I recently posted about the historical events and locations in The Next Together, so I thought I’d explain how I did my historical research. If you asked my editor and copyeditor, they’d likely admit that I’m not the best at historical accuracy. I’m not a historian. I’m never going to be as good as authors who spent four years studying an area of history for their PhD before adapting it for fiction, like Sarah Waters.
My methods involve probably more wikipedia than they really should, so don’t take this a guide to doing historical research – there’s much better places for that, like this article.
This is just to give you a rough idea of how I went about it, so you can have a good laugh at naive eighteen year old me, who thought it would be so easy to write a book with three different historical settings.
Firstly, I had to chose my time periods. I knew I didn’t want to write about something big, like WWII, because everyone reads about it all the time. That would have been a lot easier to research, though.
Instead I chose more obscure events. I picked out a few, and then did some internet searches to see how easy it would be to research them.
I started by looking for free google books, which is a great place to find primary sources (that are written at the time), because they scan in lots of old books that aren’t digital anywhere else.
They are both pretty heavy reading compared to a history biography written in this century, but at the time I had no idea whether I was ever going to finish this story, so I wasn’t willing to invest £50+ in buying books.
Google Books is a great free resource, and I highly recommend searching to see if you can find anything relevant.
If you do buy some books, it’s probably a good idea to start with diaries. As well as being a great way of picking up the dialogue style, and authentic slang, they have the kind of detail of day-to-day life that’s harder to find in general history books, and it’s also a great way to get inspiration. I found an anecdote about soldiers stopping in the middle of a battle to pick grapes in a vineyard – and then wading through a river during a firefight with bunches of grape held between their teeth – that made it into the finished book. Details like that are invaluable in bringing a story to life.
It’s also a good idea to try to find other point of view. The experience of a straight, white, middle-class man is going to be completely different from a woman of colour, in any period of history. Although it’s harder to find those kind of resources, there are some out there, and you can’t dismiss their experiences- they are often the most interesting. I bought a copy of the letters sent home from a soldier’s wife who travelled to the front during the Crimean war, Mrs Duberley, to get a female point of view. Although she mainly talked about her horse (!), it was an important part of my understanding of the period.
If you aren’t sure what primary sources are out there, get a copy of The Assassin’s Cloak, an anthology of famous and obscure diary entries taken from history. As well as being an excellent read, there might be a diarist from a time period you’re interested in that you can investigate further, or a new period altogether.
After I’d exhausted the possibilities of free internet databases, I turned to my University Library and got the real history books. It was useful to get a broader understanding of the events, with years of perspective, but overall I still found the diaries more useful.
At this point I (finally!) started writing. I would estimate that I had to do a google search about once a page. My internet bookmarks looked like a list of wikipedia articles, because I am super lazy.
There is nothing with wikipedia, especially not for a first draft. It’s better to doublecheck your facts, but you don’t need to get obsessive about it. Everything will be checked and double-checked in edits- just get the story down first. That’s the most important thing.
Don’t forget that even if there’s the odd inaccuracy, it’s unlikely anyone will pick up on, unless they are a historian focussing specifically on that era. And even then, if it’s something small, who cares? It’s fiction. It’s a story, with a plot. And, especially for YA or MG, teaching children about historical events is such an important thing to do that anyone can forgive a few mistakes. Don’t let the fear of failure stop you trying, because before your book gets published there’ll be a whole series of people helping you with it, to make sure you don’t embarrass yourself.
I also decided when I started writing that I wasn’t going to have authentic dialogue. I tried to make sure I didn’t use overly modern slang, like ‘okay’ or ‘alright’, but I think as long as it’s not jarring it’s better to keep it simple. I would rather one person be annoyed by inaccuracies by dozens of readers being put off by dialogue that’s too dense, that they can’t understand. Plus, I would have hated writing it!
After writing a historical novel, I’m now taking a break from history for a while and focusing on futuristic fiction. However, I do want to go back to history eventually, because it’s oddly satisfying to uncover a historical event and make it seem real.
Next time I’ll probably approach historical research a little differently, though. I’ll look for scholarly articles, rather than just primary sources and textbooks. I’ll try and speak to researchers who focus in that area. I’ll read all the fiction I can set in that time period. But I’m always going to write historical fiction, because it’s a wonderful, educational source of inspiration.
THE NEXT TOGETHER, a reincarnation romance, comes out in September. You can add it on goodreads, preorder on amazon, or you can subscribe to my mailing list for updates nearer the time here.
A rebloggable version of this post can be found here.
I just did some sneaky googling of my book, and found a TON of blog mentions that I’d never seen before! I was so ridiulously gleeful about it that I had to make a post. LOOK AT ALL THE LOVELY PEOPLE EXCITED FOR MY BOOK!
#the next together #blog #aaaaaahhhhhhhhhh
21ST FEB 2015
lylamariemazie: This will be me as a wife
#kate to matt THE DORK #the next together
19TH FEB 2015
52hearts
#kate’s wedding dress #the next together
14TH FEB 2015
Researching history for fiction
I recently posted about the historical events and locations in The Next Together, so I thought I’d explain how I did my historical research. If you asked my editor and copyeditor, they’d likely admit that I’m not the best at historical accuracy. I’m not a historian.
one or both members of otp: dead
me: they’ll work around that
#kate and matt #KATE AND MATT #the next together
8TH FEB 2015 SOURCE: RAPUNZUL-MOVED-BLOG
Anonymous asked: Is there anything in the final version of The Next Together that survived all the way from that first draft of The Red Earth Rolls, or has it all been changed? (Also, can you explain the change/meaning of the titles?) Thanks!
Yes! There’s lots of scenes which made it from my very first draft, usually the more romantic, banter-y scenes, because they weren’t affected by the plot changes. I think all three of my favourite scenes were actually from the first draft.
There’s one particular scene from the 1745 storyline, where Katherine and Matthew have a very flirty hand-holding carriage ride, which I fought really hard to keep. It was one of the earliest scenes I wrote, and it was the first one that really felt like I’d found My Voice, and might actually be able to do the whole writing thing.
The scene nearly had to be cut because it didn’t really fit the plot anymore, but I did a lot of frantic adjusting to make sure it could be kept.
Here’s one scene that I’m really sad to have lost, but it just didn’t work!
The original title came from a Rudyard Kipling poem, about reincarnation:
They will come back – come back again,
as long as the red Earth rolls.
He never wasted a leaf or a tree.
Do you think He would squander souls?
Everyone thought that was a bit too literary for YA, and might put off younger teenagers, so my publisher asked me to change it.
We spent a long time looking for a new title (with tumblr’s help) but eventually we settled on The Next Together, because it gets across the idea of reincarnation, as well as them coming back for a particular reason:
How many times can you lose the person you love? Maybe the next together will be different.
I was really sad to lose The Red earth Rolls at first, but now I absolutely love The Next Together, especially after seeing it on a cover!
(Speaking of which, I saw my final(ish) cover this week, and I absolutely adore, adore, adore it. I’m hoping we’ll be able to share it in the next few weeks!!!!!!)
#Anon #the next together #blog
2ND FEB 2015
cracked: But come on, it’s not like they can just turn male scientists characters into female scientist characters whenever they want.
#the next together #manifesto
2ND FEB 2015
Anonymous asked: was the next together the first novel you’ve finished/written?
It was, but it took a lot of drafts to arrive at the final version! I originally started writing it when I was 16, and began to write it “properly” when I was 18. Reincarnation was always an idea I had knocking around in my head from a young age.
#the next together #Anon
2ND FEB 2015
The locations in The Next Together
Last time I posted, I had just found out that my American publishers, Egmont US, have closed down. I tried to sound positive but it had got me down quite a bit. However, I’ve got lots of wonderful people looking after me, and being very positive, so I’m a lot less upset about the whole thing now. I really hope that there’s still chance for The Next Together to be published in the USA, but either…
Anonymous asked: How long did it take you to write The Next Together and how long after that did you get your agent?
I wrote The Next Together, then called The Red Earth Rolls, in my first two summer holidays at uni, so around 4 months total. I spent 2 years thinking about it inbetween writing, though!
I finished it in July 2013, and sent the first 3 chapters to 6 agents in November 2013. I had 2 form rejections and then Claire Wilson at RCW asked to read the full manuscript. She offered me representation in January 2014. (I never heard back from the other agents.)
We revised the manuscript throughout 2014 (because I was busy at uni and couldn’t do anything until the summer) and sent it out to 12 UK publishers in November 2014. Walker offered me a book deal 2 weeks later!
So:
4 months to write
2 months to get an agent
11 months to get a publisher
And it’ll be published 2 years after I finished the first draft.
Hope that answers your question! If you want to know more about the querying process, let me know, I’ve got a ton of links I can share with you.
#the next together #blog
26TH JAN 2015
#matt would have this in his office #with kate’s face on #the next together
25TH JAN 2015
The most important post I’ve ever written.
My second novel has an LGBT protagonist.
I have something that I guess is an announcement, but I don’t really think of it like that. It’s just something I’ve not mentioned online before. Ever.
My second book, the sequel to The Next Together, which doesn’t have a firm title yet, has an LGBT protagonist. The main character is a lesbian.
#clove #the next together #The Last Beginning
17TH JAN 2015
My page proofs are the prettiest thing in the entire world. This is my BOOK, it’s REAL.
#blog #the next together
21ST MAR 2015
Bringing this back because I just remembered it exists: this Lynx/Axe soulmates advert is the perfect trailer for my book The Next Together. Just….just watch it. You’ll see.
so many feelings
#the next together
18TH MAR 2015
A little ten question interview I took part in for my local Waterstones posted yesterday!
10 QUESTIONS… WITH LAUREN JAMES
Monday, 16 March 2015
1. DESCRIBE YOUR NEW BOOK IN 3 ADJECTIVES.
Regency sci-fi romance.
2. WHAT WERE THE CHALLENGES OF WRITING THIS NOVEL?
I had to do a lot of historical research as the book contains two plotlines in the past, one in 1745 during the Jacobite Uprising and one in 1854 during the Crimean War. Writing it was a very messy process involving a lot of Wikipedia and trawling through history books.
3. WHICH NEW UP AND COMING AUTHORS DO YOU LIKE?
I love Catherine Doyle, Alice Oseman, and Louise O’Neill. Brilliant young authors who are also very cool!
4. WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTER IN YOUR BOOK?
I don’t know if I can choose between my main characters Kate and Matt . . . this is too hard! They are the best as a pair.
5. DO YOU HAVE ANY WEIRD WRITING HABITS?
I write at night. I’ve tried writing during the day, but I’m totally unproductive until the sun has gone down!
6. WE’VE HAD VAMPIRES, WITCHES AND DEMON HUNTERS – WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL BE THE NEXT YA TREND?
Mental illness seems to be the new trend, like the recent books All the Bright Places and I’ll Give You The Sun.
