Sue Fortin: Behind 'The Girl...'

Today, we speak to author, Sue Fortin, who writes romance, mystery and suspense for Harper Collins' imprint, Harper Impulse.

2015 saw a real spike in the word ‘Girl’ being used and, for me, I always think of Stig Larsen books as the forerunner for the trend, with Gillian Flynn following up closely behind. So,

when my publishers said they wanted to call my new novel The Girl Who Lied, my knee-jerk reaction was Really? Hasn’t it been overdone? There are so many ‘Girl’ books out there, did the publishing world really need another one?

My initial reaction was fueled by a debate I had followed on social media where some people positively hated the word ‘girl’ used when clearly the book was about a woman. For some, girl could only refer to a child or, at a push, young adult.

After the email suggesting The Girl Who Lied, I spent the next seven days bombarding my editor with every alternative I could think of. I was like some mad woman possessed, hounding my friends and family for different suggestions. My agent wasn’t spared either and it was, in fact, her reassurance that began to sway me. Indeed, there had even been a recent article about ‘The Girl’ titles, see HERE.

Broadly speaking, when readers see ‘The Girl …’ in the title, it is a clear indication of what to expect. (i) A strong female character (ii) an ordinary woman in an extraordinary situation (iii) a darker read (iii) mystery and suspense.

Slowly, I began to have a change of heart as my book ticked all of the above. It is full of lies, the characters all tell lies, even though they believe it’s for the right reasons. My main character, Erin, was a teenager when she first lied, so perhaps the title was even more suitable than I first thought.

I was finally convinced when I spoke to several other authors, who, without exception, said to run with it and trust the marketing team’s experience. So, that’s exactly what I’ve done and am now totally on-board with the title. Just as an aside, I’ve seen ‘The Woman …’ being used a lot, so perhaps that’s the next trend on the horizon.

About Sue:

Sue Fortin's originally published debut novel was awarded the INDIE Brag medallion and later when published by HarperImpulse was short-listed for the Joan Hessayon Award (2014). Sue was also short-listed for the Festival of Romance, New Talent Award (2013). Her second novel, Closing In, reached number one in the Romantic Suspense Kobo chart at the end of 2014. Sue blogs regularly with the online writing group, The Romaniacs

Lover of cake, dragonflies and France, hater of calories, maths and snakes, Sue was born in Hertfordshire, but had a nomadic childhood, moving often with her family, before eventually settling in West Sussex.

Sue is married with four children, all of whom patiently give her time to write, but, when not behind the keyboard, she likes to spend her time with them, enjoying both the coast and the South Downs, between which they are nestled.

Links:

Facebook Sue Fortin Author

Twitter @suefortin1

Website & Blog www.suefortin.com

Amazon Author Page

Thanks you, Sue, and good luck with your book. 

This blog piece is brought to you by Louisa Heaton on behalf of 'The RNA Blogging Team' 
If you would like to be interviewed for the blog please contact us on elaineeverest@aol.com

Joan Hessayon Award Contender 2016: Catherine Miller

Image courtesy of
Neaves Brothers Photography

Welcome to Catherine Miller, one of the talented contenders for this year's Joan Hessayon Award and graduate of the RNA New Writers' Scheme. Thank you for answering our questions, Catherine.

How long have you been writing? Is this your first published piece?

I’ve dabbled since my teens. I wrote my first ‘novel’ on my Grandad’s computer, then another attempt while at University studying physiotherapy. It wasn’t until illness prevented me from continuing my physio career that I started to take writing seriously. I had short stories and pieces accepted for anthologies early on and it spurred me on to try novel writing again.

How many years were you a member of the NWS and did you submit a manuscript each year?

I was a member for five years and over that time I submitted two different manuscripts on five occasions. Waiting for You has taken three trips as I had twin girls in 2013 and only had a first chapter to hand-in when they were six weeks old. I wrote about my second submission with this manuscript over on The Romaniacs blog. We have been through what can only be described as an epic journey.

What came first, agent or publisher?

Publisher. Carina UK made me an offer nine days after submission and it was a dream come true! All those years of prep were worth it.

How did you find your publisher?

I submitted the first chapter to the Festival of Romance New Talent Award and was shortlisted for the award in 2013. I had a one-to-one with Carina and they wanted to see it when it was complete. Two years later it was finished and I sent it in.

Do you have a contract for one book or more?

I have a two-book contract and I have just sent the second one into my editor to start the revision process.

When was your book published?

March 10^th 2016.

Tell us something about your book

All Fliss Chapron wants is to be pregnant with her much longed for second baby. As the negative tests stack up, dreams of completing her perfect family feel more hopeless every day, but can anyone really be at fault when it comes to having a child…

Waiting for You is a heartfelt look exploring at what cost the shape of a family should take when life isn’t going to plan and finding happiness in the most unexpected places.

What are you currently working on?

