Novel Racer - Kate Harrison

Kate is a founder of the Novel Racers along with Lucy Diamond and also a multi published author who sits in my staggering tbr pile. Her latest book The Self Preservation Society is out this month. Here's Kate in her own words:

"I’ve always been a writer – but until about six years ago, my writing was mainly confined to scribbling notes from my beach-towel while I was on holiday. My day job, and studying for an Open University degree, left very little time for fiction.

Then one Christmas, rather underwhelmed at the prospect of yet another re-run of Only Fools and Horses, I had a story idea about a school reunion – and, in particular, a reunion of people who all have very conflicting memories of their school days…I wrote in between Christmas crackers and sherry, and soon had a few chapters under my belt. I finished that first draft in just over three months – was very pleased with myself! Though in retrospect I now realise that doing the first draft is only the first stage in a very long process…


That book became Old School Ties and since then I’ve had two more published, and my fourth novel, The Self-Preservation Society, is out this month. I’m more nervous about this one because it deals with a theme which is very personal to me: fear. I’ve always been a real scaredycat – and I know it can hold you back in all sorts of ways. I think being published and, in the last year, achieving my dream of becoming a full-time writer, has definitely helped me become a little braver.

I’ve just finished my fifth book, and this one is a bit of a departure for me as it’s a real Sex in the City style comedy (my other novels are more thirtysomething focused). And once the edits for that are done, I will begin my sixth, which I have to write by the end of the year. As a former journalist, I need deadlines, though I slightly scared by the ones I’ve set myself. Wouldn’t swap this life for the world, though. How amazing to get paid to make up stories. I’m still pinching myself!


I’ve just finished my fifth book, and this one is a bit of a departure for me as it’s a real Sex in the City style comedy (my other novels are more thirtysomething focused). And once the edits for that are done, I will begin my sixth, which I have to write by the end of the year. As a former journalist, I need deadlines, though I slightly scared by the ones I’ve set myself. Wouldn’t swap this life for the world, though. How amazing to get paid to make up stories. I’m still pinching myself!"

Thank you Kate and Lucy for their foresight to set up the Novel Racers. it has made writing this year a more pleasurable and less lonely experience.

Today is confirmation day. It's early. I'm cooking and cleaning. Just hope I remember to enjoy the day!

Novel Racer - Zinnia Cyclamen

Now we have Zinnia Cyclamen, http://realefun.blogspot.com/. I have to confess I just love her name and find her day job fascinating. So thus far we have had three published novelist, five aspiring which include a sheep farmer and a humanist funeral celebrant. Did I mention we are a diverse lot? Here's Zinnia in her own words:

"I am a humanist funeral celebrant. I hear so many wonderful stories through my work that I began a blog in July 2004 to share some of them. The blog quickly became popular, with several mentions in the Guardian and a place in the Bloggie shortlist for 'best written blog 2005'. This was all a big surprise and a bit overwhelming. I decided to scale down my blog, partly because I didn't want the pressure of belonging to the blogerati and partly because I got bored with only writing funeral stories. At the same time,largely as a result of the encouragement of my lovely commenters, I started to write a novel. It is, of course, about a humanist funeral celebrant. I finished the second draft last month and will receive feedback from two pairs of readers in mid-May - eek! I hope to have a final draft ready to send to agents before the end of this year."

If you were wondering about the ordering of the profiles, I am just posting them in the order they arrive in the mailbox.

Life has stepped up a pace and role of mother and organizer of all has taken over at present. My parents are here. I'm chasing boys for their confirmation tomorrow. Friends arrive from Italy tonight.....so what is writing exactly???

Novel Racer B.E. Sanderson

Next Racer up is B.E. Sanderson. I love her blog, http://i-shrugged.blogspot.com/, as it is mine of information about the writing life. She scans all these wonderful writer blogs that I don't have time for and links the good ones. So here's B.E. in her own words:

"B.E. Sanderson... For writing, I go by my initials. I like the anonymity it provides and besides, my first name is a little too milquetoast to strike anyone as a competent writer of thriller and mysteries. It sounds more like I should be home baking for the kiddies. "Ma Sanderson's Chunky Chocolate Cookies" or some such thing.

