Author interview: Victoria Fox

Victoria Fox’s debut novel, Hollywood Sinners was released last week and is a brilliant read. I was very excited to be given the opportunity to interview Victoria for One More Page …

Hollywood Sinners is a glamorous rollercoaster of a ride and feels very much like an insider view of the lives of rich and famous celebrities; how did you go about researching the book (did you get to visit Vegas and Hollywood?!)?

Thanks! That’s lovely of you to say. I have visited Vegas and Hollywood, though not as recently as I’d like! I went once when I was a teenager, but was too young to get up to anything naughty like gambling or hitting the bars or anything like that. But the places stayed with me – LA, all clean lines and glass and palm trees; Vegas like a colourful circus springing up from nowhere in the desert – and I drew on those for the locations. Plus we’ve all seen so many films and read so many magazines that it’s not a stretch to fill in the blanks. I must admit the bulk of my research came from celeb magazines like Heat and Now – I read far too many of them! I’m a bit of a conspiracy theorist at heart and a lot of what I was reading encouraged me to wonder if we were seeing the full picture. An idea I had about an A-list Hollywood couple inspired Hollywood Sinners. I just thought, There’s a novel in that.

This is your debut novel and has been described as both ‘Scandalous’ and ‘Sexy’ ; did you always want to write a ‘bonkbuster’ and what drew you to this particular genre?

Bonkbusters have always been dear to me. When I was growing up I LOVED Jackie Collins’ books, Jilly Cooper’s, too, and I always kind of wondered if one day I’d get to write one; if I could write one. When I hit my twenties I struggled to find a bonkbuster I could relate to in quite the same way, one that was genuinely exciting and surprising and made me laugh and gasp in equal measure (because some of those early ones were actually really funny). I figured, if I couldn’t find one, I should write one. So I did!

Hollywood Sinners is set in a world of celebrity with characters who are at the forefront of the film, music and luxury industries; if you had to choose between being a film star, a rock star or a multimillion pound casino owner which would you choose and why?

I love this question! Hmm. OK, I think I would choose to be a casino owner, but only if I could do it in the seventies or something, when Vegas was still Sin City. I’d wear a leopard-print cat suit with huge shoulder pads, a diamond knuckle-duster and blast myself with so much hairspray it made passers-by choke. I’d sit on my leather bar stool sipping a dirty martini and intermittently shouting, ‘Honey, I demand another drink!’ (I’m sure there’s more to it than that, but such is my fantasy.)

Who was your favourite character to write and why?

My favourite character in Hollywood Sinners is Cole Steel, because I find him the most interesting. He was meant to be really nasty, a proper villain, but I think there’s more to him than that. He’s not all bad, he’s just weird and misguided and so far lost to celebrity that he doesn’t know who he is any more: he’s terrified of the illusion crashing down – an illusion so well maintained that he believes it himself. That’s a dangerous stage to get to. I feel sorry for him: once upon a time he was a normal guy. I’d like to return to Cole further down the line.

And finally … What can we expect next from Victoria Fox?

Ooh. You can expect another big, ambitious, glitzy bonkbuster, scheduled for publication in Spring 2012. This one’s going to be even more daring and sensational than my debut, with plenty of sex and surprises. Another big cast of characters, a fast-paced plot packed with twists and turns, and more top-secret celebrity shenanigans . . .

I can’t wait – thank you Victoria!