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

The Secret Dreamworld of an Aspiring Author – The Author Platform Minefield

By Anna Bell

As a writer you’re supposed to have words at your fingertips whenever you want them, and even if you’re not using them to write a book, you’re expected to be maintaining your author platform. But how do you keep finding things to write about? And who are you writing for?

I’ve been writing this column for four years now, and I absolutely love it. It’s a great way to share my journey on the publishing roller-coaster, but it can also be a daunting prospect. Having to write a column about writing, every week, is tough. It’s especially hard in the weeks when I haven’t been writing, or if I can’t talk about what’s going on (e.g when I was waiting for a foreign rights deal to be announced – or when I’ve had a killer book idea that I can’t share yet).

Amazingly, I usually find topics for all my Novelicious columns, yet that means I’m pretty much blogged out afterwards. My website gets a little bit neglected as I feel I’ve exhausted all my writing tips and publishing insight via the column, but I wonder if I am missing a trick. The majority of my readers probably aren’t interested in writing a book themselves. Which means if I want to attract them to my website or get them to return, I need to think of other ways to entice them. And that got me thinking: how do authors do this?

My Book Deal Moment by Samantha Young

The lights were blazing on George IV Bridge in Edinburgh, the street bustling with night goers and black cabs, and I was huddled in the doorstep next to a buzzing bar. We were out in the city celebrating my friend’s birthday only a few weeks after her wedding. It was a reunion of the small bridal party and we were recapturing the good cheer of the occasion.

We’d just eaten at one of my favourite restaurants in Edinburgh, The Buffalo Grill, and chased our meal with a mystery shot the guys swore to me was delicious. It was only a traumatising reminder never to listen to mischievous “adult” men when they group together to agree on something.

Although discussion had centred around lots of different things, it kept coming back to the fact that my self-published adult contemporary romance On Dublin Street had just become a national number one bestseller in the US and was the subject of a bidding war among six big publishers. I’d self-published On Dublin Street, a romance set in Edinburgh with an American heroine and a Scottish hero, on August 31st 2012. Less than two weeks later it was in the top 100 lists in America and sitting pretty at No.16 on Amazon.com. After receiving emails from publishers I signed with my fantastic agent and together (as well as the rest of my friends and family) we watched ODS climb to No.1 on Amazon. It hit the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller lists, as well as Indie Reader. It garnered over a 1000 reviews on Amazon within weeks, and tens of thousands on Goodreads.

Five Things For A Literary Halloween

I love Halloween. Partly because it occurs in autumn, my favourite season, and partly because it’s so closely linked to myth and storytelling. Neil Gaiman has taken this idea and created an excellent initiative called All Hallows Read. The idea is that instead of (or, in addition to) giving sweeties to children, you give a spooky book as a gift. For ideas of age-appropriate scary stories head to the All Hallows Read site. For five more ideas to make your Halloween more literary, read on…

1. This scrabble tile pendant features Edgar Allen Poe’s raven and the word ‘nevermore’. It makes a classy gothic accessory for the spooky season and costs around £5.70 from Pretty Whimsical on Etsy. 

2. This Letterpress art print features the Shakespeare quote: ‘By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes’. It's perfect as upmarket Halloween decoration or a special seasonal gift. Priced approximately £9.50, the print measures 8 x 10 inches and is available from Etsy. 

Friday Book Giveaway! From Notting Hill with Four Weddings … Actually by Ali McNamara!

A new Ali McNamara book is always cause for celebration – especially with a rom-com loaded title like her latest, From Notting Hill with Four Weddings … Actually, which was published yesterday. As it’s Friday, we have one copy to give away!

Movie addict Scarlett O'Brien is finally living the jet-setting life she's dreamed of – but it all hangs by a shiny, golden thread.

Flying between London and New York, running two businesses, planning her wedding to handsome fiancé, Sean, with best friends Oscar and Maddie – life couldn't be better.

