What was your background, had you always wanted to be a writer?
I was born in Belfast and brought up in Glasgow. None of my relations were writers, or would ever have considered writing as an occupation (although many of them were great story tellers and letter writers) and I was the first girl in the family to go to university. I enjoyed writing compositions at school and always wrote terrible poetry and exchanged 'humorous' notes with my girlfriends, but never really took writing seriously until I had tried and failed at various other careers. When I started writing short stories, I was amazed: never before had I become so absorbed in anything. That whole notion of moving words around on a page, and the effect that choice of words and word order can have: it amazed me. I was hooked.

What prompted you come to UEA?
I was trying to prove something. I'd had a few stories published and been interviewed for the post of Writer in Residence at a Scottish university but I was so nervous I gave a terrible interview. When they asked who my favourite authors were, I couldn't think of the name of a single writer, never mind my favourites. Then they asked me what I wanted to do in the future. I suggested that I'd quite like to do a PhD in Creative Writing. They seemed to find this amusing, and agreed amongst themselves that they themselves would like to do such a thing (the implication being that it was a preposterous notion). I got the impression that they thought I was too big for my boots. My fate was sealed. When I was accepted for the MA at UEA, I didn't think twice. I wanted to show the bastards.

Who taught you while you were here?
Malcolm Bradbury, Rose Tremain and then Michele Roberts for a month or so while Rose was in Australia. I chose academic components taught by Helen McNeil and Malcolm. And I also took a screenwriting option with Rob Ritchie.

How was that teaching structured?
We had a Creative Writing workshop once a week. The work of two or three students was dealt with each time. Students submitted about 20 pages which were circulated to the group beforehand, so we all came to class having read the extracts in advance. Usually the tutor kicked things off with comments then we all chipped in.

Were you working on ‘The Observations' at the time?
No, but I began it the year after, when I started work on my PhD. The Observations was going to be the 'creative writing' component of my PhD, but I ran out of steam after about 20,000 words and abandoned it. I started work on two or three other novels during my PhD before finally writing the one that I submitted. I lacked confidence, so I could never trust that what I was doing was okay.

How long did the novel take you to complete?
Well, I abandoned it in (I think?) 1993 and put what I'd written and all my notes in a cardboard box. About ten years later, having failed to write anything else with much success, I dug out the box and had a look at what I'd written. I quite liked it, so I started all over again. It took about two years to get it into some kind of shape. I finally submitted it for publication in 2005. So you could say it took about twelve years to complete.

How would you describe your experience on the MA?
Life-changing. The encouragement I got from tutors helped me see that I could begin to take myself seriously as a writer.

What happened next for you?
Hmm - well, a lot of people seem to think that doing the MA is a passport to success, literary glory and hanging out, playing pool, with Martin Amis and Will Self. I do hang out with those guys, but it took ten years of stalking them and lots of threats before they accepted me. In truth, it's not so easy for most people. Many graduates take a long time to get published. I spent many years not earning much money, reading scripts and novels for tuppence ha'penny a go, while I tried (and failed) to write a decent novel and then got sidetracked into writing screenplays (again without much success) before finally returning to the first novel I ever started writing, and finishing it. Then it got exciting.

But weren't you nominated for BAFTAs for your screenplays?
I was nominated twice, two years running, for short films that I had written and that my husband directed. But on both occasions the prize went to much more deserving candidates…

How have you found the experience of being published and reviewed and so on, that public side of being a writer?
Being published is absolutely amazing, and ‘The Observations' was, for the most part, reviewed kindly, so that was great too. I'm not so keen on the public bits as I am quite shy, believe it or not. I enjoy doing readings (because I can hide behind the voice and characters) but I find being myself with strangers and having to be 'on' and all that stuff quite stressful.

What are you working on now?
I'm working on another novel. It's set in 1888, in Scotland, and features a very different narrator from Bessy: a highly-educated English woman. I'm having a lot of fun.

Do you really play pool with Amis and Self?
No.

Interview: August 2007