Nuance Nous

A collection of information that may accompany any person embarking on a writing adventure

In this publication • surveying the literary landscapes and publishing opportunities in Switzerland, UK, USA and Australia; • garnering ideas for building a writer’s platform; and • tips and advice from already published writers.

Content is by no means exhaustive. It is intended to be a starting point.

Additional input always welcome!

Interview:

Geneva-based New Yorker Susan Jane Gilman

Landscape #1: UK and Europe Article:

The Writer Abroad – Lorraine Mace

Landscape #2: USA (with thanks to Pete Morin) Article:

Things to do now by Janet Skeslien Charles

Landscape #3: Australia Interview:

Melbourne-based fiction writer Steven Conte

Landscape #4: The Local Landscape & How To publications Article:

The Writer and Social Media

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Interview with Susan Jane Gilman Which was your favourite childhood book?

Eloise by Kay Thompson. The protagonist is a smart-mouthed, rebellious, precocious firebrand who creates her own reality and takes over the Plaza Hotel. And she’s six.

What’s not to love? My parents gave this book to me when I was six and have been regretting it ever since: I immediately took to Eloise as a kindred spirit and a role model.

To this day, it’s one of my favourite books.

And she’s still one of my role models.

Where do you write, what objects are on your desk, and why?

Susan was the Zürich Writers’ Workshop Non-Fiction tutor in May, 2011 Author of three nonfiction books, Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven, Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress, and Kiss My Tiara, Susan has written for New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Ms., Real Simple, Washington City Paper, Us magazine and won a New York Press Association Award for features written on assignment in Poland. Her short stories have been published in Ploughshares, Story, Beloit Fiction Journal, Greensboro Review, and Virginia Quarterly Review and she was awarded VQR's 1999 Literary Award for short fiction. Susan is also a commentator for National Public Radio and co-hosts “Bookmark”, a monthly book show on World Radio Switzerland.

I have a home office with a big white laminate desk where I sit immobilized and plagued by insecurity for roughly nine hours a day. There are always little knick-knacks littering my work space for me to fiddle (procrastinate) with. The most interesting are tiny, antique pairs of shoes that were made for Chinese women who’d had their feet bound at the turn of the last century. I bought them at an antique market in Beijing when I returned to China in 2005 to research my latest book, Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven. While the shoes might be replicas of the originals, they’re beautifully embroidered – and horrifying. The size is smaller than most toddlers wear. I keep them as a visual reminder of how constricted and crippled women have been throughout history – whether by society or our own desire to conform. I also have two huge, beautiful geodes that I bought in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco from a man desperate to sell me something – anything, really. It broke my heart. The majesty of nature and the pain of humanity are glistening right there in those rocks.

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On a lighter note, I also have a hairy, magenta rubber yo-yo that lights up. I play with it constantly – whenever I’m stuck for inspiration, working through an idea, or stuck on-hold for 45-minutes on the telephone.

Who was the biggest influence on your writing life?

Frank McCourt. I had the great, good fortune to have him as my English teacher at Stuyvesant High School in New York City. His Creative Writing class inspired me to write non-stop and taught me crucial lessons about the craft. This was long before he was famous. He was, as we said, “just a teacher.” I was a teenager, which meant, of course, that even my hair was an opera.

Yet he championed me and told me I had talent. One day, he told me to send a piece I’d written to The Village Voice newspaper.

I did – and they published me. I was sixteen years old. This was huge professional validation. He also sent my work to national writing contests – and it won prizes. I adored him and worked out a way to take his class almost every single semester until I graduated.

When I headed off to college, he wrote at length in my yearbook: “Don’t, don’t, don’t ever let them still your voice…Go to your room and let your pen rip across the page…move over Jane Austen. Bow your head Mary McCarthy. Run for cover, Fran Leibowitz.” And in the darkest nights at college, when I was ravaged with insecurity and despair, I re-read it. (I still do). And I kept writing.

