GIRL NUMBER ONE: new fiction out this week

Girl Number One

Those who know me well will agree that, as a novelist, I am a genre-hopper. I hop from one genre to another with scant regard for market positioning, or what publishers and retailers like to call 'author branding'. This is one explanation why, despite having written several dozen novels, I am not a star in any one genre. (I will leave the other possible explanations for you to guess at on your own.) But that does not mean I would not like to be!

About a year and a half ago, while I was still knee-deep in an historical fiction series, it was suggested to me by a senior editor that I should write a contemporary thriller. A crime novel, but not a police procedural. Being a rabid fan of Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels, I embraced the idea with enthusiasm and excitement. At last, a chance to show what I could achieve as a contemporary writer within a popular mass-market genre.

But of course it's also an over-crowded market, and the novel I produced over the next year did not appeal to the editor who first suggested it. It went through several laborious redrafts, then was sent out to other publishers. Nobody wanted it. The rejections differed as to detail but the overall message was the same. Like the three bears' porridge, it was too hot, too cold, too salty, too sweet etc. for the market.

The project was then handed back to me, with the suggestion that I should self-publish.

To say I was disappointed is grossly to understate the matter. It was a serious blow to my self-confidence as a writer, especially as I was by that stage out of contract with all my publishers. After some years in traditionally published historical fiction, that book represented my calling-card script as a contemporary writer. A calling-card that had been handed back to me by a disdainful majordomo, and the door slammed in my face.

After some time nursing my wounds - I wish I could say 'downing tequila on a desert island' but I'm not that cool - I sorted through all the rejections I had seen and picked out the main thrust of their issues. I worked out how I could rewrite the book to 'fix' it. One key change was making my main protagonist older. A simple enough change, on the face of it. But of course that involved rewriting every single page of the book, because in the process of recasting her character, her narrative voice had to change, to mature, to harden. Rather like me as a writer ...

I really wish I had not chosen to write this scary scene so late at night ...

The main differences I noted between writing GIRL NUMBER ONE (the title of my thriller) and my previous novels, mostly either historical fiction or romances, were as follows:

Pace - a contemporary thriller is fast and furious. It has to be, to deliver the requisite thrills and keep an easily distracted reader turning the page. So introspection and description take a back seat, and action comes to the fore. The verb becomes king here, the adjective and adverb have to be rooted out. Not 'I thought' or 'I saw' (I chose a first person narrator) but 'I did'. Dialogue can take the place of internal monologue, which means it has to work harder, to underline character, drop clues and turn the plot.

Tone - the narration of a contemporary thriller is terse, or at least that's how I prefer it. It's also highly self-aware. This is someone who observes everything around them, whether a trained or natural detective, constantly noticing, examining, deciphering, unravelling, understanding. And often without an excess of emotional response, as emotion tends to hamper that process. (Emotional response being the sine qua non of the romantic novel, I often found myself working at the opposite end of the narrative spectrum to my other books.)

Character - the characters in a contemporary thriller are not, in general, those you might encounter in other genres (though that rather depends on the writer). They have to be boldly drawn, sometimes even starkly and at speed, because a thriller is about action and reaction, rather than a leisurely character study. But the main protagonists also need qualities that others around them noticeably lack: massive intelligence, strength, resolve, courage, generosity, kindness, plus a few special skills. They must leap off the page without being caricatures, and linger in the reader's memory, not least because some of them may become suspects later.

Where the narrator is concerned, assuming that is your chief protagonist, we need the reader to care about that person deeply. Otherwise, there will be little reason to keep reading when he or she is put in danger. Such a character must be sympathetic and strongly-drawn enough to elicit an emotional response from the reader. By which I really mean, he or she must feel true.

Truth - a contemporary thriller should seem realistic, even more so than romantic or historical fiction, and the actions of its characters must be completely believable too, even when your plot is unlikely or even preposterous at times. So how to achieve this? In the same way as a sci-fi or fantasy novel, you have to anchor the world of your novel somewhere that feels very realistic, and therefore works to distract the reader from the unlikeliness of your plot.

