I is for Inspiration

Quite an appropriate time for me to blog about this. I feel oddly drained of it this week. Inspiration, that is. There are times, while writing, when the words fly from my fingertips and, thankfully, fewer times when they don't. This week is a week when they don't, it seems.

I've tried all the usual things, of course. Chocolate. Extra coffee. Going for a walk. Going to the gym (all I got there was another knee injury). Shopping, except I'm not a great shopper. Research. Trash TV. Reading. Pottering in the garden. Hell, even all my ironing is up to date.

So what is it that inspires writers? Do we have an on/off switch? If so, then I must have slept funny on mine. It's somehow been (temporarily) turned off.

I have a suspicion it could be to do with planning. I do plan my novels. I think long and hard about them before I write. Plot, sub-plots, characters, themes. I make charts and graphs and breakdowns (lest I have one) and have copious notes and bookmarks to relevant information. But what happens, I think, is that sometimes I get just too inspired. I hear this...and read about that...and notice something else and oh, it all needs to go in my plan because it would be just perfect... Does planning stifle inspiration? Does a pre-set format make a writer blind to other influences? Writing a novel is an organic process. Throwing a load of twigs and leaves into a bin does not make compost.

Or perhaps writing-by-the-seat-of-your-pants is the way to inspiration eternal. I guess, if I'm honest, I'm an in-between gal. I plan in detail. Then I chuck half of it away as I go along. So maybe that's the problem? I think I've got a complete plan, when actually I haven't. A bit like starting a bungee jump with a rope, then realising you don't have anything at all tying you to the bridge.

I heard a wonderful (actually it was grim) story about three weeks ago. It stirred me so much I was desperate to incorporate it into New Novel. I thought I had worked it in successfully. But in doing so, it's pretty much screwed up the rest of New Novel and what I'm left with is Different Novel, which, if I'm honest isn't as good as New Novel was going to be. So. Out with it. It will be in another book, for sure, but had no place in this one. It's left me a bit high and dry, however, because I'd invested so much in this new direction that I kinda, well, lost the plot. The original one that is.

So where does this whole inspiration thing come from? Probably the question I get asked the most, either at talks or when just chatting about my work, is where do I get my ideas from? In truth (and no one likes this) I have absolutely no clue. It's just life, isn't it? Writing emotional thrillers is so heavily based in the real world, all about what happens or somehow touches on each of our lives at some time or other, that by just picking up a newspaper there are probably half a dozen potential novels right there. Of course, there are characters to weave in, motives and themes, and sub-plots that help pull everything along at a thrilling pace, to a satisfying yet unexpected conclusion. Easy, then.

I guess, to distill, my ideas stem from bitesize snippets that cause big thought. Like the friend whose child went missing. Or the woman I knew who had to decide whether to have her frozen embryos destroyed. Or the marriage with a huge age gap, or the bond between a deaf child and her mother...Little glimpses of reality taken one step further.

I can't help asking 'What if...' about certain scenarios. Of course, What if it happened to me is a pretty good place to start and, often, painful to answer. But carry on with that line of questioning...what if that character did this, or what if that person wasn't really who they said they were, and soon a story will start to take shape. It may be that it's the wrong one, but being inspired is a skill to be learned, I reckon. The more you do it, the better you get. And the skill of inspiration, which quickly gives way to imagination, lies in observation and perception. Being open to...well...ideas. Noticing them. Harvesting them. Spotting what is useful to you. Eyes wide open.

New Novel is based around knife crime, but I couldn't just write a story about a stabbing. That would be a newspaper report. Other themes have waded in to make a story, about real lives, relationships, how flawed we are as husbands, wives, parents...how we don't notice things until it's too late...until we're living through what we feared most. The characters in this one are taking over. The structure is a little different, too, yet still very readable I hope. But there are some surprises in store for me, I just know (there have to be!). There is still some inspiration to be gained. I just wish I knew when and where I could find it. Contracts with publishers don't generally contain a clause for late delivery based on lack of inspiration. They kind of assume you will have lots of that.

Right, I'm off to hoe between the lettuces. I reckon that's where I'll find some much-needed oomph. That or a load of slugs. Writers: Where do you find yours?

Unspoken Downunder

A few photos from my Australia trip. I tried really hard not to dash into every bookstore we passed, but I just couldn't help it. After travelling twelve thousand miles, I really wanted to see it on the shelves. And it wasn't upside-down.

