Victoria Connelly
Victoria Connelly grew up in Norfolk and later became a teacher in North Yorkshire. Now living in London with her artist husband, she has had great success with her magical romances in Germany, one of which was made into a film last year. Her first UK novel, Molly’s Millions, is a feel-good romantic comedy about a lottery winner who gives it all away.
If you were wallpaper, what pattern would it be?
I’d like to be something classic like a William Morris Willow – cool and sophisticated - but I’m probably more like a ditzy pink floral Laura Ashley!
Describe your writing style...
I write romantic comedies which are probably the literary version of the 1950s films of Doris Day, Marilyn Monroe and Gene Kelly. I love those old films! My novels are always warm, optimistic and a little bit quirky, and usually have gorgeous country settings and a few adorable animals thrown in.
What’s your typical writing day like?
I like to write from mid-morning until lunchtime when I break for a couple of hours. After walking the dog in the afternoon, I get back to work and write on into the evenings. I don’t really have set hours and can sometimes still be going until after ten at night. I love being my own boss and making up my own timetable.
Hot sunny beach or ski slopes?
If I had to choose then hot sunny beach but I’d prefer dappled countryside, please!
Describe your road to getting your books published…
I completed my first attempt at a novel in 1994 but it wasn’t until 2005 that my first book was published. It was sold via an agent to a German publisher after a bidding war but the UK didn’t take that one. It took another four years before getting published in the UK. So now I’m writing magical romances for Germany and straight romantic comedies for the UK.
Your 3 fantasy dinner party guests would be...?
From the past: Gene Kelly, Thomas Hardy and Anne Boleyn,
From the present: Doris Day, Elizabeth Taylor and Johnny Depp.
Your favourite book of all time is…?
HE Bates’ The Darling Buds of May – a gorgeously warm and funny book full of wonderful characters. It’s feel-good fiction at its very best.
Any advice for aspiring authors?
DON’T GIVE UP – not at the first hurdle and not at the thirty-first. The route to publication is lined with rejections and you’ve got to accept that. It’s really hard sometimes because you pour your heart, soul, dreams and aspirations into your work and then it wings its way back to you with a disheartening ‘no’ attached to it. The only way to overcome this is to absolutely love what you’re doing. Write because you want to – because you’d go totally nuts if you didn’t! Read lots, write lots, watch films – absorb all sorts of stories and find out what it is that you really want to write and then just do it. You’ve got to enjoy it – that’s the main thing. A novel is a huge commitment of time and emotional energy so love, LOVE it!
If you hadn’t become an author, what would you be?
There are lots of jobs I fancy like being a location scout for a film company or working in Jim Henson’s Creature Workshop. But I’d probably choose something in conservation – saving old crumbling buildings and the coastline – making a difference to our beautiful country.
© Lola Jaye