First day at Litopia

[Rachel Fox]

Hello! I'm new today and looking forward to finding out how it all works. I've been writing ghost stories for as long as I can remember, mainly for my own amusement. I was lucky enough to have my first novel 'The Herring Hanger' published in May by Quarry Press - I still can't quite believe it, a real dream come true.

Look forward to meeting you all.

Rachel.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Hello Rachel, and congratulations on The Herring Hanger

Ghost/suspense....love it!

 

[Rachel Fox]

Thanks Katie-Ellen, I'm very excited about it and still have to pinch myself daily! Also, starting (rather slowly) to a lot about how the publishing world works. Really pleased to have found a writing community to join

 

[Lex Black]

Welcome to the Colony!

 

[Marc Joan]

Welcome!

 

[Rachel Fox]

Welcome to the Colony!

Thanks Lex

 

[Rachel Fox]

Welcome!

Thank you Marc-Joan

 

[Island Writer]

Welcome aboard - you should fit right in!

 

[Rachel Fox]

Thank you - looking forward to finding out how it all works. R

 

[David Newrick]

Welcome Rachel. It is great to have you here. I write crime and social realism. Currently working on reducing a 93,000 word MS to around 80,000 whilst maintaining some sense of cohesion. Oh well! See you around and good luck with your work.

 

[Rachel Fox]

Welcome Rachel. It is great to have you here. I write crime and social realism. Currently working on reducing a 93,000 word MS to around 80,000 whilst maintaining some sense of cohesion. Oh well! See you around and good luck with your work.

Thanks David. I have the opposite problem - I naturally write to 35,000 and then have to bump it up to a minimum of 50,000 - 93,000 is impressive, do you enjoy the editing process? R

 

[Carol Rose]

Welcome!

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Welcome to the colony!

 

[Rachel Fox]

Welcome!

Thank you

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Welcome to the Colony.

 

[Rachel Fox]

Welcome to the Colony.

Thank you Paul. R

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Thanks Katie-Ellen, I'm very excited about it and still have to pinch myself daily! Also, starting (rather slowly) to a lot about how the publishing world works. Really pleased to have found a writing community to join

Exciting indeed! I like the look of it. What kind of process was it for you, finding your publisher? (I write short stories, verse, a tarot/cartomancy blog and have 1 finished novel - mainstream or psychological suspense/ghost and one in the boilings)

 

[Rachel Fox]

I'd had a couple of short stories published in anthologies and entered loads of competitions, even won and was short listed for a couple. Last year a friend, who knew I wrote asked me to send her the novel I was working on because a friend of hers was taking over a publishing company in Canada and was open for submissions. I didn't hear anything for about 6 months but then they contacted me and said they loved the story so we went from there. I worked with the editor to tidy it up, we ended up with 10 versions, but I loved every minute of it and then it came out in May. Its published in Canada and I'm in the UK so it feels a bit strange as I'm slightly disconnected from it (I'm not complaining!) but it should be published here in October. Have you sent any work out? I approached a few publishers and agents before that but I never really had anything that was ready until that point so I was just lucky that it all came together. I'thinking of approaching an agent now though as the publishers are interested in my second novel and I feel like I might need a bit of guidance. Do you have an agent? Sorry that was a bit long wasn't it!! R

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Not at all, Rachel. very interesting. No, I don't have an agent. An agent took an interest in some short stories I wrote some while back, and tried to place one with a TV company who were at that point in the market for new material for dramas. They didn't take it, but the feedback was encouraging, and he recommended I try my hand at a novel, as he rarely placed short stories. So I took the plunge but meanwhile he retired.

The original draft got good feedback from a crime novelist Sophie Hannah, she saw a potential market with crime readers, though she said it was a 'highly unusual' crime story. And actually, it isn't a crime story at all. It's more a quest/self recovery story. I overhauled it almost from scratch sent it out to a few agents last year and the year before, had a couple of near misses, and am aiming to start sending out again towards the end of the year, and also maybe printing off the novel, no ISBN, just to have it as a hard proof/approval copy. So I am now revisiting it in entirety with a focus on formatting, while working on another spooky/psychological suspense novel.

I am finding that Courier is a great aid to editing. Things 'leap' to my eye, and I am finding it easier to spot, word by word, what doesn't punch its weight and needs to go.

Tell us more about working with the editor and the 10 versions of your novel...and how you decided which to go with, if that's not too onerous to explain?

 

[Rachel Fox]

Wow - Sophie Hannah is fantastic so you clearly have something special. I'm really intrigued by the description of your novel Its finding the right person to back you, someone who really gets your work and can tap into the way you write and think. I learnt so much through the editing process, my editor helped me look at structure and pace. She never changed anything I wrote but she would point out where I needed to expand something or where something didn't quite flow properly. When I say versions I mean edits really, the story always stayed the same but I changed and expanded the beginning, so it was balanced, and I brought a minor character forward so she became very important to the story. I'll always be so grateful for that experience, it was like doing a PhD and my writing has definitely improved as a result.

It sounds like it could all happen for you soon, thats so exciting. Do you have a website? I tried to give myself a bit of an edge when I was submitting by having an up to date website and trying to be active on twitter and Facebook (I'm not very good at that though). I joined an online community called ABC Tales as well which was really useful in terms of feedback. You sound very motivated and thats the key to it all I think. I have a day job and I'm a mum but I write whenever I can as Stephen King says - amateurs wait for inspiration, the rest of us go to work - not that I'm comparing myself to SK obviously but its true that you have to put the hours.

How long is your novel? Mine are always short, The Herring Hanger is 50,000 words and the one I have just submitted is the same. I'm now just starting (three paragraphs in) my third and imagine it will be the same length, I can't seem to push past that.

R.

 

[James Marinero]

Welcome. What a great start!

 

[Patricia D]

Hi Rachel. Congratulations on already being published and welcome to the colony

 

[Rachel Fox]

Welcome. What a great start!

Thanks James

 

[Rachel Fox]

Hi Rachel. Congratulations on already being published and welcome to the colony

Thanks Patricia

 

[AgentPete]

Good to see you here, Rachel.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Short is good IMO. I know publishers think in terms of novellas at that length, and what's wrong with a novella? Turn of the Screw. Don't Look Now.

My thingie is about 85 k, no website. Occasional chapter testing here, great insights from these folks, and whatever is their take, they give it to you straight.

I visited a herring smokehouse museum once in Craster...the herrings were hung up...purple kippers alllll mouldy ...nom nom.

But in justice it was a museum.

 

[Sea-shore]

Hello and welcome, Rachel. Congrats on 'The Herring Hanger'!

 

[Boopadoo]

Hello and welcome!

 

[Quillwitch]

Oh, we like ghost stories here! Can´t wait to read some of your work!