Category Archives: Writing

SISTER SCRIBES: KITTY WILSON ON PLANNING… OR NOT

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Hello, it’s my turn again on the Sister Scribes and I thought seeing as I wrote about the structural editing last time, today I would go backwards and talk about how I begin a brand-new book.

The writing world is often divided into pantsters and planners, with a whole sliding scale in between. Pantsters are those writers that pick up a pen, or open the keyboard, and then just write into the void. I love doing this. It’s so exciting and you start the day never knowing exactly where the characters will take you. Whilst the start can be immediate and the writing often flows, the editing process is a lot longer as you tighten up the plot, ensure character continuity and fill any gaping holes that you didn’t notice whilst sprinting along.

Planning involves a lot more work before you start putting words on the page, you flesh out your characters, decide their strengths and weaknesses and become familiar with them and their back stories, plan the plot within an inch of its life so you don’t have massive rewrites to do later and know exactly what is happening where.

The very first book I ever wrote (unpublished), I did by pantstering. At that point I didn’t know if I could write anything other than academic essays and job applications, so was unsure as to whether a whole book was even possible. It didn’t cross my mind to plan, I started with an anecdote and went from there. It was so much fun! I also hit writers block, more so than any time since. I would write my characters into a corner and then have no idea how to get them out. I would sit at the laptop and try and write anything at all and see if it worked. I would then decide it was all rubbish and binge watch crime shows instead.

I now know this is actually standard operating procedure, and I spend the entire length of a book, from the first fifteen thousand words until the reviews come in, absolutely hating it, declaring it’s the worst book in the world and should never be allowed to see the light of day. My family are struggling to remain sympathetic, although have learnt the phrase ‘but you thought that about the last one’ is likely to initiate threats about eye-gouging (my favourite threat and absolute stand by).

These days, with tight deadlines and a determination to do as little structural editing as necessary, I am a converted planner. I start with an inkling of who the characters are going to be, their dominant personality traits and their flaws. Writing a series means that I tend to have mentioned them in previous books so take my cue from that. Then comes the stationary. I have a chalk wall, a great big whiteboard, notebooks galore and every colour post-it note pad imaginable. I draw diagrams, story maps and make swirly messes on huge sheets of paper with coloured felt-tips. I print out calendars and plan a timeline. I work out my beginning, my end and think about exciting middle bits and then take a deep breath before drawing out chapter plans, because I know if I have detailed chapter plans then writing will be an absolute breeze.

But then my butterfly mind kicks in, I look at all the bits and pieces surrounding me and think sod it and start to type.

I am a committed planner with a pantster heart. I write romantic comedy where we all know, heart wins every time.

SISTER SCRIBES: CASS GRAFTON ON WHY IT’S GOOD TO TALK

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Recently, I was on a writing retreat – one that lived up to its name, being only accessible by boat at high tide (or after a hike through the woods from the nearest village). Hosted by Kath Morgan and Jane Moss of The Writing Retreat, the theme was simply ‘Time to Write’, which we had in abundance.

There were only 6 of us, and we soon developed our favourite spots for contemplation and scribing: at the wooden table by the creek, in the large window seat in the sitting room or even on the pontoon jutting out into the river.

I wrote in my room during the day, either in my own window seat with its fabulous water views or at the desk I’d tugged into place between the window and the extremely large bed (known as Robert Plant’s bed – long story, but there’s also a recording studio under the main house)!

Despite the obvious benefits of a retreat – that longed-for chance to focus on nothing but writing, allowing your mind to wander, your characters to fully take hold of you and the story in a way they often can’t when you’re surrounded by the minutiae of daily life – I was able to indulge in something else: time to talk, not only with fellow writers (usually over the yummy lunches and dinners) but also during one-to-one sessions with Kath or Jane.

These sessions brought answers to dilemmas I’d spent months battling with: what’s my hook; how do I finish this book that’s been almost done for months; what do I write next? Talking it through, being heard, was all it took for solutions to come, often prompted by the tutors’ insights. I left every one-to-one on a high, inspired and raring to get back to the writing.

This hasn’t been my only chance to talk face-to-face with other writers, of course. Aside from get-togethers with my fellow Sister Scribes, I’ve been co-writing with Ada Bright (for her guest post on being an author, see link below) for years, and despite the thousands of miles and 9-hour time difference separating us, we talk when writing 3 or 4 times a week. We discuss plot, why a character is behaving in such a way, battle out the things we’re struggling with, and we laugh. There’s a lot of laughter!

