Novelicious.com | The Women's Fiction Blog for Readers and Writers

My Writing Room - Daphne Kalotay

This week, Daphne Kalotay (who we also interviewed this week) tells us about her writing room in Boston.

My Writing Room by Daphne Kalotay

I’m very fortunate in that I rent a lovely apartment with its own study off of the main room.  This study has nice big built-in bookshelves, which I think make any room look immediately better!  But best of all is the sunlight; the room faces southeast, making it nice and bright in the morning, which is when I like to write.  And natural light always gives me energy, especially in the winter (which can be long here in Boston.)

I like to be able to spread out, so when I first moved in and started looking for a desk, none seemed large enough.  I ended up buying this dining room table at Crate and Barrel, and put it together myself; only if you look underneath will you see that not all the screws are in correctly….  The chair came from the furniture company where my sister works; it supposedly has some irregularity that made it unsellable, but I’ve found it comfortable.  I also like that it’s red, because I learned somewhere that red is an energizing color.  The rug I chose for the floor is red, too; a friend brought it back for me from Morocco.

 I know that some writers don’t like distractions and wouldn’t want their work area to be facing a somewhat busy street, but I’m the opposite.  Since writing is such a solitary activity, I like (crave, actually) the company of the world outside—the sound of passing cars, of people chatting, of dogs barking and birds chirping.  So a key element of why my writing room works well for me is that I can look right out the window and see life going on all around me—people walking past, the mailman making his rounds, a neighbor out jogging.

One block away is a playground, and when I have the windows open there’s a constant din of children’s voices (lots of joyful screaming), which I find lively and vitalizing.

 It’s now been nearly ten years that I’ve been writing at this desk; it has faded quite a bit from all the sunlight.  Sometimes I put out some inspiring little thing to keep me going—a photograph, or a quote I like.  Right now I have a little picture of a bird I clipped from a magazine, just because I love birds and thought it was cute.  I also have a postcard of a picture by Rodin, because it figures in the new piece I’m writing.

 Visit Daphne's Website

Join Daphne on Facebook

 

Top 5 Writing Tips from Lesley Pearse

1.  Don't be slovenly, make out you are going to the office so dress and put make-up on. It puts you in right mind set. 

2.  Read as much as you write. Both fiction and non-fiction for research

3.  To set you off with a new book try writing the blurb for the back of it. I find a few exciting lines bring focus to what the book is about.

4.  Don't show your work to anyone but agent or editor. Anyone else will tell you it’s great, even if its dire. It’s your baby, nurture it yourself.

5.  If you are bored with what you are writing, so will the reader be. Move onto a more exciting part, you can always go back and fill in another day with better ideas.  

The Promise by Lesley Pearse is out now

Read our review of The Promise

The Secret Dreamworld of an Aspiring Author: Novel News - Millie and the American Wedding by Anna Bell

Millie's about to reject the invitation to an American wedding from a long lost college friend Kristen when she accidentally agrees to be bridesmaid at it. Which doesn't seem too bad, what with the wedding being in New York and coming complete with bachelorette party, rehearsal dinner and all those American traditions seen in the movies. But then you add to the equation that she's slept with the groom, and her ex boyfriend Rob (the only love of her life to date) is going to be the best man at the wedding. And not only is he best man, but he's already married, and she's going to the wedding single.

And if that wasn’t enough for Millie there’s also the maid of honour from hell, Collette, bridesmaid dresses that don’t fit, maxi dress malfunctions and secrets from her college life that she wanted to leave firmly behind in the past and on US soil.

As Kristen gets ready for the best day of her life, Millie gears up for the worst week of hers.

So there you are, writer’s Tuesday readers. There is the synopsis of my e-book and you can buy it now on Amazon! I still can’t quite believe it, I keep bringing up the link to the site to see the lovely cover that Novelicious’s own editor Kirsty designed. I can’t quite believe that that is my book. It’s dead funny to see my author page on Amazon and to think I’m an indie author. Although to be honest, I’m still desperate to be a published author too, so I’m not going to give up trying.

