A Novel Idea

Could this extraordinary year be the one when you finally become an author? Jess Thompson talks to those who have successfully undertaken the journey to being published

In 2015 ‘author’ was the most desired job in Britain – with 60% of nearly 15,000 of men and women making it their first choice in a YouGov poll. The UK publishing industry income was £6 billion in 2018, so how do you become a part of it?

What are some of the things to consider if you’re currently writing a novel, or researching for a non-fiction book? And how do you then get it published?

Best-selling author Adele Parks and literary agent Sara O’Keeffe will be holding writing masterclasses at the Dorchester Literary Festival (10 –17 October), so we thought we would start by asking them.

THE AUTHOR

When Adele Parks wrote her first novel, Playing Away, she’d never been on a writing course; didn’t know anyone in publishing; had never met an author; and, rather like something out of a movie, when she first wrote to Jonny Geller (now one of the stellar agents in publishing), “He was just the new boy and I was just the new girl,” says Adele.

At that stage she was working as the marketing director for a management consultancy and did much of her writing on planes and in hotel rooms. “Now I really plot my novels, but I didn’t back then,” she admits. “I tried writing multiple viewpoints, but realised I wasn’t quite up to it; then I changed to first person, thinking my rather unsympathetic heroine would be more likable that way. I didn’t even write chronologically. I’d write a scene and think, that’s quite funny, I should use it somewhere. Or I’d get to a boring bit, like describing someone’s house, and think, I’ll just come back to that.”