Tuesday 26 June 2012

How to write a bestseller: tips from 5 top authors

Some time ago, I asked five notable South African writers to share their advice on writing a bestselling novel. Their answers show that it’s all about hard work, humility and perseverance.  
‘I don’t think it is possible to set out to write a hit. Readers are smart: they can tell a con at fifty paces,’ said Margie Orford, author of the internationally bestselling Clare Hart crime series. ‘So, feel with your body, write with your heart, edit with your head. Write about what you know, but if you don’t know something then go it find out. Remember this: It takes a very long time to become an overnight success, so work harder than you ever thought possible. Then work some more. Don’t give up. Don’t complain. Just do it again. And then again. And if it’s not working? That thing about killing your darlings is true: if a chapter doesn’t fit, then cut it out, step over the blood and move on.’
John van de Ruit, author of the Spud series, said, ‘Forget about writing a bestselling novel. There is no magic formula for making your book reach people, and I would think that if world domination is your single-minded aim, you are setting yourself up to fail. Rather attempt to write the greatest book you can. Concentrate on the fundamentals of character, plotting, dramatic action, rhythm and subtext, and let the numbers take care of themselves. Don’t be precious about your words, nor marvel at your own ability. Remove ego from your writing, and remember you are a servant to your characters and the invisible presence with the power to captivate.’
‘Write your truth as you see it,’ advised Sindiwe Magona, whose novel Beauty’s Gift Beauty’s Gift was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. ‘Share the feelings that moved you to write about the subject. Submit yourself to the dream as it unfolds through you; with any luck, you shall be as surprised as your readers at what is revealed in the process.’

‘I wish I knew the secret,’ said Lauren Liebenberg, the former investment banker whose first novel, The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam, was short-listed for the Orange Prize for New Writers, ‘but this much I do know: you’ve got to take a sober look at every word you’ve written and ask yourself what would make your reader care enough to turn the next page. And the thing that jumps out and grabs readers by the throat is raw, gritty honesty; it’s what brings characters to life and what binds readers to them.’

‘I subscribe to Bessie Head’s words on writing Maru: “…I also wanted the novel to be so beautiful and so magical that I, as the writer, would long to read and re-read it,” said Kgebetli Moele, author of the award-winning debut novel Room 207, and The Book of the Dead. ‘If any section of the writing gets dull, I rewrite or delete, because if the writer cannot read it, how can he or she expect others to read it? There are a dozen good tales I left at the side of the road because they had turned dull and I could not un-dull them.’

Tuesday 19 June 2012

How to become Google’s No. 1 website for writers

The 2012 Cape Town Book Fair, held this weekend past, fizzed with digital delights. The book is not dead, it seems; it’s just moving increasingly onto screens and handsets across the globe.

During the trade session on Friday morning, I attended a seminar on website marketing by Paula Wynne, author of Pimp My Site.  If you have a website, you need to know about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Which means... 

1. Keywords are, er, key. When someone googles a product like yours, you want to be sure your website pops up at the top of their list. When someone who wants to write a novel or learn more about writing fiction searches for an online creative writing course, The Peacock Book Project should ideally come up as Number One in the Google rankings.

2. As seen above, long-tail keywords are best – in other words, a few relevant, specific words strung together to form phrases that best describe what you do. (In my case ‘online creative writing course’ and ‘write a novel’ and ‘write a book’) So I could link them up into a coherent sequence that might read, ‘Interested in writing a book? The Peacock Book Project is the world’s first online creative writing course to offer an actual template on which you can write your own novel.’ Use these long-tail keywords whenever you write something on the internet, and your Google ranking will climb.

3. Ensure these keywords feature in your website’s metadata – the description of your product or service that comes up under your website’s name during an internet search. Metadata encompasses your page title, alt tags, description and keywords. Insert your keywords into the metadata on each page of your site. Mine should read something like this:

Write a book with The Peacock Book Project.
www.peacockproject.net
An online creative writing course that teaches the art of fiction writing and helps you write your own novel.
 
4. Weave these keywords creatively throughout blog copy and another material you publish on the internet, including captions for photos and descriptions of YouTube film clips. You want tentacles extended into as many different internet arenas as possible, giving possible customers multiple ways to find your website. 

5. Become a provider/publisher of content – content that will interest your market and drive them to your website.

6. Present yourself as an expert in your field, and offer analysis and comment on trends and developments related to your service or product. When journalists google a topic you’ve commented on, your name and credentials will link you up with them. In my case, I’d say, ‘Catriona Ross, author and developer of The Peacock Book Project, is passionate about self-development, creative writing and online education.’   

7. Link your website and blog copy to good quality links, such as newspaper and magazine names (where relevant to your site/service). If you’ve had a write-up in the Sunday Times, or been featured in a magazine such as Woman and Home, these links are valuable: Google spots the reputable brand name, and bumps up your website’s ranking.

8. Never write ‘click here to read XXXX’, says Paula. Rather use a long-tailed keyword and hyperlink that takes readers to other pages from your website. So, in my case, I wrote an article for Woman & Home on how I had a dream of writing a novel from a wine farm.

9. Market yourself online. Do a little bit everyday, even if it’s just a tweet.

10. Make sure you’re putting high-quality content out there, in relevant places. My market is writers and novelists, so writing forums are a good place to start.  

So I have a few items on my www.peacockproject.net To Do List. As for the elderly gentleman who attended the seminar, about to launch a website for his Afrikaans translations of Shakespeare’s works, and artist Heidi de Freitas, who’s going to unveil a website for international painting sales with the help of her tech-savvy teenage daughter, good luck!

