For Books’ Sake Talks To: Lisa Jewell
Author Lisa Jewell, who went stellar over a decade ago when her first novel, Ralph’s Party, became the bestselling debut novel of 1999, spared some time to natter to us about sequels and sperm donation:
FBS: ‘She was born to write this book’ and ‘a refreshing departure’ were just two critic quotes wrapped around my proof copy of The Making of Us. The drama of the first made me chuckle. How do you feel about the second?
LJ: Actually, these quotes were all from people who work at my publishers rather than critics, so lovely as they are , I didn’t read too much into them! As for how I feel about my book being described as ‘refreshing departure’, I think that’s a good comment.
It’s different to my other books and different to a lot of books in the genre. I wanted it to feel like a prime time drama rather than a feel-good chick-lit novel and I hope that’s how it reads.
FBS: Topically, a recent Guardian Family cover story followed a teenager’s quest to track down her beginnings in the world via the Sibling Donor Registry. I was a little freaked out to read that the father had actually donated 500 times! Socially the ramifications of that are a little bizarre, don’t you think (although it would give plenty of mileage for sequels to The Making of Us)?
LJ: I did see that piece. In fact there have been quite a few pieces about the children of sperm donors in the press since we launched our own sibling register in this country two years ago.
As far as I’m aware, in this country there is a limit to the amount of offspring a donor can father, something to do with the chances of inter-breeding if siblings meet later in life and don’t know they’re related.
I do look at the potential ramifications of siblings meeting as strangers in The Making of Us, but I won’t say too much for those who haven’t yet read it!
FBS: I’m in the picture now but could you just share with our readers the history behind the naming of the character of Maggie who is so proactive in the novel on Donor 32’s behalf?
LJ: Quite often authors are asked to ‘donate’ a character name for charity. My friend Adele Parks is involved with the Room to Read charity and asked if I would offer up a name for an auction she was organising. The winner asked me to use his girlfriend’s name, which was Maggie Smith.
I didn’t let the fact that she had the same name as a famous actress put me off, I’m sure there are a million Maggie Smiths in this world, and in fact the name was inspiring.
I didn’t have the middle-aged female character planned at all, but the moment I thought of the name ‘Maggie Smith’ she was there, fully formed in my mind. It was a real gift.
FBS: Some readers retain a character such as Ralph and his circle so firmly in their mind that the thought of any post-partying in After The Party, and the chance of shattering of the fairytale is almost too much to bear. How do you deal with this?
LJ: I still have mixed feelings about my Ralph’s Party sequel, After the Party. At the time I really wanted to write about a marriage post-babies. I also wanted to do a sequel to make lots of different people happy, but maybe, in retrospect, I should have used new characters.
Although I still wonder what exactly what the Ralph’s Party sequel would have been if it hadn’t been what it was (if that makes any sense at all!). It would have felt really fake to bring back all these disparate characters whose only commonality lay in the fact that they once had flats in the same house in Battersea and went to a party together.
In real life these characters would not have stayed in touch so bringing them back together would have been really contrived. I’m glad I got the book out of my system, but I’m sad I spoiled the fairytale. And at least I now know one thing for sure: no more sequels!
FBS: Which, if any of your books has veered off in a direction different to that you may have envisaged at the outset?
LJ: All of them to one degree or another. But probably The Making of Us more than any other. I originally set out to write a comedy along the lines of About a Boy. After the hell of writing After the Party I felt I really needed to immerse myself in something light hearted and quirky.
But I realised about a quarter of the way through that there was so much more I could do with the idea of donor siblings and I owed it to the book to make it as substantial as possible. So bang went the jokes and in came the extra characters and the drama!
FBS: Tackling the weighty subject of sperm donation shows that you’re not afraid to immerse yourself in subjects with gravitas yet still preserve the Jewell humour and levity your fans adore. What’s next? With daughters of your own, would you consider doing a Louise Rennison and tackling the teenage market?
LJ: I have just read a YA novel, Before I Die by Jenny Downham and I absolutely loved it. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t do the Louise Rennison style comedy stuff, but could maybe try my hand at something meatier and issue-driven.
At the moment though I find it challenging enough just pulling one adult a novel a year out of myself, so maybe the YA novels can wait until another point in my life when I’ve maybe got a bit more time for work.
Want more from Lisa Jewell? Have a look at her website, or read our reviews of her two most recent novels, The Making of Us and After the Party.
Interview by Rebecca Smeaton
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