Earlier this year I drove to Ocracoke Island to speak to the Friends of the Library annual gathering. I say ‘drove,’ although about a third of the journey was spent reading a good book on a ferry. But for those hours in the car I decided to take along the audiobook of my novel First Impressions, read by Jayne Entwistle. The audiobook, and Jayne’s narration, had recently won an award from AudioFile Magazine, so even though I knew how it was going to end I was interested to listen.
My Writing Process II: Research
This is the second in a series of blogs inspired by book clubs’ asking me questions about my writing process. Last week I wrote about the thinking process that goes on before I actually sit down to write—a process that can take several months or longer. Today, I’d like to address a particular part of that process—research. Many of my books have a historical element and some characters based on real people (William Shakespeare in The Bookman’s Tale or Jane Austen in First Impressions, for example). Before I write these people and the places they are associated with, I want to find out a little (but not too much) about them.
Why I Won’t Bombard You on Facebook
When I started to experience some success as I writer I heard it from colleagues, from friends, from my agent, and from my publisher: you need to have a presence on social media. But what is a presence? Facebook updates twice a day, ten or twelve tweets a day, and a new blog at least once a week seemed to be the common wisdom. There have been times when I have actually tried to do this. There are three reasons why I won’t be doing it in 2015. Not that I won’t have a social media presence; I will. I just think that it should be a presence that respects both my time and yours, and here are my reasons why:
What Wouldn’t Fit in the New York Times
This week my article about Jane Austen tourism was published in the travel section of the Sunday New York Times. Of course whole books could be written on the subject, and while I haven’t done that, there are a few places I have had the chance to visit that didn’t make it into my NYT article. Today’s stop is Adlestrop.
Adlestrop is an unspoiled Gloucestershire village about three miles from our cottage Kingham. Last summer, when I was training for a marathon, I ran through it almost every day. The place makes Kingham (population 700) look like a metropolis. Off the main road it is quiet and untouched by tourists. So, if you go there, tread lightly; but if you love Jane Austen, go there.
Darcy, Heathcliff, or Rochester?
At the Chipping Norton Literary Festival last spring I attended an interesting session. It was a panel discussion of several romance authors debating the question of who was the greatest romantic hero in English literature. The candidates, each with an assigned defender were Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre, Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights, and Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. Well, it’s no secret that my money was on Mr. Darcy, after all, I was just getting ready to edit my novel First Impressions in which Jane Austen appears as a major character, but I was fully prepared to enjoy the debate.
The Cover Story
I was standing in the office of my wonderful editor Kathryn Court at Penguin books when I first saw the mock-up for the cover of First Impressions. Apparently several previous designs had been rejected before my arrival and this one had just arrived a few minutes earlier. Everyone in the room immediately sensed that it was right. There are wonderful details in the design that one might not fully appreciate until reading the book—but I’ll let you find those for yourself. I did not ask where the painting of the English country home at the bottom of the dust jacket had come from. I assumed it was just a stock item from an image bank. It worked well in the design and that was all that mattered . . . or so I thought.
Hope to See You Soon!
Well, the launch is behind me and the book tour begins in earnest today. It seems like yesterday I was out introducing the world to The Bookman’s Tale, but that was a year and a half ago and I learned a lot from the experience. One thing I learned is that I can’t reach every reader who wants to make a connection with the author. In the next twenty-eight days I have seventeen events. I will get to connect with a lot of readers. But not everybody. So, here are some promises.
Who Is Richard Mansfield?
In my new novel, First Impressions (published yesterday but you can still get a copy from your favorite bookseller), Richard Mansfield is an ageing cleric who comes to Hampshire for his health. There he meets and befriends a young aspiring novelist named Jane Austen. But there is something you probably ought to know about Richard Mansfield. He’s not a real person. Oh, Jane Austen is real enough, although in my novel she does some things that she didn’t do in real life (that’s why it’s called a novel after all). But Mansfield is no more than a figment of my imagination. That picture of him—it’s not him; if couldn’t be because he died before the invention of photography. But it’s what I imagine him to look like.
A Publication Day Thank You!
It’s publication day for my second novel with Viking Press, First Impressions; A Novel of Old Books, Unexpected Love, and Jane Austen. Before you read this blog, run out and buy a copy! Have you bought it? Good. Now, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—please read the acknowledgements. Writing a manuscript might be a lonely solo endeavor, but creating a book is a team effort and the acknowledgements are where the author gets to thank some of the members of the team. Of course, lead time being what it is, there are names that I do not learn until after it is too late to include them, so to the list below I would add Kristen Haff who designed the beautiful dust jacket as well as book designer Sabrina Bowers. To thank the rest of the team, here are my acknowledgements as they appear in the book you just bought (no spoilers, I promise).
What’s It All About
Tomorrow is the Day! Publication day for my new novel, First Impressions: A Novel of Old Books, Unexpected Love, and Jane Austen. When I am working on the first draft of a novel, I don’t like to talk much about it. My ideas are very fluid, and somehow conversation pins them down in a way I don’t want to do at that point. But since publication day is tomorrow, my ideas are not fluid anymore. In fact, I am currently re-reading the book to prepare myself for the tour. So I think it’s OK for you to know what the book you are in the process of ordering is all about. (Click here to order your copy: http://www.penguin.com/book/first-impressions-by-charlie-lovett/9780525427247). Instead of trying to summarize it myself, I’ll let you read how the good people at Penguin describe the novel.