And we stayed in touch. Mr. McCourt, my teacher, became “Frank,” evolving into my mentor and friend. Whenever I had a professional triumph – an Op-Ed in the New York Times or a journalism award – I called him. He was as proud as any parent. And I, arrogant young upstart that I was, figured that one day, when I wrote my first book, I’d dedicate it to him so that, you know, he’d be remembered. He’d share a little bit of my glory. HAHAHAHHAHA!

Of course, the whole world got to participate in Frank McCourt’s happy ending, in his global, spectacular success with Angela’s Ashes. We watched the awards and accolades rain down on him like champagne.

And my friends from high school and I were delirious with joy: He did it! He did it! The triumph and justice of it was monumental.

In 2005, when my second book, Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress debuted on The New York Times’ Bestseller List, the first person I called wasn’t my husband, or my agent, or my parents, but Frank. “I couldn’t have done it without you,” I choked into the phone.

“You made me what I am today.”

And he chuckled. “I did, didn’t I?” I simply would not be a writer today if it wasn’t for Frank McCourt. I bow before him for all eternity. He died two years ago, and I miss him every goddamn day.

What makes you laugh?

Human stupidity, absurdity, and naivety --particularly my own.

Which book should every child read?

Eloise, of course. And all three of mine. Kiss My Tiara, Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress, and Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven are all completely inappropriate for anyone under age twelve, but so what? When I was eight, my mother read me the J.D. Salinger short story, “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” about a war vet killing himself, and I turned out just fine.

Do you have a word or phrase that you most overuse?

Yes, three: “Wow,” “Cry me a fucking river,” and “The world should have my problems.”

Is there a book you were supposed to love but didn’t?

Moby Dick. Ugh. I’ve heard two different and very brilliant professors refer to it as “the greatest American novel ever written.” But I

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found it tedious, phallocentric, and half of it barely readable – and I’ve plodded through it three times.

What would you do if you weren’t a writer?

I can’t even begin to imagine it – and for a writer, that’s saying something.

Which book do you wish you’d written?

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, although I haven’t read it since I was seventeen. But when I read the final paragraph, I burst into tears, I was so moved and overwhelmed and impressed, I didn’t know what to do with myself. I wished I’d written it. Yet I haven’t gone back to reread because I’m afraid it won’t hold up.

The experience of reading it was so perfect and awe-inspiring and seminal for me as a young writer, that I don’t want to tarnish the memory and the impact by going back with a more critical eye.

I’d also have been thrilled to have written The Odyssey of course, simply because it’s The Odyssey. Ditto for The Collected Works of William Shakespeare. Run, Rabbit, Run and Eloise, of course, would be great, too.

Has the recent ‘made-up memoir’ scandal damaged the market for true stories?

I don’t know how it’s affected the market, but it’s made life tough for those of us who have written memoirs without making stuff up. Now, when people read about my dinner with Mick Jagger, or how I was forced to follow a Maharishi as a kid, or my disastrous trip through China at age 21 where my friend and I fell apart, they ask me, “Did that really happen?” That drives me crazy: Of course it did. If I made that stuff up, I’d certainly make myself and my loved ones look a hellava lot better.

my publisher had me track down some of the people who’d helped save my life two decades ago. They wanted me to have as much documentation and verification as possible before we went to press. While it was amazing to track down some of the people in my memoir, it was also extremely nerve-wracking and time-consuming. They were all over the globe.

I also feel very strongly that if you’re going to pen a memoir, then you have an obligation to tell the truth as best you remember it. The fact that a story is true gives it a particular power – and resonance with readers. After reading my books, a lot of people write me very confessional letters and emails. My books comfort them, make them feel less alone, less vulnerable, and less freakish because they feel a connection with my own experiences. Sometimes, they tell me they feel like I’m a close friend. They pour their hearts out to me at readings and dinner parties. If I were to turn around and say, “Oh, my family didn’t really implode,” or “I wasn’t really bullied like that – I just made it up to sell books,” they’d feel hideously betrayed and sort of violated.

