Sophie Hannah
Sophie Hannah
Sophie Hannahis a British poet and novelist. From 1997 to 1999 she was Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts at Trinity College, Cambridge and between 1999 and 2001 a junior research fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford. She lives with her husband and two children in Cambridge...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionPoet
actual exactly instead inventing replicate trying
Try as I might, Agatha Christie is unique. The actual writing style can't be exactly the same, so instead of trying to replicate it exactly, the way I got around it was by inventing a new narrator.
few people
There are very few well-adjusted people in my books. But I do think that's normal. Because everyone does have their issues and hang-ups.
damage equipped knew might onto
If we knew more about psychology, we would be better equipped to deal with other people's psychological damage which they might project onto us.
abnormal characters few life
My characters all have issues, but I don't see that as weird or abnormal because I think in real life there are very few bland, normal people.
committing explore jealousy motives people rational reasons state whereas
I want my books to explore motives which make people think, 'Wow! Imagine the psychological state you'd have to be in for that to be your motive!' Whereas things like blackmail, jealousy - they're rational reasons for committing murder.
enjoying fulfilled wish women
A lot of women feel like they should be enjoying motherhood, they should be fulfilled and shouldn't be thinking, 'I wish I didn't have to do this.'
fellowship flat letter manchester offering secretary
I was working as a secretary in Manchester and thought I would always do that. Then I got this letter offering me a two-year fellowship where I could write; they would pay me a salary and give me a flat to live in. It was heaven.
contain dead highly impossible meticulous novels opening seeds structure
My crime novels are highly structured. I never start out with a dead body. I start with an impossible scenario. Opening questions should be mysterious, weird, intriguing, and contain the seeds of the solution. The structure has to be meticulous - I'm a structure freak.
centre club converted couple favourite friday health inside joined lovely swim
My favourite Friday treat is to drive out of the centre of Cambridge, where we live, and go for a swim at the health club I've just joined out in the countryside at Quy. It's a lovely pool, inside a converted barn. Usually it's just me and a couple of other swimmers there.
bound hunch satisfying seems telephone
Some writers, I'm told, look for their characters' surnames in telephone directories. I don't - it seems too obvious. Or too deliberate: if you go looking for names, you're bound to find them, of course, but I've always had a superstitious hunch that the names you find by accident are always going to be better and more satisfying somehow.
books incredibly puzzling
Agatha Christie's writing is incredibly skillful because her books are incredibly intellectually puzzling and challenging.
poetry verses wrote
All through childhood, I wrote verses and mysteries. There is, for me, one connection: structure. My poetry is metrical, rhyming.
favourite french lots next
I've got lots of favourite authors, but I would say Nicci French because I look more forward to reading her next new book than any other author.
chapter chapters crime information plant revelation three
In a crime novel, if you are going to have a big revelation in chapter 30, you have to plant the information in chapters three and 11.