'I become the characters - if they need to obtain a false passport, I get one myself,' says Frederick Forsyth

Last updated at 10:01 PM on 15th January 2011

'Writer's block only happens if you haven't prepared properly,' said Frederick Forsyth

Frederick Forsyth, 72, is one of the best-selling thriller authors of all time. Raised in Kent, the only son of a shopkeeper, he joined the RAF straight out of school. After national service he became a newspaper reporter in Norfolk before starting a career as a foreign correspondent with the BBC.

At 32, his first novel, The Day of the Jackal, was an instant hit, and he has gone on to sell more than 70 million books.

A Euro-sceptic Conservative, he has two adult sons and lives with his second wife Sandy in Hertfordshire.

Don’t let seemingly impossible odds put you off.

At 19 I became the youngest pilot in the RAF, serving for two years until 1958. I’d had the flying bug since I was a boy, which was then matched by my love of travel, so I left to become a foreign correspondent. The second achievement of which I’m most proud is the day in 1971 when I saw a book store’s window covered floor to ceiling with copies of my first book, The Day of the Jackal. I had no sense that it was going to do so well. It was a miracle it even got accepted, since first-time novels rarely do, much less go on to become hits.

Stand up for what you really believe in.

As a foreign correspondent with the BBC, I was sent to Nigeria to cover the civil war. I was horrified by what I saw on the ground and what was happening to ordinary citizens caught in the crossfire. I reported back to the BBC, who said the Foreign Office had instructed them not to expose that side. I certainly didn’t become a journalist to be a puppet, taking orders and producing managed news. I considered my options over a liquid lunch and in the end I decided that they might not have the courage to cover it, but I did, so I quit.

Take a risk when you’re down, as the only way is up.

I was in a hole money-wise in the early Seventies. For the previous two years I’d been a freelance foreign correspondent after leaving the BBC. I was single and absolutely skint – no flat, no car, no savings and just the clothes I had on. Writing a book is hardly the quickest way to make a buck, but I had so many stories in me after my work abroad I had to give it a go.

Be prepared to think on your feet.

I met a powerful editor at a cocktail party and the next week I brazenly told his secretary we were friends and that he was expecting me. I gave him a summary of The Day of the Jackal and the first chapter. One long weekend later he told me he loved my book and would like to sign me up to a three-book deal. ‘You have other ideas, don’t you?’ he said. My mind raced, as I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I again bluffed, coming up with two summaries based on places I’d been to as a correspondent.

Don’t be a slave to technology.

I don’t have a mobile, I don’t own a computer and I don’t like emails. I may be mocked for being a dinosaur, but I have my reasons. I’ve never lost several chapters of my book in cyberspace – and try hacking into my typewriter. I also shun the internet for my research, favouring personal experience instead.

The Day Of The Jackal by Frederick Forsyth

Frederick first novel, The Day of the Jackal, has sold more than 70 million books

The devil is in the detail.

I’m known for meticulous research, living and breathing the places in my books, never overlooking anything. I become the characters – if they need to obtain a false passport, I get one myself. If they’re involved in a dodgy arms deal, well, let’s just say there are occupational hazards to this job, which many authors wouldn’t risk in order to achieve my level of authenticity. I stared down the barrel of a deranged psychopath’s Colt 45 in the Seventies, when it appeared his girlfriend had taken a shine to me. No wonder, given he knocked her about. And I once escaped from an arms deal gone wrong, James Bond-style, on a speeding train.

Perfectionism can be a noose.

The process of doing my research is never quick. But if you’re going to do a job, you might as well do it well. Writer’s block only happens if you haven’t prepared properly. When I sit down to write I’m surrounded by a horseshoe of tables, on each of which there is a pile of research and a notebook corresponding to a particular character or place. These are so detailed, the book practically writes itself when I start. I write ten pages a day and can complete a book in 45 days.

Don’t let the crooks get the better of you.

Probably the most disappointing aspect of my career was when a bloke, Roger Levitt, whom I thought was a friend, lost £2.2 million of my savings in 1988. It was everything I had. I was flat broke as I’d just got divorced – I gave Carole our house and I kept the shares, which months later turned out to be worthless. When his company collapsed, it turned out he’d been embezzling client funds to keep up the pretence of his success. There was a farcical trial, and he was sentenced to only 180 hours of community service. You couldn’t make it up!

The only way to dig yourself out of a hole is to work harder.

I was seriously in the red as I had a huge mortgage on the farm where I lived, owing £1 million. I wrote four novels in five years, worked like a dog and made it all back. I could have been bitter, but didn’t see the point: I got my own back on Levitt by naming a town in one of my books Levitt-on-the-Fiddle.

Don’t become a victim of your own success.

After working so hard to get back on my feet I was spent. So I said to my agent, ‘From now on, I’ll tell you when I have a novel.’ He panicked and told me he could get me more money, but I said it wasn’t about the money. I knew I had to take time out for my own health.

Take the time and trouble to get it right.

That advice came from Frank Keeler, chief reporter at the Eastern Daily Press in Norfolk, where I started as a cub reporter at 21. He taught me the basics of good journalism, to tell it the way it was, because one day it will be the record.

Frederick Forsyth has been a supporter of the NSPCC for over 30 years, www.nspcc.org.uk