One-hit Wonder
Penguin
Paperback : 27 Sep 2001
£7.99
Synopsis
The third novel from the hugely popular, critically acclaimed author of Ralph's Party and Thirtynothing. Bee Bearhorn had a number one hit single in 1985. And was never heard of again. Fifteen years later she is found dead in her flat and nobody seems to care. Ana Wills has daydreamed for years about the famous and exotic half-sister she hasn't seen since she was thirteen and when she comes to London to clear out Bee's flat she is surprised to discover that her life was far from glamourous. Instead of going home, Ana tracks down Bee's two closest friends, mad Lol and strong, silent Flint and together they set out to find out whatever happened to Bee Bearhorn.Interview
Lisa Jewell's latest creation, One-Hit Wonder, follows hot-on-the heels of bestsellers Ralph's Party and Thirty-nothing, and is guaranteed to offer you intrigue, mystery and of course, romance. We talked to Lisa about playing detective, writer's block, hunky men and her reaction to One-Hit Wonder being one of Penguin's first ebooks. How would you describe your new novel One-Hit Wonder? I would say it's a bit of a coming of age meets mystery, meets love story - it's a combination of three sorts of classic story lines, and it's a bit of a fairy tale as well. One-Hit Wonder is a mystery story as well as a romance. Did you enjoy playing detective? I loved playing detective while I was writing it. The funny thing was that I didn't decide until half way through writing One-Hit Wonder that it was going to be a mystery. I thought that the crux of the story was going to be Bee's career and what the music industry did to her. I then realised that that wasn't going to make a very satisfactory story line and wasn't going to be much fun for me to write, so I decided that there should be a much, much more exciting reason for Bee to have taken her own life. Writing a mystery is much easier because you know exactly where you're going - once you know what the mystery is then everything fits into place a lot more easily. Do you find it difficult to jettison your work? The further I get into my writing career the less hard it becomes, because I know that by cutting things out I'm freeing myself up and actually what follows from that point on is so much more easy for me to control and for me to write. I know it's part and parcel of the process and it's actually a really, really good part of the process. Bee Bearhorn is the 80's song-stress in One-Hit Wonder - were you inspired by 80's icons like Adam Ant when coming up with that name? Not at all, Bee Bearhorn was a name that came into my head from nowhere. My characters' names always come into my head from absolutely nowhere and they just feel right. It wasn't anything to do with Adam Ant at all; it was just a name that I liked the sound of. Did you create Bee Bearhorn with anyone else in mind? I created Bee Bearhorn to be a hybrid between the lead singer of Swing out Sister, and Betty Boo, another well known One-Hit Wonder and rap artist in the late 80's. I had in my mind an image of a woman who was a bit of a hybrid of those two singers. We're going through an 80's revival at the moment. Was this a big part of the inspiration for One-Hit Wonder? The eighties revival was not an inspiration at all. I wanted to write a novel about somebody coming to London for the first time so that I could really use that character to explore London. At the time I set out to write this novel it seemed like everyone was writing novels about people coming down to London from the north and from the country, and I realised that in order to make mine different I would have to give my character a much more interesting reason for coming down to London. It occurred to me that having a much older half sister, who the main character had never really bonded with, who lived in London, and having her die would be an interesting reason for her to come to London to clear out her flat. It just snowballed from there, and then I thought wouldn't it be much more interesting if the older sister was somebody who's had a colourful past - at that point I decided that she should be an 80's One-Hit Wonder. Was One-Hit Wonder a hard book for you to write? Yes, it was a very, very hard book for me to write. I didn't control it very well but half way through it just clicked into place and then I knew what I was doing. The first half took me six months and it only took about three months to write the second half. I did have this idea in my head of what I wanted to create - something between a mixture of 'Desperately Seeking Susan' and 'After Hours', and I wanted to show an unusual side of London - but it was hard work. Flint, the leading man in One-Hit Wonder, is the strong, silent type. How does he compare to Ralph the main man in Ralph's Party and Dig from Thirty-nothing? Which would you chose? Flint is a completely different male character to Ralph from Ralph's Party, and Dig from Thirty-nothing, both of whom are based, very loosely, on my brother-in-law, who's this very, very endearing child-like thirty-two year-old who is still struggling