It’s a real pleasure today to be joining the first anniversary blog blitz for The Second Cup by Sarah Marie Graye: originally published on 19 July 2017, the extended edition (including character interviews) was published on 12 February 2018.
Would your life unravel if someone you knew committed suicide? Theirs did.
Faye knows her heart still belongs to her first love, Jack. She also knows he might have moved on, but when she decides to track him down, nothing prepares her for the news that he’s taken his own life.
Faye is left wondering how to move forward – and whether or not Jack’s best friend Ethan will let her down again. And the news of Jack’s death ripples through the lives of her friends too.
Abbie finds herself questioning her marriage, and wondering if she was right to leave her first love behind. Poor Olivia is juggling her job and her boyfriend and trying to deal with a death of her own. And Jack’s death has hit Beth the hardest, even though she never knew him.
Is Beth about to take her own life too?
I’m so sorry I haven’t yet had the opportunity to read the book, but I’m delighted to welcome author Sarah Marie Graye as my guest today. Now her novel is a year old, Sarah Marie is looking back at the various writing processes she tried in order to get those all important words down on the page.
When you start writing a novel, you think the writing itself is the process. Then you finish the first draft, and you realise that, no, it’s the editing that’s the process. But the process actually starts before any of this – at the idea development stage.
Whether you’re a plotter or a panster (i.e. you write by the seat of your pants), you start off with a germ of an idea that requires love, care and attention in order for it to grow into a full-blown story.
With your first novel, you discover which processes work for you by trial and error – and most of us have to stumble through our first novel blindly! Reflecting on the various processes is a really useful way for an author to learn what they should or shouldn’t do next time.
However, talking to a lot of “second book” indie novelists, I believe I may have discovered a pattern that links which type of writer you are to which types of idea development help.
My caveat here is that my theory is in no way scientific and is based purely on anecdotal evidence!
I believe there are two main types of writer and everyone sits on a sliding scale between the two. Depending where you are on the scale depends which idea formulation processes work for you.
The first type is the Storyteller – they are driven by the story and just happen to use words to tell them, although they could just as easily use images. These authors quite often talk about being able to see their book play out in their heads as a film and they simply write it down.
The second type is the Wordsmith – they see patterns in words, which grow to form ideas. These authors think up their books in words and sometimes have fully formed sentences pop into their heads.
The terms aren’t about distinguishing the quality of the writing – Storytellers may write beautifully and Wordsmiths may tell awesome stories. It’s about the point of origin for their creative process.
It’s a generally accepted idea within the publishing world that you should read while you write in order to improve your writing. But novelists I’ve spoken to who identify as around 90% Storyteller often don’t do any reading in the weeks where they’re working on their novel.
Instead they seem more likely to binge-watch TV, as this seems to stimulate the “internal film reel” into action. Wordsmiths, however, will find themselves reading the back of food packets as they seek to absorb as many words as possible!
Storytellers will not only chat about their ideas to anyone who will listen, but they will also spend more time chatting to people in general, using that interaction to get their creative juices flowing.
Whereas Wordsmiths will ponder internally on their work and are more likely to have sparks of inspiration when in the bath or when walking in the park – activities where they can indulge in some serious mind wandering.
I believe I’m about 75% Wordsmith and have discovered that walks help best when I take a route I know well and meander along rather than travelling at any great pace. I make sure I have my phone with me so I can dictate sentences to myself in order to capture them as they form.
I’ve also discovered I have more productive writing days if I don’t watch any TV the day before because the visual images will be stronger than my word-focused writing thoughts.
If my theory is true, during writing periods, Storytellers should watch more TV and up the socialising, whereas Wordsmiths should read more and increase time spent on solo pursuits.
I found that absolutely fascinating, Sarah Marie – thank you for being my guest today.
Giveaway
With thanks to Sarah Marie and tour organiser Rachel’s Random Resources, I’m delighted to offer the chance to win one of three signed copies of The Second Cup (open internationally). Here’s the Rafflecopter for entry:
Terms and Conditions The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.
About the author
Sarah Marie Graye was born in Manchester in 1975, to English Catholic parents. To the outside world Sarah Marie’s childhood followed a relatively typical Manchester upbringing, until aged nine, when she was diagnosed with depression.
It’s a diagnosis that has stayed with Sarah Marie over three decades, and something she believes has coloured every life decision, including the one to write a novel.
Sarah Marie wrote The Second Cup as part of an MA Creative Writing practice as research degree at London South Bank University – where she was the vice-chancellor’s scholarship holder.
Sarah Marie was diagnosed with ADHD in November 2017 and published an extended edition of The Second Cup in February 2018 that included character interviews so she could diagnose one of her characters with the same condition.
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