'To have someone believe in you at a young age is so important'

Crime author Val McDermid shares how her formative years paved the way for her success

- ZOE WEST

It's 1976 and here I am sitting in an office we are about to vacate, looking very bewildered. I was a trainee journalist at the Plymouth and South Devon Times, and on this day I was manning the phones as the rest of the building was taken down around me. Every time I went to write something, a phone would ring - that's how we did business back then. People were calling in with their stories and I'd tell them to ring back the next day, as everyone was busy moving. We were a local paper and people trusted us. At this point in my career, I'd take home £96 a month, £60 of which would go on rent. It didn't leave a lot - although with a gallon of cider costing just £1, we survived.