Samantha Tonge is the Author of Doubting Abbey and a regular contributor to People's Friend. She spoke about her writing, insomnia and never giving up.
Tell me about Doubting Abbey!
Doubting Abbey is the story of pizza
waitress, Gemma, who must pass herself off as
aristocratic Abbey for two weeks, in order to win reality show Million Dollar Mansion and save rundown Applebridge Hall – without blowing her cover or
falling for gorgeous but uptight Lord Edward!
How did you come up with
the idea?
It was
inspired by the TV series Downton Abbey.
It fascinated me how this historical series could become so hugely popular, on
a global scale, and made me wonder how a modern gal would survive in such a
stuffy, emotionally restrained atmosphere
You are a prolific writer
of short stories. Have you found that your writing process differs when writing
novels?
Not
really – writing short stories has really helped me with novels ( I
stared writing novels first) and I think of each chapter as a short story –
its beginning and end are particularly important and what’s in between
must be well structured, with every word counting. I don’t approach a
novel as one whole opus, I take it chapter by chapter.
Insomnia helps as well – I think up shorts during the night and with the
novel, the next scene!
Are you writing anything
at the moment?
I am
about half way through the sequel to Doubting Abbey and having SO MUCH fun as Gemma is a bit of a bonkers character! I, um, just hope my
editor likes it as much as I do!
What's the best piece of
writing advice you've ever been given?
Never
give up – hard advice to take when the umpteenth rejection has come in,
but in my opinion, the only difference between a published and unpublished
writer (if it is publication they are seeking) is sticking power.
You can visit Samantha on her website at samanthatonge.co.uk or at her blog: http://doubtingabbey.blogspot.
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