Although I've thought about being a writer since I was a kid, I never quite got the gumption to finish anything. I started my first book - co-authoring with a friend - when I was fourteen, and it's sitting in a folder in my garage. Over the years, I've started several novels - mostly romances - and never finished one. Then three years ago, I sat down at my computer and started what would become my first completed novel. (Oddly enough, I started the book two weeks before I met my husband, and finished it four months after we were married.) Since that time I have completed another book, plus I'm close to finishing my third, and I have a fourth about half done. Unfortunately, none of my books have been published, but I'm working on remedying that situation.

My first two books are literary-thrillers. What can I say? I like taking a big problem and solving it while wrapping some important ideas around the storyline. My third novel is closer to straight literary, but since I am horrible at defining genre, I'm leaving the final determination to my beta readers and critique partner. Currently, I've split off into a mystery. Basically, I have a lot of ideas for a lot of different genres, so I expect I'll be writing whatever comes to mind for a long time to come."

Hectic time here as my parents have just arrived in time for the boys confirmation on Friday and did I mention that I will be in Budapest next week :-)

Novel Racer - Lucy Diamond

Lucy is one of the founders of the Novel Racers with Kate Harrison and I was so excited when I returned from holiday in Florida that I rushed down to the local bookshop, Nomad, and bought book. In fact I was so excited I took pictures which are now posted for the world to see! I'm reading Any Way You Want Me Right now. It's great! Here's what Lucy has to say:

"My name is Sue Mongredien and I blog at http://beinglucydiamond.blogspot.com/. I write children’s books under my own name, as well as some of the Rainbow Magic stories (as Daisy Meadows), and I have just had the exciting-but-terrifying experience of seeing my first adult novel make it into the shops – it’s called Any Way You Want Me and it’s published under the pen name Lucy Diamond. (Only £3.99 at Amazon at the moment...go on, treat yourself!)

Like Julia, I used to work in publishing, as an editor of children’s books,before leaving to travel around the world for a year and a half, getting myself into all sorts of dangerous situations and scrapes in the name of adventure! These days, I live in Brighton with my partner and three young children (aged six, four and two), and am self-employed, working two days a week, with the rest of time on Mum Duty. I am currently working on my third novel and a new story in my Oliver Moon series."

Sometimes you Get What You Need

I certainly don't need the grey skies overhead today but that's what we have! I don't need the pile of laundry and the towel that the cat did his business on because I, in sleeping state I didn't see him in there when I went to the loo at 3:30, locked him in. However I did need to pop over to He Wrote She Wrote on the Crusie/Mayer Workshop today. Now I wrote A Cornish House quickly trying to put all that was in my head down on paper with out stopping. This was good but now I have in front of me 92, 500 words that need one hell of a lot of taming. I do have good strong characters, I have good setting, I have good lively dialogue, I have good sexual tension but I haven't got enough twist or suspense or surprises or whatever you want to call it. So, do I pare it all down and write a YA focusing on one characters version of the story or do I step back and organize my story. Do I look at my original premise and see if I can attain that my twist my view on the story.

That brings me to Bob's first installment on plot- Narrative Structure http://www.crusiemayer.com/workshop/he-wrote-narrative-structure/bob/. Now normally I read Bob's bits and nod my head but there isn't a light bulb moment. My mind seems to works more like Jenny's. I like the way she addresses a story however this morning Bob made sense. I struggled in my story to have an antagonist. In my mind map that was going to Serena but as I wrote she was a protagonist as much as Madde. This confusion clearly shows in the current draft. I need to step back and decide who is the bad guy here and then look at the story from her pov. This will improve my plot according to Bob. Here it is in his words:

"Another thing to consider is this: If a novel is a problem that needs to be resolved, who usually introduces the problem? The antagonist. Taking the point of view of the antagonist during outlining can help you focus the plot of the novel. Your protagonist will be reacting to the antagonist’s plan until the critical moment at which the protagonist starts to act."

I think if I start to resolve this I will immediately tighten the story. I need to take a line. Who is the bad guy? Now if I go the YA route that is clear. Madde is. She is the wicked step-mother who has up-rooted Serena from her life in London and brought her to Cornwall. Fits the bill quite nicely really ( I can see my reader's thinking here). Now I can see that my original plan, Serena as the antagonist, is trickier. Madde is the adult. She is calling all the shots except those that fate throws at her - husband dying to cancer, step daughter landed on her lap, inheriting a house in Cornwall. She is much more the master of all in her life including Serena. Serena's antagonism to her may not be enough to pull the story through and this is clearly where I have failed. Can I, now that I see it - fix it? Because in my heart I still want to write this story as I envisioned it.