If you’ve got a great story that didn’t really happen to you, just write it as a novel and call it a day.

What are you working on at the moment?

My three published books are non-fiction.

Now, frankly, I’ve had it with reality, so I’m working on a novel. I’m happy to report that it’s every bit as difficult to write as my other three books.

Which pizza topping best represents your personality?

Smoked salmon. And chocolate.

For Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven, which is about a naïve and disastrous backpacking trip I took through China when it had just opened up to young travellers,

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Landscape #1 UK and Europe

Listings

Authonomy, Harper Collins’ community: www.authonomy.com

Writers and Artists’ Yearbook (special edition for children)

Litopia, writers’ colony (plus free Muse magazine): litopia.com

Listings of agents, publishers, competitions, etc.

Writers Abroad: writersabroad.spruz.com

www.writersandartists.co.uk

Magazines

The Bookseller

The Literary Review: www.literaryreview.co.uk

Trade magazine with daily email updates www.thebookseller.com

Mslexia, for women who write: www.mslexia.co.uk Writers’ Forum: www.writers-forum.com

The Short Story Markets, competitions, apps, everything short-related www.theshortstory.org.uk

London Review of Books: www.lrb.co.uk Muse, free ezine: www.litopia.com/museezine Words with JAM, free ezine or subscription magazine: www.wordswithjam.co.uk

Writers’ Resources www.flash500.com/index_files/resources. htm

Paris Review: www.theparisreview.org

Peer reviews WriteWords, a writers community: www.writewords.org.uk Circalit, an international writers’ showcase: www.circalit.com Absolute Write, by writers for writers: www.absolutewrite.com Book Country, Penguin’s community: www.bookcountry.com

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Being a Writer Abroad: Two articles

by Lorraine Mace Checklist (revised edition now available with new publishers, Accent Press).

What’s Your Unique Selling Point?

You’ve been living abroad for a while and have had lots of amusing encounters with the locals. You’ve fallen into all sorts of truly hilarious situations as a result of mangling the language, and the time has come to share your anecdotes with the wider world.

There’s clearly a market for such books; after all, look at how successful they are for so many authors. So all you need to do is dash off your memoirs and a publisher is going to snap it up. Yes? Sadly, no.

Lorraine Mace is a freelance writer, columnist and tutor for the Writers Bureau. She currently lives in France, but has spent most of her adult life as a perennial nomad, flitting with her husband, Derek, between Africa, Mainland Europe and a tiny Mediterranean island. Winner of the Petra Kenney International Poetry Competition (comic verse category), Lorraine’s fiction, features and humour have appeared in magazines in the USA, the UK, France, Australia and the Republic of Ireland.

Humour columnist for Writing Magazine, she is also the deputy editor and writing agony aunt for Words with JAM e-zine for writers. A long-standing judge of writing competitions, including the monthly Writers’ Forum short story competition, Lorraine runs Flash 500, which now has a Humour Verse Category.

She is the author of The Greatest Moving Abroad Tips in the World and co-author, with Maureen Vincent-Northam, of The Writer’s ABC

There are now so many writers living abroad, that to follow in the footsteps of Peter Mayle, Chris Stewart, Carole Drinkwater and countless others, you need to hone your unique selling point. Even these three well-known authors had something to offer in addition to their ability to write about their experiences. Peter Mayle was the first, always handy as a USP. Chris Stewart was a former rock star and Carole Drinkwater wrote about managing an olive farm.

So, before you spend time putting together a proposal, you need to work out your unique angle. Would you be the first to write about living in your particular country? Have you retired from, or taken up, an unusual occupation? Have you founded a skydiving school in a ski resort? Converted a chateau into a nudist colony? Escaped from a religious commune? What is it about you that would sell a book?

