Rowan’s first novel ‘Growing Up Twice’ was published in 2002. Since then, she’s written another eight novels, her latest ‘The Happy Home for Broken Hearts’ (published by UK Arrow) was released in August 2010. Novel Kicks was excited to have a chat with Rowan about how she approached the writing process…

Describe your typical writing day? 

My typical writing is day starts after I’ve dropped my little girl off at school, on the days when I have someone to look after my baby. If things are going well I work in my office, looking out over a stream. But if I’m stuck I go to a cafe and work there – I don’t know why noise and people seem to help me think.

Where do you find inspiration? 

I find my inspiration everywhere. From my own life certainly, my own experiences and how I would feel in some of the situations I put my characters in. Also conversations I over hear, people I meet, or see in the street. Sometimes even from virtual friends I have never met in real life!

What was your route to publication like? 

My route to publication was actually quite smooth. I won Company Magazine Young Writer of the Year in 2001 and that opened a lot of doors for me, got me an agent and my first book deal. But even once you are published life as a writer is a rocky one, full of ups and downs. I don’t think the struggle to keep going ever stops!

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Ilana Fox is the author of two books, ‘The Making of Mia’ (2008) and ‘Spotlight,’ (2010), both published by Orion Books. She’s currently working on her third novel ‘No Prince Charming.’ Novel Kicks was very excited to be having a chat with Ilana. We asked her where her inspiration comes from, which author she admire’s and who she’d have to a fantasy dinner.

Describe your typical writing day.

I get up quite early considering I don’t need to commute, and then I give my kittens breakfast and wait for them to come and cuddle me in bed. Then I eventually get up and do a few bits and pieces and settle into writing. I’ll either start writing as soon as I hit my laptop, or I’ll spend an hour or so responding to emails and messages. When I start writing I tend not to stop, so I can be on my computer for up to ten hours without a break. If I’m in the zone I don’t want to be out of it.

Do you plan before starting a book?

I plan an awful lot, only to disregard most of it when I’m writing the manuscript! I know what’s meant to happen in each chapter, and in each scene in a chapter, but often my characters end up saying things or doing things differently to how I imagined, so I have to go back and change the plan. I revise the plan about four times while I’m writing a novel.

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Lindsey Kelk is the author of the popular I Heart Series, the most recent, I Heart Paris, has just been released in the UK. Novel Kicks had a chat with Lindsey to ask her what her route to publication was, her top five tips for writers and who her ideal dinner guests would be….

What was your route to publication?

I wrote I Heart New York about three years ago, sent it out to every agent under the sun and then sat twiddling my thumbs while the rejections came in. Eventually, a super awesome amazing agent agreed to meet with me and discuss how we might work together. But when we met, it transpired that she hates I Heart New York and wanted me to work on something else. Since I was a) stubborn and b) a little bit in love with the book, I walked away from the agent (shatting myself that I would never find another) and asked a friend at HarperCollins if she knew any agents I could talk to. Amazingly, she passed the manuscript on to the publisher of the commercial women’s fiction team who read it, loved it and offered me a three book deal. It goes without saying that I was incredibly, incredibly lucky and am super grateful every day for that agent telling me I Heart New York was shit. And that I would have to use a pseudonym because my name sounded like a cat being sick. She was a delight.

Describe your typical writing day:

Sadly, there’s no such thing! I’m currently still working full time as an editor in children’s books so all of my writing happens at night. That suits me anyway because, for some reason, I just can’t seem to be personally creative in the day. It’s weird. I can work wonders on the books I’m editing but as for writing my own stuff, it just won’t come out. I’m a night owl, so it suits.

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Alison Baverstock is an experienced Writer, Publisher and Trainer. She’s the author of ‘Is There A Book In You’ and ‘Marketing Your Book – An Author’s Guide.’ Novel Kicks had a chat with Alison to ask her how she approached a typical writing day and which authors she admired the most….

Describe your typical writing day?

I love writing early in the morning, and even more so going to bed thinking that I shall get up early tomorrow to write.  There is both a peace and energy about the house first thing in the day – I am aware that my family are asleep beneath me (my writing room is at the top of the house) and that they may wake up soon (although this got less likely as they all became teenagers) so there is a limit on how much time I have.  It’s a bit like driving sleeping children in the car at night – you feel responsible, alive and excited.
Once I have written for a couple of hours I stop and then find myself sneaking up to edit or add bits throughout the day – but the main sweep is always done in the morning.

You’re a publisher as well as a writer; what advice do you have for writers submitting work?

