There’s a saying which goes, “once bitten, twice shy”. However, when Dorothy Koomson was bitten by the writing bug at the tender age of thirteen, it left her with nothing to be shy about.
Dorothy’s first novel, There’s a Thin Line between Love and Hate, written in her early teens, was serialised for the eyes of those she shared a playground with at convent school. Realising she had them all hooked, Dorothy realised there might be something to this writing “lark”.
Koomson grew up in the city of London, and then claims that she “grew up again”, as many of us do, when she migrated further north to attend university. After achieving a BA (Hons) in Psychology and Media at the University of Leeds, Koomson headed back to the nation’s capital where she achieved an MA in Journalism. Now, armed with a veritable arsenal of qualifications, Koomson was ready to show the world what she could do. Deciding to stay in London for a spell, she took on the very daunting world of office temping, until finally, she scored her big break into the writing world when this lead her to roles editing and sub-editing on both national newspapers and women’s magazines based in and around the city.
Now with an established career and new-found success, Dorothy Koomson found herself at a point where she was able to ask herself where her heart truly lay. Naturally, her heart remained true to her first love – storytelling. One day she had an idea for the novel that would launch her fiction career – the fantastic and immensely popular The Cupid Effect (2001). Since then, she has never looked back – in 2006 Koomson’s third novel, My Best Friend’s Girl was selected by television presenters Richard and Judy for their prestigious Summer Reads Book Club, and inspired a further 500,000 book purchases on top of the already-astounding 90,000 copies sold. This was the moment when Dorothy Koomson could honestly admit she had the world at her feet. There was nothing she could not accomplish if she simply put her mind to it. Not wanting to let her Masters degree in Journalism go to waste, Koomson has spent the last two years island-hopping between the UK and Sydney, Australia, where she works full-time on a women’s glossy publication. “I’m hoping it will help me grow up,” she recently told Waterstone’s. “That hasn’t happened yet, but I live in hope.”
So, what next for our home-grown, globe-trotting novelist? Fans will be pleased to know that Dorothy Koomson’s latest fictional offering, The Ice Cream Girls, is due for release in early 2010. She has been extremely busy adding the finishing touches to what promises to be a very interesting read. “The last three months or so of writing a book are the crescendo, for me anyway, of all the research, reading and living I’ve done for a book,” says Koomson in her online diary. “By the time the deadline looms into view, there is nothing I could not tell you about one of my characters – even the bit players. They are my life and I become obsessed with telling their stories accurately and sympathetically. It sometimes feels as if they are sitting right beside me going, ‘No, I didn’t say it like that, I said it like this but I meant that.’ Once you reach that stage of a book – where the characters are telling you off for not representing them in their best light – I think you know that the book is almost done. Or that you need a very looooonnnngggg lie down in a darkened room.”
The Ice Cream Girls tells the story of Poppy Carlisle and Serena Gorringe – two teenage girls who find their lives intertwined forever when they each fall in love with Marcus Halnsley, a philandering, violent school teacher. With themes such as domestic abuse, paedophilia, rape, self-harm, suicide and murder running through this piece, it is not always a pleasant or comfortable read. However, Koomson handles the subject matter masterfully, without over-describing the nasty details. It is the author’s light and breezy style which makes this book so engaging, and, moreover, so accessible. Its genius lies in Koomson’s deft ability to tell the story from the perspective of more than one character, and in the achievement of making each character feel completely different. As the reader, you can know, after a chapter or two, who is narrating without looking at the heading of the chapter where it is indicated – Koomson’s characterisations are that comprehensible.
Koomson makes good use of pop culture references throughout this novel, helping her audience to be aware of which era the action is unfolding in. The narrative jumps in time, from present day to the mid nineteen-eighties. The flashbacks feature references to The A Team; Ponds Cream and Sade; the present day segments feature references to Sex and the City and He’s Just Not That Into You – all these things serve to create a real sense of both nostalgia and familiarity. In particular, the chapter in which Serena finds her daughter reading Judy Blume’s Forever – a signifier to indicate first-time teenage love and sex – was an exceptionally nice touch, seeing as anyone who entered their teens in the eighties will remember the controversy surrounding the content of that book; it was marketed to teens and was sexually explicit. Therefore, the inclusion of this reference was thematically tied to the back story of our protagonists, and the era in which they came of age.
This is Koomson’s first, hard-backed novel, an acknowledgement of her talent and appropriate for this, her strongest work to date. Dealing with the theme that you can never hide from your past – only confront it, The Ice Cream Girls is a thought-provoking and absorbing read. “Writing The Ice Cream Girls has changed my views on a few things,” Koomson continues in her diary entry. “Views I didn’t even know I held so strongly. It’s not been an easy book to write, in that the subject matter is difficult, but boy did I LOVE putting all the ideas down onto a page or 500.”
One thing is undeniable – Dorothy Koomson is passionate about writing, and appreciates every success it affords her. “Seeing your book in the shops is a big deal,” she says. “It’ll always be a big deal to me. And the day it stops being a big deal will be the day I’ll know I haven’t put my heart, soul and life into telling a good story.”
With dedication like that, how can she ever go wrong?
