HOW I WRITE

‘There’s nothing I love more than scouting for locations’

The ‘queen of feelgood fiction’,

Jill started writing while working in the NHS, after she read a magazine article that inspired her to join a local creative writing class. She’s since sold more than 14 million books worldwide – making her one of the top 20 British female novelists of the 21st century (in terms of sales) – and in 2015, she was presented with an Outstanding Achievement award by the Romantic

Novelists Association.

I’m a magpie, always on the lookout for new ideas. With Promise Me, I saw an old man out walking with his dog, and knew I wanted to write about them. They’ll never know they inspired a novel.

My readers tell me how much they love my work, which keeps me writing – it never stops being a thrill. Weaving together a story isn’t easy, but when it’s going well, there’s no better feeling. And after writing more than 100,000 words, I love writing my two favourites…

‘The End’.

In my books, the place is my starting point. There’s nothing I love more than scouting for locations, then finding one I know is right. With Promise Me, I was exploring a market town and saw a Georgian house high on the hill overlooking it. My stomach went ping and I knew I’d found my setting.

My characters appear in my head, like magic. The moment they arrive, I know everything about them. As for a favourite, in Promise Me, it has to be Edgar Allsopp and his dog, Captain Oates.

Many people call me the queen of feelgood fiction

– I like that! I enjoy spending time with my characters. It must be harder for authors who write crime fiction or psychological thrillers where genuinely nasty characters occupy their brain. Having said that, the crime writers I know are always cheerful.

I work every weekday, although it does depend on how well the story is flowing. I write by hand with my beautiful fountain pens, so I can’t work to accurate word counts, but if I know exactly what happens next, I can complete 2,000 words. On more difficult days, I’ll struggle to manage a few hundred words.

The best piece of writing advice I’ve ever been given was: Love your cast, even the less-appealing members. Everyone has good and bad aspects, and believes their actions are justified. If I don’t care about the characters in my books, how can I expect my readers to care about them and find out what happens to them all?

✢ Promise Me by Jill Mansell is out on 19 January (£16.99, HB, Headline).