Back to Novel Racers tomorrow when normal life returns in the UK.

That Holiday Feeling

It's a long weekend here in the UK so the weather has gone off..... bl...dy typical. It has been a glorious week and now that Saturday is here it is cloudy and damp.......yuck.

I have loved learning more about my fellow racers. As one racer pointed out in the comments you see a different view of them than on their blogs......true and that's part of the reason for doing it. The other for me was to just highlight how different writers are yet we all work to the same goal. More writers profiled next week!

How's my writing going you wonder. Well, it hasn't been. This week I promised myself that I would read A Cornish House. I have read to page 68. Not very far you say. True. Interestingly it is not because I am disgusted with it. It's not bad - so far. It's because at the back of my mind I have this question lurking - should this be rewritten as a YA novel with Serena's pov the whole way through??? My reader, who is well qualified thinks this is the way to go. I respect her opinion. Serena is a brilliant character and I do handle her well - even I can see that in the first 68 pages. But then I ask myself do I really want to write YA? The answer is I don't know. First I have not read much if any really - unless you count Harry Potter. However I have two readers of YA in the house. I find myself wondering how I would feel about them reading Serena's story. I didn't hold back on her. Her language is colourful and her thoughts direct which I felt in an adult novel is fine. How would I feel about my kids reading it? Not quite as sure but that is not enough to put me off entirely. I can see how the book could be very well told from Serena's view point, but if it sold the publisher would need to know I have more in me and at this moment I don't know if I have more YA's in me because this is new territory. I certainly know I have more women's fiction in me.........The war inside rages on.

On another point, the reader flagged up my biggest weakness as a writer. Before I go into that I want to say she also highlighted my strengths and didn't tell me to pack it in. But I do have a big weakness, my plots are to predictable. You can see the end from the beginning. One knows that Madde will end up with Mark and likewise in August Rock you know that Judith will end up with Tristan. I need to shake it up a bit more. This was on my mind last night when I watched the film, The Holiday. It's light, probably not unlike my plot, when an unexpected thing was thrown in and suddenly I thought that's what my books need. (Spoiler ahead if you haven't seen the film) This moment was when Cameron Diaz goes to Jude Law's house and she hears noise. One assumes he's entertaining a woman as that is what we have been led to believe about this character but no it turns out he's a widow and the noise are his two daughters. I didn't expect it and I enjoyed their story line in the film more after that. Light bulb moment? Maybe........

So I have done a fair bit of navel gazing this week. I have wondered if I have what it takes to write a really gripping novel. I have proved I can write and parts of it I can do well. I have also proved that I can learn from past mistakes. In August Rock my secondary character weren't as well drawn as they could be - in A Cornish House that was one of the strengths. My dialogue is good. My voice is good. Pacing is right except that its too predictable. Do I have it in me to fix this key flaw? I'd like to think so but it remains to be seen. So while I am wrestling with the YA question I'm feeling I should go back to A Cornish House as I conceived it and see if I can fix the problem.........

Finally on craft note - over on C.S. Harris's blog, http://csharris.blogspot.com/2007/05/getting-it-wrong.html, she speaks about how she dealt with two scenes that weren't working. She then tells how she fixed it. I found this really helpful especially as I will be doing a scene by scenes analysis soon. Well worth a look.

Novel Racer - Sheepish

I have to confess that I love Sheepish's name. I think it's brilliant and I think the fact that she managed to get one of Caroline Smailes' "Have you seen Adam?" badges on Number One sheep is even more brilliant. Here's her blog http://ashepherdstale.blogspot.com/ where you will find more pictures of Number One sheep........and other things :-)

"Hi I'm Sheepish and I'm a Pisces. When I was little I loved reading and writing but somehow I ended up taking a Chemistry degree and became a scientist. Then 15 years ago I moved to France and became a Sheep farmer. Now the creative side of me has finally escaped from the closet and I am attempting to write a novel. It's hard going because I am very self critical even these few lines has taken a long time!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I like challenges though. I ran the London Marathon at the age of 37[quite a while ago now!!] even though I hadn't been a runner before, and I still run 4 times a week. I became a sheep farmer even though I had no previous experience. I started a blog even though I am an IT virgin. Now I am a writer, I know I am because I've said it out loud!!!!!"

Well, that is the end to our Novel Racers this week. I am still missing many profiles - so Racers come forth, I know you are out there!

