Her Last Lie - Guest Post Amanda Brittany

Today, I'm delighted to welcome Amanda Brittany to my blog. Amanda is a fellow magazine writer and this week her debut novel, Her Last Lie, was published by HQ Digital. What makes this story so wonderful is that all proceeds from the sales will be donated to Cancer Research in memory of her younger sister.

I hope you'll enjoy hearing more about Amanda and her writing in this interview.

You first started your writing life as a women’s magazine writer. How difficult was it to move to something longer?

Hi Wendy. Thank you so much for inviting me to your blog. I think the main difficulty for me, is keeping the faith in a novel for so much longer than you would with a short story.

Women’s magazine fiction is known for being gentle and uplifting. How difficult was it to change genre?

Although I’ve written many gentle, uplifting stories for magazines, and really enjoy writing that kind of story, I have been known to go over to the dark side when writing short stories, and really enjoy writing twisty-turny thrillers for That’s Life! Australia, and Take a Break Fiction Feast. Maybe I was destined to write a psychological thriller. I know plotting short stories in that genre helped me a lot with my novel.

What were you like at school? Would your English teacher be surprised to see that you have become a published author?

If I’m honest, I was a bit of a dreamer at school. My English teacher was actually my favourite teacher, and she always said I had a great imagination, but she would get frustrated that I never applied myself. I think she would be shocked about my book, but I like to think she would be pleased too.

How long did it take you to write your novel?

I wrote the first draft fairly quickly. In six weeks, in fact. But the rewrites and edits took me a lot longer.

I love the cover. How important do you think the cover is to a potential reader?

I’m thrilled with the cover of Her Last Lie –the designer is amazingly talented. I think covers are very important. If they are eye-catching they can really draw the reader in, and also give the reader a good idea of the kind of genre the book is. In fact, I know someone who buys books purely based on the cover – so hopefully I’ve made one sale. J

Tell us something about the main character that will make us want to read more about them.

Six years ago, Isla Johnson survived an attack by a serial killer, and I hope readers will feel for her and the potential trauma she had been through, especially as she is now convinced the killer is out of prison and stalking her. But I also think the reader will feel conflicted by Isla’s present-day behaviour towards her partner the kind and caring Jack.

Are you a pantster of do you plot?

A bit of both, I think. For novels, I have a brief outline of the main plot, and where I want to go, and then I tend to let my characters take me there. I admit, it does mean I occasionally lose my way – characters can be naughty like that – so when I feel myself heading off on a tangent, I stop and reassess my plot and where I’m heading. For short stories, I sometimes have an outline, but often I write a whole story purely based on something I’ve heard someone say.

What have you found to be the most difficult thing about writing a novel?

The hardest thing when writing a novel, in my opinion, is keeping on keeping on, and, as I said earlier, not losing faith in what you are writing. I find the hardest moment is about halfway through, when I suddenly wonder if it’s any good at all. And the other difficulty is the temptation to keep on going over and over the first few chapters until they are perfect, instead of getting the first draft down.

What next for Amanda Brittany?

I love writing short stories, and hope to write more in 2018, but I’m not sure what the future holds for novels. I guess, for now, I’m taking it one step at a time.

Amanda Brittany lives in Hertfordshire with her husband and two dogs. She loves travelling, and visiting Abisko in Sweden inspired her to write 'Her Last Lie'. 

She began writing fiction nine years ago, and has since gained a BA in Literature, a Diploma in Creative Writing, and has had 200 stories and articles published in magazines globally.

When her younger sister became terminally ill, Amanda’s hope was to write a novel where her royalties went to Cancer Research. 'Her Last Lie' is that book, and all of Amanda's royalties for downloads will go to that charity. 'Her Last Lie' is her debut novel.

How to Say Thank You - Guest Post Vivien Hampshire

I first 'met' Vivien when she was a short story writer and we found ourselves sharing the pages of the same magazines. Since then, Viv has branched out into novel writing and her debut romantic novel, How to Win Back Your Husband, was published on Wednesday... hurray!

In celebration of her new book, Vivien has very kindly offered to write a post for me on the best way to say thank you to all the people who help authors along the path to publication.

Over to you, Viv.

