Last week we heard from Jess Paine and Therese Raft to kick off this three part series aimed at giving emerging writers an idea of what the whole long, lonely, at times disheartening but always worth it process is all about. This week, meet Sarah Ayoub and Foz Meadows. You may remember Foz published her first YA novel earlier this year, Solace and Grief. Now she has just wrapped up the sequel, The Key to Starveldt and she chats to us about the learning curve that writing it was. Sarah Ayoub is a widely published freelance writer who was a co-publisher of Trespass when we launched, and who also happens to be working on her first YA novel.
And remember, if you’re between the ages of 16 and 25, you can enter the Play Now Act Now Festival which is an opportunity you’d be crazy to ignore.
Foz Meadows
Tell us a little about yourself …
I grew up on the Central Coast of NSW, which is where I first started high school. For my last three years, I commuted to a private school in Sydney, where I finished my HSC. After that, I enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Sydney while living on campus in one of the residential colleges. My focus was on history, particularly with regard to religion and the Middle East. After two years, I deferred my study for a year, moved to Melbourne and eventually completed the degree via correspondence with the University of Macquarie. My working life, like that of so many humanities students, began in a café. After two years, I somehow wrangled a very junior office job, which became the starting point for what I’ve been doing ever since: a wide variety of administrative roles for different corporations and levels of government, usually organized through a temp agency. Also, I write stories.
What are you working on right now?
Currently, I’m wrapping up work on The Key to Starveldt, my second novel and the sequel to Solace and Grief, which came out in March 2010 through Ford Street Publishing. Both are part of a YA urban fantasy trilogy called the Rare.
What are you planning on doing with what you’re working on?
Submitting it to my publisher, who has been dropping hints about wanting to see the manuscript! I’ve also got an unrelated first draft on the backburner, a sort of murder/magic novel that I’m itching to work on, and which I’d love to send out elsewhere, as it’s for an adult audience. One step at a time, though!
Do you have an agent, are you planning on getting one, do you think they’re necessary?
I don’t have an agent, although I have looked for one in the past, and was briefly represented prior to the publication of Solace and Grief. Regardless of whether or not they’re necessary for publication, I do think a good agent can be of enormous value to a writer, not only in terms of negotiating contracts, but in terms of support, advice and publicity. Right now, I’m not hunting for an agency, but if one were interested in talking to me, I’d certainly investigate.
What about joining groups and clubs and associations?
Writing tends to be a solitary occupation. Some of us like it that way, and some of us don’t, but for my part, I think there’s something valuable – not to say fun – in having regular contact with other people who share your interests. Up until joining the SuperNova writers’ group in Melbourne, I only had a few writer friends, even fewer of whom cleaved to fantasy. Having a whole circle with whom I can talk shop, swap stories and bounce around ideas has been brilliant and an absolute eye-opener.
Take us through the process of creating your current project – the time frame, the tears, the sweat, the cups of tea and glasses of wine.
The draft I’m currently working on is the most recent of four, the first of which was “finished” around September last year. Writing a sequel is new territory for me, and seeing as how the first book was actually published, there’s a sudden pressure to improve upon, or at least maintain, what people seemed to like about Solace and Grief. There’s been a hell of a lot of culling – I’d estimate that I’ve axed and rewritten about 40,000 words of a 90,000-word manuscript – accompanied by a very steep learning curve. I’m nearing the end of the process, but the biggest thing it’s brought home to me is: don’t force the story. If what you want to have happen is incompatible with what the characters want to do, then figure out why, scrap as much as need be and let the imaginary people do the driving. After all, it is, as they say, their party.
If someone came to you and asked for your advice on achieving the writerly dream, what would you say?
Write what you’re interested in. Write what you know. Write what you’d like to read. This is important: finish your project with care – not obsession – and start submitting it places. There’s little you can do towards publishing an incomplete manuscript except to get it done, but a finished draft that spends all its time being endlessly rewritten and never sent out won’t get you a book deal, either. It’s a fine line, but sooner or later, you have to strike a compromise: get it done, check for errors, wing a prayer to the Typeset Gods and send it out. And again. And again. And again. And never stop writing.
