It's nice to feel a bit of magic in everyday life, and when I was writing Books, Men and Money, I felt an element of magic.
I was getting ready to go to a party. A good friend had just announced her first pregnancy, so this was more than just a gathering, it was a special occasion. As I was putting on my make-up, I got the idea for this story. I could see it forming, and I was annoyed because I didn't have time to sit down and write it, and I couldn't miss this party. On the train between Prenzlauer Alle and Jungfernheide, I wrote as much of it as I could in a small, spiral bound notebook. I even paused outside the door, trying to get as many words on the page as I could. I figured I'd finish it the next day, but when the day dawned, the inspiration was gone.
Six months later, I was tidying up my desk (a rare occurrence), found the notebook, read my words, and finished the story. The time was right. I typed it up on my boyfriend's computer, and emailed it to myself. The text sat around in cyberspace for about another year.
I remembered it again when I met a married man at a party, with whom I began an affair - judge me as you will. There were so many parallels to the story, from the field in which he worked, to the fact that he was a Decently Nice Man. He was exactly the type I'd pictured when I wrote the story, even though I hadn't met him yet. There was an element of foreshadowing that felt magical. Even how it was written, with the idea coming to me unexpectedly, and the urgency I felt to write it, had an aura of the mystical about it. And isn't it so nice to be lifted out of the mundane from time to time.
Obviously, my married-man affair happened in Berlin, and not Brighton, but there are more similarities between the seedy south coast seaside resort and the landlocked island built on a swamp than most people would imagine. The feeling of freedom, creativity, and possibility is the same in both cities, as well as the atmosphere of iffiness. I love how Jane Austen's characters always go to the seaside when they have sex (think of the elopements and honeymoons in her novels). And a type of character I love is the Mary Poppins type, who swoops in when she is needed, then disappears again. All these elements came together in my imagination and a story emerged.
It's a bit like baking. If you put flour and water together, you get glue. If you add milk, eggs, and sugar, you get cake. Where did the glue go? It's magic.'
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