Novelicious - Everything Chick Lit

Fantastic Chick Lit Writer Interviews

Reading about the writing journeys of other authors is possibly my favourite tool of procrastination (after Twitter and googling Hugh Laurie). But by reading author interviews it's possible to pick up some fabulous tips on writing a novel and getting published.    

We have a growing collection of great author interviews (see navigation bar at the top of the page) that you can have a look at, but one of the best collections I've seen in the chick lit genre is the author interview section of chicklitbooks.com .

Do pop over and have a look. It may take a while to get through them, but I promise there are some fantastic bits of advice in there!  

Alexandra Potter's Top 5 Writing Tips

Wahoo! Another set of writing tips today, courtesy of the fabulous Alexandra Potter. Cheers Alexandra!

 

 1  Be determined.

2  Don’t listen to anyone who is negative. Surround yourself with positive people who will give you encouragement.

3  Write, write, and write some more. Think of it as exercise. The more you do, the better you will get.

4  Stop procrastinating! Inspiration does not strike in the changing rooms at Zara (which is something I have learned!). Put your bottom on a chair, turn off your mobile phone, get off the internet, and start writing…

5  Believe in yourself. If you want this badly enough, you can do it. 

 

 

 

Novelicious Chats to...Sam Baker

Sam Baker (who is currently the editor-in-chief of RED Magazine) has kindly answered some questions for us about her job, her writing and her new novel 'The Stepmothers' Support Group' which is out TODAY!

Thanks Sam!

Enjoy...

 

 Can you tell us a bit about your average working day?

I do long days on Red – I try to get into the office early, say 8, if I don’t have a breakfast, because it’s quieter and you can get more done. That said, I faff around on the internet first thing like everyone else. I can spend hours doing my twitter admin and updating my website (www.sambaker.co.uk). Then my average day is a mixture of meetings: editorial ones – planning issues, discussing photographers, writers, cover stars etc, editing copy; and commercial ones – maybe seeing advertisers, discussing flatplanning with the ad team, looking at budgets (been a lot of that this year, sadly), talking about marketing. Most copy editing gets done at the beginning or end of day, meetings and staff stuff take up the bit I’m actually paid for!

Then weekends are spent writing – usually my novels, but lately I’ve been writing a lot of articles to promote SSG. It’s interesting how much stepmothers strike a chord, far more than I’d anticipated. We try to be in Café Nero by ten and then we stay either til we’ve done 2000 words or til 2pm whichever comes first.

You edit a major Women’s Magazine (Red) Where the heck do you find the time?

Weekends and holidays. All my spare time, basically. Plus, I’m married to a writer too (novelist Jon Courtenay Grimwood) and writing is his job and his hobby, so he’s happy to work 24/7. Lucky for me. We set up camp in Café Nero on saturdays and sundays. I can’t write at home very often because I work-avoid frantically. When I was freelance for a few months I had the emptiest laundry basket south of Watford!

Can you tell us about your latest book ‘The Stepmother’s Support Group?

SSG is about five women who come together and bond over finding themselves in a stepmother situation. They’re not all stepmums, Clare is a single mum, but the group is her idea because both her best friend, Eve (who’s in a relationship with Ian, a widower with three children) and her sister, Lily (who’s with Liam, a guy ten years her senior with a small daughter) are ‘stepmums’. Clare and Lily had a stepmonster they hated when they were growing up, so they also bring the stepdaughter’s perspective. Well, Clare does! Gradually they are joined by Mel (a divorcee who’s about to meet her partner Vince’s daughter for the first time) and Mandy who’s trying to ‘blend’ her three sons with her boyfriend’s son and daughter. The SSG meets on the first Tuesday of every month and we see them in between experiencing the ups and downs of all sorts of modern relationships – like I said, Clare is a single mum, Mel is a divorcee and she’s not sure she’s over her ex. Their relationships won’t all make it and there are some surprising changes of heart along the way.

