Novel Kicks Chats To Sue Watson
Sue was previously a journalist with national newspapers and magazines before moving on to being a TV Producer for the BBC. Deciding that she’d love to write a novel, Sue became a writer. Her latest book, Love Lies and Lemon Cake was released today. We chat with Sue about her book, her writing process and cake.
Are you a planner? Do you edit as you go? How many words do you aim for on a first and last draft?
I’m not a planner as such, I have a worked out synopsis but I like to allow the characters to develop while I’m writing. I usually write a first draft then add layers as I go over and over it – a bit like icing a cake! I start with about 90 thousand words and after editing and layering and cutting end up with about 80 thousand.
Can you tell us a little about Love, Lies and Lemon Cake (we love that title,) and how the idea came about?
It’s about a woman who’s disillusioned with her life, her marriage and her career. Discovering an old rucksack at the top of her wardrobe she is reminded of all the plans she’d had as an eighteen year old and when she opens it finds a list of all the things she’d planned to do with her life. She realises she’s barely ticked this list off – and decides to try and get her life back before it’s too late. Of course there’s a gorgeous man in the mix to help her achieve those dreams – and to add to his credentials he makes the most amazing lemon cake.
The story was driven by the title really. I used it as a chapter title in Fat Girls and Fairy Cakes which I wrote about 5 years ago and the title’s been in my head ever since.
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Book News: Judy Blume
Yearling, 1970
Judy Blume is to release a new novel. It’s for adults and will be the first in ten years.
In a statement via her publishers, Alfred A. Knopf, Blume said, “I’m both thrilled and terrified, my usual feelings at this point. I’ll be hiding out this summer revising, my favorite part of the process.”
Her previous novels have exceeded sales of 80 million. Titles include Forever, Blubber and most famously, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret – this was certainly one of the books I remember reading when I was a teenager and so I shall be waiting with excitement.
The new book is yet to be titled and there is currently little detail on its plot but it’s “pure Judy Blume – about family, friendships, love and betrayal,” according to Ms Blume’s editor.
The new book is due for release in summer 2015.
by Before I Die by Jenny Downham
David Fickling Books.
Tessa has just a few months to live.
Fighting back against hospital visits, endless tests, drugs with excruciating side-effects, Tessa compiles a list. It’s her To Do Before I Die list. And number one is sex.
Released from the constraints of ‘normal’ life, Tessa tastes new experiences to make her feel alive while her failing body struggles to keep up.
Tessa’s feelings, her relationships with her father and brother, her estranged mother, her best friend, her new boyfriend, all are painfully crystallized in the precious weeks before Tessa’s time finally runs out.
BEFORE I DIE is a brilliantly crafted novel, heart-breaking yet astonishingly life-affirming. It will take you to the very edge.
Sometimes a book will come along that moves me, really moves me. I’m an emotional person, so it’s (reasonably) easy to make me cry, and lots of books do, especially when the subject is around death. But to really, really move me is something different. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, The Timetraveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, The Love Verb by Jane Green, and now, Before I Die by Jenny Downham.
by Bella’s Scribblings – Boozy Book Club
Bella Osborne
My husband rolls his eyes when I mention that Book Club evening is approaching as his opinion of our book club is that it’s a boozy night out with the girls. This opinion may have been influenced by the rare occasions that I have fallen giggling into the house at some late hour.
Many pieces of advice that you will see for writers often say that you need to read. My writing tutor is forever drumming into us the benefits of reading and more importantly reading as a writer. By that she means, doing a bit of analysis as you read. Looking for things like how it starts, pace, seeing where the author have added description and where they have left it out, where they have utilised dialogue and how it develops the characters. Also trying to understand what the key things are that make you want to keep reading. That elusive page turning quality that is so often referred to but nobody can quite put their finger on exactly was it is. And also what it is for different people. This is, without doubt, great advice.
As a writer there is sometimes an expectation that you are well read, this is so not the case with me. I read the books I had to at school and ever since I have read the books I liked. So as an adult I have indulged my love of chick lit, or women’s fiction if you prefer, and this is a path from which I have rarely strayed.
So being the girly swot that I am, last year I joined a Book Club or more accurately I tagged along with a group of friends who decided that reading a book each month might be a nice thing to do. The aim was to become more widely read, to experience different genres and to do some analysis. We agreed we would put in random suggestions for the next book and draw one out each month. So far we have read a great selection from thrillers, to ghost stories, to historicals and a classic.
by Book News: Michele Gorman
Notting Hill Press, 2014
To celebrate the recent US and Canada launch of Michele Gorman’s The Curvy Girls Club, Michele’s short story, Weightless, is available for free for a limited time.
To get hold of your copy, simply email thecurvygirlsclub@gmail.com and they’ll send you a copy of Weightless, along with membership to the real Curvy Girls Club. The club was created by Michele and anyone is welcome. It’s a daily doze of loveliness for everyone.
The blurb for Weightless…
Annabel’s not surprised when nobody recognises her at her 10 year reunion. The spotty fat teen nicknamed AnnaBall by the school bullies is long gone. But standing on the edge of the popular crowd, she still feels like that girl. That is, until Jack, her teen crush, starts flirting with her. Much to her amusement, he has mistaken her for Christy Blake, Annabel’s chief tormentor before she moved to France in their last year.
by Book Club