Do you begin to see the benefit of the talking? Writing can be such a solitary profession. Things go round and round in your head, we hit stumbling blocks, trip over our own words, lose faith, regain it, sometimes question whether we love what we’re doing, whether we should even continue.

Living in Switzerland, as I do, can also be isolating – I can’t meet up with my Sister Scribes as often as I’d like – so imagine my delight when I connected with 3 other British writers who regularly meet up for ‘writerly lunches’! They all pen fabulous psychological suspense novels, with Louise Mangos (@LouiseMangos) published by HQ Digital, Alison Baillie (@alisonbailliex) by Bloodhound Books and Linda Huber (@LindaHuber19), who has a wide portfolio, by Bloodhound Books and their imprint, Bombshell Books. She also writes light romance novels under the name of Melinda Huber.

Aside from lunch and laughter, we share our thoughts and feelings on the sort of things writers value talking about: practical experiences, both in writing and publishing, our ups and downs, our current challenges and our plans for ‘what next’. Oh yes, and there’s the odd glass of Prosecco too!

So write and enjoy it. Embrace it, but if you get the chance, talk to other writers, preferably face to face. You won’t regret it!

 

Find out more about my retreat venue at https://thewritingretreat.co.uk.

 

 

A PUBLISHER’S YEAR: APRIL – AWARDS, AGENTS, SERIES

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We have been very busy at Sapere Books in March and April. At the beginning of March, Catherine Isaacs was announced as the winner of the Romantic Novelists’ Association Popular Fiction Award, which we sponsored, for her absolutely brilliant novel, YOU ME EVERYTHING. We were thrilled to be involved with the award and we have agreed to sponsor it for at least two more years.

A week later we were at London Book Fair, catching up with all of the literary agents we currently work with and meeting with plenty of new ones to discuss what we are looking for. I can’t reveal the outcomes just yet, but we mentioned that we were looking for nautical fiction to one agent and she told us she has an author who has planned a 20-book series of naval thrillers! She is currently discussing the offer with the author, so fingers crossed we will be announcing our first nautical fiction writer very soon!

March saw the release of Alexandra Walsh’s debut thriller, THE CATHERINE HOWARD CONSPIRACY, which has been racing up the charts, as well as the fourth book in Graham Brack’s Josef Slonsky series – FIELD OF DEATH – which readers have completely fallen in love with. April also saw the release of new titles in two more of our most popular series: The Lady Fan Mysteries by Elizabeth Bailey and The Charles Dickens Investigations Series by J C Briggs.

We are preparing lots of fantastic titles for release over the summer, and we have realised that we do not have as many contemporary romantic fiction titles as we do crime and thriller, so we are about to start scouting for romance authors who are writing heart-warming British-set romances, which have the potential to become three or more book series – in the style of Debbie Johnson’s ‘Comfort Food Café’ series and Hannah Ellis’s ‘Hope Cove’ series.

Our most exciting news for April is that we have just officially offered someone our Editorial Assistant job and she accepted! I can’t give any more details just yet, but in next month’s blog post I will be able to introduce her properly!

Amy Durant

SISTER SCRIBES GUEST: R L FEARNLEY ON ELVES, ENCHANTMENTS AND EMANCIPATION

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Becci is a sister scribe from Reading Writers  – as well as being on the committee together and going to  the regular meetings, we like to write together in local cafés. She writes under the name R.L. Fearnley and is a fantasy poet and novelist, performing her poetry all across the country and delivering creative writing workshops in a variety of settings. Her poetry collection, ‘Octopus Medicine’ was published under ‘Becci Louise’ by Two Rivers Press in 2017. She is working on her first novel.

Lonely children love other worlds. I know this because I was a lonely child. I found solace in alternative landscapes filled with dragons, wizards and magic. The idea of riding on the back of a fire-breathing monster was one of the few things that made me feel powerful. I loved the stories of dragon-riding heroes and farm-boys-turned-champions. It made me feel that anyone, no matter how humble and invisible, could have the potential for more. I devoured these stories with gusto; Christopher Paolini’s ‘Eragon’ was a favourite, as was J.R.R. Tolkein’s ‘The Hobbit’ and C.S. Lewis’ ‘Chronicles of Narnia’. Of course, I wrote my own stories too. Looking back on them now, I see a fatal flaw that I was, perhaps, too young or too socially conditioned to see.

Where are all the women in fantasy stories?

