Write That Book – Week 3 - Creating Characters

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My Latest Book (UK, Sept)

 So now we’ve reached week 3. The question is, have you been doing your homework? Good! If you've just joined us, it’s probably best to read weeks one and two before going any further.

In week 1 we dealt with motivation and starting to write, then we covered ideas and settings in week 2. This week we are dealing with characters. If you cannot write vivid, believable characters, then you cannot write good fiction, it’s as simple as that. Characters that linger in the mind long after you’ve read the last page make a book truly memorable. Think of Rachel Walsh in Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes, a highly flawed character, but a character readers identify with; or Bridget Jones in Helen Fielding’s wonderfully funny book (and film). Like her or loathe her, Bridget certainly continues to touch a universal nerve.

Creating believable characters is one of the most exciting and rewarding elements of being a writer. To write great characters you must know them as well as you know yourself. In her excellent book, From Pitch to Publication, agent Carole Blake says ‘To make the reader care for your characters and storyline, you must certainly care for them.’ And she's right.

So by now you have your general idea and your setting – next you need to create authentic and compelling characters. How? Read on.

Your characters must be three dimensional, and you, their creator must understand them and their motives for doing things, their passions, their fears, their dreams. Ponder real people’s motives. Why does your friend excuse her ex husband for regularly forgetting to ring his young daughter? Why does your sister think her husband is having an affair? Question why people do things all the time, make the world your laboratory.

Before you begin writing chapter one, here’s a practical tip that might work for you if you’re starting out. Get your notebook out and write character sketches for each of your main characters. Start off by giving them names. Choose these carefully. Try the phone book or a baby names book for ideas if your mind goes blank, but remember, the name must suit the character. Make the names interesting and memorable. No Mary or Jane Smiths please, unless you are making a point (maybe you want your character to feel anonymous – with apologies to any Marys or Janes out there!).

Here are the names I chose for my latest book, The Shoestring Club. I came up with the central book theme first – two sisters who run a second-hand designer shop, one sister going through some pretty awful things – losing her best friend, breaking up with her boyfriend, losing her job (we will talk about plotting next week); then I fixed on the setting, the second-hand designer clothes shop (Shoestring) in Monkstown, and the girls’ house in Dalkey.

Here are the main characters:

Julia Schuster (Jules, or Boolie) – she’s artistic and can be difficult

Pandora Schuster (never shortened) – she’s loyal and stubborn

Bird Schuster (their 70 year old granny) – strong and a little crazy

Arietty Pilgrim (their zoo keeper friend) – regal, clever, different

Lainey Anderson (Julia’s ex-best friend) – traditional dresser, but would like to be as quirky as Jules

Iris Schuster (Pandora’s 8 year old daughter) – sweet and bright

Remember – pick strong, memorable names that suit the character.

For more on naming characters in children’s books see here

One you have the names pinned down, build up a detailed character sketch or biography for each main character. You need to know everything. For example, their age and birthday (so few books have birthdays in them – I don’t think most writers think of giving their characters an actual birth date!). What type of person are they? Their height, hair colour, eye colour, size. Can they dance, play any instrument, sing? Do they have parents, siblings, friends?

What are their hopes, dreams, passions, disappointments? Do they have a dream job? Did they attend college/university? What did they study? What do they read, watch, listen to?

Here’s another tip: if you are finding it difficult to form a strong picture of what your character looks like, make her/him look like a real person but make modifications to suit. Give her/him the girl in the video shop’s curly hair, the milkman’s nose, the librarian’s smile. I wouldn’t suggest using friends or family for obvious reasons. Magazines are excellent for inspiration. If you see someone in the magazine you like the look of, tear the page out and keep the picture beside your character’s biography.

Continuity is another reason for keeping detailed character sketches (and this is vital if you are thinking of writing a series - this is called your 'Character Bible'). You don’t want your character’s eyes changing colour half way through the book; by keeping detailed physical notes, you can check back and get it right every time. Your editor will love you for it. Don’t have too many main characters. More than six and it gets confusing for the reader and for you.

And remember, your characters must be memorable. Make them BIG, larger than life. Make them feel things deeply. Don’t be afraid of making them too big, you can always tone them down at the editing stage (much more on editing later in the course).

In the Ask Amy Green books (age 10+), I have a character called Clover Wildgust. She’s brave, strong and completely wild; she has long white blonde hair and thinks more in terms of costume than fashion. She has a musician boyfriend, Brains, and she works in a teen magazine as the agony aunt. She’s a HUGE character and she’s also most of my readers’ favourite character. They identify with Amy but they want to be Clover.

Now get working on your own characters, because next week your characters will get the chance to tell their story as we move on to plot. And finally, some tips from another Irish writer, Cecelia Ahern.

If you have any questions or comments, please do post them below.

Happy writing!

Sarah X

 Writing Tips from Cecelia Ahern

(Read the full 10 tips from Amazon here)

1. Write about something you feel passionate about. You must write about something that evokes genuine emotions within yourself and not a piece of work you think other people want to read.

2. Listen to what your characters are telling you. If you're becoming bored with your story and are rushing by one part to get to another, then that means the reader will feel exactly the same. This means you're heading in the wrong direction in the book, you're taking the characters to a place that they don't want to go to. This is when you need to listen to your characters, I find that even though I'm trying to steer a story in one direction, the character is dragging me in another. When you listen to your characters it helps you stay away from going down the predictable route and you want to have your readers hanging on until the very last minute.

