to ask you but didn't get a chance in our interview - do you have much say over the book cover design? Thought the book could have benefited from a more gritty cover to relay the murder/mystery feel... almost crime fiction genre. Would love to hear your thoughts. All best wishes, Sarah x

[Zoe Campbell]

How did you construct the book? Did you write the parts where the girls were 15 first? or skip back and forth?

[Dorothy Koomson]

Hi Dot (great name, by the way!). I'm so glad you liked the book - always good to hear that. I'd love to have a routine, but I can't seem to get one together. It's more a case of trying to get from one end of the day to the other cramming in as much as possible.

It's easier to do the research that involves speaking to people and visiting places during the day, obviously, so I try to cram that in.

A lot of my writing is done at night when the only real distractions are bad TV and the sirens outside! I do write during the day, if there's time, but I seem to have less and less time at the moment.

[Wendy Evans]

Hi Dorothy
Do you find other authors inspire you when you are developing a character and is it very difficult to keep your characters different from other authors?

[Dorothy Koomson]

Hi Dawn. It took a year from having the idea and telling my agent and editor about it, to handing in the final draft. Actually maybe a bit longer - maybe even 18 months. I had a period of research and refining the idea, then more research and then the bulk of the writing. Then the rewriting. It's all necessary, if I tried to skip over the idea refining or the research the book wouldn't work.

[Dorothy Koomson]

Hi Zoe C. I don't want to give any spoilers, but not exactly. I knew that Marcus was going to end up dead - well, he started the book dead but it was only as I was writing it that it became obvious who the killer was. And why they did it. It was almost like writing the book as everyone else has read it - I was a little shocked when the killer presented themselves to me, too.

[Dorothy Koomson]

Hi Claire. I started writing when I was very young - around 13. I remember reading a set of books by a girl who was my age called the Garden Patch. I remember thinking that it was possible to be a writer and tell stories even so young. I love telling stories. The first book I wrote at 13 was called There's A Thin Line Between Love and Hate and it'll never be published. It's hysterical to read it now, though. It was set in America and I'd never even been there at that point!

I wrote my first adult book at about 22 and tried to get one published in my late twenties - it was rejected by pretty much every publisher and agent. I'm glad of that, now, though. My writing is so much more mature and I'd be mortified if I was known for that book.

It's always hard to get rejected but I was so determined to be published, I didn't give up. Although I came close to it at times. Just before Cupid was accepted by a publisher I thought about giving it all up but my friend (who played Jess in The Cupid Effect) reminded me that I couldn't give up writing if I tried.

If you're trying to get published, I'd say keep writing and keep trying. Hopefully it'll happen for you one day.

[Andrea Smart]

Hi Dorothy, I really enjoyed my first encounter with your fantastic work when reading My Best Friends Girl on holiday and promptly followed it up with Marshmallows for Breakfast. I met you a while back at the Guildford Book Festival and you have become my inspiration for my own writing career. When and where are you likely to make your next personal appearance in the UK? I ask, because I understand you still have the travel bug and may be off soon! Thanks, Andrea. x

[Dorothy Koomson]

Hi Althea! I remember you emailed me way back in the days when The Cupid Effect was first published (2003). Hope you're well.

I love reading and will read a range of books across different genres. I recently re-read a couple of JG Ballard books - he's probably my favourite writer. There are so many great writers to choose from. I'm working on another project at the moment and I recently read stories from crime writers Alex Gray and Nick Brownlee, two people I'd never read before. I'll be seeking out their books.

Your question has reminded me that I haven't been to a bookshop and spent hours there just looking at what's on the shelves and finding new authors to try. I really must do that. Thanks for the reminder.

[Katie Ford]

Hiya Dorothy, I'm a huge fan of your books.I've just started reading The Ice Cream girls and I'm already hooked. I can't put it down!Another question I have for you is: If you had to choose one, which of your books is your favourite and why?

[Sue David]

Hi Dorothy

How do you cope with writing the sad bits? I won't say which one in particular as I don't wish to give spoilers, but I was in tears just reading it.

[Lucy]

Hi Dorothy

Would you want/let any of your books to be turned into films?

[Chrissy]

Hi Dorothy. Just bought The Ice Cream girls this morning,and can't wait to start reading it! Do you have any more books in the pipeline?

Regards
Chrissy

[Caroline]

What's the question you've been asked most often about writing and being a writer?

[Dorothy Koomson]

Thanks, Zoe, very nice of you to say so. Are you secretly working for my publishers, trying to find out when the new book will be forthcoming?! ; ) The new book is in production, honest g'vnor.

[Martine]

I'm thoroughly enjoying The Ice Cream Girls and the relationship between Serena and her sisters rings very true, is it based on personal experience?

[Katie Ford]

When writing your books do you become attached to the characters?For example:even though you had decided what was going to happen in Goodnight, Beautiful did you feel sad about Leo.I know I was upset as the reader so do you feel the same thing as the author?

[Keily Geary]

Hi Dorothy. I loved Goodnight Beautiful and My Best Friend's Girl, and am currently reading The Ice Cream Girls.
Do you have any advice for an aspiring writer?

[Zoe Campbell]

Did you have to do research about life in prison for IceCream girls? What other research did you do for the book?

[Dot]

I would like to say first of all that I loved The Ice Cream Girls, I couldn't put it down!
Do you have a writing routine that you follow every day?

[Dawn]

How long did it take you to write The Ice Cream Girls?

[Dorothy Koomson]

Hi Verity. I don't get as much time to read for pleasure as I would like, especially since I don't commute to work any more.
But it's really important to read when you're a writer. Not only for research but to see what else is being published and how people tell stories. At the moment I'm reading the advanced reading copy of Shari Low's new book Temptation Street. It's great.

[Zoe Campbell]

Did you know right from the start what the denouement would be in The Ice cream Girls?

[claire woods]

How did you get started in writing - was it a long journey to get your first book published?

[Althea Hunte]

Hello Dorothy

I have been reading your books for ages and have enjoyed them. Which writers do you enjoy and which writers excite you at the moment ?

[Zoe Pike]

Hi Dorothy
Just finished the latest book and loved it. Hopefully you are already halfway through the next one and we wont have too long to wait.
Keep up the good work.
Zoe x

[Verity]

Do you get time to read as well as write, and if so could you tell us what you are reading at the moment?