Introducing my novel

 

Since my novel is what prompted this blog, I should write a few words about it. It is about 160,000 words long. Its genre is literary/historical fiction and it is set (mainly) in England in the 1820s. Its title is, for now, As Winter Came and Went. I think it might be the final title (it changed several times already) but I still have time to decide. It is the first book in what will probably be a trilogy: there will be at least three volumes (I’m writing the first draft of the second one now), maybe four. Maybe there will be a prequel. Maybe it will become a series… 

The structure

 At first the trilogy was meant to be one book but as I wrote I realized it needed to be cut in two, then in three. As Winter Came and Went is made of 12 chapters, or sections, I’m not sure how to call them, which, as you can expect with 160,000 words, are very long. But I have to say I do not really believe in divisions and subdivisions when it comes to writing fiction (is it because I’m obsessed with them and cannot do without them when I writing “scholarly” work for my research?).

When I thought up the structure of my novel, I wanted each of those sections to be like novellas, with a beginning, an end, and an individual plot, within the larger plot of the novel. The idea was that they could almost be read individually. But they are all centered on the same main character(s) and they follow each other chronologically. I don’t know if the novella idea works or if my sections just read like over-long chapters: I’ll have to ask my test readers! 

The setting
 

As Winter Came and Went starts in September 1820. The first chapter takes place on a boat. The rest are all set in England, except one where the plot moves to Ireland.

1820 is a time of transition. The Regency ends with the death of George III but we can still speak of the Regency era. At this date, Britain has abolished the slave trade, but not slavery. Industrialisation is starting to spread across the country.

The second wave of colonisation which will lead to the creation of the British and French (among others) colonial empires has not yet started but Europe is already looking towards Africa and Asia, sending expeditions, trying to explore and conquer. I am mentioning this because it plays a role in the plot of my novel. The first chapter is marked by the mystery surrounding the disappearance of a fictional expedition to Timbuktu (which was officially “discovered” in 1828 by a Frenchman, René Caillé) – if anyone is interested in this, I might write another post about Timbuktu and the Europeans who looked for it. 

The characters

As Winter Came and Went is a character-based novel. Its main character is a young physician called Dennys O’Connor. He is mostly Irish but has also French, English and African ancestry. When I first started to envision the novel that would become As Winter Came and Went, Dennys was meant to be only a secondary character but he slowly took over the story: I found him especially interesting to write about and his voice is the one that shaped the style of the novel.

If Dennys was meant to be a secondary character, then who was the main one? My novel was meant to have a heroine, Mary. She still is very important, though she makes her appearance only in the second third of the book. She is the daughter of an English merchant and of a French émigrée. And I’d like to say more about her but I don’t want to write spoilers before my novel is even published! So I’ll stop there…

So these two characters are the stars of my novel. They are supported by a cast made of their respective families (in Dennys’s case, a very…dysfunctional one), friends, and random people met as my novel unfolds. Again, I’d love to be able to write more, to list those characters and introduce them to you but I’m terrified of spoilers!

I’ll just mention one other character, very important though he’s not actually human: a Barb horse imported from Africa whom several people try to turn into a racehorse in the course of the novel. Barb horses are the horses found in Northern Africa and are used by Berbers. They are not as well known or considered as beautiful as Arabian horses but they are an ancient breed too and, like the Arabians, have been used to develop some modern breeds, like the thoroughbreds. Again, I might develop the subject of racehorses and the development of horseracing in a later post. 

The style

I see As Winter Came and Went as a literary novel. Or I should rather say, I tried to make it a literary novel. By that appellation I justify the liberties I took with the style (bye-bye, grammar! Farewell, syntax!) and my efforts to make it as unreadable as I can. No, I’m joking. I do hope it is not unreadable and that the style gives my novel an added value.

The themes in my novel have been used and overused, again and again and again. So has the setting, England in the early 19th century. There is nothing original in the plot. But I sincerely hope that the style and the characters might help to make it a little different. I might post a couple of extracts soon, so you’ll be able to judge for yourselves.


All this gives you a taster of what my novel is like: I’ll develop some points in other posts and give more details once I have a precise publication date in mind (and once I have decided how this novel is going to be published!).

Writing in a café

A question for fellow writers (or would-be writers): where do you write? Do you have a special room in your house? Or a writer’s hut in the back-garden? Do you write on the kitchen table? Do you write at work during your lunch-break? I do not have a special place to write. I’ll write wherever there is room for me to sit down or wherever I feel inspired to. Actually, that is true only when I’m writing a first draft.

 

I like to handwrite my first drafts and I actually find pen and paper more portable than a computer, as well as being very freeing. You don’t have to worry about the battery being low. You don’t have the temptation to go on Facebook or surf on the internet. It is different when I write my second draft and edit my work as this is done on my computer

 

Though I have no special place dedicated to writing there are places I like to go to in order to write. I like writing in cafés for instance. One of the reasons is that because of the nature of my studies (research) I spend a lot of time working from home, so it’s nice to simply go outside and find another setting that will inspire me to be more creative and productive. And the good thing about living in Paris is that there is no shortage of cafés.

 

The one I sometimes go to is actually a bakery which doubles up as a café. It is small but cosy and pretty inside with lovely painted ceilings and bright pink walls. The delicious smell of freshly baked bread and brioche and the sight of rows of colourful, mouthwatering patisseries on the counter make it all the more attractive. It is hard to resist ordering one to go with my coffee! Strawberry tarts and éclairs, croissants and pains au chocolat, mille-feuilles and choux à la crème… But I have to admit I find the sight of them almost as satisfying as their taste.