7. IF YOUR NOVEL WERE TO BE ADAPTED WOULD YOU PREFER MOVIE OR TV SERIES? DO YOU HAVE A DREAM CAST?
I’d prefer a TV series just because I’m greedy and would want it to be as long as possible! I spend a lot of time thinking about my dream cast, it’s probably unhealthy. I see Kate Finchley as a young Gillian Anderson, Matt Galloway is Ben Whishaw and Tom Galloway is Dylan O’Brien.
8. WHY DO YOU THINK YA FICTION IS SO IMPORTANT?
Young Adult fiction has the huge responsibility of being read by teenagers. The right book can shape a young person’s ideas about important issues like feminism, homophobia, sexual assault and mental illness for the rest of their lives. If you read the right book at exactly the right age it can stay with you forever, and YA does that really well.
9. WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR NEXT PROJECT?
Right now I’m working on the sequel to The Next Together, which has an LGBT protagonist! I wrote a blog post about it here. I can’t say much more than that without spoiling something though, sorry!
10. RECOMMEND YOUR NOVEL IN ONE SENTENCE:
Love transcends time and space and social constraints, even when the world is working against it.
#blog #the next together
17TH MAR 2015
Get ready!
My cover is being revealed in SEVENTEEN DAYS on Friday the 13th along with the first chapter of The Next Together!!
Are you ready?! I’m not.
Here’s a sneak peek.
Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuun
#the next together #blog #book
24TH FEB 2015 4 NOTES
Anonymous asked: Are you happy with the cover for TNT?
I am! I absolutely love it. Every time I look at it I can’t believe that it’s really my book. It looks so mature and sophisticated and special.
The designer (the fantastic jackdraws) went through a series of different ideas, and I loved each one more than the last. It was kind of heartbreaking that we couldn’t use them all.
Sixteen days until you can all see it!!
Here’s another sneak peak:
#the next together #blog #book #Anon
25TH FEB 2015
Anonymous asked: WHEN IS THE TNT COVER REVEAL?
It’s going to be on Friday the 13th!!!! TEN DAYS!!!!
I’m not going to give you any more sneak peaks, but here’s a fanmade one by chronicintrovert to keep you going:
The real one is just as good, if you can believe that.
Also today is six months exactly until the book comes out!!!!!! LET’S PARTY LIKE WE’RE TERRIFIED!!!!!
#the next together #blog #book #Anon
3RD MAR 2015
negative-pessimist asked: Hi Lauren! This is a very random question but do you have a playlist for TNT/a playlist of songs that helped inspire TNT?
Rae! I definitely do, and you can listen to it on 8tracks:
shine/anna nalick
love story/taylor swift
tired of waiting for you/the kinks
dear river/kina grannis
rattlin’ bones/kasey chambers
back to where i was/eric hutchinson
pompeii/bastille
radioactive/imagine dragons
young volcanoes/fall out boy
when the war came/the decemberists
to the dog or whoever/josh ritter
la meme historie/feist
centuries/fall out boy
man o’ war/eric bachmann
maybe/ingrid michaelson
brand new day/joshua radin
first day of my life/bright eyes
“But if you close your eyes, does it almost feel like nothing changed at all? If you close your eyes, does it almost feel like you’ve been here before?”
If you’re super ahead of the game you can even listen to the sequel playlist here. This one is a lot longer and very fluffy. It’s that kind of book. There’s a lot of Taylor Swift.
girls like you/the naked and the famous
classy girls/the lumineers
happy together/the turtles
once was love/ingrid michaelson
why am i the one/fun.
exile vilify/the national
comets/fanfarlo
girls chase boys/ingrid michaelson
laughter lines/bastille
a better son daughter/rilo kiley
campus/vampire weekend
you’ve got time/regina spektor
sail/awolnation
become the colour/emily wells
she’s a rebel/green day
brave/sara bareilles
get home/bastille
wonderland/taylor swift
she’s electric/oasis
how you get the girl/taylor swift
high hopes/the vamps
riptide/taylor swift
if she wants me/belle and sebastian
i’m a believer/the monkees
take me to church/hozier
party in the usa/miley cyrus
pencil full of lead/paolo nutini
big parade/the lumineers
feeling good/muse
love you much better/the hush sound
she’s got you high/mumm-ra
year 3000/busted
“She’s electric, she’s in a family full of eccentrics, she done things I never expected. And I need more time.”
#negative pessimist #the next together #book #blog #oh GOD this gave me so many feelings #The Last Beginning
26TH FEB 2015
Anonymous asked: Was it harder to write or edit The Next Together?
Firstly, thank you for all the lovely questions I’ve had recently! The Next Together isn’t even out for *checks* 192 days, so it means a lot that people are interested in my experiences before you’ve even read the book! ❤
I found editing really fun, actually – except for copyediting, when the final checks of everything are done. That just made me feel bad for all my grammar and factual errors!
I really like editing because it really feels like you’re improving your work and stretching the plot as much as you can. I love the feeling when my editor/agent points out something that could be done differently, that will dramatically make it better. It’s a great oh, duh moment, and improving on their initial suggestion (which might be something like ‘maybe add more tension to this scene’) is really, really fun.
That said, I love writing too! There’s nothing better than writing something completely original and making yourself laugh/cry/scream/sigh happily at something.
I think writing is harder though. It’s a lot more stressful than editing, because I’m a big worrier, so I spend a lot of time panicking that I’m writing something rubbish (whereas with edits I know exactly what my editor doesn’t like, so I’m a lot happier with it and not second-guessing myself). It’s a huge gamble for anyone, to spend such a significant amount of time working on a project that you have no guarantee anyone will like, and that doesn’t change just because you’ve successfully published one book! I think that makes writing new things a lot harder than editing, for me.
#the next together #writing #blog #Anon
22ND FEB 2015
negative-pessimist: Bookblr, you are in for something awesome, gorgeous and perfect at 4pm GMT tomorrow. Keep your eyes peeled, and be ready to add yet another book to your TBR. #remember remember the 3rd of september #the release date at long last
#of lauren james’ the next together
laurenjames: Only 174 days to go!!!!
#rae rocks guys #the next together
12TH MAR 2015
My cover and first chapter reveal is happening tomorrow at 4pm!!! It’s going to be on some tumblr book blogs and review sites so KEEP YOUR EYES PEELED.
I’m so excited!!!!!!!!!!!
#the next together #blog
12TH MAR 2015 24 NOTES
Cover reveal for The Next Together + First Chapter!
I think the reason I love my cover so much is that it’s not super girly and pink and glittery. It’s a romance, so I could easily have ended up with a cover like that…but instead I get this!
It’s very non-gendered and sophisticated and classy and I LOVE IT. Last week I blogged about coverflip, about how female writers tend to get more fluffy and less serious covers compared to similar books written by men. I think it’s a great sign that my cover escaped that. It could be used for a book by a male writer too, like David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas! It’s so AMAZING.
#the next together #blog
13TH MAR 2015
I was tagged in a few memes, so I thought I’d do them in one post!
I was tagged by negative-pessimist in the Female Authors meme.
1. Favourite female author? (Or authors, I know it can be hard to choose only one!)
Sarah Waters for sure.
2. Favourite book by a female writer?
Fingersmith by the above!
3. Favourite quote by a female writer?
Mainly because it’s relevant to The Next Together:
“Everyoneremembers things which never happened. And it is common knowledge that people often forget things which did. Either we are all fantasists and liars or the past has nothing definite in it. I heard people say we are shaped by our childhood. But which one?”
From Jeanette Winterson’s Sexing the Cherry
4. Favourite fictional heroine?
Lirael from Lirael by Garth Nix
5. Favourite female poet?
Margaret Atwood
6. Favourite female author of your childhood?
Probably Jacqueline Wilson or J K Rowling.
7. Favourite living female writer?
A. M. Homes is excellent.
8. Do you have a not very known favourite female author? Share her with us!
I’m gonna say e. lockhart, because however famous she is, it’s not famous enough.
9. Bonus: Which female author would you have loved to meet? What one question would you have asked her?
I’m going to meet Emily St. John Mandel this week to get my copy of Station Eleven signed (which has just been longlisted for the Bailey’s Women’s prize for fiction!!).
I tag anyone with an s in their username to answer this!
I was also tagged by catherine-doyle, chronicintrovert AND blackbirdonthewire to do the Terrible Titles tag, so I thought it was probably about time I got around to that….
The rules of this game are as follows: “Scroll through your manuscript and stop at a random place in the text. Whatever you land on becomes one of ten terrible titles.”
HERE GOES. The Next Together, if it were terrible:
Who Were These People?
That’s What She Said
Wedding Planning: A Threat, A Nightmare, A Powerpoint
With Awkward and Sometimes Even Aggressive Determination
An Air of Quiet Embarrassment
You are ridiculous and I love you.
Her Plans Were Vague
Exactly the Same
A Little Plotting Involved
In A Shocking Turn of Events
Hmm. #8 is actually kind of good, but #7 is the most accurate, I think.
I tag my editor and fellow author A J Grainger/book-sleeves-and-tea-leaves, because I want to see what else Captive could have been called!
#blog #The Next Together
10TH MAR 2015
The Next Together by Lauren James | Waterstones.com →
THE NEXT TOGETHER IS ON WATERSTONES I’M HYPERVENTILATING
IT’S ALSO ON THE BOOK DEPOSITORY AND AMAZON.COM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#mate don’t even ask why it says laurence i’ll try and get that fixed #the next together
3RD MAR 2015
laurenjames asked: YOU JUST GAVE ME SO MANY FEELINGS ABOUT MY OWN BOOK GOOOOOOOOOD HANNAH
littlebundleofbooks: Seriously I get so many feelings about it when I’m listening to Lorde (and also just all the time tbh). Look, I’m just here to fangirl and think about Kate and Matt (and Matt’s hair), y’know?
Matt’s hair is supreme. Here is my ultimate Matt’s Hair fancast:
=
(x)
LOOK AT THOSE STUNNING LOCKS. *happy sigh*
#the next together #blog
22ND APR 2015
Today I got to hold my book for the first time as a real physical thing. I’m feeling very emotional and a little tearful about it right now, so please indulge me for this post. Here’s the story of The Next Together, and why this is such a huge huge deal to me.
Two weeks after I turned eighteen I started university. I was very shy and awkward and didn’t really make many friends at first. Especially not in my hall/dorm, where I didn’t know anyone at all. I would sit in my room and feel so homesick I couldn’t bear it.
So to make myself less lonely, I started writing a story. I didn’t really have any ideas, so I started by making a list of all the things I like best in books, and brainstorming from there.
I described it on my livejournal, back in the early days pre-tumblr, as a ‘reincarnation type thing’.
I quickly realised that I wouldn’t have enough time to work on it, so I put it to one side for a while, until the summer.
