Good Things Come by Sophie Claire

I’m so pleased to tell you I’ve signed a three-book deal with Hodder & Stoughton.

There have been tears of joy, celebrations, and just a few nerves at the prospect of deadlines. 

It’s a dream come true, but it didn’t happen overnight. 

Oh no. 

There’s been so much waiting, nail-biting and doubt along the way, but I hope my story gives comfort to others that there is always hope. 

So here’s how it came about:

A brief background

My first novel, Her Forget-Me-Not Ex, was published in 2015 by a small press. It sold well, much better than I expected in fact, but it had always been my goal to have an agent, so when I finished my second book I sent it out. I signed with Megan Carroll of Watson, Little Literary Agency in March 2016. Megan loved my second book, a summery friends-to-lovers story set in Provence. She approached publishers with it, and although we had a few near misses and really positive feedback, it didn’t sell. I won’t lie, this was disheartening (for both of us – it’s easy to overlook how passionately agents represent their clients and how much work they do on their behalf).

During months of not hearing anything, I had to keep the faith, be patient (I’m not very good at that) and keep writing. 

And then…

On the bright side, the submissions process is a slow one, and by the time Megan had exhausted her list of publishers, I had almost finished writing my third book (a Christmas story, set partly in England and in Provence). I’m glad I did because book 3 attracted more interest, including offers from two publishers. 

Celebrate!

I was utterly thrilled and, after Megan’s call, I confess there were a few tears. This was what I’d been working towards for the last fifteen years, after all.

I signed with Hodder & Stoughton, who will publish The Christmas Holiday in October this year, re-release my first novel (under a new title) next year, and publish a third book which I’m currently writing in time for Christmas 2020. 

Yet to come

I’ve already begun working with my editor and her team, and I’m thrilled with how it’s going. Although I’ve been published before, Hodder & Stoughton is a large traditional publisher, and a lot of the process is new to me. I never realised so much work went into bringing a book to publication beyond the author writing ‘The End’. It’s exciting to be getting input from so many experienced professionals, and I know my book will be all the better for it.

The Novelistas have asked me to blog about the process of bringing a book to publication, so over the next few months I’ll be sharing my experiences with you.

One of the things I love about writing is that I’m constantly learning, and I hope that never stops.

Sophie.x

The Joan Hessayon Awards 2016 by Sophie Claire

"You all feel like winners on the night" a good friend told me, referring to the Romantic Novelists' Association's (RNA) Joan Hessayon Awards. She was so right.

The award is given in honour of romantic writer, Joan Hessayon

I figured there can't be many times in a writer's life when your book is up for an award, so I booked a hotel, dug out a dress and heels, and caught the train to London seeing the trip as a treat for myself.

The Joan Hessayon Award is awarded each year to a writer whose book has passed through the New Writers' Scheme and subsequently been published.

The 14 contenders for the Joan Hessayon award 2016

There were fourteen contenders this year and it was lovely to meet the other authors, some of whom I 'know' from Twitter. It was also a great opportunity to meet my fellow Accent authors as four of us were in the shortlist.

The evening passed in a blur of posing for photographs and chatting with new friends and old, and before I knew it last year's winner, Brigid Coady, was giving a short speech about what the win has meant for her. 

The contenders were each in turn presented with certificates, then - drumroll - the winner was announced, and it was:

Clare Harvey for her novel, The Gunner Girl.

Champagne glasses were raised in celebration!

Research - honest!

Next day I took things easy, and made the most of staying near Covent Garden to explore and do some window shopping. I even managed to squeeze in some research for the novel I'm currently working on.

I know, it's a hard life!

Sophie.x

Sources and links:
The Romantic Novelists' Association
Clare Harvey's website
Thanks also to John Jackson for his photo

Sophie Claire's (shortlisted!) novel is currently 99p from Amazon

My Secret Double Life by Sophie Claire

I have a set of questions which I think of as my annual review:

            What did you embrace in 2015?

            What did you let go of?

            In 2016 where do you want to be? 
And so on...

I love these kind of questions. They’re useful for keeping me focused on my goals and reminding me of my achievements, and obviously this was a big year for me with the publication of my first novel. However, one of my answers stopped me in my tracks. I had completely forgotten that 2015 was also the year I came out and told everyone in the real world (as opposed to online) that I am a writer!

Until May, when Her Forget-Me-Not Ex was released, my writing life was a closely guarded secret known only to my close friends and family. Why?

Let me take you back a step. When I first began to write fifteen years ago, I treated it as a hobby. I wrote while my baby was napping and I mainly wrote short stories because that was all I had time for. After a few years, I plucked up the courage to start a novel. I worked on this for two years and by the time I’d finished it, the seed was sown: I knew I wanted to be a writer. So I tentatively told a few people about my hopes of one day being published.