3. Always carry a pen and paper with you. You never know when an idea will jump into your head while you're out and about. I find that it's best to write while the idea is fresh in your mind as the words will flow more freely.

4. Keep a notebook of ideas. Even if you begin a story and it doesn't work, keep it for another time and it may work in the future when your mind has had the opportunity to think it over.

5. Give your work to somebody to read while you're writing. It's a good idea to choose someone who is open minded and willing to accept different ideas and not just one style of book. There's no point asking someone who loves only romances to read a book on crime. It's good to have a critical eye view your work, someone who is not attached to the story as you are.

More writing advice from Cecelia in Woman and Home here

Visit Cecelia’s website here

Write That Book - Week 2 - Genre, Ideas and Inspiration

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Welcome to week two of Write That Book.  This week we will talk a little more about ‘genre’ and also ideas and where they come from.

If you missed week one (and I’d recommend reading it before you go any further – you can find it on this blog), we talked about motivation, making the time to write, and ‘genre’, or the kind of book you’d like to write, for example: romance, romantic comedy, family/relationship drama, historical fiction, saga, crime, thriller, science fiction or fantasy. These are pretty broad genres and within each one there can be many sub-genres, like paranormal romance (Twilight). This course is useful for anyone who would like to write a book, but is most especially suited to those who are interested in writing popular fiction. I have published ten popular fiction novels, the latest being The Shoestring Club (out on 1st February in Ireland, UK in September), as well as many children’s books, so it’s a genre I know well.

While you are thinking about book ideas this week (more on that in a second), I would also advise you to get reading the best novels in your chosen genre, the award winners, the ‘word of mouth’ books your friends and family recommend, and the bestsellers. This may sound like a contradiction - but most great writers are also great readers. And where better to discover what works and what doesn’t work than between the covers of your favourite books? Stephen King says in his excellent book On Writing: ‘If you don’t have the time to read, you don’t have the time or the tools to write’.   

While reading, pay attention to the types of characters, the dialogue, the use of descriptive passages (if any), the length of the book, the style of writing. Is it written in the past or present tense? Is it first person (I woke up), or third person (Sarah woke up)? Let the books that you read inspire you but don’t try to imitate them in your own work unless you are writing fan fiction (fiction directly influenced by a particular writer, not for publication and mostly posted online on special fan sites). It is most important to be original and to have an original writing voice. It is your own unique writing voice, like your own speaking voice, that will make your book stand out from the crowd. More about voice later in the course.

Ideas and Inspiration

‘Where do you get your ideas?’ This is the most common question that writers are asked. It’s a difficult one to answer, as ideas come from all sorts of places: from magazines and newspapers; in shops and on buses; from people chatting; from travelling; from trying to imagine what would have happened if you had made a different choice in your life; from books; from plays and films; from dreams and daydreams. Ideas are all around you, just waiting to be soaked up. The core idea for a book could stem from something that has happened to you or to someone that you know. Many of my books are based on personal experiences, changed to fit the plot and suit the characters. I’d suggest that you start to keep a writing notebook right now and to jot down ideas as they pop into your head. Carry it with you at all times, you never know when inspiration might strike!

To give you an example of a practical way of finding inspiration I picked up Saturday’s Irish Times Magazine and here are some ideas I gleaned from its pages – these are settings/ideas/characters that might suit a romantic comedy: 1/ A girl who runs a vintage clothes store and what happens on her buying trips – inspired by an article on a shop in Kilkenny called Shutterbug (brilliant name!). In fact, my latest book, The Shoestring Club is set in a similar shop. 2/ The life of a young Irish fashion designer and fashion illustrator – great piece on rising stars of the Irish fashion world in the magazine. Some fascinating people with most interesting jobs. And we’ll be dealing with creating big, interesting characters next week. 3/ There is also a piece about two young Irish women who are working for a gourmet food store in New York – now a story using that bakcground would be brilliant, what a setting!

I also love finding unusual names in magazines and newspapers – in the same magazine there is a model called Danielle Winckworth – what a fantastic surname to borrow for a character. More on naming next week too – naming characters is so important. 

It’s vital that you chose something that you are passionate about and find fascinating to write about. Your subject must consume you. If it doesn’t, if it’s something that you decided to write about because it sounded like the kind of thing readers/agents/publishers might like, stop right there, the reader will quickly sense this and move on.

It is a bit of a cliché, but it’s often best - when starting out - to write about what you know - that way you’ll be more confident about your subject. Or to focus on something you’ve always wanted to find out more about. For example I know a little about ballet and I wanted to include a young Irish ballerina in my next teen book (Ask Amy Green: Dancing Daze, out in September), so I interviewed two ex-dancers, read lots of books on ballet and ballerinas, watched Romeo and Juliet several times on DVD (the ballet my character was starring in), and travelled to Budapest to attend the ballet there, as the book is partly set in Budapest – ie I did my homework!

Even if you think you know a subject well, research is vital to make your book realistic and authentic. Read all you can about your chosen subject eg ballet. Take out library books and study them and make notes. Scour newspapers and magazines for interesting articles and keep them in a research folder. Use the internet. Research is particularly important for historical novels and your local library will prove invaluable. I’ve always found talking to someone who does the job I want to write about is the most useful research tool of all, and all kinds of people have happily given me their time – zoo keepers, female politicians, Olympic sailors. Most people love talking about their job (especially if it’s a particularly interesting one). They can provide the tiny details that will make your book authentic and ‘real’.