Don’t submit until you are ready to be judged by your work.  It doesn’t matter how good the marketing package is, or how enticing your cleverly drafted introductory email, if the work is not as good as it could be, it will show.  Given that my particular expertise has been marketing it may be ironic for me to say this, but there’s a growing strand to some writing about writing that puts forward the thesis that all that matters is the marketing.  It doesn’t, the writing has to be the most important thing.

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Jonathan Lee is an English author. Who is Mr Satoshi? is his debut novel. We had a chat with Jonathan to find out a little about him and his novel, as well as his writing habits…..

Have you always wanted to write?

I spent quite a long time wanting to be a writer. The only thing I wasn’t so keen on was the actual writing. It’s a bit like that Mark Twain quote about a ‘classic’ book being something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read. I wanted to skip the pencil buying, back ache and paper cuts and have the finished novel in my hands. When I got to university I started penning terrible autobiographical bits and pieces, but I was too preoccupied with other things to have a serious stab at developing any kind of craft. I did a lot of reading, though. With hindsight, that helped me learn some of the tricks a novelist needs.

What was your route to publication?

I’m 29 now. When I was around 25 I had a kind of quarter-life crisis. It wasn’t anything particularly dramatic. I didn’t buy a Porche or run off with anyone inappropriate. But I was sitting in an office in the City all day, wolfing down soggy sandwiches at my desk, and I realised that I hadn’t made any inroads into this niggling ambition of mine, this desire to be a writer. So I started to write more seriously. And then a twenty-something friend of mine published a novel and it did well. The sense of envy probably gave me the final push I needed. I ended up taking six months off work to write full-time. At the end of that period I sent the first three chapters off to a few literary agents, and I was fortunate that Clare Alexander liked what I had sent. We worked together on getting the full manuscript into shape and, a few months later, Jason Arthur called and offered me a two book deal with Random House. I’m skipping over the rejections and the days when things seemed genuinely bleak, but the truth is it all happened very quickly and I was lucky in all sorts of ways.

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Lynn Shepherd is the author of Murder at Mansfield Park. Novel Kicks had a chat with Lynn to ask her, amongst other things, what her route to publication was and what advice she has for new writers.

What was your route to publication?

I already had an agent (Ben Mason, now at FoxMason), so I did get a lot of support through the writing process, but we were really unlucky to end up pitching the book to publishers in January 2009, at just about the worst point in the recession, when no-one wanted to take a chance on any author without a cast-iron track record. But my agent was incredibly persistent and determined, and we eventually got an offer from a lovely indie publisher in London, Beautiful Books.  And that seemed to open the floodgates. First we got the US and Canada with St Martin’s Press, and then Allen & Unwin in Australia and New Zealand, and there’s a Spanish version in the works now too.

Have you always wanted to write?

Absolutely – having Murder at Mansfield Park published is a 24-carat lifetime dream-come-true. Writing is something I always wanted to do, but I only sat down and started to work on it properly 10 years ago. That first attempt was a modern mystery story based round the discovery of a long-lost manuscript of Mansfield Park, and included my first attempts at Austen pastiche (in fact I re-hashed quite a lot of it for the latest one). That one didn’t quite make it, but it was an invaluable apprenticeship in the craft of putting a novel together. Like a lot of would-be writers, I studied English at university, but it’s a long way from there to writing something decent of your own!

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Katie Fforde is the author of sixteenth published novels. Her latest ‘A Perfect Proposal’ is due for release on 10th June 2010. We had a chat with Katie and asked her questions including what her route to publication was and her top five tips for writers….

What was your route to publication?

My route to publication was through the Romantic Novelists Association.  They have a New Writer’s scheme whereby unpublished writers can submit their novel to the association where it will be read by a published novelist and a report written on it.  The organiser of the scheme that year was a scout for a new literary agent.  The organiser was Dr. Hilary Johnson, who is now a book doctor, and the agent was Sarah Molloy of A. M. Heath.  Sarah found me a publisher before the book I wrote after meeting her was finished.

Have you always wanted to write?

I wasn’t aware I always wanted to write until I was in my twenties but I realise I lived so much of my life in my imagination and so was a bit slow on the uptake.

Do you have a planning process before sitting down to write a book?

I do plan my books a bit, but I often start before I’ve finished planning properly because I just can’t wait to get on with the story.

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Jenny Colgan is the author of 10 novels such as ‘Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend,’ ‘Operation Sunshine,’ and ‘West End Girls.’ Her latest release ‘The Good The Bad and the Dumped’ is due for release on 13th May 2010.

