The question is how you react

This post does relate to writing but I'm going off on a tangent first. Please bear with me. 

My feed

It is easy for me to become self-reflective at this time of year. Those who know me well know this story but there is a reason behind retelling it. You see twenty-one years ago this month I had surgery to help stop reflux that my body didn't respond well to. I woke up from the anaesthetic unable to eat properly. Twenty years ago this month I had PEG tube fitted. I am not going to give the long name for it, but basically, it is a tube directly into my stomach through which I can pump nutrition. It saved my life but it also meant I was deemed disabled. 

When I say I am a disabled author people see the crutches I use and assume it is connected with my joints. They are just a secondary issue. The tube in my stomach is, in fact, my disability. 

Why am I telling you this? There is a good reason I promise you. Recently I have been reading a book by Jake Humphrey's and Damian Hughes entitled High Performance. I always like to occasionally read books like this because you never know what you can share with your students. Something I read in there reminded me of the time following the surgery and the years afterwards. In the book, it talks about how you react to setbacks can make all the difference and this is your responsibility. 

After the surgery, I was very ill until the PEG was fitted. At the time, I was a single parent with three children aged 15, 13 and 11 who ran her. own business. Things could not be more difficult. I lost my business because I was too ill to work. I'd lost my identity or so it felt. I could easily have given up. The doctors even expected me to do that. But, I refused to. This was no one's fault and how I reacted was my responsibility. This was not the first time I'd had to start my life again. I'd been divorced when the children were very small and I knew I could do it again. 

People couldn't understand why I wasn't angry. But angry at who? Anger is so destructive. I couldn't change things. I had to focus on a new life and make sure my children and my mother who I cared for, were all right. The rest is history. I went to university and found a passion for learning. I ended up with a PhD became a lecturer and most importantly fulfilled my dream of becoming an author. You might think this sounds glib. Perhaps even that I make it sound easy. It was not. I had family around me. They were my tribe who supported me through the tough times and there were plenty of those which I'm not going to dwell on.

Please don't get me wrong as well, this is not meant to be a 'woe is me' post. The day the surgery went wrong was actually a great day. It meant I could follow my dreams. I'd never have had the guts otherwise (excuse the pun).

Achieving my dream!

Tangent over. Let me bring it back to writing. Being a writer is so often about rejection in some form or another. From an agent, or a publisher, not winning this award or that award, not getting the film rights, not appearing at the literary festival. The list goes on and to some extent, it never stops throughout your writing career potentially. Our friend, social media can ensure that we are constantly reminded of others' successes. My point here is how you react to those setbacks and that is your responsibility as mentioned in the book. It is well worth reading it as they expand upon this. Whatever your reactions to those setbacks are ensure you have your tribe, your people, ready. They are the ones you can talk to in the tough times. 

When trying to get an agent, wear any rejections as a badge of honour. Pay attention to what is being said in the email/letter though. Is it useful? Do you feel they might have a point? If several agents are saying the same thing in their rejection letters then you need to pay attention. Also, remember that it is one person's opinion. In the same way, an agent can reject it, it can take only one agent to like it and start your journey to publication. 

If you follow me you know I will pull this quote out frequently. It is the one from Matt Haig's Notes on a Nervous Planet where he lists a single sentence 'do not compare yourself'. This is vital when thinking how you are going to react. This is your personal journey. Others may on the surface be succeeding in everything you want, but remember that is the edited social media version. What you don't know is what they are facing behind the scenes. They will be dealing with their own rejections and setbacks. 

As far as I am concerned the most important things are to focus on you, your journey and how you react to situations while making sure you are supportive and kind to others. 

Working with Editors.

I love working with editors. It is such an enlightening experience. Having said that I have been very lucky in that the two main editors I have worked with have really understood my writing and got my stories. Every time they have brought something new and good to the process. I have never once felt like it was a negative process. I do know of others where this has not been the case, so I do count my blessings.

