THE HARD TRUTH ABOUT WRITING A DEBUT NOVEL...

The last few months have been an emotional rollercoaster, and it is only now that, here in Scotland at least, where restrictions have eased and we can meet friends and family again, that we can begin to reflect on how lockdown has changed us (if it has changed us at all). But what has this got to do with writing?

As the only unpublished author on the team, as delighted as I am to have short stories published, my dream has always been to see my novel on a shelf. During the past ten years, I’ve completed three novels but never submitted to agents or publishers. Why? Because I don’t think my writing is good enough.

I’m certain at this point that non-writers will regard this as crazy, and in my lucid moments I agree! In fact, I frequently question why I continue to write. Still it’s an itch I have to scratch. If I don’t, then as my loved ones will attest, I become grumpy and restless.

But last September, I ran out of steam. I’d come to a point where I believed in my novel and understood what it needed, I just didn’t know how to pull it off. On top of that, I was tired of spending time with my characters (never a great place for a writer to be). I simply couldn’t face another re- write. Which was scary, VERY SCARY, as I had dedicated so much time to learning the craft of novel writing – reading ‘how-to’ books, completing courses and retreats. Would I ever return to my work-in-progress? I had no idea. I felt adrift.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want to write – far from it – it was just I couldn’t face working on my novel. Years of writing, not knowing whether anyone would ever read it, had taken their toll. So for the remainder of 2019, I puddled around writing short stories, purely for pleasure, with no intention of submitting them. Then 2020 dawned and still I was stuck as far as novel writing was concerned, and for the first time I seriously considered waving the white flag. It’s hard battling crippling self-doubt each day and although I love writing, and knew I would continue to write something, being a published novelist felt like a goal that would forever be out of reach.

But then lockdown happened. And what else was there for me to do but write? And still I avoided novel writing by completing online courses studying folklore in writing and beginner’s poetry, and signing up for numerous workshops and author chats online. Attending events that, being based in north-east Scotland, I would never normally be able to attend. And during these events there was ONE piece of advice repeated over and over for new writers, or for writers who fear their career isn’t going as planned - KEEP GOING. NEVER GIVE UP.

Or as author Kate Mosse put it ‘KEEP YOUR EYES OFF THE HORIZON, DOWN ON THE SCREEN, WRITING SENTENCE AFTER SENTENCE.’

She will never know how much I needed to hear that, or the effect it had on me. Somehow it chipped through the thick barrier I had built. At last I understood that I all I needed to do to complete my next draft was to write sentence after sentence - which felt do-able. Her advice is now on a post-it note, stuck to the wall above my desk.

I unearthed my novel manuscript, dusted it down and got to work. Catching up with my characters is like being reunited with old friends. As if we’re heading towards sunlight again. If lockdown hadn’t happened, would I have returned to novel writing? I’ll never know. For now, I understand I still have some way to go, but that's ok.

So what piece of advice do you turn to during difficult times? (It doesn’t have to be writerly…)

