When I am writing, I try not to think of anything else except for the characters ...

INTERVIEW WITH LUCINDA RILEY

BY AGNES A. ROSE

Lucinda Riley was born in Ireland and she lived for the first six years of her life in a tiny village called Drumbeg. Lucinda and her family moved across to England where she started school. Being a child, if she wasn’t reading and writing stories or at ballet lessons, she was dressing up in her mother’s old ball gowns the moment she came home from school and becoming a princess, with a storyline that could last for weeks. When she was nine years old, she played a child murderess in “The Bad Seed”. At fourteen, she went to London to full-time dance and drama school. At sixteen, she got a leading role in the BBC television series called “The Story of the Treasure Seekers”. And for the next seven years, she acted professionally in theatre and TV. She also got married to an actor. At twenty-three, she fell ill. Then she turned to her imagination to help her through and while in bed, she wrote her first book, “Lovers and Players”. One of her friends read it and passed it onto an agent. Finally, she was offered a three-book contract. So far she has written many books but the most popular seems to be “The Seven Sisters Series”. A few weeks ago “The Butterfly Room” was released in Poland.

Agnes Anne Rose: Thank you so much that you accepted my invitation to take part in this interview. I am very honored that I can host you here and talk to you. As most of authors you also started writing stories when you were a child. Could you tell us something more about it?

Lucinda Riley: Writing has always been a passion of mine since I was a small child — I was always making up stories, and when I later worked as an actress, I would re-write my character’s plot in my head. However, I didn’t start writing in earnest until I was 22.

© Roni Rekomaa

AAR: As I mentioned above, “The Seven Sisters Series” seems to be the most popular of all your books. How did you come up with the idea for this series?

LR: In January 2013, I was searching for my next story but wanted to find an overarching angle to add another element to my past/present writing, something that would challenge and excite me – and my readers. I had always watched the stars – especially the Seven Sisters in the belt of Orion, and on that frosty night in North Norfolk, I looked up to the heavens, and, thinking also of our own children, came up with the idea for a seven book series based allegorically on the legends of the Seven Sisters constellation.

AAR: Which part of the above novel series did you write the easiest and which one was the most difficult to write?

LR: The easiest book in the series was the first – Maia’s story. The most challenging has been the most recent one, ‘The Sun Sister’, Electra’s story. With each book, the series gets more complex, not only in terms of the themes and the historical content, but also in terms of the plot itself – there are so many strands that I have to mentally keep hold of, and now at Book 6, the mysteries are all beginning to come to a conclusion… although I can’t give any secrets away just yet. You’ll have to wait for Book 7!

This is the Polish edition of 

The Girl on the Cliff

Published by ALBATROS

Translated by Marzenna Rączkowska

AAR: I have read most of your books published in Polish. The first one was “The Girl on the Cliff”. What inspired you to write such a moving story?

LR: My inspiration is always sparked by an evocative location that begins the 'feeling'. I was born in Ireland and lived in West Cork and loved its windswept rawness. Extreme locations are always exciting to me because they are dramatic and of course, romantic. The thought of a vulnerable child, barefoot and alone during the Atlantic storms that used to break with such fury when I lived there with my own small children, gave me the character of Aurora, the narrator of the book.

AAR: Your next book that left the greatest impression on me was “The Angel Tree”. I couldn’t stop thinking about it for a very long time. In this book, you focus on very difficult relationships between a mother and a daughter. Why did you decide to tell your readers this kind of story and how much difficult it was for you to create Cheska?

LR: I met some fascinating characters during my time as a young actress, on the London stage and in film and television. Actors, in particular, tend to be a tortured bunch, with the ‘public’ face often very different to the reality of the human being behind it. Unless of course, they start to believe their own myth and the fantasy world they inhabit, as Cheska does. When I met my husband Stephen some years after I wrote the book, I found out that he had known someone very much like Cheska… I’d also experienced being in the spotlight and have a number of close friends who are famous in their field or married to someone who is, so I’ve learned first hand how fame can affect people. The whole concept of fame terrifies me, so when I was writing about Cheska and the extremes of her fame and lack of freedom, I put a lot of my own fears into that. To be honest, I have no idea why anyone would go out of their way to seek fame for its own sake like today’s reality TV stars seem to do. I treasure and protect my private life and my family – they’re what keeps me sane.

AAR: Your first book “Lovers and Players” you wrote as Lucinda Edmonds. It tells about the lives and love of three young women. What made you write your first book? Can your readers still buy it even though it was published almost thirteen years ago?

LR: I began to write ‘Lovers and Players’ at 22 when I became ill with glandular fever. As I was not able to work, the novel was completed in one fell swoop and was mainly inspired by my experiences of living in London and the people I had met. It’s currently out of print, although I do have a copy of it on my shelf… perhaps one day I’ll take a look at it again and re-write it.

AAR: Why did you stop writing books under the name Lucinda Edmonds?

LR: I got married in 2000 and decided to focus completely on my family of four children… although that didn’t stop me from simply writing for myself! During that time, I wrote a few manuscripts, some of which eventually became ‘The Olive Tree’ and ‘The Butterfly Room’, and used my married name of Lucinda Riley from that point.

This is the Polish edition of 

The Butterfly Room

Published by ALBATROS

Translated by Anna Esden-Tempska

AAR: A few weeks ago “The Butterfly Room” was released in Poland. I read on the Internet that some of your readers even compare it with “The Forsythe Saga”. In their opinion, your novel is layered, complex, fascinating and deeply satisfying. How do you remember your work on this book?