You can no longer rely on quaint local customs, and even humour isn’t enough. I received feedback from a publisher who’d

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read my proposal for a book based on a column I’d written for Living France. He said he’d laughed out loud in places, but he wouldn’t take the book on because it lacked a USP. Once you’ve decided on the angle, what should you submit to publishers? Always check the submission guidelines, but in most instances, a publisher will ask for a covering letter (don’t forget the USP), a list of chapter headings with a mini-synopsis of each, some examples of competing books with a word about why yours is better/different/unique, the approximate word count and the first two or three chapters.

The following publishers accept email submissions, but it is advisable to phone first to check they are still open to new authors: Michael O’Mara Books: www.mombooks.com Portico Books: www.porticobooks.co.uk Summersdale Media: www.summersdale.com Snowbooks: www.snowbooks.com Write What You Know Writers are told to write about what they know. What do expats know more about than anyone who isn’t an expat? Simple – what it is really like to live abroad.

There is a definite market for articles which can assist or enlighten those thinking of making the move to a different country. The following websites are just a few of those looking for copy.

Transitions Abroad believe the best way to learn about a country and its culture is to live there and are seeking inspiring articles which also provide in-depth practical descriptions of what it is like to move and live abroad, including discussions of immigration, personal and family life, housing, work, integration, food, culture, study, language learning and prejudices encountered.

Sidebars should include supporting details and resources that are not in the body of the article.

first-person accounts which will aid, inspire or comfort women living abroad. www.expatwomen.com/faq.php#13 Before You Go are looking for articles on a wide range of subjects such as: relocating, opening a business overseas, building a home and/or renovating a property overseas, unusual lifestyles in unusual locations, retirement abroad, city guides, living on an island or onboard a boat, or any subject that is unique and internationally applicable. www.bygmagazine.com/Writers Escape Artist want to hear about real estate, how to make a living and how to invest overseas, including offshore investments. www.escapeartist.com/OREQ/article_ submission.php International Living Magazine run articles on general themes, such as: retiring overseas, real estate bargains, how to set up a business, items that you find overseas that may make a good import-export opportunity, foreign investment and travel. They have a section called Postcards of approximately 250–500 words, for which they pay $50. These should be sent to Len Galvin at postcards@ internationalliving.com. Once you are familiar with International Living Magazine, you can send full-length articles of 1,500– 2,500 words to Laura Sheridan at editor@ internationalliving.com. Check the writers’ guidelines and sample articles on site before submitting. www.internationalliving.com Hidden Europe is also worth considering.

Although this is not an expat site or magazine, they want to hear from writers who live in Europe. They specialise in Europe’s little-known attractions. Material should be sent by e-mail to editors@ hiddeneurope.co.uk, but do read their full guidelines before submitting work. You can expect a fee of about 200 Euros for a feature length piece. www.hiddeneurope.co.uk

www.transitionsabroad.com/information/ writers/writers.shtml Expat Women is a website whose title is selfexplanatory. They are looking for articles and

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Landscape #2 USA

With thanks to Pete Morin, author of Diary of a Small Fish

brings together American writers and readers in a wide variety of programs to promote a love of literature.

Listings

www.penfaulkner.org

Directory of Writers’ Associations Writers Associations

The Hemingway Society

provide many benefits for members, including newsletters, competitions, media mailings, networking, writing resources and support. www.ebookcrossroads.com/writersassociations.html

Writers’ Guild of America As the world leader in online screenplay registration, the WGAW represents writers in the motion picture, broadcast, cable and new media industries. www.wga.org www.wga.org/subpage_member. aspx?id=99

The Ernest Hemingway Foundation was established in 1965 by Mary Hemingway, Ernest’s widow, “for the purposes of awakening, sustaining an interest in, promoting, fostering, stimulating, supporting, improving and developing literature and all forms of literary composition and expression.” Within that context, the Foundation’s activities have emphasized “the promotion, assistance and coordination of scholarship and studies relating to the works and life of the late Ernest Hemingway.” www.hemingwaysociety.org