It took me a while – so long that I’d moved from livejournal to tumblr to scratch my social networking itch by then –
– but eventually I finished it.
Reading back through these entries now, it’s unbelievable how much determination it took to get to this point, where it’s a real actual book I can hold in my hands. On and off, I have been editing this story from July 2012 to March 2015. That’s three freaking years. THREE YEARS. I’ve been thinking about it for even longer – the earliest post I can find about it is from 2009. Six years ago. I was sixteen.
The internet has been a huge part of my writing process, from fancasting to research to just complaining about writing. I even ran a poll to ask the internet what I should call my characters!
Tumblr, you’ve seen this book develop from the very beginning:
You were the first people to ever read it:
You were there when I sent it to agents:
And then you put up with my panic again when it was submitted to publishers:
And celebrated with me when I got a book deal:
You helped me objectify actors in the noble pursuit of fancasting:
(Many, many times.)
(No, really.)
You mourned with me when I had to choose a new title to replace the original name, The Red Earth Rolls:
And you went mental with excitement when the cover was revealed.
I can’t even count the number of friends I’ve made because of a stupid idea I had for a book.
Some of whom have even drawn me FANART!!
And now, it’s time.
I’m now twenty two. I’ve been writing this book since I was eighteen. It’s more of a part of who I am, and my personality and my experiences growing up than almost anything else. When I started it, I was a shy teenager who couldn’t bear to be away from home, who wrote to escape the real world. Now I’m a grown up (kind of) (I mean, not really) (I still spend a lot of time on tumblr) and writing is my job: my actual, real life job. This book has changed and evolved and matured at the same rate as me.
And as of today, it’s no longer a figment of my imagination. It’s real. An actual, paper book that I can hold and stroke.
Please excuse me while I stare at it forever. And thank you, tumblr. Thank you, livejournal. Thank you, internet. You made this happen. Let’s celebrate.
The Next Together will be published on 3rd September. You can read the first chapter here.
How many times can you lose the person you love?
A powerful and epic debut novel for teenagers about reincarnation and the timelessness of first love from a talented young writer.
Teenagers Katherine and Matthew are destined to be born again and again. Each time their presence changes history for the better, and each time, they fall hopelessly in love, only to be tragically separated.
But why do they keep coming back? What else must they achieve before they can be left to live and love in peace? Maybe the next together will be different.
Is this not MADNESS? Tumblr did this. This is all tumblr.
Wow. WOW. Thank you so much guys. I’m blown away by your support! ❤
#blog #the next together
21ST APR 2015 1,892 NOTES
jenndoesnotcare asked: Aw, that is a great story! I can’t wait to read your book. And (writer to writer) I SUPER understand multiple fancasts! Anyway you seem super adorable and reading your story cheered me up immensely 🙂
Aw, Thank you!!
And yes, I’m not just satisfied by one actor for fancastings. I will collect as many actors as possible and combine them to create the one optimum fancast of my characters, in a kind of ‘his arm’, ‘his nose’ pick-and-mix. It will be my finest creation.
Your message cheered me up immensely too! Thank you!
#nice people #blog #the next together #jenndoesnotcare
21ST APR 2015
nataliebina: YAY LAUREN THIS IS SO AMAZING I AM SO HAPPY YOU HAVE GOTTEN HERE WITH THIS BOOK! I love nothing more than stories of great writers who started with great programs like NaNoWriMo and have taken their stories far. You are an inspiration, and I can’t wait to read The Next Together!
thebookbangtheory: Omg I saw this recommended to me on Amazon and thought “huh, thus sounds like an interesting concept, maybe I’ll get this with my next paycheck”. Never would’ve guessed it would’ve come from someone on Tumblr! That’s amazing!! Congrats, Lauren!!
THANK YOU! I’m tumblr for life ❤
paellego reblogged your photoset and added: oh god i actually have this on my tbr list omgg congratulations! I am so happy about this ❤
keris replied to your photoset: Huge congratulations! x
kirstysmash replied to your photoset: The first chapter was intriguing! Can’t wait until September 3rd!
littlebundleofbooks reblogged your photoset and added: lauren-e-james I’m literally so happy for you that I’ve started welling up at work help
GUYS YOU ARE ALL INCREDIBLE, THANK YOU. I’m so happy right now I don’t know what to do with myself.
#the next together #blog
20TH APR 2015
jardindesfees asked: Hi Lauren, I’m Cat and we have never met, bet let me just say this: I AM EXTREMELY PROUD OF YOU!!! You wrote a book! And it’s out!! I can’t wait to read it! Good luck with your future projects and have a nice day! xoxo Cat
Thank you so much Cat!! I WROTE A REAL BOOK!
It means a lot to me that so many people are supportive of me. ❤
I hope you have a nice day too! I’m just gonna be here cradling my book.#blog #the next together #nice people #jardindesfees #me
20TH APR 2015
rvvve: adds “we just caught our alternate universe selves making out and now everything is super awkward” to list of shipping tropes that need to be implemented everywhere
#the next together #wait what? #who said that
20TH APR 2015
(via malech)
#the next together #katherine? #trying on matts glasses? #hmmmm
14TH APR 2015 SOURCE: DYLNS-OBRIENS
I did a debut author interview at the blog of Marci Lyn Curtis! →
marcilyncurtis.blogspot.co.uk
Today I’m interviewing Lauren James, incredibly sweet fellow Fearless Fifteener and author of THE NEXT TOGETHER, a remarkable reincarnation romance that I was fortunate enough to read recently. Add THE NEXT TOGETHER (Walker Books in the UK, 3rd September 2015) to Goodreads or preorder on Amazon.
THE NEXT TOGETHER has such a brilliant, twisty plotline! How did you manage to keep everything straight? Did you outline?
Thank you, Marci! It was hard to keep everything in my head, and after a few confused conversations with my agent, where neither of us knew what was happening, I taped about five huge pieces of paper together, laid them on the floor, and wrote out the plot in each timeline. There was lots of post-it notes and highlighting and multi-coloured notes used to keep everything in order!
I think if I’d realised how complicated to would be to write a three timeline, historical, time travel novel, I might have saved the idea until I’d already written one or two other novels. As it was, I chucked myself straight into the deep end as an author.
A good portion of this story occurs in the past. How much research did you have to do in order to stay historically correct?
There are three storylines in The Next Together, each about a different life of my main characters, who are reincarnated throughout history. One is set in the future, one in 1854 during the Crimean war, and one in 1745 during the Jacobite Uprising. So I did a lot of research to make sure I didn’t embarrass myself!
I visited one of the locations, Carlisle Castle, to make sure my descriptions of the layout were accurate. I also read a lot of primary sources, usually diaries and letters from people around at the time, as well as history books about the time period.
I wanted to make sure that my writing was a little realistic, but I didn’t go hugely overboard with the research – I think the story is more important, and I didn’t want to make the dialogue too heavy and historical, especially for a book aimed at younger teenagers. It’s a historical novel, but it’s hopefully exciting and modern and funny regardless of that.
Hopefully I found the right balance between accuracy and plot!
Can you tell us a little bit about your hero and heroine?
Kate and Matt are reincarnated multiple times throughout history, and they always find each other and fall in love. Kate is sassy and rude and rushes into things without thinking, and Matt is more contemplative and careful and a little shy. He thinks Kate is incredibly cool. Kate thinks Matt is exactly her Type.
They’re both a little silly and ridiculous, but they love each other a lot, and have a great time finding out just how much in every storyline.
What is your writing process like?
I write at night, usually from around 7pm – 2am. I listen to playlists I make for each book, and I chew gum and write and write and write. I usually know how a story is going to start and what’s going to happen in the first half, but I don’t know the rest until I get there.
I write dialogue first, starting with funny or romantic lines that I’ve noted down beforehand, and I build scenes around them. I write from beginning to end, and I don’t let myself jump ahead to other scenes however much I want to. I just force myself through the awful bits. It takes me about 2 months to write a first draft, and then I leave it for at least a month before I go back to it and work on edits.
Who are some of your favorite authors?
I love Rainbow Rowell, Garth Nix, Neil Gaiman, but some of my favourite recently published authors are Robin Talley, Alexia Casale, Noelle Stevenson and Lisa Williamson. I have so many favourites it was hard to pick just a few! If you want some more recommendations, my favourite books of 2014 are here.
****************************************
Lauren James is a scientist by day, writer by early hours of the morning. She graduated in 2014 with a Masters degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Nottingham, where she studied Chemistry and Physics. She now lives in the village of Berkswell, West Midlands. You can find her on Twitter at @Lauren_E_James, which she mainly uses to fancast actors as her characters and panics about all of the overly ambitious plans she has for her PhD, or her website at http://lauren-e-james.tumblr.com.
You can find Lauren on Twitter, Tumblr, or WordPress.
Marci’s book THE ONE THING is also excellent and publishes in September by Disney, so be sure to check that out!
#blog #the next together
8TH APR 2015
*klaxon noises* WOW WOW WOW WOOOOOW THE NEXT TOGETHER JUST HIT 1000 ADDS ON GOODREADS!!!
THIS IS MAD AND BRILLIANT AND WONDERFUL. THIS BOOK ISN’T EVEN REAL YET AND WON’T BE FOR FIVE MONTHS!!!!!!! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS ADDED IT, YOU ARE MY HEROES!!!
#the next together #blog #FREAKING OUTTTTTTT #yes i have been refreshing goodreads all day waiting for this to hit 1000 why do you ask
4TH APR 2015
tilly-and-her-books: STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING. Have you heard about this book? Well listen up. This is The Next Together by Lauren James. This is the cover reveal and I’m so excited to be sharing it with you because look at how gorgeous it is.
About The Next Together
Howmany times can you lose the one you love?
ForMatthew and Katherine it is again and again, over and over, century aftercentury. Katherine and Matthew are destined to be born again and again. Each time their presence changes history for the better, and each time, they fall hopelessly in love, only to be tragically separated. But why do they keep coming back? How many times must they die to save the world? What else must they achieve before they can be left to live and love in peace? Maybe the next together will be different…
ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT. I bet that’s got you hooked? IT HAD ME JUST AT FIRST LINE. Another thing that got me hooked was the goodreads ratings. This book has a few reviews from people who were lucky enough to receive early copies and it’s all five stars.Take a look for yourself! (add it to your shelf whilst you’re there!)
I also have an excerpt to share. It’s a very special extract from the book!
