I tweet about this sometimes – the stages involved in writing and publishing a novel under contract – and it often comes up in the Q&A section at events so I thought it might be interesting for readers and aspiring writers if I posted about it.

Generally the stages are:

1. Writing the book (this may involve research and any number of drafts).

2. Submitting the book (to agent and then editor) by the agreed deadline and responding to major editorial notes.

3. The copy edit.

4. Proof reading.

5. Jacket copy/author’s bio etc.

6. Publication day.

(Sometimes elements of No 5 come ahead of No 4)

My new book Half The World Away has already been written, delivered, edited and (this last week) copy-edited. I will use this post to talk about the first two of those steps.

1. The book took about nine months to write and that included a period of three weeks researching in China where much of the story unfolds. I wrote longhand and then typed up chapters every month or so to share at my novel writers’ group. The feedback I got from the group was accommodated when I did the second draft (if I agreed with it which I usually did). Once the second draft was complete, I read the book aloud to find instances of clumsy writing or repetition or faults in the dialogue and tried to improve these. I finalised the chapter breaks and checked my Chinese spelling and accents. Finally I worked out my acknowledgements and typed the title page. Then spent far too long trying to stop the page numbers appearing on the title page.

2. In mid December I sent the manuscript to my agent. I was really pleased with her response and that of her colleague (it is always daunting getting those first professional reactions). I made some minor changes as a result of their comments and then send the manuscript off to my editor. Before Christmas she emailed me – she had really liked the book (phew!) and had three notes for me to consider. One was a very simple matter – a change of names – which took no time at all. The second was a suggestion for altering the situation of one of the minor characters and I could see why she wanted this but it meant more work – going through the script and redrafting several scenes. Her final note was a reservation about the ending, which I was keen to keep as it was. In the New Year we had some more discussion and I tried writing a slightly different version which spoke to her concerns without fundamentally changing the ending that I felt worked for the story. I’m happy to say we soon reached agreement. At that point the re-jigged manuscript was sent to the managing editor and on to the copy editor.

Next time I’ll post about stage 3.

There are so many good books around at the moment – or maybe social networking means I hear about more of them than I used to. Anyway I’ve enjoyed the following ones recently – a range of genres from both established and debut authors. There might be something here that you like. Enjoy!

Before The Fire by Sarah Butler

The Crooked House by Christobel Kent

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

Nora Webster by Colm Toibin

Animals by Emma Jane Unsworth

Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

Into The Trees by Robert Williams

The highlights of my year were the selection of my new standalone novel Letters To My Daughter’s Killer for The Crime Thriller Bookclub on ITV3 sponsored by Specsavers and the short-listing of Night Nurse for the CWA short story dagger. Night Nurse was the second time I’d been short-listed for that award and I heard the news while I was in China researching my next book. Like many writers I take the time in between novels (when there is any) to experiment with the short story form. It allows me to try very different styles and voices, a refreshing change. It was a real accolade to be short-listed. The winner this year was, deservedly, John Harvey with his amazing piece, Fedora. You can read both in the collection Deadly Pleasures.

 

Letters To My Daughter’s Killer is the story of Ruth who writes to the man responsible for her daughter’s murder in an attempt to find some understanding. I watched Crime Thriller Club avidly and it was a delight and an honour to see renowned authors like Mark Billingham, Kate Mosse, Peter James, Sophie Hannah and Val McDermid critique the novel and be so generous in their comments. I also got to show the film crew my neighbourhood’s mean streets, and take them round key locations in Manchester that related to the novel – among them my local library in Didsbury similar to where the central character Ruth works and the law courts at Minshull Street in town where the trial for the murder of her daughter Lizzie’s unfolds.

October saw publication of Ruthless, the third and last of my books based on the Scott and Bailey TV series. I was so excited (and full of trepidation) when asked to write the first one as a prequel back in 2011. Since then, because of my existing commitments, I’ve been writing two novels a year – and exhausting schedule that has now come to an end. But I’m so glad I said yes – I have loved writing those characters and attempting to capture the tone of the TV series that I’m a big fan of.