In my case, I decided to follow the well-worn advice, write what you know, and achieve narrative truth that way. So I based the world of my debut thriller on the Cornish village in which I was actually living at the time of writing. I was then able to describe, with absolute accuracy and consistency, the village layout and its surrounding area, the views, the flowers in bloom at each season, the likely weather, the very feel of the air ... A bit of a cheat, perhaps, but I wanted to nail that 'truth' element of the thriller first-time-out.

Did I manage to nail it though?

The proof of the thriller is in the reading, and I hope you will give mine a shot. You can find a free sample or buy GIRL NUMBER ONE on Amazon. Digital only at the moment, with paperback POD to follow.

GIRL NUMBER ONE Amazon US

GIRL NUMBER ONE Amazon UK

This blog post first appeared September 21st 2015, at 52 WAYS TO WRITE A NOVEL.

Horizon Review Archive Project

Random poetic image. Enjoy.

I edited Horizon Review from 2008-10, a lively online arts magazine owned by Salt Publishing. We published reviews, articles, comment, publishing news, poetry and short fiction in an eclectic tangle, big names and new writers in together.

I left the post when my own writing commitments grew too much, and the magazine was later edited by Katy Evans-Bush.

The magazine folded a few years later, and sadly has since disappeared from the internet. In the interests of 'rescuing' some of the fine contributions to that magazine, I have been given permission to republish a selection here at Raw Light.

If you had work in Horizon Review - either under my editorship or Katy Evans-Bush's - and would like to see it archived here, please get in touch. I do not have access to work featured in later editions of the magazine, so you may need to send the files as well.

The work will appear in no particular order. It is unlikely dates of original publication will be included, as there is little access to records - apart from the odd cached post.

This is an on ongoing project, heavily reliant on tracking down individual contributors in order to seek permission to republish their work, so it may take place over several years. Do let people know about this project if you think they may have been involved in the magazine.

I am hoping to include poetry and fiction as well as articles and reviews, but obviously it will depend on what people are willing for me to republish. Please note, no one's work will be republished without permission. There are no fees for republishing, the archive project is a non-profit-making attempt to establish at least a partial record of what was in the magazine. But those who do choose to be republished may wish to update their bios and photos at the same time, i.e. promoting newer work.

This project's success will depend on people sharing this information and helping me out with locating writers and seeking permissions. So thanks in advance!

Jane

Epicentre Magazine has moved to Raw Light

A few weeks back, I got all excited on social media, and decided to reanimate Raw Light as a poetry and writing-related blog.

My first thought, as a vastly busy person, was to solicit a few poems from other people, which would keep the blog going but not take up too much time writing endless new material for it myself. Canny, huh?

Random picture of me.

But then I remembered Epicentre Magazine.

I launched Epicentre Magazine two years ago almost exactly. I wanted an online magazine which would not be too taxing for me to run, and for a while it worked fine. But then I lost track of submissions, and frankly submissions were not brilliant anyway, so I just stopped posting work there.

But now, in a flash of inspiration, I have decided to move that idea of an occasional online magazine - updated at my whim, really - to Raw Light. This blog is a veteran of online poetry, after all, having been started back in the misty depths of 2005 and still ticking over today in 2014. It gets many thousands of hits every month, regardless of whether or not I post updates, and it seems like a great platform from which to 'relaunch' my idea of an online poetry magazine.

Unfortunately for those now rubbing their hands with glee and sorting out their best poems, I do not intend to load myself down with extra work by accepting unsolicited submissions for Raw Light. Instead I shall be inviting people on the (mainly British) poetry scene to submit poems, reviews or articles, and hope they are generous enough to say yes.

Relaunching Raw Light as a quasi-magazine ...

I shall also continue to post my own updates on Raw Light. So things will not change particularly, except that you may receive more frequent emails from me if you have subscribed to the blog. You can change this by clicking Unsubscribe at the bottom of any emails that arrive from Raw Light.