Literary Magazines

PEN / Faulkner Foundation Founded by writers in 1980, and named for William Faulkner, who used his Nobel Prize funds to create an award for young writers, and PEN, the international writers’ organization, the PEN/Faulkner Foundation

Browse the literary magazines listed in NewPages to find short stories and longer fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, essays, literary criticism, book reviews, author interviews, art and photography. The magazine editor’s description for each sponsored literary magazine gives you an overview of editorial styles—what writers

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they have published and what they are looking for (with contact information, subscription rates, submission guidelines, and more).

Publishers’ Marketplace www.publishersmarketplace.com

www.newpages.com/literary-magazines

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America

Top 50 Literary Magazines

www.sfwa.org/

Top 50 Literary Magazines one of our most popular list of literary magazines.

Forensics 4 Fiction – expert’s blog

www.everywritersresource.com

Write Better, Get Published, Be Creative: WritersDigest.com Writer’s Digest is the No. 1 Resource for Writers, Celebrating the Writing Life and What it Means to be a Writer in Today’s Publishing Environment. www.writersdigest.com www.writersdigest.com/101BestSites

www.forensics4fiction.wordpress.com

Short story submission database www.duotrope.com

Agents (sometimes not updated - best to check agency websites for exact query guidelines): www.agentquery.com

Poets & Writers Contests, MFA Programs, Agents & Grants for Writers Information, support, and guidance for creative writers since 1970. Find writing contests, grants for writers, news, small presses, and much more. www.pw.org

Writers.com Online Creative Writing, Nonfiction, Screen Writing, Genre Classes & More Writers.com/Writers on the Net has been offering online writing classes since 1995 -the first writing school on the Internet. www.writers.com

WritersCafe.org – The Online Writing Community Share your poetry, short stories and novels.

Join writing groups. Enter writing contests.

Search publishers, literary agents and literary magazines. www.writerscafe.org

The Sun Magazine North Carolina www.thesunmagazine.org

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Things you can do now to help your writing career

by Janet Skeslien Charles An author’s career begins long before publication. I would like to share what a few fellow writers and I have learned through being a teacher of creative writing, working on the editorial team of a small literary journal, and working with a critique group made up of five writers of literary and commercial fiction, memoir, and sci-fi. A decade later, four are published authors. We all had different approaches, personalities, writing styles. We had some successes and made mistakes. I am certainly not an expert in publishing but perhaps sharing strategies and mistakes can help other on their journey toward publication.

Commit to a goal

Janet was the Zürich Writers Workshop Fiction tutor in May, 2011 Janet Skeslien Charles grew up in Montana and studied Russian, French and English. She spent two years in Odessa, Ukraine, as a Soros Fellow.

Her novel, Moonlight in Odessa, explores the dark side of marriage brokers and Internet dating, with a light touch. Daria, the young heroine, has a talent for fixing people up. Everyone, that is, but herself. Moonlight in Odessa has been published in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Brazil, Sweden, Iceland, Serbia, Romania, Taiwan, and Denmark, and was chosen by Publishers’ Weekly as one of the best debut novels of 2009.

A chapter a month, a scene per day. Find an objective or schedule that you can stick to.

Finish a novel within a year is too vague, but finishing a chapter per month is a tangible, measureable objective. Don’t wait for inspiration. It may only come once a year.

Writing is hard work and the quicker you commit to a writing schedule or an objective, the quicker you will move towards finishing a piece.

Send your work out This may seem elementary, but you have to send your work out to be published. The writer in my group that is not published is by far the best editor and writer. She is also the most timid about submitting her work. After sending ten queries, she gives up. Submitting work is like looking for a job or dating –

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filled with rejection; however, you have to keep trying until you find the editor or agent that loves your work.

Read Writing is a passion but it is also a business.

