Sheila O’Flanagan went from a high-flying career in the financial world to riding high in the bestseller charts. The bubbly Dubliner has stormed to literary success across the world, with her books beloved by her army of fans. Writing.ie’s Sarah Downey caught up with her to talk storytelling, find out how it all started and get some of her writing tips from the top!
Sheila was always making up stories, even as a little girl, dreaming of the endings of her books. “My mum used to read me lots and lots of books when I was very small. I loved listening to the stories and trying to read them myself. When she was finished I would always ask her ‘what happened next?’ and then I would make up my own stories about what might have happened next. So I guess my imagination was fired by all those classic children’s books. I think reading to children is really, really important because it encourages them to think for themselves.”
One writer that especially appealed to Sheila was always Maeve Binchy,” I was very inspired when her first book was published because she was an Irish writer who was writing about Irish people in a contemporary setting. She was also a story-teller and not a literary writer and I knew that my own talent was for telling stories. So seeing her success made me think that it was possible for me to write the kind of novels I wanted to write and have them published.”
Yet it wasn’t until Sheila was in her thirties, after pursuing a successful career in the financial sector, that she decided to take the plunge and write her first book. “I’d written a workbook for students taking bank exams and, although it was very boring, it gave me a sense of discipline. I thought that if I could make myself sit down and write a boring workbook I could make myself sit down and do something I really wanted to do. I wanted to tell the story of a girl who’d grown up on a suburban housing estate because I’d never read a book with a heroine who lived in a semi-d and had to take the bus into town. I like writing about ordinary people.”
While Sheila has fifteen books to her name now, getting the first one published certainly wasn’t an easy task and took great persistence in the end. “I sent my manuscript to a few publishers. One wrote back and said they didn’t do my sort of fiction but another contacted me and said that although they didn’t think the story I’d written was publishable in its current form, they’d consider it if I wrote about the character when she was a bit older. So I did, and they published it – it took 3 years though! Based on my experience and what I’ve learned since then, and also how the industry has changed, I would always recommend that an author find an agent rather than going directly to a publisher now. Agents know which publishers are looking for particular genres of books and you have a much better chance of your work ending up on the right publisher’s desk if it’s submitted through an agent. You’ll also probably get a better contract too.”
Sheila’s inspiration for her novels comes from everyday themes and subjects that fascinate her like “fidelity, bereavement, jealousy, revenge. Research is important but it’s not the most important part of the novel. However, if there is a substantial amount of action in any particular location I have always been there. If I’m writing about something technical (air-traffic control, in Too Good to be True and weather forecasting in All For You) I will have met with experts and had a go at doing something myself. They didn’t let me talk to planes from the tower, unfortunately, but I did watch. Nor did they let me give a real-life forecast on TV but I was allowed to do a fake one!”
Her characters come in all shapes and sizes but always have a touch of Sheila in them. “I identify with all my characters, even the nastier ones. I think you have to understand what makes them tick to make them believable. Most of my characters are strong at heart (which I hope I am) but they struggle with things that life throws at them – as we all do. Usually I like to make them look different to me and do things that I can’t do. Because I’m short, I like writing about tall people. Isobel (in Isobel’s wedding) was a dressmaker but I can hardly sew on a button. Lainey (from All For You) is stunningly gorgeous, which (sadly) I’m not. So they’re a mixture of me and people that I could have been.” Once she starts writing she finds the characters take on lives of their own and come alive on the pages. “I have an idea about them at the start but they develop over time. This means that sometimes they do unexpected things. It’s always fun when that happens, though it can be unnerving as it changes the direction of the book.”
If you’re dying to follow in Sheila’s footsteps and bag a book deal she has some helpful hints to get you started. “Write what you want to write. Writing a novel is quite hard work because it’s mentally demanding as well as physically tiring. (Most people don’t realise how tired you get tapping away at the keyboard!). You have to be engaged with the story and the characters because you’re spending such a long time with them. If you try to write something you’re not really interested in, you’ll get bored and it will show in your writing. Be yourself and not anybody else. Just because a particular author is popular doesn’t mean you’ll be popular if you copy her style, especially if it’s not your natural style. Write a page a day. (This is a tip from Maeve Binchy but I’m sure she won’t mind me robbing it for you). If you write a page a day you’ll have a novel written in a year. Don’t tell everyone you know that you’re writing a novel. You’ll be pestered with people asking how it’s going and if you’re struggling you’ll feel very pressurised. Wait until you’re about halfway through before you reveal that you’re about to be a famous novelist!”
Sheila revealed she’s working on her next book and gave writing.ie a taster of what’s to come. “I’m currently working on my next book which will be published in 2012. I don’t have a title for it yet but it’s about a journalist who loses her job, her boyfriend and her flatmate all in the one week…..I like to challenge my characters!”
