Author Caroline Smailes explains how her online presence led to her first novel being published
Caroline Smailes
Caroline Smailes is the author of In Search of Adam, Black Boxes and novella Disraeli Avenue. Her two novels were published by Harper Collins imprint The Friday Project. Caroline is the judge of this year’s Tonto Books writing contest, selecting the entries that will be published in the anthology Even More Tonto Short Stories. She talks to EssentialWriters.com about how her website and blog helped her to find a publisher.
What inspired you to become a writer?
Writing is something that I’ve always tried, but it tended to be in secret and when I had a spare moment (which wasn’t very often with three small children). Then in 2005, I watched a lunchtime repeat of a Richard and Judy programme where they referred to someone as a ‘nearly’ woman, about how she spent her life ‘nearly’ doing things and something within me clicked. I decided to ‘go for it’, to see if I had what was needed to write novels and so I enrolled on an MA in Creative Writing.
What do you feel you gained from taking an MA in Creative Writing?
For me, doing the MA was to legitimise my need to write. I was paying for the course and that meant that writing had to gain priority.
The course had small numbers and weekly workshops, so every three weeks I had to submit 5,000 words of my novel. I learned to be less precious about my writing and to write to a deadline. I was also given my first ever feedback. I was writing In Search of Adam during the course and the feedback gave me the confidence to write more, for this I’ll always be grateful.
What inspired the story of In Search of Adam?
I wrote the initial scene soon after a miscarriage. I left the words, but returned to them six months later when I started the MA. That scene is still in In Search of Adam. The rest of my inspiration came from a whole host of borrowed experiences, twisted by my overactive imagination.
How do you feel your writing developed between In Search of Adam and Black Boxes?
When I wrote In Search of Adam, I didn’t allow myself to think about being published or about people I knew actually reading my work. As a result I think that it’s possibly the freest thing I’ll ever write. I also think it’s quite simplistic in its own way.
Black Boxes was more experimental and mainly written with me wondering if I ‘had it in me’ to write another novel. I think it carries with it all the second novel angst that writers often describe.
It’s possibly a more sophisticated version of In Search of Adam, but that makes me sound more pretentious than I am. With each novel I have written, I have gained in confidence and awareness.
Did you face much rejection initially?
All writers face rejection in many forms, throughout their career. My initial step into the publishing world was rather unusual.
I’d finished In Search of Adam in August 2006 and then launched a website and a blog. I’d been blogging for three weeks, mainly about how to approach agents, when a publisher stumbled onto my blog.
She requested my full manuscript and within three days, I had a publishing contract. I have stayed with the same publisher, The Friday Project, which is now an imprint of HarperCollins, for all of my novels.
How important do you think it is for a writer to have an online presence?
In general, the Internet has transformed the way in which books are marketed and sold. Today readers are just as likely to buy a book because they have seen it reviewed on a blog or tweeted on Twitter, as they are after spotting a snazzy poster on the tube or reading a review in a national newspaper.
Personally, I feel that the marketing of books is now the joint responsibility between the publisher and the writer. Writers need to build an online platform through the use of a website, blog and social media. They need to nurture their readers over time, connecting and building relationships well in advance of any book release.
And for me, if it wasn’t for my website and my blog, I wouldn’t have been discovered by a publisher. It was that publisher who later introduced me to my agent. If it wasn’t for my website and blog, I wouldn’t have connected with so many readers and writers and I wouldn’t have felt so enthused to continue linking online.
Writing can be lonely, insular and full of insecurities, having a blogging network (and a Twitter network) has helped on so many levels.
How did you come to be the judge of Tonto’s short story competition?
I’ve already worked with Tonto on a couple of projects, as a judge and mentor for Tonto Books’ North East New Novelists contest. I was keen to continue building links with them and to stay connected with my North East roots. Tonto Books have some truly exciting projects lined up for the future and I’m thrilled to be invited to judge their latest competition.
What will you be looking for in the entries?
My tastes will probably guide me to looking for fresh writing. I like strong voice, edgy and original writing, but mainly I will be looking for skilled storytellers.
I’m hoping for 30 winners and I’m looking to select a variety of both flash fiction and longer short stories. For me, writing should be about having fun with the form and with the craft. I’m looking for writers who have clearly enjoyed creating their stories.
What do you find the most challenging aspects of writing?
Definitely windowing time and finding the space to write. I have to be in the right frame of mind to delve into the fictional worlds I’ve created and this means that all real life work and family issues have to be put to one side. Life is one big juggle.
What do you enjoy most about it?
Creating worlds, creating voices and being so anal that I end up shouting at myself.
Whose writing do you admire?
Jeanette Winterson, Margaret Atwood, Roald Dahl, Neil Gaiman, Angela Carter, to name only a few.
Where do you carry out the majority of your writing?
I tend to write in my home office and have written the majority of all three novels there. This time, for my fourth, I’m trying to move around the house a bit more.
I am craving writing in the garden, but I’m not sure how practical this will be as I’m so easily distracted.
What advice would you offer an aspiring writer?
Writers need to be aware that they may be looking at months or even years before their masterpiece finally hits the shelves.
You need to make sure that your work is the best it can be before submitting to agents or to publishers.
Be willing to receive critical feedback from people you trust and to implement suggestions, as you see fit.
This all requires hours of hard work, patience and the ability to not take criticism to heart. But my advice is always, never ever give up!
What are you working on at the moment?
I still can’t believe that I’ve completed three novels, but soon I’ll be finishing the first draft of my fourth.
Novel four is possibly the most experimental of everything that I’ve written to date and I’m very excited about the ending.
I’m just about to start working with my publisher on the edits of my third novel, Like Bees to Honey and hope to have a confirmed publication date shortly.
For more on Caroline, please visit www.carolinesmailes.co.uk
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