Everyone gets bogged down with a novel at some stage … from beginner struggling with characterisation and plotting, to the more experienced writer, who suddenly find they’ve run out of steam. There are probably thousands of unfinished typescripts at various stages of completion languishing is desk drawers and computer files that just need kick-starting to get them going again and this was the subject of a series of workshops that tried to help writers find the problem, solve it, and (hopefully) head for publication. If you’ve found yourself in this position, perhaps some of this advice may help …
Session 1: Who’s going to read my novel?
The first question I ask every workshop participant and one that every potential novelist should ask themselves, is: Who is going to read my novel? Every target market for consumable products is subject to marketing analysis by the producer. The fact that we are talking about books and publishers (or even self-publishing via e-books) doesn’t alter the fact that we are still referring to a commodity that will be aimed at a particular target market (readership). So we must start by identifying the type of reader for whom we are telling our story.
At this stage, someone will always interrupt and complain that this is not a creative approach to novel writing; or that they found this idea inhibiting, strangling the creative urge at birth; or even that they are writing for themselves and not bothered about who will read the finished story. Unfortunately, there are still the last shreds of glamour clinging to the image of the novelist and up to ten years ago we could still allow ourselves the luxury of not compromising our personal integrity by becoming a slave to commercialism. A couple of decades down the road, traditional publishing is the sole province of the accountants and every book is looked upon in terms of profit and loss - not literary merit. And so the truly ambitious make a point of understanding who’s publishing what in today’s book world if that’s the road they want to go down.
The next interruption usually voices the opinion that no-one told the ‘greats’ (Shakespeare, Dickens, et al) how to write, not taking into account that the ‘greats’ wouldn’t get passed the first glance by today’s publisher’s reader. Take my own personal favourite, whom I can still read for pleasure - Balzac. Poor old Honoré, with his ‘tell don’t show’ technique would have been blue-pencilled into oblivion!
So the image we have to dispel is the vision of the by-gone world of Dame Agatha, Wilbur Smith, Alistair Maclean, Colette, Simon Raven, Saki and Wodehouse (to name a few more favourites) when publishers and agents appreciated a good book, and knuckle down to the fact that we are competing in a vast commercial process of producing a novel that might only have a few weeks of modest fame on the shelves of Waterstones, before being remaindered and never heard of again! This is the reality of contemporary publishing and what we hope to do during this six-session series is attempt to narrow the odds in the outsider’s favour …
The first thing we need to establish is identifying the genre in which we are writing … so-called ‘slip stream’ novels are fun to write but infinitely more difficult to sell, so a lot of deliberation needs to go into this answer. Broadly speaking, the most popular commercial novels fit into the following categories even within pagan fiction.
Romance - standard boy-meets-girl plot with little or no gratuitous sex. Often thought to refer solely to Mills & Boon-type writing but can, according to the Romantic Novelists’ Association, straddle a much wider field, including historical and thrillers … and MB&S romance
Historical - anything with a period flavour up to the 1950s falls into this area, including family sagas and often a dominating theme within MB&S fiction.
Women’s fiction - generally refers to contemporary fiction covering intimate relationships, controversial domestic situations and recently including the popular ‘chick lit’ with MB&S undertones.
Science fiction/Fantasy - self explanatory but ranges from classic Arthur C Clarke sci-fi to Terry Pratchett and Harry Potter … and everything else in between, including ‘sword ‘n’ sorcery’, although the latter has lost popularity in recent years.
Crime/Thriller – generally anything that culminates in murder, either from a detection or victim point-of-view, including everything with a ‘dark’ element from Agatha Christie to Sally Spedding, David Hewson and Maureen Carter.
There are other genres such as horror, humour, war and westerns that still manage to produce the odd rabbit out of the hat, but these are extremely difficult areas to break into and publishers tend to stick with tried and tested authors, rather than taking on new ones. There is also the literary genre that is often reflected in the type of writing chosen for the Booker shortlist, and new novels from the graduates of the University of East Anglia – all of which can add a dash of paganism to offer a different dimension.
