samgrosser
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Posts posted by samgrosser
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I can't get into audiobooks. I find my mind wanders; I have to physically read a book to be able to keep my concentration on it.
Me too.
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This topic reminds me of a question my sister and I were thinking about - if you knew you were going to die and you could only read one more book before you kicked the bucket, which one would it be?
I think I'd probably choose to re-read an old favourite - something I'd know I could lose myself in, characters I would like to revisit one last time; like saying goodbye to old friends, I guess. As for which book that would be - I think I need to give that some thought ...
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I remember reading The Golden Notebook many many years ago when I was a student and loving it. Not much of it has stayed with me unfortunately, but I know that at the time I thought it was quite profound.
I've also read a couple of her books that are set in South Africa and they were very good too. I'm thinking now that perhaps I should revisit The Golden Notebook (like I don't have enough on my TBR list already)
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Reminds me of the song 'Grandma got run over by a reindeer, coming home from our place Christmas Eve, people says there's no such thing as Santa, but as for me and Grandpa......we believe.'
Sorry, couldn't resist that
I'm a bit of a sceptic when it comes to conspiracy theories too, but they make very interesting reading.
That's really made me smile - it's my 7-year-old son's favourite song. The first time he heard it he was completely hysterical with the giggles and now I smile every time I think of it. I'm glad someone else likes it too...
I'm a bit of a sceptic too, but I love to hear about them. I had a friend who used buy Nexus magazine on a regular basis and he was always coming up with some new theory to explain something or other.
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Good question. If I've read a review and think I'd like it, then the cover will make no difference. But it definitely influences the books I pick up in a bookshop, though it's the blurb and ultimately the first page that makes me decide whether or not to buy it.
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I've been thinking about this for a while, because it was really hard, and came up with these:
Atonement by Ian McEwan (film's pretty damn good too)
The Turning by Tim Winton
The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
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Thanks so much for inviting us and for your interest. I've really enjoyed chatting with you all.
See you around on other bits of the forum,
All the best
Sam
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Hi,
Just back from a sunny week in the Mendips, refreshed and happy, so I'll take your questions in order.
Nic: When I was writing the book, Anna's story took shape very quickly and comparatively easily, but Tom's story changed with every rewrite as I did more research and got more confident with writing about an evading airman's experiences. In the first draft, he got captured straight away, which at the time seemed a less difficult route to take! So it wasn't so much that there was one alternative ending to finish off the existing story, so much as there were many possible stories. One friend did suggest that I have him come back to find Anna has been killed, and that he has a baby to bring up (which didn't tempt me). Another possibility (and this was a scene I got as far as writing in my head) was that Anna managed to track him down to the docks as his ship was about to head home, after he had failed to find her at the end of the war.
I don't think I'll ever write the Tommy Pilgrim story now, because the central character really was Mrs Pilgrim, and it would be too hard to change her into someone else.
Michelle: I've always read loads. As a teenager I got into Victorian novels - Hardy and the Brontes, and I think I absorbed some of the sense of foreboding that hangs over those stories. I still love the tragic stuff with lots of loss and yearning
Later, I was very lucky to do a degree in English Literature, which widened my reading choices and gave me a deeper critical understanding of how words can move and affect us.There are certain books and/or writers that I turn to for inspiration. Hemingway is number one for that - A Farewell to Arms is my favourite book ever. Also inspirational are people like Michael Ondaatje, whose use of language is so beautiful. But I think it was the Victorians who probably influenced the most.
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Hi Nic,
I'm so glad you enjoyed the book - I can understand that large print might be a bit off-putting though.
Yes, I have always been interested in the Second World War, but funnily, it wasn't what I planned when I began writing. I had an idea for a story about a child who was born to an ill-fated couple during the war and kept secret by his grandmother - it was going to be called The Ghost of Tommy Pilgrim, and was going to be set immediately after the war and in the present. But when I started writing I immediately began to find that it was the parents story that intrigued me and so that was what the novel became.
The grandmother survived the change as Mrs Pilgrim who was sort of an amalgam of all the worst bits of all the mothers I knew! In earlier drafts she was worse, but the novel needed for her to have a bit more depth and complexity and that kind of grew with each rewrite. I like your description of her as 'hateful' but with 'odd, uncharacteristic, kindness.' That's the character I was hoping for.
The ending remained in doubt until I'd actually finished writing but the original plan was to end it differently.