HOW TO SAY THANK YOU

When Wendy asked me to appear on her blog, the first thing I said was ‘Thank you.’ Well, you do, don’t you? It’s the polite thing to do.

We all do it, almost automatically, every time someone hands us a gift, holds a door open, or passes the salt. We write thank you letters after Christmas, or make sure our children do, and we can even buy ready-made Thank You cards in the shops, so we don’t have to work out exactly what to say. But there comes a time in a professional writer’s life when we are expected to say thank you in a much more formal and permanent way, and very much in our own words... and that’s the day when we are asked to compile our first acknowledgements page.

After a year of writing my novel, followed by the long and painful process of looking for either an agent or a publisher to take it on, and then weeks of working through edits and changes, it was lovely, when the book was finally ready to meet the world, to be given the chance to say thank you to anyone and everyone who has helped me along the way. No word limit, said my editor. Thank as many people as you like. It’s entirely up to you…

I must admit that visions popped into my head of Oscar winners who stand on stage just a little too long, thanking their producer, their agent, their fellow actors, everyone who voted for them, their parents, their first drama teacher, their taxi driver, the midwife who brought them into the world, their dog… As the list of people nobody has ever heard of gets longer and longer, you can see the audience losing interest as their eyes glaze over and they start to nod off!

So, I needed my list to cover the essential people who really had helped me, without going over the top… and, more importantly, without leaving anyone important out. I thought perhaps a good place to start might be by reading the acknowledgements in other authors’ novels. Not to copy them, obviously, but to get an idea of how many pages they might use up, who they choose to thank, and how.

One of my favourite books in the last couple of years has been I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh. Now, I knew that was Clare’s first novel, just as How To Win Back Your Husband is mine, so I took a look at her page of thank yous first. And, yes, it was just a single page. But her opening words rang very true: ‘I always used to read the acknowledgements pages of books and wonder how on earth so many people could be involved in the creation of a single piece of work. Now I understand.’

She goes on to thank all the obvious people in the publishing world - her early readers, agent and publishers - before moving on to friends and family, highlighting the fact that they have not only believed in her but supported her and cheered her on ‘from the sidelines’ – what an apt image that is as we writers sit with our heads down writing away like mad while others can only look on and help in simple ways like bringing tea and giving us the time and space we need.

Having listened to Jane Corry give a fascinating talk at a recent RNA meeting, I turned to her book next. In My Husband’s Wife Jane has included two pages of acknowledgements, starting on similar lines to Clare’s but also thanking various people who helped with research - Jane’s book enters the world of prisons and the legal system, with a few medical questions thrown in for good measure. Was there anyone like that who I needed to thank?

And, lastly, I turned to Veronica Henry’s How to Find Love in a Book Shop. It’s the book I’ve just finished reading - and its title sounds a little like mine, don’t you think? But here I drew a blank. Apart from a one-line dedication to her late father, there is no acknowledgements page at all.

So, it really was up to me. I could thank pages and pages of people or nobody at all! I settled for somewhere in between. Of course, I mentioned my writing friends, although not all of them by name. And my editors. And a few ex-colleagues in the children’s centre where I used to work, whose day to day work with toddlers had inspired a few scenes in the book. But I kept my husband until last on the list, just as so many writers seem to do. Without husbands, wives, partners, supportive families at home, how would we ever get around to writing a whole novel and still manage to keep the house clean, the freezer stocked, and put food on the table? I certainly couldn’t have done.

So, when you write your first book, who are you going to thank? Please don’t say the dog!

Vivien Hampshire

https://www.facebook.com/VivienHampshireAuthor/

HOW TO WIN BACK YOUR HUSBAND

Published by HQ Digital on 18 January 2017

Nicci has made one stupid and seemingly unforgivable mistake and, after eight years together, her husband Mark is divorcing her. Her best friend is determined to help her get over it, start enjoying life again and move on, but Nicci knows getting over Mark just isn't an option - she still loves him and she wants him back! With no clear plan in mind and only thirty days left until the divorce is finalised, the race is on to prove her love, regain his trust and save her marriage, before it's too late. A debut romantic comedy with a sprinkling of winter magic! 

You can buy How to Win Back Your Husband here