NK Chats To… David Anderson
Hi David. Thank you so much for joining me today. Can you tell me about your book, The Drowners and what inspired it?
It’s my pleasure, Laura. Thank you for having me. The book is about that mezzanine between childhood and adulthood. Sixteen. When you are allowed to drive but can’t afford a car. When you are classified as a young adult, yet older people still treat you as a kid. Forget about pubs and nightclubs, you aren’t old enough to watch Basic Instinct in the cinema. It feels like you are walking through an aquarium, separated from this exotic wonderful world by a thick, impenetrable glass. Everyone else is having sex, except you. You’ll lose your marbles quicker than your virginity. And above all else, you want to fit in. You need to fit in. Your life depends on it.
Sixteen. It’s a scary time. It’s also a thrilling time. You discover books and music that speak to you. Go to your first concert. Get high. Fall in love. Every week brings fresh adventures. Everything is new and exciting. Your small circle of friends are your life. But behind the knock-off Aviators and smiley face tee-shirts lie dark secrets. Are any of you ready to take that next step? To leave the past behind, and become the people you want to be.
The Drowners is semi-autobiographical. It’s the one period of my life I thought I’d never write about, which appealed to the challenge seeker in me. I have conflicting emotions about that whole time which helped keep me honest; Who wants to read some guy’s rose-tinted vision of his youth? I wanted The Drowners to tell the good, the bad, and the mortifyingly awkward.
From idea to finished draft, how long does the writing process usually take you?
Years. Typically, I get an idea that won’t quit. It buzzes inside my brain like a hungry mosquito, periodically biting me. This could go on for months, even years. Finally, after I have a vague storyline mapped out, I’ll jot down 15-20 one-line ‘scenes.’ Once I have that framework in place, I’m ready to begin the first draft. Eight months later, I’ve got something that resembles a novel. Usually, it requires three more drafts before I am anywhere near satisfied.
What advice do you have when approaching the research and editing processes?
If you have ever listened to a demo version of a song, you’ll know the importance of editing. It’s not simply about polishing and fixing, it’s about amplifying and enhancing. It’s adding those fine details that make your story sparkle. That elevate your novel from an enjoyable experience to an unforgettable one.
Research is key. Everything needs to add up or you will lose your reader. Stories are illusions, and for illusions to work they must appear real. The moment the reader spots a glitch in the matrix is the moment the spell is broken.
What’s your typical writing day like? Any writing rituals?
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NK Chats To… Abbey Hicks
Hi Abbey, thank you so much for joining me and for inviting Novel Kicks onto your blog tour. Can you tell me a little about your latest book, Candlelight Dreams in Cosy Cove and what inspired it?
Candlelight Dreams in Cosy Cove is a heartwarming novella, book 1 in the Cosy Cove series, set in the enchanting seaside town of Cosy Cove and its charming residents. The story centres around Beth Williams, a lively and kind-hearted local who runs an artisan candle shop, ‘Harbour Lights,’ and Jacob Lawson, a charismatic and adventurous travel journalist visiting the town to write a feature for a popular travel magazine.
The inspiration for Cosy Cove came from the beautiful coastal towns and beaches near where I live on the south coast of England. I wanted to create a ‘perfect’ seaside retreat—somewhere I’d love to visit (or even live!)—so I took little details from my favourite places and wove them together to create this idyllic, fictional town. The result? A picturesque setting filled with golden sands, a cosy café, quaint shops, and a welcoming community that I hope readers will fall in love with as much as I have.
From first draft to final, how long does the process of writing a novel take you. Also, how do you approach the research and editing processes and how do you know when you’ve done enough?
Every book I write is different. Some stories flow effortlessly, and I can plan, outline and write a 25k novella in two to three weeks, while others take many, many months to complete. It really depends on the story, the characters, and how cooperative they decide to be!
When it comes to research, my stories are completely fictitious. However, I do love adding authentic details to bring the world to life—whether that’s researching traditional seaside festivals, learning about different crafts like candle making or floristry, or even checking what flowers bloom in which season, which is surprisingly easy to get wrong! Or maybe that should be unsurprisingly since I am absolutely hopeless at gardening!
Editing is where the real magic happens, but I’ll be honest—I NEVER truly feel like I’m done! I could tweak and adjust forever, but at some point, I have to step back and trust the story.
What’s your typical writing day like? Do you have any writing rituals?
by NK Chats To: Susan Buchanan (Plus A Chance To Win A Copy Of The Leap Year Proposal)
Hello Susan. Thank you so much for joining me again and inviting Novel Kicks onto your blog tour. Can you tell me about your latest book, The Leap Year Proposal and what inspired it?
Sure, thanks for having me again. Well, The Leap Year Proposal is the story of three women who meet at a mutual friend’s hen weekend and when the karaoke has abated and they’re all doing a quiz from a women’s magazine, the subject of leap year proposals comes up.
That prompts a would you/wouldn’t you discussion and the upshot is that the three protagonists, who happen to be sitting next to each other during the quiz, despite not knowing each other, get involved in a bit of a debate about it, with one professing she’d already made up her mind to propose.
