Lucy Robinson & Mike Gayle at Brixton Library!

At the end of last year I went to an awesome event at Brixton library featuring five fabulous female authors-it was a brilliant night! So when I heard they were having another event featuring an author, who's writing never fails to make me laugh, Lucy Robinson I knew I had to make it there! The event also featured women's fiction author Mile Gayle-there to talk about his latest book The Stag and Hen Weekend. This book was on my TBR pile so I quickly bumped it to the top so that I could be a little more informed about the other author at this event.

The event was very well organised and well attended as last year-these guys really know how to host an author! We waited patiently for the Lucy and Mike arrive and when they did, they both had such obvious stage presence, I knew we were going to be thoroughly entertained... Mike Gayle gave us a reading from his novel, which I have reviewed here on the blog. He read from the very beginning where Phil is preparing to go off on his stag do and Helen is making him a packed lunch for the journey, their interaction at this point is very Funny.

The audience asked him several questions and he told us that writing females as a male author does have it's drawbacks, he hopes not to come accords as a man putting on a woman's voice and that he avoids female stereotypes, and indeed make stereotypes to avoid this happening. He says that the way he writes is to plan everything thoroughly beforehand, to really know where the story is going. Once you've got the plan out of the way, the book just naturally comes together as you write it. He really made the audience laugh when he told us that the hardest thing abut writing females as a male author is dressing them and that, in actual fact, he uses the Next catalogue to choose outfits for the women in his book!

Lucy said that her male characters are very much inspired by her partner. That the scruffiness and laid back attitude of her most recent male lead definitely came from real life. Lucy also said that by the time her books actually come to the shelf she begins to hate them because she has been so involved with the writing and editing of them that she just wants to see the back of them. She talked about the book that she is currently writing, which she describes as her favourite so far, it's going to be based in the world of opera. She made us laugh by telling us that the writing process for her takes about a year, but that involves 2 months of procrastinating and another month of 'research' which is essentially more procrastination!

Lucy read a section of her latest novel A Passionate Love Affair with a Total Stranger an demonstrated why her books are such a hit, by having the audience in absolute stitches in a scene where her main character Charley is in hospital and interacting with her eccentric parents. Both authors were presented with a book cake at the end of the evening to take home, but, don't worry, there was also cake to be had four audience members. The authors stuck around to sign their novels, which were available to buy, and Lucy Robinson was even lovely enough to pose for a picture with me-using her phone since mine had run out of battery!

If you haven't read The Stag and Hen Weekend, you can find my review right here on the blog. I have also reviewed Lucy Robinson's two hilarious novels, The Greatest Love Story of all Time and A Passionate Love Affair with a Total Stranger over on The Sweet Bookshelf