Don't get me wrong when the email arrives with the edits attached I do have that gulp moment and have to let them settle before realising that, yes they are right. They will make the book better. I can see why they are being suggested. You don't always have to agree but you have to have a good reason not to. Editorial comments are there for discussion. They are suggesting you look at an element in the manuscript and consider an alternative way of exploring it. 

It is always important to remember that an editor's opinion is precisely that, an opinion. There is that joke that you put seven editors in a room and give them the same manuscript and you will get seven different lots of editorial comments. I can say the same about writers. If I set my students a writing task where I give them all the same opening sentence, not one of them will write the same story. It is because everything we do, whether it is writing or reading/interpreting what we read is based upon our life experiences. Our education, our upbringing, our politics, our interests. The films we watch, the books we read. Everything has an impact. If you want to get all theoretical you go down the lines of Roland Barthes and his tissue of citations. But let's not. 

This is why it is so important to be open-minded to editorial suggestions and not defensive. Don't be precious about your work. You want it to be the best it can be. You will be too close to it and you won't see the flaws, however, often you have proofread it. Believe me. There have been many a moment when I have cringed when one of my editors have highlighted something that I would have jumped on my students for doing. But I just didn't see it because I was too close to it. I confess I was mortified. Don't be hard on yourself but welcome your editor's input. 

Working with an editor is a joy because they are as passionate about your story as you are. They want to talk about your story as much as you do. Trying to talk to my family about my story is never the same. They are very tolerant of me, bless them, but they don't really care. They are not particularly interested. But your editor is. Make the most of it. Share your ideas when you discuss your editorial notes. Bounce ideas around. It is a chance to get honest feedback. 

Obviously being part of a crit group helps you get used to having feedback, but always make sure it is constructive feedback you are receiving and it is not someone trying to make the book into their book. Always listen to the feedback and ask questions about your manuscript. If you don't agree and you have a good reason not to agree, like with editorial feedback you don't have to follow it. But make sure it is a good reason and you are not just being precious about your work. 

How I envisage the latent 
process
A man reading in the garden
Honore Daumier

I spent years receiving feedback as a student then giving it as a lecturer and as an editor with the Golden Egg Academy. It doesn't make getting feedback from an editor any easier. I still get just as worried though once I have got the edits, I get really excited because I love doing editing and bringing the story to life. Making it sing by ensuring it is the best story it can be. It is all about giving yourself time for latent processing once you have the editorial notes and then enjoy the rewriting. This is why I love working with editors and as I said I've worked with two of the best, Imogen Cooper and Janet.Thomas. 

Happy writing/editing everyone!

 

Writing Through - the power of reading and writing

Damian Barr

 This post has been inspired by the Radio 4 #GuideBooks with Damian Barr particularly the programme on bodies. It made me think about the books that have helped me but more importantly in this instance how much writing has saved me.

My entire life can be described in one sentence... "well, that didn't go as planned." This has been an echo throughout my life. Just when I think everything is falling into place, I can almost guarantee that something will come along and turn my world upside down. It hasn't just happened once. The one theme throughout is that in one shape or form I will write my way through it. It is one of my coping mechanisms as is reading. The writing allows me to explore the emotions involved and soothe a fractured mind.

The back page of my 
first book!

 From a small child, I have found solace in writing and reading. This photo is of the book of powems [sic] I wrote for my number 2 sister (yes, we are sometimes known by our numbers because there a few of us) when I was five maybe six and she was leaving home to go and study to be a nurse. I was going to miss her terribly and I wanted to make sure she wouldn’t forget me. The answer in my mind even then…write her a book then you will always be with her.