In summation …
Nobody ever told me I couldn’t write. I grew up surrounded by stories, living with an editor mother and a journalist father who was always writing a novel. Maybe that’s why I started writing, and maybe it isn’t, but whatever the cause, it’s in my blood, now. If I can’t write, it’s like putting part of myself in a cage. All writers are a little bit schizophrenic, I think: we have other people living in our heads, and they want out. As for the publishing industry, it’s going through a period of change, or is perched on the brink of one, which makes it difficult to pin down where it should be – or might be – headed. But as an emerging writer, I think the most important qualities to have are, somewhat paradoxically, persistence and the ability to change. Or, put another way, the ability to keep trying, but not always with exactly the same thing. Words are flexible. You should be, too.
Check out …
For budding fantasists, I recommend DeepGenre – it’s run by several well-known fantas, with opportunities to ask questions and connect with other people.
Sarah Ayoub
Tell us a little about yourself …
Sydney-based freelance writer, who has been published in CLEO, ABC Unleashed, The Punch, Notebook:, Yen, Shop Til You Drop, Girlfriend, Frankie and more. I have spoken at industry events and on TV & radio on writing matters and issues that my articles are based on. I also have a Masters of media practice from Sydney University. And I have a blog - I blog about writing at www.wordsmithlane.com
What are you working on right now?
My YA novel, an article for Madison and my PhD thesis, which is on the glamorisation of gang culture in our media, with Arab-Australian youth as my case studies. I’m also working on a pitch for Vogue.
What are you planning on doing with what you’re working on?
The novel goes to the lady who I am negotiating agent representation with, the thesis earns me a doctorate and the Madison and Vogue article/pitch earn me publication in high-brow women’s magazines.
Do you have an agent, are you planning on getting one, do you think they’re necessary?
Someone’s expressed interest in representing me, I just have to finish the book so that they can see that I am worth it. I think an agent is necessary but not vital – they have a lot of contacts and can help you navigate through the publishing maze.
What about joining groups and clubs and associations?
I am a member of the NSW Writer’s Centre and that’s about it. I learn a lot from the web, and from other writers.
Take us through the process of creating you current project – the time frame, the tears, the sweat, the cups of tea and glasses of wine.
My book has been brutally neglected thanks to my full-time job, freelance journalism work and the plans for my wedding. There are plenty of tears related to my thesis too, and the wine comes out when there’s something to celebrate. My fiancé, James, got me a bottle of Moet & Chandon champagne when I got accepted into my doctorate, but I am only allowed to open it on my graduation. That’s motivation!
If someone came to you and asked for your advice on achieving the writerly dream, what would you say?
It can be done if you persevere, even in the face of rejection, which is inevitable and which makes you stronger and wiser. I’ll also tell them to read my blog for tips from other writers who have been there and achieved it!
In summation …
I love sharing news with the world, in that non-gossipy way. Journalism is an education in life, and other people’s lives, and writing is the telling of life for various audiences. I love that I can live through my characters when I write fiction too. I do it because I can’t imagine doing anything else. This is my calling, it always has been, and, bar blindness or dementia or something, I don’t think that I will ever shut up or give up. I feel it in my soul, and as long as it’s there, it’s going to be shared. My only problem with the industry is people who can’t write but get published anyway because they’re beautiful/fabulous/in the social pages. What does that say about the industry if the money they get from such ‘writers’ is the bigger driving force than talent, skill and ability? There are heaps of writers out there who won’t ever get recognised because they’re not what publicity is made of, and that’s a big shame.
Check out …
www.wordsmithlane.com has all of the above and more!
Main image by Andy Siharath on Flickr
Sarah and Foz are so inspiring and extremely well-read women. And it’s amazing reading what they are currently doing. It makes budding writes – like me – move my lazy arse and do something
Loving this series! Keep them coming…