I’ve just finished my second book following Dawn as she deals with the aftermath of being a surrogate. It’s called All That Is Left Of Us.

What piece of advice would you give current members of the NWS?

Make writing your priority. It is so easy to let everything else take precedence. In theory having twins should have stopped me from writing, but instead it made me focus more on what I wanted to achieve when I did get time. If you find yourself with a spare ten minutes, make use of it!

Links:

Amazon

Facebook

Website

Twitter @katylittlelady

Thank you, Catherine, we hope you have a fabulous evening at the RNA Summer Party and good luck with your writing career.

The RNA blog is brought to you by

Elaine Everest & Natalie Kleinman

If you would like to write for the RNA blog please contact us on elaineeverest@aol.com

Sue Fortin: Writing Retreat Alternatives

We are thrilled to welcome Sue to the blog today. Both of us love attending writing retreats and enjoy one day retreats as well as our weeks away to the Kent coast with fellow writers, where we drink wine, write and drink wine…  

Over to you, Sue.

Many a time I’ve clicked the ‘like’ button on someone’s Facebook status which says something along the lines of ‘Off to Devon for a writing retreat.’ or ‘Just back from a great writing retreat weekend.’ or ‘Can’t wait to meet up with the lovely [insert author’s name] for a writing retreat’. You may have

detected the common theme here of a writing retreat. Yes, I’d love to go on one and have wished it were me making those sort of status updates. Alas, family commitments, time and money all thoughtfully merging together to make it possible, is a rarity, if not an impossibility, for me.

However, it got me thinking of some possible alternatives to try instead.

Micro Retreat

Change in writing space – sometimes when I’m under a deadline or a bit distracted or have a specific goal for the day, I move from my desk and take my laptop to the dining table. It’s a very small difference in physical space but it can make a lot of difference in head space. It’s surprising how this small change can have a big impact.

Mini Retreat

Phone a friend, a relative, a neighbour – see if you can commandeer their spare room/table/study/office for a couple of hours or, better still, a whole day. When I visit my mum, I like to sit up in her spare bedroom which she has set up as an office. Like the Micro Retreat, it’s the change in space that helps. I can be away from distractions there, I don’t have to answer the house phone, the door or even have any housework calling me.

Day Retreat

Get together with some local writers and hire a village hall for the day. You could all bring a picnic lunch or something towards a group picnic, then allocate a table each and spend as much or as little of your day writing. Break it up nicely with said picnic. Set a word count or some sort of goal and then, at the end of the day or session, compare notes on how well you did.

Friends Retreat

Hire a cottage for the weekend with some friends. At off-peak times of the year, you can get accommodation at very reasonable rates. You could even just hire a mobile home or a lodge at a holiday park for a long weekend. You can set your own pace and goals between you. Or if you want to save some costs, maybe one of the group can put everyone up for a couple of nights. Everyone can chip in with food and drink to help keep costs down. In fact, I did this last year with The Romaniacs. We had a mini Sparkle weekend at Debbie Fuller-White’s in Shropshire. It was great fun and we did actually get some writing done. We enjoyed it so much, we’re doing it all again this year.

It’s an ambition of mine to hold a writing retreat over in France, where we have a second home, and it was this notion that inspired me to write my novella The French Retreat.

Links:

Amazon.co.uk   

 www.suefortin.co.uk

Sue, we love your ideas and France sounds ideal! Good luck with your book.


The RNA blog is brought to you by,

Elaine Everest & Natalie Kleinman

If you would like to write for the blog please contact us on elaineeverest@aol.com

Spotlight on the Sparkling Romaniacs

Anyone attending the recent RNA Conference couldn’t have failed to notice The Romaniac’s ‘Sparkle Spotlight’ event. We asked the ladies to tell us more about the glittering affair.

At the 2015 RNA Conference, The Romaniacs collectively decided to put together a Sparkle Spotlight corner to video some of the delegates and find out a bit more about them. The Romaniacs are eight writers all of whom were members of the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s New Writers’ Scheme and joined together to support each other and blog about their progress.

In December last year, we all met up and had a pre-Christmas weekend, which we named our sparkle weekend and we all came away inspired with lots of ideas. One of those was our Life Cycle Of A Writer feature. Every week, on an eight week cycle, we each do an update on how things are going and we try to feature all aspects of our writing lives. From this, the idea for The Romaniacs Sparkle Spotlight Corner formed. It was a way of saying thank you to the RNA and its members who’ve been so supportive to us and in turn we got to find out about their life cycle as a writer: the highs, the lows, and what they are currently working on.

Having come up with the idea, we contacted the conference organisers (Jan Jones and Jenny Barden) to see if it was possible, and with their approval, we become part of the conference programme.

We got ourselves organised behind the scenes, working out how many appointment slots we could offer and sorting out what equipment would be needed. Posters were designed by Sue Fortin and tickets sent to all those taking part.