Part 7 of the exclusive extract from The Next Together by Lauren
James>Folios/v1/Time-landscape-1745/MS-1
>File note: Clipping from The Times classified advertisements
In the dressmakers’, Elizabeth settled on a light green silk with pink braiding. Katherine made sure to express her gratitude to her aunt, but she felt awkward in the close-fitting, expensive clothing. She hadn’t worn anything this fine even when her grandmother was alive.Katherine had a small circle of acquaintances, having spent the last few years looking after her grandmother. She didn’t regret it, but now she had to face the rest of the world she realized how introverted she had become.She was nearly eighteen and it was time to grow up. She shifted in the new clothing, suddenly feeling ready to start her new life. To read the next exclusive extract from The Next Together, go to http://bookmad.tumblr.com/
About the author Lauren James
Lauren James is a scientist by day, writer by early hours of the morning. She graduated in 2014 with a Masters degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Nottingham, where she studied Chemistry and Physics. She now lives in the village of Berkswell, West Midlands. You can find her on Twitter at @Lauren_E_James, which she mainly uses to fancast actors as her characters and panics about all of the overly ambitious plans she has for her PhD, or her website at http://lauren-e-james.tumblr.com.
Hell, If you don’t like the book…you’ve got to like the author. Jump onto her Tumblr too because I really love her blog. You totally will too. At least check it out anyway 😀
The Next Together publishes in September 2015 (Walker Books) and can be pre-ordered now. (Book Depository/Amazon)
livinglovinglangston: I AM SO EXCITED AND I JUST CANT HIDE IT.
brainy13sweetheart: OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD. OH. MY. GOD.
GIMME NOWWWW
laurenjames: When did this post get nearly 400 notes?!? You guys are all amazing, I am so grateful to everyone in the tumblr/booklr community for sharing my excitement about this cover. ♡
#the next together
3RD APR 2015 389 NOTES
Heads up!
If you’re thinking of preordering The Next Together, some info:
I’m thinking of doing a reward thing for preorders a little closer to publication where I send people who’ve preordered a signed & personalised bookplate of some kind. If that would be of interest to you then could you please like this post to give me an idea of numbers? It will be open internationally. 🙂
Btw, the list price for The Next Together is going up to £7.99 (it already has on amazon) but it’s not changed price yet on other sites. So if you’re thinking of pre-ordering at any point this might be a good time! (I would love it if you would- the more preorders we get the more exciting things my publisher might do for publicity- think posters/bookmarks/postcards!!)
It’s currently at a low price in the following places:
The Book Depository (free international shipping) | Waterstones | Wordery (cheapest + free UK shipping!) | Foyles | Blackwell’s
Okay, that’s all, folks! Thank you my lovelies ❤
#the next together #blog
27TH MAR 2015
Do you think the universe fights for souls to be together?
Some things are too strange and strong to be coincidences.
— (via bl-ossomed)
#the next together
26TH MAY 2015
dapperalbinobudgie: “This has always been and shall continue to be my favorite post
#the next together
26TH MAY 2015
#messy sobbing #matt #the next together
24TH MAY 2015
Upping my signing game with a gold sharpie oh yeahhhhh
#blog #the next together
20TH MAY 2015
Listening to the new Mumford & Sons album while I do my last ever ever checks to #TheNextTogether. Every post it marks a change…..oops…………….
#the next together #blog
19TH MAY 2015
Anonymous asked: I can’t wait any longer to buy your book. Like I’m too excited. I plan on buying it as soon as it’s out so yay me and yay you! Haha 🙂
I can’t tell you how much I love getting messages like this! Thank you so much for being as excited about my book as I am.
I have some cool giveaways and stuff planned between now and September that will hopefully tide you over…but for now, here’s the first sentence of Chapter 2 (following on from Chapter 1 here):
Kate sat at the desk in her dorm room and stared at the concrete wall. She felt like something hugely important had just happened, but she wasn’t sure what.
😉
#the next together #Anon
15TH MAY 2015
Today I went to inkslingerbooks to sign all my proofs ready to go out to bloggers, whaaaaaaat!
#blog #me #the next together
14TH MAY 2015
refrescorojo: Waiting on Wednesday: The Next Together
“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by breaking the spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.
WoW of the week is: The Next Together by Lauren James
Publication day: September 3rd 2015
From Goodreads:
How many times can you lose the person you love?
A powerful and epic debut novel for teenagers about reincarnation and the timelessness of first love from a talented young writer.
Teenagers Katherine and Matthew are destined to be born again and again. Each time their presence changes history for the better, and each time, they fall hopelessly in love, only to be tragically separated.
But why do they keep coming back? What else must they achieve before they can be left to live and love in peace?
Maybe the next together will be different..
Thank you! ❤
#the next together
13TH MAY 2015
At a conference my publishers held last week, The Next Together went out in the goody bags!
Look at it! [vibrates with delight]
Credit to Wei Ming Kam for the pic!
#the next together #blog
13TH MAY 2015
askkairi: some reincarnation AUs
I fell in love with you three lifetimes ago and I’ve been looking for you ever since but I’ve been starting to give up and my friend’s new crush has your eyes and oh god I’m not going to steal someone’s date just because I’m hoping you’re the person I met in a past life (jk yes I am)
I’ve met you in every single lifetime and I always hope it will work out but it doesn’t but I’ll still keep finding you again because those few days/months/years together with you are always so worth it
I meet and fall in love with you in every lifetime at the same age but your age is always different so it never works out and for the first time I’m meeting you when we’re the same age and I’m horrified that I might fuck this up
I skipped like four cycles of reincarnation and I know you’re pissed at me for leaving you all those lifetimes but it wasn’t my fault please please will you take me back
We only remember each other in alternating lifetimes so every lifetime we have to find one another and convince each other that we’re soul mates but half the time I won’t believe you and half the time you’re already dating someone else
I don’t know how to tell you this but the reason you didn’t see me in our last reincarnation cycle is because for some fucked up reason I was reincarnated as your dog
We keep reincarnating as people who speak different languages and it’s kind of pissing me off because I can never initially confirm if it’s you but at least I keep learning a bunch of cool new languages each lifetime
#[stares meaningfully into the camera] #the next together
9TH MAY 2015 SOURCE: ASKKAIRI 54,707 NOTES
I don’t know if this is exciting to anyone but me (I find the smallest most boring details interesting) but The Next Together is now available for preorder on kindle, ibooks and kobo! Yay!
#the next together #blog
8TH MAY 2015
So ridiculously (amazingly, absurdly) you can now buy a The Next Together mug from a shop set up by an author to promote UKYA books. Isn’t that so cute!! Look at it!!
You can get loads of other UKYA stuff too, including mugs with quotes by other UK authors. Beware, if you visit the shop, you may spend all your money. Enjoy!
#the next together #blog
1ST MAY 2015
damedonger: cool gender neutral things to call your significant other
a winner (because they’re dating you)
#LOOOOOK #it’s kate to matt #the next together
28TH APR 2015
Reviews for The Next Together have started coming in from people I don’t know and it’s the most exciting/nerve-wracking thing in the entire WORLD. [
[dances] [barricades self in bedroom]
#the next together #blog
27TH APR 2015
#Katherine by the pond in chapter 2
I made myself into a classy anemone mermaid lady, because how can I not jump on a mermaid trend set by maggie-stiefvater??
And of course, I couldn’t NOT make my leading lady Kate into a mermaid, could I? She’s flagging…
She’s flagging down Matt the octopus merman, who in this reincarnation is working as a seahorse taxi driver. Kate makes very lewd remarks about all of his tentacles when he drives her anywhere.
He doesn’t mind a bit.
#the next together
9TH JUL 2015
At an event at my publishers last month, my cover designer Jack shared some of the different versions of the cover for The Next Together. Aren’t they so cool?
Pictures taken from the lovely UK Shadowhunters, Walker Books, and Andrew Hall.
#walkerfictionfest #the next together #blog
7TH JUL 2015
chronicintrovert asked: LAUREN AND ALICE FAQ UPDATE. What alignments would all your characters be? (chaotic neutral, lawful evil etc) Which is your favourite to write? Which would you love to write in future? Which is the most boring? (sorry i copied your questions, they were really interesting lol)
I TOTALLY DON’T MIND AT ALL. I will shamelessly always answer my own questions.
What alignments would all your characters be?
Kate – Chaotic Good
Matt – Lawful Good
Tom – Neutral Evil
Lord Somerset – Lawful Neutral
Elizabeth – Neutral Good
and secret upcoming characters:
Clove – True Neutral
Ella – Chaotic Neutral
Spart – Chaotic Good
Romy – Neutral Good
J – Chaotic Evil
Which is your favourite to write?
Definitely any of the chaotic characters. They are so hilariously wild and unpredictable.
Which would you love to write in future?
Lawful Evil. I think the boundary between good and bad, in that grey area between a hero and a villain, is the most interesting.
Which is the most boring?
Mate, Lawful Neutral is so dull. Like, what is even the POINT of you?
#the lauren and alice faqs #claire’s coven #the next together #the last beginning
6TH JUL 2015
Writing a query letter
Before we begin, an announcement. If you preordered my book, firstly: THANK YOU. Secondly, you can get a free signed bookmark! All the details are here. Again, THANK YOU.
I get a lot of tumblr asks with questions about how to write a good query letter, so I thought I’d make a blog post with some advice. There are lots of other similar posts out there with probably better advice; I highly recommend googling round.
Don’t just send your query letter out to all the agents you can find. Sometimes you’ll get given feedback with rejections, and you can make changes to the manuscript based on that. Then you can send the new version to other agents. You can’t do this if you’ve already sent it out everywhere. Send it out in groups of 6 or 7.
Don’t bother printing out your manuscript- there’s plenty of agents that accept electronic submissions and it’ll save loads of money.
Don’t be upset if you don’t get replies immediately. Agents are very busy, and it can take weeks before they even look at submissions. It has no bearing on the manuscript. Honestly, do not take this personally.
Try to find agents who represent books in similar genres to yours, or ones who say they like specific things on their websites. I applied to my agent because she said that she liked humorous stories, so I knew there was a chance she might like mine. It worked!
Don’t give in after a few rejections- it doesn’t mean your MS is bad. It can just mean their list is full, or they already have something similar, or they just don’t fully fall in love with the story. It’s a huge commitment taking on a new client, and they have to absolutely love it to do that. Everyone has different tastes, so keep trying.
How can you get your manuscript read by an agent? I can only tell you what my agent told me about why she read my work. I include little funny messages at the start of each chapter, which I formatted to look like this:
Basically I tried to make it look as much like a book as possible, to trick agents into thinking it was publishing worthy.
When my agent was skimming through a huge inbox full of manuscripts, this apparently caught her eye as something original, that she’d not seen before. It wasn’t enough to persuade her to represent me, but it gave her a push to read the whole thing. So I would say that you need to find something that makes your writing unique, even if it’s only a small element of the story.
Make sure it’s in the first few chapters, along with all of your very best writing, because when you’re querying that’s what agents will read. Read your favourite books, and try to narrow down a few reasons why you like that book so much.
