Carla Caruso

Carla Curuso’s Five Writing Tips

Carla Caruso-In My Office PICCarla Curuso lives in Adelaide and as well as being the author of Catch of the Day, Mommy Blogger and Unlucky for Some, she is also involved in the Adelaide Chick-Lit Book Club and the Life, Love & Laugh blog. Her novel, A Pretty Mess is available on Amazon and Pretty Famous will be available on 1st February 2015.

Carla shares her five writing tips…

1. Don’t follow trends.

2. Be yourself and find your own unique voice.

3. Write every day – it’s the best way to keep ‘inside the head’ of a story/character and stay excited by it. Even if you only write 300-600 words a day, it’s amazing how the word count builds up overtime. I find I can only write in a few-hour blocks anyway, then I’m not inspired anymore! It’s a marathon not a sprint. Plus, you’ll have a better story if you have ‘creative thinking time’ in between, pushing the novel in different directions you might not have thought of earlier.

4. Write the kind of book you’d feel excited to pick up from a shelf. (Sophie Kinsella said something like that and it’s so true!)

5. Write your ‘own’ story. Your life experience might seem boring to you, as compared to, say, Gwyneth Paltrow’s life, but it’s actually a goldmine. Nobody has experienced exactly the same kind of things as you have – the people you’ve met, the places you’ve been, the emotions you’ve felt. Draw on it and you’ll write authentically and keep people captivated!

 

Read our interview with Carla.

Find Carla at www.carlacaruso.com.au and information about her latest works at http://www.harpercollins.com.au

The Adelaide Chick-Lit Book Club is on Facebook and the Life, Love and Laughs blog can be found at http://www.lifeluvnlaughs.blogspot.com.au/

 

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Novel Kicks Chats To: Kerry Barrett

Kerry BarrettKerry is the author of the Could It Be Magic series. The first in the series is Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered followed by I Put a Spell on You. The third book in the series, Baby, it’s Cold Outside was released at the beginning of last month. We had a catch up with Kerry where we chat about her book series, her writing rituals and Chocolate!

 

Can you tell us a little about your Could It Be Magic Series?

The series follows Esme, who’s a lawyer, and her cousin Harmony, known as Harry. Harry runs her own business and is a successful, sassy, together 30-something. Esme’s a few years younger. She’s more relaxed than Harry – about some things. Oh, and they’re both witches. Esme is reluctant to use the powers she’s inherited from her mum while Harry embraces them and has built her whole life around them.

 

Is there a fictional character you’d like to swap places with for a day and why?

Oooh, that’s a good question! I think I’d like to swap places with Becky Bloomwood from Sophie Kinsella’s brilliant Shopaholic novels. She always has so much fun!

 

Out of all the books you’ve read, which three have impacted you most and why?

At the moment I can’t stop thinking about The Woman Who Stole My Life – the latest novel by Marian Keyes, which I have just finished. It’s really staying with me and I keep wondering what I would do if I found myself in Stella’s position. It’s very thought-provoking. Another book that has stayed with me is Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, which I absolutely loved because of all the alternatives it offered. I find myself thinking about that a lot. And Possession by AS Byatt is the most perfect novel I’ve ever read. I remember when I finished it thinking I’d never have to read another novel again because that was always going to be the best. In fact, I’ve read hundreds – thousands probably – of novels since then and I must go back an re-read it to see if I still think that way!

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Novel Kicks Chats To: Carla Caruso

Carla Caruso - author picCarla Curuso lives in Adelaide and as well as being the author of Catch of the Day, Mommy Blogger and Unlucky for Some, she is also involved in the Adelaide Chick-Lit Book Club and the Life, Love & Laugh blog. Her novel, A Pretty Mess is available on Amazon and Pretty Famous will be available on 1st February 2015.

We chat with Carla about her novel, Sophie Kinsella and Gossip Girl.

Hello Carla, thank you so much for joining us. Can you tell us about your novel, A Pretty Mess, and how the idea originated?

Yes! A Pretty Mess is the first in my ‘Astonvale’ rom-com mystery series. (Following on from it is Pretty Shore and Pretty Famous.) It surrounds a neat-freak professional organiser – Celeste Pretty – who gets caught up in messy mysteries with a sexy builder (Lenny Muscat)! I’ve always had a bit of a fascination with professional organisers who de-clutter people’s homes and offices for a living. Maybe because my mum was such a clean-freak Virgo. We weren’t allowed to wear our shoes in the house and the family home always looked like a magazine spread, seriously

 

Can you tell us about your route to publication?

My background is in print journalism (newspapers and magazines), so I’ve always written for a living. But being a novelist is what I REALLY wanted to do since I was, like, five. I just took a while to get serious about it and actually send anything anywhere! I reckon it took about three years, when I went freelance as a journalist – working from home – that I focused more on the novel dream and properly did anything.

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