to find his niche in the world. I think both Ralph and Dig are a bit like that, they both had their careers but they were still slightly unformed as men. When I sat down to write Flint I knew I wanted to write a real man, a man who had found his place in the world, and I based him, I would say, more on my husband. In fact when my husband had finished reading One-Hit Wonder he said, 'Flint', and I said 'yes', and he said, 'he's just like your fantasy version of me isn't he?' and I said, 'Err, yes, he is actually', so yes, he's much more of a fully-rounded, strong, mature man. Do you think people yearn for a hulking hunk with a soft centre? I don't know about everybody, but I should imagine a lot of girls fantasise about a hulking hunk with a soft centre, I know I do. I think there are lots of women who like the slightly effeminate type of man as well - men who are very openly feminine, but I think a lot of women prefer the big chunky boy. You mention in your acknowledgement for One-Hit Wonder that you get together and have meetings with other female authors, do you get writing tips from them? We don't swap writing tips, but it is such a lovely set up. I don't know if it's unusual in the writing world but, for example, I am writing my fourth book, and I had my first case of writers block. It went on for about a month and so myself and my friend Jenny Colgan, who was also having trouble writing her fourth book, decided to spend the day together. I went round to her flat and we thought if we were actually in the same building as each other, egging each other on, we might crack through it and I did, I did start writing that day. But in terms of sharing writing tips it's always weird talking to other writers because they do things so differently. If you're insecure in any way it can make you feel quite uncomfortable, because you could think, 'Gosh they do it that way, I don't do it that way, what's wrong with me?' So no, we don't swap tips, but we do encourage each other. What's next for Lisa Jewell? I've got to write book number four. I've got ten months to write it and I've only just cracked the writer's block, so I've really got to knuckle down and get on with it. I'm quite enthusiastic about it now, it's called the London Brothers and it's about three brothers who live in south London and their loves and lives and relationships. Can you recommend two books in paperback or in print? The first book I will recommend is the book that I always recommend to anyone who asks what they should read, because it is a beautiful, beautiful novel that came out two years ago and disappeared without a trace. I want it to be a best seller and it's called Shouting at the Ship Men, it's by a writer called Tim Geary and it's published by Orion. The second book that I would recommend is a book that's actually in the best sellers at the moment and it's After You'd Gone by Maggie O'Farrell - it's one of the most beautiful books I've ever read, and one of the truest books I've ever read about love. Your website is one of the best author sites and you are also one of the first Penguin ebook authors. Do you feel that it's very important to keep up with developments in technology and to interact with your readers? Oh absolutely. As a writer I have a lot of contact with readers because of my website and so all the readers who I have contact with are all very IT minded and forward thinking. I think it's fantastic that those people are going to have the opportunity to experiment with ebooks. I know it's only a limited amount of titles that Penguin are publishing as ebooks and I'm one of them, so I'm very honoured and I think it's a very exciting move.More
Lisa Jewell spills the beans, and the contents of her handbag, in an exclusive Penguin interview. What is your favourite 80's One-Hit Wonder?'China in Your Hand' by T'Pau. What's your worst habit?
Extreme messiness. When my husband and I both worked from home I used to say that it was a good job we were both so messy - but when he started working away from home I realised that the house was still completely messy, and it was all my mess - it was quite shaming. Have you ever broken the law?
Every day. What quality would you most like to have?
A bit more 'get up and go'. If you could swap a physical attribute with someone else, what would it be and who would you swap it with?
It would have to be Kylie's bottom. What's your greatest fear?
Insanity and sudden death - my own or someone else's - and dying without having a chance to say goodbye. Have you got a party trick?
Not really - drinking and staying upright is about it. Do you have any nicknames?
Yes, but they're too embarrassing to tell you. Do you have any unfulfilled ambitions?
No. What's in your handbag at the moment?
An invite to Victoria Routledge's book launch
A photograph of a friend's new baby
Deodorant
Lip balm
Tampon
A cheque book
Mints
Hair bands
Plasters
Sunglasses
Product details
Format : Paperback
ISBN: 9780140295962
Size : 129 x 198mm
Pages : 464
Published : 27 Sep 2001
Publisher : Penguin
One-hit Wonder
£7.99
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