To be fair, they are there. You see them in the flowing golden locks of Tolkein’s Galadriel, the serious and distant personality of Paolini’s Aryen and Lewis’ stuck-up, lipstick-loving Susan, where liking make-up is apparently reason enough to get you thrown out of Narnia. Women in fantasy when I was growing up all seemed to look the same. You knew you were reading a ‘strong, fantastical female’ if she:

  • Was an elf of some description
  • Had almond-shaped eyes (whatever that means)
  • Had high cheek bones
  • Had full lips
  • Had ‘ivory skin’ (looked dead or never saw sunlight)
  • Had long flowing hair, usually black or blonde.

Normally, she was tall, aloof and had no sense of humour. She was ferocious with a sword but devoid of personality. She was almost always the motive for action or the trophy at the end of it. She was, actually, quite boring.

I notice, from my early teenage attempts to write fantasy stories, that all the ones with female protagonists were unfinished. I just couldn’t seem to write them. I thought, in my youth, that it was because I liked doing ‘boy stuff’, like climbing trees and hunting insects, so of course I empathised with male characters more. Now, I think I just read very few fantasy narratives in which women were written as if they were real people.

Fortunately, a recent flurry of phenomenal female fantasy writers is challenging this trend. Jen Williams’ brilliant ‘Copper Cat’ trilogy has a fierce, humorous central female character who knows what she wants and goes out to get it. N.K. Jemisin’s stunning ‘Broken Earth’ Trilogy is populated with female characters displaying the range of human strength and vice, and her female characters are almost exclusively of colour (another thing you rarely see in fantasy!) Naomi Novik’s brilliant protagonist in ‘Uprooted’, who’s growth is joyous to witness, also pushes female-centred fantasy to new heights. And I find, suddenly, that I have plenty of inspiration. I no longer read books where I, a woman, am irrelevant. I realise that I don’t have to write ‘women’ in my stories, I just have to write ‘people’. It should not be a revelation to see that these two things are not mutually exclusive. After all, in worlds where anything is possible, why can’t the quiet, plain girl at the back of the class be the one who takes up the sword and slays the troll?

SISTER SCRIBES: JANE CABLE ON GETTING TO KNOW YOUR PUBLISHER

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Although I signed with Sapere Books last summer it’s taken the relationship a little time to get going. That was perfectly understandable – my first book with them, Another You, wasn’t due out until this June so it was quite a way through their work schedule – but it was still a little frustrating for me.

The frustration was completely unwarranted, but every time I saw a gorgeous new cover appear on the private Facebook group for their authors, I wished it was mine. And waiting for the edit notes was absolute purgatory. Would the book pass muster? How much would they want me to change?

Then, about ten days ago, the first batch of edits arrived from editorial director Amy. And there were no dramas. Absolutely no dramas. Most of what she said made perfect sense and her intentions were clear. I knew exactly what I needed to do and it was a joy to roll my sleeves up and get to work, knowing that the book would be better for it.

The timetable was clear too. The first half of the book would arrive before Easter, the second after. Writer friends were concerned it was tight with the proposed publication date but I’d more or less cleared my diary so I’d have ample time for rewriting. I say more or less, because there was one very important event coming up I wasn’t going to miss. And that was Sapere’s first birthday party.

London is a relatively long trek from Cornwall and I decided to let the train take the strain, arriving in time for lunch with a former colleague. After that I tramped the streets of Kensington and the south west corner of Hyde Park in the name of research for my current wip. As it happened it was a beautiful spring day and although I was a little footsore by the time I stopped for a cuppa it didn’t feel like a chore at all.

The party was in the West End, in a light and airy room above a characterful pub. Almost at once I met Caoimhe (pictured left), Sapere’s marketing director. Just days after the edit notes arrived we had started emailing about promoting the book but as a former indie author, having a professional on board was new territory for me. There’d been some shuffling around, trying not to tread on toes, but problems have a way of melting away once you’ve met someone face to face. Hopefully I convinced her I’m not a control freak and just want to support everything she’s planning to do for Another You.

I also met Amy (pictured right) for the first time, and Richard, the other third of the Sapere powerhouse. I have to say all three are incredible people, full of energy and good humour, and you can see how well they gel as a team. But a really big pleasure was meeting other Sapere authors – and the shame of it that it was impossible to talk to everyone. Hopefully next time…

I could go on about the party, but I’d like to add a word about the new cover for Another You, which was revealed on Friday. I’d seen it just five days before, when it popped up on my phone on Sunday evening. I clicked it open. There were tears in my eyes. That soldier, walking away head bent, was just so perfect. As was the landscape around him which beautifully reflects part of Studland Bay where the book is set. So many covers disappoint authors but I love this one whole-heartedly, because whoever briefed the designer (that’s you, Amy) clearly knew the book.

