Paige Toon grew up in Australia, America and England. In 2007, her first romance novel, Lucy in the Sky, was published. Since then, she has written ten more romance novels, three young adult novels, and two e-novellas. We were very excited to chat with someone this prolific following the launch of her latest book, The Minute I Saw You.
Hi Paige! Tell us a bit about your writing routine!
I write during the day when the kids are at school, but I also have to fit in housework and other jobs during that time, so I’m not always focused on getting the words down. I do the vast majority of my writing between the beginning of September and the end of November. This is straight after the summer holidays in the UK, where I live, and there’s something about this time that feels like a fresh start. I find it very difficult to write in the summer – my brain feels foggy and I struggle to connect to my characters. There’s something about autumn that does it for me. The rest of the year I’m working through several rounds of editing, publicising, staying on top of social media and researching my next book. Outside of school holidays, I hardly ever take a day off, but I’m lucky because, apart from when I’m on deadline and might need to work the occasional weekend, I’m usually around for the kids when they’re home.
Are you a planner or a pantser?
A bit of both. I usually have about a year from the time I come up with a story to when I begin to write, so I’m able to dwell on it for a while. I don’t plan my individual chapters, but I have a pretty good idea in my head of where the story will go, and when I come to write it, other ideas fly in left, right and centre. Twice I’ve let the ending write itself, but I’m not sure how satisfying that was for my readers as those are two of the books I went on to write short story sequels for!
The Minute I Saw You has a recurring motif of eyes that work across several themes (the romance, the photography exhibit, and of course, Hannah’s occupation), can you speak a little bit more to that?
Those things came together very organically. Part of my initial story idea was that Hannah would work as a dispensing optician, in a job that requires her to get up close with clients, staring into their eyes. With Sonny, there’s a spark. He comments on her unusual eyes and, being a photographer, which worked well for the story, later asks to take photographs of them. But before we come to that part of the plot, Hannah and Sonny meet for a second time and he avoids eye contact completely. It’s difficult to make eye contact with someone when you’re upset, and in Sonny’s case, he’s absolutely devastated. The eye exhibition and the link to homeless people and the difficulties obtaining free eyecare was an idea that came to me at a later stage.
I really liked that a large focus of the relationship between Hannah and Sonny is actually about being emotionally healthy and taking care of their respective mental health. Was there a particular reason that had such a big emphasis in this particular story?
Again, this was an organic development of the initial idea. Why can’t Sonny meet Hannah’s eyes? What happened to him? Why can’t he have long term relationships? Why can’t she? What happened to her? When the ideas began to form and take shape, I realised that these two characters had similar issues, but very different reasons for them. And while Sonny is willing to face his demons and try to get help via therapy, Hannah is not quite at that stage yet. It’s her friendship with Sonny and her need to help him that sees her finally attempting to come to terms with her past.
This one’s a bit tricky to answer without giving away any spoilers, but can you give some insight into how you arrived at the reveal of Hannah’s past? It was a really original idea – I definitely didn’t see it coming!
Thank you! I had had the optician idea for a while, but it wasn’t until I came up with the idea for Hannah’s past that I felt inspired to write it – so much so that I put aside the idea I had for my next book to write this one first, with only a few months to plan. I actually had the idea at 3 o’clock in the morning while being completely jetlagged after a flight to Australia last Easter. I’d watched a film on the plane and, at the beginning, there was a small reference to a very unusual situation involving a baby. It made me wonder, how would that child feel in twenty, thirty years’ time? Suddenly I had an idea for a novel and I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Romance stories are often maligned as being simply ‘chick lit’, yet they’re an incredibly popular genre. Why do you think people are so quick to speak down about romance stories, and also why they hold such popular appeal?
I hate the snobbery around commercial fiction generally. What’s wrong with getting lost in a great story, identifying with relatable protagonists and not having to think too hard while racing through the pages? Anything that gets people reading is a winner. I’ve been contacted by hundreds of readers over the years who have said they could never finish a book until they started reading my stories. That’s something I’m proud of, not ashamed of. And as for romance, well, we love what we love! I’m a sucker for a good love story. I want to be inside the heroine’s head, feeling what she’s feeling and experiencing some butterfly-inducing heartwarming escapism – especially at these strange times we’re living in. I’m definitely gravitating away from anything too disturbing.
I see that you grew up across Australia, America, and England. How do you think that combination of the different cultures has influenced you as a writer?
I’ve had Australian, English and American protagonists so it’s helped that I’ve lived in all of these places, but I still have to get friends to double check that the characters sound right. I always try to revisit the places I’m writing about, even if I’ve lived there because research is different when you have a character’s plotline in mind. I think travel has helped and inspired me generally – and hopefully my readers are inspired when they’re reading a book set in a lovely location. So many have told me they’ve visited the places I’ve written about – some have even moved to Australia!
Finally, what are you reading at the moment?
I’ve just finished Helen Hoang’s The Kiss Quotient, which was really fun and featured such great characters. Next I’m reading my author pal Lindsey Kelk’s latest, In Case You Missed It – she’s one of the funniest writers I know so it should be a blast!
