DEBUT AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: Elle Field “Kept” (Contemporary Romance)
THE AUTHOR
Elle Field is a twenty-something writer who lives in North London with her boyfriend. A social media consultant by day, she enjoys exploring and photographing Blighty’s capital, seeing far too many musicals, and eating her away around London’s culinary delights. Kept is her first novel, which will be followed by Geli Voyante’s Hot or Not later this year.
THE BOOK
RELEASE DATE: 22nd April 2013 | PUBLISHER: Self-Published
GENRE: Contemporary Romance
Life hasn’t quite worked out how Arielle Lockley planned. Becoming the next Coco Chanel, not shopping at Chanel, was always her childhood dream but somehow she’s ended up as a kept woman, living the jet set lifestyle with boyfriend Piers. When the recession hits, it’s not just the economy that takes a tumble. Broke and homeless with zero job prospects, can Arielle find her way again in time or will she always have to be a kept woman?
THE INTERVIEW
What is KEPT about?
Kept is about twenty-something Arielle Lockley who always wanted to be the next Coco Chanel, but who has instead spent the past four years living a dizzying whirl of glitzy parties, luxurious holidays and daily shopping sprees – all paid for by boyfriend Piers – and not doing anything to make her Coco dreams happen. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, except when the recession hits, it’s not just the economy that takes a tumble…
Arielle finds herself living back with her parents, on bad terms with Piers, and having a CV that’s as welcome as a pair of knock-off Jimmy Choos. She’s also finding unwelcome thoughts of her childhood sweetheart popping into her head because of where she’s now living, and that’s causing all sorts of further confusion in her head. Arielle needs to not only figure out what it is she now wants to do with her life but she also needs to figure out who she is, and who she wants to be with.
Kept is about the fantasy we’ve all dreamed of – living the jet-set lifestyle – with the reality of what it’s actually like to give up your real dreams and be a kept woman.
Tell us a bit more about the hero/heroine in KEPT
Arielle is quite typical of most of us, I’d say. As a child she had big dreams and wanted to be the next Coco Chanel but never did anything to make that happen, instead choosing to study Economics at university because it was more “safe” and made her parents happy.
Struggling to find a job after graduating and falling in love with wealthy Piers meant that she gets to put off the career because all Piers cared about was making her happy. Arielle goes along with living the trophy girlfriend lifestyle, not thinking much about it until things go wrong…
This is when Arielle realises that there is more to her than this, that she has opinions on topics that extend beyond which trendy restaurants she should dine at that week. She’s flawed, but she’s courageous as she realises that whilst she could just become another kept woman, she’d rather make something of her life and try to make that happen, even if failure is the most likely outcome.
How did you research KEPT?
Some of it is drawn from my own experiences but, I have to confess, that my fashion knowledge is not as extensive as Arielle’s – reading glossy magazines and wandering down Sloane Avenue and New Bond Street helped me to make the fashion side of the book as authentic as possible!
Is KEPT the first in a series or a stand alone novel?
It’s the first in a series – the sequel to Kept will be out next year, and the verdict is still out whether there will be a third book!
When and where is your favourite time to write?
As I fit in my writing around a full-time job, I can’t have set writing hours so snatch time when I can. I’ll quite often spend my lunch hour tucked away writing somewhere in the office or in a café. I always find that I’m most creative around 10pm, which is not ideal when you have work the next morning as I can happily write into the early hours!
As long as I’m comfortable and warm, I don’t mind where I’m writing but I’d love to take myself off and write in a wee cottage by the sea if I had the luxury of choice!
When did you decide to become a writer?
I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was a child. Like Arielle though I studied a more “safe” degree, but then decided to have a gap year after university to write, write, write! That gap year was five years ago and my first book has just come out – I’ve had to be a writer on the side whilst I’ve gone out to earn money to live off in those five years, but it’s been worth the wait!
What was the last book you enjoyed and why?
Lace by Shirley Conran. It was published 31 years ago but the themes in it still feel fresh today. Ignoring the historical settings in it, it could have easily been published today.
Which authors do you admire?
Sophie Kinsella, Maggie Alderson, Tan Twan Eng, Dorothy Koomson, Mel Sherratt, Sebastian Faulks, Kate Morton, Diane Chamberlin, Nancy Mitford, J.K. Rowling, Bill Bryson, Sylvia Plath and Meg Cabot.
Describe yourself in five words.
Clumsy, creative, loyal, Northern and stubborn!
What’s next?
My next book Geli Voyante’s Hot or Not will be out in Autumn 2013. It’s about newspaper columnist Geli who has the bonus of working next to the newspaper’s hot political columnist, Theo – she’s had a crush on him ever since she started working there. When her arch-nemesis Tiggy Boodles gets engaged, Geli finally sets about to try and convince Theo that she’s not as shallow as her light-hearted column suggests and, more importantly, she’s the one for him. But, the path of crushes or, indeed, true love never runs smoothly though…
ELLE FIELD ONLINE
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3 Comments
Great interview. Best of luck with the new book Elle!
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Thank you! {^_^}
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I love great interviews, you come across so many wonderful writers and books. I look for these always when searching for a new read. Recently I read an interview with Jonelle Patrick about her book Fallen Angel, one I wouldn’t have even considered without the interview. jonellepatrick.com, I don’t know if you can find her interviews there, but if you can they are worth a look! Good Luck with the new book, I really can’t wait to get my hands on it!
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