Describe your typical writing day?

Woken by 2 year old hurling himself on bed, feed, bath and dress baby, 2 year old and 4 year old, take 4 year old to school, prevent 2 year old from sneaking into school again, hand over two littlies to my fantastic housekeeper Geri, go for a jog or a walk down the beach depending on how energetic I’m feeling; have a bath, spend one hour on one project; take laptop down to local bakery, have a coffee and a pain au chocolat, write 2000 words, rescue littlies at 1.30, play with them all afternoon, pick up 4 year old from school, usually with a couple of his wee friends in tow, cook supper, throw them all into bed, collapse on sofa with knitting and chocolate, fall into bed. That’s whilst my husband’s away working; when he’s home he picks up a lot of the slack!

What was your route to publication? Had you always wanted to write?

I did want to write but I viewed it in the same way as I viewed becoming a popstar or an olympic gymnast; nice idea in theory, unlikely in practice.  I was working in a hospital and tried out a little bit of stand up-  I was absolutely terrible, but I found I could write things that were funny, even though I wasn’t very funny as a performer. It was the biggest confidence boost of my life. After that I tried everything- cartooning, sketch writing, performance poetry; children’s stories, and the one that worked for me was a novel I wrote in my lunch hour. Nobody was more surprised that me when it finally happened; it was like ‘no, no, no, no, no, YES.’. You can have a million ‘nos’; all you need is one yes.

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Pauline Barclay is the author of ‘Magnolia House’ and her latest book ‘Satchfield Hall’ has just been released.

Where do you find your inspiration?

Anywhere and everywhere! I find inspiration and ideas from sometimes just a word or a phrase, listening to music, reading, watching people, talking to people, out walking the dog. Just being aware of others. Life is so interesting and fascinating.

Have you always wanted to be a writer?

I have always enjoyed writing, when I was at junior school, I wrote a song and it was sung at one of the school’s parent days. Just before we all started to sing, the teacher announced who had written the song and to my horror she gave the credit to the wrong Pauline! I eventually got over it and since then I’ve left song writing to others. My real passion is writing and during the last fifteen years I have written over sixteen short stories, as well as my two published novels, Magnolia House and Satchfield Hall, I have also written two other full length stories. These still sit in the archives of my computer! Away from my passion of fiction writing, I spent many years as a communications manager. This work entailed writing in-house magazines, press releases for the specialist international press, pages for web sites etc. So much of my life, one way or another, has been very much involved in writing.

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Karen Joy Fowler is the author of The Jane Austen Book Club which spent thirteen weeks on the New York Times bestsellers list and was a New York Times Notable Book. Fowler’s previous novel, Sister Noon, was a finalist for the 2001 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction. Novel Kicks caught up with Karen Joy Fowler……

Describe your typical writing day?

Author Photo: Beth Gwinn

On my typical writing day I don’t write.  Sad, but true.  I answer my email, I check out various blogs I like, I answer more of my email.  Then it’s lunchtime.  I believe I’m going to start to write at any moment, but after lunch I have more email and all the blogs have updated.  The dog needs to be walked and it’s time to start dinner.  Besides, by late afternoon I’m too tired for the sustained concentration of writing a book.  I’m disappointed, but strangely optimistic about tomorrow.  Which may or may not be a rinse and repeat sort of day.

Where do you find your inspiration?

Anywhere and everywhere.  I eavesdrop when strangers talk – very easy in this day of the cell phone.  I misunderstand the lyrics to rock songs in a fruitful way.  I get ideas from reading other people’s fabulous stories and poems.  And history books, of course.  Especially inaccurate history books – history books with attitude and agenda.  Scientific studies, especially if I only know about them because of eavesdropping (see above.)  I find that a little bit of information about something is much more inspiring than a lot of information about it.  Though if the story I want to write needs a lot of information, I’m happy to go and get it.

What’s your editing process like?

I love rewriting – much more pleasurable than the first draft – so I do a ton of it and I do it everyday.  I’m always polishing the language, moving the scenes about, changing the location, changing the time period.  Tinker, tinker, tinker.  It’s the best part.

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Jasper Fforde is the author of ‘First Among Sequels,’ ‘The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next),’ and the latest release, ‘Shades of Grey.’

Describe your typical writing day?

Author Photo: Mari Fforde.