Youngest She-Devil found her favourite author's book - Chris d'Lacey's Fire Star.

Eldest son, who blanked the camera for the entire holiday, getting stuck in to Unspoken.

Unspoken on Headline in Sydney's reception shelves - with another of Chris's dragon books, Icefire, sitting above.

H is for Home

...which is where I am again after a fabulous month in Australia - and also, more importantly, where I work. It's an odd thing, this 'working from home' lark and therefore, I thought, worthy of a (rather late) post in my A-Z.

It often comes up in conversation: 'Oh, I work from home.' Perhaps pertaining to a delivery... 'No problem, I'll be at home...' or maybe a tradesman wanting access... 'That's OK, I'll be at home working.' No one believes that you actually do any WORK from home. Several times I've had the response, 'Ah, you're a housewife then.' Now, nothing against housewifery - I was a full-time mum and house-looker-afterer for many years (and hell, no one else does the ironing around here) - but many think (mostly men, I must add) that working from home is a fancy way of saying you're either unemployed or a mother going out of her mind with finger-painting-induced boredom. To be honest, sometimes I wouldn't mind a bit of finger-painting. This whole working from home thing isn't as easy as it sounds. It's really tough, truth be known.

I get quite envious when I hear friends talking about the 'water cooler gossip'. The most exciting thing that happens to me when I leave my desk for a cuppa is deciding if the weather's fine enough to hang out the washing. As for gossip, I find myself getting all exited if the postman rings the bell for me to sign for a parcel. We often exchange a juicy word or two about the weather. Of course, I do saunter down to the market or the local shop to pick up something nice for dinner and may well meet a neighbour or friend for a brief chat. But - and this was something I never fully anticipated pre-full-time writing - it's a bloody LONELY business. At Home. Alone. Working.

Imagine. The kids have gone off to school, the kitchen's cleared, the beds are made, the washing's flapping in the fresh breeze, and...then there's the sofa (or the bed!) and eight hours of daytime TV beckoning. Or marathon shopping trips to be made. Or oodles of books to catch up on. Or friends to visit (those that also work from home, of course). All these things have to be fought against. Don't they? It's funny, so many people ask me 'Do you write every day? Really? What, like a proper job you mean?' Maybe it's just me, but I get the impression they're wondering why the hell, because I can, don't I have a jolly good lie in, or hit the shops, or stay in my PJs eating cake all day.

Two things drive me: 1) I really really love writing books. 2) Bills need paying.

But, just because I have this whole discipline thing cracked, just because I don't need pills to stop me watching Jeremy Kyle (actually, I have been watching his show for research purposes, but that's another story) doesn't mean that every day is easy. If I'm stuck on a certain scene then often blitzing the garden with the shears helps get things flowing again. Or meeting up with a friend or an hour in the gym is just what's needed to get through the final stage of a long bout of editing.

I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to work from home. I have a nice study (if it was tidier I'd put up a photo!) and a pleasant rooftop view. I'm doing what I love and, even if there are plumbers banging away beneath me as I type, even though I know that any minute now someone will phone up 'just for a chat' because I'm not really busy, am I? ...even though I don't have a boss looming over me so I have to quickly nuke the Facebook window on my computer, I wouldn't have it any other way. A writer's place is in the home. Besides, I like being alone.

Finally, on a completely different note, I'm doing a talk at Coalville Library on May 7th. The last one planned got cancelled because the library alarm was going off and they couldn't stop it! I'll be talking between 3 and 4pm about my life as a writer, my novels, and reading a couple of chapters. After that, you can fire questions at me as long as they're not too tricky. And I'll sign your books. So please come along if you're around Leicestershire. The more the merrier. I love meeting readers.

Sam x

Top 10

Ok... No. 10 in Asda, not the Sunday Times. But still. I'm *very* happy.

Inside Soap

Inside Soap Magazine is where I am, not Love It! as previously reported.

It's out now, apparently, with Unspoken featured in their reviews. See you at the newsagent's!

No. 18...

...on the Asda chart. Sandwiched between the She-Devils' favourites.

Photos of UNSPOKEN released into the wild to follow, once I can figure out how to get them off my phone. Plus, a tale of company policy. Don't you hate company policy?

UPDATE: It's now at 19. Not that I'm obsessively checking or anything.

UNSPOKEN published today!