Author events are a lovely way to interact with readers and talk about books. This year I visited a range of venues and thoroughly enjoyed evenings in libraries in Prestatyn, Rastrick and my hometown of Bradford. I appeared at Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate where I was on a fascinating panel discussing domestic noir with Julia Crouch, Chris Ewan and Helen Fitzgerald, and chaired with perception and intelligence by N. J. Cooper. Particularly memorable was the rare coming together of all six members of Murder Squad for an event at Linghams bookshop in Heswall, as well as my first ever international bookshop appearance at The Bookworm in Chengdu, China some months earlier.

As regular readers of my blog will know throughout the year I post lists of books I’ve enjoyed and recommend. I’m not going to try and pick anything out from those, it would melt my brain, but I’ll only say there seems to be far too many good reads out there and not enough time to read a fraction of them.

Here’s to a very happy 2015 and thanks for visiting.

Cath

If you’re giving a book as a present (and what better gift is there) I can recommend the following titles. Something for everybody (as long as they read fiction).

The First Rule of Survival by Paul Mendelson

Unravelling Oliver by Lizzie Nugent

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin

I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh

Dark Tides by Chris Ewan

The Secret Place by Tana French

This Dark Road To Mercy by Wiley Cash

After Me Comes The Flood by Sarah Perry

How To Build A Girl by Caitlin Moran

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin

Thornfield Hall by Jane Stubbs

I love to read, I’m an unashamed addict and I get the jitters and can’t settle when I’m close to finishing a book and haven’t another one at hand. That usually necessitates a trip to the library or bookshop or some online browsing. Mainly thanks to Twitter, I am now getting way more word of mouth recommendations for books than I ever did in the past and so I  keep a list of those I fancy the sound of, and gradually they migrate to my TBR pile. The ones I like, go on my regular blog list of recommended reads. The ones I don’t, I ditch as soon as I realise they are not for me. I read quite fast, usually in the gap between the end of the working day and the start of my TV viewing – and often in the bath. Always when I travel. But lately I’ve noticed I’m sometimes going too fast, scrambling down the page, scooping up the gist of a story, racing to get to the end. I don’t think this is simply because I read a lot of ‘page turners’ and thrillers, I think it’s probably the result of that teetering pile of books I know I’ve still got to read. An insidious pressure (all of my own making I’m sure) to ‘get through’ another title and tick it off. I always bolted my food as a kid and do even now if I’m not concentrating: hungry and eager to fill the empty space but not really savouring the food. This style of reading feels a little like that though I still relish the books and enjoy being wrapped up in the story. But reading is such a joy I don’t want there to be even the slightest stress connected to it. I’m not sure what I can do about it; certain books, with more lyrical or poetic prose, make it harder to gobble them down, the writing demands a slower read but I don’t want to limit my diet, I like to read widely. And I like to spread the word. As do so many of you!

I was away in Corfu last month with the luxury of lots of time to read.  The books I enjoyed took me to all sorts of different destinations from The Isle of Lewis to the Arizona Desert, Dublin to Johannesburg, London to Glencoe, Amsterdam to Glasgow and Majorca (twice). So I arrived back home well refreshed and well travelled.  Thanks to everyone who recommended these titles to me, on Twitter and in person.

The Blackhouse by Peter May

Zoo City by Lauren Beukes

The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter by Malcolm Mackay

Corrag by Susan Fletcher

The Old School by P.M. Newton

The Vacationers by Emma Straub

Before We Met by Lucie Whitehouse

Faithful Place by Tana French

The Dinner by Herman Koch

The Lemon Grove by Helen Walsh

The Shadow Tracer by M.G. Gardiner

It’s been a very special week with Letters To My Daughters Killer featured on ITV3 Specsavers Crime Thriller Club on Monday and Ruthless, the third Scott and Bailey novel, out today 9th October to coincide with the new TV series. Today is also Super Thursday. 315 new titles will be in the bookshops and you can find out more about the special day here and here. It’s just three years since I started writing the novels based on the TV show.  I was a big fan of Scott & Bailey before I was approached to write a prequel and it was an honour, as well as a terrifying prospect, to be asked.   I loved the way the series captured female friendships – and fallings out – and the three strong women at the heart of it who are all gifted at the job they do.  Also impressive was the way the investigations were faithful to police procedure and reflected a Manchester I knew.  I’m delighted to be receiving some wonderful reviews for Ruthless.  If you’d like a taster of the novel you can hear an extract from the audio book version.

