This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Tanis Rideout's book Above All Things is a romantic historical novel based on British mountaineer George Mallory's fatal attempt to climb Everest, and his wife Ruth, who is left at home, waiting for him to return to her. Tanis recently answered a few questions for us about her writing.
Where do you find inspiration for your books?
I think for me, it’s less about inspiration per se, than about something that gets in my head that I can’t shake loose, and that I can’t understand. I tend to write from a place where I’m asking a question about why people behave a certain way, feel a certain way, or how I might feel or behave in a particular time and place.
In the case of Above All Things, I really couldn’t understand what would drive someone to do what George Mallory does, nor could I understand how Ruth was so able to support him through what he chose to do.
Can you tell us a little about your average writing day?
An average writing day for me is generally measured by the amount of work I am aiming to get done. Like a lot of writers, I set myself daily goals. Early on in a project it may only be 500 words a day, but most days it is more like 2,000 words a day.
I generally do most of my writings in the afternoons – leaving aside mornings for other work that needs doing, reading, and the like. As I get deeper in to a project, it tends to take over more and more of my time, bleeding in to my mornings and evenings.When you are writing, do you use any famous people or people you know as inspiration?
Above All Things was loosely based on real people – so I absolutely used the historical figures as jumping off points – but I definitely borrow and steal from the world around me. Whether that’s the way someone looks, or a particular habit, a name or a conversation. I think I’m a bit of a crow – I’ll steal anything shiny and use it later.
What is your favourite Women’s Fiction book of all time and why?
Hmmm – women’s fiction is a tricky label – so I’m going to go with my favourite book written by a woman, which, man, that’s hard! I love Margaret Atwood and Jeanette Winterson, among so many others! I’m hard pressed to name a single book – I think books somehow find you when you need them, and if you read them at other times they seem to have less meaning or relevance perhaps.
Forced to pick something, though, I’ll say Frankenstein. I’ve just recently reread that book and it is a really stunning work.
What is your writing process? Do you plan first or dive in? How many drafts do you do?
I’m not a planner – for me the joy is finding the story as I go, so I read a ton and then dive right in and try to just plunge all the way through to where I think the ending is, though that doesn’t always work.
I try to not talk too much about what I’m working on either. I find if I talk about problems I’m having, I’m less interested in actually writing them.
As for drafts, I’m not sure how many draft it takes me – until it seems done! I’m hopeful that the first draft of what I’m working on now will be better than the first draft of the last thing was. I don’t know if that means there will be fewer drafts overall, or whether there will be as many, I’ll just be able to, hopefully, take it farther.
What was your journey to being a published author?
I didn’t have the most typical role to being a published author. My editor had seen a previous (terrible) novel that I had written and refused it, but said if I ever had anything else to show her, to please be in touch. A few years later I sent her what would become Above All Things. We met and talked about the novel several times over the next couple of years until eventually, she accepted it for publication. Then the real editorial work began!
What do you think is the biggest myth about being a novelist?
Either that we make lots of money or that writing is about inspiration rather than just putting your butt in the chair every day and writing down words.
What advice can you give to our readers who want to write a novel of their own?
See above. Sit down and do the work. Most days it will be hard and you won’t think it’s going anywhere, but until you have a lump of pages to work with you can’t make them better. That and read. Read everything, read widely. You can learn from bad writing just as you can from good writing. Read, read, read. Then write.
What are you working on at the moment?
I’m just digging into a new work that will be partially historically based – set in London in the early Victorian era, and partially set in 2011 Toronto. I’m just getting to know my characters and figure out what they’re doing.
Thanks, Tanis!