On becoming a Birmingham serial offender
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What book should everybody read before the age of 21?
Birmingham isn’t San Francisco, but … Armistead Maupin’s ‘Tales of the City’ – even if you just read the first book in the series. It’s entertaining, accessible and serves as a reminder of how much freedom we’ve fought for as LGBTQ+ people, and a warning of how quickly it could all be lost. He’s a total hero of mine.
Disappointing, overrated, just not good: What book did you feel as if you were supposed to like, and didn’t?
‘The Mystery of Mercy Close‘ by Marian Keyes. I used to buy her books the day they came out and devour them in a single weekend binge. And given the weighty tomes she produces, that’s a lot of reading. I love the Walsh family and snarky Helen Walsh should have had the story I enjoyed most, yet I’ve tried four times to finish this one book and failed. It just didn’t get under my skin. I found myself growing less connected with the characters and unconvinced by the plot. I’ve loved every book since then, so I’m going to call ‘Mercy Close’ an outlier in a field of brilliance by a woman who tells the best stories going.
What’s the most interesting thing you learned from a book recently?
How to write a genuine gratitude diary from ‘Confessions of a Forty-Something Fuck Up’ by Alexandra Potter. I’m new to therapy and rubbish at journaling. I keep trying for actual big magnifi9cant things to record, when it could just be the smell of your shower gel you’re grateful for on any given Sunday.
What kept you from writing a series rather than stand-alone novels?
I’ve toyed with a follow-up to ‘The Armchair Bride’ but felt it would be too much like me copying Marian Keyes with her Walsh family books. I got halfway through writing a follow-up delving into the world of heterosexual cross-dressing men, but it just didn’t work. Mostly because I left Manchester behind, and now live just south of Birmingham.
‘The Armchair Bride’ is the book people ask me about most even now – readers ponder what Lisa Doyle is doing these days. I wrote a short story for my ‘Five Gold Rings’ anthology to bring things up to date, so that’s a bit like a series. My next novel might see me change track. If ‘Rainbows and Lollipops’ finds an audience, there will be at least one second book, maybe a whole six part collection. I have the plots in my head already. Things will go wild.
What’s your favourite book set in Birmingham (aside from your own)?
Dolly Alderton’s ‘Good Material’ is a gem of a book – plus she dips into the world of Stand-Up comedy, reminding me of the way it forgives nobody and when your face no longer fits, it’s a good idea to find a nice call centre job and admit the end has come.
But Dolly totally captured the city in a way I’m trying to do. She also plumbed the depths of stand-up despair. I’ve performed in too many pubs with a sticky carpet, no stage and a scary dog tied up on the flat roof. There should be way more novels set in Brum. It’s a fucking lovely, diverse city.
How has your writing changed since ‘The Armchair Bride’ days
I learned not to edit as I go. That first novel probably had at least a million different words added in and edited out over a two-year period. It’s still hugely imperfect and given the chance, I’d rewrite the entire story. I now know, the trick is to write what’s known as a ‘zero’ draft. Just pour it onto the page, ignoring if it makes sense or if the same person dies three times. You can fix that in an edit. You can’t edit a blank page. The longer you spend writing that first draft, the slower the pace becomes, the more obvious it becomes to the reader that you’ve squashed any life out of the words.
Tell us more about Rainbows and Lollipops
I wanted to write something more feel-good, given the awful times we find ourselves living through. My readers should be able to turn off their lives and escape into something fun. That said, someone dies, there’s a blackmailer, a bully and a smattering of right-wing nut jobs. Three Birmingham friends navigate love, loss and change. Jake, reeling from a huge loss, battles guilt. Vicky’s carefully rebuilt life threatens to bust apart and Lucy’s happy-ever-after wedding could be anything but. It’s about how friendship is the new family. We often form the strongest bonds with the families we find for ourselves.
You’re organising a literary dinner party. Which four writers, dead or alive, do you invite?
Bonnie Garmus because she was utterly charming to me. Tina Baker because she’d make sure everyone had a good time, it’s just in her and Ruby Wax because I admire her work and writing more than most anyone in the world today. And obviously Armistead Maupin – because, who wouldn’t? And I;d insist we met in Birmingham at the Botanical Gardens.
What do you plan to read next?
“What a way to go” by Bella Mackie.