Happy Publication day to me! And, of course, to the rest of the team who worked so hard to get UNSPOKEN out there...thanks to my wonderful editor and agent, and the fab team at Headline.

There have been reports...sightings. I hear there is a stack on a table in WH Smith at Victoria Station. And someone I don't even know told my granny that there was a write-up in the Coventry Evening Telegraph. There should be a few of these local features coming out round about now. Apparently Unspoken has been chosen as 'Love It!' magazine's book of the week. I have yet to find out which week, but needless to say I will be checking the news stands. There are some other publicity bits going on in the next few weeks and, as soon as things are confirmed, I'll shout out. And if anyone happens to see Unspoken in the shops or charts and just happens to have a camera in their pocket, all snaps greatly received!

You should also now be able to find Unspoken in the 3 for 2 deals in Waterstone's and Borders, as well as WH Smith high street and travel branches (I think in the charts section). And also, good old Asda will be stocking it - so no excuses not to dash out and buy one. Of course, you can order from Amazon if you prefer.

I think I'll be buzzing around the shops later with my camera, stalking unsuspecting browsers, telepathically guiding them towards my book. In fact, when Blood Ties was on the shelves in Asda, I just 'happened' to be checking out the book displays with half an eye on what people were buying. One woman picked up Blood Ties, then reached for another. 'Oh no no no,' I said, pointing to Blood Ties. 'That's the book you want.' She looked a little shocked that I'd spoken to her, annoyed at the interruption. 'Have you read it?' she asked. 'Ah,' I said. 'I wrote it.'

Funny, but she didn't seem to believe me. Do the book-buying public have pre-conceived ideas about what an author should look like? If so, then I think I was about as far off the mark as I could have got. It was an early dash out for supplies on a Sunday morning. I was dressed, er, sloppily. No make-up. You know, that just-got-up look. A basket of heavy groceries hanging off my arm. Youngest She-Devil was bored and moaning at my side. I no doubt looked a bit weary from the night before (well, it was a Saturday). Actually, to my mind, I was sporting a 'classic author' look. We work hard to achieve that (slightly) dishevelled appearance.

Which brings me on to what (and it will be up here in the next day or two) my next blog will be about. Might seem a bit odd and not very publishing-ish, but H is for Home is what I will be harping on about next. Well, if you're a writer, it's where you spend ninety percent of your time. But there are other issues about home and writing. Bet you just can't wait to find out, eh?

I have, at last, updated my website. It's still evolving to be honest, and I know there are some tweaks to be made, but I wanted something up there in time for Unspoken's release. The next thing to go up will be the book group discussion points for Unspoken. But it's a start. If it looks 'odd' on your computer for whatever reason, then can you let me know? I did the site myself (it's a control thing!) and I have this awful feeling it may look a bit different in various browsers and on other monitors.

Meantime, I have pretty much finished some kind of plan for Next Novel, as it's known. And I have started writing because it was too cruel not to. OK, so the plan's not entirely finished, but give me ten thousand words or so and I'll have a better idea. But I'm loving my characters. They are very individual and have stepped into their roles perfectly. One or two are going to be very good friends, I feel sure. After I've given them a really hard time. It's a wonder I'd not noticed them before.

S. x

The plot thickens...

So I have: A female television presenter. A stabbing. A blind man. An errant son. A couple of baddies. Oh, and a woman who likes women. (Well, I think she does.)

What do I do with that lot?

Actually, I know exactly what I'm going to do with them. It's going to be great. Trust me.

And I am *really* sick of the snow.

Snow quiet

It's all so quiet, isn't it, with this snow business? It rather suits the between novels mode that has struck me this week. Soft and fluffy outside my window; soft and fluffy in my head. I don't like not being 'in' a novel. I'm beginning to get to know my new characters, but they're not like the old ones yet; the ones I sent off to my editor recently. I knew them really well. I'd spent many months with them. These new people are...well...new. Give me a few weeks, and I'll be begging for them not to leave either. But for now, they haven't done anything to prove themselves to me; to show me what they're made of. That only comes when the writing begins. And how I long for that!

But I have to be good. I have to plan. I have to take this time to work it all out. Once the framework's in place, I'll let loose my players. I give myself until about three o'clock this afternoon before words hit the page. I don't like not writing!

G is for Genre

For those who haven't died of boredom, or migrated to more regularly updated blogs, I thought I'd jot down something about genre. The G-word. That's easy then, because that just means type or class or style or content. No problem. Or so I once thought. (Actually, I didn't think. That was my problem.)

