Since November 2009Author Article: Sarah Duncan
Posted on Thursday, January 7th, 2010 by Leah
Sarah Duncan’s latest book Kissing Mr Wrong will be released in hardcover today and for that special occasion, Sarah agreed to write us a guest post about what it was like getting her first book Adultery For Beginners published. So, I’ll leave it to Sarah to tell you all about it…
I wrote my first book Adultery for Beginners in a mad dash, convinced I was going to die before finishing it, as it was the first time I’d ever got past Chapter One in about ten years of trying. I said all the ‘oh, I don’t suppose it’s any good’ stuff, but deep down I knew it was brilliant. So it was a bit of a shock when no one else agreed. I didn’t send it out to too many people, as I got very huffy when it got turned down. How could they not see it was a work of genius?
Gradually the idea seeped into my head that perhaps it wasn’t as brilliant as I’d hoped it was. I won some money on Premium Bonds and blew the lot on a book doctor’s report. When it came back I was appalled, as they didn’t rate it either. Worse, all their ideas were simply daft. One of their points was that I’d written it from four viewpoints, and they thought three of them were weak and needed beefing up. But although I did dismiss it, the comment gave me the clue. I was only interested in one character’s story, and always had been, but had written using multiple viewpoints because I thought that was what writers did.
I decided to rewrite from her viewpoint only. It wasn’t an easy decision, as it meant immediately ditching 50% of the novel but I knew it was the right thing to do. Because I’d already worked on the story from the other points of view, even though those scenes had been ditched, I knew the characters backwards and it made it surprisingly easy to rewrite. I rewrote 90% in the end, which astonishes me now.
When I sent it out again, I had an offer from an agent within 36 hours, and it took 8 days before a publisher offered enough money for me to become a full time writer, and I’ve been one ever since. Surprise, surprise, I’m a BIG fan of rewrites. I’m also now convinced that it’s pointless writing what you think will work, what you think will sell, what you think writers do. Write the story you want to write, in the way you want to write it. Stuff what anyone else says, write from the heart.
Thanks so much Sarah!
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