LR: ‘The Butterfly Room’ began its life as a manuscript I wrote almost ten years ago called ‘Red Admiral’, which is a type of butterfly. I decided to revisit it after finishing ‘The Moon Sister’ in 2018. At first, I thought it would be a ‘light’ summer project – something to take my mind off the more challenging Seven Sisters series. However, as ‘The Butterfly Room’ developed, I found myself rewriting the entire manuscript, adding and deleting characters and plotlines. Since writing the initial manuscript, I realized I had grown a great deal as an author, and many of the characters gained more depth and complexity.

AAR: On the pages of some of your books, you invite readers to visit some exotic countries. I mean “Hothouse Flower” or “The Midnight Rose”. Could you tell us something about the research? Did you visit Thailand and India?

LR: I travel to all the places that I write about. In the case of ‘Orchid House’, we were actually living in Thailand at the time – for a while, our family had a house on Koh Chang, the island where a part of the book is set, and it is one of my favourite places in the world. For ‘The Midnight Rose’ I travelled to India and visited the Moon Palace in Jaipur where I’d imagined Anahita living. I also stayed at the amazing Rambagh Palace which is now a hotel, still owned by the royal family of Jaipur and where they are regularly seen playing polo. I also went to Mumbai, where Ari lives, Cooch Behar up in the north and New Delhi. The architecture and landscapes in India are truly breathtaking!

AAR: I know you have very close contact with your readers living all over the world. How important for authors is to be online?

LR: The world is becoming more technology-based year by year and I think it’s incredibly important to find different ways of reaching your audience. Social media allows direct contact with readers all over the world. When I was an author twenty years ago, there was no such thing as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or even private websites, and I would do a lot of my publicity in bookshops and during book tours. Today, however, my 2-minute inspiration videos can reach readers all over the world, and the feedback I get is amazing and is a constant inspiration to keep writing. I also did the first ever live ‘Google Hangout’ Q & A in Brazil which was watched over 200,000 times.

AAR: What is the greatest challenge you have faced in your career as an author?

LR: In 1998 I moved publisher to Pan Macmillan with a two-book deal and released ‘Seeing Double’ (now re-written and published as ‘The Love Letter’), a book which involved a story about members of the British royal family, in 1999. At the time Pan Macmillan was going through ‘restructuring’ and it was not a good time for them to publish anything. In addition, many people felt that the story was not welcome by ‘the Establishment’, and the book did well in Ireland, but all the orders were cancelled in the UK. We will never know what really happened!

This is the Polish edition of 

The Angel Tree

Published by ALBATROS

Translated by Jan Kabat

AAR: When you are writing in your study, do you imagine what your very large audience will think about a character or an incident?

LR: When I am writing, I try not to think of anything else except for the characters and the setting – I can’t allow myself to be swayed, or to feel pressured by the knowledge that millions of people will be reading what I’m writing! The characters live in my head and tell their stories through me, so dictating the first draft into my trusty Dictaphone is a very private process.

AAR: How long does it take you to complete a book, from the time the idea for the book is conceived, to when you submit it to your editor?

LR: I realised that from conception to giving birth, all the books take nine months, just like a pregnancy. Weird, but true. I start with the research process, which includes reading all the books I can get my hands on and travelling around the location. Then I dictate the first draft and pass it on to my editorial assistant to type up. Once the first draft is complete, I begin the editing process, which is the most intense part – I go over each sentence dozens of times, playing Rubik’s Cube with the words to make sure everything is perfect.

AAR: You’ve achieved so much as a writer and career woman. Is there any goal you feel you have yet to attain?

LR: I absolutely love what I do, and having had my time in the wilderness as a writer, I appreciate every single moment of what’s happened now. I work 24/7 and gain enormous satisfaction from putting the stories in my head on paper and seeing them published around the world – even if I get rich I would still always write. Currently, all my energies are devoted to the Seven Sisters series, but I already have a lot of ideas in mind for future projects. My goal is simply to write until I drop!

AAR: How can you be so productive with so many outside and family obligations? How do you keep a balance between home and work?

LR: I have to take myself off for two or three weeks and live like a hermit, working eighteen hours a day writing the first draft. Once this is finished and I’m onto the technical editing stage rather than the ‘creative’ part, I’m able to work from home and spend time with my family. However, like any working mother, I’m permanently exhausted and perform the usual juggling act that any mother with kids and a full-time job will recognize!

AAR: You told me that you are working on the seventh part of “The Seven Sisters Series”. Could you tell us something more about it? What can your readers expect from this book?

LR: I’m very secretive about the future of the Seven Sisters series – readers write to me all the time asking to have their theories about #whoispasalt and the ‘missing’ sister confirmed. All I can say for now is that I have just begun the research process on Book 7 – in fact, I have recently been on a journey, following in the footsteps of the ‘missing’ sister…

AAR: Lucinda, thank you so much for this interesting and pleasant conversation. This is very important to me because I know you are very busy at work, so thank you very much once again. Is it anything you would like to tell your Polish readers? In Poland, you have a lot of fans who always look forward to each of your next books.

LR:  Thank you so much for all of your insightful questions! And I’d like to say DZIĘKUJĘ CI to all of my Polish readers for your support and kind words – I receive so many messages from Poland and they motivate me a great deal in my writing. I’m wishing you all a peaceful winter and a happy new year!

This is the Polish edition of Seven Sisters series

(The Seven Sisters, The Storm Sister, The Shadow Sister, The Pearl Sister & The Moon Sister)

Published by ALBATROS

Translated by Marzenna Rączkowska & Maria Pstrągowska 

 If you want to read this interview in Polish, please click here.