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People say 'chick lit,' and what they mean is 'crap.' And so even though you might sell 100,000 copies of a book, you're never going to win a prize. These are books that people don't just read, they devour them - they stay up into the early hours because they want to devour them.
Lisa Jewell -
Whenever I watch any kind of competition, my immediate reaction when they call out the name of the winner is to look at the loser.
Lisa Jewell
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I knew I wasn't the sort of person who could do a full-time job and write in the evening and at weekends.
Lisa Jewell -
My first husband dragged me out of London and made me live in the suburbs in Surrey - not where you want to be when you're 23.
Lisa Jewell -
Publishers have published women's fiction into a corner, and now we are all trying to punch our way out of it. We just have to write the best books we possibly can and hope that, once the pink covers and Bridget Jones have faded from memory, we might finally be allowed just to be called writers.
Lisa Jewell -
I don't think my first book was chick lit.
Lisa Jewell -
I take the six weeks of the school summer holidays off because I'm pretty sure I'm not going to look back on my life one day and say, 'Damn, I wish I hadn't spent so much time with my children.'
Lisa Jewell -
'Ralph's Party' was a romantic comedy, and at the end of it, the two main characters, Ralph and Jen, kiss for the first time and think they're going to be happy together. Then, 10 years later, I wrote a sequel in which they've been together for 10 years and are about to split up.
Lisa Jewell
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Every brilliant book I read is an influence and an inspiration. As is every brilliant movie I watch and every brilliant box set.
Lisa Jewell -
Getting married young was the worst experience of my life. It was horrible - really horrible.
Lisa Jewell -
The only way you can write about a happy family in a drama is to make them unhappy.
Lisa Jewell -
My father, Anthony, was a textile agent who sold fabric in the West End and was away a lot. He was very glamorous. When he first met my mum, he swept her off into this big, social world.
Lisa Jewell -
I must always, always have a box of Extra chewing gum in my bag because I have developed a terrible cheek-chewing compulsion. It's not only uncomfortable, but I look really weird when I'm doing it, and chewing gum is the only way I can stop myself.
Lisa Jewell -
Nick Hornby's a genius.
Lisa Jewell
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'Ralph's Party' was supposed to be a psychological thriller, but I fell in love with all my characters and wanted only the best for them.
Lisa Jewell -
My father was a self-employed textile agent, and the shop below his office was an art gallery.
Lisa Jewell -
My husband loves having his own room.
Lisa Jewell -
I would never, for the sake of the story or a twist, have a character do something that they just wouldn't do. I really couldn't. I'd rather miss out on the twist.
Lisa Jewell -
I like the fact that my husband and I have been together for a long time and have a warm and colourful history together.
Lisa Jewell -
If you have a calling, you need to let it find you.
Lisa Jewell
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There's a weird contrast between my usual daily routine and then my book coming out. It's like someone's just suddenly opened the curtains in a dark room, and everyone's looking at you.
Lisa Jewell -
I tried to write about my first marriage in a fictional version but got two pages into it and realised it was too personal. Then I came up with an old-fashioned love triangle, which became the plot for 'Ralph's Party.'
Lisa Jewell -
Sometimes you need to be shaken out of a situation.
Lisa Jewell -
If you feel that your father was lacking as a husband, it affects your own choice of man.
Lisa Jewell