 

The painted ceiling I was talking about...

 

Part of the time I spend in this café to write is actually spent looking at my surroundings. Pen in hand, a blank page before me, I look at the people coming and going, ordering a cappuccino and a croissant to take away and eat on their way to work. I look at the people behind the counters arranging the cakes and sandwiches, as snatches of conversations reach my ears. I look at the people rushing in the street outside. I look at this agitation of which I am not really part for the moment, detached as I am, hovering between real life and the fictional world I am trying to conjure up.

 

Though my surroundings distract me from the actual task of writing, I find that the atmosphere of the café spurs my imagination. Even if what I am writing has nothing to do with a 21st century Parisian bakery (the novels I am currently working on are set for the most part in the British countryside in the first half of the 19th century), I am inspired by the world around me. By the people I meet, by what they say, by how they act, by their relationships. And there is no dearth of people in a café, each individual carrying their own stories, living out a novel of which I get a fleeting glimpse, as they order at the counter an espresso and a pain aux raisins.

 

As I wonder about them, I begin thinking about the worlds of the stories I create and about the characters going in and out of them as clients go in and out of the café. And I pick up my pen and write. Maybe a hundred words, maybe a thousand. But whatever the count, I have found inspiration: in a way, writing in a café is my remedy to that ill every writer has experienced: the blank page syndrome.

To self-publish or not to self-publish?

One of my daydreams was that my novel should be published by a traditional publisher. So once I had finished writing, and rewriting, and edition draft after draft of that novel I began searching for a suitable publisher. I searched and searched and realized that most would not accept unsolicited manuscripts. I did find one who did and who seemed to me quite right for my book. I sent a query with the first few pages of my novel, and…it was rejected (but very kindly so and the answer included interesting feedback). I wondered if I should start looking for an agent. I started looking at self-publication options. And I realized I had to ask myself a few questions. To take an agent or not to take an agent? To self-publish or not to self-publish?

Why did I want to be published by a traditional publisher in the first place? One word: prestige. Not because I want to make a living out of writing, not because I want to sell many books, but because it is more prestigious. Everyone can write a novel. Everyone can self-publish a novel. Not everyone is published by [name a famous publisher of your choice].

Did I really want to be traditionally published? Mmh… Yes and no. Why no? Did I really want an agent or a publisher to tell me I had to cut big chunks out of my “baby,” to tell me the style didn’t work, to take in their hands the future of my book? Not really.

Did I want to self-publish? At first no. It seemed too daunting. Doing it properly would involve costs and money I, a student with no job, don’t have. It involves designing a cover, formatting a book, looking into marketing and distribution and… No, I thought. Better look for an agent.

And then I thought again. Self-publication could become the future of publication. It represents freedom of expression. It is an adventure, frightening maybe, but also exhilarating. And perhaps I want to embark on this adventure and self-publish my novel. I want to design my own cover. I want to have control over what becomes of my book. I want to study the market and think up strategies. I want to be brave and take the future of my novel in my hands.

The moment I started to see self-publication as an adventure, my whole mindset changed. I like to be active. I had enjoyed working on my novel and editing it but once I had finished that and was waiting for an answer from the publisher, I could not only be passive and I felt…empty. Self-publishing is being active. It is taking decisions and trying to make them work. It is on the whole a project I find exciting (at the moment). Maybe it won’t work. Maybe my novel will be a flop. But does it really matter? Will it take away the enjoyment I feel from writing? No. So I might take the plunge.

However, I may yet change my mind and send out queries and synopses and more queries to agents. I’m sure I’ll self-publish a novel at one point but it might not be this particular novel. At the moment, I am waiting for the feedback and advice of several people to whom I have given my manuscript to read. A couple of them have some knowledge of the publishing world and their opinion will help me take a decision. And we’ll see…

Why a blog?

Why did I decide to start a blog? The title says it all… Much as I would have liked to call it “the bestselling novelist,” the truth is I’m a would-be novelist who has written a 160,000 words long, rambling, probably unpublishable door-stopper of a literary/historical fiction novel. I have decided to self-publish anyway and if all goes as planned it should come out either at the end of 2018 or at the beginning of 2019.

One part of me (the delusional part of me) dreams that I self-publish, now, at no cost, a novel that does not need further editing, and immediately hit the bestseller list and sell thousands of books. In my daydreams, producers fight over the film-rights, a TV series is made, I give interviews on the radio, I win the Nobel Prize for literature…

The more realistic part of me knows that it’s going to be a tad more difficult and prompted me to google: “how can a self-published novelist become a millionaire become hugely successful sell many books.” I found many interesting articles and blog-posts and most of them advised to have some sort of web presence and a blog (and that also applies to traditionally published writers).

Right, I thought, I’ll start a blog then. But what should I blog about? Big question… Since my intention is to publish a novel, I should blog about writing. But the trouble is that I intend to publish a novel. Not being a published writer, I don’t think I have any authority to write about writing, not yet. Nor can I write, though I would love to, about the world of my novel and my characters and so on: since the novel is not out yet, there wouldn’t be much point and would be as boring as when someone is talking about a film you haven’t seen and cannot see before some time. Blogging about my very exciting life and my love of coffee and chocolate would be irrelevant.

But why wouldn’t I write about being a would-be novelist? This blog could be a journal of my long, tortuous path to self-publication, until it can become a blog about my novel(s). I could also share extracts of my novel (I like this idea!). And maybe, if I have the time to write pieces of shorter fiction, I could share them on this platform too… And critics about books I’ve liked… And maybe a few posts about what inspired me to write... And so on. So after all there are a couple of thing I could blog about and I’ll get started now!