Lisa Jewell Quotes
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My parents' marriage was, on an aesthetic level, very pleasing to behold.
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I don't think my first book was chick lit.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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If you can start and finish a book, then you're already a million miles ahead of all those people who talk about wanting to write a book.
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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.
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Getting married young was the worst experience of my life. It was horrible - really horrible.
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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.'
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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.
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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.
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'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.
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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.
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Nick Hornby's a genius.
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If you feel that your father was lacking as a husband, it affects your own choice of man.
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The only way you can write about a happy family in a drama is to make them unhappy.
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My mother's childhood was complex, disjointed, and disturbing. As children, we would gather round and ask her to tell us again and again The Story of Her Childhood. It was Grimmsian, Andersenesque: a classic fairy tale replete with goodies and baddies.
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I like the fact that my husband and I have been together for a long time and have a warm and colourful history together.
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Everyone thinks they've got a book inside them.
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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.
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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.
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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.'
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No man ever fell in love with me for the way I fill out a Lycra dress.
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My husband loves having his own room.