WLTB Meets: Sarah Winman

Chloé was the winner of our competition to meet and interview Sarah Winman over gin cocktails, find out about the evening below:

The first thing I noticed about Sarah Winman is that she looks like her photo. This shouldn’t be surprising, but I always imagined that authors look nothing like the glossy, black-and-white photos on their dust jackets. As I approached she stood up and welcomed me with a handshake and a warm, encompassing smile; the same smile from her photo. A smile which made me feel as if I was having drinks with an old friend rather than meeting an author I admired. When I mentioned her photo she said: "I was so fed up of the headshots I had as an actor, I wanted something different this time". 

Originally from Essex, Sarah moved to London in the early 1980s after studying at drama school. There she would write in one of the few cafés that existed in Soho at that time: "I mostly wrote journals, but like many actors, I wanted to become a screenwriter. I didn’t know I was going to write a novel then." So what gave Sarah the push she needed to ultimately become an author? The main turning point, she says, was the loss of her father: "Death is an astonishing motivator. The desire and compulsion to write has to be there – but his death made me realise that life is short." Sarah also realised that the format of screenplays wasn’t working for her, so she started writing something else.

Did her acting career help? The answer is yes. Firstly, it helped her to practice dialogue and first person monologue. This is why all of her stories are "character-based, emotional journeys". Secondly, her then acting agent passed her manuscript on to the literary arm of the company he worked for: "I asked him to show it to someone to see whether it was any good, and two days later I got a call to have lunch with a guy, who became my literary agent." This agent then sent Sarah’s work to various publishers and on the 19th April 2010 she found out that Headline wanted to publish her: "It remains my proudest, happiest moment".

As we sipped our gin cocktails, Sarah revealed that When God Was a Rabbit was a very special book to her, but that she couldn’t write it now. I learned that each book comes very much from where Sarah is, as a person, at that time. This constant evolution explains why her style has changed from book to book: "I always knew that the next book I’d write would be completely different… and the next one will be different again." As impressive as this is, it has not been without its problems. Writing A Year of Marvellous Ways was a task that seemed almost impossible. Speaking of the pressures, both external and self-imposed, Sarah describes how she felt: "This room that used to be quiet, and just about you, is full of voices. People expected a similar book to When God Was a Rabbit, or wanted a follow-on, but I couldn’t do that. Once I realised that some people would be disappointed no matter what, I found it very freeing." That said, she still needed to close her blinds to the outside world and write from her bed, creating a calm environment in which to focus: "I burnt a lot of candles during that time!"

Sarah produced 13 journals for A Year of Marvellous Ways. They contained things she had read, seen or thought during that time. In them, she would analyse what she had written, which informed her redrafting process. Believing strongly in this process, she tends to redraft her novels at least five times. But she hasn’t always wanted to do this: "In screenwriting I resisted drafts – which is why they weren’t made. None of them were good enough!" She also develops her writing by reading everything out loud, testing the language, dialogue and emotion. All good advice, but Sarah’s strongest message to budding authors is: "Finish your book!"

Although Sarah realises what a fortunate position she is in, describing the writer’s life as "privileged", she admits she did go through "26 years of the door not opening". And she doesn’t feel that it is any easier to get published today, especially as a woman: "I don’t think it is a coincidence that most female authors aren’t published until they are in their 40s. It’s only then that they feel they have permission… That they finally have the confidence and authority to write." She then tells me the following anecdote: "A man once asked whether I’d ever thought 'that’s the most incredible sentence I’ve ever written', and I said 'In my experience, women never say that – usually the opposite'". The solution? More support for the arts in education and by treating girls and boys in the same way. Discussing funding cuts to the arts in schools, Sarah and I agreed that teaching children the arts provides them with emotional well-being throughout their lives. She added: "Wouldn’t it be amazing if students could go to their careers advisor and say 'I want to be a poet' and the careers advisor replied 'That’s great. Let’s see how we can make that happen.' Wouldn’t that be wonderful?’' Witnessing her passion on the subject, I wouldn’t be surprised if Sarah were to go on to become a patron of the arts or a school ambassador in the future. Meanwhile, she is keen to continue riding the wave of success (having sold half a million copies of When God Was a Rabbit and A Year of Marvellous Ways hopefully following suit) by writing for as long as she can, for as long as she is in demand.