Now this last week before publication has been far from calm. I started waking up in a cold sweat last week, panicking that I’d ruin a career in writing before I’d even started. Thinking that people would give me no star or one star ratings that would ruin my writing reputation and then no agent would touch me with a barge pole.  By the time it got to Friday I felt that I had gone completely mad. I mean, here I was on the verge of publishing an ebook and no one had read it but me. Yes people had listened to it, but no other human eye had read it. Yes, I know, you’re thinking I’m crazy. So I sent it off to my step dad, who proofread (and nudged me in the right direction) on a lot of my university essays. So I was preparing myself to get brutal feedback. I sent him instructions to read the first three chapters as a test sample. And then the email came back I’d misspelled the word ‘stared’ I kept putting ‘starred’. ‘That was it,’  I said down the phone. ‘That’s it,’ he replied. He also told me that far from chick lit being his cup of tea he was sucked into the story, but he stopped reading in chapter 3 as instructed in case he got embarrassed if it got ‘smutty’. And from then on I’ve been serenely calm and just so excited about the launch.

I want to say a huge thanks to all the lovely comments I’ve had on Novelicious and twitter encouraging me with the ebook – and if you read it DO let me know what you think!

Novelicious Chats to... Daphne Kalotay

 

Daphne Kalotay is the author of Russian Winter.

1.  Can you tell us a little about your average writing day?

 I don’t really have an average writing day, because I don’t keep to a strict schedule, though in general I get up each morning and write for the next few hours.  How much time I spend writing depends on where I am in a project.  If I’m in the very early stage, trying to produce new material, the longest I can work is 4 hours; after that, my brain just switches off, I’m so tired.  But if I already have material to work with and am revising or editing, I can work for longer stretches of time.

 

2.  When you are writing, do you use any celebrities or people you know as inspiration?

 For characters, or just to keep me going?  In terms of feeling inspired, just knowing that someone like Steven King, who is incredibly successful in terms of book sales, gets up every day and sits for long hours in his chair, working very hard, is a great reminder that writing never gets easier, no matter how many bestsellers you’ve had, or if you’re writing thrillers or sci-fi or so-called “literary fiction.”  You still have to do the work.

 

3.  What is your favourite Women’s Fiction book of all time and why?

 If you mean a work by a woman writer, one of my very favourite novels is The Song of the Lark, by Willa Cather.  It’s about a small-town girl who has musical talent and eventually becomes an opera singer.  It’s truly wonderful, and very moving.

 

4.  What is your writing process? Do you plan first or dive in? How many drafts do you do?

 Though I sometimes have a very general, vague overall idea of what I’ll be writing about, I never have a clear plot, so I basically just dive in and hope for the best.  As for how many drafts I do: too many to count.  I mean that literally; if I tried to keep count, the number would be so enormous, not only would I lose count, but I’d become overwhelmed and then demoralized, I imagine, by how long the process takes.

 

Wallpapering with Book Pages

 

I saw this book papered ceiling on Apartment Therapy and didn't quite know how to feel. While I absolutely love the way it looks, I do feel a bit squeamish at the thought of ripping up all those books.

I'm not generally one of those people who like to protect their books so much that they look like they've never been opened (I happily dog ear the pages, scribble notes in the margins, read in the bath), but totally ripping them up? Not so sure.

What do you think? Do you think it looks pretty? Would you ever rip up a book?

The Bookish Roundup: Week 4 2012

Each week we scour the internets for the most interesting or helpful book and writing related stories of the week. Then every Friday we put them into an nice list for you.

That's it, really.

This Week...

Andrew Miller wins Costa Book of the Year

 

City of Fallen Angels is named as the most quoted book of 2011

 

Shiloh Walker confirms that each time a bad review is written, a pink fluffy unicorn dies

 

Flavorwire shows us the best literary themed graffiti ever

 

Jenny Colgan writes a Doctor Who book

Writer's Digest gives us 4 tips for creating believable villains

Piatkus announces their new digital romance list, Entice

 

Do let us know on our facebook or twitter of any interesting book news you think we should share in next week's bookish roundup!

Bookish Etsy Pick - Book Owl Handbag

WANT.