Wishing everyone success in all you hope to achieve,

Rae x

EVERYTHING COMES IN THREES LINDA MITCHELMORE

Everything comes in three, as the saying has it. I can't be the only one who holds their breath when told of two deaths quite close together, wondering when news of the third will come. I remember reading in a newspaper article many moons ago that every man should have three careers. It was a long time ago and probably not very PC to say that now but my cousin, David, took it to heart and has been an Army Major, a criminal lawyer, and now a playwright. And it might have meant 'man' in the general sense, as in mankind. I couldn't quite match David's careers for prestige but have had three careers of sorts - banking, cleaning, writing. Anyway, I expect you're wondering where all this is going. As a novelist I've been published by two publishers - Choc Lit (six novels) and HarperCollins HQ Digital (three novels). So why the move from Choc Lit to HarperCollins? Well, I honoured my contract and submitted my next work of fiction to them only to have it declined after a very long wait ... by which time they were expanding like crazy and I think I just got forgotten and was a bit superfluous to requirements at the time. No matter ... I tried HarperCollins and they took it with very flattering indecent haste. Two more novels followed in very quick succession (that makes three, if you're counting) and then my editor left for pastures new - and a lot greener for her - and it seems my next submission didn't fit HarperCollins' requirements. So it was time to look around for a third publisher, wasn't it? I sent off an enquiry email ... might they (no names just yet) be interested etc. I'd just finished one book, but mentioned that I have two others completed that I could also offer (here we go, three again) and they got back to me and asked if I have anything set in the Med ... which, as it happens, I do. I am currently dreaming about three book deals! The only downside is this publisher has asked for synopses and I was in the very happy position before with Choc Lit and HarperCollins of never having to submit one. So before I could send one of my, as yet unpublished, books off I had to bite the bullet and write a synopsis ... it seemed like an omen when it came to three pages. So, book one has gone and everthing is crossed. Something else I read - and have been told many, many times by writing tutors - is that a writer needs a good story to be telling, to be able to write it well, and also a very big dollop of luck ... three things again, if you're still with me, and counting. These days I am very broad-shouldered about rejection ... it's just someone else's opinion and others might love it. So I keep going. A writer writes. What next? Well, I came across this picture when I was rootling around for something to blog about and it sort of 'spoke' to me - three sassy ladies - and I had a fancy to write about them.

Better get the typewriter out then! And Underwood just happens to be my maiden name!

The Joy of Books (Post-Lockdown!)

It fell to me to write the first lockdown post here on Novel Points of View, and it falls to me to write the first (individual one) since lockdown ended. And here I am, musing on the literary lessons I’ve learned. Now I’m in a position to say the thing I missed most over the past few months: it’s bookshops.

Of course I haven’t been short of books. I’ve read a lot of them and somehow seem to have acquired a whole lot more. But we could drink during lockdown and yet people flock to pubs; we could watch sport during lockdown but really, it isn’t the same without the fans. And so it is with books.

I was probably in bookshops a couple of times a week in the days BL (Before Lockdown). I would head to them if I had time in hand, or to kill, or just if I wasn’t in a hurry. I rarely went in with a specific book in mind. I would browse and almost always buy. 

In theory you can browse online, too, but even Amazon’s look inside facility is limited and my experience of bookshop websites is very much that they’re geared to a search for a specific book. I continued my downloading habit but I really missed the delightful perplexity of being confronted by rows and rows and rows of books, only to have one jump out and beg me to buy it and read it. 

So, when lockdown lifted I was right in there. I prefer independent bookshops and, alas, they aren’t adapted to Covid-safe procedures in the way that, say, supermarkets are. Any one-way system will stall when someone wants to spend time staring at a shelf, not to mention the tinge of guilt associated with picking something up if you aren’t going to buy. Maybe I’m a little bit too much of stickler for the rules, but during lockdown I bought a lot of things I didn’t really want because I’d picked them up thinking they were something else (kidney beans in a spicy sauce rather than plain, for example). 

In bookshops I get round the pick-up-and-look problem by excessive hand sanitising, although the in-shelf browsing is a little more difficult. Social distancing just isn’t possible, and though keeping your face covered obviously helps, it’s still a bit awkward having people shuffle past in a confined space (or, indeed, being the one doing the shuffling). 

This, then, is the new normal, one we’re all going to have to live with. And for the pleasure of browsing a bookshop…I can do it.

POSTCARDS FROM OUR FAVOURITE SUMMER LITERARY LOCATIONS...

Hello! As lockdown gradually eases here in the UK some lucky readers will be packing, ready to head off on summer hols. However, for many, summer will be spent in the park or garden, relying on novels to provide that dose of bright sunshine or fantastic feeling of escape. So we thought it might be fun to send a postcard from our favourite summer literary locations. And please remember to let us know where your literary travels might take you, in the comments at the end.

