NaNoWriMo and Edits

I'll be very quiet here for a bit as I'm working on editing A Cornish Affair...the good news my editor loved it- the bad news/good news it needs work, which I knew....

I have blogged at The Heroine Addicts about NaNo...here. Are you doing NaNo this year...I hope to if I can finish my edits!

First Person or Third Person Point of View - Which Provides A More Emotional Read

Having submitted dreaded book two, A Cornish Affair, I’m filled with worry. Not because I don’t like the story, I do. But worry because it is a very different story. A Cornish Affair is an adventure/romantic suspense type story and therefore very different from The Cornish House. This I am told by some is not a bad thing….I’m not so sure.

It has had me wondering about something though…the story is not as ‘emotional’. And I’m wondering if this is because it is written in first person. Now bear with me because this seems counter intuitive. I've always thought if a book was in first person I would ‘feel’ more - after all we are in one character’s head. We feel their emotions.

But strangely I am beginning to thing it does the opposite…I recently finished The Girl I Left Behind by JoJo Moyes and I loved it. The book had me from page one…I was gripped by the story, which as it opens is told in first person and is set in 1916 occupied France. The second half of the book in set in ‘modern’ time and is told in third person. Now here’s the interesting bit…although gripped by the story in the first half I wasn’t as emotionally connected as I was in the second…and I don’t think this was because of the time difference. The actual facts of the story in set 1916 were on the face much more tear provoking…

This set me wondering…did this happen with all first person stories I had read and did it apply to the one I’d just written. This week I also read the wonderful debut of Liz Harris, The Road Back…told in third person. I was moved to tears at points.

So I’m wondering if first person in a way sets up a strange distance. It’s like the wall the character puts up to protect themselves applies to the reader and isn’t there in third person. Or maybe it’s just me.

What do you think? It’s not that I haven’t loved stories told in first person, I have but thinking of them I haven’t been quite as emotionally caught up. (Note: I'm reading When God Was A Rabbit at the moment and loving it...pages effortlessly turning but I'm not getting the emotional kick i should be considering some of the stuff I'm reading) What is your favourite first person story and did it leave you weeping or dry-eyed?

A New Book Trailer for The Cornish House

Well, DD had done so well putting together the book trailer for A Cornish Affair she had a go with The Cornish House. And well she did a far better job than I did. What impresses me is that a 13 year old has such a firm idea of how the music should fit the theme...

What do you think? Maybe I should hire her out...she'll do book trailer in return for iTunes vouchers... What is your opinion of book trailers? Do you look at them? Have you done one?

Mea Culpa and Yay!

I have been a very bad blogger...very bad. But the reason for this was very sound. I had a deadline to meet on the dreaded book two....which I met.

However so many things have happened that I can't even begin to remember. The key one though is book two isn't August Rock anymore it A CORNISH AFFAIR. I love the new title. I can't tell you about the rewrite 27 at the moment as I'm still WAY too close to the process....

But my lovely DD this weekend took my photos from the summer and made a book trailer and clever thing that she is...put the music together too......

She has captured perfectly the suspense of this book with the music...and her diligent work kept me focused so that I finished the read through and sent it to my editor on Saturday so that I could enjoy what was left of the weekend with my family!

To celebrate delivering A Cornish Affair I'm giving away a signed copy of The Cornish House on my Facebook page for the best caption for a picture I took on a walk at the end of the summer with DS1.

A Casa Dos Sonhos - The House of Dreams

This morning copies the Portuguese editions of The Cornish House arrived...or I should say A Casa Dos Sonhos....they are sooooooooooo beautiful...

But what I really love is on the inside...my editor asked me to hand write a letter  to readers and they have reproduced it on the inside...

It's just so cool...

Now I need to dream up some give aways for this edition...anyone know any Portuguese book clubs?

Book Clubs and the Age of the Internet

Last night at 21:00 I waited armed with a large glass of wine poised in front of my computer waiting for a call on Skype. No, this wasn't my daily chat with Dad but a call from a book club in Warwickshire.

It was all thanks to a phone call a few months ago due to a need to schedule a replacement pipe for the gas supply to the house in Cornwall. To make a long story short in the course of the conversation about scheduling it came out that my first book was about to come out.

Well, the lovely Julie thought The Cornish House would be perfect for her book group....fast forward to last night...

Thanks to the age of Internet I was viewing a table full of woman enjoying some good food and wine...and *gulp* they had all read the books. They had spent the first half of their evening discussing the book without me and then Julie Skyped me. As this was a first for all of us we went round the table and each had a question about the book or the writing process. And it was such fun...not quite as much fun as actually being there with them (in fact I think I'd like to join their book club).

