Maria Savva's Blog - Posts Tagged "nobody-s-fault"

A few months ago, I was lucky enough to meet today's guest on Twitter. Terry Tyler has published four novels, and is working on her fifth. I recently read one of her books, You Wish..., and after reading that, she is now one of my favourite authors. I can't wait to find time to read the rest of her books.




After reading You Wish..., I had a few questions for Terry. Here's the interview:


Without giving too much away. You Wish... is all about fate and destiny versus free will and choice. What's your personal view about this? Do you think we are responsible for our futures or do you think there's an element of destiny/fate involved?

I think our lives are what we make them. On the other hand, coincidence seems to play a large part, sometimes. I suppose the answer to this is - I don't know! I like to rationalise and say that I think all things like fortune telling, horoscopes, destiny, etc, are a load of bunkum, but of course no-one really knows for certain, do they?



Have you ever made a wish on something like a Wishing Stone that came true?

My first reaction to that was 'don't be ridiculous'. However, you know at the end of the summer when you get those fluffy things floating about? I think they're from dandelions! When I was about 15 my friend told me that if you caught one in mid-float you could wish on it. We called them 'fairies'. I caught one, wished to go out with a certain boy, and it happened. Of course, he wouldn't have asked me out if I hadn't wished on the 'fairy', would he, eh??! Oh, go on, then, I'll admit it. I still do catch and make wishes on them....



One of the most hilarious parts of the book involves Petra and her obsession with a man on Facebook. Have you ever had an Internet stalker? If so, tell us a little about it.

Not a stalker as such, but I've had some pretty persistent would-be male friends on Facebook, who wouldn't stop 'poking' me (they wished!) and sending me friend requests until I blocked them. Also some troll types, but the least said about them the better.


Your book has some scenes that take place in the 1980s and I have to say it really took me back to that time, and was very realistic. Did you research into all the '80s stuff or was it just taken from your memory of the decade?

My memory. I was 21 in 1980 and 30 in 1989, so it was the decade of my twenties. The hair salon, Catz, was taken from a real one, of the same name.


Your character Ruth and her friend Fleur are great fans of Kate Bush. Who were your favourite '80s bands?



I loved Kate Bush, too. My favourite music has always been rock, but in the 80s I also loved Blondie, The Human League, Bowie, UB40, Devo, Madness.... oh, and I bought loads of pop singles, too. Nik Kershaw, Howard Jones, Kajagoogoo - ha ha! And George Michael's first solo album, I seem to remember.


One thing that you've managed to show very well in your book You Wish... is how much technology has changed since the 1980s. For example, people didn't have mobiles and the Internet. If we had to go back to that era what would you miss most, the Internet, your mobile, or something else?

I can't imagine NOT having a mobile or the internet, now, but wasn't it kinda nice when everyone couldn't always get in touch with everyone, all the time? You could actually be a bit elusive if you wanted to be without people sending you Facebook messages to ask you why you haven't been around for a while! I DID more stuff before the internet, too; went out and socialised more. Probably just not having everyone immediately accessible, all the time. Now, if you lose your phone, you can buy another one and email/Facebook message/tweet everyone to tell you their number again. Then, if you lost someone's phone number or address, it was really hard to find it again.


You Wish... is full of true-to-life, realistic characters. There will be someone in there that everyone can relate to in some way. Which one of the characters is most like you?

None of them. There's probably a little of me in every character I write, but no-one in that book, specifically.

If you had to spend a day with one of the characters in You Wish... who would you choose, where would you go, and what advice would you give him/her?

I'd probably like to go out and get wrecked with Mel the Builder's Labourer. I always quite fancied him. I certainly wouldn't want to go Jay hunting with Petra, or be all serious with Ruth!

Were any of the people in You Wish... based on people you know?

I take parts of all my characters from stuff within me and observation of others. It's rare that one character is based on one person. That's not to say it never happens, though. All of the characters in You Wish... came mostly from my imagination, though Nicky and Linda who worked in Catz hair salon existed. As did the lesbian owner!! I used to have a friend at school when i was about 8 who had white blonde hair and was a right little madam, so perhaps Fleur came a bit from her!

Apart from You Wish... you have 3 other novels. Can you tell us a bit about each one, what inspired the book, what it's about and what you would hope the reader gets out of it.



Nobody's Fault was my 2nd novel published on Amazon. I'd been wanting to write a novel about a fake Facebook profile for ages, and also one about a grand passion. I just combined the two!







My 3rd one, The Other Side - I've always been fascinated by thoughts of, for instance, what would have happened if I hadn't gone to that party where I met my first husband - then tracing it back by thinking, ah yes, but I went to that party with my friend Angela. So if I hadn't taken that job where I met Angela - and so it goes on! I first wrote this novel in 1999, but the other way round - I started it when the character was 14, then gave the reader options at the end of the chapter - to make his/her own choice. Thus, there were 8 different endings. I remember at the time my step daughter and her friend (then aged 15) spending the WHOLE weekend going back and forth, finding out what would have happened if they'd made different choices...! It was in manuscipt form, of course, and they laid the chapters all over the floor in a pyramid so they could see which one to read next!