Writing now is more or less full-time. My son is now 7 and so I write when he's at school, as I used to write when he was kindy (nursery school) in Australia, or when he was asleep as a baby. I'm very blessed with a very supportive husband and feel very fortunate to have been able to combine motherhood and writing as I have. Although having said that, I did actually start writing Another Time and Place when I was working as a receptionist at a company in North Sydney (before Jake was born). There wasn't much to do and writing passed the time and made me look busy.
Thanks for your best wishes about my second novel. It's still with the agent and I'm still waiting with my fingers crossed!
I'm now off to the Mendips for 10 days and I'm not sure how much access to the internet I'm going to have, but do keep the questions coming. If I can't answer them while I'm away, then I definitely will when I get back. I'm really enjoying talking with you all. :eek2:
Sam
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So, between 1997 and now? Ooh, I'll have to have a good hard think about this! i'll get back to you on this one...
Me too.
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Gradually collecting everything by Ernest Hemingway, although it'll probably be years before I've read it all. It doesn't help that I keep rereading the ones I've already read.
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Hi
Nic: I'm really pleased that you're enjoying Another Time and Place - I don't think I'll ever get tired of the pleasure of knowing people like my book. It makes my day every time.
. I'm looking forward to your questions.Kell: My publisher sent out about 50 copies and I got only a few reviews which was a bit disheartening. The reviews I did get were mostly positive though, which was nice. Fortunately the book seems to be available in a lot of libraries, and like Kerri, I'm just happy that people are reading it. Of course, more success would be nice, but just getting published has been such a great experience and such a boost to my confidence as a writer. I know now that I'm not deluded, and that I can actually write!
Sam
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Thanks Kerri, for the best wishes. As you say, it is an exciting for me. I can't imagine what it must be like to have CFS, but I know how much energy and discipline it takes to write. I hope you manage to find it from somewhere
Ice-cream: I didn't have any input on the cover for my book initially, but my editor sent me a draft with a little message to point out that the plane actually was a Lancaster. He was obviously very chuffed with himself and I felt really bad when I had to write back with the news that the hero was American and didn't fly a Lancaster but a B17!
The original sunset was different as well, but had to be changed after another, Booker-winning novel, came out in paperback with a very similar sunset.
While I like the cover very much and think that it would attract me to pick up the book in a bookshop, I'm not sure that it's the best cover for it, as I think a picture of a plane might a lot of women off. I think I would have preferred a more people-based image, more like Suite Francaise perhaps. But I don't know. What do other people think?
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I loved this book - it moved me in a way that books rarely do. It's the only book I can think of that has actually made me cry! The characters were so real, their anguish so poignant, all so subtly drawn - there were passages in the story where my heart was in my mouth, especially in the descriptions of the young son.
Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. I'm so sad that you thought it lacked substance.
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Just before I go on holiday, I have one more question for you both, and that is what are you hoping to do next. Do you have another book planned, or other projects? (Kerri, we all know yo're busy counting all those royalties, so what comes after that?)
I'm at an interesting stage in my "career" as a writer. Macmillan New Writing turned down my second novel, After the Twelfth, but offered some sound constructive feedback and did say that they would reconsider it if I made the changes that they suggested. I've now made those changes but have decided that I'm going to try other routes to getting it published first. So the manuscript is with an agent at the moment, and I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that she'll like it.
I've also got another book almost finished - it's another World War 2 story called Thin Ice. I've been working on this one for a while now on and off and I recently gave it to a well-read friend for her comments. So I'm going through a somewhat anxious few weeks at the moment!
While I wait I'm researching for a play I've been asked to write, set in Burma in the Second World War, and that's my next writing project, hopefully to be produced sometime late next year. I plan to get down to the actual writing once the school holidays are over. Drama is a completely new departure for me and very exciting.
Having so many things on the go is a very nice position to be in as it means I don't have all my hopes pinned on one thing.
And your question isn't cheeky at all, fishandchips: my contract gives me 20% of the publisher's net receipts, which averages out at about £1-£2 a book. Other contracts are probably different.
But like Kerri, I'm definitely not in it for the money
Sam
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Two of my favourite ever books aren't well known at all
Mr God this is Anna - Fynn
The Eight - Katherine Neville
Both different and both great. Nobody has ever heard of either of them when I mention them. But I've had several copies of each as they never come back!
I've heard of Mr God this is Anna but I can't remember where or why. What's it about?
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I think The Secret River by Kate Grenville is about early settlers in Australia and if I remember correctly is inspired by her own family's past roots.
