Frequently Asked Questions

WILL YOU READ MY BOOK/STORY/FIRST CHAPTER/STORY IDEA AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK OF IT/HELP ME TO GET IT PUBLISHED/GIVE IT TO YOUR AGENT/EDITOR?

This is probably the most common question I get and recently a lot of people aren't even bothering to ask - they just send their work and expect me to read it.

Now, I think you all know that you're not supposed to be doing this. Yes, you do. You know that I'm not an editor or a publisher and you know that I'm working hard trying to write books of my own. You also probably know from other writer's websites that writers can't go around reading random unpublished stories because it gets us sued.

I think the whole time that you're writing that email and attaching your work to it, you're getting an uncomfortable, squirmy feeling because you know that you're doing something not quite right, but you do it anyway because it seems like such a good way to get published. Jump the queue by getting a published author to help you! That'll work. Except that it won't. And I think you know that too, deep down.

But you keep on doing this anyway and it's putting me in a really difficult position. Every time I open an email like this I'm putting myself under threat of legal action, not to mention that it probably takes me about an hour to respond in a kind, encouraging and polite manner, and that's time that should be spent writing a new book.

Worse, it makes me feel really upset to have to keep 'rejecting' people. I'm a writer, not an editor. Rejecting people is not my job. Nor is getting people published - that's what an agent does. I'm a writer, and even though these jobs might seem very similar to you, they aren't. Honestly.

So, as of now, I'm afraid that if you send me any of your own writing, I will not only delete your email unread, I will not respond to it in any way. That's the only way I can protect myself. If your email just asks me to read something, I may or may not reply, depending on how tired I am that day and if I have the time - and depending on if you're asking me questions which have already been answered here or on the Tips Page. Because quite often the people that ask me to read their work have clearly not bothered to read any of the helpful information here. Again, they want to jump the queue.

I want to help you. I remember what it was like to be you. I know how much you love to write and how desperately you want to be published. That's why I set up this website and why I do my best to answer everyone who emails me. But you don't get to jump the queue. Read this website, use the information, and if you still have a question, THEN email me.

Where do you get your ideas from?

The ideas shop. You've never heard of the ideas shop? But it's right there on the High Street - next to Woolworths! You'd better hurry up before they sell out. Ideas are on 3-for-2 this week.

Ask yourself where you get your ideas from. Not so easy to answer is it? They come from everywhere. You've seen how, when the sun shines through the window, suddenly thousands of dust particles light up, spinning and turning in the air? Ideas are like that. They surround us all the time, floating about. You need to make your mind into a sun-beam, so that you can see the ideas instead of walking through them without noticing. Pay attention to all the What Ifs that come into your head. Pay attention to stray throughts that come to you when you read a book or magazine, watch the news, talk to your friends, over-hear a conversation on the bus. Ideas bombard all of us all day long. Ideas are cheap and easy to catch, they really are!

Several excellent questions from Victoria in Maidstone (who sent me a really lovely long letter which I enjoyed reading very much - thanks, Victoria!).

Do you base your characters on real people?
 
Nope. Sorry! I know that always disappoints people, but it's true (so far anyway). It's not because I write fantasy books. The characters in fantasy books need to be just as real and alive as the characters in any other kind of story - at least, if it's to be good fantasy. The reason is that you need to know every thought and feeling that swirls about inside your character's head - you have to understand why they do everything they do, even if the character themself doesn't. You can't be that close to anyone in real life, not your best friend, mum or boyfriend. You can't live in their head or their heart. So how can you plop them down in a story and expect them to seem real? Anyway, making characters up is fun! It's my favourite part of writing. Mostly you have to be very aware of what you're doing. For instance, your heroine might not be a strong and brave person all through the story, but if she's going to defeat the baddie in the end we need to see the seeds of courage and strength being laid in her character as she goes along so that when the confrontation happens we believe she's capable of standing up for herself. Sometimes, though, I give myself permission to just create a character - if I have a gap in the plot that needs a secondary or minor character to fill it, someone who is crucial but won't be back too often - and that's the most fun of all. It feels like a character just arrives in my head as I'm writing and I'm describing someone who's already alive. For instance, Olwyn and her son Will, in TSK, are characters who presented themselves to me like that. For most of the story up to that point, I didn't even know their names. They were marked in my notes as 'Crofters' and that was all I knew about them. When I came to write about them they just sprang to life on the page and became some of my favourite people in the story. 

Does it depress you to hear that someone has read your book all in one go when writing and editing take so long?

Not at all! Writers love to hear that more than almost anything else. The only better compliment is: 'It made me cry'. When I enjoy a book I rush through it as quickly as I can so I can find out What Happens Next. I want all my readers to feel that way. I hope that you'll keep the book and re-read it more slowly later on though. That's something I do with all my favourites, and it's amazing how a good book can change and show you new things every time you read it.

When you finish something, do you come back to it later and think 'I'm proud of that' or do you see things you'd change if you were writing now?

Definitely the latter! By the time we finished editing TSK I was begging my editor to reassure me that the book wasn't total rubbish! I think most writers are far too close to their own work to be able to see it clearly. When you've finished writing and it's too late to change things, you look at your work and a million and one mistakes jump off the page at you - a hundred things that seem clumsy, a hundred you would write so much better now, a hundred that seem silly and you can't think how your editor left them in there - and you cringe to think that anyone will read them. The strange thing is that readers don't notice any of them! That's because the reader is reading the very best work you could do at the time when you wrote it. You might be able to do better now - but you ought really to be writing something else now, and be too busy to worry about what you did a year ago. If you can't let go and move on, you'll only ever write one book in your life and it'll never get published. Anyway, perhaps, in about ten years, I'll have enough distance from TSK to read it and just feel proud. Not yet though. 

Questions here from Rachel M, who has sent me two very interesting emails (and who I finally managed to reply to, despite a crashed server, a few days ago).

Have you had a book of your poems published? 

No, never. Getting a book of poems published is much, much harder than getting any other kind of book into print. It's so hard that most poets have to pay to get their work printed at first (don't ever do this for a work of fiction though!). I had several poems published in magazines and a few in anthologies, but I never made a penny from any of those publications. It's hard being a poet. I admire them tremendously.

Were you very open about the fact that you wrote? And do people help you with your ideas along the way or do they stifle them?

I was always very open about my writing - all through school it was my 'thing'. I was that girl who wrote. My mum and dad used to boast about it (and still do). It never occurred to me to keep it secret at all. You should be proud to be a writer. BUT - don't show people your work unless you really, really trust them to be helpful about it. Even if someone begs you to read your story, think very carefully before you do - and this applies to everyone, friends and family. That's not because they'll steal your ideas (your friends might, but they'll never write them as well as you do anyway) but because, while a lot of people like to read, or think they could write books (if they just had the time!) very few understand the mechanics of it. Just like you can turn a TV on without the slightest idea of what goes on inside it, a lot of people think that being able to read means they can offer criticism of your work. You show them a story and the first thing they'll do is tell you everything they think you did wrong and how they would re-write it if it was their story, and in the process they completely crush you. Even my mum used to do this! These people think they're helping you! But they're not. This sort of thing can be really hurtful. So don't show your work to anyone unless you know they're the sort of person who can really help you - perhaps a teacher or another friend who writes. And still be prepared to ignore every bit of advice they give you anyway, because only you know how your story should go and no matter how well meaning other people are, you can't write the story they want to read, only the one you want to tell. The only person who you should really listen to is a publishing professional - an editor or agent who is reputable. And sometimes you even have to ignore them...