The Observer UK
Life Support

It started out as a bet after she was made redundant, but when Lisa Jewell started emailing the chapters of her novel to Yasmin Boland, it inspired her friend to start writing, too. Now, they are two of Chick Lit's rising stars Interview Stephanie Dennison Sunday September 3, 2000 Lisa Jewell: I was made redundant from a job as a PA in a shirt-making company in 1996. I was devastated. I had been there for three years and it was a job I really liked. Before I left, I had met Jascha, the man who was to become my husband, and through him a big gang of friends, including Yasmin, an Australian journalist working in London. Ten of us went off to Malta and stayed in a large villa. We were all reading High Fidelity at the time, passing it around and remarking how easy it must have been to write it. That was stupid, I realise that now. Nick Hornby's a genius. Very late one night, Yasmin and I had a few drinks and got talking about life. She asked me what I was going to do about my life now that I was jobless. I'd planned to sign on with some temping agencies. But she challenged me about what I really wanted to do. I confessed that I'd like to write a female version of High Fidelity. It was before the 'chick lit' thing happened, and I honestly thought you had to have loads of life experience and depth of character to do it. There weren't any young female writers - even Bridget Jones's Diary wasn't a phenomenon at that point. Yasmin pointed out that Jascha had a computer, I had £1,000 redundancy money and I didn't have to start temping for a month. Why didn't I just do it? Speaking to my stomach, she said, 'I'll take you out to your favourite restaurant if you do it, and if you don't, then you have to take me.' So I started the next Monday morning. I tried to write about my first marriage in a fictional version, but got two pages into it and realised it was too personal. Then I came up with an old-fashioned love triangle, which became the plot for Ralph's Party. I wrote three chapters and thought it was a pile of shit, but as I'd promised Yasmin, and she kept telling me it was so good, I thought I'd better send it out. I sent it to 10 agents and got nine rejection letters. Then I got a letter from Judith, who was to become my agent, saying it needed a lot more work, but she'd like to see the rest of it. I was too broke to pay rent so Jascha invited me to move in with him. Yasmin moved back to Sydney, so I started emailing Yasmin each chapter as it was finished. A year later, Ralph's Party was complete, I was offered a £120,000 two-book deal, got a great meal and my life changed altogether. Click here for the lovely Lisa's website