Whenever things got difficult throughout my teenage years. I would lose myself in books or I'd write the predictable heartfelt and fraught poems and, in my case and perhaps randomly, articles. I believe I even considered entering the Vogue young writers' competition. I can't remember whether I actually did, but I know I certainly thought about it and was convinced I would win. Having said that, I was convinced I would win the pony in the WH Smith competition every year (you'd never get away with that now!). I never did! I do also remember a time when in the second year (year 8) my English teacher read out a piece of my descriptive writing to the class. Having finished it, she looked across to me and said, 'You know Vanessa, you really can write. That was beautiful. Maybe you will be a writer one day.' There was a lot of smirking in the class as I was bullied mercilessly at the school, but for that moment I glowed. I can't for the life of me remember the name of that teacher as I have blocked a lot of memories of that school for obvious reasons. I can see her face though. I doubt she is still alive, but I wish I could tell her that I did make it eventually. Writing was a big part of my teenage years as was reading

One of my early notebooks

In my twenties, I found myself as a single parent with three very small children. At the time my way to deal with it was to read voraciously everything and anything but an awful of Joanna Trollope in the evenings when I was on my own. For childcare reasons I couldn’t go out and get a job so I set up my own business. A lot of what I did was based on writing. I wrote press releases, property features for the local paper, newsletter for the local charity, software training manuals. You name it I wrote. I quietly wrote in the evenings dabbling with fiction and poetry that no one ever saw which helped me deal with my emotions. It was the continuation of a habit. If I’m stressed or struggling I write. Never really taking the fiction seriously at that time.

Giving myself a feed

Just when things were beginning to go ok and were falling into place, I had some surgery to stop the serious reflux I suffered from. Unfortunately, my body reacted badly to it. I came around unable to swallow food and only able to take sips of fluids. There were all sorts of other implications that I am not going to include here because you really don't need to know them, but it all turned my life upside down. I was too ill to work. I became disabled. My children were my carers. I would cook for them absolutely starving and crying with hunger. It was a nightmare as it took a year for them to decide to put a PEG tube into my stomach through which I could take special feeds. It was such a difficult time because eating forms such a central part of our lives, our social life, everything really. Think of how many food-based programmes there are on television. Not being able to eat and work, I lost my sense of identity. I had no idea who I was. Yet again in my life, I had to reinvent myself. Work out who this newly disabled person was and how they fitted into this world. Once more I turned to writing. I wrote my way through it. . I have notebooks full of my witterings in. They will never be shared. All too personal and raw.

The PEG however allowed me to start a new life. To become a new person. I decided to make use of the writing that I’ve always played with. I signed up to the University of Winchester to do a degree in English because at that time the degree had modules in Creative Writing (there was no single honours degree in Creative Writing at that stage). Little did I know I was about to change my life completely. I had a chance to try on lots of different voices that included writing for children. Something I’d never thought about before and the rest, as they say, is history…I took an MA in Writing for Children, a PhD, became a lecturer and my debut novel Flight was published in 2018 by Firefly in the UK and by Feiwell and Friends in the US in 2021. Firefly will be publishing the sequel, Safe, in 2022. Writing my way through has helped me in so many ways.

I still do it, when I ended up on crutches because of joint issues, for example. Or when I cut back my hours in order to focus on my writing and build up my school visits just as the pandemic hit - perfect timing Vanessa! I will always write my way through stress and fear. I know if I don't write it has an impact on my mental health. I have learnt that now. I have an understanding.

Me, my crutches, and my crazy family at the launch of Flight.
I do my best not to let disability define me or stop me

Writing can be therapeutic, as can reading be. I have recently read an article about how reading to children in ICU can increase their production of oxytocin, which has an impact on their pain and can reduce it. It also reduces their stress levels. The writers of the article saw parents as a cost-effective intervention as they could read the stories to their own children. I am also a great believer that a book will find you just at the time you need it. It may be a little cliched, but Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist appeared in my life at a time when I needed it. The same with Matt Haig's Reasons to Stay Alive, which arrived at a moment when both myself and various people close to me were having issues with mental health. Yes, I know, the pragmatic part of my brain says, it is because you notice the write-ups of certain books when you need them. The romantic part does say they find you. Believe whatever you want to believe. The choice is yours. Writing and reading are so powerful. They will always be my salvation.

