Gill Paul – Famous Fabulous Lives

Novelist Gill Paul takes iconic women of the 20th century – from Wallis Simpson to Diana, Princess of Wales, from Jackie O to Maria Callas – and spins a magic story that combines fact with imagination to give readers new insights into famous lives. . . . Hi there. I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and in this week’s Joys of Binge Reading episode Gill talks about the romance of the Romanovs, and her crazy passion for cutting ice to go swimming.  Win a copy of Gill's latest book Gill’s been kind enough to offer listeners a lovely Christmas bonus – a Holiday Reading Royal Romance Giveaway of one paperback copy of each of Gill’s two most recent books – dual time line story The Lost Daughter, featuring the ill-fated Romanovs, and Another Man’s Wife, tracing links between Wallis Simpson and Princess Diana of Wales. Details for how to enter the draw for this exciting Holiday Reading Royal Romance Giveaway can be found on the Binge Reading Facebook Page or the website, or at the Joys of Binge Reading. Enter today for fantastic holiday reading. We will select two winners who each will receive one of the books. Offer closes December 10, and we will try and ship in time for Christmas (if we're lucky.) Six things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode: How joining a small writing group got Gill startedWhy the Romanovs stole her heartThe two women who married a Prince of WalesCleopatra the movie, Elizabeth Taylor the starWhy she's such a 'swot" in her writingHer coming book on the Onassis women Where to find Gill Paul:  Website: http://gillpaul.com/author Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/GillPaulAuthor/  Twitter:  https://twitter.com/GillPaulAUTHOR What follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions. Jenny: Hello there, Gill, and welcome to the show. It's great to have you with us. Gill: Jenny. It's wonderful to be here. Thanks so much for inviting me. How Gill got started in writing Jenny: Now I know that you did do other things before you started your writing, so was there a Once Upon a Time moment where you thought, "I've just got to write some fiction or my life won't quite be complete," and if so, what was the catalyst? Gill Paul - historical fiction based on fabulous facts Gill: That's a great question. In fact, I wanted to write from probably when I started reading, but my parents steered me in a different direction, towards studying medicine at university  and then  I switched and  worked in publishing for a while and all the time I was trying to write novels.  I have to say in my teens and early twenties they were really miserable autobiographical things about lost love affairs and parents not understanding you.  They were absolutely dreadful and I'm very glad none of them has ever seen the light of day. But in my thirties I discovered a little writing group near where I live in North London, run by a woman called Carol Cornish.  She called it Writing Space.  It was just Friday evenings around her kitchen table, and she really encouraged us to describe things in an original way - to really look at the things we were talking about, to probe deeper and find character. And also have original ideas for plot.  The benefits of a writing group She was amazing.