Meanwhile, I am not very good at asking people for things, having the memory of a flea, and there's every chance that if you're reading this blog AND writing the kind of things I enjoy reading, I may be happy to see your work here too.

So see Submissions for details anyway. Just be aware that I have a madly busy life these days and don't expect an instant response.

Proud, proud, proud

Dylan at Wroxeter (Roman town) last year.

I'm very proud of my son Dylan, who is not only incredibly clever but a chip off the old block when it comes to blogging and reviewing. (In other words, he doesn't blog often, but when he does, it's with some panache ... !)

Dylan is eleven years old. He is obsessed with science and technology, and that is not an exaggeration.

His most recent obsession within those fields is astrophysics.

And I would like to share his review of Stephen Hawking's classic, A Brief History of Time, with you. It's on his book review site, The Book Mangle.

His writing style is not perfect - there are a few errors here! - but for an eleven year old reading a book by Hawking, and attempting to explain some of the contents in an easy-to-follow way, it's really pretty impressive.

Proud, proud, proud ... 

Here's an excerpt from his review:

I warn you, this is not a children's book. I sometimes personally had to read each paragraph several times to get the information in my head, and it felt like I had forgotten the English language ...

Read more on The Book Mangle.  

New home website for Jane Holland

You will not be able to stand the excitement of this announcement, but I have finally managed to transfer my old domain name to a new website, which is still under development.

There you will find scaffolding, rickety walls and buckets of cement, plus a few new structures - for instance, information on my poetry collections for sale, and a page for reviews and endorsements, now all gathered in one place.

There is also a 'blog' on the new Jane Holland website. But I don't see it replacing Raw Light.

Indeed, there's a link on the site to draw new readers to Raw Light. For I do intend to revive this blog's flagging fortunes with some new blog posts in the near future.

These days though, I'm just continually ... you know ... busy! And right now, fiction is the headliner for me, with poetry very much the sideshow. But it makes me uncomfortable, if that's any consolation. And I have attended one poetry event recently - don't all faint - so that's a good sign that I intend to make a comeback.

I may even write a poem soon. Yes, a whole poem. All of my own.

I Don't Call Myself a Poet: a grumpy interview

Poetry: the days when the pen is mightier than the Mac

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but I was recently interviewed by Emine Ahmet on a website of interviews with contemporary British poets: I Don't Call Myself A Poet.

For some reason, lost in the mists of time, I was in a particularly cynical and terse mood the day I was interviewed, and it shows in my responses. Another day might have seen me more inclined to my natural charm and joie de vivre, ho ho. But alas, I am instead doomed to go down - in the history of this website at least - as a grumpy old bag.

My favourite Q&A from the interview:

What keeps you writing and sharing your work with a society that seems to be listening less each day?
 
Stupidity and egotism, I expect.

Read more of this poetry interview at I Don't Call Myself A Poet.

Young Shakespeare: Victoria Lamb

Mealtimes for William Shakespeare would have looked very much like this, in his large and lively Warwickshire family.

I thought some of the readers of Raw Light might be interested in today's entry on my alter-ego Victoria Lamb's blog.

Some of you may know that I published the first book in a trilogy about Shakespeare's 'Dark Lady' in hardback earlier this year. It's called The Queen's Secret and is out in paperback in a couple of weeks.

In this first book, William Shakespeare is eleven years old and plays only a very minor role in the story. But he features as a point of view character in the second book, so his life as a child and young man in Stratford upon Avon is uppermost in my mind.

Please do hop over to read my entry on Young Shakespeare - and maybe click to Follow my blog there, if interested in updates on my fiction writing as Victoria Lamb.

RNA Blog Interview

I've been interviewed today on the Romantic Novelists Association blog, largely about my forthcoming novel The Queen's Secret - published under the pseudonym Victoria Lamb - and my working methods as a novelist.

Might be interesting if you're into fiction writing.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAW LIGHT!

 

This writing blog, Raw Light, is SIX YEARS OLD this month!