Slow growth is the way to go

Being an author!

 As I am sure you are all aware as well as being an author I am a lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Winchester. Over the summer, I did a lot of research and upskilling because I knew I needed to be able to help my third-year students prepare in the best possible way for what was likely to be a difficult job market thanks to our friend COVID. I wanted to help them stand out effectively and for the right reasons as well as realise what options would be available to them.

Little did I release this would prove so useful for me as an author too. I attended various business symposiums, career webinars and joined some groups. I followed a variety of people on social media that you wouldn't necessarily normally associate with my life as either an academic or being a writer. They were in fact more associated with my previous life, pre academia and pre writer. I learnt so much from them. 

Jessica Bendien

I attended a symposium for business women run by Emma Gosling, which had a variety of talks. Some of which were not useful but some were. I was checking out anything that was related to employability or presentation related that I could use for the students. Through the symposium, I won a one to one session with Jessica Bendien who runs Bang Talent but also Finding Fame courses. Don't be mislead by the title of the courses. It is not about being a celebrity. It is about becoming 'a go-to person' in your area and raising your profile.  It is easy to be sceptical about this and I am the world's worst cynic, but I learnt more in an hour with Jess than I have for a long time. She really made me stop and think about how I saw myself, what I wanted to achieve then how I was going to do it. 

Vix Meldrew
Glow & Grow

It has made me more conscious of my social media and how I use it. I am well aware that social media can have a negative impact on my mental health. I cam across Vix Meldrew with Glow & Grow on Instagram. Again it is aimed at business people. I have not joined the group (yet - I might soon but with school visits down so much finances are very tight). But I do follow them on Instagram and the information posted is very useful. I save a lot of their posts to remind me how I should be using social media. I am far more strategic about my social media engagement than I was before. I have a better understanding of it from both Jess and Vix. I also have found Alice Benham who is an advocate for slow growth, which anyone who is an author, is really going to empathise with. Nothing about being an author is fast. Everything we do is about the long game. It is not a race.

Now I can almost hear the shouting at this blog post. 'I am a writer, not a business person.' 'I don't need this.' And that is fine, you don't have to do it. This is just a way I have found of looking at my writing career and dealing with some of the issues I have faced following COVID, which I thought I might share. I have been lucky and always gained a lot of knowledge from people like Candy Gourlay who have always shared their author experiences including social media best practices. The links I have shared here just add a further dimension to it. For me, I became aware that I had a brand. There was Vanessa Harbour, author, and I needed to decide how to get that brand out there and what image I wanted to create so that people would be interested in my books and in me as an author with the knowledge I have. I needed to think about consistency and strategy. I confess I have not got this right yet and it is still a work in progress, but then I am working on the idea of slow growth. I intend to be here for the long run. What I do know is that I am open to ideas and seeing how  I can make my brand one that is recognisable, reliable and one that you would think of automatically. Yes, I am an author, but I need to remember not to be closed-minded when I think about how I am promoting myself. Anything is possible.

The Internet is a great resource and it is here to stay. Let's make the most of it. 

Enjoy Michael Kiwanuka's Light

Lockdown thoughts and a tribute to a lost friend

Today’s blog post is not a #writingishard post. Instead, I decided to write one from the heart. It is something I felt I needed to say. To say it is strange times is an understatement, isn’t it. We are living through history. In years to come people will ‘What was it like during Covid-19?’ and we will say we were there. People will write about this period in time. I find that concept quite surreal.

