Ask the Author: Ariane Sherine
Answered Questions (11)
Ariane Sherine
Dear Lord (no pun intended), I completely missed this and it’s been a whole year since you posted it! Huge apologies, Mike. I’d definitely ask my friend Hemant Mehta to contribute, but by and large the whole atheist movement is now full of divisions and infighting and I think it’d be a much harder project to get off the ground.
Ariane Sherine
My continued faith in the goodness of human nature despite having had a relatively shitty life?
Ariane Sherine
Ha ha, my whole LIFE has been a horror story! I try not to write horror if I can help it (though to be fair, the end of Shitcom probably qualifies).
Ariane Sherine
I wrote Shitcom while I was a young jobbing scriptwriter for the BBC. I guess it's no surprise that the main character is a young jobbing scriptwriter for the BBC! The body swap in the novel didn't actually happen to me, surprisingly enough, but I've always loved body swap comedies so decided that Andrew and Neil should swap.
The writing process was very organic, though. I didn't plot it out (I never plot my novels out, I much prefer feeling my way through a book as I go).
The writing process was very organic, though. I didn't plot it out (I never plot my novels out, I much prefer feeling my way through a book as I go).
Ariane Sherine
If I'm stuck for inspiration, I think of the beautiful modern glass house I want to own in Santa Monica, CA by the time I'm 55 (I love interior design, sunshine and America). I'm 41 now so there's no time to waste if I want to become a bestselling author - I have to get cracking!
Ariane Sherine
I'm editing a novel I've finished called I'm Not In Love. It's a rom-com about Anna, a dry, acerbic copywriter stuck in an inadequate relationship with her mediocre boyfriend James, a software engineer who smells like banana and wears t-shirts with slogans like 'While you are reading this I am staring at your tits'.
It's very funny, but in a more understated, far less outrageous way than Shitcom.
It's very funny, but in a more understated, far less outrageous way than Shitcom.
Ariane Sherine
Write a little every day, even if you're busy, even if it's just 15 minutes and 100 words. 100 words every day for two years = a book.
Or spend a few hours every day: 1,000 words every day for two months = a book.
You need imagination, talent, great ideas, persistence, dedication, ambition and drive, but you really don't need to pay money to learn how to write. I'm sure there's some useful stuff taught on courses, but I never learned and people have now been paying me to write for 19 years!
Or spend a few hours every day: 1,000 words every day for two months = a book.
You need imagination, talent, great ideas, persistence, dedication, ambition and drive, but you really don't need to pay money to learn how to write. I'm sure there's some useful stuff taught on courses, but I never learned and people have now been paying me to write for 19 years!
Ariane Sherine
Two of my favourite books when I was a kid were Enid Blyton’s The Magic Faraway Tree and The Enchanted Wood. I know her stuff’s problematic, but they were just so full of wonder and delight and made my frankly hellish childhood a bit nicer, because I could escape to that land in my imagination.
So I’d visit, meet Silky and Moonface, try pop biscuits (they fill your mouth with honey!), avoid the dirty washing water from the Washerwoman, climb the Magic Faraway Tree, see which land is at the top - and then be sure to climb back down the tree before the land moves on!
PS None of this will mean much to you if you haven’t read the books, but I’d heartily recommend them, even to adults.
So I’d visit, meet Silky and Moonface, try pop biscuits (they fill your mouth with honey!), avoid the dirty washing water from the Washerwoman, climb the Magic Faraway Tree, see which land is at the top - and then be sure to climb back down the tree before the land moves on!
PS None of this will mean much to you if you haven’t read the books, but I’d heartily recommend them, even to adults.
Ariane Sherine
It’s extremely cathartic and therapeutic, especially when you take your own painful experiences and turn them into fiction (which I guess is then effectively non-fiction, but no one needs to know unless you tell them!).
And there’s something very freeing about putting your words out into the world for everyone to read.
And there’s something very freeing about putting your words out into the world for everyone to read.
Ariane Sherine
I’ve never had it. I’m really fucking lucky, aren’t I?! I mean, there are times when I no longer feel like writing a book, and that would account for the 12 abandoned half-written books on my laptop. But I have big plans to finish them all, and then many more. I’ve set myself a target of having 100 books published in my lifetime. 4 down, 96 to go!
Ariane Sherine
I’m really into personal development and self-help books right now, so the next two on my list are Think Like a Monk by Jay Shetty and How to Do the Work by Dr Nicole Lepera.
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