Hi everyone, today I’m delighted to welcome literary agent Rachel Mills to the blog. Rachel founded RM Literary Agency in 2019, and she kindly answers my questions on what she looks for in submissions.
Over to you, Rachel…
1) Did you see yourself becoming a literary agent after you left school? Did you actually have any other career plans?
After my A-Levels I went to dancing school! I loved dancing as much as books… but after a year realised I just didn’t have that total focus and commitment to dance above all else which you need. So then I went to my other love of books and studied English – and got my first job in publishing as a part-time job at Transworld, while I was doing my degree.
2) How are you drawn into a submission? Is it the covering letter, the proposal of the novel or the sample writing? What leaves you wanting more?
It depends on the kind of book; if it is a book where the writing is the most important thing, a literary memoir for example, the sample writing is most important as it really is your voice and use of language which will resonate, and that is a very personal thing. If it is a platform or expertise-led book intended to be ghostwritten, the author’s biography and forthcoming activities might be more important. If you can summarise your book simply and elegantly in a paragraph in the cover email, it’s going to stand out.
3) How do you know when you have connected with a manuscript? Can you describe that feeling of ‘I really want to represent this author?’
I love that feeling! It’s when you get shivers down your spine and cannot WAIT to tell everyone about it, and you can immediately think of all the editors who will love it.
4) Why did you choose non fiction work as your specialisation? What is it that attracts you to it?
I represent authors, not books – as in, it’s about the people. I love the huge variety of people from all walks of life you get to become involved with, I find it so creative and exciting to be able to bring their world together with the publishing world. I love fiction too, and of course novelists are wonderful and interesting people too, but there’s something about being able to read about someone in the news who is doing something incredible, and being able to call them and see if they’d like to do a book, which I really enjoy.
5) If you have asked to see a complete manuscript, what would make you reject the work and say it isn’t for you?
In non-fiction I very rarely do this, it’s more normal to sell on proposal.
6) Can you name one non fiction author you admire, that isn’t one of your clients, and say why you like their style of writing?
I loved Educated by Tara Westover as it was such a brilliant example of what you can do with memoir, her writing is incredible and the story so inspiring, gripping and moving.
7) Do you have one book that reminds you of your childhood? If so, which one and why?
Martha Graham’s autobiography Blood Memory. I think that’s what sent me to dancing school…
8) In lockdown, what are you currently watching on television? Are your habits changing? Mine are refusing to – I’m sticking to the crime dramas that I very much love and know.
I’m rewatching The West Wing and trying to imagine it’s the current White House! I loved the adaptation of Normal People aswell.
9) In lockdown, what are you currently reading? Are you going back to your favourite novels or finding new ones?
Both! Just reread The Debt to Pleasure which is an old favourite, and I’ve been enjoying travel writing in the absence of being able to travel – Chris Stewart, Laurie Lee. And nature writing – just read Wilding by Isabella Tree. I am loving my overflowing cookbook shelves, and in having to cook three meals a day at home, getting through so many interesting recipes and reconnecting with old favourites like Macella Hassan and Madhur Jaffrey, aswell as newer books by Diana Henry and Ottolenghi. I think I might have a classics phase next and read some Charlotte Bronte and Jane Austen…
10) If you had a choice between Rod Stewart or Freddie Mercury, who would you choose and why?
Freddie Mercury, just love him. Imagine how great working with him on his autobiography would have been… very sad he didn’t have the opportunity (or desire!) to do one.
Thank you for visiting the blog today, Rachel. It has been a pleasure to interview you.
Bio:
RML was founded in 2019 by Rachel Mills. Rachel previously worked as Literary Agent at Furniss Lawton agency, within the James Grant Talent Group, and before that as Agent and International Business Director for Peters Fraser and Dunlop agency, where she was a member of the Executive Board. Prior to that she worked in publishing at Penguin and Random House. In the 16 years she has worked in the industry, Rachel has secured major publishing deals for a diverse range of authors including Jamie Oliver, Jeanette Winterson, Bear Grylls, Dr Steve Peters, Fearne Cotton, Bosh!, Catherine Gray, Alice Vincent, Marianne Power, Twisted, Dr Dani.
In 2015 she was awarded The Bookseller Rights Professional of the Year Award and in 2011 was nominated a ‘Rising Star’ by The Bookseller magazine.
Hi everyone, and this morning I’m delighted to welcome Sam Eades to the blog today. She kindly took the time to answer some of my questions, mainly about how life for her in the publishing industry began, but also about her current role as a publishing director for Trapeze Books. Oh, and also what she is up to in lockdown.
Over to you, Sam…
1) How did you first come to be involved in the publishing industry? Did you actually have any other career plans?
I didn’t really know the publishing industry existed when I was younger! I studied English at university and spent the Summer doing work experience placements at schools, literary agents and publishers trying to work out what I wanted to do as a grownup. It wasn’t until I got my first job as a publicity assistant at Transworld that I realised exactly what the publishing industry was, and how lucky I was to be part of it!
2) What prompted you to become an Editorial/Publishing Director? Can you tell me a little about your role in the publishing process for the manuscript?
I worked as a publicist for seven years at Transworld, Headline and Macmillan which I absolutely loved. However I found myself wanting to be part of the beginning of the process of publishing a book, to determine how a book might be published and even what editorial direction to take. I initially joined Orion in a hybrid publicity and editorial role before finally joining new imprint Trapeze Books as a fully commissioning editor. Now I get my hands on every part of the publishing process! I read manuscripts and take them to acquisition. I acquire them through negotiations with agents. Then I work directly with the author on shaping the manuscript through rounds of structural and line edits. I make sure our publication runs to critical path, working with production and Ed management departments. I brief the cover, write retailer copy and back/front cover copy, and work with our digital, sales, audio, pr and marketing teams to devise a publication strategy so the book ends up in the hands of the reader in all its various formats.
3) How do you know that you have connected with a manuscript? What does an author do that leaves you wanting more?
At Trapeze I have a specific brief. I’m looking for books that start conversations, that hit the zeitgeist. If a submission is in that area I normally know I want to publish it after a few pages for me to get a sense of voice, style, story and feeling. I love authors who have something to say, where there might me two layers to the story, what’s on the page and in the spaces between the words.
4) What advice do you have for any writer looking to submit to agents and publishers?
Authors often want to circumvent the agent process and submit directly to publishers. For some genres, authors might be best served to work with publishers directly like the fantastic team at Bookouture. But having worked with some fantastic agents recently who have edited their clients work, nailed the publishing vision, and thought so carefully at submission stage, and worked so hard during negotiations – why wouldn’t you want a brilliant agent fighting in your corner? It might be time consuming finding the right agent – but ultimately they will help writers sustain careers.
5) For the author who isn’t published yet, would you recommend the traditional or indie route?
There are advantages to both! Hybrid authors like Rachel Abbott do it brilliantly, with a traditional and indie strand. I’m working with Michele Gorman who has self-published and she’s taught me so much I didn’t know about the promo side of the ebook market. I hope I’ve taught her a bit too!
6) What are your views on the crime and thriller market currently? In your view, is there a sub genre you think is in need of more representation?
I’d love to see more diverse voices writing in the crime and thriller genre. There is a fierce need for representation.
7) Do you have a genre that you read for pleasure? Is there any genre of book that you wouldn’t read?
Cosy crime. And I’ve become a much wider reader since reading for pleasure for nine months on mat leave. I still find westerns a struggle though!
