 interview with marianne wheelaghan what s your day job  i corun the online creative writing school wwwwritingclassescouk  which i set up in 2002 with other commitments how do you make time for writing do you snatch time when you re free or do you plan it into the day  i m not good at snatching time for creative stuff when i write i like to know i have the whole day ahead of me like charles dickens i find it hard to concentrate on my writing if i know someone is due to visit or i have an appointment later on in the day sylvia plath famously wrote at dawn whereas other writers sup their espresso long into the night when it comes to writing are you a lark or an owl  i used to be a night owl but more recently i ve found that if i write into the wee hours i can t then switch off and go to sleep and i am a big believer in getting my sleep so i like to start early the earlier the better before i get too distracted by other stuff then even if i do have to stop for whatever reason at least i will have got some writing done do you have a set daily word count you feel you must achieve if not when do you decide your day s writing is done  no i don t have a set word limit or set time but i do like to write for a good six to eight hours a day when i am in writing mode which is more enjoyable the first draft or the redrafting  i hate the first draft it is so scary writing it because you have to fill all those blank empty pages and you don t really know how your story will turn out i agree with the writer john gardner when he said one cannot judge in advance whether or not the idea of the story is worthwhile because until one has finished writing the story one does not know for sure what the idea is but i love the redrafting ie the shaping and sifting and constructing and moulding and correcting and cutting and creating the finished draft of my story tell us about how you got your first publication after i finished writing the blue suitcase my first novel i submitted my manuscript to agents in the usual way despite lots of positive feedback no one offered to represent me at some point and i can t remember when my husband marc suggested he publish my novel this is not as radical as you may think marc has experience publishing education books and is also a writer he established pilrig press and published the blue suitcase in november 2010 and my second novel food of ghosts in november 2012 he has now taken on new authors whose books he will be publishing later this year and the rest is as they say history do you sometimes feel like not writing if so how do you muster the motivation and necessary discipline to get to the desk and begin  i usually always want to write but i do have off days when this happens like anne tyler i make myself try and sit at the computer and type anything it doesn t matter what in fact sometimes i rewrite the same simple inane sentence over and over again almost every time i do this an idea or two will sneak into the sentences it s as if the act of sitting at my desk and writing any old rubbish fools my brain into thinking that i m really working and the ideas start flowing the one ironclad rule is that i have to try i have to walk into my writing room and pick up my pen every weekday morning anne tyler marianne s desk do you plan your novels carefully before writing a word or do you set off on the journey and see what happens  i do some planning yes i think a plan is good even if i ditch it later in fact i will almost most definitely ditch it and make many more plans and ditch them too because until the novel is actually finished i don t know for sure what it will be about i write because i don t know what i think until i read what i say flannery o connor are you ruthless with your characters or do you allow them to develop on paper in ways you didn t foresee  i m quite ruthless i want my characters to do what i want of course they develop and change in unexpected ways just as the story does but no i don t put up with unruly characters can you offer any advice for a beginner writer  gosh let me think there are two things i tell my students when they start the first is something by the writer flannery o connor the only way i think to learn to write stories is to write them and then to try to discover what you have done the time to think of technique is when you ve actually got your story in front of you and the other is by ray bradbury if you are writing without zest without gusto without love without fun you are only half a writer for the first thing a writer should be is excited ray bradbury what work do you have in progress at the moment  i am working on the second novel in the detective louisa townsend pacific murder series as well as a sequel to the blue suitcase interviews marianne wheelaghan interview permalink submitted by marianne wheelaghan not verified on march 10 2013 1546 hi julie thanks again for inviting me to share my thoughts on my writing life it has been lovely to talk to you all good wishes marianne x mwheelaghan wwwmariannewheelaghancouk reply 