Lucy Atkins's Blog, page 11

Here’s my latest video for Psychologies Magazine’s Life Labs. It’s about why we love books like The Girl on the Train or Gone Girl and why I write psychological suspense novels….

Life labs

 

I was on BBC radio Oxford yesterday to talk about books: Cathy Rentzenbrink’s incredibly moving memoir,  The Last Act of Love, and Elena Ferrante’s Italian novel, My Brilliant Friend. They’re the most compelling books I’ve read this month – if not this year. I did a little Facebook post about them here https://www.facebook.com/lucyatkinsau...

 

Selfie with Clare

Enjoyed a sneaky pre-lunch glass of fizz in the sun yesterday with Clare Mackintosh, author of the Sunday Times Bestselling psychological thriller I Let You Go.

It’s an absolutely brilliant page turner (it contains a twist that completely floored me) and Clare’s enjoying an incredible and well deserved success with it (…more fizz…).  She also happens to be a really lovely woman, who by actually should be running the Police Force right now: their loss, our gain.

Find out more about one time ‘Inspector’ Macintosh and her work here:  http://claremackintosh.com/

 

My intense Blog Tour starts today, and you can win a copy of The Other Child, and read my interview over at Shaz’s Book Boudoir.

http://shazsbookboudoir.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/author-interview-giveaway-lucy-atkins.html

The Entrance

Saturday’s launch party at The Story Museum (www.storymuseum.org.uk) was amazing: over 100 people showed up, drank Kir cocktails (a lot), ate red velvet cupcakes & generally caroused. My whole world was in the room – family (my parents, via Facetime!), friends and neighbours, book groupers, fellow writers – I felt completely overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and support. Huge thank you to everybody who made it such a great evening.

My brilliant husband, who made sure it all went to plan

With Hannah Robinson from Quercus, just before giving our speeches
signing lots of books

First: yes, god yes, I am so grateful and delighted that The Other Child is published today (and particularly grateful that this means not one but two MASSIVE boxes of chocolates arrived).

And now…. for some thoughts I recorded for Psychologies magazine’s Life Labs, about what happens when you achieve your heart’s desire:

https://lifelabs.psychologies.co.uk/users/900-lucy-atkins/webcam_videos/2125-will-getting-your-heart-s-desire-make-you-happy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and the books arrived, very handily matching my flowers:

I’m on a panel tonight, weds 27 May, at Blackwell’s Bookshop, Oxford from 7pm to 9pm, talking about how to be a freelance journalist. Here’s how Blackwell’s describes the event:

‘We’ll be examining how producing work for newspapers and magazines differs from other kinds of writing and how one might earn a living from this kind of writing. On the panel will be Lucy Atkins, novelist, book critic and freelance feature writer; and Fleur Kinson, travel and property journalist. In the chair will be Cherry Mosteshar, founder of The Oxford Editors, author and journalist. Entry £3 and all welcome.

Group 2012 is a writers group based in Oxford and established by Blackwell’s Bookshop, The Oxford Editors and Hersilia Press. It meets on the fourth Wednesday of each month.’

If you want to build up a freelance writing career this could be a useful couple of hours. 

This morning I ripped open a package: the finished copies of The Other Child. Am now trying not to look to see if there are any remaining typos and – even worse – to read any of it as I will want to change it all. So, it’s less than a month till pub day (4th June) and the book launch party at the Story Museum (6th June). I know how very lucky I am to be holding this book in my hand – and how easily things could have turned out different.

I ‘met’ Clare on Twitter and then devoured her debut novel, I Let You Go. It is a fantastic thriller, impossible to put down, about what happens when your past catches up on you. Here, Clare shares her tips for anyone who is currently writing a novel, looking for an agent or trying to get a publishing deal…

Tell me about the process of writing I Let You Go, was it smooth?

Looking back it does feel as though it was relatively straightforward, but I think writing is a bit like childbirth, in that respect. It’s hard to remember the days when I wept in front of a blank page or pressed delete on whole chapters of work, because the end result is something I’m very proud of. The first draft – plus a bit of editing – took me a year, and then I spent another year working on the manuscript with my agent and editor. In total I wrote eight drafts of I Let You Go before I was happy with it. It seems an extraordinary number now, but each one took me closer to where I wanted the book to be.

What tips would you give to people who are trying to write a novel? 

Keep going! Easy to say, but far less easy to do, especially with real life getting in the way. But unless you type The End you’ll never have a manuscript to work with, so it’s pointless even thinking about submitting to agents and editors. Most writers, when they start, have day jobs to prioritise, and I do understand how hard it is to juggle a job with writing a book and running a family. But it is possible. You need to carve out time for yourself, even if that means giving something up: a Sunday morning lie-in, a Coronation Street habit, a night out with your mates. Write 500 words a day – less than this blog post – and you’ll have a first draft in six months.

What did you do to find an agent? 

 I’m very lucky, and have never been through the long process of submitting cold and wondering if I’m languishing in a slushpile somewhere. I had been working for a while on a romantic comedy, with the help of an agent a friend had put me in touch with, but I hadn’t been offered representation and I was starting to wonder if my writing simply wasn’t up to it. I had nearly finished I Let You Go when I met with someone who worked in publishing, to discuss the literary festival I had founded. We moved on to talk about my writing, and I explained my predicament. ‘Why don’t I give it to a different literary agent,’ she said, ‘for an objective opinion on whether the book has legs?’ That agent turned out to be Sheila Crowley, at Curtis Brown, who offered me representation shortly afterwards. 

What advice do you have for writers seeking representation? 

 Do all the things the books tell you: finish your book; edit, edit and edit some more; research the right agent; write a great cover letter and so on… But there’s a lot of luck involved in finding representation, and I think you have to do more than that. Think early on about building your platform: do you have an online presence? Where will your audience come from? Could you start a mailing list? People dismiss networking as a dirty word, but replace it with ‘socialising’ and suddenly it’s not so bad! Talk to people; make sure they know you’re a writer. Don’t bore the hind legs off them, but if no one knows you’re writing a book, you’ll never feel the benefit of that beautifully serendipitous moment when the guy who fixes the photocopier at work turns out to be the son-in-law of a top literary agent…

Tell me about what happened when your agent sent your book out? 

 The book still needed work. My agent knew that, and I knew that, and so the decision to put it out on submission was always a gamble. I should prepare myself for disappointment, I was told. And so I did. A few editors turned it down, but a couple wanted to speak to me. I had a chat on the phone with one, and went to London to meet Lucy Malagoni from Sphere, an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group. Lucy and I hit it off straight away, and there was an offer on the table a few days later.

What role does your editor play? Is she or he ‘hands on’? Do they get involved creatively? 

  Lucy is brilliant, and I consider myself incredibly lucky to have such a talented and tactful editor. She’s very good at seeing the bigger picture, and suggesting where a story needs more light; more shade; more tension; more emotional depth. Mostly, that’s where her role stops: my job is to take her advice and implement it. But if I struggle with that – if I can’t see HOW to achieve what she’s so perceptively identified – she’ll take me a step further.

What are you working on now? 

I’m writing my second novel, another psychological thriller, which is currently untitled. I wrote a different book that wasn’t quite right, and it didn’t feel as though it ever would be, so I put it away and have started again. This time the words are flowing and I’m excited about the way the story is shaping up. It’s about female commuters who are followed on the London Underground, so I have a huge Tube map on my wall at the moment, as well

I Let You Go is published by Sphere.

Learn more about Clare: claremackintosh.com

Follow Clare on Twitter @claremackint0sh