Category: getting published

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Mr. Agent Back In Touch

Mr. Agent has been very busy doing deals for his clients, yay him!

Finally, he emailed me to suggest we arrange a catch-up session. I was planning to be in London anyway for a thing at the Oratory so we decided to meet yesterday.

First good news – he loved the sample of the new novel I’m writing. Not the plot-less character story – I’ve shelved that until I think up a cure. This is another story; essentially an escape-and-chase story. Gosh I love those, so I thought I’d try to write one. Working title is ‘Jaguar’s Realm’. After a week of so drafting a trial plot, I started to write. It was fun – I didn’t have to wring out every page, as with the coming-of-age character story!

We discussed Mr. Agent’s criticisms. There were many! It’s back to the plotting for me.

Second good news. “We’re starting to see some interest from publishers in ‘The Joshua Files’. No offers, but interest.”

Now you’re talking, pal.

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Writing – the progress

No word from Mr. Agent since we talked about the manuscript of my third novel, (fourth if you count Blake’s 7 fan fiction…), which I sent him sometime in May.

I’m not going to post anything about the new novel yet. Pretty sure my friends and family are fed up with hearing about my unpublishable novels.

So, let’s wait until the jury’s back with a verdict before I bore you again.I’ve been working on some new ideas. Got 20,000 words into a coming-of-age novel for older teens, before realising that there was no proper plot. I wanted to see if I could write a story with no gadgets, chases, mystery, no adventure at all in fact, just characters and relationships. Crumbs, it was hard work.

Then my kind friend Alison read it and said politely “The writing is good…the sentences are good…but there doesn’t seem to be a story”. Yikes – she was right. I was concentrating so hard on, yanno, the characters and the descriptions, that I forgot to put in a hardcore structured story! So it’s back to the drawing board.

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getting published

How I became ‘published’.

scholastic.JPG

In November 2006 I accepted a two-book deal from Scholastic Childrens’ Books, UK to publish the first two books of ‘The Joshua Files’ children’s adventure series.

Compared to most writers I was lucky – it didn’t take too long from starting to write to find a literary agent (11 months) and then another year to land a very generous 2-book deal. I did have to write three manuscripts in that time, however. Which is pretty much par for the course.

I put the speed of the process down to the fact that a) I broke my leg and didn’t have anything else I could do except write for 12 weeks (and even thereafter I wasn’t able to be very physically active), b) my husband had at the time a job which could support the family so could give up my job and c) I don’t revise my first draft much…just send it out! (bad, naughty lazy author, don’t follow my example there!)

Even so, two years from start to book deal feels like a long time when it’s the main focus of your life, when every single day you wonder if it is ever going to happen.

So to all your writers out there, hang in there, keep at it. It took me two years full-time. This isn’t an easy thing to do. Keep writing and keep learning!

You can read the blog entries about how I became a published author.

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getting published writing

Waiting for the WOW Factor

Novel number 2 was finished a few months back, just in time for summer reading by Josie and her friends, who have reported that they enjoyed it. Josie herself actually stayed in whilst we were on holiday in Mallorca, she found it that gripping. Yay for Josie’s loyalty!

I’ve been waiting to hear from a publisher in Oxford who requested the full manuscript, also an agent in Oxford to whom I took a partial a few months ago. Mainly though, I’m waiting for news from the WOW Factor contest organised by Faber and Waterstones, to which I submitted the first three chapters of “Todd Garcia, Boy Archaeologist”.

The tension. Is.Unbearable.

Nah. It isn’t really. I’ve been writing my screenplay to help take my mind off things. Screenwriting is fun! Amazingly technically demanding, lots and lots of structure.This guy is my guru: Robert McKee. (The guy who is sent up in Charlie Kaufman’s ‘Adaptation’. Btw one’s reaction to the word ‘adaptation’ must surely be an excellent differentiator for biologists vs writers. Like the word ‘unionized’, which strikes at the inner chemist in all chemistry graduates. I’m obviously not a proper writer yet. I still see the word ‘adaptation’ and assume it’s some evolutionary thing, as opposed to a screenplay-of-a-book.)