8) Can you name one fiction author that you like, and why you admire their style of writing?
I love Sharon Bolton, as she is so brilliant at creating atmosphere. Recently she transported me to the end of the world with her thriller The Split which is set in South Georgia.
9) In lockdown, what are you currently reading? Are you finding that your reading habits are changing at all?
I’m mainly reading emails 😂. I’ve found I’m much slower at reading submissions, but when I do get to them, I’m giving more thoughtful responses to agents.
10) In lockdown, what are you currently watching on television? Are you finding that your habits are changing? Do you have a favourite drama that you enjoy religiously?
I still watch lots of TV! I’m enjoying Schitts Creek, RuPauls Drag Race and Money Heist. So humour and drama!
Thank you for visiting the blog today, Sam. It has been a real pleasure to interview you.
Bio: Sam Eades is a Publishing Director for Trapeze Books. What she looks for: Books that start those all important conversations.
Hi everyone, and this morning I’m delighted to welcome Katherine Armstrong to the blog. Katherine first started out as a bookseller, before her current role as Editorial Director for Bonnier Books. She joined me for a few questions about what her role entails.
Over to you, Katherine…
1) How did you first come to be involved in the publishing industry? Did you actually have any other career plans?
As a teenager, I really wanted to be a journalist. I did some work experience at a local radio station and a local paper, but for whatever reason I just didn’t feel it was going to be quite right for me. I wasn’t sure after that what I wanted to do until my final year at university – the one where they assume you know what you’re going to do next!
I was doing a degree in English Literature (of course) and wondered about publishing. I did some research and applied for a MPhil in Publishing Studies at the University of Stirling, which I started in the October after I graduated from QUB. After Stirling, I worked for Waterstones in their smallest branch in Ocean Terminal, Edinburgh. I enjoyed being a bookseller and I learnt a lot about market trends and what sold – and what didn’t! – but I still wanted to get into publishing. I applied for whatever entry level positions I could and eventually got a three-month contract in the pre-press department at Faber & Faber in London.
From there, I applied for a six-month contract as Poetry Editorial Assistant and nearly eleven years later, I left my first job in publishing – where I’d work across poetry, non-fiction, literary fiction and crime fiction – to take up a Senior Editor role (a nine-month maternity cover) at Sphere. After that, I was lucky enough to get my current job at Bonnier Books UK where I am now Editorial Director, specialising in crime and thriller fiction. This all sounds quite straight forward and possibly easy when I write it out, but it wasn’t as clear cut when I was going through it and I would stress to anyone who wants to get into publishing: Keep at it. Perseverance is key; be useful; be pro-active and above all gain as much knowledge and make as many connections as you can! You will most likely have to start at the bottom but do that job as well as you would if you’d started at the top. Learn from every experience and get to know the industry as well as you can in preparation for that day when you might be in the one in charge and you’ll need to know how it works. Lesson over!
2) What prompted you to become an Editorial Director? Can you tell me a little about your role in the publishing process for the manuscript?
When I started in publishing my goal was to work in the editorial department. As with a lot of people, I really wanted to work with authors on their manuscripts. My current role as Editorial Director has come about from that wish, that original goal. I started as an Editorial Assistant, worked my way up through Project Editor, Editor, then Senior Editor. The title just reflects a level of seniority in terms of my career path. What I do, as opposed to say a desk editor, is that my job is to meet with literary agents and read and assess the manuscripts that they send me from their clients. I then decide if that manuscript is a) one I like; b) one I think fits on my list and c) one I think has commercial appeal. If it ticks all these boxes, then I try and acquire it from the agent and work with the author towards making it the best read it can be.
No editor can publish alone and I’m lucky to work with some great people in other departments – sales, rights, marketing, publicity, export, design, audio, digital – and as a team we work together to publish the book. But the editor is the author’s champion, both in-house and outside. They are the person who knows the book best, and it’s up to them to communicate the vision for the book to the wider team and beyond.
3) How do you know that you have connected with a manuscript? What does an author do that leaves you wanting more?
We read so much that you can tell quite early on if you’re going to enjoy a manuscript. There’s either something in the writing, or a character, that captures your attention. For me any manuscript that makes me feel like this is a book that I’ve bought in a bookshop, as opposed to something I’m reading for work, and that I want to continue reading is a manuscript that I want to acquire. A sales colleague put it brilliantly recently about a manuscript that I’m hoping to acquire (everything crossed!); he said that he resented every minute that he spent away from it and was thinking about it when he wasn’t reading it. That, to me, perfectly sums up what any editor is looking for! It’s that readability factor, that keeping you gripped, turning those pages into the wee small hours. What that is – that essence – is hard to pin down (sorry!). It can be anything from writing-style, to characterisation, to dialogue, just something that marks the manuscript and the author out as a potential acquisition.
4) What advice do you have for any writer looking to submit to agents and publishers?
Be patient. There are lots of apocryphal stories about authors who signed with the first agent they approached, who went from submitting to a massive publishing contract within minutes. It’s very easy for us to compare ourselves to others, but everyone’s writing journey is different. Yes, some people seem to find it easy to get the agent, get the publishing deal, but for every one of those people I can guarantee that there are twenty plus other writers who don’t; who spend years trying to get both.
You will be rejected. Publishing is a business based on opinions and decisions. What might be right for one editor, is not right for another. What any author wants is an agent and a publisher who gets their vision for their work, who are passionate about it, who want to continue with them on their publishing journey. As an editor, I want to take on authors who I think have a lengthy career ahead of them. For me and for the company I work for, that means I have to consider everything – do I love this book enough to champion it to everyone for a year, or more, before publication? Do I think this book can sell in the market? While I don’t make the publishing decisions alone, the viability of a manuscript is my decision – I am the one who decides if it’s right to present to the wider team. Sometimes I can see the potential of a manuscript, but it doesn’t appeal to me, it doesn’t grip me in the way that would make me want to take it on. There’s nothing wrong with it, but all literature is subjective, and I think writers, like all of us, have to get used to rejection butalso know that it’s not them that is being rejected – the rejection is an appraisal, not a judgement – the work just isn’t right for that specific editor, but there are lots of us out there, so you will find the right editor and publishing house for you!
Take on board feedback. If an agent or editor has taken the time to give you specific feedback, please do take it on board. They are doing it to genuinely help you develop the manuscript. No author can write a flawless manuscript and it’s very hard to edit yourself. Anyone who reads a lot of manuscripts and who is immersed in the market knows what sells and knows what makes a good read. There are also literary consultancies where, for a fee, you can get a trained editor to look and give feedback on your work before you submit. An agent or an in-house editor who give you feedback will be doing so for free and because even if your work isn’t quite right for them, they can see what needs to be done to improve its chances of representation. Not all agents and editors can do this as it does depend on how much time they have, so don’t expect it; but you can ask if they’re able to provide limited feedback (it might just be some bullet point notes) if at all possible. If they say they can’t, move on. Not to be preachy, but impressions are everything in this business and editors and agents do talk to each other a lot; and you never know when you might see that editor or agent again, so getting aggressive if they can’t provide feedback does you and your work no good!
5) Are Bonnier Books accepting submissions from unrepresented writers? Do you have open calls?