It’s about stepmothering specifically, but also modern relationships in general and female friendship in particular. The way female friendships can be really no-holds barred, your friends can say things to you that you wouldn’t take from anyone else and how, if a friendship falls apart, it’s the worst break up of all.

Novelicious Chats to...Lucy Diamond

The lovely Lucy Diamond (whose book Hens Reunited has just come out) has kindly answered some questions for your enjoyment!

Thanks Lucy.

1 -  What is your average writing day like?

I need at least two cups of tea, and a read-through of Facebook, blogs and emails before I can even think about work. Then, once I start feeling guilty about all the time that I’m wasting, I force myself to get stuck in. I read and edit the pages I wrote last time I was at my desk, which gets me in the mood to carry on the next bit of the story. I write between 3,000 and 5,000 words a day. 6,000 if I’m really cooking!

 

 

2  -   Your books ‘Over You’ and ‘Hens Reunited’ explore women’s relationships. Where do you get your ideas from?

All sorts of things – dreams, overheard conversations, stories in magazines, and of course, imagining ‘what if…?’ For Hens Reunited, I knew wanted to write about hen nights, as there’s usually some bad behaviour involved so plenty of scope for good juicy material! It’s not the most conventional way to work, but for this novel, I came up with the title first and really liked that, so then I had to think of plotlines to fit, ie why the three ‘hens’ needed to be reunited – had they fallen out? What had happened?

The spark for Over You came from a weekend away with two old friends who I’d shared flats with in London, just like the characters in the book. I imagined what it would be like if a group of characters had a similar reunion, and then it turned out that one of them had betrayed another in the worst possible way… my mind started whirring, and I knew there was a good story there to be told!

Novelicious Chats to...Alexandra Potter

 Alexandra Potter is one of my absolute favourite authors, so I am properly excited about this interview!

Enjoy ...

1 -  What is your average writing day like?

An average day of writing usually begins around 10am, though I’ve usually sat down at my laptop around 9.30 and spent far too long reading emails, facebook, the papers, my horoscope… you name it, I am the master of procrastination. And I love google. I swear, I am addicted to google.

I then usually work right through until about 7pm – breaking for lunch and perhaps a run/walk or bike ride in the afternoon.

Depending on whether or not I am on deadline, I might then continue working after dinner, sometimes until gone midnight. It sounds like a very long day, and it can be, but often a lot of that is just spent thinking about a scene, or  some dialogue, and not actually writing. If it was I’d probably write a book in three months, and not my usual twelve.

2  -   You often write books with a magical element, how do you come up with these ideas?

Well, I have a very active imagination! I spend a lot of time thinking ‘imagine if’ and go through all kinds of scenarios in my head. I also brainstorm with friends. I have a lot of friends in LA who work in the film industry, and we often bounce ideas off each other, which is always really useful.

  And then, I think a lot of ideas come from what I would like to happen to me. For example, the idea for Be Careful What You Wish For, came about because I was catching the tube one day and I thought to myself, gosh I wish I could find a seat.. and the idea just ran from there.

  It was the same with ‘Who’s That Girl?’. I’ve often thought to myself, If only I knew then what I know now, and thought how amazing it would be if you could bump into yourself when you’re 21, I mean, wouldn’t it be fantastic! Just think of all the things you could tell yourself! Which made me think, hang on, I’m going to write a book about that…

 

Excellent Sophie Kinsella Q&A

I found this on the website of the Chicago Sun Times (is that the paper that Josie Grosey works for in 'Never Been Kissed'?) and thought that you may like it.  Sophie answers questions about her characters, chick lit, and writing challenges.

Oooh,and it also reveals that her next novel will be a Shopaholic one - Yay!!

Novelicious Chats to...Adele Parks!

As you will most likely know by now, I am a mahoosive fan of Adele Parks. She is such an 'on the ball' writer and also a very nice lady. Her latest novel 'Love Lies' is out at the end of this month (hurrah!) and I am delighted that she has answered some questions (best author answers yet, methinks) for the lovely Novelicious readers!!