I've just read The Secret River and thought it was brilliant - she writes the way that I would like to, wonderfully evocative descriptions (without being wordy), beautifully drawn characters, an amazing sense of place. But I warn you now, it's not a cheerful read!
Illywhacker by Peter Carey is another one, although it's a very long time since I read it. I remember that I liked it at the time though.
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I only know two of the authors on the list and I think it's wonderful that new writers are getting a chance. I just wish some of them were out in paperback already ...
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My publisher sent out over 50 review copies but only a (small) handful actually reviewed them. It was also very hard work to get copies into local bookstores, with the exception of my local independent and Waterstones in the Galleries in Bristol, who have a big "local authors" display.
I think luck has an awful lot to do with becoming successful - it really probably only takes one or two rave reviews in a national paper or magazine to get the ball rolling. But they do say that word of mouth is some of the best publicity, so Kerri, you never know - we might make it big yet!
I'm hoping that the fact there seem to be a lot of copies of my book in libraries might help spread the word, and I've found my local libraries have been very supportive and helpful.
(But yes, I get mightily jealous of the more successful ones too)
Sam
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The main thing I have found so hard to deal with, is the way that many people seem to think 'chick lit' authors are lesser authors. Someone on another forum suggested that discussions on my book in some way lowered the tone of the board - I was equally upset and furious.
I was also completely unprepared for how difficult it would be to get stocked by 'brick and mortar' bookshops, and how difficult it would be to even get one review in print. It's a vicious circle: if you're unknown/not famous, they won't review/stock you - so how do you sell books and become known?! I was so ignorant of how things work, as I'd never really expected having a book in print! My eyes have been opened, though...
Kerri
I'm not surprised you were upset and I know how you feel - I've had a few people kind of turn up their nose when I've described the book as a love story. But this is definitely the friendliest forum I've come across and is the only one I've stuck with.
As for getting reviews and into bookshops as an unknown author ... I know how you feel about that too
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Any thoughts on what they should be reading?
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I'm not surprised you were annoyed and agree that writers do need to develop a thick skin to get by in the often harsh world of publishing. I could do with a little armour-plating myself!
Kerri
Is that partly why you decided to use a nom de plume? I thought really hard about it, and then when I decided I would use my real name I had to decide whether to use Sam or Samantha. I'm still wondering whether or not I made the right decision
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Hi
I have a question for Sam: how frustrating is it for you, having researched your book extensively, for some people to point out what they see as flaws in your research? I was looking for your book on Amazon, and noted that someone had a bee in their bonnet about your use of the word 'pregnant'!
Kerri
That's an interesting point. I was absolutely fuming when I read that review. While there might be a few minor historical inaccuracies in the book (no-one's perfect) that isn't one of them.
I was so beside myself that I googled the woman who wrote that review and discovered that she had also written a book written during World War 2, parts of which were available online. I read a couple of pages and have to say that not only was her work littered with historical inaccuracy (a 1940's child describing a woman as looking like a sumo-wrestler is the one that sticks in my mind) but she also had one of her characters using the word pregnant!
For hours afterwards I was mentally composing rebuttals until I eventually calmed down and got a grip. So I guess the answer to the question, Kerri, is infuriatingly frustrating. I think I'll have to develop a thicker skin if I'm going to keep writing historical stuff
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Now to your question, Kell.
Research. My book's set in the Second World War and I did loads and loads and loads and loads of research, which I absoutely loved every minute of.
My problem was that I hadn't planned to write a WWII book - it was going to be the story of a child born to an ill-fated couple during the war but when I started writing (completely on an impulse - I was working as a receptionist with very little to do and writing filled the day and made me look busy), I realised that actually what interested me was the parents' story. So that was what the novel became.
Anna's story was quite easy in terms of research - I knew enough about wartime Britain to be able to write her narrative and then just check up on small details (working hours, women's conscription, types of restaurants etc). Tom's story on the other hand was a bit of a nightmare at first, and it took ages before I felt I knew enough to even begin to attempt to write a bombing raid over Germany, or the experiences of an Allied airman on the run in France. His story consequently developed very slowly as I gradually became more confident with the material.
But I found the research fascinating - the bravery of a whole generation was just astonishing in a world we can barely imagine. I'm just finishing another WWII novel, and have a play set then in the pipeline as well. It's definitely an era that I'm drawn to.
Sam
The Bourne Betrayal by Eric Van Lustbader
in General Fiction
Posted
I haven't read the books yet but I just loved the films. Unfortunately, from what I've read I think the Bourne Ultimatum was the last. Shame