Heather Peace

Heather Peace has worked in theatre, commissioning and directing new plays before joining the BBC Script Unit in 1989, later script editing productions in Drama and Comedy. Other career credits include being the Head of Comedy Development at Witzend Productions. She is now a freelance editor and writer. Her novel, All To Play For was released in October 2011.

Describe your typical writing day?

Breakfast, and meditation for up to half an hour. That puts me in the right frame of mind. Then straight to it without checking emails until the afternoon. Later on I’ll read over what I’ve written and fiddle with it, but I won’t usually write any more that day.

Your latest novel, All To Play For was released in October 2011. Tell us about it and how it came about.

It’s a novel about working in television between 1985-2000, which I did more or less, mainly at the BBC. It’s entirely fictitious but true in spirit and in some of the detail. I started writing a story about one of the characters after I left, and I’ve been re-working it ever since, on and off. I don’t know whether to call it a comic novel – it’s funny and but serious too.

Where do you find inspiration?

That’s the easy part, it’s all around. People and the weird way they behave.

Do you have a planning process before beginning a new project?

I like to plan things loosely with room to change my mind as I go.

How do you approach editing?

As a former script editor in drama and comedy I self-edit all the time. The best way is to put a draft away and forget about it for a few months, then you can read it objectively as if it were by someone else, and give yourself the notes that will make it work better. It’s usually about identifying a problem and then finding a solution, and it’s usually a problem of structure.

What was your route to publication?

I read a little piece about Tom Chalmers in the early days of Legend Press, and I thought he’s the kind of publisher I want to work with. It took a couple of years but eventually they took me on – so I haven’t been rejected by the big six and I don’t have to give an agent any of my money! (That’s assuming I make any, of course.)

Which three books have you read that have had the biggest impact on you?

I find questions like these incredibly hard, as there are dozens and you can’t really compare them, but I’ll pick Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook, Hanif Kureishi’s The Buddha of Suburbia, and DBC Pierre’s Vernon God Little.

Which character from fiction would you most like to meet?

Anna Wolf (The Golden Notebook). It might be a bit like looking in a mirror.

What’s the biggest thing you’ve learnt since becoming a writer?

Writing isn’t as hard as getting a publisher to read your work.

The best/worst thing about being a writer?

When you’re in flow it’s bliss. The worst is having to do something else to earn a living when all you really want to do is write the next project.

Is there an author you particularly admire?

Loads! This week it’s Jeanette Winterson, she’s now utterly wise and wonderful and she speaks with such insight when discussing the last (astonishingly dramatic) ten years of her life.

Which three things would you want if marooned on a desert island?

Apart from the life-supporting things, it would have to be paper and pens and something to cheer me up and help me reflect…

Who would your ideal dinner guests be?

Kathy Burke, Dara O’Briain and Paul Whitehouse.

Any tips for new writers?

It’s going to take ten years longer than you think, so use the time well and keep making it better.

Visit Heather’s publisher’s website by clicking here. 

​

by

Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.