This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Rachael English made headlines when she signed a two-book deal with Orion for a six-figure sum in 2012. Rachael joins us now to talk about whether her life has changed since she became a novelist, and give us the lowdown on her new book Each and Every One.
Tell us about your latest book.
Each and Every One tells the story of a wealthy Dublin family, the Shines, who have grown up taking everything for granted. In one way or another, the four adult children rely on their parents’ generosity. Then, the family experiences a sudden reversal of fortune and the children have to fend for themselves. It’s fair to say that they don’t cope very well.
Where do you find inspiration for your books?
From new stories and conversations and random things that interest me. I’ve learnt to jot down every half-baked idea in the hope that it might amount to something. My first book Going Back was inspired by a summer I spent working in the United States. (I should say that my time in America was far less eventful than the summer in the book). With Each and Every One, I started with the characters and built a story around them. The book I’m writing at the moment began with a caller I heard on a radio phone-in. I was half asleep at the time and when I woke up again, I only remembered fragments of her story – but that was enough.
Can you tell us a little about your average writing day?
I wish there was an average day. I also have a day job as a radio presenter. I work on a breakfast news and current affairs show, so I’m often up at four thirty. If it’s very busy, or if the news is dominated by a particularly complex story, I don’t tend to have much space left in my brain for book thoughts. In fact, there are days when I’d love to be like Worzel Gummidge who always had a spare head! I find that if I’ve had a few days away from writing, I’m desperate to get back to it. Unfortunately, I’m not particularly speedy; I rarely write more than a thousand words in a day.
When you are writing, do you use any famous people or people you know as inspiration?
One of the advantages of working in journalism for a long time is that I've met a lot of people. All sorts of people. While I wouldn't say that any one character is based on any particular individual, there are people who have provided me with a spark of inspiration. For instance, in Each and Every One one of the characters is bringing up her two grandchildren. She’s very loosely based on several amazing women I've encountered over the years.
What is your favourite Women’s Fiction book of all time and why?
That’s an impossible question to answer. I could pick one book now and another in five minutes time.
But … if I have to choose just one, I’ll go for The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler. I’ve loved Anne Tyler ever since I was seventeen and working as a chambermaid. A copy of The Accidental Tourist was left behind by a guest – and that was my introduction to her books.What female writer has inspired you?
Where do I start? A few names from an extremely long list: Johanna Spyri, Patricia Lynch, Monica Dickens, Maeve Binchy, Anne Tyler, Ruth Rendell, Cathy Kelly, Curtis Sittenfeld.
Can you give us three book recommendations?
Again, I could name many, but I’ll pick three from the past five years or so:
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Skippy Dies by Paul Murray
The Engagements by Courtney Sullivan
What is your writing process? Do you plan first or dive in? How many drafts do you do?
I find that I try to plan, but what I really want to do is write, so my best intentions fall by the wayside. Rather than having a very detailed plan, I tend to set targets. For example, I decide that by thirty thousand words x must have happened and by fifty thousand, y should take place. I also sketch out some character traits and a timeline. Contrary to almost everybody's advice, I do rewrite as I go along. With Each and Every One, I gave the book a thorough overhaul at the halfway point. I found this made it far easier to write the second half.
What was your journey to being a published author?
When I was young, I wrote all the time, but I never thought of it as something I could make a living from. Then, about four or five years ago, a friend asked me a question: what did you love doing as a teenager that you never do now? Her argument was this: as teenagers most of us are passionate about playing sport or singing or painting or something. Then life intervenes – and we stop. But why shouldn’t we get the same enjoyment from those activities when we’re in our twenties or thirties … or even older? The idea for Going Back was lurking at the back of my head, so I decided to give it a try. Apart from my mother and my husband, I told nobody. Eventually, after a million drafts, I started looking for an agent.
What do you think is the biggest myth about being a novelist?
There are endless book myths, one of them being that getting your novel published will change your life. Unless you're an instant international bestseller, it won't. I've been really fortunate that both of my books have been top five bestsellers in Ireland, but two years on from the first book hitting the shelves, I'm just a more frazzled version of myself!
If you're lucky, though, the act of writing does change your life. Even on the worst days, when I read back over my efforts, cringe and press delete, I’m delighted that it’s what I do.
What advice can you give to our readers who want to write a novel of their own?
I’m slow to give advice because I’m such a novice and because everybody has to find their own way of doing things. What I would say is that writing a novel can be a long and lonely process, so you need to find a story you truly care about. Don't worry about genres, markets or what's currently in fashion. At the moment, everything has to be called a psychological thriller. Before that everything was ‘the new Fifty Shades’ or ‘the new One Day’. Who’s to say what publishers will be swooning about in two or three years’ time? Write to suit yourself, and keep on writing and rewriting until you can do no more. Oh, and read. Never stop reading.
What are you working on at the moment?
I'm working on a novel about an adopted woman who tries to find her birth parents (in Ireland this can be very difficult). What she finds is very different from what she expected.
Thanks, Rachael!