You will probably find that you use a small fraction of your research in the actual book, but it will give you the confidence to create your book’s world and its characters. Think of it as an iceberg - only the tip shows but without the mass beneath it would sink. Hemingway once said: If a writer knows enough about what he is writing about, he may omit things that he knows. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one ninth of it being above water.

So you’ve chosen your genre and you have an idea, what next? Now select your setting. This could be somewhere familiar to you, Dublin, London or Cork for example. Or it could be a fictional town or village - you decide. People do love reading about unusual and slightly different places. I love travel and I often put my trip locations in books – Budapest, Paris, Miami. Writers such as Marian Keyes and Claudia Carroll have chosen to set some of their books in glamorous worlds: LA and a movie set in Ireland respectively. In my books I have used lots of different settings that interest me - a kite maker’s loft, an art gallery, a wildlife park, and a children’s bookshop to name a few. If you can’t visit the place where you want to set your book, interview someone who has, read travel books and watch travel videos or programmes.

So your homework this week is this: select your genre, find an idea for your book (making sure it’s something that you are passionate about and fascinated by – and starting your research on the subject if needs be), and fix on a setting. Plus throughout the course, continue to read as many of the best books in your chosen genre as you can.

Next week we will talk about the most important (and fun) element of all, the characters.

Yours in writing,

Sarah XXX

Write That Book - Week 1 of a Free Eight Week Course

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Want to finally write that book you've been talking about for years? Then read on. For the next eight weeks I’ll be telling you how and, best of all, it's absolutely free. From getting started, to creating characters, inventing plots, and how to catch an agent or publisher's eye, I’ll try to cover everything you need to know about the book world. My tenth adult novel, The Shoestring Club has recently been published in Ireland (Sept in UK) and after over a decade of writing and publishing books I'd like to share some of that knowledge with you. And maybe once you're published you'll pass on what you know to other new writers. Just think of me as your own personal Writing Coach! So without further ado . . .

Week 1: Getting Started It’s terrifying, isn’t it, staring at a blank sheet of paper or a blank computer screen? The writer Gene Fowler once said ‘Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.’ That’s where I come in. Over the next few weeks I’ll try to demystify the writing process and help you find your writing wings. I’ll also ask some experienced authors to give you some of their own writing tips.

Before we start, there are three general pieces of advice that I always give to would-be writers: 1/ Be optimistic, plan for a miracle - new writers get published every day, so why not you? 2/ Work hard, but never let writing become a chore. If you’re not enjoying writing, your reader is not going to enjoy reading. Try to write with joy every day. It’s not always possible, to finish a book you must write even if you don’t feel like it, but it’s something to aspire to. 3/ Develop a thick skin and never take no for an answer. Get used to rejection, it comes with the territory. Think of it as book matchmaking, you just need to find the right person for your book, someone who truly loves it. More on that later.

The first thing you need to be a published writer is motivation. You have to really, really want to write. It may sound obvious but many people have a vague idea that they’d like to write some day, but few people actually sit down and get on with it. So first, motivate yourself. Tell yourself that it’s not going to be easy, but if you work hard and put your heart and soul into it that you will succeed, you will finish that book. Then make the time to actually write. This may sound obvious but being a writer means making sacrifices. ‘I’d write a book if only I had the time.’ ‘I have this amazing idea for a book but I’m too busy to write it.’ Does this sound familiar? How many hours a week do you spend watching television, on Facebook or Twitter, surfing the internet? Be honest. Switching off the television in the evenings is a very good place to start. Try inventing your own soap opera in your head instead and translating it to paper - soon you’ll keep yourself entertained and you’ll also have the makings of a book to show for it. The best way to actually finish a novel is by writing a little every day or as often as you can every week - there’s no real secret, you just have to stick at it. You must write on a regular basis, you must keep the story and the characters ticking over in your head, otherwise you will lose your connection with the book. And when you’re not physically writing, you need to be thinking about your book whenever you can.

Now that you’re mentally prepared and have made the time to write (and to think about your book), what do you need to get physically started? The good news is you don’t need the latest laptop; you don’t actually need a computer at all to begin with. All you need is a notebook and a pen. It’s that simple.

But before you put finger to keyboard or pen to paper, it helps to start thinking about a genre. What’s genre? It simply means the type of fiction you want to write. For example are you interested in writing popular fiction with bite like Marian Keyes, a warm, family/friendship based novel like Maeve Binchy, crime like John Connolly, thrillers like Dan Brown? (Children’s books are a whole different ball game and I’ll talk about these at a later stage.) I would suggest the type of book you like to read is a good place to start. More about genre next week, but in the meantime have a think about what genre might suit you and your writing. It makes things much easier when it comes to finding an agent and getting published. And it will make getting started a lot easier. Each genre has its own conventions/’rules’ and this isn’t such a bad thing for writers who are just starting out – it gives you something to work with. For example popular fiction tends to have a happy or hopeful ending; in crime the murder/crime tends to be solved by the end of the book.