We aren’t at the moment, but that’s merely because of the volume of manuscripts that we receive from agents. We don’t currently have plans for any open calls on the adult fiction side at the moment either, but we’d announce anything like that on our Bonnier Books UK website or via our social media channels. If any potential writers meet editors at literary events, however, do talk to them. Don’t push your book at them as that can be awkward (sometimes we’re just there to support a writer friend!), but don’t shy away from saying that you are writing. I do know some editors who are happy to ask to see work from unrepresented writers that they’ve met at events and it’s something I’ve done myself on occasion. Again, it’s very much dependent on how much spare time an editor has as we all have authors already on our lists who will be delivering and publishing and then reading submissions from agents alongside that. Editors and agents are asked to attend readings from Creative Writing students and that’s another way for those writers to meet them. Literary festivals are another way to go as you’ll get the benefit of seeing already published writers and hearing their advice as well as potentially meeting other unpublished authors, editors and agents. Networking is a great way to not only build contacts but to connect with other writers in the same boat as you and they can provide a really great support network. Writing is such a solitary job. I think the best way I’ve heard it described is: ‘the great paradox of a writer’s life is how much time they spend alone, trying to connect with other people!’
6) What are your views on the crime and thriller market currently? In your view, is there a sub-genre you think is in need of more representation?
It’s going to be interesting to see how the current situation shapes the market. I don’t think we’ll see (or necessarily want) a lot of lockdown crime & thrillers in the next year or two, but I can imagine that a few years from now, that will change – the benefit of perspective! What seems to be coming back now is the locked-room murder mystery, as evidenced by the success of Ruth Ware and Lucy Foley, among others; and there’s a move, with Alex North, CJ Tudor etc, to mix crime thriller with horror and a touch of the supernatural, which has proven very successful. The wonderful Irish writer John Connolly has been doing that for twenty years and I highly recommend his Charlie Parker series as well. I think writers have the opportunity to play around with the genre more. Take a ‘traditional’ aspect and either subvert it or mix it with something else. Books are competing with readers attention from Netflix, phones, games, etc and we need to keep their attention once we have it. Readers want to see something ‘a bit different’ and this is a genre where you can do that, whilst still engaging them with the elements that they read the genre for.
7) Do you have a genre that you read for pleasure? Is there any genre of book that you wouldn’t read?
I’ve actually always enjoyed crime and thriller fiction. My gran got me into Agatha Christie from a young age and I loved Nancy Drew as a kid. I have a lot of crime & thriller author friends whose books I enjoy reading (quick shout out to Claire McGowan, Angela Clarke, Tom Wood and Rod Reynolds – I do have more friends though, just saying…) and I read around the genre anyway for work. I also enjoy reading group books and women’s fiction. I have a real fondness for books about books – set in bookshops etc. There’s just something about books! I’m not as keen on sci-fi; I’m afraid that I can’t get into it. Ditto dystopian fiction.
8) What was the last book you read, that wasn’t one of your clients, and if so, did you enjoy it?
I’ve almost finished The Girl Who Reads on the Metro by Christine Féret-Fleury and I’ve started The Murder Game by Rachel Abbott, both of which I’m really enjoying. The Féret-Fleury is a lovely, sweet, uplifting book and The Murder Game has a great concept and Rachel Abbott really knows how to build the tension. I’m very much looking forward to The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard in August, The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles (sadly not out till Feb), The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (Sept)and The Readers’ Room by Antoine Laurain (also Sept).
9) When you leave your desk on a Friday, what’s the first thing you do? On a Friday evening/on the weekend, what do you do to relax?
On a Friday I would sometimes go for a drink with colleagues after work, or meet friends for dinner, or I’d go home and put my feet up and watch TV with a glass of wine. Saturdays are usually (in normal times) reserved for boring life admin like food shopping, house cleaning, gardening, but also a run perhaps, definitely submission reading for work, meeting friends or having them over for dinner/drinks/BBQ, going for long walks, meeting at the pub, the cinema, the occasional pub quiz on a Sunday night. Trying to decompress before another usually busy week!
10) If you had to choose between Rod Stewart and Freddie Mercury, who would you choose and why?
Hmmm. I guess that would depend on what sort of mood I’m in. If I wanted to go out dancing, then Freddie would totally be my guy. If I’m in more of a wood-fire and night-in, then it’d have to be Rod. I think on the whole though, Freddie, as I’m out most nights every week with friends or at work events and I think he’d keep the energy up and would certainly be entertaining!
Thank you for joining me on the blog today, Katherine. It has been a pleasure to interview you.
Bio: Katherine Armstrong has worked in publishing for over fifteen years and is Editorial Director for Fiction at Bonnier Zaffre, part of Bonnier Books UK. She has previously worked at Faber & Faber and Little, Brown. Her speciality is crime and thriller fiction. She was one of the founding organisers of First Monday Crime Nights in London and is programme consultant for NOIReland, a new international crime fiction festival in Belfast.
Hi everyone, this morning I’m delighted to welcome literary agent Gordon Wise to the blog. He was kind enough to answer my questions as to what he looks for in submissions.
Below the Q&A, you can find what he’s currently looking for.
Over to you, Gordon…
1) Did you see yourself becoming a literary agent after you left school? Did you have any other career plans?
I’d never heard of a literary agent when I left school! I only discovered publishing (as opposed to writing, or bookselling) existed when I was working in a bookshop when I was in my third year of university, and that agenting sat inside a series of Russian dolls within that. My childhood dream had been to be an architect, until I discovered you had to be good at and like maths (I threw in the towel on maths after calculus nearly killed me) and that it was a seven year course. Now I am told that the maths is all dealt with by computers. But then you have to like and be good at computers… So I think I ended up in the right place.
2) How are you drawn into a submission? Is it the covering letter, synopsis or sample writing? What can an author do to leave you wanting more?
It’s a synthesis of all three. I want the cover letter to invite me in and give a good reason to spend time on this book – it has to be an enticing pitch in itself. I’ll probably then fast forward to the sample writing, to see if I like the tone. Then if I like what I am reading I’ll wind back and look at the synopsis, to see what I’d be learning if I read further. I need to feel I’m going to enjoy and be excited by the experience of spending 3-5 hours reading the whole book, and have a sense that others would, too.
3) What do you consider a standout query letter? On the other, what wouldn’t attract you to a submission?
A good query letter will give me a great hook for what the book is about, why you’ve approached me (expressed originally, not just lifted from our website), who you think might enjoy it (perhaps a couple of authors you’d like your book to sit alongside – but don’t choose pretentious or incomparable ones – to give me a sense that you are aware of the market). I’d put down immediately something that got my name wrong, started with Dear Sir or Madam, or gave me any sense that just because you’ve written it, it’s special and that I’m obliged to read it. Win me over!
4) How do you know when you have connected with a manuscript? Is it prose, plotting or pace of the narrative?
Well, you’ve missed out character – that’s critically important. Obviously the prose must be good, but there’s many a successful book where the prose isn’t amazing. However, bad prose will be an impediment to understanding and enjoyment. Plotting is crucial, certainly in commercial fiction, but there’s no literary novel that isn’t going to benefit from having a good plot. Pace: well, get the plotting right and that should follow. In editing, you can address pace, and to some degree plot – but you have to have a good starting point, and the writer has to be open to feedback and take criticism on board. But it’s very hard to improve prose. So you do need to get your voice right.
5) Once you finish reading a manuscript submission in full, what prompts you to offer representation?