 

In case you missed Monday’s Crime Thriller Club, it included me talking about writing Letters To My Daughter’s Killer and a critique of the book from authors Mark Billingham, Sophie Hannah, Kate Mosse, Peter James and Val McDermid as well as guest actor Stephen Tompkinson and host Bradley Walsh.  I was really thrilled by the responses and have been walking on air ever since! You can watch the show on itvplayer – it is Episode 4. The awards ceremony is on October 24th in London and screened on 27th October.  One of the six books selected for the Crime Thriller Book Club will be chosen as best read.  Details of all the shortlists for the awards can be found here.

Now – where’s that bubbly?

My big news is that Letters To My Daughter’s Killer has been chosen for this year’s Specsavers Crime Thriller Book Club.  Six titles will be  featured in the weekly series Crime Thriller Club starting on ITV3 on September 15th and running up to The Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards on Sunday October 26th.  (Look out for me in one of the episodes. We had great fun filming this in Manchester earlier this year – though the use of Police Crime Scene Tape and white SOCO suits caused some consternation for the neighbours!)  It’s a real honour to have the book selected.  You can see the shortlists here http://www.crimethrillerawards.com/2013-daggers/. Happy reading!

Summer reads in the sense that it is summer and these are the books I’ve enjoyed this season so far. It’s a varied list with works from famous prize-winning authors as well as from those just starting out.  Some are crime, some not.  Some British, some American. Reading the titles again I’m struck by how each book has a completely distinctive style and voice, creates a unique world. Exactly what the best books do. Take a peek…

Cold Light by Jenn Ashworth

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Safe House by Chris Ewan

The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh

The Palace of Curiosities by Rosie Garland

American Rust by Philipp Meyer

The Long Fall by Julia Crouch

Luke and Jon by Robert Williams

Other People’s Money by Justin Cartwright

This Friday 18th July the House of Lords will give a Second Reading to the Assisted Dying Bill.  I have generally been a supporter of individual liberty when it comes to matters about a person’s health and well-being and in the past thought it would be better to have more options at the end of life but although I’ve supported the principle of assisted dying I hadn’t considered it in much depth until I wrote a novel on the topic – The Kindest Thing.  Researching this, where a woman helps her terminally ill husband end his life and is then tried for murder, convinced me that we need a law to protect and safeguard people who are dying and their loved ones who wish to support them in choosing when to die.   And that having safe, medical means to end our lives would be a far more humane system than the current situation where people are forced either to travel abroad earlier than they might wish or risk a fraught DIY attempt at ending life.  Preparing a paper about the issue for St Hilda’s Mystery and Crime  conference 2011, I was struck by the success of the assisted dying bill in Oregon USA and how the experience there has allayed many of the fears people have about a change to the law, resulting in a much more humane situation than is the case here.

Lord Falconer’s Assisted Dying Bill would clarify the situation here and (as is the case in Oregon) it would be robustly designed to prevent abuse or coercion of vulnerable people and would enable people who are close to death a chance to die with dignity and care.

As a patron of Dignity in Dying, I’d invite you to visit the website and lend your support to the campaign.  If I may quote Sir Terry Pratchett from his Richard Dimbleby lecture on the topic, ‘Let us consider me as a test case…. if I knew that I could die at any time I wanted, then suddenly every day would be as ­precious as a million pounds.  If I knew that I could die, I would live.  My life, my death, my choice.’

UPDATE:  The Bill passed the Second Reading Stage and will now progress to Committee Stage.  For details of the route to legislation see here.