What do I know anyway?

The 'What do I know Anyway?' section (located towards the bottom of the write hand column) is here for the purpose of sharing the ups and downs of a new writer.

I started writing casually around 1999 as a creative outlet. I'd always painted until then but found words easier and more rewarding to shift around on paper. I abandoned my first attempt at a book in 2002 after writing about 200 pages which I thought were pretty good. I sent it out to about 20 publishers and received 3 rejections and a lot of silence.

Over the next years I took some writing courses, joined a writing club, built up a network of readers to give me constructive feedback and learned how to critique others' work. I would also say that I learned how to read properly; to really notice what was being said and how the author constructed characters, events and drama. During that time I became enamoured with the short story, reading as many as I could and writing about 5 myself. I also wrote a screenplay and another novel- which for the sake of argument we will call my first novel. The only thing I ever tried to get published during that time was non-fiction pieces in local publications- articles, interviews and reviews.

By the time I started on my second novel in 2005 I was starting to feel like I might possibly-one day be...gulp... a writer. I couldn't not write.

I approached my second book in a totally different fashion- I felt equipped, like I knew what I needed to do to make this work. Starting it's life as two different short stories, the characters grew and started to feel like friends- the events and people were with me for the entire 3 years that it took me to write it. During this time I also worked a full time professional job, renovated an apartment and had a couple of children. I'm not trying to show-off or anything, just point out that real people with real lives can still write- it just takes time.

In January 2009 I decided that I would start trying to find an agent. That brings us up to date with the launch of the Fiction Exchange and if you're interested, you can find other random incidents from my writing career in this section- posted as they occur.

Catherine O'Flynn in the Hot Seat

Catherine O’Flynn is based in Birmingham, England. Her first novel, ‘What was Lost’ was published in 2007 and her second novel is due out in 2010.

FE: How did you get your first novel published?
CO: I sent it out to about fifteen agents in a fairly clueless way. I just went for ones that accepted unsolicited manuscripts (it never occurred to me that I should approach others and try and get my manuscript solicited) and got back either no response at all or a generic rejection letter that gave no indication the ms had been read. I suppose I wasn't that surprised really - I knew the odds against me were enormous and I've never been much of an optimist so I kind of assumed rejection would be the inevitable outcome. Eventually though a friend recommended an agency to me and I sent it to them and they liked it - something which still to this day is probably the single most miraculous piece of news I received. My agent worked with me on the book - suggesting some work that needed doing on the ms. When it was ready she sent it out to four major publishers all of whom rejected it. The main problem seemed to be that it didn't fit in with any clear genre and wouldn't be easy to 'place' in the market. We opted then to go for a small independent publisher (Tindal Street Press), as we thought they might be more risk taking and see beyond genre. This turned out to be true and they put everything they had behind the book.

FE: Why do you write?
CO: I think it's usually just to get to the bottom of something that's niggling at me. With What Was Lost I wanted to answer the basic question 'What was it about the shopping centre where I worked that so got under my skin?' Writing is a way of exploring my thoughts and understanding how I feel about things.

FE: What’s your greatest challenge with writing?
CO: I suppose the challenge is coming up with a story that allows me to do the exploring mentioned above. I think coming up with a story that isn't too big and isn't too little is something that takes up a lot of my time.

FE: What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
CO: Oh God - probably that they should disregard advice from novelists keen to dispense it. The only thing I can think of is to write because you enjoy it or find it helpful in some way. You have no control over publication, but if you get something out of it for yourself then whether you are published or not is not the most important thing.

FE: What are you currently working on?
CO: I'm working on what I hope is the final draft of my second novel. I haven't developed a snappy description of it yet. Its theme I suppose is ageing - both of people and of cities. The main character is a superficially corny local tv news presenter who is haunted by disappearances and the stories that never make the news. It's about town planning and brutalist architecture as well. It sounds terrible doesn't it? I will never make a blurb writer.

More about Catherine

More about What was Lost

Alison C Frost in the Hot Seat

Alison C Frost is originally from Brooklin, Ontario and is now living in Vancouver, BC. Alison has been writing fiction since she was 12, back when she wanted to be a journalist.

FE: Have you had any work published?
AF: I have had short fiction published in Canadian literary journals, but it is a struggle. I have learned to take each rejection slip out of the mailbox and send the piece straight back out. The whole submission/acceptance or rejection process is a long one and there’s no point waiting around. But it is ultimately not the most important part of writing.

FE: Why do you write?
AF: I write because through writing I process, if not fully understand, my experiences and what goes on around me. Things come to me as sentences and images and scenes, the world gets translated/ transformed that way in my head. I feel uneasy when I am not being creative, namely when I am not writing. It just doesn’t feel okay not to be writing regularly.

FE: What’s your greatest challenge with writing?
AF: My greatest challenge with writing is not knowing when to let go of a story and move on. I am not a prolific writer; I spend a lot of time working and reworking the same terrain. I would like to let go of old material and call it done, but that is hard for me. Any piece can always be un-done and reworked. I want to draw those hard edges, but ultimately any piece is amorphous.

FE: What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
AF: Call yourself--that is name yourself-- “writer,” at least in your own head. Don’t get caught up thinking you have to reach a level of publication or notoriety or success before you have a right to call yourself “writer”. If you write, if you must write and that is how you negotiate the world, then you are a writer. Believing in the authenticity of that gives confidence and motivation and can keep you going when no exterior element can do it for you.

FE: What are you currently working on?
AF: I am currently on yet another reworking of a collection of 10 short stories that I hope to publish as a book. I am working on several stories at once, trying to figure out how they all work together as one.

FE: How do you support yourself?
AF: I have supported myself through various retail and teaching/editing jobs. I steer clear of any job which might become too consuming for too long since that would take away from the writing. I have only started to get paid for some writing and that feels like a real victory of sorts. At this point, the truth is I am lucky I have a husband with a steady paying job.