Read new books to learn about the market.

Read the classics to learn about structure.

Read agent websites and submission guidelines. Read sample query letters and synopses to help you learn these documents.

Be an active member of the writing (and reading) community.

Go to readings, volunteer at the library, start a book club, or join a writing group.

Support your local booksellers. In our group, one author bought all of his books online.

Another was a good customer of the local independent bookstores and volunteered at the library. When it came time to do publicity, the first author was turned down when he asked to do readings. The second was invited to do several presentations, and her book was featured in bookstore newsletters and websites. Another author in the group interviewed writers on her blog.

When her book came out, several of the writers asked to interview her on their blogs.

She also began a lecture series and met great authors. As an author, you will end up doing a lot of publicity for your book and it is easier to be in a position of being invited rather than having to ask. Start making connections now. Support other authors, local booksellers and libraries, because they are the ones who will be rooting for you.

Write for newspapers, journals, and magazines

articles and reviews about her book. A French publisher recently told me he finds English-speaking authors through their short stories. A writer in my group was signed by an agent who had read one of her short stories. Start building a portfolio now by writing short stories, book reviews, essays, and articles.

Publishing is a contact sport It is no coincidence that many writers live in London or New York. Attend conferences and workshops. Get out and meet people.

The more you do it, the easier it becomes.

Live in a small town or foreign country?

Join the editorial board of an online journal or organize your own critique group, in person or online. In our group, one author met her agent at a conference and another got a glowing endorsement from an awardwinning author she had met at a workshop Think before you write.

“Where to begin with this misbegotten horror?” I have seen fellow writers frustrated with their unpublished status pen nasty blog posts and reviews. You may hate a book and want the rest of the world to know how terrible it is. Resist. Remember W. Somerset Maugham words: “It may be that you only get out of a book what you put into it and see in it only what you are.” I have learned something from everything I have ever read, even if it is only what I don’t want to do in my own work. Before you post something about another writer’s work, make sure the criticism is constructive. Focus your energy on writing your own book instead of trashing someone else’s and on being a positive force in the writing community.

When working on my novel, I let myself be consumed by one project and didn’t write anything else. In addition to working on a book-length project, another writer in the group chose to write essays and articles.

When her book came out, she had already made several media contacts and had several

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Landscape #3 Australia

Australia still has Literary ‘journals’ or ‘magazines’, which come out periodically throughout the year. They are a good place to start looking for small publication opportunities. As always, do your research to get a feel for the kinds of things they are looking for.

Blue Dog

These sites list the lit ‘magazines’:

Cordite

www.litmags.com.au/ australia.gov.au/about-australia/australianstory/austn-literary-magazine www.australiacouncil.gov.au/about_us/our_ structure/artform_boards/literature_board/ literary_magazines

Published by the Australian Poetry Centre as its contribution to the publishing of Australian poetry www.australianpoetrycentre.org.au/?page_ id=36

An Australian poetry ezine www.cordite.org.au

Griffith Review A quarterly of writing and ideas www.griffithreview.com

Listings

HEAT

Australian Book Review

Australia’s international literary magazine

Leading independent Australian literary review

www.giramondopublishing.com/heat

www.home.vicnet.net.au/~abr

ISLAND A magazine of excellence and variety

Australian Literary Review The Australian newspaper’s monthly literary supplement

www.islandmag.com

www.theaustralian.news.com.au/thearts/alr

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Mascara An online magazine showcasing Asian, Australian and Indigenous writers www.mascarareview.com

MEANJIN Australia’s leading literary magazine www.meanjin.unimelb.edu.au

Overland A long-standing literary/cultural magazine www.overland.org.au

Peril An Asian-Australian arts and culture ezine www.peril.com.au

Quadrant Review of literature and ideas www.quadrant.org.au

Southerly Australia’s oldest literary magazine southerlyjournal.com.au/

Voiceworks New writing by young Australian writers www.expressmedia.org.au/voiceworks.php

Wet ink Focusing on Australian new writing www.wetink.com.au

Overview Sites like the following have competitions, mentorship programs and info about what’s going on in the OzLit scene: ABR – Australian Book Review: www.australianbookreview.com.au/ ASA – Australian Society of Authors (run a mentorship program): http://www.asauthors.org/

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60-Second Interview with Steven Conte Which was the book that changed your life?