Fasten your seatbelts as…  

Victoria says … A summer book I like or a summer place I would like to write about? 

Well considering I have set all my published novels (to date) in Cornwall, with its beautiful coastlines, moorlands and quaint villages, my preferred summery location should probably be in Cornwall again. However, I have just emerged from lockdown so at the moment I have a longing for exotic fauna and flora, and guaranteed warm lazy summer evenings that don't require a cardigan.

Somewhere my heroine can sip strangely named cocktails, wriggle her white sand-sprinkled toes as she watches exotic birds of paradise shake their vibrant plumage during a mating display... after a packed filled day freeing captive, grateful lions back into the wild in the company of a handsome ranger. Did you spot my dilemma? Cocktails, exotic birds of paradise and conservation programs (involving lions which are more cuddly than man-eating) are hard to find. If you do know of this literary location, please let me know, but for now it seems it will just have to be a Cornish sunset. I can see it now... my heroine digs her toes into the fine golden sand of her favourite beach as cawing seagulls fly overhead and cumbersome seals sunbathe on distant razor-sharp rocks. All my heroine needs are a large cocktail and a handsome ranger... as for the cuddly lions, they might just be harder to find.

Kath says … Summer books; Christmas books - I have a confession to make. I don't segregate books like this - neither my own nor those I read. Although I have many author friends who talk about writing 'their summer 2021 book' or their next Christmas book. These titles do sell well in their designated season - perhaps I am missing a trick?

I tend not to pick up a 'summer' book simply because it's summer though. Having said that, I do like a book that has a strong sense of season and place - and if it's set in Tuscany or Provence or the Italian Lakes, then what's not to like? We can travel there vicariously through our reading - especially important this year when it is tricky to go anywhere away from home. But I won't specifically read them because they are set there or because it is summer. I'll read them because the blurb intrigues me.

Settings I love are places like the rugged west of Ireland or the Scottish Highlands. Or high Alpine villages, snow-covered in winter; a riot of flowers in summer. Or medieval hilltop villages with narrow cobbled streets and a jumble of rooftops. Or windy moorland where the weather can change in a minute from a balmy summer's day to wild, wet and murderous. 

In the best books, the setting and season become a character in its own right - not just there as a backdrop but shaping events and pushing the story inevitably towards its conclusion. Now those are the books I love to read!

Beauty of the Dolomites

Linda says … Hello. My name's Linda and I'm a lazy researcher .... which will go some way to understanding why most of my novels are contemporary and set in Devon where I live. I have written historicals but they were set in Devon too, and in places I know well for the geography and also because history in this area is well-documented and easy to find. I'm a seat-of-the-pants writer and I love the writing process but not the thought of wading through dozens and dozens of tomes - often having to resort to a dictionary for words I don't understand. I just don't have the time. So Devon it is going to be. And coastal as I can smell the sea from my back garden. 

My favourite book to write (of the nine published so far) was SUMMER AT 23 THE STRAND. Back in the day when I was a teenager wanting money for the cinema and pop records and the like, on Saturdays, I used to help my mother clean beach chalets. Each was let for a fortnight.  We never met the people who stayed in them but I used to imagine the lives they lived where they came from, and how different it would be for them down here on the South Devon coast. 

When my children were at school these chalets came up for sale. Some were bought privately and some by the council. A friend bought one and she used to let me use it on a fairly frequent basis. So, I used to eavesdrop on what people in the (council-owned) chalets either side were talking about. Or not talking . One couple didn't leave the chalet for a fortnight, they were so loved up! I often wonder where they told their respective spouses they were! Fast forward a few years (oh, okay, decades!) and I was walking past the chalets and ... I had one of those magic moments when the muse pays a visit and I couldn't get home fast enough to write it all down. SUMMER AT 23 THE STRAND is linked stories, with the thread of a gift to be left for the next occupant running through them all. I'm now nearing the end of another Devon-based novel - CHRISTMAS AT CHANNEL VIEW. Lockdown has meant I haven't been to the beach in months but that's the beauty of writing about where you know ... you just know!