The women’s friendship develops once they return from the Isle of Arran to the mainland as ‘the proposer’ starts making plans for how to propose, along with her sidekicks. And as for the inspiration, well, I proposed, quite unexpectedly, to my (now) husband on 29 February 2016! Our story has no bearing on this one, but it did give me the idea for the book!
I thought it would be fun to suggest a writing prompt – are you able to give us a starting line?
You’re out walking in the countryside and are confronted by a bear. What would you do and why? Sorry, that is the first thing that popped into my head!
Which fictional place would you like to visit and why?
I think it has to be Hogwarts! I’m a big Harry Potter fan.
Which book (that’s not one of yours,) would you like to forget just so you could read and rediscover it again?
by NK Chats To…Kiley Dunbar
Hi Kiley, thank you so much for joining me today. Can you tell us about your latest novel, A New Chapter at the Borrow a Bookshop (loving this title) and what inspired it?
A New Chapter at the Borrow a Bookshop is number 5 in the series and dare I say it, possibly the last? I wanted to do the series justice and end on huge high. I chose my favourite romance trope ‘Friends to Lovers’ for this one and had a blast writing all the attraction and withholding; masses of fun for an author!
What’s your typical writing day like? Do you have any writing rituals like needing coffee a lot, writing in a favourite spot? Writing in silence?
I’ve got into a new routine recently of writing 1000-1400 words in a session, and I tend to go to a café in town where I’ll sit with my coffee and my headphones and type away happily. If I try to write at home I get distracted by all the jobs there is to do there.
From idea to finished draft, how long does it take you to write a novel, and how do you know when you’ve done enough research and editing?
It can take me a couple of years to go from pitch to published, but once I’ve got a contract signed, it takes me about 4 or 5 months to fully plan out and write the first draft. I’ll give that draft a quick read through and a tidy before sending it to my editor. I tend to write about things I know a little bit about then do some scant research, enough to sound like I’m a pair of safe hands. Then I get structural edits sent back to me which can take a few weeks to action, then there’s another round of edits (line edits – looking for wee fiddly things to fix), then I am sent the proofs to read (and even at that stage I make little tweaks).
What themes are explored in this novel and what’s the main thing you want readers to take away from it?
by NK Chats To…Louise Davidson
Hi Louise. Thank you so much for joining me today. Can you tell me about your novel, The Fortunes of Olivia Richmond and what inspired it? Have you always had a fascination with Gothic and Tarot?
Hi, so excited for this Q&A! So, The Fortunes of Olivia Richmond is my first novel. Set in 1890, it tells the story of Julia Pearlie, a young woman who is hired to act as an etiquette coach for the mysterious Olivia Richmond. She discovers Olivia has a witchy reputation and Olivia’s father, Doctor Richmond, would like Julia to convince his daughter that her ‘powers’ are not real, but the more Julia gets to know Olivia, the more she begins to wonder if they really are…
Story ideas always come to me like a movie trailer playing in my head and when I came up with this one, I had an image of a young woman in white, standing at a set of French windows staring out over an overgrown lawn towards dark woods beyond and there was something waiting for her in the trees. I took that and ran with it.
I have always really enjoyed creepy psychological tales. I first encountered tarot through my aunt who used to read them and as I studied literature more – and began to teach it – I was really interested in gothic as a genre because of how it explored individuals and society so the interest went from there.
What’s your typical writing day like? Do you have a favourite place to write? Prefer noise or silence? Any other writing rituals?
I’m a full-time teacher so writing days tend to be during holidays and weekends and it happens wherever it can – there’s very little aesthetic going on! I wrote ‘Fortunes…’ either sitting at the kitchen table with my laptop or getting up early on a Saturday morning with my stepson and writing on the sofa while he watched Pokemon or Beyblade.
I do have a home office set up now though so when I can, I’ll make a cup of tea, light a scented candle (ambience. Very important.) and play some music that I feel reflects the mood I want to create or the scene that I’m writing. For instance, I listened to lots of Victorian waltzes when writing the party scenes in ‘Fortunes…’
If I’m writing a scary scene, I’ll try to write it at night in silence. That way, if I get nervous or scared, I know it will scare other people!
What were the challenges you found when writing your novel?
Plotting versus just writing and overcomplicating things for myself.
Technically a gothic novel is three books in one because they’re a ghost story, a mystery and (if you want to make your life difficult like me) a romance and so having a clear plan feels important. It’s easy to get stuck on the plotting and feel like you’re making headway, but plotting isn’t writing, and books are wily creatures. You’ll have everything mapped out and planned, and then you’ll start writing and realise that, in practice, that plan doesn’t work, or the characters take the wheel and start driving you in a different direction.
It’s easy to feel frustrated and like you’ve ‘wasted time’ plotting or try to force the book into the shape you’ve planned for it and in either situation, you can (like me) come up with over complicated ‘fixes’ when really the important thing is to just enjoy writing and let the story be what it is. It’s meant to be fun – let the process do its thing.
From idea to finished book, what’s your writing process like and how long does it typically take you? Any advice on research, starting and editing?
by Book Club
