Words matter. These are the best Gail Honeyman Quotes, and they’re great for sharing with your friends.
I was hurtling towards 40, and I’d always wanted to write. It does focus your mind, heading towards that big birthday. If there is anything you think you want to do, you think, ‘I probably should have a go now!’
If you start a new career at 40, you’ve still got another 35 years to go.
I love 19th century fiction and, in particular, fiction written by and about women.
If you break things down to goodies and baddies, the baddies are always a bit more alluring in fiction, and that’s true from a narrative point of view. But I wanted to write a novel about real life, and real life is a bit more nuanced than that.
Eleanor Oliphant isn’t me or anyone I know. Of course I’ve felt loneliness – everybody does – but Eleanor and her experiences are fictional.
If I’ve helped fuel the debate on loneliness in some small way, that is wonderful.
I don’t listen to music when I write. If I do, I usually end up giving it my whole attention, which means, unfortunately, I don’t get much work done!
I wanted to show platonic friendship between men and women, because I think it is underutilised in fiction.
A bit of perspective and life experience isn’t a bad thing.
The skill of a gifted actor, their ability to interpret and develop a character and truly bring her or him to life, is one that I admire enormously.
It’s helpful to get feedback on your work, and I think you learn a lot from reading other people’s work and giving them feedback.
As a little girl, I used to write stories, but by my teenage years, I got out of the habit.
The workplace can be a good place to find opportunities to socialise, but what if you don’t meet any like-minded people there, or what if you work alone? Is it, somewhat counter-intuitively, easier to find yourself lonely in a city than in a small town or village?
I know some writers are meticulous planners, but I’m not one of them.
Loneliness is a huge issue for both individuals and for society. It’s taken a long time for the issue to be treated seriously and for us to begin to understand the impact it can have.
Even with the most horrendous things that happen and the tremendous pain that people have to deal with, they still laugh, because I think that’s what it means to be human.
I started doing a Ph.D., and then I thought, ‘I don’t really want to spend all this time on my own in the library.’
This may sound strange, but although I feel like I know everything about my characters, the brand of shampoo they use, how many cavities they have, their greatest fear, I don’t actually see their faces.