If I like the author, and I think they like and trust me, and that I think I can sell it. I see myself as a switchboard operator at that point: do I know the editors who will be the right match for this book and this author? If I can’t envisage that, then I’d need to stand aside. And if I can’t see myself working with that writer for the long term and for us to go the distance together, then we shouldn’t go forward.
6) What are your views on the crime and thriller market currently? In your view, is there a sub genre you think is in need of more representation?
Buoyant! And always looking for new voices. But the big brands are strong, so new entrants to the market really have to be offering something special to do business against the established competition. Diversity and inclusivity in all senses of those words needs far more representation in terms of setting, characters, voice. In books, we’ve still got an awful lot of catching up to do with TV in terms of not being self-conscious about this, and being confident about it.
7) Do you have a genre that you read for pleasure? Is there any genre of book that you wouldn’t read?
Books about architecture, design and gardens! An ordered antidote to the day job I suppose… I won’t read misery lit, and I find it hard, other than the classics, to get into sci fi and fantasy. Reality is interesting enough.
8) What was the last book you read, that wasn’t one of your clients, and if so, did you enjoy it?
Me by Elton John. By turns hilarious and self-deprecatingly frank.
9) When you leave your desk on a Friday, what’s the first thing you do? On a Friday evening/on the weekend, what do you do to relax?
Walk home, and have a drink. Probably a stiff gin and tonic. The challenge is to get as far as taking your coat and shoes off first rather than stick your head straight into the fridge. Weekends are TV, newspapers, walks, garden, sea swimming in the summer (nothing very wild though), catching up on manuscripts and planning a few good meals. With wine.
10) If you had to choose between Rod Stewart and Freddie Mercury, who would you choose and why?
Rod. I think that one-of-the-lads persona is very appealing; Freddie is almost a mythical figure and I just don’t know what it would have been like to hang out with him. Although one of my clients, Cleo Rocos, did – and even took Princess Diana to a gay bar with him!
Thank you for visiting the blog today Gordon. It has been a pleasure to interview you!
Bio: I joined Curtis Brown in 2005, but began working in the book industry in 1989 as a bookseller when I was a student. In between I was for nearly fifteen years an editor and, later, publishing director, at companies including Pan Macmillan and John Murray/Hachette. On the industry side of things, I’ve been Agent of the Yearat the British Book Industry Awards, President of the Association of Authors’ Agents, and featured in the Booksellermagazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the publishing trade. A Guardianinterview, ‘How do I become a … literary agent’, explains the way in which I approach my work.
The catalogues on my profile page feature clients whose work represents the range of my current activities. I am assisted by Niall Harman. CLIENTSNEWS
What I’m looking for: My tastes and expertise in non-fiction embraces history and biography, entertainment and the world of ideas. In the worlds of fiction, I focus on two strands: literary writers whose storytelling crosses over to reach beyond just the ‘literary’ reader; and both new and established terrific writers who happen to write crime.
To read more about what I am up to at the moment, read my blog at Curtis Brown Creative, and our submissions portal tells you what I am looking for right now and how to send it to me. I’ve got a reputation as a trusted collaborator, a developer of original ideas, an agent with an eye for reinvention and brand management, and a gift for editor-writer matchmaking.
Hi everyone, this morning I’m delighted to welcome Sarah Pinborough to the blog. She was kind enough to answer my questions on her writing process. She is the author of the bestselling psychological thriller, Behind Her Eyes.
Over to you, Sarah…
1) As a child, did you have a favourite author? Was there a turning point with any particular book that made you go ‘Wow!’
I read so much as a child but I think as a young child it was Peter Pan, a copy of which I got for my 6th birthday and I can still see the pages even now, and also The Magician’s Nephew. As I got older I read pretty widely because I was at boarding school so there wasn’t that much else to do and there were always books, and then fell in love with all sorts of writers like Wilbur Smith, James Herbert and Stephen King. I read quite a lot of fantasy when I was young but that faded as I got older. No idea why.
2) Did you enjoy English at school?
I enjoyed the creative parts of it, and it was probably my best subject, so I guess yes. It was a long time ago!
3) Do you find that your day job helps you in your writing? If so, how?
I haven’t had a day job for about twelve years, so no;-). Although when I was teaching it probably helped a bit with teenage psyches when I later came to write some YA novels such as The Death House and 13 Minutes.But I think unless you were a police person and writing crime or whatever I don’t think day jobs tend to help in writing. Not for me anyway.
4) What was your route to publication? How did you find your current agent?
My first book was published at the end of 2004 and it was a straight horror novel for a mass market paperback company in America. They published my first 6 books. I was, I guess lucky, because I’d picked up a couple of their books in a US airport when I was writing my first book, and when I checked their website I saw that they accepted unsolicited manuscripts. So when I’d finished The Hidden, I sent the first 3 chapters and an outline and they bought it. I got my first agent after that. Then I just kind of worked my way up the publishing ladder from there!
5) Do you have any plan formed when you come up with ideas? How does your idea generation work?
I don’t really know! I don’t analyse where ideas come from really, but obviously you have to tailor them to what you’re contracted to write. So, if I’m contracted to write three adult psychological thrillers and I hand in a YA fantasy, that’s not going to end well. The more you write though, the more you look for ideas in every day life. If you read an interesting article and bookmark it, sometimes that will create an idea.. or at least the germ of one. When I get a sense of who my main character is then it starts to come to life. After that I spider diagram plot ideas etc. I’m a planner, so I do a lot of thinking and notes before I start, and I HAVE to have the end in place before I start. The rest can change as I go, but the ending is fixed and I’m working towards it.
6) How many times, roughly, would you say, that you polish a draft before you send it off to your agent?
Oh god, I’m normally late so I don’t! I finish it and then send to my UK editor and agent at the same time, and prob my US agent. I don’t see the point in polishing it at that point because there will be an edit anyway so the polishing can come later. I don’t write on spec so I’ve already sold the books before I write them so it’s different. And my agent doesn’t see them before my editor. Although I sometimes send her first 20,000 words so she’s got a feel for it for the foreign rights team.
7) Do you have any advice for writers looking to send their work to agents?
Obviously first check that the agency represents what the kind of fiction you’re writing. Make sure your book is finished and the first page – the first paragraph and first line – is really engaging, because to be honest, if your first page is dull they won’t read anymore. Make sure your accompanying book outline is clear, and your cover letter is professional. Don’t compare yourself or your book to other writers. Don’t sing your own praises. This is a business letter really. If there’s an interesting back story to your book, maybe a paragraph on it, but the work is what will sell itself or not. And whatever you do, don’t take rejection personally. I still have the notebook with my list of crossed out agencies that I sent my book to! One of the companies is now my agency, many years on;-) The Writer’s Handbook normally has a comprehensive list. Or if there is an author whose work is similar, check the acknowledgements, where they will no doubt thank their agent, and so you can find someone who may be a match that way.
8) What was the last book you read, and did you enjoy it?
I just read Lisa Hall’s upcoming book, ‘The Perfect Couple’ and I really loved it. A great psych thriller with echoes of Hitchcock and Rebecca.
9) When you leave your desk on a Friday, what’s the first thing you do? On a Friday evening/on the weekend, what do you do to relax?
I don’t work a Monday to Friday schedule so I tend to work seven days a week when I’m in the mood, or I may take a Monday of or whatever and my timings are fluid. It’s not a set ‘at my desk’ routine. But I’m quite boring really, I like watching movies. Sometimes I’ll just get a lot of crap food and watch 3 films back to back or whatever if I really want to switch off for a while. I walk the dog, work, watch movies and read.
