This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Lucy Clarke's debut novel, The Sea Sisters has been selected as a Richard & Judy 2013 Summer Book Club read and explores the strongest, and often most fraught, family relationship a woman will ever have, that of sisterhood. Here's our recent review.
Can you tell us a little about your average writing day?
I’m a morning person, so I set my alarm early and am usually at my desk by 6.30 am. I’m hopeless by evening – it’s as if my creativity fades with the day. I generally write Mondays to Fridays so that I have evenings and weekends free to spend with friends and family who have ‘proper jobs’!
I prefer to write by hand – there’s something about the simplicity of a pencil and a blank page that appeals to the romantic in me. I love to write to music, too. There are certain albums I play to help me step into a character’s mindset, or to inspire a particular atmosphere in a scene.
I only have one rule when I’m writing: get outside every day. Fresh air is good for the soul, and great for the imagination.
When you are writing, do you use any celebrities or people you know as inspiration?
I don’t tend to use celebrities for inspiration, but people I have met certainly influence my characters. I’m very careful not to ‘lift’ the personalities of friends or family members onto the page, but I will use smaller details, such as a shared anecdote, the way someone applies lipstick, the sound of a friend’s laughter.
What is your favourite Women’s Fiction book of all time and why?
This is such a hard question because I love SO many women’s fiction books! One of my all-time favourite writers is Anita Shreve, and I absolutely adored her novel Body Surfing. Her prose is very lean and poetic, and has a simplicity to it that I deeply admire.
What is your writing process? Do you plan first or dive in? How many drafts do you do?
Usually I begin with a simple premise that I then thicken into a plot outline. I don’t have the outline pinned down chapter by chapter; rather, I’ll split the book into three ‘acts’: the beginning, the middle and the end, and plot the key events that will take place within these acts. I’ll also create brief bibliographies for each of my main characters.
After that, I get down to writing. I ‘free write’ the first draft, which to me means writing it in one big gulp without looking back. This draft is always very short – perhaps only 30,000 words. After that I build upon the draft – and often write seven or eight drafts before I have something I’d be happy to show my publisher. I suppose it’s a little like the way a painter may work: they layer colours and play with textures and shading until they can eventually stand back and think, ‘Yes. That’s what I was after.’
What was your journey to being a published author?
I was 24 when I realized that I’d love to be a novelist. I’d always assumed that I’d have a career in business, and I pushed aside all the signals that I’d perhaps make a good writer: I’ve always kept diaries and journals; I read hungrily; I studied English Literature at university; I’m at my happiest with a notebook and pen in my hand.
Once I’d made the decision to be a novelist, then came the small matter of actually doing it. Like most writers I needed to work to support myself whilst trying to make it happen, so I set up a small business delivering events in schools, which afforded me both an income and a flexible schedule so I could make time to write.
It took me until I was 30 to sign my first book deal. I could paper a wall with the rejection letters I received along the way, but eventually good news landed. I was delivering an event at a school in Kent when I got the call to say I’d had an offer, and my knees literally went weak with the shock. A month later I sold my business, and now I’m thankful for being able to do what I love full-time.
What do you think is the biggest myth about being a novelist?
A lot of people seem to believe that authors only write when inspiration takes hold. If that were true, I’d probably only spend an hour a week actually writing! Rather than waiting for inspiration to arrive, I try and coax it awake by having a routine as to when I write, or having key prompts such as good notes, or mood boards, to stimulate ideas. Even if I’m not feeling particularly creative, I’ll try and push on and get something down on paper: you can’t edit a blank page.
What advice can you give to our readers who want to write a novel of their own?
The most useful advice I received was the simplest: read and write. Do these two things as often as you can. I read around fifty books a year – and would love to be reading more still. Even when I was working, I wrote most days – just a few ideas here and there, or an hour squeezed in whenever I could. It’s all too easy to procrastinate and say, ‘I’ll begin when I have a block of time’, or ‘First I’ll tidy my desk.’ Just start writing – now!
Beyond doing those two things, I think you need only to believe in yourself and what you’re writing about. Becoming a published author is a long journey for most people, and a mixture of self-belief, motivation and a burning desire to write will help you get there.
What are you working on at the moment?
I am SO excited about the next book! It’s set on a beautiful, rugged island off the coast of Tasmania where I spent last winter researching. The story is based around a young woman who’s been recently widowed. She travels to Tasmania to meet her late-husband’s family, but begins to uncover disturbing details about him that make her question who her husband really was. I can’t say too much more just yet, other than to expect plenty of twists and turns!
Thanks, Lucy!