So for your homework: make a positive start by getting motivated, making the time to write, firing up your computer or finding a pen and paper and, most importantly, thinking about what type of book you’d like to write, the 'genre'. Next week I’ll talk about inspiration and coming up with ideas.

Yours in writing, Sarah XXX

Tips on Getting Started from Martina Devlin:

1) Don’t give up hope, our greatest enemy is lack of self-belief. 2) If you feel you really, really want to write, then just keep plodding away. 3) Try writing something every day - even if it’s only a few hundred words. 4) Writing, and the imagination which fuels it, are like muscles - they benefit from being flexed on a daily basis. Keep them working regularly. 5) And remember to congratulate yourself when you do a good job. Martina Devlin is an award winning journalist and a novelist. Her latest books are ‘Ship of Dreams’ and ‘Banksters’

Why Do Writers Teach Creative Writing? Is It For The Money?

There was an interesting conference today in Dublin all about writing classes/workshops which I've been following on Twitter. A question came up - why do writers teach creative writing? Is it for the money? Book sales? To find material. And it got me thinking. Why do I teach?

In fact I was teaching only last night - Writing for Children at the Irish Writer's Centre. We talked about what makes a good children's book - unforgettable characters, beautiful writing, a cracking plot, emotion, drama . . . ? We talked about memory and using our past to shape fictional characters. And above all, it was fun. I learned a lot and I hope the other writers did too!

And that's the main reason I teach: because it's fun. Writing is a lonely old business, and now and again it's very healthy to step out from behind the desk and meet 'real people'. I also teach because I believe in passing things on. I've been very lucky in my writing life, many, many people have been very kind and helpful to me. And if I can help someone else, even in a small way, I believe it's my duty to do so.

I've been involved in the book world as a writer and a bookseller for nearly twenty years now, and I like passing on what I know about the business to people who are interested. Plus I adore talking about books, and as most writers are also huge readers, the book chat in workshops is always fascinating.

To answer the question posed on Twitter (and above): I genuinely don't do it for the money. Depending on the organisation, I don't always charge for workshops or talks. I don't do it for book sales - I'm not sure 15 sales (the max number I like to take in a class) would make the slightest bit of difference overall. To find material? If this means being wowed by the amazing people in the class and their life stories, then yes, often they do inspire me. I love meeting new people and, like most writers, I'm always curious about what makes or made them who they are. But their writing doesn't give me material as such, no. Writers have to find their own obsessions to write about, and my passion for Hungarian ballet probably isn't your passion for example!

For me the answer really is: I teach because 1/ I have something to share with other writers, and 2/ it's fun. Teaching children can be the most fun of all, but that's a blog for another day. Young writers can teach us oldies so much about writing.

Yours in writing,

Sarah XXX

PS The best writing talk I've ever heard was given by Patrick Ness who told the audience to 'write with joy'. If he's in Dublin again soon, check him out! He's a remarkable speaker.

Romcom Cliches and Why They Work

A few weeks back I posted some YA clichés, this time it’s the turn of the rom-coms. This goes for books mainly, but also movies. Please feel free to add some of your own in the comment box! Some romantic comedy conventions:

1/ A chase – especially an airport chase. 2/ The ‘cute meet’ – the main characters meeting somewhere sweet – pet shop, zoo etc etc 3/ boyfriend/hubby going off with a best friend/sister – a la In Her Shoes 4/ Arguments in restaurants or other very public places (so much more interesting than arguments in private!) 5/ Girls who work in publishing/bookshops/magazines 6/ Girls who are florists, event managers, wedding planners, cooks/bakers 7/ The Mr Darcy syndrome – hate turning to love 8/ The gay best friend – more in movies than books funnily enough 9/ The quirky best friend (often with red/pink/bleached hair) 10/ Meeting while walking dogs – see no 2 11/ Interrupted conversations/kisses 12/ Guys who are doctors or lawyers 13/ Ugly duckling turned into swan girls 14/ Mean girls who get their comeuppance 14/ Embarrassing/whacky families 15/ Awkward heroines – Bella Swan syndrome 16/ Cinderella stories – tough past, rosy future 17/ Boy next door love stories 18/ Geeky boys who grow up to be Love Gods

Now I’ve used many of the above – Chases – naturally Cute meets – certainly Public arguments – hell yes! And more besides.

Sometimes clichés are clichés for a reason – they are used time and time again because they work. But I do try to give my rom-com conventions a twist to make them original. And none of my leading men to date have been doctors or lawyers – the latest is an animator. Are you making the rom com conventions your own?

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

Should Writers be On Facebook?

(A short piece written partly in the form of notes – sorry, busy week! But the info should be of use I hope!) Recently I’ve been asked this question a lot by new or about to be published writers: should I have a Facebook page? What’s the point of Twitter? What should I blog about? Should I have a website?

And the answer is yes – but only if it suits YOU as a person.

Here are the pros and cons of each as I see it. This is mainly for newbies to all this – it’s all pretty standard and I don’t pretend to be an expert or even proficient at any of it (as David Maybury will attest). But I do my best – and if I can do it (and I’m useless with computer stuff), then the good news is – you can too!

Facebook

Seems to suit children’s authors and popular fiction writers the best. It’s a heady mix of personal bits and bobs, funny stories, jokes, photographs and general information. It tends to be less political (or work related) then Twitter. A lot of children and teenagers are on Facebook and love being a ‘friend’ of their favourite author, or liking an author’s fanpage (which is another type of page – you can have both a personal page and a fan page. I have a Sarah Webb page and also an Ask Amy Green fanpage.)

