A Who's Who of Popular Fiction Agents

Who is Marian Keyes’s agent? Who looks after Cathy Kelly and Sheila O’Flanagan? Who helped Melissa Hill climb to the top? If you write popular fiction, live in Ireland and would like to get published, these are the agents to try first as they have a proven track record with Irish authors. Now, because they have such high flying clients they may not have the time to take on new authors, but if they spot talent, they may pass you on to another agent in their company.

I secured my first agent (who was with Curtis Brown at the time) via a recommendation by Cathy Kelly. This agent and I have since amicably parted ways, but I found my new agent via another writer friend, the wonderful ‘Vampirate’ Justin Somper. I’m currently represented by Peta Nightingale in Lucas Alexander Whitley on the adult side (I also write for children). I’m her only Irish popular fiction client, but many of the other agents on my list have several ‘Irish girls’ in their stable, such as Sheila Crowley in Curtis Brown.

Peta has been a wonderful asset in many different ways. She worked as an editor for many years and has a brilliant eye for plot and character. She’s very honest and she pushes me, makes me want to be a better writer, which is vital at this stage of my career. When it came to writing my new book, The Shoestring Club (due early 2012), her help was invaluable.

These days having ‘potential’ isn’t enough, your manuscript must be as perfect as you can make it before it goes anywhere near an editor – this especially goes for popular fiction. A good agents can play a vital role in this process.

If you are looking for an agent, Godspeed. Hopefully this list may help you in some small way.

Yours in writing,

Sarah XXX

Who Represents Who? Irish Popular Fiction Writers and Their Agents with Contact Details c/o Sarah Webb www.sarahwebb.ie

Remember to check each agent’s website before you send anything out for submission guidelines.

Maeve Binchy is represented by Christine Green

Tel. 020 7401 8844 info@christinegreen.co.uk Christine Green Authors' Agent 6 Whitehorse Mews Westminster Bridge Road London SE1 7QD

Marian Keyes Cathy Kelly Monica McInerney are all represented by Jonathan Lloyd (also CEO of Curtis Brown)

0044 (0)20 7393 4418 lucia@curtisbrown.co.uk

Sheila O’Flanagan is represented by Carole Blake

Blake Friedmann Literary, Film & TV Agency 122 Arlington Road London NW1 7HP

Telephone: 020 7284 0408 Fax: 020 7284 0442 email: info@blakefriedmann.co.uk

Cecelia Ahern is represented by Marianne Gunn O’Connor Marianne represents Claudia Carroll, Anita Notaro and Sinead Moriarty

Marianne Gunn O'Connor Literary Agency Morrison Chambers, Suite 17 32 Nassau Street, Dublin 2 mgoclitagency@eircom.net

Melissa Hill is represented by Sheila Crowley Sheila also represents Emma Hannigan, Sarah Harte

00 44 (0)20 7393 4492 crowleyoffice@curtisbrown.co.uk

Sarah Webb is represented by Peta Nightingale at LAW (LAW also represent Sophie Kinsella – Irish name, but not actually Irish!)

All submissions should be sent, in hard copy, by post to: LAW, 14 Vernon Street, London, W14 0RJ www.lawagency.co.uk

Clare Dowling is represented by Darley Anderson

Darley Anderson Literary, TV and Film Agency Estelle House 11 Eustace Road London SW6 1JB Tel: 020 7385 6652 Fax: 020 7386 5571 Email: enquiries@darleyanderson.com

Marita Conlon McKenna is represented by Caroline Sheldon

www.carolinesheldon.co.uk 71 Hillgate Place, London W8 7SS

Patricia Scanlan is represented by Lutyens & Rubenstein Literary Agency

www.lutyensrubinstein.co.uk 21 Kensington Park Road, London W11 2EU

Other Recommended Popular Fiction Agents:

Madeleine Buston at Darley Anderson

Darley Anderson Literary, TV and Film Agency Estelle House 11 Eustace Road London SW6 1JB Tel: 020 7385 6652 Fax: 020 7386 5571 Email: enquiries@darleyanderson.com

Lizzie Kremer at David Higham David Higham Associates 5–8 Lower John Street Golden Square London W1F 9HA Switchboard: 020 7434 5900 Fax: 020 7437 1072 E-mail: dha@davidhigham.co.uk

The Joy of Rewriting

And So I Come to the Final Day I’m procrastinating. My book – The Shoestring Proposal (working title – The Shoestring Club is book 1, this is Shoestring book 2) - is one chapter away from completion. Yes, it’s only the first draft and a fairly loose one at that. Half way through writing it I changed all kinds of things: the name of one character, another character’s motivation, the age of a child. So it’s all up for grabs in the second draft.

After writing the book solidly since Thursday 3rd February (I keep a writing diary with daily output including a word count – it’s a way of staying motivated and it’s really interesting to read back over the entries too) I know exactly what I want the book to be, what I’m trying to say on the pages, how I want the reader to feel while reading it. I just have to re-write it now and craft it into the best novel it can be, the closest I can get to my vision of the book.

I love the rewrite stage. I love tinkering with scenes, making them stronger, cutting away the fat, leaving the good, lean stuff, the muscle if you like. Tightening the dialogue, making the characters BIGGER. Making sure each person’s dialogue is distinctive. It’s an exciting stage of the writing process and one that isn’t (as far as I know) taught in schools, which is a shame. The re-writing habit should start early.

A few weeks ago I was corresponding with a writer who wants desperately to be published. I asked her how long it took her to write her book. Nineteen days she said. I was impressed and slightly taken aback. She must have been going at it full tilt.

‘And the re-writes?’ I asked.

She seemed puzzled for a second. ‘The editing you mean?’ she said. ‘Oh, they’ll do that at the publishing house. I don’t have time for all that.’

I was about to explain how you might only get one shot to impress an editor or an agent etc etc, but I kept my mouth shut. She’s clearly a very busy woman!

Next week is the West Cork Literary Festival and I’m speaking to young readers about the Ask Amy Green books and also hosting a workshop, again for young readers. After that, my holiday proper begins. Two weeks to read, eat, sail, swim and read. Did I mention the reading? Monday’s post is all about the books I’m taking with me. After that, in August, I’m back on Ask Amy Green duty, writing book 5. I can’t wait! It’s all about a young Irish ballerina and is set in Dublin and Budapest. See – my job is so much fun!

Then, when I’ve written the first draft, it’s back to The Shoestring Proposal. I’ll read over the manuscript in hard copy, make copious notes and start rewriting, by hand in notebooks and also directly onto my laptop (shell pink Sony in case anyone’s interested). It won’t go near my agent or editor until I’ve done at least three rewrites. Then – probably half way through this process – my Ask Amy Green editorial notes will wing their way back to me and I’ll get stuck in to them quickly as that book is out next year. Shoestring 2 won’t be published until 2013. Phew!

But look at me now, still procrastinating. I’m due at the page but the honest truth is I don’t want to finish this book. I’ve had so much fun writing it. Typing The End means saying goodbye to Pandora and Jules and Iris and Bird and all the characters I’ve had so much fun writing about over the last 2 years. God knows what I’ll be like saying goodbye to Amy and Clover after 5 years! But such is the writing life. And it’s a good one.

Yours in writing,

Sarah XXX

PS Look out for the shiny new sarahwebb.ie website in September – it’s only beautiful! PPS My book is now finished - yes! *sniff, sniff*

Are You Writing Fit?

‘What’s that?’ Charlie says.We’re taking the short cut home from school, through the wood. It’s dark in here and the mouldy, damp leaves smell like rotten meat. ‘What’s what?’ I ask, stepping over a muddy patch and trying not to get my new white runners even filthier. Mum’s going to have enough of a fit already. It’s not my fault - you can’t play footie with the boys without getting your shoes a bit scuffed. He lowers his voice. ‘The rustling. I think there’s someone following us.’ A stick breaks and something moves in the bushes behind us. He’s right. There’s someone, or something there. I take a deep breath and swing around. And then I get the shock of my life . . .

