INTERVIEW
October 2008
PAIGE TOON
Paige Toon, author of Lucy in the Sky and Johnny Be Good, is a contributing editor to heat magazine. She lives in London with her husband and son. She was born in England but spent much of her childhood in Australia. She also spent a lot of time travelling with her racing car driver father.
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1. Tell us about how you developed the idea for Johnny Be Good.
I was reading Robbie Williams' book Feel, by Chris Heath, and liked the idea of an ordinary person becoming friends with a rock star. I imagined what it must be like to be a PA to a rock star and the story developed from there.
2. Which real life rock stars inspired your character of Johnny?
Even though Robbie's book inspired the story, I actually imagined the character of Johnny to be a bit more like Kurt Cobain from Nirvana.
3. Which celebrity would you most like to be a PA for? And who couldn't you stand to work for?
This is a tough one. I wasn't that big a fan of Robbie until I read his book and felt a bit sorry for him because he was so troubled. I'd quite like to be his PA so I could see him right! The other one is Brad Pitt, for obvious reasons... I wouldn't like to be Mariah Carey's PA - can you imagine all the demands she'd make on you? Nightmare!
4. What's the best thing and worst thing about working for a magazine?
I don't work in the office any more because I wanted to look after my son full time, but I do miss the people and the lively, fun atmosphere. AND the freebies! I was Reviews Ed and got all the free books, CDs, DVDs and film tickets I could ever dream of - bliss! The worst thing... I didn't hate anything about my job. I suppose the only slightly annoying thing was always being asked by people what the latest gossip was - and the only reason that wasn't great was because I was always completely clueless as I didn't work on the news desk!
5. What made you turn your hand to writing your first novel, Lucy in the Sky?
I came up with the idea of Lucy a few years ago when my parents and brother moved back to Australia and I was still in England at university. I felt very homesick and torn between the two countries. I started writing it then but it was a completely different book - much darker - and doesn't resemble the finished product in any way! I actually only starting writing Lucy properly after I got a book deal - I got the deal based on the idea alone so was very lucky.
6. What inspired the opening scene of Lucy's flight from hell?
I think I was on a plane to Australia myself when I imagined (I have an overactive imagination) getting a horrid text and not being able to do anything about it for 24 hours.
7. Why did you add a brief mention of some of your Lucy characters in Johnny Be Good?
I love it when I read books myself and get an update of characters I've read about in the past - I want them to carry on living in their own parallel universe!
8. Tell us about your third book. I believe it's to be set in your father's world of motor racing?
That's right - it's actually about Johnny's former PA before Meg. She was a character who interested me in Johnny Be Good, so I decided to take her further. She's now working for a Formula 1 team and falls in love with a racing driver, but he's still going out with his childhood sweetheart...
9. How have your travels influenced your writing?
I personally love reading about different places and I have a few experiences to draw from, but it's really important to me to do proper research so I can live like the characters. For Lucy In The Sky, I spent a couple of days in Sydney to work out exactly where I imagined Lucy and her characters would live, work and party. For Johnny I did the same in LA. It's not possible for my third book to travel to all the countries where the races are held, but I've been to a few anyway and the rest is internet research and chatting to people who have!
10. Your books have had clever titles and great artwork. How much importance do you place on getting the right title and cover?
MAJOR importance. I know from working at heat that you actually DO judge a book by its cover. It tells you so much about what to expect inside. I have to thank my brother for the titles and my publishers have come up with great artwork, although my husband (an architect/designer) has also had quite a lot of input on the latter.
11. Who are you most like - Lucy or Meg?
I guess I'm most like Lucy because I'm half-Australian and understood what it felt like to be torn, but all of my characters have a little bit of me in them. I remember so many friends and family found it hard to not think of me when they read Lucy, but didn't have that with Meg, so they'd definitely say Lucy!
12. Who are your favourite chick lit authors?
I love Marian Keyes - she's the queen of chick lit - but I also like Lisa Jewell, Freya North, Adele Parks, Jane Green - all the biggies!
13. Do you mind your books being branded chick lit?
Of course not! I love chick-lit myself and that's what I wanted to write.
14. What do you do to escape writing?
Hmm - I never really escape it because even when I'm not writing I'm often thinking about the characters and what's going to happen to them. But as I only write when my 13-month-old son naps, the rest of my time is spent doing nice things with him, like going to parks, playgroups, cafés with my antenatal friends - that sort of thing. I've always wanted to be an author and when I got my book deal, it was the happiest time of my life - until I had my son Indy, and now being his mum trumps that a million times over, so I'm a pretty damn happy chick right now!
