Novelicious - The Female Fiction and Chick Lit Blog

My Writing Room - Daphne Kalotay

2012-01-31T14:59:06+00:00

This week, Daphne Kalotay (who we also interviewed this week) tells us about her writing room in Boston.

My Writing Room by Daphne Kalotay

I’m very fortunate in that I rent a lovely apartment with its own study off of the main room. This study has nice big built-in bookshelves, which I think make any room look immediately better! But best of all is the sunlight; the room faces southeast, making it nice and bright in the morning, which is when I like to write. And natural light always gives me energy, especially in the winter (which can be long here in Boston.)

I like to be able to spread out, so when I first moved in and started looking for a desk, none seemed large enough. I ended up buying this dining room table at Crate and Barrel, and put it together myself; only if you look underneath will you see that not all the screws are in correctly…. The chair came from the furniture company where my sister works; it supposedly has some irregularity that made it unsellable, but I’ve found it comfortable. I also like that it’s red, because I learned somewhere that red is an energizing color. The rug I chose for the floor is red, too; a friend brought it back for me from Morocco.

I know that some writers don’t like distractions and wouldn’t want their work area to be facing a somewhat busy street, but I’m the opposite. Since writing is such a solitary activity, I like (crave, actually) the company of the world outside—the sound of passing cars, of people chatting, of dogs barking and birds chirping. So a key element of why my writing room works well for me is that I can look right out the window and see life going on all around me—people walking past, the mailman making his rounds, a neighbor out jogging.

One block away is a playground, and when I have the windows open there’s a constant din of children’s voices (lots of joyful screaming), which I find lively and vitalizing.

It’s now been nearly ten years that I’ve been writing at this desk; it has faded quite a bit from all the sunlight. Sometimes I put out some inspiring little thing to keep me going—a photograph, or a quote I like. Right now I have a little picture of a bird I clipped from a magazine, just because I love birds and thought it was cute. I also have a postcard of a picture by Rodin, because it figures in the new piece I’m writing.

Visit Daphne's Website

Join Daphne on Facebook

Top 5 Writing Tips from Lesley Pearse

2012-01-31T13:33:50+00:00

1. Don't be slovenly, make out you are going to the office so dress and put make-up on. It puts you in right mind set.

2. Read as much as you write. Both fiction and non-fiction for research

3. To set you off with a new book try writing the blurb for the back of it. I find a few exciting lines bring focus to what the book is about.

4. Don't show your work to anyone but agent or editor. Anyone else will tell you it’s great, even if its dire. It’s your baby, nurture it yourself.

5. If you are bored with what you are writing, so will the reader be. Move onto a more exciting part, you can always go back and fill in another day with better ideas.

The Promise by Lesley Pearse is out now

Read our review of The Promise

The Secret Dreamworld of an Aspiring Author: Novel News - Millie and the American Wedding by Anna Bell

2012-01-31T12:38:16+00:00

Millie's about to reject the invitation to an American wedding from a long lost college friend Kristen when she accidentally agrees to be bridesmaid at it. Which doesn't seem too bad, what with the wedding being in New York and coming complete with bachelorette party, rehearsal dinner and all those American traditions seen in the movies. But then you add to the equation that she's slept with the groom, and her ex boyfriend Rob (the only love of her life to date) is going to be the best man at the wedding. And not only is he best man, but he's already married, and she's going to the wedding single.

And if that wasn’t enough for Millie there’s also the maid of honour from hell, Collette, bridesmaid dresses that don’t fit, maxi dress malfunctions and secrets from her college life that she wanted to leave firmly behind in the past and on US soil.

As Kristen gets ready for the best day of her life, Millie gears up for the worst week of hers.

So there you are, writer’s Tuesday readers. There is the synopsis of my e-book and you can buy it now on Amazon! I still can’t quite believe it, I keep bringing up the link to the site to see the lovely cover that Novelicious’s own editor Kirsty designed. I can’t quite believe that that is my book. It’s dead funny to see my author page on Amazon and to think I’m an indie author. Although to be honest, I’m still desperate to be a published author too, so I’m not going to give up trying.

