Joanna Trollope

I plot the first 5 or 6 chapters quite minutely, and also the end. So I know where I am going but not how I’m going to get there, which gives characters the chance to develop organically, as happens in real life as you get to know a person.

I don’t always set stories in villages, more often in towns. But always in smallish communities because the characters’ actions are more visible there, and the dramatic tension is heightened.

I’m a third done into a new book but sorry – I have a superstition about talking about it!

I’ve experienced huge kindness here, a great welcome and some very generous reviews without the snide social edge I often suffer from at home. I’m not patronized here either, which I much appreciate!

You can’t be too old to be a writer, but you can definitely be too young!

All TV can do is capture the spirit of a book because the medium is so utterly different. But I’m very grateful for the readers that Masterpiece Theatre has undoubtedly brought me.

Oddly my name has been no professional help at all! It seems to have made no difference. I admire him hugely, both for his benevolence and his enormous psychological perception.