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An agent once said to me, “Why would anyone want to read your memoir? You’re not famous.  If I were you, I’d go back and fictionalise it.”  Was he honestly telling me, that Katie Price’s memoir is more interesting, better written and fun to read than my novel, simply because she’s famous?  Do you think Eat, Pray, Love would have been better if Elizabeth Gilbert had written it in the third person and given herself another name?  The answer to both of these I believe, is no.

One reason being, that of all the comments I received, one of the most frequent is “I loved your honesty.” I think this can only be achieved by writing as I have done.  In my own voice, from my own experience and I have gained confidence from knowing that other people who started their literary careers as an ‘unknown’ have written interesting and engaging books based on their own lives.

Whether it is a fictional story or something real that you are relating, the skill is in the narrating. Told well, the most banal event can be turned into an entertaining anecdote, and I would argue that whether you are famous or whether you have done anything ‘amazing’ is irrelevant.

Art is about providing a different perspective. Giving people a window onto a world they might otherwise never have seen. Lacan argued that art is like putting up a prism on life. I would be inclined to agree. For me, it’s also about the process of creating something and having people want to read it and enjoy it is the ultimate accolade.

Either way, this book was written for me. Many people have made many suggestions about how it could be improved, what could be omitted or edited but I wanted it to be true to me because I know that there are plenty of people who will appreciate its fluctuations stylistically; its complexity and honesty.

They are the elements that reflect me as a person with which many people will identify. It’s one of the reasons I have chosen to publish it in such an original way: to retain my artistic integrity.

The question is, do you agree?

It was Alice Hoffman who unknowingly prompted me to write this post. One of my favourite authors along with Vikram Seth for his A Suitable Boy, Michael Ondaatje, Alice Seobald and The Lovely Bones, Hoffman’s ability to make the real magical and the magical real keeps me spellbound in her narratives which always carry a dark quality.  You are probably all familiar with Practical Magic which was made into a film – a very successful adaptation in fact. These are the writers who inspire me to keep writing beyond Who is Petite Nicole? along with the determination to write better than Martin Amis.  I guess the only way I could describe him and his vile characters is to liken him to Damien Hirst.  Someone who continually churns out vulgar work because it fills the bank account and keeps critics’ tongues wagging. They propel me to write my own fictional stories and if you’re lucky and this project goes well, I may offer to let you all read one here. However, to be able to afford to keep writing, I need you to keep buying

But if we’re going to get people to read, we have to make them want to.  How do we do this?  By making books cool and engaging people in the creative and publishing process so that projects like The People Publish take on a whole new meaning.

Personally, it was the fact that my mum was into reading and that some of the authors she read such as Catherine Cookson were also writing children’s books which motivated me.  It meant that I could feel ‘cool’ reading work my mum was into or had read herself as a child.  I am convinced that this went a long way in laying the foundations that have enabled me to become a writer myself.  I now wonder, who or what, inspired you?