This handmade Book Owl handbag is by Dunny Galleger on Etsy and costs £49.08. Isn't it cute?

 

 

Review - The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

REVIEWED BY DEBS CARR

The Paris Wife is the story of Hadley Richardson, the first of Ernest Hemingway’s four wives. Hadley meets her future husband in 1920 when she’s twenty-eight. Up until that time she’s lived a quiet, secluded life and is only too thrilled to marry him and relocate with him to Paris where the couple soon become part of the enigmatic group of modernist writers and artists living in the capital. Their new friends include Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound, and eventually they also meet up with F Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda.

As a foreign correspondent, Ernest takes trips away from his wife. She hates being without him and finds it difficult to cope in his absence. When she falls pregnant Hadley is overjoyed. Ernest, on the other hand, isn’t ready for children and although he can’t help loving the baby who they nickname, Bumby, having him in their life causes their differences to intensify. Hadley loves it when Ernest takes time away from focusing on his writing so that they can spend time together. Most of the time though, he’s either writing, or drinking with his friends. Occasionally, they travel and rent rooms for weeks at a time.

Novel News - Saved By Cake by Marian Keyes

Not a novel, but it's Marian Keyes and she's back and we are very glad about that. Plus, the book looks amazing.

 Released 26th February

Saved by Cake gives an extremely honest account of Marian Keyes' recent battle with depression, and how baking has helped her. A complete novice in the kitchen, Marian decided to bake a cake for a friend and that was it - she realized that baking was what she needed to do in order to get her through each day. And so she baked, and she wrote her recipes down, and little by little the depression has started to lift, along with her sponges...

With chapters on cupcakes, cheesecakes, meringues and macaroons, chocolate cakes, fruit cakes and favourite classics, Marian's recipes are aimed firmly at beginner bakers, offering hints and tips to help along the way. Never patronizing, always honest and witty, accessible and full of fun, the bakes and cakes that Marian serves up in this cookbook will put a smile on your face and make you happy. From her Consistently Reliable Cupcakes and Very Chocolately Macaroons, to the ease of her Fridge-set Honeycomb Cheesecake, you will want to have a go at making all of Marian's recipes. The shoe and handbag biscuits particularly. Very covetable. Very Marian.

Can't. Wait.

This book on Amazon

Marian's Website

Novelicious Chats to... Rowena Macdonald

1.  Can you tell us a little about your average writing day?

I don’t really have an average writing day because I have two part-time jobs, so I squeeze in my writing as and when I can.  I work three days a week at the House of Commons as a secretary and one day a week teaching creative writing at Westminster University. I have Fridays off, and this is my main writing day. I try and write about 1,000 words, maybe more if I am in the flow. This can take between four and six hours. Over the weekend, I try and write about one or two hours a day. I write straight onto my laptop at my kitchen table, or in bed, or on the sofa. I do have a desk but I rarely write at it, since I spend so much of my other working life at a desk, and I need to feel more relaxed when I write. Sometimes I go and write in a café or in the British Library, especially if my boyfriend is around.

Ordinary life gets in the way of writing. Sometimes I wished I lived alone in a hut, preferably on a remote beach, so I could get more writing done and be one of those obsessional types that never does anything else. Mind you, it’s probably better for my sanity that I have to interact with the world. 

 

2.  When you are writing, do you use any celebrities or people you know as inspiration?

I always use people I know as inspiration. All sorts of people, even those I barely know or have only heard about through other people and never met. I need to base characters on psychological behaviour that I know exists. My characters are always amalgams though; I don’t transfer people straight from real life to the page as they need to be filtered through the prism of fiction. I rarely use people I see day-to-day or am very close to as I would feel hampered by self-censorship; having to be too nice about them. It would all get too psychologically fraught. By using people I know less well, my imagination can run free.

 Having said that, two of my close friends from Montreal, Mark and Chloé, inspired some of the traits of some of the characters in Smoked Meat, as did various other people I knew in Montreal. But I started writing the book two years after I got back to England. I needed that cooling distance so I could be more observant and objective. I’ve dedicated the book to them and they helped edit many of the stories when I was writing them, so I hope they are flattered rather than appalled to have aspects of their lives appear in prose. They should be flattered as it is because they were charismatic. 