Over the weekend I'll catch you up with my writing issues........HELP!

Novel Racer - Hera

The lovely Hera from http://thejealousy.blogspot.com/ is up next.

"I am in my mid twenties and living in East London. After college I thought I wanted to work in journalism and worked at a newspaper for a year, but it wasn’t the path for me. I left feeling stifled by the deadlines and direction limitations. I went on to study psychology and since graduating I have worked in family support for various councils and charities. A couple of years ago I decided I had neglected my teenage ambition and wrote a book. I was just happy with the fact that I managed to get that many words on paper (at school I was the girl who used to add adjectives to essays to meet the word count), but I didn’t feel ….purged. This year I’ve decided to do it again, but to write about something that means more to me. I’ve had some great experiences in my job and I also want to highlight some of the brighter sides of social work, if only for myself."

Hera has established a date night with her lap top to make sure she gets her writing time in. I think this is a wonderful idea :-)

I finally finished the Suite Francaise last night. I found the second half of the book utter compelling but I have to confess the first half didn't grab me. I couldn't keep up with all the different character and truly didn't care about them. Had it not been for book club I never would have finished and I am pleased I pushed through to the end.

Novel Racer - Helen

Next brave Racer is Helen of Redder's Ramblings (http://reddersramblings.blogspot.com/) .......

"The West Wing has a lot to answer for. I loved the series with a passion that I did officially go into mourning when it all ended. The programme inspired me to do something with my life. For a while I thought it meant I should go into politics but having to knock door to door put me off that.
I had been toying with writing for some time. The first time since school that I sat down and wrote some fiction (I’m discounting the creative writing I wrote as a marketing professional for the firms I worked for) was when I had to take early maternity leave. I showed the writing to my husband who thought it had been written by somebody else and I’d nicked it. He was amazed when I told him I wrote it. I chose to be flattered by this response, after all my blood pressure was already high.
My pregnancy, house move and baby then put paid to my writing for a while, but it was still there at the back of my mind. Then, one day, whilst realising I was going slowly insane, I sat down at my computer and wrote. It was a cathartic and liberating process. I subsequently joined a creative writing evening class. Wanting to up my credentials in non-fiction writing too so I could do some freelance work I signed on with the London School of Journalism.
So that’s where I am now. Writing my first novel, some short stories and training to write feature articles as well as some freelance marketing…"

She didn't mention she used to make these fabulous cakes and post pictures of them on her blog causing me to head to nearest shop looking for some divine confection.........thankfully she has stopped (that comes from my writers waistline!)

Reminder that the flash fiction contest is on over at the Maht's The Moon Topples http://moontopples.blogspot.com/. The topic is growth. Now maybe looking at Helen's fabulous cakes I could write about the growth of my waistline since committing to writing!!!!

Finally I am reading A Cornish House. Thus far not despairing.....but watch this space.

Novel Racer - Lesley Cookman

The second brave Novel Racer is Lesley Cookman. Lesley has her second novel, Murder At The Laurels, coming out 21st May. With this in mind I asked Lesley a bit about her heroine Libby and her love of whiskey.......Here's what Lesley had to say:

"Libby Sarjeant jumped fully formed into my mind with the first line of a novel about twelve years ago. She stayed, the first line and that particular novel bit the dust. Then I wrote a few pages of something else to submit to Anita Burgh when she was speaking at a writers’ weekend. She liked the few pages. Then I entered the World One Day Novel Cup. This was only run twice – too gruelling, I think. I wrote a 24,000 word novella in two 12 hour sessions, and there was Libby and the basis of Murder in Steeple Martin. (We made the top six.)

It turned up again, in a different guise, as the dissertation for my Master’s Degree, and three years later it finally emerged from its chrysalis as a full blown book. And now there’s a follow up. Murder at The Laurels also had a former life. A chapter used as part of a writing exercise during the Master’s Degree gave me the central idea, and now I’m writing the third book, due out in November, using a musical play I wrote four years ago as a springboard, and pantomime, my speciality, as a background. Motto: Never throw anything out.

Libby and I both like whisky and red wine and we both have theatrical connections. Other than that, though my nearest and dearest (and even those not so near and dear) would disagree, we’re NOT alike. Oh, no, we’re not… "

The profiles are coming in......many thanks. Be brave those who sent me anything yet otherwise I'll be haunting your blogs!!!

On my own writing front. Printed out A Cornish House yesterday and will sit with bright coloured pen and read today........