One Thing Missing: The Voice of the Reader by Maeve Binchy

I am very excited at the thought of being in a chatroom, of sorts, with readers. They always say that writing is a lonely business, and in a way that's quite true.

It's a little less lonely for me than a lot of people, because I write in the same room and at the same long desk as my husband, Gordon Snell, who writes his children's stories about seven feet away from me. So that's very companionable. If one of us makes a cup of tea, then the other gets one. Also, we can keep an eye on each other. If he spends too long looking up words in a dictionary, and I know that he has drifted on to other words as a distraction, then I can clear my throat. If I look up a date in the Chronicles and I am still there half an hour later, he can clear his throat!

At the end of a long morning, we read to each other what we have written and are always ruthlessly honest. But there is one thing missing, and that's the voice of the reader: the person who goes out in a different land to buy the book and read the story. My own health isn't great now, so I can't do personal tours anymore. And I do often wonder if people actually like the stories I tell, or they feel they know the characters. So something like this will be very interesting. I will try to answer all the questions truthfully, whatever you ask.

I am also very encouraging to would-be writers. When I was young, people encouraged me a lot, and said that if you can talk, you can write. I think this is very cheering news and try to spread it. I pretend, when I begin a novel, that I am writing a long letter to a friend, and I say, "Wait until I tell you about so and so and what happened to her!" I am always urging those who want to write not to put on a false voice when writing, but to write as you speak. This way, you will communicate much more easily.

Sometimes, readers kindly offer me ideas for stories, but I never take them. We are each responsible for the tales we tell, and there is no reason why I should write your story. In fact, you would probably write it much better. Also, I never look at manuscripts by other people; this is a bad idea. I might by accident steal one of your ideas, or you might think I had, so if anyone sends me a manuscript, I send it back unopened.

But still I encourage any reader who thinks there might be a book inside to work on it. Suppose you wanted to tell the stories of your childhood to your grandchildren, or to tell of the loneliness when you left home, or of the sadness of a bereavement; a novel might be just what you need to work out the emotions.

I look forward to meeting you. I am not technologically very sound but I will do my best, and if my typing has a few mistakes, you will forgive me. They always get tidied up before the books, but this is more instant.

Here's to when we all get together.

Sincerely,

Maeve Binchy