Review – A Husband’s Confession by Zoe Miller

Reviewed by Kelly Allen

Max and Ali live in Dublin with their two children Jessica and Tom. Having worked their way to the top of the bakery industry together, they are shocked to see it become the target of cruel pranks. This is followed by a terrible accident involving Jessica, and their perfect world is suddenly shattered.

Max’s brother Finn is also married, living with his wife Jo and daughter Grace. Finn’s career is in trouble and the strain is beginning to show between the once carefree and loved-up couple.

Both couples have to face up to secrets of the past and decide if there is any chance of a future…

This book was easy to get into, the characters were well defined and the storyline simple to follow. I really enjoyed the parts that involved Jo and Finn meeting for the first time and watching their relationship blossom; it was very romantic and well written.

I did have trouble with the flitting from past to present tense; the past was told in the present tense and the present told in the past – I found this a struggle to read but then I do not enjoy reading work in the present tense anyway, so this is just my personal preference.

My Writing Room by Eve Bourton

I don’t have a garden shed, or a cubby hole, a desk or a favourite chair. If I could find a place to swing it, I'd probably have a hammock with a 'Hazardous Area: Author at Work' sign attached. I hate sitting in chairs, to tell the truth – I've had rheumatoid arthritis since my twenties, and my knees really dislike prolonged periods of sitting down. I do have an office, but I can't write in it. It's for filing and business paperwork and going cross-eyed over accounts and spreadsheets. So my writing space – wherever I happen to be, home or abroad – is my bed or the sofa. Legs stretched out, laptop switched on, and (when I am at home in the country) a cat or two curled up beside keeping an eye on things while ensuring I am still fully functioning as their personal central heating system.

Review – One Step Too Far by Tina Seskis

Reviewed by Susan Lobban

One morning Emily Coleman leaves the warmth of her marital bed and while her family are sleeping she is on a train heading away from Manchester. By the time her husband Ben realises she has not just popped out to the shops, Emily is looking for somewhere to stay in London. As the day comes to a close Emily is now Cat Brown and has a very basic bedroom in a shared house of strangers.

As the days go by Cat’s life becomes further away from the one Emily walked left behind. However the reason she left is never forgotten and despite how much her life changes it never will be.  What made Emily leave her old life? Can she really become a completely different person? You can run away from a secret but you can’t hide.

I remember reading about Tina Seskis and how after being turned down by publisher after publisher she decided to take matters into her own hands and do it herself. I managed to grab this book in the short period it was free on kindle a while ago, but never got round to reading it. Since then I have seen that it has been published in paperback and now has a fab new cover ready to be released in the US early next year, so it reminded me to bump it up my reading list. I am glad I did, it made me feel lucky to download this gem of a book before its value was realized.

Novelicious Chats To...Sarah Lark

Sarah Lark writes historical sagas. Her latest book, Island of a Thousand Springs, is set in London in 1732 and tells the story of Nora Reed, the beautiful daughter of a merchant, who falls passionately in love with her father’s clerk Simon. Despite their very different circumstances, the two dream of a future together on a Caribbean island – until tragedy strikes, and Nora is left grieving for her first love. Here, Sarah tells us more about her writing and journey to publication.

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

I write in the afternoon, and care for my horses and ride in the morning. While I am out with the horses I think about the book I am actually writing, and how the story will go on. Then, at about three o’clock in the afternoon I switch the computer on, answer my e-mails and after that I start to write. Normally I do ten pages a day, which takes more or less until 8 o’clock.

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

I sometimes use people I know – normally as inspiration for the bad characters. But I change their view and their behaviour completely. Up till now none of them have ever been recognized.

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

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. It has everything: love and hate and secrets and spirituality. And she was a wonderful writer, I loved her style.

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

Both of them. I first write an exposé, so the plot is standing, before I start writing. But then I dive in, and sometimes I change a lot. Normally there aren’t any drafts. I write the story down, read it again to correct it, then I have some test-readers, who tell me their opinion. I maybe make some changes, and that is it.

What was your journey to being a published author?

