G.R. Mannering's Blog, page 7

ROSES is a bestseller = what?!

So last week I had an email from my publisher to say that the kindle version of ROSES had been picked for a special 99p deal on Amazon (so far, so simple) and because of this, it had made its way into the Amazon US bestseller chart (what?!). I logged on to have a look myself and sure enough, they were right. But I just couldn’t believe it! To see ROSES in the same league as Marissa Meyer’s books was sheer madness to me. What was my little fantasy book doing up there?

I was pleased, to say the least. And especially pleased since I am currently in the process of wading back into FEATHERS and returning to a working draft after a long break can be quite disheartening (every awkward sentence and typo is a dagger in my heart) so thinking about all the people that have loaded my book onto her kindles lifted my spirits. I can only hope a few people get hooked.

UKYA Extravaganza – Meet Me!

So 28th February is the UKYA Extravaganza and… I’m going to be there! I am so excited about the whole event – I can’t wait to meet you, to read and to hear some of my favourites reading from their novels too. It’s set to be a big event with 35 authors present as well as press so if you can get to the Birmingham Waterstones on Saturday 28th then you’re in for a treat! I’m hoping to vlog the whole event so if you can’t make it, then look out for a cheeky video.

Interview with ‘Summertime’ author, Vanessa Lafaye

Today I have the honour of interviewing debut novelist, Vanessa Lafaye, author of Summertime! I was contacted by Orion who offered me the opportunity to read an arc copy of Vanessa’s novel and I simply couldn’t resist. Vanessa and I had an online chat about her inspiration and writing habits which is all below, but first, a little introduction to this gripping, evocative debut:

Florida Keys, 1935. Hurricane Season.

Tens of thousands of black and white men scarred by their experiences of war in Europe return home to find themselves abandoned to destitution by the US government.

The tiny, segregated community of Heron Key is suddenly overwhelmed by broken, disturbed men with new ideas about racial equality and nothing left to lose.  Tensions flare when a black veteran is accused of committing the most heinous crime of all against a white resident’s wife.

And not far off the strongest and most intense hurricane America has ever witnessed is gaining force.

 

Q: Hi Vanessa! I enjoyed your novel immensely and I’m so pleased to have the opportunity to speak to you about it. So, how long have you been writing and when did you start?

I started at the age of 6, with a fully illustrated story about a mythical creature who tattles on all the other creatures. Tattling was the biggest sin at that time of my life. I didn’t start writing seriously until my 30s, when I took a feature-writing evening class. I published several features with the Guardian and the Times. In my 40s I tried writing women’s fiction, with 2 novels that didn’t find publishers but did get me signed with an agent. I wrote a bunch of short stories after that, while getting over the pain of all those rejections.

 

Q: What gave you the idea to write Summertime? How did the novel come about?

It happened through a series of random chances. I had not written anything for a while, because I was debilitated by cancer treatment, and dejected by my lack of success with other books. I was visiting my family in Florida in 2010 and read in the morning paper about a horrific lynching in 1935. I started thinking about dramatizing it, because no one has ever been prosecuted for it. Back in the UK, research on the web took me to the story of the hurricane and the veterans, and it completely captured my imagination. As a Florida native especially, I was appalled at my ignorance. I realised that, if I knew nothing about the story, chances were that it was also true of people elsewhere. I searched for novels about it but could find none, only factual accounts, so decided to attempt it myself. So you see, ‘Summertime’ is the book that almost wasn’t!

 

Q: How long did it take you to write Summertime? Were there any difficulties you faced?

It took almost exactly 2 years—but that was alongside my full-time publishing job and running a community choir! I was driven by a really powerful compulsion to get the story out, which I’m sure is what kept me going. Aside from time, the main difficulties were creating a narrative that blended the facts with the fiction. I felt a responsibility to remain true to the memories of the people of the time, while creating a book that would work as commercial fiction. Then there’s the need to ensure accuracy of period detail, because it’s so easy for anachronisms to sneak in. I still have nightmares about that. Finally, writing the hurricane scenes was harrowing, on a physical and emotional level. I was utterly exhausted by the end.

 

Q: I adore the setting of the novel! Did you consciously build such evocative descriptions or did that occur naturally?