Emma Champion caught up with Dorothy Koomson to discuss growing up, relationships, and the joys of writing…
Tell us about The Ice Cream Girls. The Ice Cream Girls is about two women who were brought together in their teens by a tragic set of circumstances that made them infamous. After years living very different lives, they are about to be reunited. They are the only people that know what really happened during the time they became infamous, but they don’t like each other and really can’t be friends. The book is also about the secrets we keep and why we keep them.
The Ice Cream Girls examines themes of love and of keeping secrets. Have you ever kept something from a partner or loved one for fear of being judged in some way? Are we all guilty of that to some extent, do you think? Almost all of us want people to see us in the best possible light so it’s understandable to sometimes be tempted to omit certain things about ourselves to give that ‘best possible’ impression. If you feel you’ve acted badly or have done something wrong, you’re even more likely to be tempted to do that – especially if, like Serena in The Ice Cream Girls, you think it will end or damage an important relationship.
This will be your first hardback release. How important is that to you and the progression of your career? Being published in hardback in the UK is fantastic – so exciting! But then, I feel the same when any book comes out, it’s always a great moment for me. I think of my career, though, in terms of trying to write the best books possible and touching as many people as possible by showing their experiences in a realistic and honest light. In a sense, every book is a progression in my career because it is another opportunity to tell a new story.
As a novelist, how do you discipline yourself to get down to work? What is your writing routine? I’ve always been pretty disciplined when it comes to work. I literally just do it. I think that not only comes from being a journalist, but from writing short stories and novels that were never going to be published. I wrote them for myself so I only had me pushing me to finish them. Now that I have proper deadlines set by someone else, I try to stick to them as much as possible. If that means writing all night or setting the alarm to wake up at 3am when I’ve gone to sleep at 1am that’s generally what I’ll do. The routine is generally lots of research for a few months, while writing scenes that have come into my head, writing more and more as the deadline approaches, then staying up all night sometimes to get it done in time.
What inspires you? Is there anything in particular which triggers your imagination? My inspiration comes from all over the place: overhearing conversations; talking to people; having conversations pop into my head that are part of a story; sometimes from dreams. As an idea unwinds itself in my head, the characters and stories come with them. With The Ice Cream Girls, I originally had an idea about two people who were accused of a crime but one went to prison and the other ‘got away with it’. They both claim to be innocent so who is telling the truth? As I thought the idea through, more elements of the story and themes that had to be explored cropped up. I like tackling the emotions involved with a tricky subject.
You once said that you hoped living and working in Australia would help you to “grow up”. In what ways did you feel you needed to change and has your time “down under” helped you to achieve this? I’m always on the quest to grow up. I should probably work out what that means before trying so hard to achieve it! I suppose part of my quest is looking at other people who are sometimes younger than me and thinking they seem so ‘together’ and grown up. I’m in my late thirties but still feel twenty-something. I went to Australia because my life here seemed a bit ‘stuck’ in the sense that nothing changed. Taking time out from it was what I needed to give me the impetus to make big changes. I had a fantastic time in Australia, I learnt a lot about myself but I can’t say I feel grown up yet. Maybe when I work out what being grown up is, I’ll finally achieve it.
Which do you prefer: journalistic writing or novel writing? I can’t distinguish between the two. Writing novels is all about making things up, but I use all my journalism skills to edit and improve whatever I write. When I was writing The Ice Cream Girls I had to cut out huge chunks that I had spent hours slaving over because they didn’t add to the story. If you can be that ruthless with your book, then you save an editor doing it and you won’t get as many notes on rewrites. I can do that because I spent so many years editing other people’s work and getting the salient details across as quickly as possible.
Of all the things that you’ve achieved, which has been the most exciting so far? I suppose it’d have to be seeing my book on the shelves for the first time. Nothing will ever surpass that feeling, I don’t think. I still get excited every time a new book comes out, but that first time I saw The Cupid Effect on the shelves in Borders, Oxford Street, London was a moment I’ll never forget. It was the moment of realisation for all of my dreams up until that point.
If you had one piece of advice to give a budding writer looking for their big break, what would it be? Write what you love, in other words: write a story because you believe in it and you want to tell it. I think many, many people make the mistake of trying to write for money, or because they think they can do better than another author, or because they think it’s the type of book that will sell. They’re all valid motives for putting pen to paper, and they do work for some authors, however, it’s unlikely any of those motivations will comfort you when you start receiving rejection slips as much as knowing you’ve got a story you love and wholly believe in. Also, the sense of satisfaction of seeing a story you’re truly passionate about on the shelves is second to none.
What next for Dorothy Koomson? What is the next chapter in your story? I’m obviously going to be writing another novel – I’ve got three story ideas that are vying for attention at the moment. And I’m still trying to convince myself that I’m going to finish that screenplay I want to write. I’ve also got a lot of reading to catch up on, as well as co-ordinating a special project that’s very close to my heart. And let’s not forget every day life that doesn’t seem to stop when you’re extremely busy. But, I love it. I think I’d be bored if I didn’t have several important things on the go at the same time. So that’s pretty much the next few chapters in my story.
The Ice Cream Girls is due for release on the 18th of February 2010. For all the latest Dorothy Koomson news, visit http://www.dorothykoomson.co.uk/ .
For this author and many more, visit www.chicklit.co.uk
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