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| Interview with Joanna Trollope by Melanie Ashby HAVE read a few Trollope – don’t tell many people as she is seen as a bit housewife-y and Radio 4ish, but I like her,’ posts one of the ‘finders’ on the bookcrossing.com discussion forum. The website’s little cluster of readers, new ones and firm followers amongst them, have, for the most part, very positive things to say about their experience of reading a Trollope (a ‘JT’ as the author calls her contemporary novels). Joanna Trollope is a reader’s writer. ‘A combination of a desire to communicate, and a passionate belief in the power of story to build up relationships, to shape us,’ is her practised answer to the well-worn question ‘Why write?’. She trots it out with zeal, as if for the first time. Unlike many writers, including Kate Atkinson in the last issue, Trollope is highly conscious of writing for readers – they are sewn into the fabric of her process. With a characteristically gracious superlative, Trollope stresses that ‘one must always have the most profound respect for the reader’s intelligence and experience’. This is why extensive field research – listening to and interrogating friends, acquaintances and strangers about their life experiences – plays a significant part in her Method. In her chosen field of modern relationship/family mores and dilemmas, the writing must ring true to be worth its salt. And Trollope’s ongoing popularity, to the tune of over six million paperback sales, is testament to her getting the formula – and her perceptions of contemporary life – right. This is in spite of more than a few, at best, mildly disparaging reviews, at worst, vicious swipes from the British media. Plus an enduring tag, ‘Queen of the Aga Saga’, that characterises her writing as cosy, conservative, and Laura Ashley-patterned. She brushes off the title… For the whole interview, read Issue 28 » Subscribe! Go to » Joanna Trollope's Method |
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For more on JOANNA TROLLOPE, go to www.joannatrollope.com
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