Sophie’s Choice (1979) by William Styron, which I first read at the age of 19. This almost perfect novel (Styron’s great compassion and humanity briefly fail him when he writes about the reluctance of young women in the late-1940s to part with their virginity) is the finest of a series of novels that I read in my late-teens in which a young male protagonist falls under the spell of a beautiful, compelling woman who later dies in tragic circumstances. I had my reasons. In places, Sophie’s Choice is also terrifically funny.

What do you think is distinctive about Australian fiction?

Steven Conte is the Melbourne-based author of The Zookeeper’s War, which in 2008 won the inaugural Australian Prime Minister’s Award for Fiction, then worth AUD$100,000. The Zookeeper’s War has been published in Britain and Ireland and translated into Spanish and Portuguese. Barman, life model, taxi driver, public servant, book reviewer and university tutor are some of the jobs with which he has supported his writing. Steven’s website is: www. stevenconte.com.

In earlier times, the encounter of writers of European descent with an immense and mostly arid continent, as well as an anxiety that real life and culture were happening elsewhere. These days, Australian fiction is exceptionally diverse, nicely mirroring the culture. Landscape remains a recurring theme, and the question “Who on earth are we?” keeps popping up. Having said that, we’re more outward-looking than ever before, and increasingly what we see when we look outward is Asia.

Do you have a word or phrase that you most overuse?

Which was your favourite childhood book?

The Sailor Dog (1953) by Margaret Wise Brown, the epic tale of a dog’s retrieval of his maritime heritage.

Where do you write?

Just about anywhere. For the last year I’ve been mobile, house-sitting and dropping in on family. I write at desks, at kitchen tables and in cafés. Spending time in the latter helps mitigate the social isolation of writing.

‘Feel’, ‘seem’ and ‘body’ all come to mind.

Go figure.

Do you see distinct lines between genre and literary fiction?

Not a line so much as a continuum, and of course literary and genre fiction are always borrowing from one another. I see myself as writing in a realist literary tradition, which I think of as an evolving genre that each generation refreshes with its own technical

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and stylistic and innovations. What remains constant is the impulse to portray the world, not as it “really is” but rather how it feels – emotionally, intellectually, sensually – to be alive in it.

Is there a book you were supposed to love but didn’t?

Ian McEwan’s Booker Prize-winning Amsterdam. Since the early 1980s I’ve been a huge admirer of McEwan’s work and have always found it perverse that he won the Booker for what I feel is his least engaging novel. Having said that, I should probably reread the book to see if I now feel differently about it.

What are you working on at the moment?

Another novel.

What scares you most - spiders, snakes or critics?

I’m always pleased to discover that there are people who care enough about fiction to write critically about it. So I’d have to say snakes, which, after cars, pose the nastiest threat to my nearest companion, a flat-coated retriever named Meddles Originally published in Words with JAM www.wordswithjam.co.uk

What have you learned from writing?

Tenacity. Separating, as far as possible, my sense of self worth from the downs and also the ups of writing.

Do you have a guilty reading pleasure?

Women’s magazines in waiting rooms.

E-books – nemesis or genesis?

Genesis, so long as we repel the pirates. My fetish is for words, not for pulped Finnish pine.

Which book/writer deserves to be better known?

