Women of a Dangerous Age

How's that for a title? Are you scared?

Today, I am delighted to welcome novelist Fanny Blake. Fanny's had an amazing career, working as a publisher for many years before becoming an author. She's penned best-selling non-fiction, ghost-written several celebrity autobiographies and has written two novels. Her latest, Women of a Dangerous Age, comes out on on April 26th by Blue Door. Fanny is also the Books Editor of Woman & Home.

And she's really nice!

I've read both of Fanny's novels and really enjoyed the strong female characters and focus on friendships, so I was excited to get the chance to ask her a few questions.

You used to work on the publishing side of things. As a writer, is having that behind-the-scenes knowledge helpful? Is it ever a hindrance?

It’s both a help and a hindrance. I was an editorial director for many years, so worked with numerous writers on their novels, which has taught me that there’s no right and wrong way of doing things, and of course a great deal about plotting and character - although putting what one’s learned into practice is never as easy as you hope it will be. On the other hand, the market has changed dramatically since I was a publisher, so my knowledge of sales and marketing is out of date, and I have to keep reminding myself of that.

You’ve also worked as a celebrity ghost writer. Any interesting anecdotes you can share? Is it difficult crafting a narrative that’s not your own?

A good tape recorder is essential. I once listened to someone sob their heart out over a failed relationship. At one level I wanted to stop and hug her, at the other I knew what she was telling me would make terrific copy so didn’t want her to stop. When she’d finished and recovered herself, I discovered my tape had broken, so I had to ask her to repeat the whole story which, to her eternal credit, she did.

It’s also vital not to fall out with your author, however testing the circumstances. If you do, you won’t have a book. I have been in a car with an author, having picked up their dog from the vet where it had been put under an anaesthetic. As we sped towards the motorway, the poor creature was on my lap when it suddenly had diarrhoea all over me. Despite my revulsion and fury (expensive mac never the same again), I managed to keep my temper as we stopped the car to wipe both dog and me down. Somehow our good relationship remained intact, though that was a moment when things might very easily have gone the other way.

No, I didn’t find it difficult crafting someone else’s story. The facts are there. It’s just a question of organising them in the best possible way. That’s where part of the fun is.

Your novels tend to focus on challenges facing women over forty – women who have teenage children, established careers, and mature relationships. Was this a deliberate choice to balance out the many books aimed at and about women just entering adulthood?

It wasn’t a deliberate choice but, as many of the books about women entering adulthood are written by authors at that stage in their lives themselves, so I found myself writing about women similar to myself. I found I wanted to explore and air the issues you mention, including women’s friendship too, because they’re important to me and to other women I’ve met. As we find our way through life, it can be helpful, and even reassuring, to look at the ways other women deal with those issues that affect all of us, whether or not we agree with them - and to be reminded of the funny side of life.

These days, writers must engage in social media. How do you juggle tweeting, Facebook, etc., with your writing?

Everyday I promise myself that I’m only going to social network during set times each day, and write during the rest. Each day, I fail hopelessly. It’s a gift being able to communicate with friends, other writers and readers as easily as we can thanks to the internet, but sometimes it is a distraction that makes my writing targets much harder to achieve. Sadly, will power is not my strongest suit.

I know you’re a theatre addict. What play do you wish you’d written, and why? 

That’s a great question and so difficult to answer. There are so many. The more obvious classics aside, I was thrilled by Lyn Nottage’s Ruined that I saw at the Almeida a couple of years ago which is about the plight of women in the war torn Democratic Republic of Congo. It was focussed, authentic and shocking. One other, again with an unforgettable central character, would have to be Jez Butterworth’s wild, mythic and entertaining Jerusalem. If I’d written either of those, I’d be a happy woman.

Thank you, Fanny! Have a great weekend, everyone.