Winning changed Lizzy’s life. Her top tip: NEVER give up!
A YEAR ago, Lizzy Barber was typing the outline of a novel on her mobile phone as she commuted daily to her job as a restaurant marketing manager. Now, as the winner of last year’s Daily Mail First Novel competition, Lizzy (right) is putting the finishing touches to the psychological thriller My Name Is Alice before it is published by Penguin Random House in January. Although she is still working full-time, she admits that scooping the £20,000 prize and the even more valuable publishing contract has been life-changing and given her the confidence she needed to believe in her career as a writer. ‘I don’t think I lack confidence outwardly but this has given me internal validation and helped me believe in what I am doing. The whole process has been extraordinary; I think I’ve always been more focused on characters than the intricacies of the plot but learning how to pace the novel as I work with Emily, my editor, and how to keep the reader hooked, has been fascinating. Emily acts as the reader and can help point out things that I might not see or where the tension might be flagging. I started writing in spare moments of snatched time but winning this competition has allowed me to designate more dedicated periods because a deadline really sharpens the mind. I bring my laptop into work and set aside a proper lunchbreak for writing. My weekends have become writing days, too. My mum has always been my greatest champion — she would think a shopping list I wrote was marvellous — and she’s read it over and over again but otherwise, apart from my agent, Luigi, I haven’t shown it to many people. My husband read it and kept marking sections “Melodramatic!” but those were the bits Emily really liked so he’s now not reading it until it’s published next January. I haven’t splurged the money on anything yet — I’ve sensibly put it in an ISA — but I think I’ll treat myself when My Name Is Alice is actually out and on the bookshelves. I’m starting on my second novel now. It’s set in Florence, where I spent time as a student, and I think it’s a creepily romantic backdrop.’
LIZZY’S ADVICE
1. ABSORB yourself completely in anything related to your book. If you are writing crime read up about true life cases, listen to podcasts and read other thrillers. The same goes for any category you choose. 2. JUST get words down. You will always hit barriers but push through to the other side, don’t stop because it’s hard. You can always rewrite but you need those words to exist first. 3. DEDICATE time to your writing. If you have a full-time job or children you can still carve out writing time even it’s only half an hour before everyone else is up. If you prioritise periods exclusively for writing, even if you manage only a few sentences, it’s a good discipline.