For example, my favourite YA book is probably Sabriel by Garth Nix. I love it because:
unique portrayal of the afterlife
talking cat
shy adorable boy and powerful confident girl
secret royalty
magical paper flying machines
zombie monsters
That obviously isn’t a full list of the great things about the book, but those are the things that I think about when I get the urge to reread it. Try and make a list of the things that you like about your own writing in the same way. If you love a certain element, make sure there’s more of it! Give it the space it deserves. If someone reading it likes talking cats as much as you, then your work is going to stand out to them.
(This is also a good way to brainstorm if you haven’t started writing yet. If you make a list of your favourite things from your favourite books, then those are things you should try to include in your own writing. For example, try and combine a dystopian storyline with something from your list of favourites that’s never been written about in that genre before – like with STATION ELEVEN, where a post-apocalyptic world is combined with a Shakespearian travelling theatre group. If you love theatre, and you love dystopia, that mix is irresistible. In the same way, if you love secret royalty like me, then maybe writing about what happens to the Royal family after an apocalypse would be fun.)
When you’re writing a query letter, make sure you mention all of these irresistible elements. Read some blurbs from your favourite books, and try and copy how they write. How did they drop in the details that first made you pick up the book? That’s what you need to do! Remember that an agent is a reader, just like you, and they are going to pick up books they want to read, not the books written by people who can write the fanciest query letter. Don’t get too stressed out about it. Just write the best representation of your book that you can!
You’re not trying to write the perfect query letter that any agent won’t be able to resist. You just need to make sure that the one agent who will love your book reads the manuscript. Once they start reading, the book will speak for itself! You just need to hook them.
There are loads of examples out there, but here’s my query letter as an example. I sent it to 6 agents along with the first 2 chapters of The Next Together (then called The Red Earth Rolls). I had one request to read the full manuscript. She accepted me as a client!
Dear [Agent],
The Red Earth Rolls is a completed 120,000 word young adult novel based on the idea of reincarnation, and encompasses genres such as dystopia, regency, romance, science fiction and thriller. An adventure spanning three hundred years, this story has something to interest every reader.
Katherine and Matthew have done this before. They keep being brought back to life and every time they do things seem to be getting worse.
In 1745 Katherine Hallward is spending a little too much time with her coachman, Matthew, when the Jacobites attack the city of Carlisle, on the border of Scotland and England. Somehow the city has to defend itself against the feared Highlanders, and Katherine is determined to help in any way she can, regardless of the consequences.
In 1853 Katy, an orphan girl, is running from the police in disguise when she accidentally gets stuck on board a steamer bound for the battlefield of the Crimean war. Luckily a journalist is there to take her under his wing; although there is the slight problem in that he thinks she is a boy. Together they try and help the war effort as much as possible, despite the hostility of the soldiers.
In 2090 Kate meets a new researcher in her biology lab and discovers that together they bear a startling resemblance to her mysterious great aunt and uncle. Meanwhile, Kate keeps recalling memories that aren’t hers: the siege of a castle, a kiss that never happened on a battlefield from a history book.In each lifetime they are fighting for what is right, but however hard they try to help, will it ever be enough to stop them being brought back once more?
Revealing the power of love regardless of circumstance, this book looks at the determination of two people in the face of growing turmoil.This book should appeal to students; people who grew up speaking the language of the internet, who enjoy science fiction but also have a soft spot for Jane Austen.
The Red Earth Rolls was written by a teenager, for teenagers: I’m currently in the third year of a Chemistry and Physics degree at the University of Nottingham. I wrote this novel after becoming increasingly frustrated by the glamorised science often found in media. This prompted me to write a more accurate story about scientists, and my love of history and genealogy brought forth another element.
I would greatly appreciate any advice you could offer me about my manuscript. Thank you very much for your time and consideration.
I hope this helped a little. Good luck!
#writing #blog #the next together
26TH JUN 2015
The Bookseller called me ‘compulsively readable’ today, so I think I’m gonna get that tattooed on my arm.
#the next together
19TH JUN 2015
The lovely bookpigs mentioned my book in her latest video! SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS.
#the next together
18TH JUN 2015
Get a free signed bookmark!
I will send anyone who preorders a physical paperback copy of my novel The Next Together a fancy signed bookmark.
This is open internationally. The offer will run until the book is published on September 3rd 2015, or until I run out of bookmarks, whichever comes first. You can check whether bookmarks are still available here.
How to enter:
Keep reading
#the next together #blog
18TH JUN 2015 152 NOTES
Anonymous asked: Hey Lauren, I can’t wait to read The Next Together! I’m really interested to know what the publication process has been like since you first sent it off to agents – how long did it take between getting an agent and hearing back from publishers? Did you find editing scary or fun? Have final copies of the book been printed yet? xoxoxo
Hello! I’m so glad you’re excited about TNT!
I wrote a blog post about getting my book deal here. It was about 5 months after I signed with my agent before we submitted to publishers (we spent a lot of time editing the book first), and then two weeks before I had offers from publishers!
I found editing weird at first, but I really enjoy it now! I love getting editorial notes back, and feeling yes, that’s exactly what I need to do to make it better. It’s a really satisfying feeling.
They haven’t! We’re still discussing final changes and designing a few bits and bobs on the pages. I think they’ll be ready in July or August.
Thank you for the great questions!
#writing #blog #the next together #Anon
15TH JUN 2015
I am giving away a signed ARC copy of my YA novel The Next Together, which will be published in September.
How many times can you lose the person you love?
A powerful and epic debut novel for teenagers about reincarnation and the timelessness of first love from a talented young writer.
Teenagers Katherine and Matthew are destined to be born again and again. Each time their presence changes history for the better, and each time, they fall hopelessly in love, only to be tragically separated.
But why do they keep coming back? What else must they achieve before they can be left to live and love in peace? Maybe the next together will be different.
Goodreads | Amazon UK | Waterstones | The Book Depository
Rules and junk:
Open internationally
Reblog this post to enter
Must be following me (lauren-e-james)
Reblog as many times as you like
No giveaway blogs
Winner will be chosen randomly on June 15th
Good luck!
#the next together #giveaway #tumblr giveaway #ya #young adult #romance #reincarnation #fiction
29TH MAY 2015 1,853 NOTES
punkscully: i love the victorian era aesthetic.. .shitty ass candles and dirty streets, tweeds, carriages, ghost stories, the widespread existential panic due to newly discovered dinosaur bones and the theory of evolution
When I was a teenager, I didn’t read YA. I read ‘grown up’ books and thought YA was for kids. (Note that I’ve since seen the light, and I now read so much YA that I ended up writing it.) However, back when I was 11 or 12, one of the only exceptions to my uninformed ‘YA is for kids’ rule was His Dark Materials. It’s one of the first books I can remember finishing and immediately demanding that my mum buy me the next.
It’s the book I always think of when people talk about crossover YA: books that can be read by both adults and kids. Harry Potter is usually the obvious example of this, but I don’t think Northern Lights gets enough credit.It’s incredible to me that Pullman managed to write a book about such huge concepts – alternative universes, interdimensional travel, religion, war between races, heaven and earth, the creation of the universe – in a way that captivated the interest of both twelve year olds and adults alike. I can’t imagine how to even start explaining those kind of concepts to children, but Pullman pulls it off with flair and imagination.
His Dark Materials is a genuine epic, in every way, and that kind of huge and all-encompassing world building is something I try to encapsulate with my writing – a book shouldn’t just be about one thing, and Northern Lights is the perfect example of this, including everything from alcoholic bears to immortal witches to hares with hot air balloons to college professors. And that’s just the first book in the trilogy!
As a twelve year old, I was particularly taken with a character from The Amber Spyglass, Mary Malone, a protagonist who is a female physicist. She was a huge inspiration to me, and I probably wouldn’t be spouting hyperbole to say that she is one of the characters who encouraged me to go on to study Physics at university.
In fact, every book in the trilogy features vivid and realistic female characters, from the sharp and unfathomably brave Lyra to Mrs Coulter (strong female characters don’t have to be Good) to Serafina Pekkala. I can’t express how important this was to me growing up, and I’ve rarely come across another book which writes women so well, even after another decade of reading.
More than anything, I feel so lucky to have found this book at exactly the right age. If I’d read it for the first time now, at the grand old age of 22, it wouldn’t have had half the impact on me as it did at 12. Some books find you just when you need them, and Northern Lights was that book for me. It formed my opinions about literature, science, imagination, religion, and a huge number of other topics.
I wouldn’t be the person I am without it – I might not have even done the same degree course. It’s not often you can say that about a book. And for that, however many other books I read and consider my favourites, Northern Lights will always have a place in my heart.
I reviewed Northern Lights for my book club, The Whackademics. You can read the rest of the reviews by Alice Oseman, Catherine Doyle, Louise O’Neill and Sara Barnard here, and find out what our daemons would be!
Last time I posted, I had just found out that my American publishers, Egmont US, have closed down. I tried to sound positive but it had got me down quite a bit. However, I’ve got lots of wonderful people looking after me, and being very positive, so I’m a lot less upset about the whole thing now. I really hope that there’s still chance for The Next Together to be published in the USA, but either way, I’ve got the best UK publisher I could have hoped for, so I’m very very lucky!
Thank you to everyone for your kind messages, it really has helped. ❤
Anyway, I wanted to post about something a little more upbeat, so I’m going to talk about my favourite thing ever, my book. The Next Together has three interwoven storylines, all of which take place at different points in time and space.
It took a lot of research (translation: a lot of googling and wikipedia) to make sure I got the details at least nearly right. I take a kind of ‘A Knight’s Tale‘ view on historical accuracy, meaning I’ll give it a go, but if gets in the way of a good joke or a Queen-soundtracked montage, I’ll purposefully ignore it.
So these are a few of my . . . many, many locations, as a kind of primer for The Next Together.
Carlisle, England, 1745
Most of the action takes place at the castle during the Jacobite uprising of 1745, when Bonnie Prince Charlie persuaded the Scottish Highlanders to help him invade England, in an attempt to win back the throne. It resulted in an English victory, and Bonnie Prince Charlie retreated with his tail between his legs. What was interesting to me was that the Uprising featured the last ever siege of an English castle: at Carlisle, a city on the English-Scottish border. It looked something like this:
Nowadays it looks like this:
I visited Carlisle and the castle last year, and wrote a blog post about it.
One third of my novel takes place during that last invasion of an English castle, at a time which I romantically like to think of as the exact dividing point between ‘modern’ warfare (bombs and airplanes) and ‘medieval’ warfare (castles and cannons and knights in shining armour).
Imagine a couple dressed as servants, cleaning cannons and not-so-surreptitiously checking each other out. That’s my book.
