Joanna Trollope has insisted she is “not critical” of fellow author JK Rowling after previously slamming the Harry Potter writer’s “insatiable need” to use social media.
The City Of Friends writer said the trend was simply not for her as she backtracked on recent comments where she described writers who use Twitter as “entirely driven by their egos”.
Days after comparing JK to reality star Kim Kardashian West, the 73-year-old clarified her comments.
She told the Telegraph: “I feel that for Jo (Rowling) and for anyone who wants to be on Twitter, it’s absolutely fine, and I want you to emphasise that I’m not in the least critical of anybody who uses it.
“I just say that I don’t. I think for her it’s different because her readership is comprised of children, young adults and adults, and they’re fascinated by it.”
Describing herself as “rather bored by Twitter,” she said she preferred to communicate with people in person.
While she admitted social media can be a useful tool for a writer, she added: “The aim of my novels isn’t to tell people what to think or to tell them how I think, it’s to get the conversation going.”
Trollope spoke in the lead-up to her appearance at the Curious Arts Festival in Hampshire in July.
Her latest novel delves into the life of a group of career-driven women who find their friendship put under strain as they battle a series of personal and work-related mishaps.
Trollope said she was partly inspired by a woman she worked with during her days at the Foreign Office and said she did not believe another novel about women and work had been written.