I know talking to friends that we are all going through similar emotions. A lot of the time we feel we are coping. Getting on with life doing a variety of things but then suddenly for no reason, we become

NANNY!

emotional and tearful. As I was talking to a friend on FB (Social media has never become so important as it is now) I think it is vital to acknowledge these moments of feeling overwhelmed. You shouldn’t be feeling ashamed of them. We are all feeling like it at times. My way of coping them is to do something mindless like colouring in a picture, doing some drawing (I’m a really bad artist but I know no one will ever see them), or dance crazily to my favourite music – it is the old adage, dance as if no one is watching – that is me. I live alone but I am lucky, and I know it, I have family very close, and I am mean very close. I was working yesterday and in the middle of a workshop, I heard this ‘NANNY’ being shouted. I opened my door and there was my youngest grandson at his fence wanting me to catch bubbles with him. There is a house between us, but Emily didn’t mind bubbles flying across her garden. I sneaked out for a couple of minutes to do just that. It makes all the difference for my sanity.

Family quiz

Checking in on people is vital at the moment. A quick message on text, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp or Messenger, whatever is your favourite method can make all the difference. It can bring a smile or even a giggle. My social life has taken a real upturn. We even have a family quiz night now. I went to the virtual village pub via Zoon last Friday night and have caught up with friends and siblings too. It can make a huge difference when you live alone just to hear someone’s voice. But the things I miss the most is a hug. Is human contact. Is my grandchildren wrapping their arms around me. Is holding my brand-new granddaughter and watching her newly learnt smile. The bear hugs from my sons and the all-enveloping hug from my daughter. The ache for those is physical. It really hurts. Those are the things I am going to do first when this lockdown is over.

During this time my colleagues and I have had to deal at a distance with the loss of a great friend. We

RIP Prof Neil McCaw

haven’t been able to come together to share our grief. Prof Neil McCaw was a larger than life character. He wore the best shirts. He so kind, but never suffered fools gladly. I have sat opposite him in meetings and he’d give me a look, just slightly raising an eyebrow, with a slight twitch of a grin. I’d know that I’d get an email later with his ‘thoughts’ on the meeting. His emails were the best. I’d quite often get an email from him because he’d found something that he knew would interest me because that’s what he was like. We’d talk about tv programmes, theory of creativity, life, dealing with illness and dogs. I knew if I had a worry, I could ask him, and he would give me an honest answer. It wasn’t always necessarily the answer I wanted to hear, but I knew it was always the best answer. Neil was a great support. He always had my back. He mentored me in my career and celebrated my successes. He was a truly gentle man and a gentleman, so kind and generous of heart. He knew so much and was so interesting to talk to. Passionate about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and George Eliot. You could have a fascinating and challenging conversation with him.

He started, with Andy Melrose, the Creative Writing Undergraduate Programme at Winchester. He always strove to make it the best it could possibly be. His leadership was such that we all wanted the same. He showed us how to be the best academic you could be. It made you push to ensure your teaching was at the top of your game. Neil achieved his aim too. The programme was number one in the country and renowned for what it offered. We were proud to be part of it and what he was creating.

My heart goes out to all my colleagues and to his family. Neil, go shine brightly for us.

This seems appropriate a bit of Paul Buchanan

#writingishard5 - you never stop learning

Imogen Cooper & my best friend

It doesn’t matter where you are in this writing malarkey you never stop learning. I have an MA in Writing for Children, a creative writing PhD which looked at the representation of sex, drugs and alcohol in young adult fiction and included writing a piece of young adult fiction; I was lucky enough to be mentored by Imogen Cooper while I worked for the Golden Egg Academy. Yet I still learn something new about writing on a regular basis and can look at a blank screen starting a new novel, thinking: ‘How do I do this again?’ I have also heard of many a famous and successful author say they feel a similar thing when faced with that blank paper or screen.

You never stop learning. It is important that you keep reading about writing. Not only do you need to keep reading fiction, watching films, going to art galleries and the theatre but continue to research into the subject. Understand what it means to write. 