Friday 8 June 2012

Keep calm and carry on writing

As a writer or other creative, it's crucial that you learn to handle the quiet times. You know, the Absolutely Nothing's Happening in My Writing Career times. Actress Joanna Lumley, 65, of Absolutely Fabulous fame, shares her philosophy on the subject in a Woman & Home (June 2012 issue) interview: 'I believe strongly in discipline - in work, in the way you live, in the way you approach every day. You have to make yourself do things. When you're busy, it's easy to be disciplined, but when you're unemployed, unwanted, out of work - which happens as an actor - you have to discipline yourself to do something. It's about getting up, having faith and hope, and doing everything you can to make life agreeable.'

The secret to success in all things is not giving up, and taking a longer view of your writing career. As Tom Butler-Bowdon, author of the inspirational book Never Too Late to be Great, points out, if you see your productive life as being from age 20 to 80 - a total of 60 years - at age 35 you still have three-quarters to go! 'When we give ourselves slightly longer timeframes, anything is possible,' he writes. 'At the age you are now, many famous and remarkable people were only getting into their stride. Given longer life spans, it is likely that you have more time than you think to achieve your goals.' What if you give up just as you're about to approach a breakthrough? Take a break, by all means, but don't give up on your dreams.

Anyway, the pre-breakthrough period is apparently to be treasured. It's a quiet, golden age in which you, the writer, can experiment, indulge your whims, and generally do whatever you like. Which bestselling author trotting round the world on endless book tours can say that? I remember a conversation I had at a Cape Town party with Richard Mason many years ago. A fellow aspirant novelist friend and I were telling our tales of unpublished woe to the author, who sold his first novel The Drowning People to a publisher as a 19-year-old Oxford student. Sure, he shot to international bestseller lists and became an admired literary figure at an almost unheard-of young age, but he paid the price with a breakdown a few years later. I remember this handsome, passionate young man shaking his head and saying to us with urgency, 'Enjoy this time - really,  you must - because once you've become a success, you can't get that time back.'

If you have time to savour the craft of story telling, be thankful. And don't stop just because nothing seems to be happening. Give it time, and it will.

Monday 4 June 2012

A Writing Room with a View

Every novelist needs a place. A literary hangout. A corner of the world conducive to free-range thought and fresh prose. For some, this might mean a laptop in a garage, away from the sounds of Top Gear and kids squabbling. However, if, like me, you’d prefer something a little more like Pemberley, Mr Darcy’s estate in Pride and Prejudice, consider retreating to the Winelands.
An ex-city journalist married to a tango-dancing farmer, I write in a sweet spot between Paarl, Stellenbosch and Franschhoek, a neighbourhood heaving with all the ingredients of a novel.
We have Characters, from sabre-wielding winemakers and Méthode Cap Classique pioneers, to celebrity chefs like Reuben and Margot Janse, and a diamond mogul set high on a hill. 
We have Conflict. Yeah, I also thought ‘harvest time’ sounded cool and rustic – until I realised it lasted seven months and is the annual Olympics of relationship endurance.
We have Heroes. Like me, when Tango Farmer phoned in the middle of the night to say, ‘Ag sorry, man, the motorbike’s run out of petrol’. I had to bundle the baby into the bakkie and rescue him from a neighbouring wine estate, where he was checking pumps by moonlight. 
We have Romance. Though Tango Farmer spent Valentine’s Day pumping water from the Berg River into his parched dam, we did celebrate harvest’s end at the Wellington oesfees, lazing under oak trees while Die Heuwels Fantasties crooned, and savouring The Stone Kitchen’s wild boar burgers with sage and apple. While dancing tango at Slaley wine estate, we managed to fall in love again.
We have Drama. From farm attacks to raging mountain fires every summer to porcupines raiding the herb garden: take your pick.
We have Villains, such as the nonchalant Namibian syndicate who swept through the neighbourhood a few months ago, cutting holes in fences and whistling while they cleaned out farmhouses of computers and flat-screen TVs.
We have Plot, always thickening. Some say they saw a ghost bidder driving up prices at the auction of a Stellenbosch wine estate. And according to neuro-psychologist Mark Solms, the ghost of Tango Farmer’s great-great grandfather walks the garden at Solms-Delta, and flicks the light switches in his psychoanalyst wife’s consulting room (only after hours, though). 
We have Setting. Jagged mountains, majestic valleys and purple-prose sunsets to make a book editor blush. You’ll have to tone everything down if you’re writing literary fiction.
We have Inspiration. Novelists need lavish inner resources to draw upon, ideally spending two hours a week filling the ‘inner well’, says Julia Cameron, creativity expert and author of The Artist’s Way. Catch an art movie and a glass of local wine at Le Quartier Français’s plush mini cinema, read French poetry in a Franschhoek chocolate shop, and partake of our seasonal pleasures. Autumn on the farm means black-skinned figs with opulent pink flesh, and porcini mushrooms blooming in the pine forest behind our house, their sexy, rich flavour best enjoyed in risottos or simmered in cream with tagliatelle, fresh herbs and parmesan.
Winter is drawing in, and I can almost hear the rustling of pages, the soft crack of book spines from the Franschhoek Literary Festival. It’s time to sip Terra del Capo Sangiovese beside a fire and catch up on reading, flirting, doodling, journaling. Hey, you might end up writing a book, or initiating some other passionate activity. As Agatha Christie remarked, ‘I don’t think necessity is the mother of invention; invention arises directly from idleness, possible also from laziness.’ So if you can’t go five minutes without checking your Blackberry, unplug from daily life and find your true place in the Winelands.