Thank you, Sapere. You’re awesome.

 

SISTER SCRIBES GUEST: JESSICA REDLAND ON TWO HEADS BEING BETTER THAN ONE

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Writing can be a solitary business. Some writers dip into the general online community for support, others – like the Sister Scribes – get together in a more formal group. This week guest is Jessica Redland, who talks about getting together with her chum, Sharon Booth, to form the Yorkshire Roses.

They say that two heads are better than one and that’s exactly what Sharon Booth and I were thinking when we joined forces in late 2018 to become The Yorkshire Rose Writers.

We’ve been friends for several years, having met through the Romantic Novelists’ Association when we were in the New Writers’ Scheme. Sharon lives in Hull in East Yorkshire and I live in Scarborough in North Yorkshire so we’re well placed for a regular meet-up for tea, cake and a good old writerly catch-up.

Last autumn, over cake, we chatted about our discomfort at promoting our own work but how we didn’t feel this when promoting each other’s books or blog posts. The idea of joining forces was mooted to overcome this and, the more we talked about it, the more it seemed like a great idea. We both write romantic comedies and contemporary romances set in Yorkshire that would appeal to a similar readership so a collaborative approach could be a good way of gaining us both new readers.

Coming up with a name was probably the hardest task. This wasn’t because we couldn’t agree but simply because we couldn’t find something that was quite right. When we finally decided on a name, we discovered that a Canadian website already had it! Back to the drawing board. We then came up with The Yorkshire Rose Writers, the white rose being the county’s heraldic flower, and we both loved it as we felt that this conveyed what we are: Yorkshire-based writers who write about Yorkshire.

We set up a blog and began posting twice weekly with a long post on a Tuesday and shorter magazine-style snippets every Friday. This turned out to be too ambitious with posts being frantically prepared late the night before so we cut this back to one post on a Friday, alternating the style of content. We both contribute each week although we’ve learned by experience that one of us needs to take the lead on the longer posts, writing the start and conclusion, to avoid duplication. It’s all a learning experience but, because we’re good friends, none of these teething issues have been problems. Typically, we just laugh about them. We plan the schedule about 4-6 weeks in advance which means that, if deadlines are looming, we can prepare our part ahead of time or, if not feeling inspired by one of the subjects, the person taking the lead has plenty of notice to write the full post.

We’re on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Sharon’s brilliant at keeping on top of these, regularly posting new content. I confess to barely adding anything but we’d discussed this at the start and knew that Sharon would need to do the lion’s share of the promotion work during the first year. Sharon’s a full-time author but I squeeze writing around a day job and studying a Masters in Creative Writing so time is a massive struggle. When my Masters finishes in October this year, we’ll share this more evenly. Although Sharon’s so good at it, maybe she’d like to keep this ;-)

We’ll introduce a newsletter and competitions/giveaways later, but we need to do a lot more planning around this. There’s an excuse for more cake if ever I heard one!

So far, our joint venture has worked well and we love working together. We’re both excited to see where it could go in the future. My advice to anyone thinking about such a venture, though, is be really clear on your aims and your time commitment right at the start so you’re on the same page.

 

Jessica Redland on behalf of Yorkshire Rose Writers

www.yorkshirerosewriters.com

@YorkRoseWriters

https://www.facebook.com/yorkshirerosewriters/

 

 

The Autistic Author: Debut Book by 16-Year-Old With ASD

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oliver storm, autism. autistic author, the autistic author, #theautisticauthor
Freddie Ellison is a 16-year-old North Londoner who, at the age of three, was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC). Freddie had problems with social interaction and communication, and a tendency to engage in repetitive behaviours, and from an early age he struggled in the education system. In March 2017, he was excluded from his school and he spent the following 18 months at home with no educational support, while his family fought legal proceedings to get him placed at an appropriate school. During this time he started writing, often several stories at once. He quickly moved into
a routine of picking up his briefcase and walking down to his local branch of Costa Coffee where he would pen his latest tale. SJH Publishing has committed to producing three books with Freddie, whose dream it is to one day write a bestseller that is turned into a movie.
Book synopsis
Oliver Storm and The Great Disappearance is the story of a teenage boy who, along with his sister and friends, tries to reverse the effects of an experiment that has made all the adults in the world vanish in the blink of an eye. Having been expelled from his latest school, Oliver is sent to Oakwood Academy where, in his first science lesson, the children watch a live TV broadcast. Seconds later, the world has changed and all the adults have disappeared without a trace. With gangs of children soon running wild, and looting and violence taking over the street, Oliver and his friends decide that they must find a way to bring the adults back. In a race against time, Team Storm struggle to reverse the experiment before it is too late.
#theautisticauthor

 

Read our exclusive interview below. 

