In conversation with… Dorothy Koomson

The bestselling author talks about signs from the universe, training for MasterChef and her secret past as an erotic fiction writer…

When I was very young, I used to read a lot. I went to the library after school every day. I was 13 when I first tried my hand at my own story – I used to write a chapter every night and pass it round my school friends the next morning. It was called There’s a Thin Line Between Love and Hate – imagine trying to get a title that long through nowadays! I stopped for a few years and then began writing short stories, but it wasn’t until my final year of college that I had an idea for a full novel. And actually, I ended up having the idea for my first published novel The Cupid Effect when I was writing what became the second one – The Chocolate Run.

Growing up, I was constantly told I

couldn’t do stuff. But I was always,

“Well, I’ll show you” and “Why can’t I do that?”. Becoming an author was more to do with this defiance than anything else because I wasn’t that confident as a child, but I did have a good sense of right and wrong. I went on marches and stood on picket lines, because I believed in stuff.

Writers get so many knock-backs, but you have to dust yourself off and carry on. If you want to be an author, you have to keep going – that’s the bottom line. After being rejected from agents, I sent my manuscript to a small independent publisher, but I heard nothing. One day, I asked the universe for a sign that I should keep trying, and there was a knock at the door. It was the postman with a big letter for me – an offer for a two-book deal. Over the years, I have learned who to listen to. Some people say stuff simply to be mean, but if you trust people, you listen to their judgement and take on board their advice. If I know that I’ve tried my best with a book, then I can take the criticism. I want my readers to get their money’s worth – I put my heart and soul into the books.

You have to be perfect for people to believe you. My new book was inspired by the idea of the “perfect victim”. There’s a line in there that goes “we want to hear the most hideous things from the prettiest people”, and that’s what inspired me. You have to look a certain way – if you’re a woman and something bad happens to you, you have to look a certain way to be taken seriously. You’re not allowed to have had lots of sex, or be too nasty or to smoke or drink too much, or have a history or reputation. That’s what I wanted to talk about and explore. When the #MeToo movement happened, a lot of women didn’t come forwards because they felt they wouldn’t be believed because they weren’t perfect. That’s part of the society we’ve created, unfortunately. Winning Ready, Steady, Cook in the 90s was a real career highlight. [Laughs.] I’m in training to go onto MasterChef now – I’m determined to get on it at some point. I cook a lot when I’m trying to think things through. I’ve got into different types of cooking, and I like it because you use a different part of your brain, which is relaxing and helps other thoughts to come through.

I like a good sex scene. I used to write erotic fiction for More! magazine, which I kept on the down-low. [Laughs.] But I don’t just throw in a sex scene – it has to move the story along or help to keep it from dragging. They’re always in the right place. And I do think a funny sex scene can be good – when you’re writing a book, you have to get the balance right of serious stuff and romance and sex.

✢ Tell Me Your Secret by Dorothy Koomson is published on 27 June (Headline Review). w&h