Genre, I'd say, was the single biggest stumbling block on my path to publication. Oh, that and actually having the staying power to complete a novel, deciding what to write about, er...not writing drivel, um...getting an agent...yadda yadda...

When I was seven or eight, I wrote a story about a rabbit. And her husband rabbit. Really, it was a tale about me and the boy I was sweet on in my class. I showed it to him and he got it. He said 'I'm that rabbit, and you're the girl rabbit.' I blushed. No one else in the class understood. They thought it was stupid and laughed. True, it was rather an exclusive book. (Six stapled-together pages and only one copy ever printed.) It wasn't easy to identify with. It wasn't strictly romance, and neither was there an adventure. It didn't have pictures and there wasn't much of a story. Genre wasn't even a twinkle in my eye back then.

Going on ten - a little more jaded (think the rabbit had dumped me by then) - and I got into horror stories. I didn't know I was writing horror, but I always used to wait until everyone had gone out of the house before I began. I would scare myself witless with tales of ghosts and zombie children and haunted houses that swallowed people up... You get the picture. At least I was experimenting with a real genre, even though I hadn't yet got a clue about such things. I went through a boarding school phase, inspired by Enid, of course. Then there were the fantasy epics, quite a bit more romance, some science fiction and quite a large number of pages that had absolutely no genre whatsoever. I think I was trying to be literary.

So while I was experimenting with genre, I didn't actually know it. Didn't realise how important it is to be successful. And I didn't realise either, the subtlety of sub-genres or that genres suffer from trends and popularity - or lack of - just like any other product.

Has anyone ever asked you what your book's about? Isn't that the most annoying question ever? Well, it was for me. Because I couldn' answer. Not easily, anyway. 'Oh, it's...um...well, there's this girl in it and...well, something happens and...'

Yes, but what is it?

All anyone wants to hear (initially) - especially those in the business - is what IS it? A romance. Horror. A thriller. Crime. Women's fiction. Young adult. Science fiction. Historical. If you can answer that, then really, nuff said. To begin with, at least. From the moment you approach an agent or editor, their minds are fast-tracking to how/where they can place the novel. How they can categorise it. For that, it needs a label.

Imagine if, overnight, every supermarket manager decided to mix up and randomise ALL the products on ALL the shelves in the shop. Worse - they peeled off all the labels too. So you have ten minutes to grab something for dinner on the way home before you fetch the kids... Supermarket sweep takes on a whole new meaning. Your spaghetti bolognese may well be made with custard.

What if bookshops did the same? And I completely agree with everyone who's now shouting out: But what amazing literary discoveries we would all make! (Custard bolognese). Yes, but also imagine the confusion, the let down, the sales that would be lost when a reader desperate for the next thriller in a series could only find...a kids' picture book, a romance. You go in for salmon and come away with frozen lamb chops. Yuk. Or maybe a better analogy is what if Whiskas cat food started making sandwich fillers. In pink foil sachets. For humans. It's all about expectation. Wasn't there green ketchup once?

Anyway, enough of the food analogy. Genre is important. Books are products, after all. They need to be created with selling in mind. (Yes, of course killer story, amazing characters are important too etc).

Most readers (I realise there are exceptions) want a book to do what it says on the tin. In the correct section of the bookshop. With a cover that shows what lies inside. And all this is important for the author too. It's not just so that CEOs of publishing houses can stack up figures. With some exceptions, most authors want to sell as many books as they can. Right from the start of their careers, they'll be faced with genre. Approaching the right agent (no point sending a YA novel to an agent that deals solely with crime thrillers), the agent sending out the typescript to appropriate editors, the editors balancing their lists/positioning titles and genres in the market place, publicity and marketing strategies - all of these these things are based on genre. What works for one type of novel, may not necessarily work for another.

In the commercial publising business, genre is so important. Decisions are made based upon it. An author needs to be true to their genre - and maybe will have more than one genre - think pseudonyms. I'm constantly excited by writing what I write. Emotional and psychological thrillers. For the moment, I can't imagine writing anything else. I have a ton of ideas stacked up. It feels right. While authors don't want to bore readers with one novel after another that are so similar in content only the cover art makes them unique, we do like to be consistent. It's all about fitting in.

Odd, given that most authors strive to break right out.