It’s sort of a love letter to my home state. I plundered my childhood memories for a lot of the detail. Throughout the book, I wanted the reader to feel everything that the characters feel, in real time, like they are standing there with them. I also have a very visual imagination, so it’s just how it turned out!

 

Q: How did you find the publishing process?

I’ve worked in academic publishing for almost 30 years, all in Oxford. Although it’s very different to trade publishing, it gave me an understanding of the mechanics. You’ll have to ask the publishers whether this made me a complete pain in the neck. Although I knew about copy-editing and marketing, proofs and covers etc., which helped, there was plenty to learn as well. You book bloggers are a revelation to me! The most unusual aspect of it was going through cancer treatment while the book was being prepared for publication. It really lightened the grimness for me. There was always something fun or interesting going on with the book, which was a wonderful contrast.

 

Q: Are you working on anything new at the moment?

I’m thinking my way towards a prequel. I didn’t write ‘Summertime’ with this in mind, so it’s quite a challenge. But I think it could be interesting to tell the story of how the characters became who they are. And, of course, there’s more interesting history to discover.

 

Q: What does a typical writing day look like for you?

I wish that I had such a thing, but my life isn’t like that. I have 2 jobs, plus the rest…husband, friends, family, cats. At first, I tried to free up big chunks of time for writing, but pretty quickly realized that the book would never be finished unless I wrote in every spare minute. I became really, really good at changing gears quickly: work, writing, music, work, writing, music. I fit writing in whenever I can, but it’s rare that I get to do it for very long. I hear about the need for a writing schedule and routine and it makes me despair. But it’s also true that enforced breaks in writing have improved the result. When I come back to it, I can see more objectively what’s good and what’s not. I also tend to solve plot problems when I’m away from the writing. For me, distance has been helpful.

 

Q: Any great books that you could recommend to us?

‘Birdsong’ (S Faulks), Regeneration Trilogy (P Barker), ‘The Thirteenth Tale’ (D Setterfield), ‘The Help’ (K Stockett), K Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie novels, ‘The Light Between Oceans’ (L Stedman), ‘My Dear, I Wanted to Tell You’ (L Young), ‘Issac’s Storm’ (E Larson). I’m embarking on an unusual reading challenge right now, because I’ve joined a group of 40+ debut novelists. I’m trying to read debuts written by the group members, which is exciting because it exposes me to new genres.

 

Q: And the most important question of all, what’s your favorite cake? 

Now I could go on about this for hours because I LOVE to bake. It’s hard to choose one, because I have a repertoire which I make regularly. The favourite from my repertoire is a chocolate marmalade slump cake. It’s flourless, which is why it slumps, but it has a totally unique texture, between a brownie and a cake. Otherwise, I’d crawl through broken glass for a good carrot cake. And although it’s not a cake, I could get a job as a professional Key Lime Pie taste tester.

 

Thank you so much for speaking with me!

V: Thank you very much for having me.

 

Summertime is out right now in the UK see it here on goodreads and here on amazon.

Roses: 99p on Amazon & 300 ratings on Goodreads!

I think the title of this post pretty much sums it all up, but I’d like to add that I’m excited by both pieces of news. I hate to think what just 99p breaks down to per hour of my writing process, but let’s not go there. Still, I think it’s a great deal and I hope that it’ll encourage those who didn’t want to buy a hardback copy of Roses to digitally pick it up. It’s a steal!

I’m so encouraged also to see that Roses has reached 300 ratings on Goodreads. 300 people have read my book? Madness. And what about the other people who don’t use goodreads but may well have picked it up… It’s crazy that people are reading a story that started off in my head, but a good crazy and I feel incredibly blessed and thankful.

So here is Roses at just 99p on amazon kindle and here is Roses on Goodreads (if, perhaps, you’d like to ponder over a few reviews before you part with your 99p).

Reading Resolutions 2015

My reading resolutions for 2015 – I’m keeping things nice and simple this year!

#FridayReads

The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa

Hmmm. I am enjoying this, particularly the language, but it’s a slow read. My edition is only 200 pages and I had expected to have finished it by now, but it needs a bit of deep thought and consideration. I wouldn’t have picked this up by myself – it’s assigned reading on my course – so I’m enjoying experiencing something that I wouldn’t otherwise have chosen.