You made the best out of a bad situation and are now a published novelist. Do you have any advice for others who want to follow in your footsteps?

Yes I have one, Go onto YouTube and find someone who gives tips on how to be an Author. And look up Heroes Journey. Search a lot on the internet for inspiration. If you find reading difficult then listen to an audio book or watch movies and find something you bond with.

 

What is the book about?

​A world without adults, Oliver Storm is the main character with some friends and they try to find a way to bring the adults back as there are lots of gangs in chaos.

 

How do you come up with your ideas?

​I took ideas from Pop culture, taking little bits. I learnt from J.K Rowling don’t be scared to write what you want to write about even if its a little gory. I like to use real life places and inspiration from TV and films. My favourite film is Dark Tower and my favourite tv programme is The Order. 

 

Do you have a daily word count?

I write when i imagine it and when i feel like it

 

What is next?

After the Oliver Storm books  are finished i want to write a ZAfrica trilogy. It will be about a fantasy land in Africa.

 

 

SISTER SCRIBES GUEST: RACHEL BRIMBLE ON WRITING ABOUT STRONG WOMEN

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I first met Rachel when I tentatively joined a new chapter of the Romantic Novelists Association in anticipation of a house move, Rachel could not have been more welcoming and instantly made me feel at home. She manages to combine this open and friendly manner with a dedication to her career that makes her one of the most prolific authors I know.  

 

I’ve always wanted to write, but it wasn’t until my youngest daughter started school full-time that I started to pursue my dream of becoming a published novelist. That was in 2005 and my first book was published in 2007. I was ecstatic!

This book had been through the New Writers’ Scheme which is an amazing opportunity for a full manuscript to be critiqued by a published member of the Romantic Novelists Association. The RNA is an amazing group of female novelists (and a few men!) who support, encourage and applaud romance writers throughout the UK. It is a true honour to be a part of such a wonderful organisation and has almost certainly provided the push needed over and over again when I’ve felt I couldn’t continue to write.

Just recently, I handed in my twenty-third full-length novel to my current publisher (Aria Fiction). I have always loved drawing inspiration from real-life progressive and inspirational women, and this is reflected in the types of heroines I like to portray in my books.

As I write romance, these women ultimately end up falling in love, but it is their journey of self-discovery and empowerment that drives me to write and ensure my characters succeed. The love aspect is merely a much-welcomed added extra!

I write mainstream contemporary romance, romantic suspense and historical romance. My latest series is set in the fictional Pennington’s Department Store in Bath, England. Influenced by my love of the TV series Mr Selfridge and The Paradise, I was inspired to write a series that focused on the women’s issues of the early 20th century.

Once I’d decided on the theme of ‘female empowerment’, there was no stopping my fingers at the keyboard. I am passionate about self-growth, belief and achievement and to write about women determined to make a societal change appeals to me in every way. Book 1 in the series (The Mistress of Pennington’s) is about women striving to make their mark in business amid an extremely male-dominated world, book 2 and my latest release (A Rebel At Pennington’s) is about women’s suffrage and book 3 (hopefully released in the Autumn) is about the stigma surrounding divorce at the time.

As you can no doubt imagine, the research I undertook to uncover the required characterisation and inspiration to create these female protagonists led me to learn about some truly phenomenal women. Discoveries that will stay with me forever. There are so names we are familiar with – famous suffragettes, women aviators, doctors and scientists who all excelled and made their mark at the turn of the century, but there were also many women who remain unknown to us. Or at least, they were to me.

It is these women that inspire my work and the heroines I want to spend months and months with as I pen a 100,000 word novel about their evolving lives. The Edwardian period was a time of great change for women and it’s exciting to be a part of that. I love bringing historic women’s issues to the foreground of my novels and hopefully inspiring a woman in her own life today.

I could not write without women from the past, the present and undoubtedly, the future.

Here’s to the strong women who have gone before us and who continue to walk with us today!

 

Rachel Brimble lives in a small market town near Bath with her husband, two daughters and mad chocolate Labrador, Tyler. When she’s not writing, she likes to read, knit and walk the beautiful English countryside. Author of over 20 romance novels, Rachel hopes to sign a new contract for a contemporary romance trilogy in the not too distant future.

Website: https://rachelbrimble.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachelbrimbleauthor/?hl=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rachelbrimbleauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RachelBrimble