Lottie Moggach

Beginner’s Pluck.
Interviewed by Sue Leonard.
Published in the Irish Examiner, on 27th July, 2013.

Beginner’s Pluck. Lottie Moggach.

As a child, Lottie wrote stories to please her mother, the novelist Deborah Moggach. She read a lot too. She dropped out of university after a term to become a journalist.
“I got work experience on The Times, and hung around until a job came up. I stayed there for a few years then went freelance.”

Lottie tried writing a novel and a nonfiction book in her twenties. She started properly when journalism started losing its gloss.
“It was the idea for this novel that got me going,” she says.


Who is Lottie Moggach?

Date of birth: 9th May, 1977 in London.

Education: North London Collegiate for girls. Sussex University, (English,) for one term.

Home: Kentish Town, London.

Family: A son, Kit, aged one, with her partner, a film maker.

The Day Job: Fulltime writer.

Interests: I love walking around London. I walk rather than travelling by tube. It helps me to think.

Favourite Writers: George Eliot; Rohinton Mistry; Arnold Bennett and Jonathan Coe.

Second Novel: I’m writing a second. It’s contemporary, but quite different.

Top Writing Tip: Don’t go on line until lunchtime.

Web/Twitter: Neither. And I stopped Facebook when I started writing the novel.

The Debut: Kiss me first. Picador: €17.32. Kindle: €6.92

When the reclusive Leila joins the website, Red Pill, she’s entranced by it, enjoying sharing her philosophy of the world with others. She’s thrilled when the leader, Adrian, gives her a difficult task. But can it really work?

“I got the idea five years ago when a fallow period in journalism coincided with the rise in popularity of Facebook. I spent far too much time on it. It was all I seemed to do. It struck me that I could go through my life and not see anyone in the flesh. It seemed Facebook was replacing a real relationship.

“It very quickly grew to the idea that if someone really wanted to they could persuade their Facebook friends that they were still alive.”

The Verdict: Sharp, contemporary, and finely written.

© Sue Leonard. 2013.