Pros: easy to use, fun, very sociable. Perfect for posting quotations, jokes, bits about your books, links to songs on You Tube, and giving people an insight into your life. Can be run from an iPhone, although is easier to manage from a PC. Fantastic way of connecting with readers after an event – you can just ask them to Facebook you! You can put up new book covers, competitions, links to review of your books, launch details, even launch invites – it’s great for writers.

Cons: you have to be yourself. Lots of authors pop up on Facebook when they have a book out and then disappear for the rest of the year. This is not what any kind of social networking is about. It’s about making regular connections with other people, treating them as you’d treat a friend. It’s addictive – once sucked in you can easily lose an hour reading other people’s links and looking at your friend’s pics and photos.

If you join Facebook, make Philip Ardagh a friend – he’s the Stephen Fry of Facebook and never fails to make me laugh!

Must for: children’s authors and popular fiction authors. I love it!

Twitter

I’m only a recent Twitter person – I starting tweeting in January and I find it very different to Facebook. For a start you can only use 140 characters – but this does make you think about what you want to say. It’s more political than Facebook and more grownup. I’ve yet to meet a young reader on Twitter – it’s mainly adults. Teenagers in particular don’t get the ‘point’ of Twitter. (Yes, gross generalisation I know – but the teens I know all feel like this.)

Pros: Good for connecting with other writers and journalists. It’s like a freelance journalist’s water-cooler at times. Good for posting links to your blog or You Tube clips. Judy Blume is on Twitter! There are a lot of agents and publishers on Twitter and it’s most interesting to read their tweets. Gives you an insight into their work (and their clients!!!).

Cons: Tends to be more serious than Facebook. And it doesn’t have Philip Ardagh! Not as visual – you have to click on links to get the pics/photos.

Must for freelance journalists or anyone who likes to get insights into book trade matters – eg publishing.

Blogging

I’m a huge fan of good, well written, targeted blogging. I don’t want to know what people like about kittens. I want to read something interesting and informative, and sometimes funny or sad or punchy. I have two blogs – on www.sarahwebb.ie and on www.askamygreen.com The sarahwebb.ie one runs on WordPress and I write about writing, books, publishing and children’s books. It’s written for older teenagers and adults. The askamygreen.com blog runs on Blogger. I find it easier to post photos on this one. I write about the Amy Green books and also things that might interest young readers – music, fashion, book reviews. I also answer problem letters that readers have sent in (with their permission, not using their real names obviously and changing some details). I enjoy writing both, but do more sarahwebb.ie blogs as I have a lot to share about writing and it’s a subject I enjoy discussing. I get a lot of traffic to the site because of the blog and I get regular comments from blog readers.

Whenever I blog, I post a link on both Facebook and Twitter – in fact my Twitter account is linked to my Facebook account (you can’t do it the other way around as yet), so when I post a Tweet, it appears on my Facebook page also.

I would suggest picking something you are happy to write about and you think would be of interest to people (and if possible that hasn’t been done to death before) – travel, sailing, climbing, books, writing – and blog about that.

Pros: It’s fun, makes you think about subject and lets you connect with readers on a variety of topics.

Cons: Time consuming.

Must for: writers in general – but only if you have something to say.

Websites

You must update your website on a regular basis to make it relevant. You can do this by running a blog, or a link to your blog on the home page. A static website isn’t great. You can also link your Tweets and your Facebook page to your website.

Pros: Great place to gather together all your book bits – interviews, book covers and information, press pics, reviews, contact details. It’s your online calling card. When people google you, it’s what they should find. You can decide what goes up on the pages. You have control of what you want to tell people.

Cons: Can be expensive to set up – shop around. You don’t need fancy graphics, you need a clean, easy to use site with lots of good, up to date content.

Must for: writers in general – but only if you are prepared to update it regularly.

Remember – as with all writing, the more time and energy you put in, the better it will be.

Yours in writing,

Sarah XXX

My Book Just Isn't Working

Just Like Starting Over – Knowing When Your Book Just Isn’t Working (and what you can do about it) Last week I was going great guns on my new book, The Shoestring Proposal, the second book about two sisters called Julia (Jules) and Pandora Schuster. So there I was, typing away happily, 10,000 words in when I started to get this niggling feeling that something just wasn’t right. I soldiered on and finished my day’s writing. Then I read it over and started swearing under my breath. Nope, it really, really wasn’t working.

So I spent all evening thinking about it. Why wasn’t it working? And then I figured it out. I’d planned to book to revolve around Jules, the younger sister. But when I was plotting it in my notebook (yellow naturally), I realised that Jules was on the outside, looking in at the problems and tribulations of her sister’s life and not in the thick of action, which is a no no. So I started again and threw some almighty problems Jules’s way instead.

But the problems I’d given her didn’t quite sit right. And besides, I’d given her such a rough ride in the previous book that it seemed unrealistic to give her such big problems in book 2 also. Yes, I know she’s only a fictional character, but she’s pretty darn real to me. So I was basically throwing a rather random (if good and well thought out) problem at Jules that didn’t quite fit her character. And that’s why it wasn’t working – I was trying to cram a square problem into a round character.