I always wanted to write, I wrote my first poem before I knew all the letters of the ABC. At school I wrote satirical texts about my teachers and romantic stories – and I told everybody that I would be a professional writer when I grew up. At last I studied to be a teacher, but I had not even a little bit of talent for the job. So I gave it up and started to work for a public relations agency. I also wrote for reviews about horses – and that at last helped me to publication!

Review – The Escape by Mary Balogh

Reviewed by Jennifer Joyce

Sir Benedict Harper has survived the Napoleonic Wars – but at a price. Ben has suffered a great deal from the injuries he sustained while at war and now relies on canes to walk. While visiting his sister, Ben meets the beautiful young widow, Samantha McKay. Samantha’s husband died a few months ago and now Samantha is trapped with her overbearing sister-in-law, Matilda. Matilda believes they should be in deep mourning, shunning the outside world apart from their weekly visits to church. Having had more than enough of being stuck indoors, Samantha sneaks out of the house to take a walk and meets the handsome ex-soldier, Ben. They don’t get off to the best of starts but Samantha and Ben soon strike up a friendship and when Samantha reveals that she is going to escape from the clutches of Matilda and her father-in-law, Ben agrees to escort her to Wales where Samantha has inherited a cottage.

I enjoyed Mary Balogh’s style of writing and found myself quickly relaxing into the worlds of Ben and Samantha. Both have suffered from battles – Ben personally and Samantha through her late husband, who she nursed for several years before he died. They don’t meet under the best circumstances and are quite angry with one another to begin with, but I liked how this wasn’t drawn out and a friendship formed quickly. I really enjoyed the friendship and although the romance took quite a while to develop, it was quite sweet. As main characters, I thought Samantha and Ben were great, particularly Ben who had been left damaged – both physically and mentally – from his battles but wasn’t the typical brooding leads you sometimes find in historical romances. Apart from their first encounter, I thought Ben was a lovely, good-mannered man who deserved to find some happiness after his ordeals.

News – Enid Blyton’s Magic Faraway Tree Adapted for Film

Enid Blyton’s Magic Faraway Tree – penned 60 years ago – is being adapted for film for the very first time.

The book, which tells of the adventures of three children who stumble upon an enormous magic tree in an enchanted forest, has been optioned by Sam Mendes' production company, Neal Street Productions.

The company has acquired film rights to all four books in the Faraway Tree series – The Enchanted Wood, The Magic Faraway Tree, The Folk of the Faraway Tree, and Up The Faraway Tree – for development from the Enid Blyton Estate, which was acquired by Hachette UK in 2012.

Feasting on Romantic Comedy – Iced Buns from Bookends by Jane Green

Is there a dish that can instantly transport you back in time? A meal or a cake with time travelling possibilities? For Cath there was. And it came disguised as an iced bun.

Bookends by Jane Green, quite possibly one of my favourite books, is about a group of friends from university who have continued to be friends now they've moved to London and got proper, grown-up, jobs. Well, all of them except one. Portia.

There is Cath, who works at an advertising agency but is ready to try something else. Si, who loves a bit of drama and bows down to the cooking queen that is Queen Delia. Then there is Posh Josh, who married Lucy after uni, who happily settled herself into the group of friends. 

Portia, who they all radiated around at university, is now off the scene. Because, even though the group were established around her, she also drove a wedge through them by what she did with Josh and what she did to a girl called Elizabeth. And this is what Cath is remembering, along with the iced buns.

There was a fission of excitement running through the group of friends because Elizabeth is coming to their university town to stay with them for the weekend. They're all looking forward to meeting her. All of them, that is, except for Portia. Don't you want to meet her? asks Cath. 

She could picture exactly where she was when she asked that question. She was in an old seaside cafe that would always be filled with either students or old ladies, eating iced buns, drinking tea or coffee. And she remembers asking that question – even though it didn't occur to her that Portia would have feelings other than joy at this girl, a great friend of one of their great friends, arriving.

For Cath, an iced bun reminds her of happy, carefree, student days and of her best friend, Portia, sitting in the cafe where they would chat and laugh. But it also reminds her of the distance that grew between them. 