I wrote these opening lines for a Bord Gais Writing Competition for children of age 7+. I said yes to doing it because I knew it was something I could do quickly. I don’t know about you, but life’s moving pretty fast these days and I’m struggling a bit to keep up with all my various commitments. But I do everything I can to supporting anything to do with young readers or writers.

The young writers entering this particular competition will be both boys and girls, so I made the two main characters one of each. I gave it a forest setting to make it a little unsettling/different, and ended it abruptly to get them instantly involved in the story, instantly thinking ‘who’s in the bushes? A monster, an alien, a girl from school . . .’.

The young writers can add to the story and make of it what they will – a ghost story, a horror blood fest, a sci fi alien invasion, a unicorn fantasy tale – whatever genre or mash-up of genres they like. It took me roughly five minutes to think up and write, and a future ten minutes to edit and play around with it until I was happy. But here’s the thing – it took me fifteen minutes in total because my mind is trained to think of stories, characters and ‘what ifs’. My writing muscles are reasonably fit and healthy at the moment (wish I could say the same about the rest of me!).

As a writer you have a huge advantage if you are writing fit. When I visit schools I always tell the children – ‘If you want to win the X Factor, you have to practice. If you want to run or hurdle in the Olympics, you have to practice; if you want to be a published writer, you have to . . . practice.’ And it’s true. It amazes me how many people think they can just pick up a pen, scribble down a first draft, and boom, they will be the next Marian Keyes or Jon Banville. I don’t think the average person has any idea how the writing process really works. The hundreds of hours that go into thinking, making notes, writing, rewriting (x 8/10/12 times in the case of most of my books), editing, copy editing.

In The Right to Write, Julia Cameron says ‘Over the long term, writing is a lot like marathon running and, just as a runner suffers withdrawal when unable to run for a day or two, so, too, does a working writer miss his writing work. A certain amount of writing, like a certain amount of miles, keeps the artistic athlete happy and fit. Without this regular regime, tensions build up. Irritability sets in, life becomes somehow far less hospitable. A good writing day rights this again.’

Julia is bang on. Regular writers get very twitchy if they haven’t been at the page enough. The page is their lodestar.

I’ve been a published writer for over fifteen years now, full time for eight. And it has taken me a long time to find a writing routine that suits me, a balance between sitting long hours at my desk, and doing other things that I enjoy – like organising festivals, doing school visits and talks, touring – all which send me back to my desk happy and glad to be writing again. I’m a very sociable person, I like company, and I’m prone to feeling down and alone, so I have to be careful to pepper my writing week with solid, fun human interaction. But I miss my desk if I’m away from it for too long – it’s all about balance.

Each writer has to find their own writing routine. But routine is the key. No practice without routine. No publication without practice and damn hard work, and as Patrick Ness always says ‘writing with joy’ - turning up to the page every day (or as often as you can), and writing as if it’s your last day on earth. And that’s the ‘secret’ of getting published in a nutshell – routine, practice, hard work, joy . . .

So it’s back to the page for me to unleash some of that joy.

Until next week, yours in writing,

Sarah XXX

The Key Ingredients of Successful Popular Fiction

I’ve been reading a lot of popular fiction recently. For two reasons: there are loads of cracking new books out by some of my favourite writers, and also I’ve been quite tired and a bit run down and there’s nothing like curling up in bed with a comforting book when you’re feeling under the weather. I’m also reading a biography of Emily Dickinson, but it’s dense (if fascinating), and I can’t always rustle up the energy to tackle it. Does this make me any less of a reader? No. It means I am a normal, busy mother of three who needs some time out at the end of the day. And as a writer I love the idea that another tired mother, or lawyer, or nurse, or teacher, or bookseller is looking forward to a few pages of one of my books after their busy day.

Two books have really stood out:

I adored The Last Letter from Your Lover by Jojo Moyles. It’s a stunning book, swooningly romantic, beautifully written, seamlessly plotted. It’s the story of two women, one the discontented 1950s wife of a rich business man, the other a young modern journalist who is having an affair with a famous middle-aged crime writer. The characters are flawed and at times you want to give both of them a good shake, but they are hugely likable, real women.

I also loved Summer of Love by Katie Fforde. Katie’s books are sheer pleasure. You know she’s going to cleverly keep the main character and her love interest apart until the very last chapter, and her leading women are the epitome of warmth. I’ve fallen for every one of her heroines.

I read another book recently and nearly threw it at with wall in frustration. I wanted to like the book – it was by a new author and the premise was spot on – but the characters. Mamma mia! There were nine main characters (far too many to keep proper track of – I’d recommend no more than five or six tops), none of whom where all that nice or interesting. There was no humour, no warmth, a lot of ‘poor me’, and I did well to finish it at all. I won’t be recommending it to anyone. It’s a shame, I always like to see new blood in the popular fiction genre, it keeps both readers and the book trade interested.

If the characters do not win us over (I’m speaking as a reader here), if in some way they remain unredeemed at the end of the book, if we wonder why we’ve wasted hours of our reading life with such unpleasant (fictional) people, then the writer has a problem. And they clearly haven’t read enough popular fiction to know better. I think some people think it’s ‘easy’ to write popular fiction. But as Nathaniel Hawthorne once said ‘Easy reading is damn hard writing’, and not everyone is suited to it.

Marian and Cathy and Sheila and Maeve and Cecelia are well suited to it, along with other Irish writers who are blazing the trail world wide. Irish popular fiction is renowned for its warmth and its realistic, likable characters. International readers talk about the humour of the dialogue, the close knit family units, the steadfast, lifelong friendships in the books. The two words that appear over and over again are warmth and humour. Jojo and Katie nail this too - do they have Irish ancestors I wonder – only kidding ;).

If you’re writing popular fiction, reading some of the best books in the genre is a must. I’d highly recommend both Katie and Jojo’s latest novels to anyone.

Yours in writing,

Sarah XXX

Lessons for a Writing Life

One of my friends in writing is having trouble finding an agent. They like her writing very much, but they say the market is difficult and they just can’t take a risk on someone new at the moment. This must be really tough to hear – that you’re good but circumstances beyond your control are conspiring to prevent you from being published. I told her to keep going – that the writing’s the thing. That if she can afford to, to give herself some more time and maybe work on a new book, a book that she HAS to write, more than anything else in the world. A book that means so much to her that she can’t not write it.

She’s so close but it would be so easy to give up at this stage. But I have every confidence that she’ll keep writing, because she is a true book lover and adores the writing life.

If you are in a similar situation, hang in there. Keep writing – don’t stop. Even if you have to write at night or early in the morning or in snatched work breaks, you are still a writer.

I’m not usually one for chain email type things, but one struck a chord with me this week. It’s by a 90 year old woman from Ohio called Regina Brett and was originally one of her newspaper columns. As I read it, I realised how many of her maxims for life were relevant to a writing life. So I’ve updated some of them. My additions are the ones underneath Regina’s lines.

Yours in writing,

Sarah XXX

Life Lessons Lessons for a Writing Life

Life isn't fair, but it's still good. Publishing isn’t fair, but it’s still good.

When in doubt, just take the next small step. When in doubt, just keep writing.

Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Life is too short to waste time worrying about other writers and how brilliant/critically acclaimed/famous/rich they are.

You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree. You won’t always agree with your editor or agent – pick your battles.

Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck. Save when you can. Writing is a precarious business.

When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile. Nothing I can add there!

Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present. Use your regrets and mistakes to fuel your books. It’s all material.

Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about. Don’t compare your writing or publishing career to others. You have no idea how many unpublished manuscripts are sitting under their beds.

When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer. Amen to that.

Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special. Give it all away, every day. Don’t save a brilliant idea for another book. Use it, right now.

Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now. Show up to the page, every day, and write with passion.

Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere. Walking is a great way to start a writing day – get outside – ideas are everywhere.

All that truly matters in the end is that you loved. (And that you wrote!)

How a Book Advance Gets Paid

The news from the London Book Fair that Irish writer, Kathleen MacMahon has received £500,000 for her first book, This is How It Ends is very cheering for writers and the book trade alike. Little, Brown are clearly madly in love with the book, describing it as ‘literary commercial fiction’, ie a perfect book for book clubs to savour, but also a novel to get lost in on the daily commute. The Help would be ‘literary commercial fiction’ for eg. I would argue that Bridget Jones’s Diary is also ‘literary’ in its own way – an argument for another day.

The book sounds to me like an Irish ‘Bridges of Madison County’, a book (and film) I love. It’s billed as a love story between an American man and an unemployed Irish architect. ‘You close the book, you want to bawl your eyes out, and then you want to tell everyone about it,’ her agent, Marianne Gunn O’Connor told today's The Irish Times - Marianne is also Cecelia Ahern’s agent.

Anyway, I was at a meeting this morning and I was asked how the advance would be paid – would Kathleen be handed a cheque for £500,000 as soon as she signed the contract? Not exactly.

So here’s how it works:

Usually a book contract will say something like ‘The publishers shall pay to the Author as a non-returnable advance on account of all monies that may become due to the Author under this Agreement a sum of – in this case - £500,000, being £250,000 per title, to be accounted separately.’

The money might be split up and paid as follows (ballpark figures only):

A sum on signing the contract – say £100k (£50k per title) (could be slightly more, depending on each publisher – some build it into delivery/publication etc)

A sum on delivery of each work (if book 1 of the contract already written, as in this case, part 1 of this payment would be paid on signing also for the first book) – say £50k

A sum on first UK publication of each title in the contract or eighteen months after delivery of the manuscript (whichever happens first) – say £50k

A sum on first US publication of each title in the contract (in this case, Grand Central in the US). Say £50k

Marianne Gunn O’Connor, Kathleen’s agent will take 15% of the overall deal. This would be the standard rate for a literary agent.

At present, Irish writers can earn e40,000 a year before tax. You do have to pay PRSI however.

The advance is usually non-returnable – which means it’s a gamble for the publisher. If it doesn’t sell, they can lose a lot of money. But publishers are smart and know a good book when they read one, and this one sounds great!

Apparently Kathleen will also earn more if the novel makes the bestseller lists – and obviously if film rights are sold, this will be extra income (film rights I believe are taxable as they are not book royalties as such).

So Kathleen may get a figure of say £150,000 up front – of which Ms Gunn O’Connor will get 15%, and the writer will pay tax on anything over £40k. Which is a fantastic, dream sum for any debut writer, and was the highest advance of the Fair. But also remember that her book may be the product of many years of hard work – plus a lifetime’s worth of reading, and living – you can’t write without a lot of experiences to write about! (Unless you are Emily Dickinson perhaps – again, a subject for another day.) Plus she may only write a book every two or three years – so that may be her book income for several years, not just one year.

Overall, it’s GREAT news for Irish writers – UK and US publishers are actively looking for great books by us. In fact, it’s the best news I’ve heard all week.

Yours in writing,

Sarah XXX

Dream Editorial Feedback

Dear Fellow Writers and Readers,I got the most wonderful email from my editor today - the kind of feedback that makes all the hard slog so worthwhile. So I wanted to share it with you. I've taken out any spoilers, don't worry. I got an equally lovely one from my other editor too, a fab young editor I'm having such fun working with. I do hope you all get emails like this some time in the future. Yours in writing, SarahXXX

Dear Sarah

I just wanted to let you know how much I loved THE SHOESTRING CLUB. It's a really terrific, engaging and totally unputdownable read with wonderfully drawn characters. While it's incredibly warm and the humour is well done, there are some very dark moments which you've executed brilliantly. Julia is a complex character with whom the reader sympathises in every way - urging her on to find the right man in the end and to forget about . . . (spoiler) The scene where she confronts her. . . is so moving, and her Dad, Pandora and Bird are such a terrific support to her. It's so heartwarming Sarah, and has much about it which reminds me of Marian Keyes without being in the least derivative.

I've always enjoyed your books Sarah, but I really feel this one is a big step up and we're all confident that it will bring you the success you so deserve. I know . . . is really enjoying working with you on the book. We'll be doing proofs for this one so we'll be sure to get them for . . . in good time.

So let us know when you're over here so that . . . and I can take you both to lunch.

More on Titles

The title for the next Ask Amy Green book – book 4 in the series – has recently changed from Party Drama-rama to Love and Other Drama-ramas. And it was difficult enough to find a new title. The story changed quite a bit at editorial stage, so the old title didn’t really fit anymore. Originally Sylvie’s hen party (Amy’s mum) was a big part of the book, but now it plays a less important role. So ‘party’ didn’t work. Back to the drawing board.

The book is mainly about a boy called Bailey Otis who is Mills’s new boyfriend in the first few chapters, but (spoiler alert!) something happens and he changes utterly and lets her down.

So it’s about family ties, boys, the nature of friendship, and loss. Here are some of the titles I came up with:

Friends and Other Drama-ramas (from the start we were all keen on the word drama-rama) Double Drama-ramas Dublin Drama-rama The Friendship Drama-rama Dates and Other Drama-ramas Disaster/Dizzying Dilemma (and a lot of other d words!) Double Dilemma Friends and Frenemies Boys and Other Drama-ramas

But none of them were quite right. So then my lovely editor, Annalie came up with Love and Other Drama-ramas. And I breathed a sigh of relief. It just seemed . . . right. The book is – at its heart – about love and all the drama that goes with it. The search was over.

Some titles come easily. From the very start the first Amy Green was Boy Trouble, simple. The next one – Summer Secrets – again, easy. Although the word ‘Summer’ can be a tricky one as sometimes bookshops won’t stock ‘summer’ books in the depths of winter. A discussion for another day. And Bridesmaid Blitz – again easy!

Books 5 and 6 are (at the moment) called Dancing Daze and Wedding Belles. But book 4 was always a sticky one for some reason. Sometimes titles are just difficult. Doesn’t mean the book isn’t brilliant of course. And I ADORE Amy 4. Hope my readers will do. It’s out in September so we’ll have to wait and see. With a brand new cover look for all the titles.

I think the best titles are simple, catchy, easy to remember and either sum up the book perfectly or give a taste or a mood of the book.

My Sister Lives on the Mantlepiece is a recent example of a memorable title. It’s about a teenage who literally lives on the mantelpiece – in a jar – as she was blown up by terrorists. No, not subtle, but very, very strong image don’t you think?

Wuthering Tights – another good one.

Billionaire Boy – simple yet effective.

Names work well – especially unusual, funny or odd names – Skulduggery Pleasant, Judy Moody, Coraline. Alliteration can also work well – Bridesmaid Blitz.

For romantic comedy, song titles or well known sayings can be good – Always the Bridesmaid, The Loving Kind (yep, I borrowed them both!). My latest adult one (out next spring) is called The Shoestring Club. It’s about two sisters who run a second hand designer shop called Shoestring (designer clothes on a shoestring is their slogan). It’s simple and I think it works.

Above all, make your title interesting and make it say something about the book. The one title I’m not all that keen on of my own titles is Some Kind of Wonderful. It doesn’t really say anything about the book. I should have put more thought into it to be honest.

So do think carefully about your title, it’s important. And if you’re having problems coming up with something good, ask for help. Sometimes us writers are too close to our own work to see the wood for the trees.

Good luck with finding the right title for your own book.