Novels work best when your main character is in major trouble. And if that trouble only gets worse and worse, good! Put your character up a tree and throw stones as at her as the old saying goes. So I started thinking about the original storyline – where Jules is watching horrible things happen to her sister. And then I had a thought. What if I make book 2 Pandora’s story, not Jules’s at all? What if I put her in the thick of the action, and use her as my main character? She’s a really interesting character, a complete control freak with a 9 year old daughter and a lot of unresolved issues in her past. Her family have no idea who Iris’s father is, and when Pandora has a cancer scare, she decides to travel to Paris to find him. But that’s a complete disaster too. (See, lots of stone throwing going on!).

So I’ve started again – using Pandora as the main character and now I’m flying along. I know exactly where I’m heading, plot wise (I plotted the last book carefully and it seemed to work well for me, so I’ve done that again) and I’m happy out.

I’ve lost about 5,000 words but in the grand scheme of things, that’s nothing. I once wrote pretty much a whole book, only to realise it wasn’t good enough. In fact, I have 2 almost complete novels sitting on my computer that will never see the light of day. But I learned a lot from writing both of them and in the case of the second one, the ballet research and the setting have been pinched for the 2012 Amy Green book, Dancing Daze, set partly in a ballet school. So nothing is ever wasted.

As Beckett once said ‘Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.’

Oh I’m failing better all right! And learning as I go along. And today – today I made my editor cry. Yes!!!

Yours in writing,

Sarah XXX

The Most Overused Things in YA Fiction

As promised, a look at the most overused things in 9+ and YA fiction - with thanks to Joelle Anthony (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Bulletin) www.joelleanthony.com In the latest SCBWI magazine Joelle Anthony talks about the most common things in fiction for children and teens. She reads about 100 YA books a year (impressive!) and has created a list of overused things. Here are some of them:

Do feel free to add to this list in the comments box below.

1/ Boys with long, lush eyelashes 2/ Main character who can’t sing 3/ Fingernail biting 4/ Dead mothers

Here are some others:

1/ Main characters who hate maths (or math in the US) 2/ Guys with green eyes – green is the new blue 3/ Clumsy characters 4/ Main characters who are the only people in the world without a mobile 5/ Gorgeous, popular younger sisters 6/ Poor girls who are scholarship students 7/ A main character with only one best friend 8/ Female characters who are obsessed with Jane Austen 9/ Hot, young looking mums 10/ Characters who like retro music – generally of the era when the author was in school 11/ Irresponsible parents 12/ A red haired best friend

Joelle wrote this list because she wanted to encourage authors to stretch themselves and to point out areas where they may think they are being original, but they really are not!

So, am I guilty of any of the above?

Yes – green eyed boys; a main character with only one best friend; and irresponsible parents. But I love green eyes; Amy Green has only one best friend, Mills, but she also has an aunt and a boyfriend; and irresponsible parents are so much more fun t write than sensible ones! Boys with long eyelashes – Guilty! Fingernail biting – Guilty!

What about YOU? How do you fare?

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

On Making Yourself Cry

On Making Yourself Cry (While Writing I Mean!) – Tales from a Blurry Eyed Writer

I often make myself cry when I am writing – and no, not because I’m stuck, or the writing’s not all it should be on that particular day (both which happen sometimes I’ll admit) but because I genuinely upset myself.

Writing Amy Green 4 was a tissue-fest. One of the main characters, Bailey, has a très sad back story and telling his tale got to me sometimes. And yes, I’m a bit softie most of the time anyway, I cry at a lot of things – films, telly, sad things people tell me. I think a lot of writers wear their hearts on their sleeves to be honest. You have to be able to emphasise and really feel what your characters feel on a daily basis or you can’t write good characters, it’s as simple as that. And life can be pretty tough sometimes – and even in books for young readers, you have deal with some seriously sad stuff. So no wonder we’re all so emotional, us writerly people.

This morning I wrote a chapter of The Shoestring Club, my adult book for 2012. It’s nearly finished now and I’ve been dreading writing this scene since I planned the book. I don’t always plan books so carefully, but this one I did as I have a tight schedule next year writing-wise – another adult book to write and an Amy Green, plus another children’s book (possibly), so I wanted to keep tight reins on the book, hence the detailed chapter by chapter plan. And actually, in this case it’s worked really well. And no, I don’t think it has taken from the spontaneity of the book. There are still plenty of surprises in this book, both planned and unplanned.

Anyway my main character, Jules (Julia) is talking to someone about her childhood and the death of her mother (Jules was only 9 at the time) and I found myself sobbing, wiping my eyes with my sleeve and trying to type through the tears. Not easy I can tell you. Then once I’d finished the scene I went back over it several times, deepening the dialogue, giving some of Jules’s thoughts as she’s sitting there, crying herself, and adding some back story snippets of her talking to her dying mother. It’s still not perfect, it needs work, but emotionally it’s pretty strong stuff. And it’s only taken me fifteen years of writing to get to that point! Nothing really. My books are going to be so amazing in another fifteen years! Seriously! Because these days I don’t shy away from scenes that are difficult or upsetting or intense – I just go for it. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn’t and then I cut the scenes and rewrite, or leave the scene out altogether. But when it works, it’s magic.

So pour your own emotion all over your page. Image you are your character, let their feelings wash through you and make yourself cry. Go on, I dare you!