Mates of Mars (1991) by the Australian satirist David Foster. A fearless and abrasive novel about a disparate band of Sydney taekwondo enthusiasts who attend a training camp in the Northern Territory, get caught in the Wet, become involved in an Aboriginal payback killing and then have to escape by stealing a prawn trawler in a bid to fish their way to Singapore. The triumphantly two-dimensional characters include a medical professor, a Chinese postgraduate student, a feminist self-defence instructor, an Aboriginal rugby-league star, a male model, and a nightclub bouncer who deliberately severs his paralysed legs, only to recover full use of his stumps

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Landscape #4 Switzerland

The English-language literary landscape in Switzerland is a work-in-progress, and we are looking forward to seeing it expand over the coming months.

Please do keep us posted as you discover new links, opportunities and networks, because there’s real power in networks and collaboration – writers need other writers.

Zurich Writers’ Workshop: www.zurichwritersworkshop.com

Geneva Writers’ Group: www.genevawritersgroup.org

Orell Füssli Bookshop: www.books.ch

Bergli Books: www.bergli.ch

Nuance Words: www.nuancewords.com

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The right words can move mountains!

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The ‘How-to’ Landscape: Books

The following (in no particular order) are a few titles that we (and others) have found useful over the years:

Dynamic Characters (And How To Create Personalities That Keep Readers Captivated) – Nancy Kress

On Writing – Stephen King

The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes ( And How To Avoid Them) – Jack M. Bickham

One of the best ‘How-To’ Books

Techniques of the Selling Writer – Dwight V. Swain Story – Robert McKee A book for screenwriters that can teach novelists so much

Beginnings, Middles and Endings – Nancy Kress ABC Checklist for New Writers – Lorraine Mace & Maureen VincentNortham

13 Ways of Looking at the Novel – Jane Smiley The Art of Dramatic Writing – Lajos Egri Aimed at playwrights, but full of smarts about story construction

The Art of Fiction – David Lodge Ghostwriting – Andrew Crofts

A great book for the fundamentals, packed with handy tips

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Social Media Social media isn’t as scary as it seems, but if you’re not sure where to start, why not start by looking at what other literary types are up to?

Do as they do Take a look at what other writers you admire/aspire to are doing. Look at their platforms, follow their blogs, look at who they’re following on Twitter.

Cross-link Use Widgets to cross-link your blog to your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, or whichever social media you prefer, and start to build an online presence.

Be yourself Everyone else is spoken for! Be authentic and generous with your ‘follows’, responses and comments. Think before you type, of course, but let your personality shine through.

If you have a particular interest in moustaches, for instance, then you might as well admit it – not only because you will undoubtedly connect with other like-minded mo-lovers, but it will also do wonders for your readership when it comes to launching your book about the secret history of the handlebar moustache.

You can, for example, change the settings on your Twitter account so that whatever you tweet will be automatically forwarded to your Tumblr/LinkedIn/whatever. This way, you only have to tweet once in order to get your message out there. If you prefer to pick and choose which info goes where, you might benefit from an app like ‘Tweet Deck’, which allows for this.

Do it your way Some people have Tweetorrhoea. Some people are lurkers. Some people blog monthly; some daily. It’s up to you how you do it, but there are some tried and true tips with regard to building a following.

Example: Someone like Jeff Goins is bit of a writerly blogging pro, and he has lots of advice on blogging in general, as well as building your profile.

This article is one about knowing when to quit – and start again! www.problogger. net/archives/2011/08/19/7-lessons-ilearned-b-starting-over-with-blogging

The bottom line?

Take advice from the pros, but do what you can manage, and re-visit your strategy occasionally to make sure you’re optimising.

Oh, and have fun!

Link to other writers Use your platform to help promote other writers you know and like. You don’t have to do their PR for them, but networking and collaboration are the names of the game, and other writers are your allies, not your enemies.

Be efficient and strategic Set regular times to do your social media blitzing so it doesn’t eat into your writing/ life time. Look at your workflow to minimise how much social media you need to engage with.

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We would like to thank Jane Dixon-Smith, Formatting Wizard, and all our contributors.

This has been a production.

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