Joanne Harris became a well-known literary figure for her Whitbread-shortlisted novel, Chocolat, the tale of Vianne Rocher and her daughter who open a chocolate shop in a small French town, thereby changing the lives of the townsfolk forever. The book was turned into a film starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. Joanne's other novels include Sleep, Pale Sister, Coastliners, Holy Fools, Blackberry Wine, and Jigs & Reels. Her latest novel, Gentlemen & Players will be published in October 2005. She lives in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, with her husband and daughter. Joanne took time out of her busy schedule to give us her top 5 writing tips and top 5 reads.
Joanne Harris's 5 writing tips
1. know the odds.
Remember that over 100,000 new titles come out in England every year. For every one of these, agents and publishers read and reject over 100 manuscripts. These are the odds against you. Don't be put off - but don't expect instant success either.
2. enjoy yourself
Believe me, it shows. If you don't enjoy what you're writing, no reader will.
3. get out there
Everything you see and do informs your writing. The more you have experienced, seen, read, learnt, the more ideas you'll have. No-one learns much by sitting at a desk waiting for 'the Muse' to clock in.
4. no clones.
Don't waste time trying to copy someone else's style just because you think it's in vogue. Chances are that by the time you finish the book, the wave will have passed anyway.
5. leave your ego at the door
Be humble. Accept both praise and criticism with an equally open mind, and act upon them where necessary.
This is the most difficult question to ask an avid reader, but here are five books that made an early impact upon me, all by master stylists, all of which I have re-read many times and all of which I still find fresh, exhilarating and able to surprise.
1. gormenghast by mervyn peake
A true original, dark, funny and paranoid, by one of the twentieth century's greatest and most under-appreciated voices.
2. the outsider by albert camus
The existential masterwork, and as bleak and astonishing as it was when I first read it.
3. a clockwork orange by anthony burgess
Still one of the most audacious pieces of style and characterization I've ever encountered.
4. the golden apples of the sun by ray bradbury
Short stories, all of them perfect.
5. molesworth by geoffrey willans and ronald searle
Clever, funny and bizarrely existential; no-one has yet produced such an accurate portrait of the English public school system, or such a catchy series of schoolboy misspellings.
