One thread that connects the younger Rachel and the older Rachel is that they’re both addicts in recovery. I tried to stay connected to her fundamentals, to still keep her fun but not ridiculous like some person trying to stay crazy and young way past her use-by date. Obviously she’s older and more mature, or less immature anyway, because that’s inevitable. Writing Rachel twenty years older, I was worried about making her a little bit too po-faced for readers of the first book to feel a connection to. I didn’t know that you can’t just throw in every fun idea you have.Īnd as I’ve learned my craft over the years people have responded in different ways: some respond very well, but others are disappointed: they say, “you’re not as funny as you used to be.”

MK: Rachel’s Holiday was my third novel and I had no idea about the craft of writing. How much was that on your mind in writing Again, Rachel ? Kobo: To that point about constant progression, you’re now a very different writer from the one who wrote Rachel’s Holiday. I really don’t want to let anyone down and I want to surprise readers with each new book. I’ve heard another writer say when she’s despairing at the limits of her talent, as we all do sometimes, that she tells herself she’s not writing the novel-she’s just writing a novel.īut there are peaks and troughs in any career, places where sometimes things come together in a harmonious way, and other times where despite our best efforts the work is merely mediocre. I’m far more confident now on my fifteenth novel than on my third. But the book surprised me with its emotional depth and the journey it takes the reader on. Writing Again, Rachel I was slightly uncomfortable about returning to writing in the first person, being limited to that one point of view. Grown Ups was structurally complicated, and I was very happy that I pulled it off. Marian Keyes: I think most authors want to think that we get better with every effort. Is that something you’re still actively working on with every new novel, even at this stage of your career? Kobo: You’ve said that you thought your last book, Grown Ups was a turning point for your craft as a writer.

Anna walsh marian keyes