Author interview: Jojo Moyes on her latest release
Nicola Russell catches up with popular author Jojo Moyes about her latest projects, including a new romance in Paris.
It was a groundbreaking year for author Jojo Moyes. In June 2016, her novel Me Before You hit screens as a motion picture, for which she wrote the adaptation herself after doing a crash course in screenwriting; she also released her 14th book, Paris for One, and then went on to write two more screenplays. The antidote to her stress? Horse-riding.
“My family and animals are very good at grounding me. Plus I live in the middle of nowhere. Being in deep countryside is very good for giving you perspective, and riding with my daughter is the best way to de-stress. That said, I still get quite stressed!” admits the New York Times number one bestselling author, who lives on a farm in Essex, England.
Being involved in multiple projects meant Jojo had to find a way to split her focus.
“I have learned, for example, that I’m not good at writing books in the afternoon – but I can work on screenplays, which are more technical. So I veer between the two. Sometimes I go away for a few days if I need to get deep into one project,” says the writer who worked as a journalist for a decade before moving into novels.
Turning your own book into a screenplay is no mean feat and Jojo had to learn how to transfer the novel’s essence to the much more succinct medium of film. She picked up some handy tips for budding screenwriters in the process.
“Take the films you love and download the scripts for them (most are online), read them and figure out why they work in the way they do,” she explains. “I did that with lots of films, from The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel to Alien. I also had a couple of very good screenwriters who I could send each draft to – and they would gently explain why my attempts were rubbish!”
The euthanasia storyline in Me Before You created public controversy when it was released as a movie – something Jojo hadn’t anticipated. “The book had been out for four-and-a-half years and I’d had so much positive reaction to it and almost no negative responses. I think it taught me that a) the reach of film is so much further than you expect, and b) that nuance is easier in books – both to write and in the way they are consumed.
I felt very proud not just to be part of a female-led film, but one that so many men enjoyed.
On the upside, it did raise the profile of an issue that is vitally important, and a lot of diverse voices got heard.”
She was delighted the film was so dominated by women – with a female director, writer and lead.
“When I discovered the very low numbers of women in film generally, I felt very proud not just to be part of a femaleled film, but one that so many men enjoyed – and which made so much money at the box office (which is really what counts for studios!). I hope it encourages the industry to use more women – and to create films that are directed at the female gaze.”
Her latest novel, Paris for One, is Jojo’s own love letter to the city where so many of her books have been born. “Until recently I shared a studio in Le Marais, which I would disappear to, to write – a proper writer’s garret with just a bed, a desk and a chair. I loved it. Paris is meant to be an unfriendly city, but I found many little kindnesses – taxi drivers who charged less than they should have, chocolatiers who gave me free samples – friendly, normal human beings. I did, however, once buy a cashmere jumper I couldn’t afford because I was so intimidated by the sales assistant!”
The writer, who likes her readers to take one important message away from each of her books, says Paris for One is about finding happiness in unexpected places. “It is just meant to be a little bit of sweetness – it’s about how two people, who have both been disappointed by life, meet by accident and bring out the best in each other. If there’s a theme in my books I guess it’s about people discovering they are capable of so much more than they know.”
It is easy to imagine Paris for One on the big screen and readers excited about this possibility should watch this space. “I have written the script – and I hope to have something to tell you very soon!” Jojo says.
Meanwhile, she is already onto another book. “I’m writing it now. But I don’t want to tell you anything about it!”