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 After working as a teacher and writing
numerous short stories, Wigan born writer Kate Long had her first novel,
‘The Bad Mother’s Handbook’ published in 2004 and hasn’t looked back
since. With two more novels under her belt and a fourth to be released
later this year, this past February saw her debut book brought to life
in an ITV drama staring comedienne-turned-actor Catherine Tate.
The LINC caught up with Kate to chat about the TV show, her old life as
a teacher, and how she’s managed to avoid the much dreaded writer’s
block.
Are you looking forward to your talk at Standish Library later?
To be honest, I find these things quite hard. I’m not a natural… I don’t
like standing up and drawing attention to myself, it’s just the way I’ve
been brought up, but I suppose you’ve got to roll your sleeves up and
get on with it really, it’s part of the job.
I’ve done quite a few things like this since my first book came out
though and the more you do it, the more you get used to it. Saying that,
it’s always really nice to meet people, that’s a dead nice aspect of the
job.
How do you find it when people who’ve read your books come up to you
with positive comments?
It’s fantastic. It doesn’t get any better than that when people come up
to you and privately tell you that what you’ve written meant something
to them.
Your first book, ‘The Bad Mother’s Handbook’ has recently been adapted
to TV drama about to air on ITV with Catherine Tate in the lead role,
how does that feel?
None of it seemed real at all, even getting a book deal in the first
place seemed like some kind of dream. Then it [the book] got to number
one and we were given four separate film offers. Then we heard Catherine
Tate was going to be involved and it all just went madder and madder.
It’s been… all kinds of things. It’s been really exciting, it’s been
quite worrying, it’s been hugely entertaining, really interesting, a
real mix of things.
Did you have much to do with the process of making the TV show?
I co-wrote the script then I went down and spoke to the actors and gave
them a briefing. I was told to do that, I didn’t just force myself on
them!
I did try to get on set as much as possible too, again because I was
asked to go down to watch and give advice and things. They were
incredibly good about including me and asking my point of view on
things. I don’t think all producers and directors are like that so I was
very lucky there.
Is TV something you might be interested in writing more of in the
future?
Well I’ve had a couple of offers, so I’m certainly thinking about it,
but my third book is coming out in paperback next month, my fourth book
is out in August, I’m just coming to the end of the fifth and I’m
contracted to write a sixth for next year. So I’m a bit busy really!
Before you turned to writing full-time you were a teacher, did you ever
find that working with the students at your schools gave you any
inspiration for your stories?
Very much, yeah. They were just so full of fun and funny sayings, ideas
and that. I can’t help it, I’m a real magpie for taking people’s phrases
and thinking ‘right, I’ll hang on to that’.
How does your new career as a writer compare to being a teacher, do you
think you’d ever want to go back to the classroom fulltime?
I wouldn’t, no. There are bits of teaching that I miss. I miss the
pupils and I miss the staff room, but there’s a lot about teaching that
I didn’t like, such as doing playground duty in the freezing cold and
great piles of marking all weekend.
So no, I don’t think I’d want to go back. Plus, it’s very nice to be
able to work from home when you’ve got small children like I have
because you can go and pick them up from school and stuff.
You’ve said that you come up with most of your ideas at night time, jot
them down and then go to work the next morning with a pile of notes.
Have you ever had a period where the ideas just didn’t come, or suffered
from the dreaded ‘writer’s block’?
No, not yet!
That’s lucky!
Yeah, so let’s keep it that way! I put that down to the fact that I
never stop, I’ve always got something on the go. I think that if I
finished a project and didn’t do anything for six months, then I’d be in
trouble, but I’ve always got something on the go.
Finally, is there any advice you could give to young writers out there?
Read loads and loads and watch good films, both of those help your
language skills. Start making notes straight away, get notebooks and
start jotting things down. It’s never too early to put things down and
you may start something now that you’ll be able to develop later.
I’m in touch with a girl called Helen Oyeyemi who wrote her first novel
whilst studying for her A-Levels. So there are extremely young writers
coming through and there’s no reason why it can’t be a LINC reader!
Recommended Link:
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www.katelong.co.uk
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