Undressing a book

My post about covers and costume design can be found over here

Winchester Writers Conference

Imagine if you will, a massive exam hall, lofty, lit by fluorescent strip-lighting, and containing 60 small square desks set out in rows. Now put a nervous writer in front of each one, holding a sheaf of paper or a dog-eared manuscript. Behind each desk sits an agent, an editor or other industry professional. For fifteen minutes they talk - or should I say shout, before the chairs scrape back, the writers reluctantly leave and are replaced by another eager batch.

The noise is the first thing that strikes you, as exam halls are usually silent. The noise is deafening as everyone tries to make themselves heard against the other 59 conversations. Outside, there are a team of counsellors waiting, for those who get given a hard time by the agent they were sure would love their novel.

But this is a serious business, both for the writers and the agents. Books do find their way to publication here - since last year seven writers have been published. I talked to one man whose opening pages I had admired in a workshop, and he was delighted to report that an agent has asked for his complete script.

Over the weekend I met a lot of other writers and at least a third of the people I introduced myself to said they were working on an urban fantasy novel featuring vampires! I naturally thought that Stephanie Meyer must have something to do with it, but no, all claimed they were working on theirs since before Stephanie Meyer. I also met quite a few crime enthusiasts including one lady who told me the best way to cosh people is to use a few hundred pound coins swung in a sock. I met very few other historical novelists, which was a shame, but I did meet with Judith Allnatt who was lovely and gave me good advice about my second novel . Her book, A Mile of River is now on my bedside table.

The workshops I attended were excellent, and as a way of thanking those writers whose workshops I enjoyed. the illustrations here are of their books. The writers are Julia Bryant (Shape and sharpen your novel), Debby Holt (Character) and Alison Habens (Fairy Tale and Story) Even when you have been published there is still a lot to learn from other writers who have been at it longer than I have. My quote of the weekend (if I couldonly remember her exact words) is from Alison Habens, who said that writing has to be transparent, so that the reader looks through it to the real life behind.

Publicity, Book Signings and the Birth of a Book

Apparently if an author organises a signing in a place where they have no personal connections, then the average number of copies sold is 6, according to Will Atkins, my editor, who was talking to delegates at the Winchester Writers Conference. (More about that in the next post when I have had time to process it all! Highlights from this great event included an address from Terry Pratchett who described writing as "moving through a valley full of clouds")

I have two signings about to happen - my first apart from my launch a couple of weeks ago. I'm a little nervous I will be sitting in Waterstone's in Lancaster and Kendal on my own - a lonely figure surrounded by a pile of unsold books! So I was relieved to see that the  North West Evening Mail have just printed an article about The Lady's Slipper here explaining a little about the background to the book, and how I came to write it, so I'm hoping a few people will be prompted to come along.

I have been trying to time it right so that the publicity arrives in the paper just before the signings, and not afterwards, but the editors of local newspapers seem to be a law unto themselves and  frustratingly, it doesn't always work out. For example there will be a feature about the book in the Lancashire Evening Post on Saturday when the signing is the Thursday before. Has anyone got any neat tips on how to get these things organised? Or any tips on what the public like or want to know from an author?

I am however looking forward to them. I enjoy talking about the research I did for the book, and about how I kept track of it during the writing and editing process. And I'm looking forward to people's questions and how I might answer them. I will post up some of them afterwards with my responses so you can get a flavour of what I was asked.

And as my 'homework' beforehand I am reading Wolf Hall, winner of the Man Booker Prize, which is the historical book on everyone's lips right now. Only about two thirds through, so hope I will have finished it by Thursday. From a very strong start it is now taking a bit of ploughing through as the political complexities take a bit of unravelling. But I cannot help but admire the writing, a great fat book in the present tense, bringing the Tudor Court to life with shocking immediacy.
You can get it in the black cover or the white, I wonder if one has sold more copies than the other? Mine's the black version, so I've featured the white.

And if you want to read how a historical novel is born in the printers, Gabrielle Kimm has a superb description of it here.

The Events page has details of my signings in Lancaster, Kendal and Barrow-in-Furness.