Lucy Atkins's Blog, page 15

Read the first chapter for free…

The first chapter of The Missing One is available for FREE right here

http://extracts.quercusbooks.co.uk/the-missing-one/

Oxford Literary Festival 2014

Saturday 29th March, 2014 at 6pm.

Lucy will be at the Oxford Literary Festival, discussing women writers and psychological thrillers  - the rise of ‘domestic fiction’ .

‘How to Get Published’ Talk & Wine at Blackwell’s, Oxford

Wednesday 19 March 2014, 7-9pm.

Have you got a book in you? Then get it out there! Lucy and literary agent Judith Murray (pictured) of London-based literary agents Greene and Heaton will be discussing the process of getting your book published: what do agents and editors actually do? How do you find and approach an agent? (What are agents for? What do agents love and hate?). How does your book evolve from first idea to published novel? (Why rewrites are not a sign of failure). Can self-publishing really work? Are creative writing courses actually useful?  Lucy and Judith will also discuss the evolution of The Missing One from first submission to publication.

 

Talk, then a glass of wine, then lively discussion –  £3.

Tickets from Blackwell’s Bookshop, 51 Broad St, Oxford, OX1 3BQ (or on the door). Tel: 01865 333623

‘How to Get Published’ Talk at Blackwell’s, Oxford

On Wednesday 19 March 2014, Lucy and literary agent Judith Murray of Greene and Heaton will be discussing the process of getting your book published: what do agents and editors do? How do you find an agent? How does a book evolve from first idea to published novel? Can self-publishing really work? Are creative writing courses useful?  They will also discuss the evolution of The Missing One from first submission to publication.

‘How to Write a Novel’ Talk at Blackwells, Oxford

On Wednesday 19 March 2014, Lucy and literary agent Judith Murray of Greene and Heaton will be discussing the process of novel writing: what do agents and editors do? How do you find an agent? How does a book evolve from first idea to published novel? Can self-publishing really work? Are creative writing courses useful?  They will also discuss the evolution of The Missing One from first submission to publication.

Publication of The Missing One

The Missing One, a psychological thriller, will be published on January 16, 2014.

How (not) to be a book reviewer.

The Missing One is now ‘out there’; early copies are being read, requested – and reviewed. I have spent the past sixteen years or so writing book reviews. I’ve reviewed for The Guardian, The TLS, The Sunday Times, even The Scotsman. But when I started out, my first proper reviewing job was a weekly books column for a national newspaper. I was thrilled…

For someone who loved to read, this was a dream come true. Every week, a huge box of books would arrive at my small flat in Hammersmith. I would stagger up two flights of stairs with it, and open it on the (postage stamp sized) living room floor. I was expected to sift through the massive stack of books and select four or five gems for a ‘round up’. I then had to encapsulate each one in 150 words.

I basically had no idea what I was doing. I wasn’t a literary journalist. I wasn’t even a journalist. I was working for Amnesty International at the time. I loved to read. I had opinions about books and degrees in literature. But that was it. I didn’t know how to select the best ‘new fiction’ so the only thing I could think of to do was to skim read everything in that box. I was speed-reading thirty odd books a week. It was crazed.

Eventually I got to the stage where I loathed the books before I’d even opened the cover. I’d read one crappy sentence and think ‘this is rubbish.’ That’s when I stopped. It felt morally wrong. But I shudder to think what brilliant books I chucked off my sofa, or the judgmental words I dashed off, trying to be witty, struggling to meet the deadlines. These days, I only review one book at a time. I read carefully and look for positives; I try to convey my honest reaction without being flip or dismissive, or playing for laughs. But those early years as a twenty-something proto-journalist haunt me now – because the tables have turned. I’ve heard many authors say they never read reviews of their books. One (well-known, extremely positively reviewed) novelist even told me she has a post-it on her computer instructing her not to Google herself under any circumstances. I get that. Perhaps I should do the same?

Where do novels come from?

I now have the cover image, and the blurb for The Missing One.  It has been a long road, but it began when I was staying at a friend’s cabin on Whidbey Island, Washington State (http://www.visitwhidbey.com) during a trip back to Seattle with my family. We lived in Seattle for four years, my second child was born there, and the landscape of the Pacific Northwest has  always seemed incredibly mysterious and intriguing to me. At my friend’s cabin, one rainy day, with all three of my children miraculously napping, I picked up a magazine and read an article about a pioneering marine biologist called Alexandra Morton (here she is:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Morton). Morton was one of the first scientists to study the language of killer whales. She also happened to be a young mother, in the 1980s, who took her baby  - later toddler/small child) out with her on the ocean, chasing killer whales, listening to their interactions, even moving to a tiny floating house on a British Columbian Island. I was gripped by her story. And from that one leisurely afternoon read, my character – Elena – was born. There were numerous drafts. Several complete abandonments – and a few non-fiction books. Then a whole new plot direction – into suspense, madness, fear – and now, here it is: The Missing One. My Elena, of course, is nothing like the real Alexandra Morton. Mine, for a start, has a daughter, Kali, who launches herself out in search of her mother’s secrets. But what has amazed me most throughout this process is how a single idea – nap time with a magazine in my case – can cling inside the mind and not let go, for years and years – until it’s finally released.