People often ask me whether it is worth taking a degree in creative writing or undertaking a course. My answer is simple, it depends on what you want. You will hear plenty of people saying that they

got published without them. But taking them shows you are serious about your writing. A degree allows you to experiment with a variety of different voices and enables you to find your voice. To work out who you are as a writer. That is certainly what happened to me. I was doing a degree in English, but it had strands of Creative Writing, which is why I did it. I had a very set idea of what sort of writer I thought I was and that was certainly not a children's writer. I'd never even considered it. One of the modules gave me the opportunity to have a go at writing for children with Judy Waite. It felt like coming home. My voice felt natural and my writing flowed. If I hadn’t taken that degree, I’d never have experimented like that. You hone your craft in an academic situation.

Working with organisations like the Golden Egg Academy means you can hone your manuscript and your craft while working with professionals, who have their finger on the publishing pulse. By the end of it, you really understand the editing process and how to apply that to any future projects. It also means you are not daunted by any potential editing undertaken by an agent or publisher.

By taking either an MA or working with an organisation such as GEA you learn not to too precious about your work. I’ve heard stories of writers who’ve refused to make any changes to their work because it is their ‘baby’ and it is perfect. I can’t imagine feeling like that about my work. I know a lot of writers, including myself, who won’t look at their work once it is published as they will see areas they want to improve as they don’t consider it good enough. All that happens to those who won’t make any changes is that they don’t get a publishing contract as they are deemed impossible to work with.

Personally, I love listening to writers talking about their writing processes. I always learn something or find an affirmation because they write the same way as me – such a good feeling. As a lecturer and workshop leader, I always find these inspirational as it is so good to hear the students and writers talking about their work. Again, I quite often learn something from these sessions.  The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators is a great organisation where you can meet like-minded people. They run socials, masterclasses and wonderful conferences. 

Writers are invariably generous of heart and very willing to share. They are happy to talk to a certain extent BUT don’t take advantage. Don’t keep asking them to read your work. They are busy people. They have their own writing to do. Don’t assume you are the only person that asks them to look at their work. Don’t keep asking for tips. Also, if you don’t have anything nice to say about their book, don’t say anything. Writers have feelings you know.

I’ve listed some resources that I’ve found useful but there are many, many more. Feel free to add to them in the comments. This is not an exhaustive list and this is a personal list.

Podcasts

Writer’s Routine

Prepublished

CTRL ALT DELETE

Simon Mayo’s Book of the Year

Always Take Notes

The Literary Salon

In Writing

The Bookseller

Front Row

Books

Janelle Adsit ed. Critical Creative Writing: Essential Readings on the Writer’s Craft

Amanda Boulter, Writing Fiction

Dorothea Brande, Becoming a Writer

Kevin Brophy, Explorations in Creative Writing

Andrew Cowan, The Art of Writing Fiction

E. M. Forster, Aspects of the Novel

James Frey, How to Write a Damn Good Novel

John Gardner, On Becoming a Novelist

John Gardner, The Art of Fiction

Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within

Ernest Hemingway, Ernest Hemingway on Writing 

Henry James, ‘The Art of Fiction’, Longman’s Magazine

Colum McCann, Letters to A Young Writer

Robert McKee Dialogue

Robert McKee, Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting

Andrew Melrose, Writing for Children

Orson Scott Card, Characters and Viewpoint

Sol Stein, Stein on Writing

William Storr The Science of Storytelling

Writing/Philosophy/Creativity

Anne Bernays & Pamela Painter, What If Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers

Italo Calvino, Six Memos for the Next Millennium

Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces

Neil Gaiman, The View from the Cheap Seats

Martin Griffith & Jon Mayhew, Storycraft: How to teach Creative Writing

Arthur Koestler, The Act of Creation

Milan Kundera, The Art of the Novel

David Mamet, Three Uses of the Knife

Philip Pullman, Daemon Voices: Essays on Storytelling

Katherine Rundell, Why you should read Children’s Books

Twyla Tharp, The Creative Habit

Judy Waite, Wordtamer: Activities to Inspire Creative Thinking and Writing

Jen Webb, Researching Creative Writing

J. Webb Young, A Technique for Producing Ideas

Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own

John Yorke, Into the Woods

Journals

https://vanessaharbour.wixsite.com/write4children

http://www.textjournal.com.au/

https://www.axonjournal.com.au/

New Writing

Writing in Education

Writing in Practice

Media & Organisations

The Big Scottish Book Club

CBBC Book Club

Front Row

The Bookseller

Society of Children’s Book Writers and illustrators (including Words & Pictures)

Golden Egg Academy (Sign up to receive their free newsletter) also follow them on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to see their writing tips and prompts.

