Previously an Agony Uncle, Mike Gayle is a freelance journalist who has contributed to a variety of magazines including FHM, Sunday Times Style and Cosmopolitan. He is the author of ten best-selling novels: My Legendary Girlfriend, Mr Commitment, Turning Thirty, Dinner For Two, His ‘n’ Hers, Brand New Friend, Wish You Were Here, The Life and Soul of the Party, The Importance of Being a Bachelor, and the latest The Stag and Hen Weekend. His ninth book is a non-fiction work called The To Do List, about his own efforts to complete a 1277-item To Do List.

How do you feel about your books being included in the ‘chick lit’ genre? Do you think male romantic fiction deserves a title of it’s own, and what would that be?

There are up and down sides to being included in any genre whether it’s literary fiction, crime or indeed Chick lit. On the one hand it helps to deliver an audience to authors who may not be particularly well known and who otherwise might have struggled to find a readership. On the downside the effect can be quite limiting in terms of its effect on the author’s output but also in terms of readership too. I’ve lost count of the number of times new readers have told me that they’d avoided my books because they thought they were one thing and only realised how wrong they were when they finally forgot about preconceived notions and just picked up the books. In an ideal world there wouldn’t be genre there would just be good books and people would be open to the idea of reading books about anything at all.

Before you wrote My Legendary Girlfriend, you did a lot of writing for magazines. Was it a difficult transition from writing factual articles to writing a novel? 

It was actually a lot easier than you’d imagine. As a journalist I’d long since grown tired of writing what editors wanted me to write and so the opportunity to explore my own imagination couldn’t have been more welcome. As for going from writing 1000 word articles to 90,000 word novels it was simply the case of breaking down the big task of writing a novel into lots of little tasks. People always ask how do you write something as mammoth as a novel and my answer is always the same: write little and often.

Did you get many rejections for My Legendary Girlfriend before it was accepted? And how did you keep up your motivation whilst you were waiting for your ‘big break’?

I’d completed the novel in its entirety before I sent it to agents because that was my primary goal: to prove to myself that I could write a novel. By the time I was ready to send it out I was actually quite confident of the quality of what I’d written and because of that I felt sure it would eventually find a home so you can imagine my disappointment when I received my first rejection letter quickly followed by my second! Thankfully the third letter I received was from someone who actually liked it and so she gave me some very detailed notes and we worked together on making it the best book it could be.

Can you give us a few insights into the way you approach writing a novel, after you’ve had the initial idea? As creative writing students, we’re encouraged to carry notebooks with us at all times to jot down of ideas. Is this something that you do?

It’s a great idea but like most great ideas has positive and negative attributes. The negative is that it leads you to think that everything you write in it is a sharp insight into the human condition and not the product of someone who has a new note book and wants to write in it! The positive is that when you do have a moment of genuine insight it helps to write it down rather than (as I have done) convince yourself that it’s so profound a thought that it will NEVER leave you and then promptly forget about it when you come to your next writing session.

You have a strong internet presence with your website as well as Facebook and Twitter, and seem keen to interact with your fans. How important do you think social networking is to the modern author?

I think it’s essential but then again I think interacting with your audience has always been fundamental. As a teenager I was a huge fan of the band The Wedding Present and they were the most approachable band you could ever hope to meet. Everything I do I pretty much nicked from them. Being approachable, being interested in your readership engenders a two-way feeling of community that can be positively infectious. Who doesn’t want to belong to a club where everyone thinks you’re ace?

Your website contains a lot of tips for anyone hoping to get published, but what is the single most important piece of advice you  would give to an aspiring novelist hoping to follow in your footsteps? What is the most useful piece of advice you’ve been given as a writer?

I’ve already told you it: Write little and write often. Too often new writers set themselves targets that are simply too high. Better to write 500 words and be desperate to get back to your desk the following day then 2000 and fill with dread at the sight of the computer. Writing is a habit. Cultivate it correctly and you’ll never want to stop.

I loved Turning Thirty – it reminded me so much of my own life and circle of friends, but I was a little bit disappointed that Matt and Ginny didn’t get together at the end. Do you think it’s important to occasionally  upset readers expectations like this?

I think you have to do what’s right for the story and for me the main story of Turning Thirty was an attempt to answer the question ‘is it okay to turn thirty and still not have your life sorted?’ For me there could only ever be one answer and that’s why Matt’s still single at the end of the book. That said I do think it’s important to challenge your readers, they might not always like it but I think they do tend to respect it.

You’ve now also written Turning Forty. Can you tell us when this is due to be published, and what was it that made you want to revisit those characters?

Turning Forty is due out June 2013 and has probably been the most difficult novel I’ve ever had to write. I actually finished a draft that I’d spent a year working on back in 2010 but ended up dumping the whole thing because it just didn’t feel right. It was quite traumatic at the time but it was absolutely the right thing to do because sometimes even if you plan you, you only find out what a book’s about by finding out what it’s not about. The new version couldn’t be more different to the previous version, in fact the only thing it has in common is the title and the characters, but it’s absolutely the right story. I absolutely love it and can’t wait for fans of Turning Thirty to get hold of it.

Your latest novel The Stag and Hen Weekend is quite unusual in that it’s really two novels which can be read from front to back or from back to front. How did you come up with this idea, and what did your publishers think when you told them?

I knew that I wanted to write about a stag and hen weekend but didn’t want to write a story that was too obvious. I tried looking at it a million different ways and then finally my wife came up with the idea and the moment she said it I knew that she’d got it. I suppose what that shows is that it’s good to talk about your ideas with the people closest to you but be prepared for their eyes to glaze over once in a while! My publishers loved the idea and immediately rose to the challenge of turning out a book with two covers which is no mean feat!

We see that you liked ‘Late Lunch’, we loved that too? We love Great British Bake Off too and celebrate our writing milestones with cake. How do you celebrate when a book is published?

Ha! I’d forgotten that I mentioned Late Lunch on the website! I used to love that programme. I think I’ve only ever had one proper launch party and lovely as it was I’d rather my publisher spent the money on advertising rather than feeding and watering my friends and family! These days publishers prefer to stick to a nice lunch for the author which I for one am a huge fan of.

Ink Pantry would like to thank Mike Gayle for his time, we appreciate him agreeing to be interviewed for our blog. Mike’s latest novel, The Stag and Hen Weekend, is available now, published by Hodder & Stoughton.

Find out more about at http://mikegayle.co.uk/