Amazing to think how many years it's been going strong. Yet I still haven't got bored and stopped posting. That's impressive for me. Looking back at my posting record, there have been a few dry patches here and there, but I always picked up the slack in the end.

So please wish Raw Light a Happy Birthday, and tweet it Happy Birthday too if the spirit moves you to gain me new followers!

In celebration of six successful years of blogging, I'm going to repost some favourite or significant blog posts from each year over the next few weeks. I'll put the original date in brackets alongside the title, and at the top of the post too, so hopefully people will understand it's a repeat.

 Just a trip down memory lane for me, and perhaps for those who have been faithfully following this blog since its first inane flutters of life, back in September 2005.

The tag for old posts will be #RawLightRepeats

Many thanks to ALL my readers, past and present, and to those who are now Following Raw Light.

Couldn't have done it without you! Jane x

The Endless "To Do" List

It often feels these days as though I have an endless and bewildering "To Do" list, which keeps rolling and threatening to overwhelm me.

Everything goes onto my "To Do" list: my daily editing jobs, my own writing goals, children's dental or clinic appointments, my husband's weekly shirt wash, bills to be paid, general housework, gardening, food shopping, the car MOT, book reviews I've foolishly offered to write, family birthdays, personal letters I keep putting off, and even interviews I've agreed to do.

What keeps me on top of most of this multi-tasking? (I do fumble the ball occasionally, it can't be denied.) Believe it or not, it is this humble product below: the Pukka "Things To Do" book. 

 

I have not been paid to say this, but this little notebook has saved my bacon on more than one occasion. I fill it out religiously every evening, listing jobs for the following day, with any tasks left undone rolling onto the next day. Then I cross each one off the list as I achieve it.

My memory is so rubbish, I genuinely need something like this. It has 115 daily planners, with a large notes section opposite each list, so can contain far more information than could be squeezed onto an office whiteboard and, as long as I don't lose it or other factors intervene, it keeps me on track with all my various jobs.

Right. Now I can cross off "Update my blog at Raw Light". Phew.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all my faithful readers, and even to those who have no idea who I am and only landed on this blog by accident!

My wish for 2011 is to exceed 100 followers.

If you can help me, either by following me or spreading the word about this blog, that would be great!

If I manage to attract over 100 followers - see sidebar for details -  I might even undertake to update this blog more often than I do currently.

Though I wouldn't want to bore people by blogging too often. There's only so much a writer can say about writing before they begin to sound like a scratched record, after all.

But even if you turn up and there's no new entry, you can always feed the sidebar fish. ;-)

Small Publishers and the Prize Machinery

Elizabeth Baines, fellow Salt writer and blogger, discusses the latest problem to face the world of small publishing.

This discussion all came about after some Facebook posts by various people in publishing - including my own Salteeny Jen Hamilton-Emery, and Neil Astley, editor of Bloodaxe Books, who published my debut poetry collection - criticised the introduction of fees for publishers to enter publications for the Guardian First Book awards.

Prizes and Book Club recommendations: are these more of a curse than a benefit, at least for the publishers, who end up spending huge sums on providing the books involved and accepting vast discounts on sales at the same time?

Holland's Miscellany

A brand-new site, taking my name in vain, has sprung up overnight at Wordpress.com

It will feature posts on politics, sci-fi, humanism, secularism, and 'whatever else crops up'. Unlikely to be much there about poetry or writing, though you never know.

I'd be really pleased and grateful if anyone interested in any of the above topics would support Holland's Miscellany by telling other people about it - maybe by linking to it on your own blogs, or on Facebook or Twitter, just to give it some momentum in these early weeks as it emerges into the blogosphere.

First few posts so far discuss the new Doctor Who, the paralysing effects of depression, and the ramifications of a hung parliament:

'This is how the LibDems die, not with a bang but a lapdance.'

Hope you will find time to support this new blog, and perhaps leave some comments?

New Poem at Stride Magazine

I have a new poem up at Stride online magazine, entitled 'Adventure Sky!'

Those of a delicate or very conservative disposition should sit down before reading it.

