Interview: Helen
Fielding
By
Dave McLeod - May 28, 2009
Before
meeting Helen Fielding, mastermind behind the woman in Britain love more than
the Queen (Bridget Jones, obviously), preparation was in order. With true
dedication to the craft of method journalism, I spent a long days submersed in
a thick pink fog of chick-flicks, period dramas, power-pop albums and 'female
orientated literature' (...browsing the Mills & Boone Shelf in Borders).
So it was I skipped to the Oxford Union to meet the duchess of Chick-lit
herself.
Fielding, a St Annes English graduate, first gave birth to Bridget in the form
of a column for the independent in 1995. Millions of housewives took up the
Bridget-banner in response, eventually giving rise to two best-selling novels,
which in turn became best-selling films. Presumably this is news to no one
though.
Fielding walks into the room, with a small entourage of those chosen to have
dinner with the fine woman. My immediate thought is what it was they did to
get in there. My photographer suggests the unifying factor amongst
applications was using the sentence 'I am Bridget Jones'.
Which is the charm. Bridget is the ultimate everywoman. And so is Fielding.
Like all good speakers, she's an extremely likable woman. She stands to
applause after the usual Union introduction, and tells the story of the first
ever reading/signing she did for Bridget Jones; the one where two people
turned up, one of which was someone she kissed at school. How far she's come!
One of the most valuable things about hearing Fielding speak, and chatting to
her afterwards, is the advice she offers to aspiring writers and
word-scientists at Oxford. Fielding began her career as a journalist working
for the BBC in Bristol. Finding her feet through reportedly similar
experiences to those of Bridget herself, she went on to spend extensive time
in Africa; experience that helped form her early novel Celeb. She went on to
work for the Sunday Times, before leaving over an objection with an editor and
moving to the Independant.
She feels that the experience she gained here definitely contributed to her
eventual success. She talks about how journalism crafted her writing style;
routine things like rewriting always makes a piece better, keeping your
sentences short and sharp, and general functional, writing. Wise words.
She also has something to say for anyone feeling the Oxford grind might not be
worth as much as it seems to be; Fielding makes a reference to a period of
writing '12-18 hours a day'. Someone questions this, and she credits it to her
weekly essay crisis-wake up at 5am and 'write and smoke and smoke and smoke'
until the tute that evening. At the same time, this isn't something she
actually reccomends. On Oxford; 'I remember worrying a lot of the
time...Worrying that I wasn't doing enough work. Which was ridiculous; of
course I wasn't doing enough work'.
Later, on getting into the industry itself, she offers some of the best advice
I've come across yet; 'I would think about what you can offer a newspaper. And
[for students] that's youth! Find a story or feature idea and do it!'. She
trails off, possibly bemused at how intensely the wannabee journalist is
listening; 'Don't make it too long...oh, and put the worst bit at the end,
that's the bit that always gets cut'.
Fielding speaking on the craft of writing is a fascinating experience. Before
meeting her, I'd carried around the assumption that she wrote with the intent
of righting wronged women and disparaging men everywhere which turns out to be
exactly the 'feminist' view she derides. Clearly I'd mis-judged her style. It
was with some regret then when I ask why she always goes for happy endings.
All I get is the same bemused smile and 'I like happy endings'. I pause, and
she elaborates 'I think the thing about happy endings is that they always
satisfy me. I mean, Jane Austen always had a happy ending.'
The Jane Austen comment is a reference to a moment during her talk. When doing
my usual whip-round of friends asking what they thought would be good to bring
up in the interview, one joke was asking whether she thought Jane Austen would
mind that she was rewriting her plots. Oddly enough, she said exactly the same
thing to the room. Someone asks if she finds herself inspired by any
particular writers; 'Jane Austen more than inspired me because I just stole
all her plots'.
Back
to the lack of pretension: Fielding still seems so surprised at how well
everything has turned out. One of the first questions from the floor is 'Are
you Bridget Jones?'. 'I used to feel like I was carrying a sign around my neck
saying 'I'm not Bridget Jones'. Everyone asked that. Although actually it is
quite autobiographical!'. The main surprise was how widespread the agreement
was; 'Bridget Jones's Diary' has sold over two million copies worldwide. What
did it? 'I think that Bridget touched the chord of it being alright to be
human'.
An important message these days. You're not about to read another diatribe
about image presented by magazines; it's bad in all the obvious ways. Between
lifestyle magazines and a range of self-help books, we've all got so many
places to turn to in search of happiness. Fielding describes them as 'a modern
religion'. I ask what she thinks about the magazine industry, and whether
there's any value in having that image thrown at us. 'I think it's fine if you
read them alongside a good self-help book'. I have absolutely no idea if she's
being serious or not. But either way she probably has a point. Throw in a copy
of Bridget and you could end up with a holy trinity of moral guidance.
Not wanting to lose the oppurtunity to abuse the potential of some startling
insights into the female mind, I push for tips on just what women want from
the woman more qualified to answer than any. I ask what the most romantic
thing a man has ever done for her is.
'What's the nicest thing a man has done for Bridget...There was one quite
funny thing. The girls were completely drunk and we were ranting about the men
who are bastards. And Daniel suddenly turned up freakishly, for once in his
life being the perfect boyfriend. With chocolates, and being all considerate
and nice. Just as we had been saying all men were bastards'. Hmm. Not bad, but
I was hoping for something more specific.
I'm more upfront; Any tips for the Cherwell readers looking to please their
girlfriends this weekend?
'I think what's interesting about today is that everyone is so defensive now.
All this texting, emailing, there are so many barriers to everything. Better
just to talk. I think that.....I think girls like compliments.' Then she
thinks. Her face turns michevious. 'Well, I can think of a rather obvious way
to make their girlfriends happy this weekend; I'm sure they know that
already!' Point taken.
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