I knew achieving publication would not be easy and I braced myself for rejection, but when I sent my first book to publishers and agents I was stunned by their response. My book was like a boomerang. It used to come back, sometimes by return of post. (With hindsight, I’m so glad – that first book was a learning experience!)

However, I wouldn’t give up. I wrote another novel. And another. I went on writing courses, and I constantly searched out books and articles to try and improve my craft. Gradually, the rejections became less standard and more encouraging, telling me I was nearly there. I saw this as progress (though it was incredibly frustrating too), but some people – non-writers – couldn’t understand my optimism. Their interest turned to sympathy and eventually to pity. So I decided to keep my writing dreams to myself.

Then we moved house. As far as my new neighbours and friends knew, I was a stay-at-home mum of two who did the school run and worked part-time proofreading academic papers. In reality, I proofread at night when the children were in bed, and wrote feverishly from 9 till 3 every day. Although I still hadn’t earned a penny from writing, I treated it as my job and that was all I wanted to do.

I would sometimes vanish for the weekend to attend a writing course, and when people asked where I’d been I kept my answers vague: ‘Oh, seeing friends’. Which was true. I didn’t want to give the game away, but I didn’t want to lie either. It was difficult keeping up the deception. So this year when my book came out and I could finally tell everyone the good news I was so relieved.

What’s your book about? friends asked; Where do you get your ideas? Why didn’t you tell us you were a writer?

The truthful answer is: because I needed the validation of being published to feel I really was a writer.

And how do people react now when I tell them what I do? They’re mostly intrigued. Writing, for whatever reason, is regarded as a fascinating career. I love that some people are bemused by imagination and the concept of making things up (Did you base your book on an ex-boyfriend? – er, no). I love that people want to give me ideas they’ve had for books they think should be written. I love that there is a general perception that writers are all as rich as J.K. Rowling (oh, that this were true!). I love the discussions I get drawn into about other authors and their books. It’s my favourite subject, my passion, and I’m thrilled that I can now openly share that passion.

I am Sophie Claire. And I am a writer.

Sophie.x

How to Get into Your Writing World FAST! by Sophie Claire

stocksnap.io

NaNoWriMo is fast approaching, or perhaps you’re just pushed for time and cramming writing into a busy life. If you're anything like me, you need your writing sessions to be efficient and productive. When I sit down to work, I want to get straight into ‘the zone’, where I lose track of time or forget that it’s raining outside because I'm transported into my fictional world and the heads and hearts of my characters: seeing what they see, hearing them speak and, most importantly, feeling what they feel. That, I’m sure you’ll agree, is when the story really takes off and the words flow, springing off the page, coming to life.
Well, here are some shortcuts for getting there:

1. The Write Time

Dorothea Brande and Julia Cameron both suggest that writing ‘morning pages’ as soon as you wake up helps to capture the creative mind before the critical editor in us has had time to wake up. I recommend that you try it – many writers start at 6am so there must be something special about this time of day. However, I'll confess that I find it very hard to do anything until I've showered and had breakfast, but then I immediately sit down to my work-in-progress, before I've looked at the internet* or let the outside world in.
(*with the exception of Pinterest! - see 2)

2. Painting Pictures

In the old days they had mood boards, now we have Pinterest and it’s so much easier! I’m a very visual person and I create a board for each book I write, collecting pictures of characters, settings, details (for example, Natasha's floristry and nail art in Her Forget-Me-Not Ex) or anything else I feel is relevant to the story. I keep the board secret while I’m writing and often refer to it at the start of a writing session or if I need to recapture my focus. A picture of my hero or a place or object can be enough to trigger a new scene or to remind me of the mood or emotions I hoped to capture.

3. The Sound of Music

Many writers create a soundtrack for their book and find that playing this is a shortcut into the story. Fellow Novelista, Louise Marley, blogged about this here. 

Personally, I prefer silence when I’m writing. But I often begin to link certain songs to each book and I play these when I’m driving or relaxing, and the lyrics can spark new ideas, taking my story in unexpected directions.

4. The Heart of It

Brainstorm what you love about your story. Go on, try it now! Write a page or a paragraph – for your eyes only – listing what sets you on fire about it.

I do this right at the inception of a book, when the idea is shiny and new, and in my imagination the novel is going to be the next bestseller! (sadly that feeling doesn't last!) It might be that I have a particularly colourful heroine or a beautiful setting, a captivating opening scene or a special relationship between two characters that makes my heart melt. Sometimes what I have in mind is more nebulous, like a mood (tense, dreamy, dramatic) or a theme (forgiveness, starting over, commitment). Whatever it is, I try to pin it down and summarise it, and then later on, I can refer back to it. I think of it as my story in a nutshell. And at the start of a writing session not only does it remind me why I started writing the book, but it also helps to keep my story focused.

5. Finish on a High

‘Always stop while you are going good’  - Ernest Hemingway

Finish in the middle of an exciting scene, they say, and then you'll be eager to return to your work-in-progress and you’ll know exactly what happens next. It’s good advice. 