 In terms of celebrities, I used the singer Pink as part of the inspiration for the character of Sally in ‘Brian, McMurphy and Sally Too’, the first story in Smoked Meat. Pink was popular at the time I was writing it, and her image –  feisty and tomboyish but overtly sexual – chimed with how I imagined Sally to be.

Other pop stars have been inspirational to characters in other books I have written. There was a character in an as yet unpublished novel who embodied elements of Nick Drake, Robert Smith from the Cure and Morrissey – basically he was a miserable, introverted muso. He grew in confidence as the novel progressed and ended up as a combination of Pete Docherty and the lead singer of the Strokes, whose name I forget right now.

Welcome to New Novelicious Lass, Kirsty Nicole Pole

I want to introduce you all to Kirsty Nicole Pole who is now a contributor on Novelicious! Welcome, Kirsty!

ABOUT KIRSTY NICOLE POLE

Kirsty is a full time chick-lit enthusiast, budding writer and once walked into a lamp post whilst reading and walking at the same time, unfortunately this is very much a true story.

 Currently living in Leicestershire, when she isn’t reading Kirsty can be found drooling over expensive shoes, buying sparkly things or enjoying a nice bottle of wine with friends.

Her favourite authors include Jo Carnegie, Sasha Wagstaff and Jill Mansell. Kirsty has been known to spend far too much time absorbed in American televisions shows including, ‘One Tree Hill’ and ‘Grey’s Anatomy’.

You can follow Kirsty on Twitter at; @bookprincess87

The Secret Dreamworld of an Aspiring Writer by Anna Bell - Can You Edit Your Own Book?

I know every author edits their own book, some send it out to be edited professionally, but what happens if you bypass that stage? With the rise of eBooks and the ease in which you can self publish, I’m sure there are plenty of self published authors who have been the only person to have edited their book. And I am no exception.  Regular readers of the column will know that I’m committing a slight heresy. I’m publishing an eBook in February and I’m not having it professionally edited.

 

I honestly think I have done the best job I could to edit my own book. I think in an ideal world where money wasn’t an issue, and if I had an editor I trusted, I would have had my book professionally edited. But I haven’t which has meant I have read my book, listened to my book, and edited my book more times than I care to think about. I’m not planning to self publish every book I write, my next one I’m going to submit in the hope of going down the traditional publishing route (again in an ideal world!).

I’ve learnt some brilliant lessons in the editing crash course I’ve put myself on over the last few months.  I thought I’d share with you some of ‘wot I learnt’.

Novel News - Jenny Colgan Cupcake Cafe Sequel Announced!

Hurrah! The sequel will be called Christmas at the Cupcake Cafe and as far as I know is set to be released in October of this year.

I am most excited to revisit Issy and her delicious cakes! How about you?

Visit Jenny Colgan's Website

Our review of Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe

Jenny on twitter

 

Novelicious Natters - The Grammar Debate

By Amanda Keats

Moving with the times or losing the sanctity of the written word?

 Last week I was called a "grammar Nazi" because I'm annoyed that Waterstone's has become Waterstones. To some, it might seem like something very trivial and I should move on and get a life. But to others, for a book shop (of all places) to lose correct grammar in their name is a sad day for anyone who believes in the sanctity of the written word.

So is it snobbish to believe in "correct" English and strive to uphold it? In dialogue, the way people speak is forever changing and I for one love that each region has its own accents, slang words and mannerisms. But when it comes to the written word, there is written English with rules of grammar and spelling that should be stuck to.

Times have changed. People write in text English and use shortened words or abbreviations to cram a message into a 140 character tweet. And I am just as guilty of this as anyone. If there is something I want to say and can't fit it in with correct grammar, I will shorten it. As long as it makes sense, what does it matter? I don't care about using semi-colons and occasionally it just sounds better to me to end with a preposition.

But I can't imagine picking up a book written entirely in text English.

So should we let go of the rules and move with the times? Or uphold the grammar of our language, apostrophes and all.

Let us no wot u fink in the comments below ;-)