Yours in writing,

Sarah XXX

What Makes a Good Book? An Editor's View

Right, a quick blog on what makes a good book, prompted by an Irish Pen meeting last night. The following comments were made by the panel - Ciaran Carty, Patricia Deevy, Bob from The Gutter Bookshp and Margaret (a reader):

Ciaran Carty, ex film critic of The Sunday Tribune, has moved New Irish Writing to a new home at the Irish Independent. Good new for short story writers. He's looking for original stories with something special at thier heart - he said their is no 'type' of story he wants in particular, anything goes!

The stories will now appear on the last Sat of every month in the Irish Indo. New Irish Writing has been running since 1988 and it’s great to see it continue. It's a good shop window for new writers and people like Martina Devlin and Joe O'Connor and John Boyne are past 'New Irish Writers'.

He believes good books are made by good readers.

Patricia Deevy from Penguin Ireland was also most interesting.

She spoke as her role as an editor and what she is looking for in a ‘good’ book to publish. ON editing - she said that good writers are keen to be edited as they know it makes their work better – very true.

‘Writers must believe in what they are doing,’ she said. ‘They have to express clearly what they want to say and their book has to come from somewhere deep inside them.’

She suggested that the best books give readers an immersive experience – which is an excellent way of describing it. She also said that popular fiction is the result of a lot of hard work (hear, hear!) and that writers need to be ambitious and to push the boundaries. Above all she wanted to see original books. And no copy cat books please, or books written to a formula.

Patricia only took on one new novelist last year – one! Scary statistic!

Bob Johnson from The Gutter Bookshop said reading gives writers an understanding of how books work. He also said that originality is vital and he only accepts one in every ten books he is shown as a book buyer.

And a reader, Margaret shared her loved of Little Women and a book called South Riding. She said a good book is like falling in love – you want to spend as much time as possible with the object of your affection.

All in all, an interesting evening.

Yours in writing,

Sarah XXX

Extra Skills Modern Writers Need

I’ll have to be quick today as I have a book waiting to be line edited, another which needs a first edit, and yet another which needs to be written. But I’ll do this first (see how much I love you, people!).

There was an interesting piece in yesterday’s Sunday Business Post about journalism – Romantic journalism is dead and gone by Aileen O’Meara. In it she says: ‘To be on top of the game, an newspaper journalist now has to be effectively be a multimedia producer . . . surf the net, update a Twitter account and a blog, offer an audio version of breaking news and self-podcast what happened, and carve out a career as a good performer on both radio and television panels.’

It got me thinking about writers, and what they are now expected to do.

Multimedia – check. I’ve written about this before – websites, blogs, social networking – all useful ways to stay connected with your readers.

Surf the net – looking for ideas for blogs and to keep up to date – check (along with reading the newspapers, keeping an ear on the radio and an eye on the television).

Update a Twitter account – check – along with Facebook if you write for children and/or YA, or if you write popular fiction.

Offer an audio version of breaking news – no. But writers are increasingly posting audio or video clips of themselves reading or talking about their books. In Ireland, O’Brien Press are taking the lead her with short, snappy, to camera pieces by their authors, posted on their website (and on Facebook).

Performing – check – CHECK I should say. You need to be able to engage with your audience live – children, teens or adults. It is no longer good enough to stand in front of any audience and simply read your work (unless you are J K Rowling or Roddy Doyle who both read so wonderfully). You need to be able to perform. And for people who spend most of their time behind a desk, inventing characters and scenes in their heads, this is pretty darn terrifying. But with a lot of work and practice, it can be done. It’s only taken me 15 years to be comfortable in front of an audience – adults still make me a bit nervous, kids not so much.

Radio and television – check – you must be able to promote your book for it to stand out. You must also be able to write newspaper columns and articles when publication time comes around.

And you must do all this while writing your next book and editing your previous book!

See, being a writer is a doddle. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

And later this week I’ll talk about what characteristics writers need to be successful.

Yours in writing,

Sarah XXX

More on Literary Agents

I was prompted by a feature by Catherine Heaney in today’s The Gloss (The Irish Times magazine) to write about agents. The piece is mainly about Irish agents and I’ve often been asked why I don’t have an Irish agent. I’m represented by Lucas Alexander Whitley, LAW, and in particular Philippa Milnes-Smith and Peta Nightingale. They are based in central London.

Catherine’s piece mentions the Irish agents Faith O’Grady, Marianne Gunn O’Connor and Jonathan Williams who was the first agent in Ireland (he set up in 1986) and last year received over 2,800 submissions. He says ‘the standard hasn’t necessarily improved. I think the sad fact is that there are more people writing than reading.’

Claire Kilroy is also interviewed. She said she went to London to meet with several agents before deciding on Simon Trewin at United Agents. She says ‘I went with the one I felt I could speak most openly to, and who spoke most openly back.’ Simon also represents John Boyne.

Also mentioned are agents Peter Straus (who represents Colm Toibin and Hugo Hamilton), Ivan Mulcahy (Hugo Arnold and Domini Kemp), Ed Victor (Edna O’Brien and John Banville) and Derek Johns (Sebastian Barry and Paul Murray), all based in London.

So why, like many other Irish authors, did I chose an agent based in London?

1/ They represent authors who write for children and for adults (and who write for both). As I write across the age groups, this was important to me.

2/ They have an amazing stable of authors – Sophie Kinsella on the adult side, Chris Riddell and Paul Stewart on the children’s. Not to mention Justin Somper, Linda Chapman, Steve Cole and . . . you get the drift.

3/ Philippa used to be the MD of Puffin Books, London. She knows her stuff. As does Peta.

4/ They were recommended to be by an author I know well and trust. And he very kindly gave me an email intro to Philippa.

5/ They are based in London. My publishers are based in London. A lot of launches, meetings, and book fairs take place in London. It makes sense to have an agent also based in London if you want to make writing your career.

6/ I met Philippa and Peta in person before signing with them and really liked them both. And they keep me on my toes writing-wise. I’m working harder on my writing than I’ve ever worked before. Which is great.

What you need in an agent:

1/ Someone who knows what they are doing in Ireland, the UK and internationally.

2/ Someone who does not gush about your work and your ideas (unless they really are brilliant of course!). You need honesty. You need to be able to rely on their opinion and their opinion needs to be consistent.

3/ Someone you can trust. They will be dealing with your financial affairs after all.

4/ Someone who is in London a lot for business or is based in London. Or if your main market is New York, is based New York. Or someone who is willing to travel to all the major book fairs to sell your work and keep in touch with the larger publishing world.

5/ Someone with a track record of getting good deals for authors. Ask an agent who they represent. This will tell you a lot.

6/ Someone with proven experience in contract law – book contract law – this is a must.

But here’s the thing – it’s very, very hard to find a good agent. They already have a lot of writers on their books. They only take on people they know they can work with and are serious about writing as a career.

The good new is this – if you book is good enough and if you are dedicated to writing in the long term, and if an agent thinks there is a market for your book/books - you will find a good agent. And agents do take on writers who show great potential but haven’t quite got to the publishable stage yet.

So take heart – there is someone out there to represent you.

How to find a good agent:

1/ Ask any authors you know for a recommendation. A caveat – never use their name on a letter to an agent unless they have given you the go ahead to do so.

2/ If you write popular fiction, there are generally acknowledgements at the front or back of the book. This will tell you who the writer’s agent is – as most people thank their agent. Make a list of these agents, find out where they work - what agency - and approach them.

3/ Any up to date Writers and Artists’ Handbook will list agents – check out the websites and they will tell you how to submit. Only submit to agents who deal with your genre/age group. Otherwise you are wasting your time.

4/ Go to How to Get Published talks that agents are speaking at and approach them. Politely of course. Introduce yourself. Ask can you send them your manuscript. If you join Irish Pen (google it), they hold twice yearly getting published events for writers.

5/ Try some newer or up and coming agents. Find this info in The Bookseller magazine – you can find it in your local library - or google it – it has a website and news pages. If you write for children join Children’s Books Ireland and go to some of their events. Ditto Irish Pen. Talk to other writers – find out a little about the publishing world and new agents that way. (As always, the writers who do their homework win in the end!)

