Mandasue's interviewer began by explaining that Mandasue was born in Warrington and moved to Manchester's notorious Hulme Crescents where she became a singer. The interviewer also referred to her as 'the Mancurian Martina Cole.'
Mandasue's background informs her writing as she feels she knows what it is like to feel fear and be a victim. She explained that she had been attacked in her own home in the night and that she had been hit by a claw hammer whilst holding her 10 week old baby. This caused her to suffer years of paranoia and then she had a tumour misdiagnosed. When it was finally found behind her eye, she had to stop singing to have the operation to remove it. She could no longer sing during her recovery, so she decided to write about the attack by making it fiction, but still using Manchester as the backdrop as it has such a strong environment.
She never writes about real things as it is too personal, that way your character can do anything without you worrying what the 'real' person would think. When she wrote 'Forget me not' she used her assualt when she was nine to give her the seed and then grew fictitious characters from the 'victimisation.'
Names are really important to Mandasue as they become real when she is writing her characters, but she does not tend to research very often. She admitted she did with her current book as it deals with divorce, but she just rang up a solicitor and asked some pretty basic questions. She did research for 'The Club' in that she rang inquiring about how to get a licence to open up a Casino if you were a U.S. immigrant without a legitimate bank account - she feels she would have made an excellent gangsters moll.
When asked how easy her road to publication was she admitted that it was difficult for most, but her first book being published felt fated; it was accepted by the first person she sent it to and she is still with them on book thirteen.
Mandasue had tried to write a Mills & Boon and attempted to follow their guidelines (e.g. two leads meet within the first six pages, he can be divorced but not both etc.) but found it too prescriptive and felt like killing them both off! She saw a documentary on writers and Jake Arnott had been one of the writers on it that had been published, so she decided to send her manuscript to his.
She finds people fascinating and believes this helps with characterisation. She had attended a Red Scriptwriting event and produced a half hour script that eventually became 'Forget me not' but the script woman said that no Mum would ever talk to their child the way she had written. But she knows the type because of observing people. She also loves to read crime and anything she writes turns dark and dirty.
When asked if she felt crime was getting worse, Mandasue felt that communities are becoming more disparate and crime is more rife when people are strangers to each other. She admitted that it takes a while for her to get rolling with a book as she constantly edits (e.g. write one day, edit the next) and she likes to have Jeremy Kyle in the background, but she can't hear it when she's writing because she becomes so involved in the characters.
She writes from the criminals' point of view rather than the police and she would advise any would-be writers to write true to themselves and this way you will find your voice.
Mandasue used to write poetry and has turned them into songs, so she believes she would have become a writer no matter what. Her Mum read Catherine Cookson when Mandasue was a child and she was into her writing when she was 13/14 as she enjoyed reading about real people, suffering and their battles to get through it.
She feels each book gets harder as she panics each time that her publisher will hate it but she feels that if she didn't feel that way, she would be arrogant and would not be putting her heart and soul into her work. She takes a year to write each book and she writes songs whilst waiting for the book to get back. She writes most of the book in the last three months, as once she gets rolling she doesn't stop.
Asked whether she had any influence on the book covers, Mandasue said that the Art Department produce the covers after the editor has read some of the book to get an idea of the main character, the Art Department do a mock-up and then they email it to her for her approval. She does not do a massive amount of publicity for her books, but she does Hodder stockists signings for the paperbacks and the occasional library (thank goodness).
She advised the writers in the audience to not think about who is going to read it, but to write it how you want to and allow the characters to veer off. She feels an agent is quite necessary for publication.
Mandasue admitted that she has stopped when writing a book and not been happy with how it was going. She did this with 'The Charmer' when the main characters family situation was too depressing - she wiped out three quarters of the book and started again. Also she changed the ending to 'Tainted Lives' as her partner felt Harry deserved to 'get the girl.' She advised that writers should not struggle on if it is not working, but admitted that she can get too close to the novel to see things in it herself, so feels it is very important to have other people's opinions.
Her readership has a female majority, but the only male in the audience felt connected to her characters as his previous employment history in the probation service made them seem very real. Mandasue does set boundaries for herself when she is writing, e.g. no racism and feels that although she is constantly compared to Martina Cole, she thinks they write nothing alike in that Martina can go way back with her characters, but Mandasue writes hers in the present.
The evening ended with a book signing and I came away with a copy of 'Two-faced' which I have started reading - review to follow, once I am finished.
For more information on Mandasue Heller visit her official website at www.mandasueheller.com
Good review Karen (as always!) - I really enjoyed meeting Mandasue. She's an amazing lady!
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