From a Bristol cafe to a lucrative book deal

It was in the former Starbucks at the end of St James Arcade in Broadmead that author TR Richmond started writing the novel that would later be sold to Penguin when only half-finished. What She Left – a “deliciously modern take on the psychological thriller”, in the Daily Telegraph’s words – has now been sold to 17 countries worldwide in a deal worth £800,000.

What She Left is about a university professor who starts to piece together the life of a student who died, from her social media accounts and her online world. It’s about the fragments that we leave behind.

How did you begin writing What She Left?
I’d been mulling over the idea for a few months, but had never felt compelled to actually start writing it. I was staying in Bristol for a week and, on the first morning, woke up incredibly early and knew I just had to begin the novel. So I left the hotel, found a Starbucks that was open, and just got on with it.
 
What had brought you to Bristol?
I was working in the city, staying in a slightly down-at-heel hotel in Clifton. For those five consecutive mornings, I sat in that same Starbucks (I’m quite superstitious about routine so I sat at the same table every day) and worked on it. By the end of the week, I had 5,000 words. They subsequently changed massively, but those 5,000 words were the foundation.

You obviously found the café conducive to writing…
Absolutely. It was comfortable and quiet at that time and they played great music – it was there that I first heard a fantastic singer called The Tallest Man on Earth. I was the first customer through the door every morning, and wrote solidly for two hours before starting my day-job. I went home at the end of the week really buzzing. 

How long did the book take to write?
I worked on it for six months on my own, then was lucky enough to get an agent and we worked on it together for another six months. It was that at point, when it was 50 per cent written, that we secured the deal with Penguin. It took me about a year after that to finish it. Like a lot of writers, I write in conjunction with my day job, so I ended up completing the novel in the early mornings and at weekends. I like writing in coffee houses because I struggle to concentrate at home. I found a few other fabulous ones that were very conducive – but none ever rivalled that Bristol Starbucks!
 
Will you devote your life to writing now?
The day job is really important to me. I like the routine and structure it provides, plus I get to meet lots of people – most of whom have absolutely nothing to do with fiction – I work for a firm that publishes business titles. If you do nothing other than write fiction, the danger is that you can end up only mixing with writers and, let’s be honest, we writers can be an odd bunch at the best of times. I’m also not sure I’d be able to spend much more than two hours writing, even if I did have the time. I’d just end up watching more daytime TV… 

Will there be more books from you?
The Penguin deal was a one-book contract, although I’m currently working up another idea that I’m very excited about. For me, the acid test is always how easy something is to write. If it’s painfully hard, it’s probably not very good. If the words come easily, you’re probably on to something…

Read more from TR Richmond at www.twitter.com/trrichmondbooks