 

Summertime by Vanessa Lafaye

This book was given to me by Orion and I’m interviewing the author here on the 23rd January (information below if you’re interested). So far I’m really enjoying this read. It reminds me a lot of The Night Falling by Katherine Webb. It’s fast-pawed and gripping.

 

What’re you reading? Comment below and give me some recommendations :).

Keeping Your Reading & Writing Goals

We all know how to make resolutions. That’s easy. I am guilty of being overly ambitious always e.g. ‘I’m going to read 100 books this year,’ ‘I want to double my youtube subscribers,’ ‘I want to learn a new skill every month…’ And the list goes on.

Whilst I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with being ambitious or setting goals (my life couldn’t function without them) I think that it’s important to know how to keep them. Failing to reach a goal sucks and unfortunately, I know this from personal experience. But I’ve tried to learn from my failures and I think that I am much more goal-savey these days. Below I’ve popped 3 ways that will help you keep those 2015 reolutions.

1. Choose wisely

This might seem obvious, but I’ve made this mistake so many times! I choose a goal that is unrealistic – something that I know I won’t be able to complete/fit into my daily life. Don’t do that to yourself! It’s great to be ambitious and you need to challenge yourself, but try to remain realistic. If something seems like it might be too unreachable, then knock it down a little e.g. turn ‘I’m going to run a marathon,’ into ‘I’m going to run a half-marathon at the end of the summer and see how things go from there.’

2. Chart your progress

Do you see that beautiful sheet in the photo at the top of this post? That’s the creation of Elise Blaha, a self-confessed goal addict (and a lady after my own heart). Tangibly seeing your progress in black and white before you is incredibly motivating. I love filling in those little circles every time I complete my daily goal and it’s so satisfying to see how far I’ve come. You can buy this reusable print-out for just $7 or make your own.

3. Reward Yourself

What I wouldn’t do for a piece of red velvet cake… I know for sure that if I have that piece of cake in sight then I will run those 5 miles/write 1000 words/finish reading that book etc. And a reward definitely doesn’t have to be food. Go to the cinema or buy yourself a new bookmark – anything that you know you’ll like. If you can see a treat at the end of it then you a far more likely to stay on track.

So that’s it – pretty simple, but simplicity is key for me this year ;). Coming soon will be a video about my specific reading resolutions in 2015 and I’m keen to know what you think!

Roses = Favorite Books of 2014

I was so surprised and honoured to see that two wonderful booktubers on YouTube have chosen my book, Roses, as one of their favourite books of 2014! I’m ecstatic and incredibly humbled that they enjoyed my little book and, as I’m diving back into writing its sequel, Feathers, their support is invaluable. I haven’t read Roses since it was published and my perceptions of it have changed greatly since then – coloured by reviews, people’s opinions and my own warped memory. I will have to re-read it soon to make sure that I’m keeping everything tied up and consistent in its sequel (it’s going to be an excruciating process because I really don’t enjoy reading my own words) so it’s very encouraging to hear some nice feedback. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate advice and critical reading of my work, but when I’m faced with 40,000 words yet to write, it’s s relief to know that someone is enjoying the stories that float around in my head.

I’ve popped both videos below so that you can hear their opinions for yourself and also get some great recommendations for books to read in 2014.

 

Summertime Blog Tour Coming Soon

I’m currently in the process of reading this wonderful novel by Vanessa Lafaye and I’m very excited to announce that rosemannering.com will be one of Vanessa’s stops on her blog tour! We’ll be talking reading, writing and cake (duh) so why not come and have a peek on the 23rd of January? A little something to brighten up our dull weather.

And here’s a little taster to get you excited:

Heron Key, Florida, 1935

A town divided by race.

A community united by prejudice.

On the eve of the annual beach party, resentments are sharpened, declarations of love prepared and, before morning, a terrible crime will be committed.

Meanwhile, far out over the Atlantic, what will become one of history’s greatest storms is changing direction and heading this way. Whatever happens next, nature is about to take its course.

Birthday Book Haul

I’m getting back into the YouTube swing of things after a week’s break over Christmas. I’ll admit that #vlogmas made me a little burnt-out, but it was lots of fun and I’m happy to be back after some time away to catch up on work. Next focus: writing!