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Lola Jaye is the author of ‘By The Time You Read This,’ and ‘While You Were Dreaming.’ Lola shared her pre-publishing journey via her blog before finding success as a published writer. Here Lola share’s with Novel Kicks; where she finds her inspiration, her typical writing day and who she’d have over for dinner…

Where do you find your inspiration?

It varies. I can be on a tube or watching TV and an idea can pop into my head! For my first book By the Time You Read this… I was slap bang in the middle of a real writing slump – not feeling very inspired and basically in ‘writers block zone’ – as I sat in my PJ’s watching The Oprah Show about a dying mother who left a collection of keepsakes for her daughter. The story was very, very moving and afterwards I began to think;

What if there were no computers, DVD’s, MP3’s, computers, or video cameras on phones?

What if this was a father?

What if he simply wrote a letter to his daughter?

What if I switch on my computer and see what happens…?

I did and By The Time You Read This… was born!

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Phamie Macdonald is the author of the children’s series ‘The Planets.’ The first in the series; ‘Sam Sun,’ is already growing in popularity amongst children. Novel Kicks caught up with Phamie to talk about her inspiration behind the series and what tips she had for authors wanting to write for children.

What was the inspiration behind your planets series?

I was inspired to create the series when I was making a documentary about solar eclipses. My business partner at the time was doing some research and was shouting out really interesting facts and figures about the solar system across the office (like for example – why do the moon and sun appear to be the same size in the sky when the sun is 400 times bigger than the moon? Because the sun is 400 times further away from us!) That day I went back to my office with my head full of beautiful images of space and the planets and just thinking how stunning and exciting space really is and I wondered how I could get children excited about space. I decided the best way would be to make the Planets themselves tell their own story and allow the readers to connect with the Planet characters in a really exciting way. The idea was born very quickly after that.

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Matt Dunn is the author of five romantic comedy novels: Best Man, The Ex-Boyfriend’s Handbook, From Here to Paternity, Ex-Girlfriends United and The Good Bride Guide. Novel Kicks caught up with Matt to see what inspired him and what advice he had for new writers….

What’s your inspiration?

Life, really – I just tend to write about the kind of issues that I or my friends have had. Let’s face it, ‘relationships’ is a pretty big subject, and it’s the one thing in common that we all pursue – with varying degrees of success – for most of our lives. Which gives me a lot of material.

What was your route to publication?

I wrote my first novel, Best Man, while taking a break from my job as an IT Recruitment Consultant, then went through the usual depressing cycle of rejections from agents and publishers, but for every nine ‘thanks, but no thanks’ replies, there was one that gave me a hint or tip about how I might improve the book. I tried to incorporate their advice, re-wrote, kept on submitting, and eventually found an agent prepared to take me on. He in turn found a great editor who liked it, and offered me a two-book deal. Which rather shocked me, because I didn’t realise I’d have to write another one.

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Lisa Jewell is the author of seven novels; ‘Ralph’s Party,’ ‘Thirtynothing,’ ‘One – Hit Wonder,’ ‘A Friend of the Family,’ ‘Vince and Joy,’ ’31 Dream Street’ and ‘The Truth About Melody Browne.’ She used to be a Secretary until redundancy, a bet and a book deal.

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Christina Jones is the award winning writer of many novels, the latest, ‘Moonshine,’ is due for release in January 2010. She’s the winner of ‘The Pure Passion Award’ for her novel ‘Love Potions,’ as well as a recipient of a ‘Melissa Nathan Comedy Romance Award’ for ‘Heaven Sent.’

What is your inspiration?

Life! Listening-in on other people’s conversations and people-watching and making things up about them! People are funny – and I write romantic comedy – so it’s wonderful just to listen-in. Being plain nosey I suppose…

Describe your typical writing day?

Muddled and chaotic! I start writing at 6 a.m. and write until mid-day when I go to work in the local pub as a barmaid (great for inspiration!). I’ve always got something on the go – either a book or a short story or both – and I just pick up on where I was the day before. I only ever do one draft of anything, re-writing as I go along. I’m not some one who can set myself a certain number of words a day. I just do what I’m capable of doing. Sometimes it’s loads – sometimes I just put a comma in and take it out again….

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Cecelia Ahern is the best selling author of seven novels, the latest ‘The Book of Tomorrow’ released next month. She has also become the youngest recipient of a ‘Nielsen Book Platinum Award’ for achieving over a million sales in the UK for her first novel ‘P.S I love you.’ She has written various short stories and co-created the TV series ‘Samantha Who.’ Novel Kicks caught up with Cecelia to chat about what inspires her and what her tips are for aspiring Writers.

Describe your typical writing day?

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