Why I Write: Fiona Collins, Author of You, Me And The Movies

July 13, 2020 | By Fiona Collins | Reply More

I’d never wanted to be a writer. It wasn’t a childhood dream of mine or anything. It’s not something I’d ever thought about. I mean, I had written. When I was about eight, I won a school competition for the best essay about Oliver Twist – the prize? A copy of Oliver Twist… I did English ‘A’ level, then a Film Studies and Literature degree.

I wrote lots and lots of essays. I enjoyed writing essays. Later on, I worked as a TV presenter for a television station in Hong Kong and I wrote scripts and voiceovers as part of the job. Again, I enjoyed it. I always enjoyed writing, but I wasn’t a writer. I never thought writing was really what I did.

Writers, to me, were very clever people who belonged to another world – Graham Greene and Agatha Christie and Jilly Cooper – a glamorous, slightly posh world that was far from my orbit. I was a reader; reading was what I did best.

As a child, under my covers way past bedtime, with a Girl Guide pen torch moving across every line; as an adult devouring everything I could, from classics to bestsellers. I was from Chelmsford in Essex. I liked to read but I was an average girl who became an average woman and people like me did not become writers.

When I was forty-five, my children had all been at school for a while and I wanted to do something. Not a ‘hobby’, as my husband initially told everyone, until I quickly corrected him (at least he didn’t say, ‘a little hobby’, bless him..!), but something, to make some money of my own, to get a bit of ‘me’ back. I had produced three gorgeous children; I had been a stay-at-home mum for a long time. I was happy, very happy in my marriage and with my children, but I had the feeling of ‘Is this it?’ ‘Is this what I went to university for?’ and ‘Is this what I’m going to be now forever; a wife, a mum?’ – well, I wanted to be those forever, but I wanted to be something else, too. Something of the me I used to be.

At first, I attempted making craft things. I thought I’d paint children’s name plates for bedroom doors and walls, and sell them on eBay, but these proved to be very time consuming and not very good! I had a go at painting portraits – I’m not bad at getting likenesses of people but I take aaages and I couldn’t see me making much money on two amateur portraits a year… I like fashion so I started buying clothes at the local boot fair and re-selling them, again on eBay.

This soon got old; the part of it I enjoyed most was writing the descriptions – which I got quite creative with: making a few jokes, waxing lyrically about buttons and fancy collars. But I resented getting up at 7am on a Sunday morning while everyone else was sleeping and I got bored of the packing and the sending. I was still looking for that something. I just didn’t know what it was.

Then, my mother-in-law passed a book onto me and that book was The Other Side of the Story, by Marian Keyes. It wasn’t the first Marian Keyes book I’d ever read (I think she’s utterly brilliant) but, whooooah this book planted a seed in my brain!

It’s about the publishing world and two former friends who both write books and get them published. It’s about writing. I read it and I loved it, and then, like Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City, I couldn’t help but wonder… could I write something? Did I, as the saying goes, have a book in me? And if I did, how on earth would I dig it out?

I began to write, in secret. I knew what my genre would be – romcoms – and while my husband was at work and my children were at school I sat at the kitchen table and I wrote and wrote, not telling anyone. I found it really tricky, at first, coming up with a plot. I studied what I could about them. Beginnings, middles and ends. I read books like Stephen King’s On Writing. I really wanted to make a go of this.

So, every day I sat at that table and I wrote lots of words. When my husband got home from work and my kids got home from school, I served up dinner as though nothing had happened that day except flicking through magazines and a little light housework (I’m joking: I did do a little more than this before I started writing, I promise!).

And, then, one day, I realised I had written a whole book. I self-published it, on Amazon. I wrote another one, and self-published that, too. I wrote a third book and it got picked up by the wonderful people at Harper Collins, who only went and published it! I was a writer. I wrote stuff. And I knew this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

I’m just finishing edits on my sixth published book, with my second fantastic publisher. Thank goodness I read that Marian Keyes book. Thank goodness I gave it a go. And If I’m very lucky, I’ll keep writing forever.

I am a writer and it feels marvellous!

—

Fiona Collins grew up in an Essex village & after stints in Hong Kong and London returned to the Essex countryside where she lives with her husband & three children. She has a degree in Film & Literature & has had many former careers including TV presenting in Hong Kong, traffic & weather presenter for BBC local radio & film/TV extra. Fiona writes contemporary women’s fiction.

Instagram: @fionacollinsauthor

Facebook: @fionacollinsauthor

Twitter: @FionaJaneBooks

You, Me and the Movies

When Arden meets Mac she quickly falls for the handsome, charismatic film lecturer. Their love is the sort you see in movies: dramatic, exciting and all-consuming… and complicated.

A love like theirs could never last.

But years later, whilst visiting a friend in hospital, Arden sees the one face she could never forget. Badly injured, Mac can only make brief references to the classic films they once watched together. Which is all it takes for Arden to remember everything…

Will Arden ever find a movie-worthy love again?

Unique and true-to-life, You, Me and the Movies is a love story like no other. Perfect for fans of David Nicholls, Jojo Moyes and Richard Curtis films this book will leave you crying big, fat tears of joy and sadness.

Buy links

https://amzn.to/2TY0fiO (ebook)

https://amzn.to/2QR22oc (paperback)

Tags: featured, women writers