And do meet an agent in person if possible before you sign with them. And don’t be afraid to ask them questions. Be yourself but your best self when you meet them! (And yes, it’s nerve wracking - I was very nervous when I met Philippa and Peta for the first time – it’s natural to be nervous!). You need to know you can work together. You don’t have to be best friends, but you do have to get on and like each other!

15% is the standard rate agents charge. And yes, it is worth it. I often hear quibbles about this from (funnily enough) unpublished writers. Good agents earn their money many times over – believe me.

Best of luck finding a good agent!

Yours in writing,

Sarah XXX

My Favourite Books on Writing

I just did this short piece for my friend's new website - www.writing.ie which will go live very soon - more news on that anon. But for now - some of my very favourite books on writing and some quotes - one mine, one by E L Doctorow.

Enjoy! Yours in Writing, Sarah X

PS Some interesting stuff coming up next week blog wise on the most overused things in YA fiction - triggered by a great piece in the latest SCBWI magazine - including irresponsible parents (Jackie Wilson), characters who like 80s/90s music (of the era when the writer was at school - very common all right!), and clumsy characters (a la Bella in Twilight). Are you guilty? Lots more next week . . . stay tuned!

Books

If you want to or do write popular fiction, or kind of fiction really, the best book I’ve ever read on the subject is without doubt On Writing by Stephen King. It’s funny, inspiring and honest.

The best book on getting published is From Pitch to Publication by Carole Blake, an invaluable guide from an agent who really knows her stuff.

And the best book on living a writer’s life is The Right to Write by Julia Cameron Succinct, direct and truthful, a book I come back to over and over again if I’m in need of a little writerly pick me up.

Others I’ve found useful are:

The Forest for the Trees: An Editor’s Advice to Writers by Betsy Lerner (American - get on Amazon or order in your local bookshop!) A fascinating book described as ‘a riveting safari through the wilds of a writer’s brain.’ Ever wondered what exactly editors think about when faced with a manuscript, then this is the book for you!

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott is more memoir than writing guide, but is very entertaining. And finally, Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg, billed as how to ‘free the writer within’ is another good writerly pick-me-up.

My favourite writing quote is this one:

Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way. E L Doctorow

The true secret of writing: bum glue. A good dollop every day, no excuses, no exceptions. It’s the only way you’ll ever finish a book. Bum glue and damn hard work. Sarah Webb (moi!)

What Children Have Taught Me About Writing

My New Year’s Blog Resolution This year the focus of this blog from now on will be WRITING for both adults and children. It will be aimed at writers of all kinds and all ages – new, old, experienced, just starting out. Those interested in getting published and those hoping to stay published!

It will also cover marketing and promoting your book, author interviews, book trade interviews and reviews. When I work out how to do it, I will a/ come up with a good name for the blog – it is currently The Launch Lizard but as there are less and less of these happening it is due for a change and b/ when I can nab my lovely webguy and get him to change it, along with a lot of other website updates – note to self - must find time, must make time, must get on with it!

This is the first blog of 2011 – so Happy New Year and I hope 2011 is a good writing one for you all. If anyone is interested in guest blogging, do let me know. Laura C? Claire? David M? Luisa? I know you’re out there, you can run but you can’t hide!

If you like this blog, please tell your friends about it. It will also be posted on my Facebook page and Twitter page. Yes, I’m attempting to Twitter this year as I have adult readers and I’m told by David Maybury (www.davidmaybury.com) that I must!

So to: What Children (and Young Teens) Have Taught Me About Writing

As always I must prefix the following post by saying I write popular fiction, and proud of it. For all ages - young and young at heart. But most of this relates to all kinds of writing (but maybe not poetry!).

I met over 3,000 young readers in 2010 and this is what I found out:

1/ The importance of character over plot If I wrote crime fiction or thrillers this might not be the case - but it’s what all young readers remember most about a book – the characters. Make them memorable Make them realistic Make them BIG and have BIG problems My new adult novel (not out until 2012 – sorry, it took a lot of thinking and work!) has some huge but realistic characters. The main character, Julia, is hard work in the ‘If you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure don’t deserve me at my best’ mode.

2/ The importance of getting to the point – quickly No waffling around No over long descriptions No sub plots that go nowhere fast and detract from the main story Story, story, story – and no getting distracted

3/ The importance of using words readers can understand and relate to Yes, be clever with language Yes, of course stretch your readers a bit by using unusual words in the right context so they can work out the meaning Yes, be creative with your descriptions But don’t alienate the reader by using a big, complex word when a simple one will do Even in books for ‘big’ people!

4/ The importance of making your dialogue sing Children like dialogue – when it’s realistic and funny and fast and snappy They hate boring, pointless dialogue – don’t we all?!

5/ Make it FUNNY Number one thing young readers love is funny – a good old belly laugh.

6/ Make it SAD They also love sad (esp the girls) Who knew? Young readers like a good cry just as much as older readers. Don’t be afraid of strong using strong emotions.

7/ The importance of having something to say Sounds simple – well it’s not. Young readers are pretty sophisticated. They pick up on themes, mood, atmosphere pretty quickly. Use this.

8/ Make every word count Children’s books (the Amy Green kind) are 30k to 50k long. There’s no room for messing about. If you’re not sure of a scene, cut it. Cut, cut, cut! If a book works without a scene, it shouldn’t have been there in the first place.

9/ Boring is bad, exciting is good Claudia Carroll’s first commandment of popular fiction holds true for all ages: Thou Shalt Not Bore!

10/ The opening is VITAL If a young reader doesn’t like the first page, she or he won’t read on. Simple as that. They don’t care that their parent has spent good money on a book. They don’t care how many awards the book has won. They have better things to be doing with their time, than reading a sub standard book. Don’t lose your reader on the first page!

11/ Young readers are very loyal and love revisiting characters For young readers, characters are friends. And they love revisiting friends. Which is why they love series. Adults aren’t all that different – look at Marple, Scarpetta (when she was good!), Harry Potter, the Shopaholic books. Maybe adult writers should write more series too! Funnily enough my new adult books are in a series – fancy that – The Shoestring Club, The Shoestring Proposal. And if they do well, there may very well be more Shoestrings in the pipeline. Who knows?!

12/ They love meeting or connecting with the people who write the books they love – that would be me and maybe you (if you’re also a writer). In fact they expect to be able to contact writers, plain and simple and they take if quite personally if you don’t write back. I’ve been told exactly who does and doesn’t write back to readers, folks – the children and teens love telling me this - but no, I’m not going to out them. So be a non-replier at your peril!!! There is no excuse not to have a Facebook page, blog, website, Twitter account (for adult authors – children and teens don’t get Twitter) and to connect with your readers. Besides, it’s fun. And great when you’re looking for a distraction or a water cooler moment when you’re supposed to be writing . . . ahem, that would be me! Better get back to my Amy Green 4 edits . . .

Yours in writing,

Sarah XXX

How I Write a Book – Step 2

As I’m snowed in with the kids – no school - I can’t write fiction or edit as they are too distracting and keep asking me daft questions about food (daughter’s obsession) and trains (son’s), but I can blog! Lucky you, eh?! This is the second in the occasional series on How I Write a Book – part 1 was on ideas, characters etc. This one is on plotting and getting started. I’ll use The Shoestring Club as an example as it’s the book I’m working on at the moment.

Darn, my fingers are so cold I can hardly type – OK, quick hand heat on the aga and here we go.

Now first the disclaimer: Every writer writes in a very, very different way. This is just the way I do it. And I’m certainly not suggesting it will work for everyone. It doesn’t even work for me sometimes! So take everything I say with a large sea rock of salt.

First comes 1/ The Initial Idea and 2/ The Characters or sometimes 1/ The Characters and 2/ The Idea I will also know my genre and age group – easy choices for me – but maybe not for everyone. For more details see the previous post ‘How I Write a Book Step 1 – you will find it in This Writer’s Life’.

