Interview with Julia Crouch

NaNoWriMo Success

An Interview with Julia Crouch

Love it or hate it, most writers, agents and publishing people have strong feelings about National Novel Writing Month - or NaNoWriMo, as it is more commonly known. For those that don't know, the whole point of NaNoWriMo is to write the first draft of a novel in a month. No editing, no fiddling; you just get the words down on the page and keep on going until you type "The End". Participants of NaNoWriMo have shown that it is possible to write a novel-length manuscript in a month. Detractors usually respond by pointing out that what is written is a pile of cack.

But then... isn't that what first drafts are about? Seriously, I hope the first drafts of my novels never see the light of day, else my writing career would be over before it started. For newbie writers that first draft can be a daunting, impossible project - after all, writing a novel is far from easy. NaNoWriMo gives you a way to break through that.

But don't take my word for it. Meet Julia Crouch. Julia's debut novel, Cuckoo, began life as a NaNoWriMo project, and has just been published by Headline books. It is a disturbing psychological thriller that plays on the fear of how well we know the people around us. Well written and enjoying positive reviews, Julia is the latest proof that NaNoWriMo can work. Don't just take my word for it, though. Over to Julia:

Hello and welcome to the Literary Project! Have you always wanted to be a writer? What made you stop dreaming and put pen to paper?

Yes, I have, but no-one in my family did anything like that, so it just seemed like an impossible dream. I was always writing stories and poems when I was young, but it was a secret activity.

I did a Drama degree and went on to devise and direct plays with a theatre company I co-founded - sort of writing plays with actors. I did this for about ten years, and also did some what I called 'sit down and write' plays, and wrote several screenplays and radio plays. But I never managed to make enough money to live on, and then I had children, which made the money issue more acute, so I retrained as a graphic designer - a job I enjoyed, that I could do from home and which paid well.

However, the story-telling never went away. So when my youngest – who is 11 now – started school, I did an MA in Sequential Illustration, where I wrote and illustrated two children's books. I realised the writing was what I enjoyed most, so I did a couple of Open University courses and discovered the joys of long prose fiction, but I didn't really have the confidence to commit a year of my life to seeing if I could develop a full length novel. My tutor told me about NaNoWriMo, and that's where I discovered that I could actually do it.

What type of writer are you?

I write the first draft very quickly. I liken it to running through a forest with your hands over your eyes, trying to find a way through. Then the second draft is slower, more considered - you go back, keep your eyes open, and examine your route to see if it could be better, or more thoroughly trod. Second drafts seem to take me about a year. My daily word count is high - anything from 2000-5000 words a day. But I learned to touch type when I was a nipper, so that really helps - I type as fast as I think.

Your debut novel, Cuckoo, was initially written as part of NaNoWriMo. Can you tell us about your experience of this event?

Going back to question 1, the obstacle for me and writing was self-belief - conquering those voices that mutter 'this is utter crap' as you get the words down. NaNoWriMo is all about doing battle with your inner editor, so it really worked for me. I have now done three NaNoWriMos. I love the energy and connectedness it gives me.

Did you always intend to develop Cuckoo into a saleable work?

I didn't. I wrote the kind of novel I wanted to read. I think to write for selling is a big mistake. You have to do it because you enjoy what you do. In any case, publication seemed to be such an unattainable dream that I didn't even consider it.

How many redrafts / how long did it take to get it from the first draft to the piece you submitted?

The draft I submitted to get my agent was the third. It was a sort of journey of discovery. After NaNoWriMo, I put it away till January, read it through, thought perhaps I could make it into something. I thought about doing an MA, but if you already have one, it is prohibitively expensive to do another, so I spent a little bit of money on some literary life-coaching with the marvellous Jacqui Lofthouse. She helped me focus and believe in my writing, so I spent the next nine months of my spare time working on the second draft. The third draft was really more of a line-edit.

Do you have an agent?

I do have a very good agent, Simon Trewin at United Agents.

I know nothing about publishing, I'm not good at selling myself, I don't have any legal background. Simon does all of that and more. He got me a three book deal with Headline with a strong enough advance to allow me to give up my day job. United Agents also have excellent foreign and media sales departments, so I've been seeing quite a lot of action on those fronts as well. If you're ready for publication, an agent will pick you up. It's just a matter of hitting the right desk at the right time.