10) If you had to choose between Rod Stewart and Freddie Mercury, who would it be and why?
Oh Freddie Mercury all the way! So much drama and magic. Love him!
Thank you so much for visiting my blog today, Sarah. It has been a pleasure to interview you.
Bio:
Sarah Pinborough is a Sunday Times Number one, New York Times and Internationally bestselling author who is published in over 25 territories worldwide. Her recent books include Behind Her Eyes which will be a global Netflix series in summer 2020, and Cross Her Heart which is in development with World Productions. Her next thriller, Dead To Her (August 2020) has already been optioned by a major studio for development as a US TV series.
Sarah has been shortlisted for the Crime and Thriller Book of the Year at the British Book Awards and was the 2010 and 2014 winner of the British Fantasy Award for Best Novella. She has four times been short-listed for Best Novel. She is also a screenwriter who has written for the BBC and has several original television projects in development.’
Hi everyone, and today, I’m delighted to welcome literary agent David Headley to the blog. Alongside the what he looks for in submission questions, David also answered my questions on what is he up to during lockdown.
Over to you, David…
1) Did you always want to be a literary agent when you left school? Did you actually have any other career plans?
A short answer is no. I had no idea that a literary agent was even a job until I started working in my bookshop. I didn’t even want to be a bookseller but I have always loved reading. From as far back as I can remember, I was always reading. I was also a librarian in school. I had thoughts of being in the police and joining the RAF and was a cadet for a short time. It wasn’t until I had left school that I finally decided that I wanted to be a Catholic priest, though it took some time to come to that decision. It was the best thing that I ever did because it gave me an education that has massively helped me. I decided to become a literary agent 12 years ago and it has been the most rewarding career.
2) How are you drawn into a submission – is it the covering letter, synopsis or sample writing? What can an author do to leave you wanting more?
A covering letter can be intriguing. I find that the submissions that I am drawn to are the ones where the author is confident and they are clear about what they are writing. They have a skill to pull me in. The synopsis isn’t ever the thing that I judge the submission on. I always judge the submission on the writing. If I have reached the end of the three chapters and I desperately want to read more then I know I have something special.
3) How do you know that you have connected with a manuscript?
Usually it is in the first few pages. Sense of place and strong narrative voice will grab me and keep me.
4) What, currently, are you not looking for? Do you mind if an author blends genres in their writing?
I’m never really prescriptive because the books that I represent are often books that took me by surprise and ones that I would not normally have called for. If an author blends a genre that is fine if it done well. Genres have rules and as long as those rules are kept it will work. Often, those books that don’t meet the rules and are successful are because the writers know the rules well and know how to break them.
5) What would make you reject a manuscript, if you have asked to see the completed work?
If I can’t see how to fix the issues then I will reject a manuscript that I have called in. Sometimes, writers spend so much time perfecting their first three chapters for submission they forget that the rest of the book needs the same work. I will also reject a manuscript if the writing needs too much work and I feel the writer has been impatient in sending their submission too early. Publishing is a marathon not a sprint.
6) What are your views on the crime and thriller market? In your opinion, is there a sub-genre in need of more representation?
The crime and thriller genre is my favourite and I read a lot of crime and thriller books. I am a judge for a crime prize and so I read widely. I can’t think there is a sub-genre that is under represented, though there should be more diverse voices. That is without question.
7) Is there one book from your childhood that you still read now? If so, why are you still drawn to it? Mine is any of the Harry Potter series and the Horrid Henry books. I was a huge fan of the novels and my six year old self had nightmares about Voldermort.
I really wish I had time to revisit books from my childhood. I do, though, have a brilliant memory and I can recall a lot about the books that I have read. I read so many new books for the bookshop and as an agent that I just don’t have time to re-read books.
Life is too short and there are so many books. Also, I think reading a book at a certain time makes a difference to how you read it and what impact it will have on you.
8) What are your views on book to film or television adaptations? Do you prefer the book or the film versions?
As an agent, they are great, and can be very lucrative for authors. I think that you have to accept that both mediums are very different and there will always be differences that you will not like. I always explain to my clients that if they sell options to their work they might have to accept that there will be changes that they may not like.
9) During lockdown, what are you currently reading? Are you going back to favourite books or finding new ones? I’m a mix of both.
I am reading submissions and books coming out in the next six months. There are some really brilliant books coming soon, I have just finished reading Laura Shepherd Robinsons’s second novel, The Daughters of the Night which is fantastic. This is a follow-up to her brilliant debut, Blood and Sugar. I am also reading new manuscripts and editing books by my clients. It is business as normal in that respect for me.
10) During lockdown, what are you currently watching? Are your TV habits changing? I’m binging on Netflix in the daytime.
I have just finished watching Gangs of London and I am currently watching Hollywood. My TV habits haven’t changed because the weather has been so fantastic that I have spent a lot of time working in the garden.
Thank you so much for your time today, David. It has been a pleasure to interview you.
Bio:
David Headley studied theology in London and Durham before co-founding and becoming the Managing Director of Goldsboro Books, a much admired, leading independent bookseller, based in central London.
David has spent the last 21 years establishing Goldsboro Books and building good relationships with editors within the UK’s major publishing houses. He has a good eye for what readers want to read and he has gained a reputation for championing debut authors. He created the UK’s largest collectors’ book club and is influential in selling large quantities of hardback fiction in the UK. David has won awards for bookselling and in 2015 he was included in the Top 100 most influential people in publishing by The Bookseller.
David is the managing director of the D H H Literary Agency which he founded in 2008 and represents an eclectic range of best-selling and award-winning authors.
Currently looking for:
David is actively seeking well written stories with strong characters and an original narrative voice across both general and genre fiction, and is specifically on the lookout for crime / thrillers with a twist and a beautifully told, scene-setting romance. David is not looking for non-fiction, books for children, young adult [YA], history, poetry, plays, screenplays & short stories / novellas.
Hi everyone, I’m delighted to welcome crime writer Margaret Murphy to the blog. She was kind enough to answer a couple of questions for me, relating to her writing process.
Over to you, Margaret…
1) As a child, did you have a favourite author? Was there a turning point with any particular book that made you go ‘Wow!’
My reading was eclectic and constantly evolving. The first adult fiction I remember reading was Jane Eyre at the age of nine or ten, but I’m fairly sure it was a Readers’ Digest abridged version—I was an avid reader from a young age, but not that precocious! It had a profound effect on me: in the young Jane I saw someone of my own age articulating the feelings and thoughts and confusion I constantly experienced trying to make sense of the world. I was impressed by her innate morality, and her ability to remain true to herself, even when it was an unpopular – and even dangerous – thing to do.
There’s definitely a ‘wow’ moment in Jane Eyre, yup, there most certainly is! Turn to the chapter about the wedding.
2) Did you enjoy English at school?
Yes, and no. I enjoyed reading, and taking parts in plays when we read round the class, and school plays at end of term, but I hated being given set writing exercises, and one English report said I ‘lacked imagination’. The problem was, even then, I wanted to write about what interested me – and that didn’t encompass ‘what I did in the school holidays’. Our big family treat in the summer was a day trip to Ainsdale beach in my dad’s cab, or squelching across a wet field in north Wales, so the essay would amount to a short, dull, ‘not much’. But I did adventure in foreign lands, navigating the hazards of New York’s streets or driving the California coastline, righting (writing?) wrongs along the way – in other words, living life as many baby authors do: in the mind, though imagination and the power of ‘what if’.