Escape to Devon ...

Terry says … When we were asked to pick a summery place that we would like to write about, Cornwall popped into my brain immediately. I’ve yet to visit Cornwall but am familiar with the stunning beauty of her coastlines and her charming villages. Ideally, I’d go there for a visit, a working vacation so to speak, with an eye towards absorbing the local culture and history. There’s something about Cornwall that I’ve seen in pictures that speaks to my writer spirit. Cornwall provided inspiration for Daphne Du Maurier, who penned Rebecca, Jamaica Inn, and several other books while living at Menabilly, her house that was the influence behind Max De Winter’s beloved Manderley. I’d like to think that the energy of the place would influence my writing as well. One of the best perks of the writing gig is taking a research trip. Since the world is in chaos and traveling is out of the question right now, I’ll just take a vicarious vacation to Cornwall. Providence willing, I’ll come up with a story idea or three…

Happy writing.

The Cornish Coast

 Jennifer says … I’m finding it hard to think about summer reading and writing, largely because the weather Will Not Make Its Mind Up. Yesterday it was 28 degrees and we were drinking Pimms in the garden and today its lashing down with rain and my tomato plants are looking at me in poor as if I’ve abandoned them in a very scary place indeed. But I will focus. Rae asked me to talk about summer reads and so I shall. 

I’ve written a few summer romances myself, though they’re currently not available, waiting while I get round to self-publishing them. They were set in summer in Italy and Majorca, both of which are right up there with Greece and the South of France as places I love reading about.

I have to confess, though, to a yearning to write a summer book set in a completely different world — one where the romance is of a different type entirely, more fairy than frangipani. A few years ago I spent midsummer in Iceland. It was the strangest experience. The land was black and white with the merest flush of green, the sky was an incredible blue. The ground smoked and heaved. And it never got dark. The combination was a weird and magical setting for a romance.

I doubt if I’ll ever write it…

Midsummer in Iceland

Jennie says … I’m not really a summer person - I don’t do heat at all well - but I do tend to write books where the story takes place in summer and the setting is usually either south Devon or the south of France. The first can have fairly mixed weather over the summer months while the second is renowned for its better weather. Five of my fifteen books are set in or around Dartmouth during the summer, whilst the remaining nine are set in France at various locations along the Riviera. My new book though, (the 15th!) A French Affair, is set in Brittany, a department of France that generally receives a bad press for its weather!

Like Devon the weather in Brittany can be unpredictable but rumour (and climate change) has it that this northern corner of France is getting hotter and drier. The last couple of summers have definitely been hotter here with temperatures reaching the mid to high 30s.

I might not like the weather being too hot but I do find a clear blue sky and the sun shining far more inspirational than the dull grey days of later winter.

Hello sunshine!

Rae says … I am very much a seasonal reader who is drawn to book covers sporting beach towels and shimmering sunsets in summer, then dark snowy landscapes in winter. I’m a sucker for novels set against a hot American summer filled with long cool drinks by a harbour or pool. Novels like Elin Hilderbrand’s Nantucket series or Tigers in Red Weather by Liza Klaussmann.

However, I also love a languorous Gothic summer read. Something set deep in the buzzing greenery of the English or French countryside, perhaps at a mansion or chateau that has seen better days. A group enjoying a long sensual summer where nothing much happens, but the growing sense of dread tells the reader something dangerous will tip with the weather and by the end everything will have changed for them all. Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller was a favourite of last year. Would I like to write a summer novel? Perhaps one day I'll try …

Nantucket Lighthouse

We hope you enjoyed our summer literary travels and would love to hear your dream bookish locations in the comments below.

In the meantime, safe travelling!

Rae x      

My Over and Overs.

I love discovering new authors, I really do. There’s nothing better than finding a great book which sweeps me away. And if I’m really lucky, my newly discovered favorite author has a backlist that I can voraciously consume. Trends in fiction change, so it’s important we writers read widely, read outside our comfort zone, and be mindful of the fiction market in general. 