I wish you all, as always, good writing days.

Yours in writing,

Sarah X

How I Write a Book - Step 1

I’ve just realised I haven’t really blogged about how I write a book from start to finish – from the very first idea to the actual final manuscript. So using the book I’ve just finished, Ask Amy Green: Party Drama-rama (Amy 4) I’ll try to explain how I do this. It might take a couple of weeks as I’m talking details people! ‘Cos I’m that kinda gal. And ‘pologies if I come over all Amy while I’m writing this – she’s 13 and she loves twisting the ole Hiberno English to make it fun. Which is fun to write too. But more of that anon. 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!

1/ The Initial Idea This is the number one question I get asked at events and in schools – ‘Where do you get your ideas?’

And it’s a very hard one to answer. If I’m talking to younger readers and writers of say under 14 I tend to tell them about my crazy, mad thought-filled mind and how it never rests and is always spewing up ideas. Like today – I was stuck at home with the kids (snowed in) and thinking about how that might feel if it happened for more than a week – how would we cope. Then – being a writer – I thought, hey, that’s an interesting one for a book. It could be a/ a comedy about a family muddling through and being resourceful and learning to work together after practically killing each other or b/ a Hunger Games type dystopian teen novel where the family really do kill each other – I’d have to throw in some sort of reality tv show then maybe or c/ a romance where 2 neighbouring families are thrown together – maybe a widow and a single mum – and they bond over show shovels. See, my mind works in mysterious ways and there is always, always something cool to write about.

Where was I? Ah yes, ideas. And the idea for Amy 4 in particular.

For me, largely the characters come first. In the case of Amy 4 I already knew all the main characters – Amy, Clover, her crazy 17 year old aunt, Mills, Amy’s best friend, Sylvie, her mum, Art, her Dad, Dave, her step dad and so on.

Before I think about plot, I tend to do a lot of work on the characters. For Amy 4 I had a new character to concentrate on, Bailey Otis. He has a small walk on part in Amy 3 but I needed to flesh him out a lot more. So I grabbed my character note book and started writing pages and pages – what I knew about him – from where he was born, to his childhood, his parents, schools, music he likes, talents, hates, likes etc etc.

Actually – REWIND – the very, very first thing I do is decide what age group I’m writing for – adult, young teen, early reader etc. Sometimes the character or story dictates what age the book will be for – if the character is 13 the readership is likely to be 10+ etc. But for the Amy Green books (Amy is 13), I knew I wanted to write for young teens – about 10/11+.

Oh and genre – for me the genre chooses me, not the other way around. I write the way I write – lots of dialogue, not too much description, fast paced story lines, characters readers can relate to but are still ‘big’ and interesting (I hope) – and I can’t change that. ‘Tis just who I am. It generally fits into the broad ‘popular fiction’ genre. More on that another day but for now . . .

Back to characters. Once I’ve got the main characters firmly in my head I think about the plot and the setting.

Plot

Plot is an interesting one. Some writers – especially crime writers apparently – start with plot. But I do have an idea of the type of thing I’d like to write about before I put pen to paper. It tends to swirl around in my head, picking up momentum and speed, before forming into anything coherent.

I knew I wanted to make Amy Green a problem solver. I also knew I wanted to give her an older side kick who could drive and had a job and some money. Clover was originally going to be 21 until my very wise friend, Liz, said that that was too grown up and younger was better. So I made her 17 instead which worked much better – thanks, Liz!

Once I decided to make Clover a journalist, and an agony aunt for teens, I found my ‘in’ to the problem solving. Basically Amy is brilliant at solving other people’s problems, but not so hot with her own problems.

So then I had my premise and my characters, and I just had to fill in the plot. Which has never been hard with the Amy books as my characters have a lot to say and live very eventful lives!

The Shoestring Club

I’ll use the new adult novel, The Shoestring Club to say a little bit more about ideas. First of all I knew I was writing an adult novel, but I wanted to make the characters younger – 20s as opposed to 30s or 40s. I wanted them to be full of hope, lively and funny – making huge mistakes and still finding out who they are. I find it a very interesting age. I missed out on a lot of my 20s on account of having a baby so young – but that’s another story.

I chose a main character – Jules – deeply flawed but very funny and likable most of the time – a real larger than life character. And her sister, Pandora, and her mad granny, Bird. At the centre of the book is a dress time sharing plan – I wanted Jules to meet and become friends with some very different women in an unusual way. So she finds a girl called Arietty in the second hand designer shop she works in (Shoestring – Pandora’s shop), and this girl falls in love with the same dress Jules wants desperately to wear at her ex-boyfriend and ex-best friend’s wedding (Ed and Lainey) but can’t afford on her own, and they strike up an agreement to share the dress – and hence they become friends. Arietty is very beautiful and it’s been very interesting writing about a character who feels very much an outsider in Ireland.

Friendship and making new friends is very much at the heart of this book.

Where did the second hand clothes shop idea setting come from? I adore this second hand place in Dun Laoghaire called Stock Exchange. I buy and sell lots of stuff in there – it’s a real treasure trove. Some of my favourite wardrobe bits have been someone else’s cast offs! And I like the whole idea of going to people’s houses and checking out their clothes – which Pandora does and Jules will do in the second book – as I’m frightfully nosy. So it was the ideal job for my characters. A lot of the book is set in the shop too which is fun. As I’ve worked in shops before (mainly bookshops) I know all about tills, staff rooms, customers etc – so that bit was easy enough. And I’ve spent so much time in Stock Exchange I know how that works too! And the rest – I researched or made up.