For me, these iced buns remind me of my childhood. And they are so simple to make.

Win! A Re-purposed Book Bag from Novel Creations!

When we featured these gorgeous repurposed book bags earlier this year, you all went a little starry-eyed for them. It’s not hard to see why. Today, we’re giving you the opportunity to win one!

The idea for Novel Creations came about when owner Karen worked part-time at a small bookstore, which had some great used books that needed a home or they were going to take a dive into the recycle bin. Being an avid book lover, she was heavy hearted at the thought of it. She scanned her brain as to how she could recycle them into something different and VOILA – book bag perfection!

Novelicious Chats To...Vanessa Greene

Vanessa Greene worked in publishing throughout her twenties, reading thousands of manuscripts along the way. At 30, she decided to put pen to paper and write her own novel and The Vintage Teacup Club was born. Today, Vanessa joins us to talk about her latest book, The Seafront Tearooms.

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

Hmmm... well, it all used to be very simple. When I started writing full-time two and a half years ago, I was up at seven, coffee, a morning of writing, then editing and admin in the afternoon.

Having a toddler put the kibosh on that though! Becoming a mum has been a lot of fun, and inspiring in ways I hadn’t even imagined, but it’s also meant I’ve had to learn to be more flexible about how and when I write. There’s no time for control freakery anymore, so I grab my laptop and write when I can. I aim for 2000 words a day, and on a good day more will come. Some days it flows, other day I have to force the words out and make the scenes happen, but each thousand words gives me more material to work with, so I don’t waste time trying to get perfection during that first draft – I need to make sure that storytelling is working first. The first draft helps me to see that. I concentrate on improving pace, tension and characterisation during the early editing and leave the continuity and polishing for the later stages.   

Even though I have less time now, I always start my day with three pages of free writing, longhand in a notebook, even if I feel impatient to get straight to the laptop. It’s a tip I picked up from Julia Cameron’s book The Artists’ Way and it changed the way I write. It’s a decluttering exercise – so instead of bringing your own preoccupations or worries to the page, it gives you a chance to dump them in that notebook, and be more open, letting your characters tell you what they want to do next. It makes my writing lighter.

When you are writing, do you use any famous people or people you know as inspiration?

When I started writing Kat, one of the lead characters in The Seafront Tearooms, I knew I wanted her to be a strong single mother, talented, determined and intelligent, like some of the women who’ve inspired me in real life. Of course most of the depictions in the media of single parents are the exact opposite of this.   

Then Jack Monroe came along. She was in the papers a lot at the time I started writing as her career was really taking off, and I pictured her in my mind as I wrote Kat. I was interested in her as a dedicated parent who didn’t let anything get in the way of her following her passions for food and writing.  

Review – All Fall Down by Jennifer Weiner

Reviewed by Zarina de Ruiter

Allison Weiss is a successful woman. Her marriage looks stable though, with her husband always occupied by his stressful job, she almost single-handedly raises her sensitive yet otherwise healthy young daughter Ellie. On top of that she is a mummy blogger, whose blogs have become so popular that despite working from home with the intention to focus on her family, she now easily clocks up 60 hours or more a week to keep up with all the topics she's asked to cover, respond to comments and even give interviews to the national press. On top of it all her father's health has recently started to deteriorate and her mother, used to being taken care of by her own husband, can't handle the sudden responsibility, which leaves Allison to pick up the pieces.

On the outside Allison looks strong and able, as if she can take the worries of the entire world on her shoulders, but the amount of work she has taken on – both in her work and home life – and the stress that comes with such a busy schedule, has become too much for her. And the only way she can get through her days is by starting to pop pills from the moment she opens her eyes. At first they're ones prescribed to her by her own doctor for an old injury, but as the pill intake increases, Allison takes more drastic measures to ensure she has a supply at all times. While her family and friends initially seem blind to the changes in Allison, when a teacher at school takes her car keys away from her because she deems her unable to drive, the fact that she almost put her own child at risk serves as a wake-up call to both Allison and her family.