But we all have our favorites, the books I like to call my mac-and-cheese/comfort food reads, or my “over and overs.” These are the books I can re-read or re-listen – as I mostly listen to my books these days – and discover something new about the characters or plot or some new technique that I missed in previous readings. It’s my pleasure to share this list with you. In turn, I hope you will comment and tell me your favorite books and why you like them.

The Thirteenth Tale. This gothic favorite landed in my to be read pile by accident, but I was captivated at page one and am still amazed by the beauty of this book today. Written by Diane Setterfield, The Thirteenth Tale is an amazing story told through the eyes of book lover and biographer, Margaret Lea. When the reclusive yet famous writer, Vida Winter, calls on Margaret to write her biography, Margaret is thrust into a world of secrets which need to be laid to rest. Margaret Lea writes Vida Winter’s story through the lens of her own childhood pain in this richly woven story. 

A Discovery of Witches/The All Souls Trilogy. 

A Discovery of Witches takes the “forbidden love” trope often seen in vampire stories and uses it to draw attention to human short comings by exploring racism and the way humans are damaging their own environment. The story is superbly researched and beautifully written. The audio version is really good and is currently at the top of my over and over pile. 

The Clock Strikes Twelve. Make no mistake about it, I love a good British mystery, which is my go-to genre. Although Agatha Christie is one of my favorite authors, I also have a soft spot for Patricia Wentworth, whose Miss Silver Mysteries are every bit as clever and well written as Agatha Christie’s Jane Marple series. The Clock Strikes Twelve is a quick and easy read. If you prefer audio books, you won’t be disappointed. All of the Miss Silver books are narrated by Diana Bishop, who does a superior job at bringing the story to life. These books are a series, but can be read out of order.

The 4:50 from Paddington. The first Jane Marple book, this is one of my all-time favorite Agathas. The cover shown here is a stunner. 

Save the Cat Writes a Novel. I have a lot of how-to-write books. Every year I pull them out and reread them with an eye towards giving my skillset an intensive tune-up. Save the Cat Writes A Novel by Jessica Brody has totally changed my writing game. The book takes the screenwriting ethos made famous in Blake Snyder’s best-selling book on screenwriting and adapts the methodology for novelists. This book breaks the novel writing process down into easy steps. Jessica Brody provides beat sheets, discusses genre, and helps writers make decisions about their story that will clarify the process. I have this book in paperback and audio. When I’m getting ready to start a new novel, I relisten to it a couple of times. It has really helped me and I can’t recommend it highly enough. If you're interested in this fabulous book, you can find out more about it here. 

So what do you think? Tell me about the books you read over and over in the comment section. 

Happy writing!  

On baking bread

Imagine your June 2020 self travels back in time a few months to meet your March 2020 self. June passes March a jar of sour-dough starter.

'Here, you'll find this useful,' says June.

March stares at it in bewilderment. 'Why?'

'Trust me,' says June. 'Oh, and here's a recipe for banana bread. You're gonna need that, too.'

During this pandemic, it feels like everyone's been baking bread.

We began the lockdown with a tried and trusted recipe for soda bread - my husband's Irish and developed a good recipe years ago. It's delicious when fresh, especially with cream cheese and smoked salmon (if we happen to have those in the house). We love it toasted too. His recipe uses buttermilk, a mixture of flours - plain white, wholemeal and malted - and he adds pumpkin seeds and linseeds to it.

We also have a breadmaker we've used on and off in bursts of enthusiasm over the years. With both grown-up sons staying with us for the duration, we realised we'd need a lot of bread, so why not dust it off and use it? Favourite recipe is based on a French bread recipe from the instruction booklet, but uses a mix of flour including malted flour.

If I were more organised and was writing this post in advance, this would be a photo of bread we've made at home. But the post is being put together at the last minute, so the photo is from BBC Good Food and is a loaf made by Paul Hollywood.

