SJ Watson - Why writing a novel is like having an affair

When a midlife crisis sparked his first novel, SJ Watson never imagined it would be a global hit. Second time around the pressure is on. Grace Hammond reports.
Undated Book Cover Handout of SJ Watson. See PA Feature BOOK Watson. Picture credit should read: PA Photo/Graham Jepson. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature BOOK Watson.Undated Book Cover Handout of SJ Watson. See PA Feature BOOK Watson. Picture credit should read: PA Photo/Graham Jepson. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature BOOK Watson.
Undated Book Cover Handout of SJ Watson. See PA Feature BOOK Watson. Picture credit should read: PA Photo/Graham Jepson. WARNING: This picture must only be used to accompany PA Feature BOOK Watson.

You’ve got to feel for SJ Watson. Just a little. His debut novel arrived on bookshelves with no expectations and went on to sell more than four million copies in more than 40 languages. It also happened to win the Crime Writers’ Association award and became a Hollywood blockbuster starring Nicole Kidman.

For a while he basked a little in the glory - and the royalties - that Before I Go Sleep brought, but it wasn’t long before the question of how he was going to follow it loomed large.

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Today, Steve John Watson - a 44-year-old former NHS worker - admits he was worried about the level of expectation when he sat down to write book number two, Second Life.

“I wrote Before I Go To Sleep in a state of blissful ignorance. My biggest dream was that somebody else might like it, a literary agent and maybe a publisher. I never allowed myself to think I’d have more than a handful of readers. Writing Second Life has been a very different process, to know that I have 40 editors around the world who are interested, but more importantly, millions of readers. For a while, I was finding it difficult to find that space where I wasn’t trying to second guess what people want. It took a while to find that quietness, and just write what I wanted to write.”

What he wanted to write about turned out to be a woman called Julia, who is a photographer and recovering alcoholic. When her sister is murdered outside her flat in Paris, Julia sets out to find the killer, discovering that her sibling was embroiled in the darker side of internet dating.

The last four years have been a whirlwind for the West Midlands-born author who, until his writing success, worked with hearing-impaired children as an NHS audiologist. When his boss announced he was retiring, Watson knew he would be offered the job, but at 37 wasn’t sure he wanted to keep the status quo.

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“I was nearly 40. When you’re young, there’s plenty of time. Then you get to an age where there isn’t. When I had my midlife crisis, I didn’t go and sleep with somebody or crash a motorbike or buy a Ferrari - I just went on a writing course.”

Since the success of Before I Go To Sleep, he has moved to a nicer flat in London - but he still hasn’t bought a Ferrari. He can afford to take more taxis though, he says.

“It was a whirlwind time, but I think I have my feet firmly on the ground, my friends and family see to that. If I ever showed any sign of developing a big head, they would be the first to say, ‘Oi mate, don’t forget where you’re from’.”

There is already interest from the film industry in his second book, and he admits he wrote Second Life with a more cinematic feel, featuring different locations which lend themselves to the big screen, but books have always been his first love.

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“I’m an only child. I could easily lose myself in a book. I wasn’t very sporty - I’m a bit of a cliché for a gay man,” says Watson who lives with Nick, his partner of 10 years. “So while the other kids were out playing football, I was indoors with a book.”

Watson has signed up for two more books and already has the idea for the next one - but he’s not sharing it with anyone.

“I think of ideas in terms of an affair or a relationship. You flirt with an idea because you like the look of it, then you think, ‘I really like you’, so you start a relationship. Then you go through the stage of thinking, ‘I’m a bit bored with you now but we’re kind of committed’. Then another idea will tap you on the shoulder and go, ‘I’m quite attractive too’. And you gradually start to have an affair with your other idea. That’s been going on for a while.”

Second Life by SJ Watson is published by Doubleday, priced £14.99. He will be discussing both his books at Waterstone’s in York on April 17.

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