I signed off feeling really lifted and wanting to chat more. It was such a privilege to talk to people who have read the book. For so long the book was just mine and now it isn't which is weird but wonderful.

Any other book clubs out there fancy a Skype session?

I'm in the midst of finalizing my packing for the RNA Conference...to wellie or not to wellie - that is the question of the moment...

Link and Short Stories

I'm over at the lovely Rebecca Leith's blog here.

I wrestling with another short story at the moment...the word count on this one isn't so restrictive - 1500-5000 but it's still a challenge. I envy those who can work this form with ease...but I am sure that it's a good exercise.

Which do you prefer to write or read - novels or short stories?

Exposure and Sales

It's nearly a month since The Cornish House has been on the shelves or not and I thought I'd update you on what I've learnt so far about sales....assuming you've written the best book you can...

- exposure or position is the most important thing to selling books...

It's obvious really and it was something I knew, but I have now seen it in action. Where The Cornish House is in the shop window - in Cornwall (Falmouth Booksellers, St Ives Booksellers and Waterstones Truro) the book is selling well. In my local Watestones - High Street Kensington where it's displayed on a table - sales have been regular and steady. In the WH Smith Travel I think it's doing well (test case is Paddington Station where my family seems to spend half their lives - and last visit only two copies left). When I was signing at Waterstones Arndale Centre in Manchester I could see how shoppers were attracted to the cover. It is a wonderful cover and for it to do it's work it needs to seen. Spine out on a shelf and a début has no chance of finding a new home in the hands of a reader....a sad fact but true.

- family and friends....

From word of mouth, to visiting stores and requesting copies, to repositioning your book face out...these are just a few of things that can help sales

- local press coverage...

Débuts getting into the big press is rare - it happens but...not often. However I think local or smaller press is as important if not more so...don't dismiss the parish newsletter or the school one let alone the local paper or radio.

- the dreaded Amazon reviews...

It's funny but I never look at book reviews on Amazon unless it's for a non-fiction book. But I am somewhat alone in this...I only began reviewing books on Amazon and Goodreads about a year ago. I had done reviews on my blog but generally I'd thought - who would care about how I felt about a book...but it seems I'm wrong...

Now I have no real idea how the book is selling which is a very frustrating feeling - believe me. I do know that it had to be reprinted...good news but how good depends on the size of the first print run. I know my Amazon ranking...what me checking it obsessively - yup.

Yesterday I took out the egg timer and set it to 20 minutes.. the best block breaker I know (thank you Anna Louise Lucia). I'm not exactly blocked but more crippled by fear. I did manage to edit for 20 minutes and was cross when it went ping but that was all I had time for yesterday...today may be different.

I have been all over the web again...

First a beautiful review by Helen Redfern here.

Talking about the writer's journey with Caroline Smailes...here.

Busy...and Overwhelmed in a Good Way

Life is a little crazy at the moment and I can't settle to any one thing...including writing book two. But many of things taking up my time are wonderful...like needing to go to Falmouth Booksellers to sign more books because they had sold out of all the other signed ones...and I just heard that the paperback version of The Cornish House has sold out in Waterstones Truro so I'm off into sign the hardback copies they have left....

I have also been overwhelmed by reader response to The Cornish House...readers have been finding me on Facebook and Twitter and my web page and telling me they love the book. It is a strange and wonderful feeling. My baby is out there and it is being read and loved. My characters are making new friends...without me!

Yesterday saw me or the book all over the web...the lovely Helen Redfern reviewed the book here.

I talk wine, work and writing with Nikki Goodman here.

And over at High Heels and Book Deal I'm sharing my shoe favourites with the wonderful Mel Sherratt here.

And, *gulp*, The Cornish House is being reviewed at Vulpes Libris on Friday. This is a book review site I read regularly....

Finally I have begun posting pictures of some of the places mentioned in The Cornish House... Locations From The Cornish House.

Sunshine, Wind, Cornwall, St Ives and a Wedding

Yesterday the wind continued to blow, but the sun appeared and I went to St Ives to visit the St St Ives Bookseller and sign books...

...which made it a lovely excuse to take DH to lunch at The Porthmister Beach Cafe...

Now this fleeting image of the bridal couple had me fleeing the table to try and capture the image...I was cursing that DH hadn't brought his big zoom lens but at least I had his camera...

and then we had to leave...but DH wins the snap of the day with his pic of the almost tropical feel of the day...