Lipstick Lifestyle

Carol Mason is a charming British gal with one published novel under her belt-The Secrets of Married Women, and her 2nd-Send Me A Lover -releasing this fall. Carol shares with us what it is like to be a writer and why she left England to live in Canada…

When you were a little girl, what did you want to be?
First a pathologist, then a physiotherapist, then a journalist. Then I woke up and realised I was very bad at biology and I hardly ever read a newspaper!

How long have your been a writer?
I think off and on for a very long time. I wrote two Harlequin Romances (unpublished) when I was 25, then ended up packing that in and working as an advertising copywriter (does that still count?). But as a person seriously committed to getting published, I’d say about 6 years.

Where do your get your story ideas from?
Weird places. Things people tell me — have to heavily disguise the source of those. Things brewing in my own mind. Sometimes from just the craziest conversations between family and friends that inspire some hint of an idea. In the case of my book 2 - Send Me A Lover - it was from something my husband once said, and then from the words of a Celine Dion song I heard while driving…the two just melded, and I had an idea.

What type of woman will enjoy The Secrets of Married Women?
A married one! Someone who likes to read the kind of book that is mildly escapist but still very true to life. Someone who enjoys that dark and complex territory of being in a long-term relationship, temptation, the rollercoaster ride of our hearts and emotions as we navigate marriage and friendships. Someone who likes to laugh and be entertained, but doesn’t want to read something that’s got no substance.

Have you written any other books?
Yes. Not counting the three I wrote that didn’t get published, and the two I wrote 10 years before that! (Writing is not easy. Getting published is the hardest thing you will ever attempt to do. My other novels weren’t bad. They just weren’t good enough. But it was a process I think I had to go through to realise what my style was and what makes me uniquely me, as opposed to a carbon copy of some other writer I might admire). I have written my second novel, Send Me A Lover, that comes out in Canada in early next year. Plus I am working on my third.

Who are your favourite authors?
Aside from the classics who are too numerous to mention, Terry McMillan, Rosie Thomas, Jonathan Tropper, Nick Hornby, Tony Parsons. I also like Santa Montefiore, Jennifer Weiner and Maggie O’Farrell.

Why is “Chick lit” so popular?
Chick lit is such a broad term. I find that if a book is written by a woman, for women, and it’s got even one single laugh in it, anywhere, it gets labelled chick lit. So on that definition, I think women like reading all these books that are aimed right at them and mirror, in some ways, their own lives, or their own hopes and dreams, or their own failures and failings. For the most part, when we pick up a novel we are wanting to be entertained. If we wanted an education we’d buy a textbook. Chick lit - or, I should say, chick lit at its best - is very entertaining and leaves you moved in some lovely big way, and you generally don’t need two dictionaries on hand to be able to read it. What more could we ask for from a 10-20 dollar purchase?

What is the hardest thing about writing a novel?
There are so many hard things it’d be hard to rank them! Writing something - be it a paragraph or a chapter, or an entire novel - that you believe is good, and is as good as you can possibly make it, that you are going to be proud to see in print, that you believe people are not wasting their time in reading. Also pulling it all together - for me, writing a plot that is realistic enough to be meaningful, yet not so realistic that it’s humdrum, and making the characters feel like people we might know, rather than cardboard cutouts or stereotypical ‘fictional’ characters. Somehow bringing it all together and striking for me that essential balance between funny and warm, and lightness and emotional richness.

What makes a successful writer?
Somebody who is talented, yes of course. But who is also driven to succeed, who is extremely thick skinned and devoid of all ego. Someone who can’t envision doing or being anything else and genuinely from the bottom of their soul loves to write and produce effective strong work.

Who are you influenced by?
Usually the last excellent writer/very good book I have read. Which is very frustrating. If I read a book that leaves me with an overwhelming satisfaction by the end, then I use that to motivate me to pull that feat off in my own novel. I see no point in reading books and saying to myself ‘Mine is better than that!’. What I long for is to read something that makes me ask myself ‘Can I be as good as that?’ There is nothing more motivating or exhilarating than that sort of challenge.

What makes you smile?
Seeing my husband do something that is so utterly ridiculous that it reminds me how much I love his quirks. Seeing my dog wait in the middle of the street for someone behind us to catch up to us, so she can say hi to them. Having a friend say something so honest, and so shocking, that only she could pull it off and not be arrested. Having a glass of wine after a lovely meal on my deck on a good day when I feel my book is going well.

What brought you to Canada?
A man! Okay, not initially. Initially just a desire to see somewhere other than England. But then I met Tony all those years ago, and somehow, I suppose I didn’t know it at the time, but he was the guy I was going to ultimately leave England for.

How do you juggle a career and a personal life?
It used to be easy when I worked for a company, before my novelist days. Now it’s hard being home. When I am not writing well, I start doing housework. Then I get resentful that housework is taking me away from my book! I also have to be very firm in reminding people that just because I stay home doesn’t mean I don’t work, so I am not free at the drop of a hat to pop over for coffee, or have them drop in on me. It sort of works, most of the time. But then again, sometimes I take advantage of my self-made hours too….

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
I’d love to have written 10 more novels, and for them to all be big successes. Or at least moderately big successes. I’d personally like to feel that each book has just got better and better, yet still feel challenged enough to want to go on writing even better ones!

What advice would you give to someone wanting to become an author?
It is extremely difficult. It’s not just about writing or having talent. It’s as much about knowing the publishing business as it is writing a great book. Know what it is you are writing. Know your audience. Know who else is writing in your genre/field and how you are different/competitive to them. Then find out how the publishing industry operates. Start with getting yourself the best agent who will take you on. Be realistic. Agents take on one or two clients a year. Many top publishing houses publish about one or two new novelists a year. The odds of that being you are very very small. But it’s not impossible. It’s a lot about never giving up…

Thank you Carol for sharing yourself with us.