I wish I’d known

‘When I teach my students about plotting, I use the analogy of a rollercoaster. Getting into the car is the beginning of the story. The inciting incident happens when you start to move. As you climb upwards, the tension rises. The climax comes at the very top. Then – whoosh – you are hurtling downwards for the most exciting part of the ride and hopefully, so the analogy goes, of your story.

‘I wish I’d known how well this analogy illustrates a writer’s career, too.

‘Like most authors, I’d paid my dues in terms of rejections. So, when I got that phone call offering me a three book publishing deal, I ran around the staff room like a small child jacked up on too much candy floss. Editing a book with a professional editor was a steep learning curve, and not without its own moments of selfcriticism and imposter syndrome. But I loved the process and waited eagerly for my debut novel to be published.

‘Though it didn’t set the world alight, my first book did okay. So did the second. The third?

Not so much. Even now, two years later, its sales are pretty poor. I was heartbroken. Not just for that book, but because it was the last in my three-book deal. What would that mean? Was the ride over already? For about three days I was tearful and miserable, convinced that I’d blown my one chance.

‘Thankfully, my editor called and reassured me at length that she believed in me and my writing. She offered me another two-book deal there and then. We discussed a genre change and ideas for future stories. After that call, I cried again. I was back on the ride.

‘Since then, there have been many highs and lows, and it’s hard not to pin my mood and selfesteem on the vagaries of a chart position or the number of stars in reviews. Would I swap the emotional highs to be spared the difficult lows? Not in a loop-the-loop minute.’