So once I have my initial idea and characters, I start plotting the whole book. Before I start writing chapter one I will have a good idea of the date the book starts – yes, the actual date – 1st May, 3rd June etc – I use a calendar for this to make it accurate and I’ve taken to writing the date of the particular scene after the chapter number – it helps with the editing process and my editors appreciate it. It makes sense really, don’t know why I didn’t do it before. The dates come out for the final edit and book of course.

I then decide how long the book will span – a month, a year etc. Then I pick my starting point – usually this is bang in the middle of the action. I sometimes open with dialogue, mainly involving my main character. But don’t worry about openings yet, get your first draft down, that’s the nb thing!

Back to plotting. I grab my yellow legal notebook – always yellow – and start at chapter one and map out the different scenes. Now, these always change when I write the actual chapters, but it gives me the confidence to start writing. And then I update the plot plan constantly as I go along.

Think about your characters and your plot as often as you can – when walking, commuting, showering, in bed etc. The more you think, the easier it will be to write. KNOW YOUR CHARACTERS. I can’t say it often enough. You will get to know them even better during your drafts too.

In the case of The Shoestring Club I knew exactly how the last 1/3 of the book was going to play out as I’d thought about it so much, and knew the characters backwards, and when it came to writing the scenes, they played out in my head and I just wrote what I was seeing happen. It’s a hard thing to describe, but if you know your characters and know how they will act and respond to different situations, it just flows. Sometimes my plot notes are vague and short, it’s just a quick sketch of a scene – here are the notes for the early chapters of The Shoestring Club. I’ve added bits in brackets to explain a bit.

Chapter 1 In the shop – Shoestring Pandora and Jules (Jules is the main character, Pandora is her sister) Flashback to what happened to Jules at Ed and Lainey’s engagement party (Ed is Jules’s ex and Lainey is her ex best friend) Chapter 2 Arietty comes into shop Arietty and Jules conspire over coffee to set up the Shoestring Club to share the dress The Shoestring Club is a time-sharing club for designer dresses. (Shoestring is the name of Pandora’s shop where Jules works. It’s a second hand designer shop.) Chapter 4 Ed comes into the shop – Jules upset – Bird (her granny who also works in the shop) sees how upset she is Flashback to Jules and her mum – Kirsten – dies when Jules is 9 – background of her relationship with Pandora etc

This all changed a lot and the early chapters are now completely different – but it gave the first draft a structure and allowed me to start writing in the first place.

The Opening

For the first draft, just start writing. Don’t agonise for weeks over your opening, just write. Fix the opening later.

So now you have 1/ your idea 2/ your characters 3/ some sort of plot plan (not everyone plots – if you are the kind of person who likes to know where their passport is weeks before a holiday, you may be a plotter!). The next step is writing the first draft. And to be honest, it’s just hard graft. But next time I’ll deal with motivation and the sticky half way point. Until then, happy writing.

And Happy Christmas and New Year’s of course. I hope all your writing dreams come true in 2011.

Yours in writing, Sarah XXX

Rejection - Get Used to It!

This week a very polite Transition Year student emailed me. He's writing a piece for the Irish Indo on rejection and asked had my work ever been rejected. Well the answer is yes, of course! Most writers if not all have had to deal with some sort of rejection. It's part of the writing game. So you'd better get used to it.Here's what I told him:

My first book, KIds Can Cook was rejected six times before it was finally published by Children's Press. Every time the postman knocked on the door and handed my manuscript back to me in a self-addressed jiffy bag, my heart sank. But I was determined, so I kept sending it out to different publishers. I was twenty-five at the time, and I knew had a good hook and hadn't been done before, so I just kept trying. As Beckett once said 'Try again. Fail again. Fail better.'

Eventually it was picked up and published and became a very successful book. The experience taught me three things: 1/ to write what you love and are passionate about 2/ to do your market research (esp if you want to write popular fiction or non fiction) 3/ to never give up.

Writers must have or develop a thick skin. Even now I get ideas for books turned down by my agent or my publishers, because they are not good enough or not quite right for the market, or it's been done before.

Writing is a tough job, but the rewards - for me, readers who get what I'm trying to say - are worth it. But it's hard work and you have to have a lot of self belief. Being stubborn also helps! Boy does being stubborn help!

I met a professional dancer the other day in RTE who has worked on the X-Factor and other huge shows - we were both on a children's show called Elev8 - and he was asked the secret of his success. Hard work he said. And sticking with it. And going to dance class every day you're not working and keeping fit.

It's a lot like writing. The secret: hard work, daily practice and sticking with it.

Better take my own advice and get back to the writing now!

Yours in writing,

Sarah XXX

Writing in November

Hi All, Sorry I haven't been blogging much - Oct was manic! I did over 17 different school and library visits and spoke to over 1,000 children about writing - phew! It was fun but I'm glad to be back at my desk now, working on the new adult novel and re-writes for Amy Green 4.

November is a great writing month - it's dark, windy, wet and generally a bit depressing. Christmas is still a long way away (honest!), and there's no better time to get the head down and write. Or so I keep telling myself.

I was hoping not to have to do much Amy Green 4 rewriting and tweaking - but that was not to be. My editors thought otherwise! And I trust them 100% and now that I'm getting started on the rewrites I know that they are 110% right, it needs work. The bones are there, the characters are there, the emotion is there, I just have to wrestle it all into line a bit. I do tend to throw everything into every book I write, which can be confusing for the reader. But I've restructure it, I know what I have to do, and there's light at the end of the tunnel.

The adult novel is 3/4 finished - I've had to take a short break to work on the Amy Green edits - but again, I know exactly where I'm going.

I actually like rewriting once I get stuck in. It's when you start seeing patterns and themes that can be brought out more and woven into the early chapters more. It's a really important part of the writing process. Amy Green 4 has already been rewritten 8 times. This new rewrite is number 9. And I'm sure there will be at least 2 or 3 more before it's finished. Probably about 12 in total which is pretty average for me! Sounds like a lot, some writers do as many as 30 or 40 rewrites before they are happy.

I've pasted an interview with The Star below. As I'm not a reader, I have no idea when I ran (oops), but you might find some of it interesting or useful. At the very least it will keep you off Facebook! Watch out for the bit when she asks me about keeping slim for book publicity!!! As if!!!

Yours in writing,

Sarah XXX

(From The Star, Ireland)

1) The writing industry is notoriously hard to get into. How did you get your foot in the door?

The honest answer is that I worked hard and I didn't take no for an answer. And luckily for me, what I love to write - popular fiction - is what people love to read. I had published several children's books when I approached Poolbeg with three chapters of an adult novel, which they accepted immediately. But it took me a long time to get my first book, Kids Can Cook, published.

2) Did you suffer many knockbacks? How did you handle rejection?

A lot of publishers rejected Kids Can Cook, but I kept sending it out until I found someone, Children's Press, who said yes. I was 25 when it was published, so I handled the rejection quite well. I'm not sure I'd handle it so well now. At the time I was determined to get it into print, so I refused to take no for an answer.

3) Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?

No. I wanted to be a ballerina for years! But I knew I wanted to work with books. And I did - I was a bookseller for many years and still work with bookshops as a consultant to this day. Bookshops are amazing places to work. Once I was surrounded by books all day, meeting authors, I realised that I wanted to have one of my own books on the shelves.

4) Which authors inspired you growing up?

Judy Blume on the children's book side - she's amazing - utterly fearless. Maurice Sendak for picture books, an amazing artist and writer. And on the popular fiction side, Maeve Binchy was hugely inspirational - she lived down the road and was so loved and so popular world wide. And more recently, Marian Keyes. Another amazing writer.

6) You're a bestseller in fiction aimed at women. How do you come up with new stories to tell? Are your books based on your real-life experiences?

