My Characters Reveal Themselves To Me Slowly

Bestselling author Laura Barnett reveals the secrets of her success to Sue Cooke

- Laura Barnett

How did you become a novelist?

The first thing I can remember writing is a poem on a napkin in St Thomas’ Hospital in London, when I was five. I was with my mum looking out at the sunset, and I can just remember that excitement, thinking, ‘Wow, this is an amazing view. If I write it down, it won’t disappear.’ From that moment on, I’ve been trying to capture the world and pin it to the page before it all slips away. After graduating, I trained as a journalist. I wrote two novels during my 20s, neither of which got published — they were more about me working out how to write a novel. Then, when I was 30, The Versions Of Us came to me as an answer to a difficult question, which was, “What am I doing with my life? What do I really want to write?” From there, I haven’t looked back. It felt different, it felt like something I truly believed in, something I was dredging up from the depths of my soul. I’m delighted by the great response it’s had. It’s more than I could have hoped for.

Where do you get your ideas for plots?