This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
We’re chatting to Beth Moran today, author of Making Marion, which sees shy Marion Miller venture into Sherwood Forest to uncover her father’s mysterious past. Alas, Marion ends up knee deep in chaos while working at the Peace and Pigs campsite, which was actually inspired by a real-life campsite in France. Beth tells us more …
Where do you find inspiration for your books?
I find inspiration for my books all over the place. It might be a conversation with a friend, a memory, or a news article. I often think up stories when listening to music. The idea for Making Marion came on a campsite in France. I started by thinking that a campsite could be a safe place for a wounded woman to heal. Then I began to ask questions like “Who is this woman?” and “Why has she ended up on a campsite?” and “Why is her old life so easy to leave behind?”
Can you tell us a little about your average writing day?
I try to write at least three days a week. I usually start with a quick run, and then make sure my kids have got themselves off to school before dealing with emails and any other day-to-day admin. Around 9.30 I settle down with a cup of tea and my laptop. The first thing I do is a quick edit of the previous day's writing, to get myself back into the story. I then write almost continuously, with maybe a couple of short breaks to hang the washing out or eat a sandwich, and wrestle myself away around four or five. I tend to set myself a word count for each week, which could be 5,000 words if I have a lot of other commitments, or 10,000 if I have the rare luxury of an empty diary. But the truth is, I'm writing in my head when I'm driving, cooking, cleaning, playing the piano…
When you are writing, do you use any famous people or people you know as inspiration?
I haven't yet. I don't think I would dare to use anyone I knew! My characters usually just arrive in my head, fully formed. Only one in each book so far has needed some time and thought to get to know better.
I do wonder if my main characters are the women I could have ended up being, if life had turned out differently.What is your favourite Women’s Fiction book of all time and why?
I could try and answer that but I'd be making it up, and tomorrow would probably come up with something different.
What female writer has inspired you?
Cathy Lamb has inspired me a great deal. I can remember reading her first book – Julia's Chocolates – and it was a similar feeling to the thrill of uncovering buried treasure. She was the first writer I found who wrote about serious, challenging subjects, but also filled her books with laughter. I also love her blog, which is honest and funny and moving and cheered me along my publication journey.
Can you give us three book recommendations?
Cross Stitch (Outlander in the US) by Diana Gabaldon – I don't usually read historical fiction, but this is in a class of its own.
Henry's Sisters by Cathy Lamb – one of the very rare books to make me cry (and laugh out loud).
Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist – a beautiful non-fiction writer, who makes you glad to be alive. Goes perfectly with Sunday breakfast.
What is your writing process? Do you plan first or dive in? How many drafts do you do?
I'm originally a scientist, so planning is everything! I begin daydreaming about my next book about half way through the book I'm meant to be writing, and begin scribbling ideas, characters, odd sentences and even whole conversations on random scraps of paper. These all get stuffed into a folder until the book I'm supposed to be writing is finished. I then spend a week reading through all the notes, trying to decipher the fragments I wrote in the pitch black trying not to wake up my husband in bed next to me. I start with about three pages of overall plotline, then figure out the details in smaller chunks as I get to them. I also inevitably drop some aspects of the story as my characters begin to take over, then work in additional subplots I wasn't expecting. I edit to some extent along the way, then do perhaps two or three further drafts until I'm ready to show it to my editor.
What was your journey to being a published author?
I decided to write a book after a mid-30s crisis that involved wondering when on earth I was going to get around to following my passion, and what on earth was my passion anyway? When I looked closely, I realised how I managed to wangle storytelling into pretty much every part of my life. So I took one of my zillion book ideas, and decided to try the first chapter and see what happened. What happened was I couldn't stop. That became a children's book that got me an agent but not a publisher, and after two years, another children's book and several near misses, I decided to write the book I would have done first time around if I had the courage. By now my agent had stopped work to have a baby, but I did my research, submitted Making Marion to Lion and spent three months obsessively checking my emails until they offered me a deal.
What do you think is the biggest myth about being a novelist?
I'm still waiting to find that out. Maybe that we are not just normal people, who pick up our kid's towels off the bathroom floor, worry about that weird stain on the ceiling and enjoy watching Australia's Biggest Loser.
What advice can you give to our readers who want to write a novel of their own?
You're never going to find the time to write a novel unless you make the time. Nobody suddenly reaches a point in life when they have a spare few hundred (or thousand) hours to create a novel. Once I started calling writing “work” rather than a hobby, it mentally gave me permission to say “no” to a lot of other things that would have eaten up potential writing time.
What are you working on at the moment?
I've just sent off the draft of my next book to my publisher. Its working title is I Hope You Dance. It's about a woman who has to (very reluctantly) come back home and live with her parents after her partner dies. It's also about starting again, first love, a bunch of fabulous women friends, a terrifying stalker and ballroom dancing.
Thanks, Beth!