About Linda

Some Background about Linda

Linda Gillard now lives in the Highlands, on the Black Isle. She has also lived on the Isle of Arran and spent six years on the Isle of Skye.


She graduated from Bristol University and trained as an actress at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. For eight years she pursued an acting career, the highlight of which was appearing on stage at the National Theatre with Geraldine McEwan, TV's Miss Marple. The lowlight was playing a fairy for four rainy months in an open-air production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Regent’s Park.


Whilst under-employed at the National Theatre, Linda accidentally became a freelance journalist and wrote light-hearted articles for magazines, many based on her semi-self-sufficient “Good Life” in rural Cambridgeshire. For twelve years she had a humorous column in IDEAL HOME about family life. (Her children, now adult, are still trying to live it down.)


Linda ran her two careers concurrently for a while, then decided to give up acting to focus on journalism and raising a family. At the age of 40 she re-trained as a primary teacher and taught in Norfolk specialising in English and Art. She decided to re-think her career yet again after she was assaulted by a disturbed pupil.


The re-think entailed giving up teaching and downshifting to Skye, realising a long-held dream to move to the Highlands and write full-time. For six years Linda lived on a hillside overlooking the Cuillins, a mountain range featured in her first novel, EMOTIONAL GEOLOGY.

Linda’s second novel A LIFETIME BURNING was published in 2006 by Transita. Her third novel, STAR GAZING, set on the Isle of Skye and in Edinburgh, was published by Piatkus in 2008 and has been short-listed for three awards including Romantic Novel of the Year.

Linda's fourth novel, HOUSE OF SILENCE was published as an e-book in 2011 and quickly became a Kindle bestseller. A fifth novel, UNTYING THE KNOT was also published on Kindle in 2011.

Linda has recently finished a sixth novel: a paranormal love story, IF THE SUN AND MOON SHOULD DOUBT.





CONTACT DETAILS

Linda Gillard is available for readings, talks and workshops and has written Reading Group Guides for all of her books. (Email her if you'd like free copies.)

Signed copies of Linda's books are available and there's a special discounted rate for group orders.

For more information contact Linda at info@lindagillard.co.uk

 

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Where do you get your ideas from?

People. The characters always come first, then a sense of place. I don’t need a story, just a situation that gets me thinking, “What if…?”


How long does it take you to write a novel?

It varies. A LIFETIME BURNING took 19 months (and that was a big book in all senses) but I had a 2 year break in the middle of writing EMOTIONAL GEOLOGY when I was getting my kids off to university and moving to Skye. Writing full-time now, I'd hope to complete a book in a little more than a year.


Do you plan your books in advance?

No, not much. I have a general idea of the story arc, but I don’t plan much, I just write and see what happens. I like the uncertainty. I think I write more bravely without the safety net of a synopsis. I have a theory that the un-put-downable quality of my books that my readers often refer to is because I don’t know what’s going to happen next, so the reader can’t possibly know. It comes as a surprise to all of us!


Longhand or word processor?

Always longhand first. (Disposable pencil on lined A4 if you want the techie details.) I can write straight on to the PC but found I wrote better in pencil. It’s also too easy to hit the Delete key when you’re feeling negative about your work.


Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?

Not really. I do come up against problems with the story, by which I mean that I know what the book needs but I don’t know how to do it. I just wait until the characters tell me how to resolve things. I find solutions usually come when I’m washing up or in the shower. They never hit you when you’re thinking about them.


Your books are quite different from each other. Do you have a favourite or a favourite character?

My favourite of my books at the moment is A LIFETIME BURNING. As for favourite characters, I usually fall in love with all my heroes (even scumbag Rory in ALB.) I also have a soft spot for Garth the Goth in STAR GAZING. I’m embarrassed to admit he actually used to make me laugh out loud when I was writing the book. Garth is a real tonic.


STAR GAZING was shortlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year 2009 award. Do you see yourself as a writer of romance?

No, not really! My agent says I don't write romance, I write love stories. I suppose it depends what you mean by romance. STAR GAZING is very romantic but it's not a romance. (It was also short-listed for the UK's first environmental book award.)

Some of my favourite books are so-called romances by Georgette Heyer and Mary Stewart. I suppose romances are stories you don't need to take seriously, they're pure entertainment. But as well as being a love story, STAR GAZING tackles some serious issues, like disability and bereavement. It's an odd mix but readers have loved it. EMOTIONAL GEOLOGY deals with mental illness, loneliness, loss but it's not a heavy read because of the humour and the love story.


Are you working on another book at the moment?

I've just finished a contemporary supernatural love story set on the Isle of Skye, IF THE SUN AND MOON SHOULD DOUBT. (It's a vampire-free zone, I hasten to add. My hero is a ghost.) I'm going to take a break to launch the e-book of A LIFETIME BURNING, which is now out of print, then I'll make a start on my next novel. I don't know much about it yet, but it will feature a female stained glass artist.


What advice would you have for a would-be novelist?

Write for writing’s sake. Don’t expect publication or financial reward – you are very unlikely to get either. Writing is its own reward anyway. When you feel angry about your unsolicited manuscript being rejected, remember: nobody asked you to submit it!


Which writers do you admire?

In alphabetical order: Anne, Charlotte and Emily Bronte, Dickens, Daphne du Maurier, Dorothy Dunnett, Penelope Fitzgerald, Margaret Forster, Georgette Heyer, Susan Howatch, Patrick O’ Brian, Gillian Philip, Christopher Priest, Mary Renault, Shakespeare, Mary Stewart, Barry Unsworth, P G Wodehouse.


Is there a particular book or author that inspired you to be a writer?

I don’t remember a time when I didn’t write or make up stories in my head. The first time I dared to think, “Maybe I could do this…” was as a teenager in the 60s when I read the romantic suspense novels of Mary Stewart. She was a big influence and I still re-read her with enjoyment.


Which book would you most like to have written?

From a financial point of view, THE HIGHWAY CODE. From a literary point view, THE GAME OF KINGS by Dorothy Dunnett.