Right, enough for one night, better get to bed now.

But basically – ideas come from everywhere – keep your eyes open and one will bite you on the nose. Now, I wonder if that family getting snowed in idea would actually work? Or a YA novel about a Lockdown in a school . . . my son’s school had a Lockdown drill recently, a new one on me, but common now in the US . . . now that’s an interesting one . . .

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.

Approaching the Page with Joy

I'm reposting this from 2009 as I'm just back from tour and wiped out to be honest. But I have lots to tell you on the writing front, lots to share - so back soon, I promise!But until then . . .

Approaching the page with joy

I’ve been having some slow writing starts these mornings. Christmas is looming near and I’m not at all on top of things. No cards sent, few presents bought – apart from the kids’ stuff on Amazon – toys and Xbox games. All Jago, 3 wants is a rubbish truck, bless him. Amy, 6, a bike; Sam, 15, horrible gore-fest X box games. Books I buy from my local bookshops – as a former bookseller I feel it’s really important to support them always and forever but especially when things are a little tough.

Every morning I’ve been taking a walk, an attempt to shake me out of the Munch funk – feeling a little down and slow and sluggish and not all there mentally. I try telling myself how lucky I am, how thousands, millions would give their eye teeth to have one book contract, let alone several.

And I do feel lucky, really I do. But I must admit that now and again it all seems a little overwhelming and I feel swamped with work and scared at what I have to do.

So I have to take a step back (after moaning to some of my fellow writing friends of course, I’m only human), calm the voices in my head (you can’t write, it’s all nonsense, one day someone will realise how rubbish you are . . .) and just get on with the business of finishing the darned book.

I have to stop thinking about deadlines and start concentrating on my plot and my characters. And most importantly, as my lovely and very wise London editors told me, give my story room to breathe. I have to strip back all the unnecessary scenes from the book and let the main characters shine through.

I was at a talk by Carlo Gebler on Monday and he said something very interesting. He said that he only got published (after trying many times) when he started telling his stories simply – going from A to B to C with embellishment. It’s as simple at that. If you get that right, you can add a little sparkle to the writing later. It’s excellent advice.

A to B to C.

I’m currently rewriting Amy Green book 3, Bridesmaid Blitz. It’s set in Dublin and Paris, and Mills (Amy’s best friend) was the star of the Paris scenes. But I see now that Amy was being sidelined and it wasn’t quite working. Yes, even my carefully researched rapping scene starring Clover will have to hit the editing floor. And it’s hard. But it will be a better book for all the cutting and rewriting.

I have to stop worrying about deadlines and reconnect with the joy of writing – the reason I started writing in the first place. Write for the sheer love of it. The privilege of sitting down at my desk and losing myself in a story for hours and hours. You know the feeling you get when you’re lost in a brilliant book and you just don’t want it to end, ever? That’s the feeling I get on a good writing day.

Sometimes it takes days to get to that feeling, sometimes, if I’m lucky, minutes. But today I’m feeling lucky . . .

Back to the blank page . . .

May the joy of writing (and reading) be with all of you.

Sarah XXX

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

What's in a name?

A quick post today on picking names. I was giving a writing workshop over the weekend and one of the things we talked about was choosing the right names for your characters. Sometimes I read books and some of the names just doesn't suit the characters. Other times they are just perfect. For eg last night I finished The Perfect Proposal by Katie Fforde, a charming, compelling romantic comedy. The main character is sweet, funny, and put upon by her family who think she's an idiot (she proves them wrong!). Her name is Sophie Appley. It suits her down to the ground.

I try to take great care picking my own characters' names. In the Amy Green books one of my favourite characters is Clover Wildgust. Wildgust is a real name, I found it on a gravestone (sorry, bit morbid I know, but I do love graveyards!). Clover is 'Wild' by name, wild by nature. I could have gone for just Wilde, but I liked the gust bit as it's different. And Clover - well she just is a Clover. Amy is Amy because it's one of my favourite names - my daughter is Amy - and it's also a name lots of girls can identify with - she's my everygirl character in the book. And Green - again is a common enough surname and sounds friendly I think. And Amy is above all, a good friend, to MIlls and Clover, and also to my readers too I hope.

Seth Stone is emotionally strong and together - even though he has to cope with a lot a home - hence Stone. Bailey Otis, who will appear in book 3 is a mysterious boy with a strange past - Otis, after a song I like and Bailey as again it's a little bit unusual, just like him.

The adult book I am currently writing - The Shoestring Club - well, lots of names I really like in there. Arietty Pilgrim is my favourite name I think - an eccentric girl who communicates better with animals than people but has great inner strength. She's an elephant keeper. And I also love Julia Schuster - always Jules or Julia Boolia to her family, or Boolie for short. She's a mess sometimes, and does daft things, but she has a good heart.

I even took great care naming my elephants - Beatrix is the matriarch, and her sister is Enid - and yes they are named after Beatrix Potter and Enid Blyton!

So there you go - think carefully about naming your characters and have fun with it. Make it mean something, to both you and your readers. Names count.

Yours in writing,

SarahX

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