There’s also a lot of action at the family house, which I imagine to look something like this:
Main points of interest:
dusty stables full of dozing horses and nooks and crevices for secret make out sessions.
a shy little boy who is never seen but leaves intricate toy battles in his wake
secret passages
an amazing library with creaky leather sofas. perfect for getting relationship advice and hugs from a greying gentle uncle. selection of scottish whiskeys.
bedrooms with views looking out over the city wall, mist rolling in off the hills, some kind of birds nest in the eaves outside the window, noisy in the morning and feathers and mess on the windowsill
Crimea, 1854
None of this is going to be in the slightest way historically accurate, but who cares, LET’S DO IT. A hefty chuck of the book takes place at the beginning of the Crimean war of 1854, which was a war between Russia and England/ France/the Ottoman Empire. It was basically a big old fight over territories, as usual. It was a pretty iconic war- the one Florence Nightingale nursed in, the first to use telegrams and proper bombs, and the war that coined the phrase ‘the thin red line’, referring to the sight of the Russian soldiers in the distance.
It was also the first time a journalist travelled to the actual front, so reports and articles were really accurate and got to England very fast. This journalism revealed the huge ineptness of the English generals, including how badly run the hospitals were, which was one of the things that inspired Florence Nightingale to gather up her ladies and head to the front to nurse.
My main character, Matthew, takes the place of that first journalist, William Russell. The first half of the book takes place on the journey to Gallipoli, so here’s what I imagine the ship to look like:
Decks full of bored, smoking soldiers, playing cards and arguing over rum rations. Owls get stuck in the rigging a lot. Not much to do except flirt, discuss politics, learn shorthand, fall in love, &c.
Then when they get to the front, there’s some Florence Nightingale-esque hospital stuff, but the actual battlefield will look like this:
Points of interest:
vineyard with lots of squidgy grapes underfoot, kind of gross
flowing river
ramshackle old cottage that’s kind of on fire
guns
fighting
Okayyyyy, that’s enough history. Modern plotlines.
Central Science Laboratory, 2019
A Biology research lab is a major setting, which looks something like this:
Contains:
hip young scientists, everyone pulling pranks and joking around
lots of science gets done probably
whiteboard where people tend to just draw dicks until there’s a lab tour and it’s replaced with a quick sketch of some vague aromatic molecule
all these things might possibly be based on my lab
there are a lot of lunchtime hookups in the offices because half the lab is married to each other and there’s a secret signal that everyone knows means you probably shouldn’t interrupt that ‘meeting’
that part is unfortunately not accurate to my lab
I have a lot more headcanon about this lab but…..SPOILERS. It looks a bit like this sometimes, anyway.
University of Notttingham campus, 2039
In one storyline my characters are just starting university, studying Biology. I based it at the University of Nottingham, mainly because I went there and I’m a proud alumni. The campus looks like this:
Matt’s room:
lots of stephen king books
bed is a double: important!!!!!
he’s pretty messy
has a dedicated supply of snacks probably
also a collection of cutlery stolen from the caf that he feels continuously guilty about
no like it probably keeps him up at night sometimes
has a communal bathroom which is always full of very judgy neighbours
An Important Loft:
Messy, lots of christmas decorations and boxes. There is probably a lot of broken glass on the floor, but neatly pushed into a pile.
Okay, I think those are about all my locations! I hope this was a little interesting, and tells you something about what my book is like!
THE NEXT TOGETHER, a reincarnation romance, comes out in September. You can add it on goodreads, preorder on amazon, or you can subscribe to my mailing list for updates nearer the time here.
A rebloggable version of this post can be found here.
Disclaimer: The following is an honest review, but it would be dishonest of me not to reveal that the author, Lauren James, is one of my good friends.
The Next Together, debut YA novel by Lauren James, will be published in September 2015. I’ve been lucky enough to read it both in its infancy and in its polished final form. Here’s a review of the latter. You can follow Lauren on twitter @Lauren_E_James or see her reblogs of Dylan O’Brien on her tumblr.
I found out today that my American publisher, Egmont US, are closing. They won’t be publishing my book.
This was a huge shock, especially as I wasn’t told and only found out when the closure hit the news.
It’s very upsetting that my book won’t be published in the USA in Spring 2016 as planned, but it doesn’t mean it will never be. There’s still the chance that another publisher might be interested! It just means that I’m back on submission with American publishers.
And The Next Together will still be published in September in the UK by Walker books as planned.
I’m upset, but I have high hopes that The Next Together will find another home in America.
Onwards!
If you would like to support the other Egmont authors, some of whom aren’t as lucky as me and have no other publisher, the hashtag #BuyAnEgmontBook is a great place to start.
I appreciate everyone’s support in this disappointing time.
I have something that I guess is an announcement, but I don’t really think of it like that. It’s just something I’ve not mentioned online before. Ever.
My second book, the sequel to The Next Together, which doesn’t have a firm title yet, has an LGBT protagonist. The main character is a lesbian.
I’m not really sure why I’ve not spoken about this before. I think I was just a bit nervous, because I didn’t know what the reaction might be, in general and from people I know. But there has been a lot of talk recently about diversity in fiction – if you’re in any way involved in the YA world you can’t fail to have seen the We Need Diverse Books campaign – so I know that there’s going to a positive reaction from the YA community, at least.
This month my agent read the first draft of my Untitled Mysterious Sequel, and she liked it, and my mum has read it, and was so proud of me that she cried. So I guess I’m ready to talk about it now.
I’ve always had a problem with J K Rowling. I love Harry Potter. I started reading the books when I was 6, was the first person in my class to have read any of them when the first film came out, and I queued up at midnight every release day to get my copies.
I’m a huge fan.
But after the last book was released, J K Rowling announced that Dumbledore was gay. I was 15 at the time, and this was a Huge Deal, both to me and to the rest of the world. I couldn’t think of any other characters in my favourite books who were gay. The only LGBT character I could think of at the time was the bisexual (omnisexual?) Captain Jack Harkness from Doctor Who.
So, it was great. But the more I thought about it, the more disappointed in J K Rowling I became. Why didn’t she mention it in the books? Why not just have a simple line where Dumbledore referred to Grindelwald as his ex-boyfriend? I couldn’t understand it.
If Dumbledore was gay, and I’d known that when the character first entered my life, at the age of 6 or 11 or even 15, that would have made a huge difference. Everyone in my class at school was reading Harry Potter from the ages of 11- 15. A boy in my class, thinking that he might be gay, would have found the ultimate idol in Dumbledore. He’s a gay man who isn’t defined by his sexuality. As a character it’s one of the least important things about him. (Unlike Captain Jack Harkness, where it’s the most important thing.)
To not only have a story with a gay main character, but one who is involved in complex storylines outside of his sexuality would have been groundbreaking, at least for me, as a teenager growing up in a Harry Potter obsessed secondary school. Can you imagine a boy looking up from his copy of Harry Potter and the Half Bad Prince, and calling another boy gay as an insult, then turning back to read about Dumbledore’s adventures? I can’t.
So I couldn’t understand why J K Rowling didn’t put this in Harry Potter, when she had everyone in the world reading her books. I’ve grown more and more sad about this over the last 7 years.
When I started writing, it was immediately clear to me that I needed to do things with my writing beyond telling a story. The right book can shape a childhood, and if I was going to have even the smallest chance (and honour) of writing that book, I needed to make sure I lived up to the responsibility I was being given.
My first book, The Next Together, started because I used to get furiously angry at tv and films which displayed scientists as geniuses, with bad social skills and enormous intelligences. I’m a scientist (I graduated in 2014 with a Masters degree in Chemistry and Physics) and I am not a genius. Nowhere near. I hated that films made it seem that scientists knew everything, about every subject, and had memorised every textbook in the world. Scientists, in my life, were just ordinary people who might be pretty good at maths or biology, but that was it. They weren’t geniuses.
I was angry about this because I thought the ‘genius scientist’ trope would put off teenagers from studying science, because they didn’t think they were clever enough. I got so furiously angry that when I was 18 I wrote a book with approachable, normal characters who were idiots in a lot of ways, but were also research scientists.
That book evolved a lot, but it eventually turned into The Next Together.
When I began writing The Sequel Without A Name, I knew I wanted to tackle another issue, something that brought out just as much emotion in me (emotion fuels the best writing, I find). I remembered Dumbledore.
I decided to write a character who was gay, and have it be mentioned from the very beginning. I wanted this character to have a sexuality, but I wanted the story to have nothing to do with that. I wanted her to have other character traits, adventures, and a happy ending with a nice girl.
I wanted to write a role model for the teenage girls who would hopefully read that book one day, for all of them, not just those who had already accepted that they might be a member of the LGBT community.
I made a very intentional decision to write this book as a sequel to a mainstream heterosexual romance, rather than a standalone, because when I started researching other LGBT YA books, I was surprised by how many there were, but how few of them I had seen in bookshops. So I wanted to write a book that would hopefully have more of a chance of getting to it’s audience of teenagers, especially those who were too afraid or confused to search out LGBT books for themselves.
If there’s ever the smallest chance that The Next Together gets read, I want the sequel to make it’s way into libraries and schools and children’s hands too. Fingers crossed it does.
I don’t think I’m writing a groundbreaking book, because we’re lucky enough that there are now enough LGBT books to keep a teenager well read for life. (If you’re looking for somewhere to start, The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson is an excellent beginning.) But I hadn’t mentioned it before, so this is me mentioning it now.
My second novel has an LGBT protagonist, and I’m incredibly proud of that fact. If at least one LGBT teenager reads it and finds themselves the role model that Dumbledore failed to be for people my age (sorry, Dumbles), then I’ll feel like I’ve done something good with my writing. YA writers have the ears of a whole generation, and the huge responsibility that comes along with that. I don’t want anyone to be furiously angry with me in ten years, because I failed to mention in my books that the protagonist of Untitled Book Two has been gay all along.
Authors have a responsibility beyond entertainment, because children read books to learn how the world works, and we have to make sure that the world they read about is as varied and diverse and representative as the real world.
I can’t end this post without saying a huge thank you from the bottom of my heart to my agent, Claire Wilson, and my editor, Annalie Grainger, and the whole of Walker Books. When I told everyone that I wanted to write a book with an LGBT protagonist, nobody missed a beat before saying that was a great idea. After some of the stories you hear about publishing, I feel like the luckiest author in the entire world, and I’m so proud to be part of such a wonderful industry. You’re all my heroes.
THE NEXT TOGETHER, a reincarnation romance, comes out in September. You can add it on goodreads, preorder on amazon, or you can subscribe to my mailing list for updates nearer the time here. The sequel is on goodreads here.
A rebloggable version of this post can be found here.
This post is about the process of getting my book deal. It was written a month after I got my deal, and rereading it now I sound MENTAL. The stress/excitement really got to me. I probably could have dealt with it all better, and being cut off from my entire family at uni for the whole process didn’t help.