National Association of Writers in Education

Society of Authors - great for advice

#writingishard4 - Tenacity

Matt Haig
Notes on a Nervous Planet

If you are a writer, tenacity is certainly a prerequisite. Writing is hard. Also, it is very enjoyable and the best job ever a lot of the time, otherwise why would we do it? Whatever stage in your writing career you will need tenacity. Everyone’s journey, as an aspiring writer and/or as a published writer, is going to be different and personal to you. Consequently, it is important, as Matt Haig says, that you ‘Do not compare yourselves to others.’

It is worth also remembering that writing is a marathon, it is not a sprint. You might hear odd stories about people writing fast and being published very quickly. For a start, I’d say I bet they have done a whole lot of prewriting and that is why they could write fast, but they are just not counting it because it sounds so much better if you can say you wrote a book in a couple of months. Being published quickly is often the case of being in the right place at the right time (or being a celebrity!) The reality for most of us is very different. Writing takes time. A tweet I circulated recently said that according to Paul Graham, ‘The easy, conversational tone of good writing comes only on the eighth rewrite.’ To be honest I thought eight was a bit optimistic. More like twelve plus at least! Be prepared as well that it might take more than one novel. You may write several before you find the right one that really works. Flight was my fourth novel. The other three are unlikely to ever see the light of day, but I see them as my practice

novels. I learnt so much writing each one of them. When Flight was picked up, I had been writing seriously for over twelve years. (the photo shows a meeting where it was decided I should start submitting Flight. I was lucky I not only worked with Golden Egg Academy, but I was also mentored by Imogen Cooper)

Rewriting and editing can take a very long time and luxuriate in that first book when you do have time to dedicate to it. It’ll be a different situation after you have been picked up by a publisher. The deadlines will be a whole lot tighter and the chances are you won’t have so much time to write any subsequent books once you are published.

Once you have got a deal and a book out there, tenacity is still necessary. It might be linked to other elements of your life as a writer. Obviously, you will be writing your next book, but you are also going to be publicising/marketing your current book. Having a presence on social media, cultivating new audiences, potentially presenting at schools, literary festivals or undertaking library visits. It is all about juggling and ensuring you don’t become overwhelmed. See a recent post I did for the AwfullyBigBlogAdventure blog on remembering to enjoy your work.

Be kind to yourself. Writing’s hard, as I said, and the ‘journey’ can be a long and bumpy one, particularly if you are getting lots of rejections from agents and publishers. We’ve all been there, and it is really bruising. Allow yourself to grieve briefly each rejection. Then remind yourself it’s one person’s opinion and it only takes one person to say ‘Yes!’ Don’t be hard on yourself, see the rejection as part of the journey and something constructive. If you find in the rejection feedback that they all mention the same element as an issue/concern, then you know you need to address it. If, however, the feedback is all different, read it. Take it on board. Work on what you think is fair and relevant then move on to the next submission. One day you might be the one talking to aspiring writers about the number of rejections you got, as a badge of honour, and how you eventually got published. This photo is over a rejection letter I got a long time ago for a novel that when I look back

it is was nowhere near ready for submission. It is from my greatest friend, even though at the time we hadn’t met. That came later and that same person, Imogen Cooper, changed my life and the direction of my writing. 

