Novel Kicks

About Novel Kicks/Laura... Novel Kicks was founded in 2009 and is run by Laura who is currently living in Hampshire, and lives with husband, Chris and her cat, Buddy. She would love to be a writer. She’s trying to write the novel she thinks so much about. She’s loved reading and writing since ‘Creative Writing’ classes in primary school. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything she can get her hands on, she loves reading, dancing like a loon, and watching Project Runway and Ugly Betty (her two TV guilty pleasures.) She also has an obsession with chocolate and Jammie Dodgers.

A Moment With…Rob Sinclair

Published November 23, 2014 | By Novel Kicks

We are now into the last week of National Novel Writing Month. I can’t believe we are almost at the end already. If you’re having a month like me, it’s going to be a marathon to the end or if you’re near the end or have finished already, I applaud you. Today, we chat with author Rob Sinclair about the challenges of writing his debut novel.

For Dance with the Enemy, the biggest challenge for me was that I when I first started writing it I hadn’t really learned the craft properly. Writing was something entirely new to me. I’d never been on any courses or anything like that. I’m certainly no expert now even, with only three books under my belt, but I know I’ve learnt a lot on the way already. So Dance with the Enemy was a really steep learning curve for me – there were things I tried which didn’t work, mistakes I made in terms of my approach to writing including style, plotting, structure etc. All those have been ironed out over time but it meant that Dance with the Enemy was really quite a belaboured project by the end. Continue reading →

Novel Kicks Fiction Friday: Unreal Becomes Real

Published November 21, 2014 | By Novel Kicks

Friday 21st November 2014: unreal becomes real.

Fiction Friday is our weekly prompt. The aim is to write for a minimum of five minutes and then keep going for as long as you can. Once you’ve finished, don’t edit, just post in the comments box below.

Today’s prompt: Recall a story that you’ve been told that at the time you didn’t believe. Now write about it as though it was true and set it in modern times.

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A Moment With…Hannah Beckerman

Published November 20, 2014 | By Novel Kicks

We are twenty days into National Novel Writing Month. How is everyone getting on? Today, we have the author of The Dead Wife’s Handbook, Hannah Beckerman who is sharing her five writing tips…

1. Write a lot. That’s not meant to sound glib. Writing’s like a game of pass the parcel: you have to wade through all the boring, tedious layers of wrapping on the outside before you get to the prize in the middle. And with writing, it can take an inordinate amount of time to reach that prize.

2. Be brave. I don’t just mean in terms of what you write (although obviously that too). But allow other people you trust to read and comment on what you’ve written. It’s scary putting yourself out there but it can be invaluable in helping your work develop.

3. Suit yourself. Some people will insist that you have to write in a particular place or according to a particular routine. But writing’s one of the most personal things you can do and you need to find what works for you.

4. Be disciplined. Wherever you choose to work on your writing, don’t forget that it is work. Lots of people ask me if I wait for inspiration to write. The answer is a resounding no. You have to write through the days when you’re not in the mood and when you know what you’re writing will end up in the virtual (or even the real) bin. But that’s how you get to the days when you write something that you know just might be okay. Sometimes, on really good days, something that’s even better than okay.

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A Moment With…Nicci Gerrard

Published November 19, 2014 | By Novel Kicks

Nicci Gerrard is one half of the writing team, Nicci French. On day nineteen of National Novel Writing Month, Nicci talks to us about the challenges and advantages of writing as part of a team

Writing can be solitary and also rather frightening – and sometimes it can feel like going mad (and I write in an attic). Writing with Sean is less solitary and less frightening, and there’s something rather exhilarating about going mad with another person – folie a deux. In many ways the actual process of writing isn’t so different from when I write solo novels, because Sean and I actually never write together (we did try once, at the end of our first book, The Memory Game, in an act of symbolic unity – but it was dreadful: we took about an hour to come up with one drab sentence, and squabbled throughout).

There are things that are straightforwardly lovely and fun – like the planning, when we go for long walks, or sit over coffee and tea and wine, and bounce ideas off each other without fear of being ridiculous. But usually the advantages are also the challenges – what’s good about writing together can also be what’s hard. We have to trust each other and to be vulnerable in front of each other. We have to allow the other to edit an even to erase our precious words. And there’s nowhere to hide – most relationships thrive with areas of separation, with boundaries .

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Let’s Go Round Again – the ups and downs of writing a second novel

Published November 19, 2014 | By Novel Kicks

Rob Pateman (Photo Paul Stuart)

R.S Pateman is the author of The Second Life of Amy Archer. His new novel, The Prophecy of Bees is due for release on 20th November. Rob talks to us about writing the second novel.

Sometimes it seems as if the writing life is one big obstacle course. Don’t get me wrong – I love what I do and feel blessed for being able to do it. But it isn’t all plain sailing.

There’s the anxiety of getting the first novel written; you’re isolated, not certain if what you’re writing is any good and the dream of publication seems distant and unlikely.

Then there’s the stress and disappointment associated with finding an agent, the lack of any concrete feedback, the finality of ‘sorry, no, not for us.’ Until of course, that magic day when someone finally says yes.

But you’re not done yet. Next up is submitting your novel to publishers, which is even more nerve-wracking than the search for an agent as the dream is that bit closer. Until, if you’re lucky, a publisher makes an offer on your novel.

The package my agent, Oli Munson at A M Heath, sent out to publishers included the manuscript of The Second Life of Amy Archer – and a synopsis for a second novel, The Prophecy of Bees.

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