This is, of course, a very general over-view of standard publishing categories but the odds-on favourites for a new author will be those who don’t try to invent a new one. Bridget Jones’s Diary was the founder of ‘chick-lit’ but it still sat comfortably within the women’s fiction genre, just as Harry Potter had a ready-made slot within fantasy.
The second step in the exercise is to identify your target readership, because at the end of the day, this will make it easier to target the right agent or publisher for the finished typescript. What type of person would you generally expect to pick up your finished novel from the shelves of a high street bookshop? This is the same kind of market research we do when first starting writing and we learn to identify the readership of a certain type of magazine or newspaper. It is also applicable to marketing a novel, and we learn to keep an eye open in bookshops for the latest releases, especially those similar to our own plot and theme. Try to visualize your typical reader in your mind’s eye …
Just as we select the right target market for an article or short story, so we learn to make sure that our typescript is targeted at the right area of traditional pub¬lishing … there is no magical formula for this, just plain common sense. You are a potential novelist and have to supply what the publisher wants. As writing tutor Chriss McCallum commented: “You are the manufacturer, and you have to supply what the retailer wants. An editor is a retailer. He buys from the manufacturer – the writer -what he knows he can sell to his customers – his readers” – or in this case, the book buying public.
So, this is no time to be precious. Even if you intend to self-publish, it doesn’t hurt to work within the parameters of professional publishing. Get to understand the market place but just for starters, here are a few ‘rules’ that you would do well to take on board:
Don’t try to ride on the tail of what’s currently in fashion - by the time your novel is finished, never mind the time it takes between contract and launch - your piece will be outdated.
Don’t try to turn your own life-story into a novel - it doesn’t work. Draw on personal experience by all means but ‘true life’ into novel isn’t half as interesting as you may think.
Don’t bore the reader. Can your story retain the reader’s interest for 80,000 words?
Don’t try to base an entire novel on a single fragment of an idea. It may be a brilliant opening or closing scene, but without a detailed structure to unite ideas, characters, setting, drama, tension, plot and action, it will be extremely difficult to maintain the momentum.
Don’t get disheartened.
To return to the original question at the start of this piece and before doing anything else, let us identify our target reader. Few contemporary novels cover the whole spectrum of age, gender and literary style. Books written by younger authors tend to reflect the viewpoints of their own age group, while old favourites often appeal to much younger readers, as well as the older generation. Gratuitous sex and/or violence will have its own following and the writer must be able to differ¬entiate between the requirements of the various publishers, so be prepared to spend some time in your local bookstore and on the internet to find out who publishes what.
Thirdly, let’s try to establish who or what the novel is about. Some novels are plot-driven, others character-driven and to help us clarify which path we intend to take, it is a good idea to write a short ‘blurb’ for the story. In the publishing trade this is understood to be the short precise of the story, and examples can be found on the back cover of most paperback books. If you’re not sure, try to précis the novel in around 150 words. This will show whether the emphasis is a human interest story, action-packed thriller, a sex-romp, police procedural, adventure, etc.
Exercise: Who’s going to read my novel?
Forget what you’ve written so far and for your own benefit, write a synopsis and the first chapter of the novel.
Now describe your target market/genre where you think your finished typescript will be aimed and describe your target readership in terms of who you think will enjoy your book.
Which publishers have novels similar in approach to your own on their titles list?
Prepare a ‘blurb’ in no more than 150 words to show the outline for the story.
Prepare main character biographies for your two principal characters in less than 50 words for each.
Now try to give an indication of where you feel the novel has run out of steam.
If you require any further assistance with this session, message Suzanne Ruthven via Facebook and your questions will be answered as quickly as possible – time permitting. But please don’t ask me to read your typescript as this is time-consuming and very expensive.
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