The long-awaited fourth issue of Horizon Review is due out very, very soon. Or so I am assured by Chris and his team at Salt.

I also feel it may be time for a facelift at Raw Light. Trumpet chorus. This writing blog has been going since early 2005, and has only had two changes of decor since then. I'm not thinking of anything radical at this stage. Just some light colour and sidebar design changes, perhaps. I shall see what's readily available on Blogger and do some tinkering.

Anything to avoid writing my novel!

And now, here's a very short YouTube film of my youngest daughter, whom I sent out last summer with a camera and instructions to do some filming at Richborough in Kent, one of the earliest Roman ports. Here, she demonstrates a cheerful, journalistic disregard for historical accuracy ...

At the time, she was five years old.

How old is Jane Holland?

This is genuinely disturbing. Found it today whilst trawling the net in search of insults. Who asked this question ... and why?

Identity fraud, here we go ...

Still, this 'True Knowledge' site was completely stumped when I asked it, 'how green is a frog?'  Ha!

Aphorisms after all -- at Frances Leviston's Verse Palace

Still haven't got round to posting up some aphorisms here, but if you feel the need to enaphorise yourself - I just made that verb up, in case you were unsure - I've got a whole series of them on the topic of Poetic Authenticity over on Frances Leviston's essay blog, Verse Palace.

They've just gone up today, all fresh and snowy-white for the Christmas season.

Poets on Fire: have you seen it recently?

Just thought I'd remind everyone of the existence of POETS ON FIRE, a marvellous poetry resource currently being run by the equally marvellous Matt Merritt.

Back in 2006, I wanted to find a way of keeping tabs on what was happening in poetry right across the UK and Ireland, and although there were various online resources which helped with that - such as the Poetry Library site - I wanted something a little more interactive, preferably with daily updates.

So I launched POETS ON FIRE and started blogging about poetry events. After a few years, the demands of running that site and all my other work began to tell on my psyche. So I asked around, and a number of people - Charlotte Runcie, Nina Davies and Matt Merritt - came forward and offered their help with maintaining the site.

Charlotte Runcie did a great job of overhauling the 'look' of POF, but then had to slip off to university. Nina also couldn't take the pace, with a career and a young family to look after, and these days only brave Matt Merritt shows up for work, stalwartly blogging UK poetry events for the benefit of the many thousands of visitors to the site.

So, a very merry Christmas and three loud cheers for Matt Merritt -- without whom I would have to do some serious blogging!

If you've never visited POETS ON FIRE, why not do so now?

There's even a highly selective poetry forum attached, which I administer ... ;)

Verse Palace

Poet Frances Leviston has started a poetry and poetics blogzine, if that's an appropriate description.

Find it at Verse Palace.

Salt Blog Explosion

Salt Publishing has now rolled all its blogs into one page: read them here.

Salt Confidential is powering on with ideas for Christmas presents, hot-off-the-press news from the poetry frontline, and facts on fiction. I haven't posted any entries on Horizon Review since the summer though. Bad Jane!

Still, now that Horizon is about to launch its 3rd issue, the blog entries will rise again, dripping and steaming from the ... whatever that gooey stuff is under my feet.

Podcasts?

Just been listening to some Harlequin podcasts (romance series fiction) on the e-Harlequin site, and thought it might be fun to put up some podcasts on this blog.

Podcasts are pretty simple to make with an MP3 player or on a laptop - I could probably even manage a short film, via YouTube, if I knew someone with a reasonable camera - and they would certainly ring the changes from text-based discussions, besides being a more intimate, first-hand approach to blogging.

So, any thoughts about what I could cover in a short writing-based podcast?

I could, for instance, rather than rambling on about whatever I've been doing recently, invite a local writer or two to talk with me. One of the co-editors of Nine Arches Press, Jane Commane and I have been talking about developing a Midlands-based poetry podcast for the next issue of Horizon Review, but I think there's also a possibility there for creating less grand podcasts, in a casual sort of ad hoc style, for Raw Light.