Back in late March and early April, there was a Great Flour Shortage across the UK. With everyone baking, the flour mills, while they were producing enough, weren't able to quickly switch from packing it in large sacks for commercial use to the 1.5kg bags sold in supermarkets. We especially struggled to find our favourite malted flour and in desperation my husband eventually ordered a large quantity of it online.

Yeast too was a problem. Its street value rose to more than that of cocaine at one time. I posted a lament on Facebook about our lack of it and ended up with two friends posting me some and another local friend telling me that a nearby deli stocked it. (This deli was also selling flour bought by the sack and repackaged into small paper carrier bags to sell to the public. Life-saver!)

And then there was the sour-dough. I need to make a confession here - it is not me who makes any of these breads. In fact I've never made a loaf in my life. My husband and I don't follow a traditional split of pink jobs versus blue jobs - he does the food shopping and most of the cooking; while I mow the lawn and put the bins out. So I am writing here from a point of view of near-ignorance in all things baking-related.

In the absence of a time-travelling June self visiting us in March, we did not have a sour-dough starter, so my husband watched Youtube videos to discover how to make his own. Apparently you only need flour and water, though he did invest in some special jars.

For weeks now, my husband's alternated between using the breadmaker, making soda bread and making sour-dough. The breadmaker just requires you to chuck in the ingredients and press a button: three hours later it's done. Soda bread is quick too - turn oven on to preheat, mix ingredients, whack the dough on a baking tray, slash the top 'to let the fairies out' and bake. But the sour-dough takes all day. Mix, knead, prove, stretch, fold - God knows; I keep well away from it all! Tastes good, though.

This is a writing blog and I've been talking in a rather uninformed way about bread-making. So I'll round off with a (slightly tortured) analogy to bring it back to writing. Making sour-dough bread is like writing a novel. You need a starter - an idea. You can't use that immediately - it needs to ferment for a while, and you must gather other ingredients. You need to mix it all up, creating the dough - writing the first draft. It must prove for a while - put the novel aside before you attempt to edit it. You'll need to stretch, fold and reshape it. Eventually you must commit: put the dough in the oven; send the novel to your publisher. The baking process is the publisher giving the book a cover and blurb, turning it into something enticing that people will want to read/want to eat. And then you just hope that all your hard work pays off and people will enjoy your finished product!

TODAY IS . . . WHAT DAY?

Anybody else remember standing on street corners with a collecting tin and a box of flags trying to raise money for a worthy cause like the Red Cross, the local Brownie troup, or Save the Whale? No? Just me then, a long time ago. Those Flag Days had to be organised well in advance and permission granted by the local council. I guess nowadays everone supports their favourite charity or organisation via PayPal.

Flag Days as such may have disappeared but they have been replaced in this modern world by numerous events throughout the year. Lots of worthy causes have their own days, week or month throughout the year but as we slowly come out of lockdown after three months, I thought I’d tell you about a couple of the more light-hearted event days for June 2020 in an effort to raise our spirits. 

National Hug Your Dog day happened on June 4 but it was also National Moonshine Day! I mean moonshine? Who makes the stuff these days? On June 6 we could all be children again on YoYo day. I’m sorry I missed that one. 

Soon on the 19 we will have Wallace and Gromit Day - feel free to binge watch as many episodes as you can take! 

I’m used to working with a cat on my desk and a dog at my feet but that will be official on the 22 and 26 of this month when it’s Bring Your Cat to Work day followed by Take Your Dog to Work.

                                                         
We writers even have a National Writing Day on June 24 - the premise behind this is, ‘everyone has a story to tell and sharing it can be a source of pleasure and power.’ Not sure about that word power.

To refer back to the title of this blog, today is June 13. Its not only National Cupcake Day it’s also National Rosé Day. I’ll raise my glass to that and wish you all a good weekend and happy writing.