Then the conference arrived! The prosecco and chocolates were chilled – we were ready. Originally the plan had been to video in the coffee break area, but the sound of 200+ novelists chatting would have drowned out our interviewees. So instead we camped outside the one-to-one rooms in an area that was just perfect for our red carpet. It also meant that we managed to interview some industry professionals, which was an added bonus. We soon found out Celia J Anderson is a natural interviewer and we all need to work on our clapper board action.

Once home, it was Laura E James who sat down and edited the final videos. She spent a couple of days doing it and we owe her a big thank you for carrying out undoubtedly the most complex of the tasks.

Here is the conference video we put together: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBKFM12lUEw

It gives a real feel of what it was like to be there. The interview videos have been featured on The Romaniacs blog over the past week with more to be released. Hopefully that’s coffee break entertainment covered for a while. It was really a privilege to hear what a whole range of writers have been up to. We’re a talented, determined bunch in the RNA.

And as it’s been so popular, there’s already talk of it happening again next year. So if you are going to conference next year, make sure you sign up for The Romaniacs Sparkly Red Carpet!

Love,

The Romaniacs

The Romaniacs are Catherine Miller, Jan Brigden, Lucie Wheeler, Vanessa Savage, Debbie Fuller-White, Laura James, Sue Fortin and Celia J Anderson.

Thank you ladies, be assured The RNA blogging team will add their names to your list for next year!

The RNA blog is brought to you by,

Elaine Everest & Natalie Kleinman

If you wish to be featured on the blog please contact us on elaineeverest@aol.com

RNA Conference 2012 Kitchen Report – The Romaniac Kitchen, Penrith

It was the first conference for most of The Romaniacs and with seven out of nine of us attending, we already knew we were going to have one heck of a kitchen party. We had our own karaoke backing track system, lead vocals by Laura  James, plenty of wine, several bottles of champagne and Catherine Miller brought some very special Morello Cherry homemade wine, circa 1975, courtesy of her late Grandad. Celia Anderson made some delicious cakes.  Oh, and in true student style, Lucie Wheeler provided the Super Noodles.

It could only have been better if our lovely Jan Brigden and Liz Crump had been there.

To sum up our kitchen party, we thought we’d share a page from our Visitors’ Book …

Friday, 13 July 2012

Dear Kitchen, Thank you for helping me rediscover the joy singing can bring. And also the pain. Love, Laura.

Nikki Goodman : Ah, how will I ever forget the Romaniacs’ kitchen? There was wine (some of it homemade vintage circa ’75 that threatened toxic shock syndrome), there were snacks and there was singing! Best of all was the laughter.  A kitchen beyond all compare.

What goes on in the kitchen, stays in the kitchen. Except when it’s videoed and put on Facebook and You Tube. (Laura)

They say the kitchen is always the hub of the party, and in this case, it most certainly was! (Lucie)

THIS is what Romantic Novelists look like! (Debbie White)

Jane Holland : Those three glasses of 1975 Morello Cherry homemade wine will stay with me for life.

The Romaniacs needed a good get together and what better way than to do it with friends. That and alcohol which could change the way you see the world. That’s why at the time we were all singing like angels. (Catherine)

Sue Moorcroft : That was a great night! The homemade wine from 1975 scared me a bit but when I offered to buy some ‘real’ wine, the soothing, ‘Oh, we’ve got some of that if you want it,’ made me feel like a lightweight. The Romaniacs were fantastic company, every one of them. I just hope I’m invited to their kitchen parties in the future. Xxx

We may have had a naughty kitchen, but it wasn’t dirty, having been sterilised with alcohol. (Laura)

Ever since joining the RNA, I’ve aspired to the heady heights of having one of the Naughty Kitchens at a conference.  And now, thanks to some wonderful company, a lot of alcohol and loud singing, I think I can say I’ve done it – and got the YouTube evidence to prove it. (Vanessa)

Mandy James : My accommodation was next to the Romaniacs’. How did I know? The raucous caterwauling and shrieks of laughter gave it away.

I left my quieter party and went to investigate … they wouldn’t let me leave, even though I insisted I didn’t want a drink or to sing at the top of my lungs. But eventually I had a small sherry … When in Rome-aniacs … see what I did there?

Two hours later the police came to close us down. Well, OK, a slight exaggeration, there was only one arrest. We had an amazing time and I recommend that the naughty kitchen be free on the NHS!

When I found out we were in student accommodation, I decided that I needed use this opportunity as research (I got that tip from Jane Wenham-Jones) and what better way than to fully immerse myself into student life. What a kitchen party that was. Sadly, any further attempt at emulating a student ended on Sunday - even now I am still trying to recover from the weekend. (Sue)

The kitchen party was to the Romaniacs and their guests what opium was to great authors of the past – inspirational, but painful the next day. (Celia)

A messy kitchen is the sign of a happy kitchen, and ours was delirious. (Debbie)

It was always going to be the Romaniacs’ kitchen. (Laura)