The sun was shining and I had a good feeling about the event for aspiring novelists. I
wanted to know how authors went through the process of publication and Niki
Valentine (who is also Nicola Monaghan) and Rod Duncan were there to share their experience with us.
Each had a
different way into publication. Nicola had the opportunity to submit her
dissertation to her tutor's agent (although she did lie about her word
count!), which meant that she was already represented by a literary agent as she finished her M.A. Rod on
the other hand, wrote five novels without being published. It's a scary number
but he said it wasn't a waste of time - and it certainly worked out in the end.
When Nicola was
40000 words into her second novel, she left her laptop in a taxi. She had backed up her manuscript once, but had written 30,000 words since then. 75% of her
work was gone and she wasn't worried. For her it meant she could rewrite,
learning from the work she had already done and aiming to improve. The thought of 30000 words just gone
is horrifying for the author of this post.
Most of the questions from the audience revolved around how to write and how to edit. Nicola and Rod talked about their methods, which were very different, Nicola had a fixed ending whilst Rod started with
the skeleton of the story and fleshed it out. The one thing they did
agree on though is that each writer has their own way of writing.
In my
opinion, the most important thing that was said was to just keep
writing, keep developing and to remember that even a rejection helps you learn what you
need to improve. It was definitely a brilliant talk by two (or three)
amazing authors.
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| The Custodian of Marvels by Rod Duncan |
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| The Killing Jar by Nicola Monaghan |
Andre Cowen
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