Also, if someone likes my work, I'll say yes to them out of gratitude. An agent is important to someone like me because otherwise, I'd have settled on publication for a bar of chocolate. I'd have given them a bar of chocolate to publish me.

Can you talk us through your path to publication between finishing redrafting Cuckoo and seeing it hit the shelves of your local bookstore?

I set my sights on Simon from the very first. I went to a talk he gave in Brighton for New Writing South, and I thought 'that's my man'.

I sent him the first 8000 words and a synopsis (folowing his guidelines) and I waited. Luckily, I know someone who works in United Agents - in a completely different department to him - and he wandered downstairs a couple of times to ask if Simon had read my submission, so I think I got a bit of help in rising to the top of the slush pile. I don't feel bad about that. My friend was the only contact I had at all in publishing, so why not? If the work didn't stand on its own feet once read, then he wouldn't have got back.

Eventually, he did get back and said he'd like to see more, so after about a month's last-minute faffing on my part, I sent him the complete manuscript just before Christmas 2009. He called at the beginning of February, saying he loved it. He gave me some great editorial suggestions, which I acted on and sent to him. I went up to meet him, he signed me and within a week I had a meeting at Headline, which went very well - we got on like a house on fire. They came back with a pre-emptive bid and, after a bit of negotiation over territorial rights - again, something only an agent can credibly deal with - the deal was struck.

I then worked with Leah, my brilliant and perceptive editor, for two more drafts. Then there was a line edit with the copy editor, picking up random typos, factual and grammatical errors - I was amazed at how many were found in what I considered, by that point, to be a clean manuscript. Then there were the proof copies, which Headline make like a real book, so that's a very exciting part of the process.

Has anything surprised you about the publishing industry?

How much is still done on paper - great chunks of manuscript being couriered around! Also, having been an outsider with, as I saw it, very little chance of getting 'in', I tended to demonise publishers - seeing them as some sort of untouchable Gods. But in fact, every single person I have met has been completely lovely. It's the nicest business I have ever worked in (and remember, I used to be in theatre!).

What's the best writing advice you've ever had – and did you follow it?

Show, don't tell. I try to follow it all the time. And an offshoot of that is try to avoid adverbs, particularly following a speech tag. If you have written your scene well, you don't need to tell your reader how someone says something - it should be obvious.
The other one is if you don't actually write, then you are not a writer.

Tell us a bit about Cuckoo

It's a twisty psychological thriller told through the eyes of Rose, the main character. Her newly widowed best friend Polly comes to stay in the house that Rose and her husband Gareth have spent two years turning into their dream home. It doesn't go well.
I wanted to look at the darker side of attraction, the flimsiness of happiness, and the lengths to which one can go with self-delusion. But the whole thing started with the situation of the main characters, the setting of the house and an obsession with Nick Cave's album, The Boatman's Call, which was partly inspired by his affair with PJ Harvey.

How did publication day feel?

Strange. I got a bunch of flowers from my publishers, shared a bottle of Prosecco in the evening with my husband, but spent the rest of the day just writing. I'm a bit late with my second novel!
The next day was the launch though, and that was much more like it - new frock, wine and nibbles in Waterstones for about 130 people, a reading, lots of signings. It felt like a wedding without a husband.

What are you working on now?

Novel #2. It's another psychological thriller. The Wayland family - Lara and Marcus and their three children, 4 year old Jack and 16 year old twins Bella and Olly – leave England to spend a long hot summer in Trout Island, upstate New York, where Marcus has secured an acting job that might, finally, see his career lift off.

Still reeling from the abortion Marcus talked her into, Lara's hopes for the summer also include learning to love her husband again. All she wants is a quiet, happy life. But a chance meeting with an old friend makes that simple ambition impossible...

And finally, can you sum up a key piece of advice for aspiring writers in one sentence?

Learn your craft.

Julia's website can be accessed here and she tweets over here. If you would like to learn more about NaNoWriMo then stop by their website and have a nose around. I look forward to seeing more former NaNoWriMo-ers on the Project in the future :-)