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reply to JG Harlond's post on  http://tinyurl.com/6pty52a@KnoxRobinsonPub

8/6/2012

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Jane has some good points, but her opening statement that fiction writers are liars does not sit well with me.  On the contrary, good fiction is all about the truth.  OK, maybe it is elaborated, maybe some scenarios are far-fetched but to be believable the characters have to be real.  Not real in the sense that X is a pen portrait of Mrs Y down the road, but real in the sense that their characteristics, the things that have happened to make them who they are, should be real.  The characters in my books are an amalgam of people I have known or met over many years.  No-one will recognise themselves but the accumulation of information I have absorbed about people's behaviour helps to make my characters credible.  

Even with historical fiction it is the same.  Human behaviour has not changed over the years.  This is what is so astonishing.  The overlay of fashion, speech, social mores and life style maybe, but read Georgina, the Duchess of Devonshire and you will find beneath the 18th century facade, a very modern woman.   Read Anna Karenina and you will find her heartbreak and problems are universal.  Read about the intrigue and double-dealing in Tudor England and you could be in a John Le Carre spy novel. Human nature remains unchanged, no matter what century you are in.

If you want to write historical fiction get your background 100% correct and then create your characters.

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Happy birthday La Rosilla Bookclub

29/5/2012

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I had a great afternoon yesterday with a group of interesting women who love reading.  La Rosilla Bookclub invited me to join them on their first anniversary, which they celebrated with an English-style tea and homemade cakes.  The celebration took place in Solano, a tiny village tucked deep in the mountains of Málaga, in southern Spain.  I drove down narrow, windy roads for what seemed like an eternity, until I reached the village.  The occasional 50 kilometres per hour signs that I passed I'm sure were put up to encourage me to speed up a little as even the goats behind me were getting impatient.  Actually, hamlet would be a better way to describe Solano, because if I had been chatting away to anyone I would surely have driven straight through it without realising.  Except, of course, you can't drive through Solano; it is the first village I have ever been in that stops in a dead-end.  But it was certainly worth the drive; the views from our host's lovely finca were stupendous: a panoramic vista of the beautiful Málaga mountains.  A wonderful place to live and an ideal setting to sit amongst friends discussing their latest book.  Thank you ladies of La Rosilla for inviting me.
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It's all in a name.

20/3/2012

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'You need a snappier title,' she said.  'Something to capture the public's attention.
My novel was called "Rocio", after the heroine.
'Nobody in England will understand that Rocio is a girl.  You need something to grab people; something like "A pile of stuff at the bottom of the stairs",' she added, quoting the title of a popular novel.  'That sold very well.'
I looked at her; it was an intriguing title, but it hadn't intrigued me enough to buy the book.  But I took her point: a Spanish girl's name that meant nothing to an English reader was not going to work.
'Or "The curious incident of the dog in the Night-time", that was a best seller,' she continued.
'But Rocio lives in a two-roomed house with no stairs,' I said.  'And there's no dog in the story.'
Mind you, how hard would it be to write in a part for a dog?  I could at least consider it.
'OK, what about "Summer Sisters"?' she suggested.
I smiled politely and shook my head.  That sounded like a yukky teens story, not the social drama I was hoping to portray.
So I set to work trying to find an alternative title.  Despite the old adage "Don't judge a book by its cover", that is exactly what people do.  If the cover appeals then they pick it up to explore further.  I knew the importance of that moment when the book seems to leap off the shelf and demand that you buy it.  It could be the art-work or a clever title; something will grab your attention and make all the difference.
It had taken me six months to write the novel and I despaired that it would take me another six months to find the right title.  I played word games with appropriate nouns for hours, but snappy, appealing, meaningful and up-to-date they refused to be.  Then if I came across anything that sounded halfway decent, I checked it on the internet and, sure enough, someone had thought of it before.  I know that there's no copyright on titles but it smacks of a lack of originality when six books with the same name leap onto the screen at once.
Perseverance was the name of the game, closely followed by a definite drop in expectations.  In the end, after filling page after page with ridiculous and inappropriate titles and boring both family and friends rigid, I settled on a title that had, if not sex-appeal, at least relevance and "The House on the Beach" was ready to publish.
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New to blogging!

13/3/2012

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I never thought I would write a blog.  Blogging seemed to me something alien, reserved for youngsters and computer nerds.  Yet here I am, having a go.  After all, I tell myself, it's not much different from chatting to your friends, the only difference being that you actually get to finish what you started to say.  Whether I shall have anything worth saying is another matter and whether anyone will want to read it gives me cause to hesitate.
What shall I write about is the first question.  I haven't been on any exciting journeys lately, nor have I won the lottery.  In fact my life seems to be centred on the computer these days, writing begging letters to agents and publishers alike, hoping to dazzle them with my wit and perspicacity so that they will beg me to send them my latest manuscript and offer me a stunning fee in exchange.  No such luck.
That is why I have turned to self publishing.  It sounded so easy when I read the blurb on the internet and it was either free or available for such a small amount that it was inconsequential.  Alas, things are not all that they seem.  Perseverance is the name of the game and after weeks of false starts and returned proofs I published my first book.  The pleasure experienced is second only to the moment when you type the last full stop on the final page of your novel.  And, like that sensation, it too turns out to be only a fleeting moment of joy.  Just as you then realise that your hero, whom you started out calling Roy, has now changed his name to Fred and you have to trawl through the manuscript to check each reference to him, so your finally published book turns out to be available only in a restricted market and you have to start all over again.  This is what happened when I published with Createspace, who distribute only in the United States.  True you can buy it through Amazon.com but the extra cost of postage and the delay in delivery can be off-putting for potential buyers.  So back to the computer and the search for another POD printer.  This time I tried my luck with Lightning Source, who turned out to have all the distribution channels that I required but were not set up for novices like me.  After a series of even more setbacks I have managed to republish the book, thanks in no small measure to the helpful and pleasant Client Services Representative that I was allocated.  These people certainly have their work cut out if they have many clients like me. 
Now I can sit back and wait for the sales to happen!
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    Joan Fallon is a writer and novelist living in Spain.

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