Get to Know Our Friend Sophie Kinsella
A Deeper Dive With This Week's Guest
A Conversation with Sophie Kinsella
A writing tip, book recommendation, and other great insights from Liane that were not covered in our on-air interview, which you can WATCH or LISTEN to now!
NOTE: We typically reserve these weekly guest Q&A’s for our paid subscribers. We wanted to share this one with our full subscriber list to give you a little taste of what you’re missing out on if you’re not a paid subscriber. As you may have read elsewhere or gleaned from watching or listening to this week’s episode with Sophie Kinsella, she is undergoing treatment for a glioblastoma. We found her bravery to be so inspiring and her openness, candor, and warmth to be so generous of spirit. So, please enjoy this Q&A, get to know Sophie a little better, and think about upgrading to a paid subscription if you’re not a paid subscriber already. We have so much great content in store for our paid subscribers in the coming weeks and months. Thanks, as always, for your support—and for being part of the F&F family.
For any aspiring writers out there, would you please share a short bit of writing advice?
Write the book you would like to read yourself. Visualize it in a bookstore and think ‘What would make me pick it up?’ It might be the plot, a really winning character, or a fantastic title. If you write a book to please yourself, chances are it will please a lot of other people too. My other advice is: finish! It’s easy halfway through a book to feel dispirited and give up or switch to a brand new idea, but there’s nothing like typing The End and knowing you gave your book idea its best shot.
What is the last book you raved about and what did you love about it?
At the moment I struggle to read new books. I don’t have the stamina to work through a novel and I find that the holes in my memory mean when I pick up a book again, I have likely forgotten what has happened. It’s very frustrating! So I have been re-reading old favourites, particularly those in diary format. Eg Bridget Jones’s Diary I recently re-read. Also The Diary of a Provincial Lady.
What would you be if you weren't a writer?
Probably trying to become a writer! I expect I’d be working in journalism – I started out as a financial journalist – but I hope I'd be writing about something a tad more interesting than pensions!
Tell us about the first piece of fiction you ever wrote.
I knew I liked words but I didn’t think of being a novelist until I was reading novels on the train on my commute every day. I suddenly thought, ‘THIS is what I want to do’. So I began to plan my first novel and wrote it in my spare time: evenings, weekends, on the train... at work (sssh!)... As soon as I started, I knew, fiction was for me.
Is there a writer, living or dead, whose writing inspired or influenced your own work?
I’d name several, starting with Enid Blyton – I read her constantly as a child, and I think she’s brilliant at putting across a story in an easy, appealing way. E. Nesbit, too. I re-read her books to my children and realised what an influence she had been. Jane Austen – constantly inspiring for her combination of wit and romance. Joanna Trollope – reading her paperbacks on my commute made me want to write myself.
Tell us about your writing space.
I’m lucky - I can write pretty much anywhere. On a train, at home, or in a cafe.
Photo courtesy of Sophie Kinsella
Is there one book you feel guilty about never having read?
I’ve never finished Vanity Fair by William Thackeray. Everyone tells me it’s such a treat, but somehow I can’t get on with it.
Watch The Friends & Fiction Show with Sophie Kinsella interviewed by Kristy Woodson Harvey & Mary Kay Andrews HERE. Or listen on our podcast HERE.
About the Author
Sophie Kinsella is a writer and former financial journalist. She is the #1 bestselling author of Can You Keep a Secret?, The Undomestic Goddess, Remember Me?, Twenties Girl, I've Got Your Number, Wedding Night, My Not So Perfect Life, Surprise Me, The Burnout, the hugely popular Shopaholic novels, and the young adult novel Finding Audrey. She lives in the UK with her husband and family.
About the Book
From #1 bestselling author Sophie Kinsella, an unforgettable story--by turns heartbreaking and life-affirming--of a renowned novelist facing a devastating diagnosis and learning to live and love anew.
"The bravest book you'll read all year."--Jodi Picoult
"What Does It Feel Like? is fiction, but it is my most autobiographical work to date. Eve's story is my story."--Sophie Kinsella
Eve is a successful novelist who wakes up one day in a hospital bed with no memory of how she got there. Her husband, never far from her side, explains that she has had an operation to remove the large, malignant tumor growing in her brain.
As Eve learns to walk, talk, and write again--and as she wrestles with her diagnosis, and how and when to explain it to her beloved children--she begins to recall what's most important to her: long walks with her husband's hand clasped firmly around her own, family game nights, and always buying that dress when she sees it.
Recounted in brief anecdotes, each one is an attempt to answer the type of impossible questions recognizable to anyone navigating the labyrinth of grief. This short, extraordinary novel is a celebration of life, shot through with warmth and humor--it will both break your heart and put it back together again.
“Why did I write such a personal book? I have always processed my life through writing. Hiding behind my fictional characters, I have always turned my own life into a narrative. It is my version of therapy, maybe. Writing is my happy place, and writing this book, although tough going at times, was immensely satisfying and therapeutic for me.”—Sophie Kinsella
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For any aspiring writers out there, I couldn’t agree more with this advice. Writing the book you would want to read is key—it taps into your passion and keeps you going when the process gets tough. The part about finishing is especially important. I’ve been there, tempted by new ideas mid-project, but there’s something incredibly powerful about pushing through and typing 'The End.' It’s the moment you realize you gave your story everything you had. For anyone feeling stuck, just keep going—you’ll thank yourself later!