I don't have any problem coming up with characters and plots - my head is full of both! Settling on one idea can be a problem however. I'm blessed with a vivid imagination. Yes, some of my books use real life situations, twisted and changed to suit the plot. So they are not biographical, but real events certainly shape and inform them.

7) Do you watch Sex and the City at all? Do you think the show has popularised the romantic fiction genre and made readers more open to reading about love/sex/relationships? Do you enjoy reading it yourself?

Yes, I used to watch the television series. Hated the second film though. I felt it wasn't in the spirit of the tv series. No, I think women were reading about relationships long before the show. But I'm more of a Grey's Anatomy girl to be honest!

8) What advice would you give to aspiring writers of fiction? What do you think is the key to writing a good popular fiction novel?

Advice - read. And keep reading. Every writer I know is a huge reader. Be honest in your work. Write with joy, approach the page with a good attitude and keep writing as often as you can. The key - brilliant characters that people can identify with and grow to love. For me, fiction is all about fantastic characters. Benny in Circle of Friends, Rachel in Rachel's Holiday.

9) How do you feel about the plethora of celebrities writing autobiographies and tell-all books? Do you think they downgrade the writing industry by relying on sensationalism so much?

I can't comment because I've never actually read one to be honest.

10) How are you finding writing for the teen genre? What made you interested in doing this? Do you find your children are living in a very different world to the one you grew up in? Do your kids read your books a lot?

I adore writing for young teens. They are the best audience in the world. I get dozens of emails a week from young readers, asking me about the books and telling me about their lives which is amazing and I'm so flattered they want to share things with me.

I've always worked in children's books - I was and still am a children's bookseller and I review children's books regularly for papers and magazines. My first books were children's books, I got distracted for a while by the adult fiction, but now I'm back, and doing both!

No, teenagers still have the same feelings and a lot of the same problems - they just have different ways of communicating now with Facebook, Bebo, mobiles etc. Their world is a bit faster, but as emotionally charged as ever. I don't find it all that different at all to be honest, not if you scratch the surface. Luckily I remember exactly what being 13 was like, very helpful for raising teens and writing about them! No, my son is 16 and has no interest in reading any of my books, and my other children are too young.

11) Can you tell me a bit about your children (names/ages/ whether or not they're showing any interest in writing or anything like that)?

None of my children are showing any interest in writing, but all are huge readers, so I'll wait and see. The youngest is only 4, so he's a Thomas the Tank man. The other two read all kinds of things. Sam, 16, is an action adventure fan, Muchmore, Horowitz, Colfer, and especially Landy. Amy, 7, loves picture books, she's very visual.

12) I see you're working on your tenth adult novel and your fourth Ask Amy Green novel. Can you tell me a bit about each? When will they be published?

The Shoestring Club, the next adult novel, will be published in Spring 2012 and is about three very different girls, one very special dress and an amazing friendship. I can't really say any more at the moment as I'm still writing it! But it's set in Dublin and is quite hard hitting, yet funny (I hope!). Ask Amy Green 4: Party Drama-rama is about the hen party Amy organises for her mum and also about a very special boy with a huge secret. It's finished now and I'm a bit in love with it I must admit - I hated finishing it! It's out next May, 2011.

13) When you write a book these days, you're expected to publicise it, go on TV etc. Do you feel pressure to look slim as a result? Do you diet / exercise / eat healthily?

Slim? Jeepers, I've never been asked that before! No, not at all. Healthy, yes. I try to be as healthy as I can. But I am happy with the way I look and don't want to change anything really. I walk a lot and do yoga every week. I think it's important to give teen girls the message that being happy in your own skin is vital. So when I talk to them, I like to be myself, flaws and all!

14) Finally, have you got any favourite beauty products? What are your favourite shops and designers?

I use a lot of Clinique as it works for me and is easy to get in airports etc. My favourite shop is Stock Xchange, a second hand designer shop in Dun Laoghaire. I love second hand shops, you never know what you're going to find! I also like Rococco in Sandycove which has a lot of bright, fun clothes, and great staff; and Seagreen in Monkstown has great sales. Designers - I tend to be a bit of a mix and matcher, so I have all kinds of bits from different designers, mostly picked up second hand.

How Important is Your Book's Title?

How Important is Your Book’s Title? Tips on attracting the right kind attention for your book . . . How important is a book’s title? In a word, vital. Good titles should reflect the content of the book. They should be short (or shortish) and snappy, they should suit the type of book you are writing. If it’s a crime novel, blood is good in a title. Not so good for popular fiction. And as it’s popular fiction I write, that’s what I’ll concentrate on now.

Who decides on a book’s title? Mostly the author. But if the sales and marketing team don’t like your chosen title, you’re in trouble. Sometimes it’s worth sticking to your guns, but often they have a point. All they care about is selling your book. They are not really interested in how many hours/days/weeks you’ve put into coming up with a clever title. Your editor might be, but it’s the sales and marketing team’s job to squeeze as many of your books into as many bookshops and supermarkets as possible, and in order to do this they demand a/ a good cover and b/ a good title – and it’s their job to complain if either are not right for their customers. And I’m always very grateful for their input. They are the ones who put my books on the shelves. And all any writer really wants is as many readers as possible, yes?

Some writers would probably recoil in horror from what I’m about to say – so avert your eyes if you must – in the case of one adult book, Anything for Love, I gave my editor a list of titles I liked and asked her to pick one, yes, asking the sales and marketing team for their input too. And they picked Anything for Love. And the other titles I suggested – well, here you go – which one would you choose?

The Charity Queens – as they don’t use the term in the UK this was rejected very quickly Taking on the Charity Queens – see above

Girl Friday – also rejected – funnily enough, Jane Green used this title for one her books last year and I still like it can't recall why they didn't to be honest!

Her Girl Friday - bit clunky

A Girl Called Alice - boring

I like Anything for Love as a title but I don’t LOVE it. It doesn’t really say much about the book.

The next adult book, The Shoestring Club, now I LOVE that title, and it was one I came up with and liked from the start. The book is out in 2011 and already has a stunning new cover look.

I think titles work best when they SAY something about the book. My Ask Amy Green series is about a girl – Amy Green – who helps people, and also helps write an agony aunt column for a teen magazine. The first book is called Boy Trouble, then there’s Summer Secrets, Bridesmaid Blitz, Party Drama-rama, Dancing Daze, and Wedding Belles. All are directly linked to the plot. And I’m very pleased with each and every title. All were easy to come up with, except for Party Drama-rama.

Here were some of my suggestions: Party Girls Party Madness Party Drama-rama Dublin Drama-rama Dizzy in Dublin Party Pandemonium (I liked this but I wasn’t sure younger readers would know what Pandemonium - or Palooza, another of my suggestions – actually meant) Party Planners It’s a Girl Thing – this is a bit lazy actually – and it’s been used before Glitter Girls Friends and Fireworks Parties and Promises It’s My Party

Some of which are actually pretty good. But I was finding it hard to settle on one, so I sent the list to my editors, who spoke to sales and marketing and ta, da, it’s Party Drama-rama which suits the book perfectly!

So there you go, some inside info on the work and thought process that goes into a title.

Is this helpful to you – probably not! But I hope it’s interesting.

Above all pick a title that’s easy to remember, says something about the book, and suits the type of book you have written. Song titles work well – think of Marian Keyes’s ‘This Charming Man’, as do expressions like ‘Always the Bridesmaid’, but only if they suit the book and haven’t been over used. Above all, make sure it’s not boring.

As Claudia Carroll always says, the first commandment of popular fiction is: Thou Shall Not Bore – quite right too, Claudia!

So Clara Story doesn’t cut it, and neither does The Story of Clara; but Clara's Secret, or The Clara Affair - now you’re talking . . .