Importantly, don’t give up. You can do this. The writing community is amazing and supportive. Find your tribe and talk to them. Understand that getting a book published is hard, but if you believe in your story, build that tenacity up

 Ness x

@VanessaHarbour

www.vanessaharbour.co.uk

#writingishard3 - Synopsis

 Writing is hard. And everyone’s journey is different. There is a TEDtalk doing the rounds at the moment, which tells a fabulous journey that happens to be a very quick writer’s journey. I just want to say don’t get disheartened by this. It doesn’t make you any less of a writer if your journey is longer. Writing takes tenacity. Have faith in your writing. You will get there.

The journey can be long...

 I have had a request from the ever-lovely Annaliese Avery. We all think writing a book is hard, but it is really easy in comparison to writing a synopsis. That is like pulling teeth. There is no definitive way to write a synopsis, but I am going to offer some suggestions to help you. I would suggest you look at Nicola Morgan’s book Write a Great Synopsis – An Expert Guide. She goes into a lot of detail and it is accessible.

What I will say you must do is: Always check on the agent’s website to check exactly what their submission guidelines are, then adhere to them. They are not optional. If they say a one-page synopsis that’s what you do. On the other hand, if they say two pages or more that’s what you provide.

In general, it is suggested that the synopsis should be no more than one or two pages. What a synopsis is not, is an outline or chapter breakdown. Instead, it tells the reader what the book is about and gives the sense that the author has managed to write a book with a complete narrative and an arc. The synopsis gives details of the main characters and the main plotlines while not dealing with minor characters and subplots. It should convey conflict and setting, themes even the denouement while giving a sense of the voice.

Unlike, the chapters which should be double spaced the synopsis can be single-spaced. Once again it should have the title of your novel, who it is aimed at – middle grade/teen/YA and that it is written by you. It should be in a clear font – something like Ariel or Times New Roman – Point size 12. Don’t go smaller or they won’t be able to read it. Neither have ridiculously small margins in order to cram as much information into the two pages. Agents have seen it all before, and are not going to be impressed, or tricked by it. They are looking for a well written, concise and punchy synopsis that grabs their attention and informs them.

Do not be afraid to repeat information that has been said in your covering letter. In fact, you are almost guaranteed to do so, as you are likely to repeat your pitch. Avoid rhetorical questions. It is better to answer all the questions you pose in your synopsis. It should be written in the present tense even if your story is written in the past tense. In the same way, it should be written in the third person

Get to the core of your story

even if the story is in the first person while still getting across a sense of the voice and feel of the story. If your story has multi viewpoints, ensure that you get this across in the synopsis too. Most importantly though, ensure that there are no grammatical or spelling mistakes throughout - proofread it carefully.

This is based on Nicola Morgan’s method of writing a synopsis:

1.     Write your one-sentence pitch

2.     Expand it until you have a paragraph that you might use as your pitch paragraph in your submission letter (don’t be afraid to repeat information in synopsis and letter)

3.     Expand this by including what happens at the end, show how the main character’s journey is completed. This should give you two paragraphs.

4.     Then include climaxes and plot stages or major obstacles. Add those into your paragraphs. You may want to change the order for clarity. Hopefully, you now have at least a page.

5.     Connect them all together with beautiful prose. Focus on the important information and avoid the unnecessary.

6.     Hone it to within an inch of its life until it is ready for submission. Get others to look at it.

Don’t be afraid of it. Yes, writing a synopsis is hard but if you know what is at the core of your story it is much easier. Focus on that Think about what is really at the heart of your narrative. Use that to help you write your pitch and your synopsis.

Books are rarely rejected just because of a synopsis unless it is really badly written. Decisions are more likely to be based on a combination of the idea as pitched in the letter and the standard of the writing in the chapters. Some may suggest that the synopsis really is the least important part of the submission; however, and importantly, this does not mean you should not pay attention to it. Agents may need it to back up your submission. They will read it in order to feel confident that you really do have an idea that hangs together and that you can show that you understand your narrative fully. You are highlighting through your synopsis that this is a strong concept. They may also use it later when marketing your book. 

Good luck everyone – you can do this!