3) Do you find that your day job helps you in your writing? If so, how?
I’ve had many day jobs over the years, from shop assistant, through Park Ranger and onto various roles in teaching, from biology to running a dyslexia unit, lecturing in creative writing, and finally working as an RLF Writing Fellow with universities across the north west. All have helped in the way that every experience, if reflected on, helps a writer. And of course, you meet so many interesting characters… I did have to unlearn some bad habits from my science training, though. In science, it’s a Good Thing to be objective and emotionally distanced from the topic – in fictional writing, it’s often a very Bad Thing. I write full time, now, but I’m still watching and listening, absorbing quirks and gestures, personality traits and psychologies which may someday find their way into the characters that populate my books.
4) What was your route to publication? How did you find your current agent?
My route was Difficult – capital intended. It took me five years and, oh, I can’t remember now – possibly three books? – to find a publisher. I found my current agent the same way I found the previous two – by doing my research. So I found out who represented my favourite authors, which agents specialised in crime fiction, and – crucially – which agents were willing to accept unsolicited MS submissions. Back in the 1990s, that knowledge was gleaned from two publications: The Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook, and The Writer’s Handbook. Today, you can google your way through that stuff in the click of a mouse – so there’s no excuse to be ill-informed.
5) Do you have any plan formed when you come up with ideas? How does your idea generation work?
I don’t think of it as ‘generation’ – that feels too contrived and mechanistic. When an idea comes to me, it’s oftenfrom left field, and frequently as a startling image: the body of a woman falling from a wheelie bin into the maw of a lorry; a body, posed on a table tomb in a Victorian cemetery, tattooed from neck to foot; a barrister chained in the dark in a cold cellar. When I have the idea, I start by asking questions: who is the victim? Who investigates? What do they need to look for? Who do they need to interview? What are they hiding? Could forensics help (or hinder) the investigation? Then comes in-depth research and a couple of months of outlining before I begin writing the chapters.
6) How many times, roughly, would you say, that you polish a draft before you send it off to your agent?
No idea. I’ll polish the scene I wrote the night before, using that as a springboard into the day’s work, and if something is niggling, or doesn’t feel right, or I feelstuck, I might go back several chapters and redraft, finding a way forward by that route. Then I read each completed chapter aloud to my husband and edit and polish before moving on. When the novel is finished, I’llto a complete read-through, checking for structural and plot glitches as well as narrative flow, rewriting (often several times) before ever letting my agent see it. The point is your agent needs to see the very best book you can write. Not something which has promise, or couldbe good with a bit of work – it’s your job to do that work before you show it to anyone in the industry.
7) Do you have any advice for writers looking to send their work to agents?
See Q. 6 Also, do your research, follow the agency submission requirements, write a really good synopsis – and part of that requires advance prep of a different kind. Submit short stories to competitions and mention any shortlistings, commendations etc. in your CV/introductory letter. You have to stand out from a crowd of maybe 2000-4000 submissions they could receive in a year!
8) What was the last book you read, and did you enjoy it?
Then She Was Gone, by Lisa Jewell. A brilliant suspense novel, in the mould of The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold, Then She Was Gone is a terrific mystery, centred around a bright, but sheltered teenaged girl who disappears without trace. It made me care deeply about the central character and ask questions all through the narrative – despite the fact that a major plot point is revealed very early in the novel.
If anyone is interested, I review books on my Shelf Indulgence blog on my website – both fiction and non-fiction, new and old.
9) When you leave your desk on a Friday, what’s the first thing you do? On a Friday evening/on the weekend, what do you do to relax?
Like most writers I know, I work every day of the week, so I don’t really experience that Friday night feeling. Weekends for most freelancers, including writers, are just times when you know nobody will get back to you if you email. That can be a good thing, because, knowing that nobody will be asking me for stuff means I can get some serious writing done without interruption! To relax, I garden, do a bit of yoga, walk, read (obv), watch films – and before the lockdown, I enjoyed the theatre.
10) If you had to choose between Rod Stewart and Freddie Mercury, who would it be and why?
Freddie Mercury no hesitation. Don’t get me wrong, Rod Stewart is a hell of an artist – his ‘A Night on the Town’album sold like hotcakes when I worked as a Saturday girl on the record counter at John Menzies, and I knew every word of every track. But no one can touch Queen for scale, depth of understanding of human passion and need, or for wit, and musicality. Mercury’s fabulously entertaining and bravura performances were the cornerstone of their success; his vocal range was epic (four octaves – damnit!), the power and control he had was just breath-taking, and his singing and sheer personality electrified audiences across the world.
Bio:
Margaret Murphy writes internationally acclaimed psychological thrillers. She is a past Chair of the Crime Writers Association (CWA), founder of Murder Squad, and a former RLF Writing Fellow and Reading Round Lector. She’sbeen a country park ranger, biology teacher, dyslexia specialist and Visiting Professor in creative writing. A Short Story Dagger and CWA Red Herring award winner, she has also been shortlisted for the ‘First Blood’ critics award and CWA Dagger in the Library.
Margaret Murphy’s Darkness Falls is now available (at 99p for a short time!) from Joffe Books on AmazonKindle.
Here’s a taster: ‘Clara Pascal is a successful lawyer, beautiful and a devoted mother. People want to be her. Then Clara is abducted in broad daylight. The only witness is her daughter, Pippa, and all she can describe is a man bundling her mummy into a white van. Now, robbed of everything that gives her life meaning, Clara lies chained to the stone wall of a dark cellar – without food, warmth, or sleep, without even the most basic communication. Why has he taken her?’
Val McDermid wrote: ‘Darkness Falls is a model of what the modern suspense thriller should be — tense, scary, page-turning and stomach-churning… Set aside a day — you won’t be able to put it down once it has you in its grip.’
Thanks for visiting the blog, Margaret. It has been a pleasure to interview you!
‘Set aside a day—you won’t be able to put it down once it has you in its grip.’ —Val McDermid
‘A first-rate chiller.’ —Booklist (starred review)
The Cutting Room
“Disturbing and wickedly entertaining.” —People Magazine
“Addictive sequel to 2018’s Splinter in the Blood.” —Publishers Weekly
“There’s enough of Edgar Allen Poe, Peter James, and Michael Connelly in “The Cutting Room” to make every mystery reader’s heart beat faster.” —Suspense Magazine
Hi everyone, and today I’m delighted to welcome Jacky Collins to the blog. Jacky founded Newcastle Noir Festival, and also discusses her favourite books in lockdown that she is currently reading.
Over to you, Jacky…
1) As a child, did you always have a love of reading? Was there any particular book that made you go ‘Wow!’
Yes, I did, from an extremely early age. I was also very protective of my books. I recall a vivid memory from when I was 3 years old. A friend made the grave error of scribbling in one of my precious story books. Needless to say she went home quite bruised and with a newfound respect for books!The ‘Wow’ book for me was The Hobbit (JRR Tolkein). I was totally enthralled by Bilbo’s journey & the book spoke to me of little people being able to achieve much (at 1’53m, that encouragement still holds true!)
2) Why did you choose to set up the Newcastle Noir festival?
