The Debut Author Series: Liz De Jager
The Learning Curve - Insights
from Debut Authors
Nicky Schmidt
For many the road to publication is
long and fraught. For others, a publishing deal comes relatively
easily. Those who are still trudging the path may find it hard to
imagine what it’s like to be a debut author, and authors with a few
books to their name may only dimly recall the original experience.
So what is it like? Does life change?
Do dreams become reality and with a deal to your name does it all
become plain sailing? And what is the process from slushpile to
contract to published novel actually like? I asked Liz
De Jager about her journey to publication.
From the time you first started writing, how long did it take to get a publishing deal?
I looked back and
found thoughts and snippets for what is now Banished kicking around
from around the end of 2009, beginning 2010. I wrote Banished (it
was then called Grimm Tales) edited it and got longlisted for the
Undiscovered Voices competition in 2011 but I didn’t make the
shortlist. However, due to an agent reading Grimm and giving me some
feedback (not pleasant) I threw in the towel for 3 months sulking,
then thought: don’t be stupid, it’s one person’s opinion and
then ended up dumping 70k and rewriting Grimm and it became Banished.
I landed an agent in 2012 (during the Olympics!) and got a bookdeal
in 2013 and I was published in February 2014. Retrospectively, it
didn’t feel long at all but whilst going through it…it was HELL.
But I made it.
It is said that writers have to persevere and have a tough skin – did you find you grew in endurance and perseverance? Did you ever think about giving up? What made you keep going?
I thought about
giving up all the time. It was awful. But then I started getting
really impatient and grumpy and my husband would come downstairs and
glare at me and shout at me for being silly and tell me to get
writing. It helped me calm down. I also have really good friends,
all writers, who formed an incredible support group. Of course,
there are the SCBWI socials and classes. Going to these really
focussed me and I felt myself bucking up and sticking to my guns.
How did you feel when you first landed your deal? Did it feel like the world had changed? How long did the excitement last?
I couldn’t
believe it. I still am a bit ‘Are we even sure this is real? It’s
not a joke? No one’s going to take back my contract?’ I don’t
think these feelings ever go away, the doubt and self-doubt and the
worry that somehow it’s a lie and someone was having you on. My
world didn’t change, what did change though was the way some people
treated me, especially in my dayjob, which was awkward because I
think they expected me to become super wealthy and stop working or
something? What larks!
If you think about the amount of work you did on your story pre-deal, how much more work did you have to do once you’d landed your deal – did you realise the real work had only just begun and how surprised were you by that?
Uch. So much
work. It doesn’t stop. What a lot of very new writers / aspiring
writers intially may not understand is how much work there is to
writing. The actual writing part but also, once you’ve got an
agent, keeping them informed of where you are in what you’re doing
and once you’ve got a bookdeal, you’re part of a team. It’s
you, your editor, the editorial department and your copywriter and
very
importantly: your publicity person. Everyone pulls together to help
your writing be the best it can be, but in the end it still comes
down to you because you have to be more focussed now and seriously
pull your weight. I tend to joke with my editor, telling her she’s
got the hard job but then she just pats me on the shoulder and tells
me that no, really, that’s my job.
As the creator of your story, having always been in control of your characters and your plot, how did you find taking on board someone else’s comments and suggestions – was it like losing control and did you ever argue with your editor?
I don’t know if
anyone found this strange but that first meeting when you go in to
talk to people about your book, not necessarily your agent, but an
outsider,
someone who’s read your book and made that character their own in
their own way…that is the strangest thing. It feels surreal
listening to other people talk about your writing and your characters
as if they are real living breathing people. Because usually up to
that point they only ever lived in your head. It’s incredible and
frightening too. So yes, it was strange experiencing that but
crucially, because of having really good beta readers and strong crit
partners, you learn how to take critique and you listen and you take
it on board. Your editor only ever wants your book to be amazing and
they want – this is a business, don’t ever forget that – it to
sell and for you to be a success. So they will push you and make
sure that what you give them is good.
Assuming you took the majority of suggestions on board, how do you feel it impacted on your story?
Huge impact. I
now talk to my editor about my main character’s motivations a lot,
about the secondary characters because I value her input. We
occasionally meet up to talk about the world development and try and
keep things simple as it’s easy to go completely overboard when
writing urban fantasy. She steers me to make sensible decisions and
not kill off my main characters. Apparently that’s bad.
How have you found working with illustrators and cover designers? How much involvement have you had with the graphic content of your book (covers or illustrations)?