Yours in writing,

Sarah XXX

Be Careful Not to Show Your Age

Remember the days of gr8 and l8r? Thinking of using them in your YA novel to make your teens ‘cool’ and ‘hip’. Think again! These days a lot of teens have iphones, along with predictive text, and they’ve gone back to using complete sentences. Using l8r will date your writing. Other things date writing too – brand names that are popular at a particular moment in time, bands, magazines, radio shows, movies.

Looking back through my first Amy Green, I realise now that I should have used a fictional social networking site instead of Bebo. Most teens have shifted to Facebook these days, and in the US Bebo is practically unknown.

I also included Irish band, The Script, mainly because it’s one of my teen editor’s favourite bands (and she’s fab!). And luckily three years on The Script and still going strong. Along with the X Factor and other ‘brands’ I mentioned.

But in the latest book, Ask Amy Green: Bridesmaid Blitz (out in Oct), I took care not to mention any brands at all unless they were ones with ‘sticking power’, or are widely recognised, like Coke or X Factor. In the books I now have made up telly shows instead of real ones, and fictional bands like The Golden Lions and The Colts (these were also in books 1 and 2).

However I continued with the D4s (who are the mean girls in Amy Green), the Crombies (boys who wear designer gear and play rugby), the Emos and the Goths, as these all play an integral part in Amy Green’s life and hopefully will be around for a while to come.

In the adult book I’m currently writing, set in a second hand designer shop, I have lots of fictional labels – Faith Farenze, Maeve Fabien – and I’m delighted to report that my agent thought they actually existed, which means they must seem authentic. I have also used some real labels with sticking power – Gucci, Prada, Chanel.

So, are you dating your work? Have a look and see.

Yours in writing,

Sarah XXX

Don't Give Up, Not Now!

Don’t Give Up – Not Now! I met up with a friend yesterday who is writing for children. Her book is fantastic but she’s had a few rejections – perfectly normal state of affairs, even for fab books.

She’s been chipping away, trying to get published for eighteen months now. She’s been doing all the right things – going to Children’s Books Ireland talks on getting published, keeping her eye out for new children’s publishers and agents and submitting her book to them (jeepers, some of them take so long to get back to people – and some don’t even acknowledge that they have received a manuscript which is so tough on writers), reading award winning children’s books, writing new books . . . but she’s starting to get disillusioned.

‘I feel like giving up, Sarah,’ she said. ‘Is there any point in going on?’

‘Don’t give up,’ I told her. ‘You’re nearly there. Do you have any idea how many people drop out of writing at this stage? You’re eighteen months ahead of those starting out, and if you keep going you’ll be even more ahead. You’re building up contacts, getting your name out there, finding out about the publishing business. Please, don’t give up, not now!’

She promised she’d keep going. And you know something, I have every confidence that she’ll get there. She has a lovely quirky writing voice, an equally lovely personality, a great sense of humour, and most importantly she’s willing to work hard. I have 100% faith in her.

I know how hard it can be to keep going when you have no idea if you’ll ever get published. So today I have some advice.

Here are the most useful things I can tell you writer to writer:

1/ Read – especially in the age group/area you are interested in writing for – read library/bookshop recommendations, award winners, bestsellers etc. If you want to write crime, romance, thrillers – you must have good idea of the market and the conventions of the genre (before you smash the conventions apart if you want to!).

If you want to write for children – you must be aware of what modern children like – and what works in a children's book. Also exactly what age you are writing for - the under 6s, early readers, confident readers, 8 to 10, 9 to 11, 11+, teen/YA. I have been asked to write more family stories/drama/romance for teens – so there must be a market for it. Publishers are also looking for good novels for girls of 8+. And adventure books with a twist are very strong at the moment – as is horror. Seek out Eoin Colfer, Darren Shan, Derek Landy, and Michael Scott.

2/ Write because you have something important to say – something you are passionate about – your book must have a message/say something to the reader If you are writing for children - write remembering just how it felt to be 4 or 7 or 9 or 13. Dig deep – use your memory – emotions don’t change – yes, kids now have bebo, facebook, mobiles – but they are just different ways of communicating – there has always been bullying, now it just comes in different forms.

3/ Connect with readers online – you must have a good blog or website – you can always write about books/bees/cookery if you don’t want to get personal.

4/ Take constructive criticism on your work – and not from your mother. You might find a librarian or teacher who will read your work – take on board what they say. When you are a published writer, editors have strong opinions (and may not always like everything about your book) – get used to taking advice and rewriting early in your writing career!

5/ Write from the heart – put lots of emotion on the page – don’t be afraid of strong emotion – and use your own emotions to write – if a sad scene – dig deep to a time you felt sad (think of it like acting on the page).

6/ Be optimistic and have a strong constitution – don’t get knocked back by the rejections – there will be many nos along the line – approach every writing day with as much energy and enthusiasm as you can – write with joy as Patrick Ness always says. I say – write with all your heart. Give 100% every time you sit down at your desk.

7/ Don’t give up – Think of Beckett – Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again, fail again, fail better!

8/ Here’s the thing - if your writing is good enough, and your ideas strong and original enough, you will get published, simple as that. Publishers need good books. Make yours one of them. You only need 1 editor to like your book (along with the marketing team of course) –you only need 1 yes – so stick to your guns and aim for that one almighty YES.

Yours in writing,

Sarah X

PS there is a getting published seminar on 11th Sept for adults interested in writing for children - check out www.childrensbooksireland.ie for details.

Want to Finally Write that Novel?

Piece I wrote for the Guide to Evening Classes - no harm in repeating the tips! SarahX Want to Finally Write that Novel? 6 Things That Just Might Help

So you want to finally write that book you’ve been talking about for years. You know the one, the story about an office/ad agency/warehouse/school, featuring quirky characters worthy of Marian Keyes, dialogue as cracking as Roddy Doyle’s, the wit of Oscar Wilde, the warmth of Maeve Binchy.

But here’s the thing, the ideas are all there, but every time you sit down at your computer to actually write the great Irish novel, you can’t get past page two. It’s a common problem. Luckily there are many things to can do to get over your writer’s hump.

1/ Read The great thing about reading is that you learn so much, it’s like a ‘how to write’ workshop right there in your hands - how to create characters who are so real they hop off the page, how to structure a plot, how to hold a reader’s attention . . . everything.

2/ Write It may sound obvious, but you learn to write by actually writing. Write as often as you can. The more practice you put in, the better you will be. Work those writing muscles! Try not to worry about what you are writing when you start out, the act of writing is the important thing and you can always go back and edit later.

Some people find it comforting to plan out their book carefully before they start writing, others jot down a lose plan and create character sketches, others just jump straight in the deep end. If you plan your life, and if asked could put your hand on your passport right now this second, you may also need to plan your book!

3/ Be Yourself When You’re Writing It’s not an easy thing to do, but it’s vitally important. Everyone has their own unique way of viewing the world, and their own unique writing voice. Use it.

4/ Start with a Bang Good books draw you in from the very first sentence. Try to start your own book or story in a fun, exciting way so your reader won’t be able to put it down. It’s vitally important that you catch your reader’s attention from the very first sentence.

Here’s an example from one of my own books: ‘Boys!’ Clover taps her pink gel pen against her top teeth, making a hollow rattling noise. ‘They never change.’ From Ask Amy Green: Boy Trouble.

5/ Never Give Up It took me a long time to get my first book published. But I kept trying. If being a writer is your dream, never give up. And stick that bum to the seat, bum glue, that's the real secret to getting published!

6/ Find a Writing Course That Suits You - and Sept is a great time to get motivated - think of it as your own personal back to school! Sometimes all you need is a wee push in the right direction to get you started. Luckily there are some great writing courses right across Ireland to help you achieve your dream. I’ve taught creative writing for many years now with Inkwell Writers, and I’m delighted to say many of the writers passing through the Inkwell doors are now published. It works! Good luck finding a course that is right for you.

Yours in writing, SarahX