Ask the Author: Fiona Collins
Answered Questions (1)
Fiona Collins
My latest book, YOU, ME AND THE MOVIES, was born of my love of film. I was luckier than my main character, Arden, and did make it onto a Film Studies course at university in the late 80s, where I had the pleasure of studying most of the films on Mac and Arden’s List. The premise for the book sprang from a moment of nostalgia I had about my time on this course, how some of the movies I studied had made me feel, how much I had changed as a person since those days… and I came up with the story of Mac and Arden, which, in both the past and the present, would revolve around a list of classic films.
I like the idea of a book being punctuated or tabulated in some way by another medium – songs, or movies – and found hinging Mac and Arden’s love story on the movies they’d seen (plus using a structure of alternate ‘past’ and ‘present’ chapters, in the main) made this book a joy to write. Research was also a joy: I thoroughly enjoyed watching the movies on The List – some I have seen dozens of times over the years, others I had not watched for a long, long time - reading film theory, and immersing myself in the world of Film. I hope that readers will delight in re-acquainting themselves with some of these old movies, or if they don’t know them, seek them out and watch them for the first time - lucky them!
With Arden, I wanted to write a character who has changed massively as a person since her student days, due to the life that has been thrown hard at her. I also wanted to write a female protagonist in her late 40s to show that older women have the same yearnings and potential for awakenings as a woman of any age. I wanted a character with life experience and wisdom, but someone who still has a lot to learn and to feel. By reflecting on her past strength and her love story with Mac, Arden is finally able to imagine a future for herself.
I am totally in love with Mac and Arden, and their story. I really wanted to write from the heart and I hope readers will feel that’s exactly where this book is from.
I like the idea of a book being punctuated or tabulated in some way by another medium – songs, or movies – and found hinging Mac and Arden’s love story on the movies they’d seen (plus using a structure of alternate ‘past’ and ‘present’ chapters, in the main) made this book a joy to write. Research was also a joy: I thoroughly enjoyed watching the movies on The List – some I have seen dozens of times over the years, others I had not watched for a long, long time - reading film theory, and immersing myself in the world of Film. I hope that readers will delight in re-acquainting themselves with some of these old movies, or if they don’t know them, seek them out and watch them for the first time - lucky them!
With Arden, I wanted to write a character who has changed massively as a person since her student days, due to the life that has been thrown hard at her. I also wanted to write a female protagonist in her late 40s to show that older women have the same yearnings and potential for awakenings as a woman of any age. I wanted a character with life experience and wisdom, but someone who still has a lot to learn and to feel. By reflecting on her past strength and her love story with Mac, Arden is finally able to imagine a future for herself.
I am totally in love with Mac and Arden, and their story. I really wanted to write from the heart and I hope readers will feel that’s exactly where this book is from.
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