 

Ready and...

 

 

1 -  Can you tell us what the inspiration was for your new novel, ‘Love Lies’?

Love Lies is the ultimate modern day Cinderella story. It’s possibly the most glamorous novel I’ve written. Fern, a broke florist, living in London meets the countries hottest rock star and it is love at first sight for both of them.  Only, it’s one of my novels so things cannot be that simple… I always try to write about current interests of modern women. Just the briefest of glances around confirms that we are all more than a little bit interested in the celebrity life style; magazines are filled with details such as what colour nail varnish such and such is wearing on her toes, and we gobble it up! I started to wonder why. I think that because we are in drab economic times that fantasising about being whisked away by a fabulously wealthy, sexy, creative, successful type is soooooo understandable but I wanted to explore how healthy those fantasies are. Are they harmless fun or do they lead to serious dissatisfaction with what we really have to live with?

 I was also very interested in the idea of a woman reaching a ‘landmark’ birthday. Fern is about to turn 30 and when she takes stock of where she is she’s none too pleased; she acts irrationally through panic (but hey, who hasn’t?).

 

2  -  You’ve become quite a prolific writer – can you tell us a bit about your writing process –i.e., are you a planner or do you just dive into the story?

I’m a planner. I mull over stories for a long time and then I carefully write up a plot, characterisation and endless facts about the location before I sit in front of the word processor. I think if I sat down without these props of research and structure I’d probably freeze. Blank pages are terrifying!

 

 

Fantastic Jennifer Weiner Article!

I found this great article on poynter.org in which best-selling author - Jennifer Weiner answers questions about her writing process, how she got her novel published and the 'chick lit' label debate.

If you're an aspiring writer, or just a fan of Jennifer Weiner, I would recommend a gander!

Novelicious Chats to...Carole Matthews

I met this author a few months ago at a book reading and she was so lovely. Bringing out two books a year, Carole Matthews is possibly the world's most disciplined novelist. She very kindly agreed to answer some questions for Novelicious' readers, so enjoy.

Oooh and love the celebrity in the shoe box idea!!

1 -  What is your average writing day like?

I start the day by answering my emails and logging onto networking sites like Facebook and Myspace to catch up with my readers.  Then I write from

10 o’clock

until about 6.  I take an hour for lunch during which I read the newspaper.  That’s pretty much it – day in, day out.  Then two or three evenings a week when I have a book out I do talks at libraries or book shops.

2  - Can you tell us a bit about your writing process –i.e., are you a planner or do you just dive into the story?

I plan quite meticulously, spending about two weeks creating my characters.  My plot tends only to run to a couple of pages, but I know where I’m going and what I want to do.  Invariably it changes towards the end as characters take on their own lives and tell you what they want to do! 

3 – You have a book out in September, ‘That Loving Feeling’. Can you tell us about it?

This is set in my local area in a lovely market town of

Stony Stratford

and is about a marriage in crisis.  Having reached the milestone of twenty five years Juliet Joyce wonders is their relationship has lost its spark.  She’s pretty much resigned to the fact that the only romance she’s going to get is from the pages of her library books, so nothing quite prepares her for the unexpected return of Steven Aubrey – last seen when he jilted Juliet on their wedding day.  The question is will Steven sweep her off her feet again or can her husband remind her of the loving feelings that they’ve lost. 

Full Transcript from Yesterday's Penguin Live Chat with Jane Green!

Yesterday the joy that is Twitter alerted me to the fact that Penguin US were holding a live chat with the wonderful Jane Green (7pm UK time).

So I mosied along to ask a few questions and i've managed to get the full transcript (below the cut), for you to enjoy...

There are some fantastic questions and answers, especially for those of you who want to write a novel yourselves!

It's quite long, but Jane's answers are highlighted in bold!!