Week 2

Happy Sunday everyone!

I hope everyone's had a brilliant week. I managed to have an outstanding one! I met up with an old bestie, who was over from New York for the week, and his wonderful girlfriend. We had a stonking great big curry and countless beers. He moved to NYC about seven years ago and worked his socks off to become the successful guy he is today; I am so unbelievably proud of him. I came away with a huge smile on my face - catching up with friends you've known for years can turn a decent week in to a cracking one!

Another high point of my week was the continuation of the Curtis Brown Creative course. Yes, it was week two already though it was the first "two-day" week we would have. What I mean by that is that from now on, as well as the Thursday workshops, we will have a visiting speaker session on the Wednesday, when industry professionals (ie. agents, publishers, authors) will come in and talk to us about the business and allow us to ask any questions we want. This week we had Karolina Sutton, an agent at Curtis Brown and Arzu Tahsin, a deputy publishing editor at Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 

What an eye opener!

I was a bit too shy to ask questions - hopefully that will change over the coming weeks and I'll open my usually gobby gob - so instead I just soaked up all the info that was flying about my ears - thank god for my vocal course mates! 
   We were told about the process from signing with an agent to having your book published. Sometimes, if an author is very lucky, they're will be an auction for the book from different publishers and that's if the agent and author have decided not to go with a pre-empt (an offer of money for the book put on the table with a deadline to accept / decline). Then, the agent and author will meet with the different publishers in a boardroom-type environment and watch each publisher's pitch of their "vision" of the book which includes, marketing, cover and so on. It all sounded incredibly glamorous and even though you know not everyone is that lucky, one can't help but hope that's what happens to you and your book! 
   One thing that really struck me about both Karolina and Arzu was the "no bullshit" factor. They were completely straight with us about what it takes and what they expected from authors to be able to make it in this brilliant, demanding and competitive world. Sugar-coating was not a word I would use to describe it and you can't really ask for anything else, given that the reason we're all there is to get a real insight. No one has time to gloss over things and make it seems easier than it really is - I respected and appreciated that so much.

The next day, the Thursday, I had my one on one with Erin. I'd sent her a section of TPB to look at as it was a part that I wasn't sure worked. My book is quite high concept so ultimately I need it to be real and believable - as much as high concept things can be anyway. 
   It went so well!
   Erin really liked my idea for the book and says that I have a very clear voice that comes through in my writing which was nice. The best thing was that my story is believable - huzzah! This is apparently down to the fact that my bottom line is a very simple love story. So the higher the concept, the more grounded my story's bottom line needs to be, and I achieved that which is very encouraging. Erin also loved my male protagonist's name - I remember researching for a really unusual name that wouldn't look out of place in the time my book is partly set. I was very chuffed that that had gone down well! 
   As well as having thirty minutes with her, Erin had taken the time to make a page of notes that I can refer to and use to adapt my work accordingly. As expected, my "showing not telling" needs a lot of work. When examples of it were pointed out to me, I was like "duh!". It's so obvious when you get down to it and actually PAY ATTENTION. I tend to to write like I speak: without thinking. I don't plan anything, my fingers sort of just fly over the keyboard and then I hope for the best. 
   I was also given an idea for what to use when it's my turn to submit material for the workshop, so that's sorted! It's what Erin would call The Crunch of the story. When that week approaches, I'll explain in more detail.

In Thursday's class, as well as focusing on exposition, which I touched on last week, we also had to bring out the three extracts we were given from course mates the week before and give them our feedback. How scary, you ask? Very! For everyone, I think. No one wanted to give feedback first because, as I said before, it feels odd doing so to people you don't know well, but over the hour it got easier and people began to feel they could speak more freely and honestly, and I hope it was helpful for those who submitted work. 

Well! I've got to run as there's homework to do and another three extracts to read and make notes on. I never thought I would have this much fun doing homework - I told you I'd change my attitude, Miss Murphy (I'm just sorry it took ten years...)!

EG xxx