I waited to write this post until the fact that I had a book deal had sunk in a little more than just miscellaneous squealing, and somehow that delay turned into a month and I still haven’t even told you what happened with my novel, let alone written a summary of the process. Long story short: I got a two book deal, with Walker books, with publication set for September 2015.
I’m so, so delighted, obviously, and initially was in complete disbelief, and confusion. But I’m a little more steadied now, and for the first time in months I can relax. Rather than continuously questioning and worrying, I can actually settle down and think about what is going to happen to me, and what I am going to do over the next year to make sure to works out.
All my dreams have come true, obviously, but more than that- I’ve suddenly got a set plan for my life after I graduate. I now know exactly what I am going to be doing in a month, six months, two years, and that is incredible, and terrifying.
In a little more detail, here’s how it all went down. I thought there might be some people who find it useful, and apart from that I just want a record for myself of how it happened, so I don’t ever forget the excitement of it, and how lucky I am. Sitting down to write this made me realise what a blur the whole thing is in my memory, so a lot of this was written with the help of emails, to remind me what happened!
That sounds silly, that I can’t remember something that is basically the biggest deal to ever happen to me, but I genuinely can’t. It’s all a stressful, delightful blur. So on Monday November 18th, 2013 my agent C rang up 16 UK editors of YA fiction, and gave them a brief introduction to the book, and then sent a copy by email, along with the following pitch:
THE RED EARTH ROLLS (YA, 87000 words)
Katherine Finchley and Matthew Galloway are destined to be together. In 1745, during the siege of Carlisle, in 1854 on the way to the Crimea, in 2016 and 2036 as first scientists and then students uncovering and rediscovering a dangerous plot, and in multiple alternative timescales between. Again and again they are thrown together, with no memory of having met one another before, only an irresistible instinct that they must be with one another against all odds – even while the epic events unfolding all around seem sure to tear them apart.
Recounting through a series of intertwining love stories Katherine and Matthew’s increasingly urgent attempts to divert history, THE RED EARTH ROLLS is a romance that combines unique warmth and humour with an ambitious journey through reincarnation, time travel and war.
Lauren James is a student studying Chemistry and Physics at the university of Nottingham. She is 21 years old and this is her first novel.
She told them that the deadline was the following Friday, but said that might be extended if anyone wanted more time to decide. Then there was a week where we just waited. I had labs every day, so I basically worked in a distracted but diligent haze, and then came home and fell onto my bed in exhaustion. I didn’t really relax from the time I woke up until to past 6pm, when I knew there was going to be no more news.
I couldn’t sleep, except when I could, when I slept like the dead and could barely bring myself to wake up. I always had one finger on my phone, clicking the standby button to check for new emails. Whenever the little symbol for a message appeared in the top bar my heart skipped a beat, and I grew to hate the words ‘Unitemps’, ‘Prospects’, ‘Target Jobs’, because they were all signs it was just another false alarm, just another newsletter coming through instead of an email from my agent. (Meanwhile ‘C’, ‘Nottingham’ and ‘TRER’ are all still buzzwords that still make the breath catch in my throat because this time, maybe, just maybe this time….)
There was a weekend, during which I used up almost an entire month’s worth of minutes, lying in bed on the phone to my mum. (I didn’t see my parents until a fortnight after the deal was closed, and having to do the whole thing alone without them was probably the only part of the experience I would want to change). I ordered takeaways three times in one week, felt immensely guilty about the amount of washing up I just couldn’t bring myself to focus on, didn’t do any work for lectures (did I even go to them? I’m pretty sure I missed all my lectures that week, mentally if not physically).
One night my housemate had to actually intervene, because I came in and tried to make a meal of fish fingers, cheese on toast and rice pudding in a complete stupor. Then the next Tuesday I walked onto campus, listening to my WAKE UP, IT’S MORNING playlist (Campus- Vampire Weekend, Chloe- Grouplove, Lady Percy- King Charles, 22- Taylor Swift) and didn’t check my phone for emails the entire journey. I didn’t even check it when I got into labs, instead messing around in my bag for my goggles, determining which labcoat was mine by the faint chemical marks on the left sleeve, dumped my stuff under the bench. It was my day to make cakes for the lab group, so I had an ice cream carton full of chocolate chip cookies in my bag. I’d made them in a distraction the night before, and was a little embarrassed of them. They hadn’t risen right because I’d added raisins. But it wasn’t time for coffee yet, and half the post-docs weren’t even around, so I sat down at the desk that I had commandeered since I started working there, shook the mouse to wake up the ancient computer, which is only still used because it’s hooked up for Gas Chromatography analysis. It still uses Internet Explorer.
So I clicked onto Internet Explorer, waited the necessary seventy-eight seconds for it to load, realised I hadn’t checked my emails in almost half an hour, good god, and logged into my university email account.
There was a new message from C, dated fifteen minutes before. A forwarded email. I skim read the words ‘enjoyed enormously’, ‘Walker’, ‘encouraging’ and then suddenly all the tension I hadn’t really realised I was carrying left my body and I sagged back into the seat.
I had never really believed before then that anyone other than C and I would enjoy it, and suddenly I had this reassurance my book was worth all this hassle, which was all I’d been craving really, just a sign someone liked it. It was a forwarded email from an editor at Walker, and I could probably still pick out the exact blue colour of the font, and the yellow of the footer in her signature, I have read that email so many times. I don’t think I even stopped to read the whole thing, I just called my mum, the first time I’d ever used my phone in labs to make a call (I did this multiple times over the next few weeks, because I always seemed to be there when I got news. I never stopped feeling like I was crossing some grave moral or ethical line). She didn’t answer; I remembered she was at work and called her mobile. She didn’t answer again; I called her work phone. She picked up. I tried to say hello, but it came out a breathless, giddy kind of choked giggle.
I avoided the eyes of some students who were watching my breakdown from across the lab, and ran into the corridor. I told my mum; she was delighted. I didn’t stop to discuss at all, hung up quickly because I suddenly realised that I hadn’t actually even read the whole email. I ran back into the lab, leant over the desk and read the whole thing.
This is encouraging! I’ve let her know we can probably extend things a little if she keeps me posted.
C
Sent: 26 November 2013 10:16
Subject: RE: The Red Earth Rolls by Lauren James
Hi C,
Hope you are well? I enjoyed The Red Earth Rolls enormously – what an original concept and such strong characters. I am sharing with the team, but annoyingly a few people are away this week (how inconsiderate!). Is there any chance of extending the deadline? I will do my best to come back by Friday but want to give us a bit more wriggle room depending on how things progress.
Very best,
A
I span in a little circle, let out a giggle in delight. The girls were watching me, so I quickly mumbled an explanation. It was someone who hadn’t even known about the book, so I probably said something like ‘I wrote a book, and I just got interest from a publisher!!’ Which publisher? Huh. I opened a new tab, typed walker into the bar, realised I was using Internet Explorer and typed google.co.uk instead. Found their website, saw the logo- a bear with a candle- realised I recognised it- not only was this a publisher, a real book publisher who had read my book and liked it- it was a good publisher, one who had published books I loved, who was incredible and well known and respectable. I was overwhelmed.
Suddenly I realised I hadn’t told my Dad yet, so I ran into the hall again, rang him. He’d already spoken to Mum, and he sounded like he was in tears on the phone. I think my Dad was more emotional about the whole process that either of us, actually. While we were gleefully exclaiming together, a phd student in my group walked past. I remember I was saying ‘I’m going to die’ in delighted hyperbole at the time, and he looked at me strangely, lingered in the corridor waiting for me to hang up.
He wandered over, asked what I had made for Cake Monday. I stared at him, and then blurted out my embarrassing little explanation: ‘I just got an email from a publisher. Sorry- I wrote a book. My book- it has an interested publisher.’ He stared at me. Suddenly about ten, fifteen people came out of the next lab. Coffee time.
“We’re dying for cake,” one of them called to me. I looked at her, wide-eyed.
“Oh, that’s a guilty look,” she said, “Does that mean you forgot?”
“I’m not guilty, I’m happy,” I blurted, and then suddenly I was explaining to a whole audience what had happened. I was dragged along to coffee, dished out cookies, realised how ridiculous it was that I hadn’t even told my brother yet, any of my family, and a whole tearoom full of scientists already knew, and were fighting over my cookies.
Someone was teasing me about physics- I was the only physicist in the group, even though I’m really more of a Chemist now- but I just stood up, went into the corridor and leant against the printer for a bit. I closed my eyes, rang my brother. I don’t know what I did for the rest of that day. Sent out a few embarrassingly incoherent emails, (hopefully) did some labwork. I just remember telling my brother, and running out of the tearoom. In fact, from then on everything is a blur. I had to go through my emails to work out the order of what happened.
That was Tuesday.
On Friday we got expressions of interest from two another publishers, and more importantly I talked to A, the editor at Walker, on the phone. I can’t remember anything except the panic of it, of sitting on my bed staring at my phone and waiting for it to ring. C called me first, calmed me down, talked me through what I could and couldn’t say (don’t mention how many other publishers are interested; don’t go into great detail about what edits were done to it before submission).
She reassured me that A was pretty much probably the nicest person in the publishing industry, and we’d get along great. And then the phone rang again, and she wasn’t scary at all, just a normal, lovely person. She told me how much she liked the book, how she could barely talk about it without crying because the ending was so sad. She asked whether the sequel would have a love story, and whether she’d guessed rightly about what would happen (she was on the right track).
She loved how I’d included real historical figures in the story, and she’d done a bit of research into the Jacobite uprising and Crimean war to find out what happened in reality. She asked how I’d chosen my time periods, and I rather sheepishly admitted that while originally I’d wanted to include moments in history that weren’t immediately obviously gamechanging events, when it came down to the final choice it was just points where I could find primary sources for free on Google Books. She said that was a perfectly reasonable reason for choosing them, and said that she’d want to add more historical detail- really bring out all the different worlds so they felt real- so I’d better be prepared to get back to Google Books!
She asked how I’d got the idea, and I explained I loved the idea of nature versus nurture in how people’s personalities developed, and how interesting it would be to see whether two people would still have a connection if they were raised in different times, different places; whether their love was related to circumstance or was really soul-deep. Eventually we finished talking, and I was surprised that our conversation had only been half an hour.
I also spoke to another editor on the phone, who was just as lovely. Interestingly, she suggested the opposite type of changes- she wanted to cut back some of the historical storylines, make it more modern. She wanted to bring in a lot of the sequel into the first book in little excerpts, so that at the end there was a satisfying explanation of the machinations in the background, but I thought that it might ruin the impact of the sequel if it was all explained in the first one.
She had some really great questions about the main theme of the book- whether it was all about changing history, or about the couple getting together. She really challenged me actually, pulling out all the questionable vagueities of my sequel outline, and forcing me to decide what was really important. I’m so glad that I got the chance to hear two points of view (even if they were opposing and confused me a bit) because it has really helped see what the core of the book is that people enjoy- what I should focus on, what needs to be less confusing. I had two full expressions of interest, and two delays from other publishers who wanted more time to consider, and then we just had to wait for everyone else to come in with their decision. There was another weekend, which I tried to spend doing stuff- Christmas fairs, lab reports- rather than just lying around panicking.