I try to follow it myself though, in my experience, it’s not always possible, but what always works for me is to finish by making notes of what will come next. They’re usually hasty scribbles made before I have to dash out or as the kids get home from school, but the important thing is they were made when the story was fresh in my mind, and the next day they remind me where the story is heading and make it easy for me to pick up where I left off.

Of course, as your book begins to develop and your characters have grown real enough that they follow you round your everyday life, you might not need these shortcuts any more. But until then, it’s always good to have a few tricks up your sleeve to speed things up and get you where you want to be!

Do you have any tips or tricks that work for you? I'd love to hear them...

Sophie.x

Sophie Claire's novel, Her Forget-Me-Not Ex is a heartwarming, contemporary romance set in sunny Provence (can you see why she wants to escape there fast?) and it's available from Amazon

What Inspired Your Story? by Sophie Claire

I must confess that when I wrote Her Forget-Me-Not Ex I was reminiscing very nostalgically about my childhood summers spent in Provence at my grandparents' house. Not so much the place, though it's still very special to me, but the atmosphere. Let me explain.

My mother is French and every year at the end of July we used to pack up the car and make the two-day journey to the south of France and the house that Mum had known since she was a little girl. It must have been an emotional time for her because she didn't get to see her family during the rest of the year (air travel was expensive back then), and the main method of keeping in touch with my grandparents was by letter – handwritten and posted in air mail envelopes. My grandmother used to write to my mum, my sister and me individually every week, so despite the distance I felt very close to her and I loved the long summers we spent at her house. They were such special times that, come the month of August, I always find myself reminiscing, even now years later.

Although my family didn’t own a vineyard (I wish!) like Luc Duval, the hero in my novel, I have wonderful memories of sunshine and trips to the beach and delicious meals that stretched for hours with my extended family all around the table. With the wine flowing and everyone in holiday mode, there would be lots of stories told and joking and banter. It is a very special feeling to be surrounded by so many people who love you and have known you since you were born…

I drew on these memories when I wrote about Luc's large and noisy family in Her Forget-Me-Not Ex and it wasn't difficult to make my heroine, Natasha, wish she belonged at Chateau Duval. Natasha doesn’t have any family of her own, so she’s particularly envious of Luc’s loving family, and her feelings are made all the more complicated by the fact that she’s there under false pretences. As welcoming as the Duvals might be, she knows she doesn’t belong in this place that’s filled with children’s laughter, where there’s always someone who could use her help, and where the beautiful house and garden are enfused with centuries of tradition. At the end of the two weeks, she and Luc know she will leave and return to England.
But I'll leave it for you to find out what happens when she faces that dilemma...

Has a place inspired you?
How did you spend your childhood summers?
Leave a comment and you could win a free Kindle copy of Her Forget-Me-Not Ex!

Sophie.x

Her Forget-Me-Not Ex is out now and available in paperback and e-book:
Amazon UK
Amazon USA

You can find out about forthcoming giveaways and news on Sophie Claire's Facebook page and Twitter

New Book, New Name by Johanna Grassick

Good things come to those who wait...

As the Novelistas know, I've been working towards getting published for many years now, submitting my work for critique, attending writing courses to hone my craft, and entering competitions. I won't lie - it wasn't always easy to pick myself up after a publisher's rejection, even those (especially those?!) which told me I was very close but hadn't quite hit the mark of what they were looking for. However, last year, I got lucky when my short story, Rum Truffle, was short-listed for The Sophie King Prize.

Even better, the publisher, Corazon, who ran the competition, decided to publish an anthology of the top 10 stories and I saw my name in print for the first time.

Then I went to the Romantic Novelists' Association conference where I had the opportunity to pitch my work to Accent Press (you can read more about this here), and I was thrilled when they offered to publish my novel, Her Forget-Me-Not Ex, a heartwarming contemporary romance set in Provence.

Now I've been through the process of revising and editing my novel for the first time, and I'm so excited to be able to reveal my new cover:

Natasha has consigned her wealthy French ex-husband Luc to the past, so she’s horrified when he turns up at her village florist’s shop out of the blue, pleading for help. He never dared to tell his family about the divorce, and when he asks her to come to France and pretend they’re still married for a couple of weeks to please his dying father, she’s not sure she can say no. She certainly isn’t prepared for the warmth of his family’s welcome, or the attraction that’s still simmering between her and Luc.

But it’s just two weeks in a vineyard, no strings attached, right?

You may notice I have a new pseudonym. Attached as I am to the name I was born with, I have spent most of my life spelling it out to people, and when my publisher suggested that I think about taking on a new identity, I was more than happy.

So what do you think? Isn't it a lovely cover?

Her Forget-Me-Not Ex will be published 22nd May 2015, but it's already available for pre-order from Amazon UK and Amazon USA.

Meanwhile, Sophie Claire has a brand new Facebook page and Twitter account and she'd love to meet you there!