Changes - a guest post from author David Robinson

Prolific author and good friend, David Robinson, has taken time out from his busy schedule to provide Writers’ Checklist with an astute guest post. Here he shares his views on the consequences of being a little too precious with our prose. 

Here’s one of my favourite old jokes. I received two emails. One from my publisher, the other from my wife.

Publisher: I need changes to page 210.

Wife: I’m leaving you for the bloke across the street. We’re going to live in Rotherham.

Here are my responses:

Publisher: That page is the crux of the tale. I’ll not change a single word. If you don’t like it, I’ll pull it and you can stick your advance where the sun doesn’t shine.

Wife: Rotherham?

That bit of nonsense hides a conundrum for the writer (as well as marriage guidance counsellors). When you’re asked to change something, do you or don’t you?

For my sins, along with Maureen and another friend, Laurie Clayton, I co-edit a magazine on a writer’s community, and we recently got into a bit of a spat with a writer who objected to changes we requested. I’m not going to go into great detail here. It was all a storm in a teacup and eventually it blew over. No one is suggesting the author was wrong, but is there anything we can learn from it?

Some authors are fearfully protective of their work, others, and amongst this number I include myself, are happy to go along with editorial suggestions, as long as they make sense. Copyright, as we all know, is vested in the writer. Any piece, even a 100-word filler, is the intellectual property of the author, and it cannot be reworded or changed without permission. If changes are suggested and the writer says, “No” then that is the end of the matter.

But hold on.

As a writer, how badly do you want to see your work in print? If you’re asked for changes and you refuse, you leave the editor with only one option. Rejection. If you don’t see the need for the change, you can, of course, negotiate, but if the editor sticks to his/her guns, then you will be rejected.

You have to ask yourself, why were you asked to change it? Does the change make more sense than your original? Does the change affect the underlying message? Does it make you appear more or less erudite, and if so, is that a reflection of the magazine’s/book’s potential audience.

The underlying theme here is, if you want to see your work in print, then don’t be too protective of it. Be prepared to give a little ground. Be ready to accept changes. By all means challenge them if you feel they’re unjustified, but even so, prepare to back down if you have to.

As an example, about 4 years ago, I published a paperback novel through a US imprint. We all know there are major differences between English in the USA and English in Great Britain, and it’s not just about spelling. Amongst the numerous changes the editor asked for was the phrase, “ticked off”. If you are ticked off in Great Britain, it means you’ve been scolded. If you are “ticked off” in the USA, it means you are mildly annoyed.

The character at the core of this passage was an English aristocrat, and “ticked off” would accurately describe matters from her point of view. Did I change it? You bet I did. Publishing that novel was more important to me than those two words.

Not all changes are so simple or clear cut, but ultimately, it’s up to you, the author, to decide how much you want to protect your prose.

And what about editors? My advice is simple. If you have a piece which is borderline and you really want it, ensure that the changes you want are valid and you can justify them. Don’t make changes for the sake of change or for the sake of wielding power.

David Robinson lives and works as a novelist on the northeast outskirts of Manchester, England. He is a prolific author, having produced works in cosy crime, psycho-horror, sci-fi and humour. 

The latest book in his popular whodunit series starring the members of the Sanford 3rd Age Club is A Murder for Christmas

You can read free samples chapters of David’s books HERE.

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Foreign Flavours: A New Anthology from Writers Abroad

Online writing group Writers Abroad are proud to announce the publication of a new anthology of short stories and non-fiction articles, entitled Foreign Flavours.

The anthology takes as its theme food, drink and recipes from around the world. It is a tantalizing collection of fiction and non-fiction, full of spice and flavour and sprinkled with mouth-watering recipes. The wide-ranging, sometimes bittersweet contributions show how adaptable an ex-pat has to be to leave familiar dishes behind and venture into the culinary unknown.


This is the second anthology published by Writers Abroad. All the contributors are, or have been, ex-pats living in places around the globe. Alexander McCall Smith*, acclaimed author of The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency Series who himself was born abroad, has written the foreword.

Following a call for submissions, 64 contributions were selected for the anthology. Since Writers Abroad is a virtual writers’ group, all the work to produce Foreign Flavours was done online.

All proceeds from the sale of this book will go to The Book Bus, a charity whose aim is to bring literacy and the joy of reading to children in the developing world. 

Writers Abroad is an online writing group, founded in 2009. It provides a forum for ex-pat writers to exchange ideas, views and news on writing and to offer support and constructive feedback on each other’s work. Membership numbers are limited but ex-pat writers can apply to join if they are able to support the group’s initiatives and aims. 

Foreign Flavours contains 64 contributions. Thirty-four are non-fiction articles and 30 are short stories. The anthology also includes 33 delicious and appetising recipes. Writers Abroad members supplied 24 of the contributions; the remaining 40 were selected from 96 external contributions.

Contributors live in and have written about the following places: Albania, Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Corsica, Cyprus, England, Fiji, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Malawi, Mallorca, Morocco, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, USA, Wales.

