‘I don’t know how I got so brave’
Bestselling author Jane Fallon didn’t publish her first book until she was 47, after a career as a script editor and TV producer. She talks to books editor Joanne Finney about finding confidence and life with her long-term partner, comedian Ricky Gervais
Most of my ideas come from things that have happened to me or my friends. I’ve always liked listening to people’s stories; I think if you’re a quiet, shy child, you just listen to everything. My latest book, Tell Me A Secret, was inspired by a former assistant who worked for me. She and a colleague both applied for the same job – but the colleague didn’t say a word. I just remember thinking it was the weirdest thing. I’ll find a tiny bit of a relationship or situation that I think is interesting and build it out from there. Then the plot and the characters sort of come together. I wrote my first book when I was five. I remember it so well: it was eight pages long, with one line of story and a drawing on each page. I wanted my dad to sell it in the paperback stand of his newsagents but he said no! I always wanted to write but I never imagined it was a viable career option. I had this idea that novelists came from very arty families. When I started writing longer things, I felt very self-conscious – it was a confidence issue. I hadn’t really found my voice, I was writing garbage. When Teachers ended in 2004 [Jane was executive producer], I was trying to think of a new TV project. The idea for my first novel, Getting Rid Of Matthew, came to me literally overnight. I don’t know how I got so brave, but I just decided that if I didn’t give writing a go, I never would. I was 45. I resigned and took a year out. I told everyone what I was going to do so I had to do it! The earlier I get up, the better my day is. I’ll get up at 5am and then I can write for a good four hours before anything else is going on, which is great. I try to do it every day and probably achieve it five or six days out of seven. If I can do that, it’s fantastic because then your day is your own. And my brain works a billion times better first thing. My work ethic comes from my parents. They had a newsagents when we were little; it was open seven days a week. They would get up at 4.30am and they never moaned about it. They always instilled in me and my siblings that you had to find your own path. Ricky and I have quite different personalities. He’s far more gregarious than me, whereas I’m more of an introvert, but I think that works. Success hasn’t changed our relationship because we’d been together a long time when it happened. I get really wound up by people saying [to Ricky], ‘Oh, why won’t you marry her?’ We’ve been together 36 years but we’re just not interested. My sister just got married after more than 20 years with her now-husband. It was because the kids wanted them to, which I understand. Ricky has never read any of my books. The only fiction he’s ever read is The Catcher In The Rye by JD Salinger, which he loved. He can’t go straight from that to me, because that’s not fair! ◆ Tell Me A Secret by Jane Fallon (Penguin) is out 10 January.