Now this last week before publication has been far from calm. I started waking up in a cold sweat last week, panicking that I’d ruin a career in writing before I’d even started. Thinking that people would give me no star or one star ratings that would ruin my writing reputation and then no agent would touch me with a barge pole. By the time it got to Friday I felt that I had gone completely mad. I mean, here I was on the verge of publishing an ebook and no one had read it but me. Yes people had listened to it, but no other human eye had read it. Yes, I know, you’re thinking I’m crazy. So I sent it off to my step dad, who proofread (and nudged me in the right direction) on a lot of my university essays. So I was preparing myself to get brutal feedback. I sent him instructions to read the first three chapters as a test sample. And then the email came back I’d misspelled the word ‘stared’ I kept putting ‘starred’. ‘That was it,’ I said down the phone. ‘That’s it,’ he replied. He also told me that far from chick lit being his cup of tea he was sucked into the story, but he stopped reading in chapter 3 as instructed in case he got embarrassed if it got ‘smutty’. And from then on I’ve been serenely calm and just so excited about the launch.

I want to say a huge thanks to all the lovely comments I’ve had on Novelicious and twitter encouraging me with the ebook – and if you read it DO let me know what you think!

Novelicious Chats to... Daphne Kalotay

2012-01-30T09:03:16+00:00

Daphne Kalotay is the author of Russian Winter.

1. Can you tell us a little about your average writing day?

I don’t really have an average writing day, because I don’t keep to a strict schedule, though in general I get up each morning and write for the next few hours. How much time I spend writing depends on where I am in a project. If I’m in the very early stage, trying to produce new material, the longest I can work is 4 hours; after that, my brain just switches off, I’m so tired. But if I already have material to work with and am revising or editing, I can work for longer stretches of time.

2. When you are writing, do you use any celebrities or people you know as inspiration?

For characters, or just to keep me going? In terms of feeling inspired, just knowing that someone like Steven King, who is incredibly successful in terms of book sales, gets up every day and sits for long hours in his chair, working very hard, is a great reminder that writing never gets easier, no matter how many bestsellers you’ve had, or if you’re writing thrillers or sci-fi or so-called “literary fiction.” You still have to do the work.

3. What is your favourite Women’s Fiction book of all time and why?

If you mean a work by a woman writer, one of my very favourite novels is The Song of the Lark, by Willa Cather. It’s about a small-town girl who has musical talent and eventually becomes an opera singer. It’s truly wonderful, and very moving.

4. What is your writing process? Do you plan first or dive in? How many drafts do you do?

Though I sometimes have a very general, vague overall idea of what I’ll be writing about, I never have a clear plot, so I basically just dive in and hope for the best. As for how many drafts I do: too many to count. I mean that literally; if I tried to keep count, the number would be so enormous, not only would I lose count, but I’d become overwhelmed and then demoralized, I imagine, by how long the process takes.

5. What was your journey to being a published author?

I began writing short fiction, so my first publications were stories that appeared in literary journals. I’d been sending my work out for about ten years before my first short story was accepted for publication. After that, the rejections were fewer, but it still took many tries before most stories found a home. In 2005 Doubleday published a compilation of my stories as my first book, Calamity and Other Stories.

6. What do you think is the biggest myth about being a novelist?

That we crumple up pages and toss them in the trash when we grow frustrated. Movies about writers always show them doing that, when really much of our frustration—as well as our concentration, creativity, and overall devotion to our work—isn’t physically expressed or outwardly visible. We’re just sitting there thinking, thinking, thinking… and also writing.

7. What advice can you give to our readers who want to write a novel of their own?

Read the very best novels you can get your hands on. Reading is by far the best way to learn about writing, and if you want to write well you need to read good writing. Find what you love, and keep those novels in mind as you write your own. And know before you start that it will not be easy; you need to be prepared to devote the next few years of your life to working on that one project.

8. What are you working on at the moment?

Another novel, this time about professional musicians living in Boston.

Thanks, Daphne!

Visit Daphne's Website

More information about Russian Winter

Wallpapering with Book Pages

2012-01-27T13:14:15+00:00

I saw this book papered ceiling on Apartment Therapy and didn't quite know how to feel. While I absolutely love the way it looks, I do feel a bit squeamish at the thought of ripping up all those books.

I'm not generally one of those people who like to protect their books so much that they look like they've never been opened (I happily dog ear the pages, scribble notes in the margins, read in the bath), but totally ripping them up? Not so sure.

What do you think? Do you think it looks pretty? Would you ever rip up a book?

The Bookish Roundup: Week 4 2012

2012-01-27T04:09:55+00:00

Each week we scour the internets for the most interesting or helpful book and writing related stories of the week. Then every Friday we put them into an nice list for you.

That's it, really.

This Week...