*Alexander McCall Smith is one of the world’s most popular and prolific authors. He was born in the former Rhodesia and was a Professor of Medical Law for many years. His No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series has sold over 20 million copies. His various bestselling series of books are available in more than 40 languages. He has received numerous awards for his writing and now lives in Edinburgh. 

The Book Bus is a registered charity that aims to improve child literacy rates in Africa and South America by providing children with books and the inspiration to read them. Find out more on their website.
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Interview with Christina Hollis

 

Bestselling author, Christina Hollis, writes Modern Romance for Harlequin Mills and Boon, which appear in the US as Harlequin Presents/Extra. You can catch up with her here...

Website   --  Blog  --  Twitter  --  Facebook

Christina's book page HERE

What was the first thing you had published? 
That would have been in various school newspapers, but I first went ‘public’ as you might say with a technical piece about growing cyclamen from seed. That was in the Royal Horticultural Society’s journal The Garden back in the 1980s! 

Tell us about your proudest writing achievement. 

I try and produce my best work every time so I’m always delighted with each new acceptance, but I think all the lovely messages I received, both in public and private, after the blog I wrote for the tenth anniversary of 9/11 will stick in my mind forever. Read it HERE

What are your writing strengths and weaknesses? 

I love to try and capture the English countryside in my writing, and from the comments I get readers like my descriptive work as much as I enjoy writing it. As for weaknesses, I have to be careful not to go overboard on the drama - maybe a childhood spent reading Sherlock Holmes stories is to blame for that! Rather than being desperate to find out what my heroine would do when faced with a cobra, I’ve discovered it’s more satisfying for readers to discover why she feels she has to put herself into a dangerous situation like that in the first place.

Do you have a writing routine or any odd writing quirks? 

I write every day, between school runs. Mornings are my best time for inspiration, then I spend the afternoons re-reading what I’ve done, typing up work and editing it. At the weekends, I catch up on paperwork and try to update my website and blog. As for quirks, I’ve got some really silly ones. Firstly, if I’m not using my beloved Alphasmart Neo I much prefer to write longhand, with a pencil. It’s a Woolworths pencil for preference, although of course they’re a vanishing breed! 

Secondly, ever since I was tiny I’ve loved the feel of writing on the very first page of a brand new exercise book or pad. I really hate turning over and using the back of it, so nowadays I write on all the right hand side pages of an exercise book first, then turn the book over and work back the other way. It works as long as I remember to number the pages, and as quirks go it may be weird, but it’s pretty harmless!

Is there a special place you like to write? 

I can write anywhere, but what makes it really special for me is the accompaniment of a mug of tea and a big slice of home-made chocolate cake. Unfortunately, the more of that I enjoy, the more I have to suffer on the treadmill...

How important is it to you to plot your novels? 

It’s extremely important, as the type of books I write have a strict word count. I want to give my readers an enjoyable heroine and irresistible hero, a roller coaster ride of emotion with plenty of sensuality, character development and a satisfying ending. Fitting all that into a mere 50,000 words takes planning!

Are your characters ever based on people you know? 

Not really - I’m like a magpie, collecting a turn of phrase here, a gesture there and putting them together with what I consider to be attractive physical features. I love men with dark hair and eyes for example, so my descriptions are heavily biased toward that type without being based on any one particular person.

How much of you is there in your heroines? 
I try and make them all different, physically and mentally, but they all do something that I enjoy. Their careers and hobbies are usually based around the countryside, and using their hands. That way I get to write about the natural world and cooking, among other things. Kira Banks in The Italian’s Blushing Gardener loved plants, while Gwen in The French Aristocrat’s Baby was a chef, for example.

Who is your favourite romantic author and why? 

I have great admiration for both Nora Roberts and Debbie Macomber. They create vivid, satisfying stories and both work really hard to give their readers what they enjoy.

What qualities do you think writers should have? 

Imagination, first and foremost, but persistence is also vital. In these days of social networking and self-publishing it helps to have an enquiring mind and a sociable nature, too.

What are you working on at the moment? 

I’ve just started work on a new romance for Harlequin Mills and Boon about a woman who thinks she’s perfectly happy with her safe, boring life in an English village until a reckless foreign stranger makes her hunger for more. It has the working title “Love in a Garden”, so you could say I’ve gone back to my roots!

What advice would you give to an aspiring romantic novelist? 

Write first for your own pleasure, but if you intend to be published be prepared to listen and learn from every scrap of advice you can get.  Join the RNA, learn as much as you can from writing magazines, seminars, courses and by talking with other authors but above all - never give up. If you have a good story and you can tell it well, you’ll get there in the end. 

Thank you for taking the time and trouble to interview me, Maureen - I really enjoyed the experience.

Christina

Christina Hollis was talking to Maureen Vincent-Northam, co-author of

The Writer's ABC Checklist (Secrets to Success)
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