Newcastle Noir was established with a view promoting top-class crime writing in the region and as a celebration of this intriguing and increasingly diverse genre. Being aware of the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Bristol CrimeFest & Bloody Scotland, we wanted to host a similar event in the North East to which we could invite local, national and international authors. We are especially keen to welcome writers from further afield, in order to give avid crime readers from the region the opportunity to hear and meet these authors without having to travel great distances. Not only are we mad for crime fiction, but we’re also extremely passionate about making this event accessible to as many people as possible, so our aim is to keep prices as affordable as we can.
3) Is there a difference between NN and Noir at The Bar?
Yes, Newcastle Noir is a literary festival celebrating the best in contemporary crime writing. Based at Newcastle’s City Library, this annual gathering of crime fiction authors and readers offers events geared to a wide audience including panel discussions, readings, talks, guided tours and crime writing workshops.
Since it’s inception in Philadelphia, Noir at The Bar, is usually a relaxed evening in a local pub or similar venue where crime writers (established, emerging & would-be) read from their work. It’s a free event, members of the audience have the opportunity to win books, as well as enter the wildcard round so if they have a noirish story to tell, they can put their name in the hat.
4) You taught Film and TV at Northumbria University. What was your experience like of being a lecturer?
Over 25 years ago, I began my academic career in Modern Foreign Languages, lecturing in Spanish (Language & Cultural Studies). At my core, I am a linguist who delights is seeing others get to grips with another language and gain an understanding of how other societies function and their history. I am proud to say that many of the students I taught in this subject area have gone on to pursue a career in teaching languages at all levels in the education system – there’s nothing to beat the MFL spirit! More recently, I was offered the opportunity to move into Film & TV Studies and welcomed the chance to develop a different side of my knowledge which had been part of the focus of my PhD studies. It was a total delight to work with a different body of students, who opened my eyes to so many contemporary films. In return, I helped them develop their analytical and presentation skills. I have been so fortunate to spend time teaching subjects that continue to fill my life with joy & to work with young people who are so full of enthusiasm, creativity and dedication.
5) What do you look for in a good crime novel? Pace, character, story structure?
I look for a protagonist who grips me, a complex mystery/crime that needs solving and a complimentary story line that provides insight into issues troubling society. I should also say, I usually look first to see where the book is set, as I’m a massive fan of crime fiction in translation. If the book is taking me elsewhere, I’m already hooked!
6) Can you name one favourite author, and why you like their style of writing?
How difficult is this?! There are a number I could easily name for different reasons, but in the end I am going to choose the Icelandic writer Lilja Sigurdardottir, because to me she writes crime fiction like ABBA wrote (write – still longing for the promised new tracks) songs. Let me explain, behind an initial accessibility, there is a delicious complexity sprinkled with just the right amount of gold-dust magic. Also, the structure of the trilogy is reminiscent of a Mexican soap opera, but again don’t be fooled, there is a depth here examining the evils of our time, shedding light both locally (Iceland) and globally. If you haven’t had a chance to read this author, buckle up & treat yourself to a perfect lockdown escape!
7) During lockdown, what are you currently reading? Are you going back to favourite books or finding new ones? I’m a mix of both.
I have been so lucky to have my reading cut out for me, as I have been preparing for the online mini-NN2020 festival, Crime Fiction Addiction Radio Show, Noir at the Bar Edinburgh digital sessions and the Newcastle Library Eurocrime bookclub. I am definitely finding new ones, and please can I give a shout-out to Trevor Wood & Judith O’Reilly, two North East authors who have recently released two cracking crime novels – The Man on the Street & Curse the Day.
8) During lockdown, what are you currently watching? Are your TV habits changing? I’m binging on Netflix in the daytime.
Mostly, I am going between Netflix and Walter Presents for my crime drama fix – so I have just started watching Ozarks & The Other Mother. But where the greatest visual please is to be had for me at the moment is with Season 3 of Killing Eve! It ticks all the boxes & it’s providing the material for my latest research project.
9) Do you enjoy non fiction books?
I do, my choice would be for a good science/natural world publication or a book about the Spanish or Nordic cinema industry.
10) During lockdown, what music do you listen to? Have they changed at all? Mine have stayed the same.
I have been focusing on Icelandic music because I’m trying to learn the language & music is always a great way to do this. I’ve discovered an artist call GDRN (Gudrun) and I’m getting lost in her music, as well as a group with the unfortunate name of Lockerbie, but their music is fab.
Thank you for featuring on my blog, Jacky. It has been a pleasure to interview you.
Bio: Dr Jacky Collins, formerly Senior Lecturer at Northumbria University in Literature, Film & TV and Spanish Language & Culture, is also know as Dr Noir. In 2014 Jacky established the International Crime Fiction Festival that is Newcastle Noir, hosted annually at Newcastle’s City Library. With a keen passion for crime in translation, the festival regularly welcomes authors from the Nordic countries, Germany, France and more recently from Romania. In addition, Dr Noir runs the monthly Eurocrime Book Club, also held at this venue. Jacky is regularly invited to moderate at other national and international crime writing festivals. More recently, she has been venturing into local radio, co-hosting a fortnightly crime fiction programme on SpiceFM, hosting literary events in Edinburgh with the Honey & Stag events team, and has joined Corylus Books, a brand new indie publisher of fine crime fiction in translation: from Romania, Iceland and beyond.
Hi everyone, I’m delighted to welcome Phoebe Morgan to the blog today. She kindly took the time out to answer my questions on her writing process. I loved her advice particular on researching agents.
Over to you, Phoebe.
1) As a child, did you have a favourite author? Was there a turning point with any particular book that made you go ‘Wow!’
As a child I read a huge amount of Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl – I think their amazing imaginations are the thing that stuck with me, and made me realise that reading really is escaping into another world. I’m finding that so useful now, as the COVID-19 pandemic sweeps the globe and nobody can travel – being able to lose myself in a novel is a wonderful privilege. I’m so glad that I was encouraged to read a lot as a child, as it instilled a love for books in me from a very young age. We didn’t have a television, so practically all I did was read!
2) Did you enjoy English at school?
I did, yes. It was my favourite subject, and probably the only one I was any good at, though I did enjoy history and art as well. I did an English degree at university, but I think I enjoyed English the most in high school; I had a particularly great teacher in Year 7 and Year 8 who made a big impact on me and showed me how important creativity is in writing. She was the first teacher to tell me that I had a good imagination, and it really stayed with me and encouraged me as I grew older.
3) How did you find your day job as a journalist and your one currently as an Editorial Director for HarperCollins? Do you find that your experience helps you when you are writing?
I was only a journalist for just under a year before I moved into publishing, and I definitely prefer my job now – I love working with authors on their manuscripts and being involved in all the parts of the process, from briefing the jacket design to looking at the sales figures and thinking about how to build an author’s profile. I do think my editorial experience helps when writing as I learn so much from other writers, primarily about how to structure a novel and I also find it very inspiring working around others who care so much about books – it makes me want to be a better author and spurs me on when writing feels hard.
4) What was your route to publication? How did you find your current agent?
I signed with my agent in 2015, or 2014 I think, so we’ve worked together for a while now. I just sent out my first three chapters, covering letter and synopsis to a range of agents and was very lucky when Camilla (Bolton, at the Darley AndesonAgency) agreed to represent me. She originally asked me to meet up and we discussed the book that would become my debut (The Doll House), and then I did a bit of editorial work on it before she actually signed me up. I was so thrilled when she emailed to say she was offering representation – I can remember I was sat in Foyles bookshop on Charing Cross Road, so very fitting really! After some more edits, Camilla sent the book out to publishers, and eventually HQ took it on. I did also face a fair amount of rejection, which is definitely worth saying – it wasn’t a super-easy path and I would say to anyone in a similar position that the most important thing is to take feedback on board and to keep going. You only need one yes!