Before we even
got to the edits of Banished my editor and I spent about a week
emailing back and forth and chatting on the phone about imagery and
covers of books we both liked, what we thought worked well and what didn’t work well and the direction Tor would like to take
with the covers for the trilogy. I set up pinterest boards a long
time ago and as I’m a visual writer I have to have reference
points. I need to know what my characters look like, what the houses
/ castles / forests / locations look like that I write about. I
wrote a detailed Word document explaining what my main characters
looked like; supplied them with my pinterest board links and set up a
private board that only my editor and their in-house designer had
access to of book covers I utterly love. It was intense and
frightening knowing that someone else would be interpreting my book
and designing that cover. I really don’t like bragging but
seriously, Banished’s cover is one incredibly pretty thing and I’m
so proud of the PanMac Art department for working so hard on it.
Do you think that having had your first book published, your writing life will be easier and your career will be on track? Do you think it will all be easier the second time round?
Wow, what a
question! No, it’s not easier. Your first book that you write is
at your leisure, without someone giving you deadlines, you get the
chance to try something new and challenge yourself. With book 2, as
part of a series, all that playing is gone and you now have deadlines
and you need to be focussed and dedicated and it is so scary. What’s
also scary is that there are now expectations: people have read book
1 and they’ve enjoyed it. So they email you, they tweet you, they
Facebook you or tell you in person and there’s this impatience
that they’re waiting to know what happens next. And oh gosh, that
is both thrilling but also terrifying. This is basically where I am
now. I’ve done book 2’s edits and am waiting for copy edits to
come back and whilst that’s happening, I’m trying to figure out
the start of book 3. *gulps*
Aside from the editing, what other aspects of being an author have you had to come to terms with?
The marketing /
PR thing – that’s weird! I am very good at talking to other
people about their books because that’s what I did as a blogger and
reviewer for eight years. So for me to go from that to being Liz
the writer who has a book to sell?
That was incredibly strange and I still struggle with it. The week
before and after publication was insane! I did a blogtour and there
were so many people sending me pictures and artwork of Banished out
in bookshops and it is incredibly overwhelming. But so cool. The
other thing that I had to get to grips with is the silly admin
stuff: keeping receipts of books I buy for research (what a hardship)
and making sure I respond in a timely way to emails from bloggers and
reviewers but also make sure I do follow-up emails to my editor and
publicity team. Occasionally I must also remember to tweet and not
just talk nonsense but remind people I have a book out. Man, it’s
hard.
What have been your biggest lessons since landing a deal?
That you can’t
do everything all at once. You have to structure your time and be
realistic about things and to think before you say ‘yes’ to doing
too many things all at once.
What one key piece of advice would you offer unpublished writers when working with an editor for the first time?
Listen. Don’t
just hear what you want to hear from them, but listen to what they’re
telling you without prejudice. That’s so hard to do because we are
no longer kids. Kids listen without prejudice. They take things in
and go oh yeah, that makes sense and
that’s why it would work. Unless
you are incredibly talented and a savant and your prose is lyrically
beautiful, you have to listen with every fibre you have inside you
because you do not know what’s best. Neither does your editor, to
be honest, but he / she might have a better idea than you and
together you will end up having awesome ideas together.
Now that your first book is out – what next?
I’m waiting for
copy-edits on book two as I’ve mentioned, but in the meantime, I’m
figuring out book 3 and also giving thought as to what I want to do
once the trilogy’s complete and I’m filling notebooks with what
if thoughts.
Liz
De Jager’s book THE BLACKHART LEGACY -
BANISHED: BOOK 1 is published by Tor, an imprint of Pan Macmillan.
It is available via all good
bookshops (bricks and mortar as well as online) in the UK, South
Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
SCBWI-BI “member abroad”, Nicky Schmidt is an ex scriptwriter, copywriter, and marketing, brand and communications director who "retired" early to follow a dream. Although she still occasionally consults on marketing, communications and brand strategies, mostly she writes YA fiction (some of which leans towards New Adult) in the magical realism and supernatural genres. When not off in some other world, Nicky also writes freelance articles - mostly lifestyle and travel - for which she does her own photography. Her work has been published in several South African magazines and newspapers. As well as being a regular feature writer for Words & Pictures, Nicky also runs the SCBWI-BI YA e-critique group. Nicky lives in Cape Town with her husband and two rescue Golden Retrievers.
Great interview! I'm so proud of you, Lovely Liz!
ReplyDeleteThank you gorgeous Sue Hyams! It's all your fault. You and Mark and Mo and Paolo. :D
DeleteReally interesting series. Thanks, Nicky and Liz.
ReplyDeleteGreat info thank you both for the insights :-)
ReplyDeleteHonest and refreshing - thanks Liz and Nicky - I loved Banished, looking forward to the next one!
ReplyDeleteI'm enjoying this series, which ties in nicely as I've just finished reading Banished, and loved it.
ReplyDeleteThat was brilliant Liz and Nicky - these are so exciting to read!
ReplyDeleteI loved this interview - great questions, Nicky and very honest, thoughtful and insightful answers Liz.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your interview, Liz. I had the same feeling of surprise hearing other people talking about the characters and world from my book too - it makes it feel very real.
ReplyDelete