Andrew Miller wins Costa Book of the Year

City of Fallen Angels is named as the most quoted book of 2011

Shiloh Walker confirms that each time a bad review is written, a pink fluffy unicorn dies

Flavorwire shows us the best literary themed graffiti ever

Jenny Colgan writes a Doctor Who book

Writer's Digest gives us 4 tips for creating believable villains

Piatkus announces their new digital romance list, Entice

Do let us know on our facebook or twitter of any interesting book news you think we should share in next week's bookish roundup!

Bookish Etsy Pick - Book Owl Handbag

2012-01-26T14:51:29+00:00

WANT.

This handmade Book Owl handbag is by Dunny Galleger on Etsy and costs £49.08. Isn't it cute?

Review - Before I Go To Sleep by S. J. Watson

2012-01-26T12:38:16+00:00

REVIEWED BY CESCA MARTIN

How can you not be utterly gripped by a book that begins like this: woman wakes up after one-night stand, goes to bathroom, looks in mirror, sees herself... only she’s 25 years too old? This is the opening to S.J.Watson’s debut novel and from that moment you are hooked.

Christine lives with Ben, her husband of more than twenty years, and wakes everyday never remembering what she knew before she fell asleep. Sometimes she’s five and sometimes she’s in her early twenties. Life is scary and unreal. Christine is living today every day; over and over. When a phone rings and Christine answers she hears the calm voice of one Dr Nash. He tells her they have a meeting later that day, are working on her treatment. Christine doesn’t remember ever meeting a Dr Nash but a note, in her own handwriting, confirms the appointment and she agrees to see him. Then Dr Nash tells her not to tell her husband and the plot thickens...

This debut is a brilliant, pacey read. It’s gripping, it’s bewildering and it’s tense. S.J.Watson appears to have already mastered the art of drip-feeding the reader revelations that have them turning the pages to keep up as if he has been writing thrillers for years. Our own Kirsty (Novelicious ed) admitted to doing an all-nighter just to finish this book. Despite second-guessing some of the twists and turns I still fell hook, line and sinker for some of the red herrings. Great stuff from a new writer. Don’t wait for the Ridley Scott movie – read it now. A big Novelicious thumbs-up!

10/10

Before I Go to Sleep will be the launch book at this year's TV Book Club, which starts on Sunday 29th January on More4

Visit S.J. Watson's website

Buy this book

Review - The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

2012-01-26T10:45:00+00:00

REVIEWED BY DEBS CARR

The Paris Wife is the story of Hadley Richardson, the first of Ernest Hemingway’s four wives. Hadley meets her future husband in 1920 when she’s twenty-eight. Up until that time she’s lived a quiet, secluded life and is only too thrilled to marry him and relocate with him to Paris where the couple soon become part of the enigmatic group of modernist writers and artists living in the capital. Their new friends include Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound, and eventually they also meet up with F Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda.

As a foreign correspondent, Ernest takes trips away from his wife. She hates being without him and finds it difficult to cope in his absence. When she falls pregnant Hadley is overjoyed. Ernest, on the other hand, isn’t ready for children and although he can’t help loving the baby who they nickname, Bumby, having him in their life causes their differences to intensify. Hadley loves it when Ernest takes time away from focusing on his writing so that they can spend time together. Most of the time though, he’s either writing, or drinking with his friends. Occasionally, they travel and rent rooms for weeks at a time.

Although he loves Hadley, Ernest is occasionally distant and often difficult. He suffers nightmares due partly to his experiences in The Great War and recurring depression makes life very unpleasant at times for Hadley. Beautiful models, aristocratic ladies and women far more sophisticated than she, became part of their ‘set’ making her jealous and unhappy when Hem pays them too much attention. It occurs to her though that at times his interest for these women can be more as characters for his novels rather than always being physically attracted to them. Their tempestuous relationship struggles at times and despite trying her hardest to accommodate his choices, Hadley dreads the time when she may be forced to do something she’d rather not do.

This is a well-researched novel, which reads for the most part like a fictional romance between two lovers. However, although some parts are intriguing and beautifully written giving a great sense of the era, others areas included a little too much detail and slowed down the story slightly.

Having recently visited Paris and a lot of the places the Hemingway’s frequented, notably Montparnasse and Sylvia Beach’s fascinating Left Bank bookshop, Shakespeare & Company, I enjoyed how the author brought these places to life and loved most aspects of this book.

7/10

Paula McLain

The Paris Wife