5) Do you have any plan formed when you come up with ideas? How does your idea generation work?
I am not a huge planner – I often start with a setting or a character and then come up with the plot afterwards. For example, with my third book The Babysitter (out with HQ on 28th May) I wanted to set it in Suffolk where I grew up, but I also wanted it to have a holiday element so part of it is set in France and inspired by a gorgeous villa I stayed in a couple of years ago. I also often write about siblings and women, so I sometimes have characters form in my mind before the actual idea develops more slowly over time.
6) How many times, roughly, would you say, that you polish a draft before you send it off to your agent?
I now send my books to my editor and agent at the same time, so I will usually have gone through the manuscript a fair few times before pressing send. It depends on how much time I have, but I would hate to turn something in that was full of mistakes so I do try to be quite careful. That said my books do always need work and I know that there will be edits down the line – which I don’t mind too much, as writing the first draft is the hardest bit! So I would say I go through the manuscript somewhere between three and seven times before sending it – not always fully, but maybe I might go over certain bits like the opening more than others.
7) Do you have any advice for writers looking to send their work to agents?
Make sure you do your research! Think about what kind of genre you are writing in and find out who are the best agents in that genre. Follow their guidelines closely, and read interviews with them online if you can about what they might be looking for. Make sure your work is finished (if it is fiction) and that you’re happy with it before you send. Do send to multiple agents at once as it can take a while to hear back, so doing it one agent at a time isn’t the best approach.
8) What was the last book you read, and did you enjoy it? What did you enjoy about it specifically? Plot, character, structure, pace?
I loved LITTLE DISASTERS by Sarah Vaughan, a suspense novel about a woman who suspects her friend of hurting her baby. I loved the characters and pacing most of all – she’s a brilliant writer and I loved how the story developed, and the nuanced ways the characters interacted. It was a fascinating look at motherhood and female friendship – two subjects I find very interesting.
9) When you leave your desk on a Friday, what’s the first thing you do? On a Friday evening/on the weekend, what do you do to relax?
Hmm well I am writing this in lockdown, so not a lot! I’m working from home, so I do try to differentiate between the days and the evenings as much as I can – on a Friday at 6 I will get up from my desk (kitchen table!) and go for a run around the park. I am lucky to live close to a lovely park in London, and getting out once a day makes a big difference to how I feel. So I will usually do that, then come back and light a candle, have some dinner and maybe watch a crime drama or a film. I love crime dramas so I’m always after a new one to absorb myself in! I also try to read for pleasure at the weekends, but it is hard as I always have lots of submissions to read for work too.
10) If you had to choose between Rod Stewart and Freddie Mercury, who would it be and why?
I have to confess I know very little about either of them, sorry… I am awful at celebrity culture unless it involves 90s girlbands or Taylor Swift…
Bio: Phoebe Morgan is an author and editorial director at HarperCollins. Her novels The Doll House and The Girl Next Door are out now, and The Babysitter, her third book, publishes with HQ on 28thMay 2020. She is always on the look out for exciting new voices, and you can read her blog about writing and publishing here:www.phoebemorganauthor.com or find her on Twitter @Phoebe_A_Morgan.
Thank you for allowing me to interview you, Phoebe. It’s been a pleasure to have you on the blog today.
Hi everyone, I’m delighted to welcome crime writer Tim Weaver to the blog today. Read on as he answers my questions on that all important first draft process.
“Here’s Tim on a research trip to Torcross, Devon, which provided the inspiration for the village that his character David Raker grew up in.”
1) When you begin the next book, how do you go about it?
I’m just editing my first ever standalone at the moment, so the process for that has been slightly different, but with the David Raker series, I generally start with the idea for a mysterious and unexplained disappearance. I try to challenge myself (and Raker, as the missing persons investigator) by making the disappearance easy to pitch but difficult to solve: so, in Vanished, a man disappears on a Tube train; in Never Coming Back, a family vanish in the middle of making their dinner; in Fall from Grace, a man goes to the back of his house to fetch firewood and never returns; in No One Home, a whole village disappears overnight. At the beginning, I have no idea how or why that person or people have vanished, or how – I tend to just figure it out as I go.
2) Do you follow the same process you did for the book before?
Yes, generally I’ll stick to the same process for each book, as described above. There soon become big differences between books, though, not just in terms of the actual storylines themselves, but in how easily (or not!) the plot comes together. That’s the downside with not planning: there’s a lot of experimenting, and sometimes you have no idea how well, or how badly, an idea is going to work until you get there.
3) What is your research process, if you have one?
I usually spend a month researching and 10 months writing. Research is a big part of the process for me – talking to experts, reading books, making notes, travelling to different places, taking photographs – but I also make sure not to let it define the experience too much. What I mean is, research is important because, without it, your reader will have a hard time believing the world you’re presenting them – it needs to feel realistic, believable, like it exists (even if it doesn’t) and characters need to behave in ways that makes sense within the context of who they are and what they do. But, in a work of fiction, and especially in a thriller, your number one job is to entertain, so you have to strike the right balance. If you pour too much research into your novel – and it can be tempting, believe me – it starts to feel more like an instruction manual.
4) How quickly after thinking or planning do you sit down to write?
As I said before, I don’t plan, so once my research is done, I start writing. After the research phase, I’ll have a little more insight into the vague direction I’m heading – perhaps even where I might eventually end up – but not much other than that. Not planning, as discussed, can be stressful, but I think the positives far outweigh the negatives: in my opinion, characters don’t come alive until you’ve got them on the page, thinking and interacting, and that organic process of just letting them go and flourish, not only improves them but improves the plot. It’s easier to surprise the reader – especially important in a thriller – when you’re busy surprising yourself.
5) How does the draft form on the screen?
There’s no magic bullet for me. I write, chapter by chapter, in a linear fashion. I take longer than some writers to get to a first draft, because I can’t move on from one chapter until I’ve got the previous one as good as possible, but it means my first draft tends to be a little more up together. But not perfect. Never, ever perfect. Completing a first draft of your book is only the first baby step on the road to a finished version. But I love working with my editor after that. It’s hard work but very rewarding.
6) Where do you write the majority of the draft?
At my desk, in my office at home. I can’t write on trains or in cafes. I can only work at home. I like quiet, so don’t listen to music, and I try to write from 9am to 5pm every week day. That picks up a bit when you’re closing in on deadline, but generally I try to do a fairly ordinary working week, and try to achieve 1500 words per day. Until Book 4, Never Coming Back, I worked as a journalist during the day (and sometimes night!) and that was very hard: during those years, I just grabbed hours where I could.
Thank you for taking part in my First Drafts interview today, Tim. It’s been a pleasure.
Bio: Tim Weaver is the Sunday Times bestselling author of the David Raker missing persons series. His novels have twice been selected for the Richard and Judy Book Club, and he’s been nominated for a National Book Award and the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. He also wrote, presented and produced the chart-topping podcast, Missing, about why people disappear and how they are found. He lives in Bath and is currently putting the finishing touches to his eleventh book, which will be his first ever standalone novel.