The next Monday, a fortnight after submission, a solid offer came through from Walker.
Dear C,
Hope you are well and had a good weekend. It was so lovely talking to Lauren last week. Everyone here is very excited about her original and epic romance. We feel it has lots of potential, and its central themes – of love, loss and courage – are ones that will resonate with young readers everywhere.
It also offers lots of fun opportunities for marketing and promotion, and I am already dreaming of a gorgeous cover look! Lauren shows so much talent for one so young. Having spoken to her last week, I feel like she is someone with whom it would be a real pleasure to work. During our phone call, Lauren and I touched briefly upon ways to make this novel even stronger.
I feel that by building out the different time periods that Matthew and Katherine inhabit while finessing some of the historical detailing, the book will become even more compelling and so tug more firmly on readers’ heart strings. This work would build on the extensive research that Lauren has already obviously done.
As you know, Walker is a company that invests in its authors in the long term. We have a proven track record for working closely with authors to launch their careers around the world, most recently with Timmy Failure, a property we bought jointly with our sister company in the US. As well as a dedicated and passionate UK sales and marketing team, we also have a passionate foreign rights team, with an excellent track record of securing deals, often at auction.
As such, we believe that we are in an excellent position to provide a global home for Lauren and her books, and we sincerely hope that Lauren will choose us! Thank you again for sharing Lauren’s terrific novel with us! I will be sat excitedly (and probably biting my nails!) as I wait to hear from you.
An identical offer came in from another publisher on Wednesday. C got to work trying to improve the terms- she wanted to keep the film/merchandise rights, etc. I’d already decided I wanted to go with Walker, regardless of the offer, because my vision of the book matched A’s more closely, and she was so keen and excited about the book- although I did like how the other editor had challenged me, and how enthusiastic she was about elements of the sequel that I hadn’t really discussed with A. We waited anyway, to see whether they would improve their offers, and they both came back with increased offers that Friday. Walker’s was better. The offer came in at 10am, and by 6pm C had closed the deal. It was done, I had a publisher!
I sent C several excited gushing emails of thanks, tweeted 140 exclamation marks at A, and went home from labs (of course all this had happened in labs, under the amused eyes of the French postdocs, of course it had). I slept so well that night, oh my god. I slept that whole weekend, I think. It’s been a bit hard to come to terms with, especially because several days after the deal was closed my agent went on maternity leave, and then everything stopped for Christmas!
But it happened! I actually got a publisher, which is ridiculous.
A rebloggable version of this post can be found here.
Firstly, a special announcement: I’m starting a book club with some fellow authors Alice Oseman, Catherine Doyle, Louise O’Neill and Sara Barnard! Not just any old book club. A book club for our favourite books. The books that changed our lives. The books that made us.
Each of us has picked the three books that are the most important to us as writers and as humans. We’ll all be reading one per month, and at the end of the month, posting on Tumblr a few comments on the book and how/why we think it’s so important to the author who chose it.
You are very welcome to join us and read along! It’d be great to hear some thoughts on the monthly book either on Twitter or on Tumblr. This month’s book is Northern Lights by Philip Pullman, chosen by me. If you’re interested, you can read all fifteen of our choices and more about us here.
Okay, onto the post!
Back in June I went to Carlisle, a location in my book! I chose Carlisle as a location because it was the last castle to be sieged in England, during the 1745 Jacobite uprising. My book takes place during the siege, so the castle is an important location in the story. I wanted to visit to see what it was like today.
It was really strange, because I’ve spent so much time writing about this place I kind of felt like I’d made it up in my head. It was really valuble for my writing, not only because I can add more accuracy in terms of the layout and distance of the city, but there’s lots of little details that inspired me for extra things that can happen!
Here are some photos I took, of a house near the cathedral which is how I imagine Katherine’s home.
The castle as it is now.
The battlements where Things Happen, and the view where the Jacobites attacked, which is now a children’s playground.
A room in the castle where meetings and traumatic Things Happen, with A Queen sampersands on her throne.
Me at the town square sitting on steps where Matthew and Katherine sit and more Things Happen. Bagpipes were playing there and it was so nice.
We also went to the biggest secondhand bookshop I have ever seen, it was four stories and spread through a huge basement system and it was incredible.
It was a great day, and hopefully only the first time I’ll get to visit a location from my writing!
In July I went to the London Comiccon, which hosted the first YA convention. It was brilliant, and I met lots of people, quite a few of whom had read my book and knew who I was?? It was a bit surreal and I felt like a huge imposter. I got to go to the authors party, which was incredible! I feel so lucky that I get to do stuff like this!
The panels I managed to go to were all amazing, and in particular here are some things that I really enjoyed and agreed with:
Sex in YA
There was a brilliant discussion on whether sex in YA can and should be explicit by nonthepratt, authorbethreekles, Cat Clarke and jamesdawsonbooks. I very strongly agree that there should be sex, especially because teenagers are always going to be curious, and it’s much better for them to read a responsibly written sex scene in a novel that discusses consent, conception and emotions, rather than googling porn.
There needs to be a reliable source of information, in a form that isn’t a Sex Education class. One that teenagers can access without shame, and for free in libraries without having to venture sneakily into the romance section. One where the women aren’t objectified or come second to a man’s pleasure. One with conversations about consent.
Even if younger readers than the intended audience find it, they are going to be less harmed by it than they would be by porn. If a twelve year old is curious about sex, then it is far better that their explorations lead them to a source which is intentionally written for them, which is accurate and responsible. However explicit it is, it is always going to be far less scarring than porn.
It’s even more important to ensure that there are depictions of LGBT sex in YA. Not only for young teenagers unsure of their own sexuality, who already receive a worse Sex Education in schools, and would get a particularly damaging idea of what sex is like from porn. But this is also important for straight teenagers, to show them that there is nothing gross or disgusting or scary about LGBT individuals. That LGBT teenagers are just like them- nervous and inexperienced and probably not taking part in orgies in their spare time.
I think explicit rather than abstract, vague sex scenes in YA is better. The sex should addressed clearly, because if a teenager is curious about what exactly is happening in a scene, they will turn to google, and while they might find fanfiction or a guide to sex, they will almost certainly also find porn. YA is responsible for shaping the ideas of a whole generation, and it needs to be done right.
Fandoms
There was a wonderful discussion by rainbowrowell, lucysaxonbooks, Andy Robb and Tim O’Rourke about the shortening gap between fandom and authors. I am very strongly on the side of fan culture and fanfiction, asyoucansee. I think that there should be an open dialogue between fans and writers. Feedback is a huge part of the writing process, because I want to write things that people want to read, and as someone who has been a fan for longer than a writer, all I want is for my writing to inspire that kind of passion in people.
I think there is a lot more to discuss about this- about how pop culture should be portrayed in literature, for instance. Social media and fan culture is a huge part of many peoples lives that is often left out of literature, even YA when the majority of the audience are teenagers on the internet. The internet evolves so fast that it’s difficult to decide how much to include in books without it becoming rapidly outdated, but bringing more realism to the writing.
And in relation to the discussion above, I think one of the joys of fan culture is that it has provided a way for teenagers to find out about sex online without resorting to porn through fanfiction, which I think is great.
Fanfiction has sex, but it also has feelings. It talks about what happens after sex, and after the first kiss that often signals the ending of books and films, but the start of relationships. Fandom is a safe place for girls to explore their sexuality without objectification, and that’s wonderful!
But fanfiction is written by people on the internet, who might only have been a few years older than the teenagers reading it. There’s often no mention of safe sex or contraception. There is no editing progress to make sure that the impressionable teenage readers are absorbing accurate information. I’m not sure how that can be approached, but it’s something to think about!
Female Characters
There was a great panel by tanyabyrne, Isobel Harrop, Julie Mayhew, Holly Smale, and Sara Manning on heroines in YA. The idea that strong female characters don’t necessarily have to be ‘strong’, they can have weaknesses and flaws too was proposed. They don’t need to be ‘heroines’ to be a heroine. Male characters are allowed a lot more faults whilst still being likeable. Female characters get dismissed as whiny or a bitch when they are just as realistic as the men.
This is a problem I think is actually more common in ‘grown up’ literature than YA. Female protagonists dominate YA, and I have had strong female role models like Lyra and Sabriel and Hermione since I was a kid, so this isn’t something new. But people still hate on characters like Skylar White for being a bitch when they are perfectly normal, relatable people, just because of their gender. Their complexity is ignored because they aren’t a ‘perfect’ woman.
I think the reason that there can be this wonderful feminist literature for teenagers, but then so much sexism in adult fiction is because boys don’t read books with female protagonists- whether this is due to the marketing or lack of interest- so they don’t get that opportunity to realise that females are people too, like teenage girls do (which they already knew anyway).
So I think that at this point, trying to find a way to close the divide and broaden the readership of YA female characters is more important than writing strong heroines- we’ve had that sorted for years.
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There was a lot more at YALC that I want to discuss, but this is going to have to do for now, as I need to sleep! I graduate tomorrow, so I need all the beauty sleep I can get.
editor, they’d likely admit that I’m not the best at historical accuracy. I’m not a historian. I’m never going to be as good as authors who spent four years studying an area of history for their PhD before adapting it for fiction, like Sarah Waters.
Instead I chose more obscure events. I picked out a few, and then did some internet searches to see how easy it would be to research them.
They are both pretty heavy reading compared to a history biography written in this century, but at the time I had no idea whether I was ever going to finish this story, so I wasn’t willing to invest £50+ in buying books.
It’s also a good idea to try to find other point of view. The experience of a straight, white, middle-class man is going to be completely different from a woman of colour, in any period of history. Although it’s harder to find those kind of resources, there are some out there, and you can’t dismiss their experiences- they are often the most interesting. I bought a copy of the letters sent home from a soldier’s wife who travelled to the front during the Crimean war, Mrs Duberley, to get a female point of view. Although she mainly talked about her horse (!), it was an important part of my understanding of the period.
obscure diary entries taken from history. As well as being an excellent read, there might be a diarist from a time period you’re interested in that you can investigate further, or a new period altogether.
At this point I (finally!) started writing. I would estimate that I had to do a google search about once a page. My internet bookmarks looked like a list of wikipedia articles, because I am super lazy.
Yesterday, the cover of my debut novel was revealed, along with the first chapter! Thank you to 
If you want to read the first chapter, click on the link to see it in full!
James>Folios/v1/Time-landscape-1745/MS-1
secondhand bookshop I have ever seen, it was four stories and spread through a huge basement system and it was incredible.
Wren James 