How are you today?
Very well, thank you. Yourself?
Not bad. So tell us, who is SheWhoWrites?
The mysterious alter-ego of a lass in her 20s who lives in the South of England. I am (as far as I know) no relation of She-Ra.
Any more you want to tell us about yourself?
I wouldn't want to give too much away, now..
Onto your stories. How did it start?
I think I wanted to see more stories of this genre that were actually aimed at women. So much out there seems to have been written specifiaclly for male readers, which is fine, but it tends to be a bit fantastical and nothing like real life. I started with 'Red Wine and Medics', which I wrote for fun more than anything else, but when I put it out into the public domain I got a much more positive response than I expected, so I wrote some more. After a while the website came along, and so on. It is the feedback I get from readers that really keeps me writing; if I didn't know that people were enjoying my stories then I wouldn't do it. At least, I wouldn't put them out.
They're all set in Britain...
They say write what you know! Anyway, there's LOTS of stuff set in the US, so hopefully mine makes a welcome change. I like writing about places that I and my British readers will know, and also it means I get to educate everyone on the correct spelling of 'colour'! Actually I do venture further afield occasionally, but I like London and Brighton and Oxford and the like so much that I wanted to get them in.
Where do you get the inspiration for your characters?
Lots of places. Some are based on people I have known (not necessarily people I have been involved with) and some are purely from imagination. A few of them are loosely based on me, perhaps more in their behaviour than anything else. Only on one occasion have I written people as they were, and even then I have changed the names. I did write myself into one of the stories for fun, as I mention on my site, but I am a very peripheral character. I would do this with more people, but I try not to reuse names and lots of my friends have already had their names used!
I wanted to write stories women could relate to and characters they could believe and maybe identify with. Those were my aims, whether or not I succeeded is up to the readers!
Why does everyone have to wait so long for new stories?
Because I have a day job and writing is a hobby that I have to fit around everything else. This means that sometimes my site might not get updated for ages, but that doesn't mean I'm dead. I still read my emails and reply.
Good good. So you do read your emails?
Absolutely, I love hearing about my audience and as I said before, it is feedback that keeps me writing. Can I plug it here?
Go on then..
Drop me a line at shewhowrites@yahoo.co.uk and I will always reply, apart from that one time when I went travelling for two months. It's behind me now! I really appreciate all comments, positive or negative.
Indeed. And thank you.
No, no, thank you. Looks like rain, don't you think?
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Interview courtesy of A. Simmons (February 2004)