My 4th novel, Dream On, I first wrote in 1995. I was in a pub (The King Billy in Northampton, which later became The Romany in Dream On!) with my sister. There were two chaps at the bar, who we didn't know; we started weaving a story around them and their lives, just for a laugh - except that I went home and turned it into a novel. The two characters became Dave and Shane. It was only ever read by my brother, my sister and a couple of others, but they all said they liked it the best of anything I'd ever written, so this summer I decided to dust it off, and write it again. Incidentally, 4 years later I got to know the Shane character, and married him.... the Dave character was best man at our wedding.
What do I hope readers get out of them? I just hope they enjoy them and find them unputdownable, and that the characters become real to them - the greatest compliment I have is when people tell me that they think about my books for a while after reading them.

I know from a recent conversation on Twitter that you've done very well with promotion of your books on KDP Select. I understand you had 17.5K downloads with 2 of your books. Do you have any tips for authors as to how they can best promote the free days on Amazon Kindle. And, have you noticed an increase in actual sales after the free promo?

This is probably too involved a subject for an author interview; I'll just outline some basics: PREPARE. You should build up your network of retweeters a while before you do your free promotion. You will need to get your promotional links retweeted over and over if you are going to make a success of the free days - if you want other people to help you, then you should have already helped them first. You also need to look up all the profiles on Twitter and Facebook on which you can advertise your free promotion, or who will advertise it for you. Be aware that you will need to be at the laptop more or less permanently during the promotional days - you'll need to keep retweeting back all those people who are kind enough to retweet you, don't forget!

The increase in post promotion sales depends on how successful the promotion is. My first one was amazing, and got me to number 24 in the PAID Amazon UK top 100 after it had finished. There is nothing written down anywhere about any of this, but it does seem that the 2nd time you do a free promotion for a particular book, you don't get anything like that huge boost afterwards; I presume this is because Amazon doesn't give you the visibility it does the first time round. I say this only through my own experience, and through observation of others'.

Your books are only available as Kindle eBooks, is that correct? Do you have any plans to make them available as paperbacks or other eBook formats?

No. I might research paperbacks, one day.


Do you have any tips for someone who may be thinking of self- publishing?

Tons and tons - again, too much for an author interview. Do you mean tips about writing or about self-publishing? If the latter, I'd say that unless you are really good at editing, cover art & formatting, get other people to do it for you. Always get it proof read by someone else. I edit my own work but others do my cover art and formatting. Make sure your cover is eye-catching in thumbnail size and make sure your blurb is snappy and interesting. It's an advert for the book, not a synopsis. Be prepared to do a lot of promotional work; you have to realise that you now have your own business; you are trying to sell a product. Don't think you have to join lots of blogging groups and Facebook groups and Goodreads forums and God knows what else; while you're writing ABOUT writing you're not writing your novel(s). Chatting on Facebook author groups about the difficulties of promoting your work or how to deal with bad reviews won't get your book written, and it won't make you a better writer, either. I agree a certain amount of this sort of interaction can be helpful, useful and entertaining, but it's best to keep it limited. Never, ever be tempted to pay for reviews, or get fake ones. If someone has told you they like your book, ask them if they wouldn't mind writing a review for you; most people don't mind. if you can't get reviews, you might need to re-think your marketing - or maybe the book itself. If it's your first novel, don't worry too much if you get a fair few negative comments - very few people get it right first time.

Which authors were your favourites when you were growing up, and was there any author in particular that inspired you to start writing?

As a child? CS Lewis and Enid Blyton. Oh, and I loved the Jill pony books by Ruby Ferguson.





I grew up in the 1960s; you probably won't remember them, Maria! There was no particular author who inspired me to start writing except perhaps CS Lewis, who said that no-one was writing the books he wanted to read, so he wrote them himself.



Have you read any good books lately?

I don't get very much time for reading these days; I'm always writing. I'm currently reading Rathbone Kydd - sex'n'drugs'n'quantum stuff by K J Bennett, about a 1970s rock musician who accidentally time travels into 2012. It's funny, and I'm enjoying it (apart from the fact that Rathbone Kydd says 'street cred', which people didn't say in the 70s, KJ!). This year I've also read a couple of Deborah Moggach books, a new Emily Barr, a new John Boyne (The Absolutist, set in WW1 - marvellous, wish i could give it 8 stars!) and also Thrift by Phil Church which was very funny, and Wild Water by Jan Ruth which I also enjoyed; it reminded me of early Jilly Cooper. There are tons more I would love to read if I only had the time.

What are you working on now?

A sequel to 'Dream On', which I hope to have out in February 2013.

Where can people find you online?

Amazon UK


Amazon US


Facebook


Goodreads

Thank you for inviting me to feature on your blog, Maria!

It's my pleasure, Terry, and I wish you every success with your novels!

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I hope you enjoyed the interview. I'd recommend you pick up a Terry Tyler book next time you're on Amazon. You'll be glad you did!