Fab Firsts - Q&A with Linda Smolkin - Blog Tour

Fab Firsts is my semi-regular feature, that is highlighting books that are firsts. When interviewing authors, it will be about their first book, as well as other firsts in their lives.

If you are an author wanting to take part in Fab Firsts then please do email on gilbster at gmail dot com and I'll whizz the questions over to you.

I hope you enjoy this look at a variety of hopefully fabulous firsts,.

Can you tell us a bit about your first book? 

My debut novel, Among the Branded, came out in May 2017. The story connects the past with the present and follows Stephanie Britain, an art director who works at a branding and design firm. She befriends a Holocaust survivor and, at the same time, finds out something troubling about one of her clients. Throughout the story, she deals with difficult choices of how to remain professional while taking a stand for what she believes in. The novel also touches on friendship, family, and the lessons history can teach us.

What was your original inspiration to become a writer, and to write your debut? 

I’ve been a writer forever! I studied journalism at university and then became a copywriter. I’ve worked in the marketing field for a long time. I write my novels on the side around working full-time as a writer. Many years ago I wrote my first novel but it’s in a drawer somewhere where it will stay there! Among the Branded is the third novel I’ve written, but the first published. 

How long did it take you to write your first book? 

It took me about nine months to write the first draft and twice that long to do all of the editing and revisions. From outline to when it was actually published, it took four years Among the Branded.
If you could do anything differently in retrospect, what would you change about your debut, or how you went about writing it? Honestly, I try not to look back and think about that or it would drive me crazy! I’m happy with the way it turned out. Sometimes I think I should have put an author’s note in the back, mainly because it has historical aspects to the story even though it’s contemporary fiction. But I suppose I could always go back and do that at any time. 

Was your first book self or traditionally published, and how did you go about making that decision? 

It was self-published. While waiting to hear back from agents for another novel, I started writing Among the Branded and queried it for about a year before deciding to go indie.  Once I made the decision, I treated it like a business and took very similar steps as in traditional publishing, such as hiring an editor, formatter, and cover designer. 

Do you have any tips for other first time authors? 

There’s no need to rush to publish. Make sure you take the time to make the story the best it can be. If you want to self-publish and can afford it, hire an editor. And the last bit of advice: write what you want to write and not what you think the trends are because you’ll have to live with your story for a very long time!

Tell us about your first…

Memory: Feeding our dog runny eggs from my plate when my parents turned away from the table. I hated eggs as a child!

Holiday you went on: We went on a family trip to Atlantic City, New Jersey. I remember riding my bike on the boardwalk. 

Album you purchased: I don’t remember the first album I bought, but the Walkman became very popular as I was growing up and the first cassette I bought was by The Go-Go’s.

Time you were in trouble: I was playing with matches in the bathroom. After draining the sink, I forgot to check and some of the matches didn’t go down. My father found them and let’s just say I’m not a very good liar.

Dish you cooked: I think it was an omelette. I’m not really known for my cooking skills, but I do make an awesome omelette!

Time you were really scared: Definitely when I watched the Exorcist. I think I slept with the light on for a month. 

Thank you so much Linda for taking the time to answer my questions.

Amazon UK

What if a 70-year-old letter from World War II changed the course of your life?

While attending Valor of the ’40s, art director Stephanie Britain stumbles upon a flea market selling letters from the war. She buys a handful, hoping they’ll inspire the redesign for a client’s website at her branding and design firm. She’s at first drawn by the lost art of penmanship, but soon discovers a hidden treasure nestled inside declarations of love from homesick soldiers. Stephanie enlists a coworker to translate one and realizes it’s not a love letter after all. When a shocking discovery about a client causes Stephanie to question her principles and dedication to her firm’s business, she’s forced to make a difficult decision—one that could give her peace of mind, yet ruin her career in the process.

Contemporary fiction with a historical touch, AMONG THE BRANDED explores family life, an unexpected friendship, and moral conflicts that make us wonder what’s more important: our livelihood or our beliefs. This moving debut novel by Linda Smolkin is a great addition for readers who enjoy books by Jodi Picoult, Kristin Hannah, and Liane Moriarty.

AUTHOR BIO:  Linda Smolkin always wanted to be a writer—ever since she saw her first TV commercial and wondered how to pen those clever ads. She got her degree in journalism and became a copywriter. Linda landed a job at an ad agency, where she worked for several years before joining the nonprofit world. She's currently working on her second novel, which will be released in Spring 2018. When not in front of the computer, she's behind the drums (slightly) annoying her husband, son, and their 70-pound dog. 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lindasmolkin

Website: https://lindasmolkin.com/

Follow along with the rest of the blog tour

Fab Firsts - Q&A with Phil Brady - Blog Tour

Fab Firsts is my semi-regular feature, that is highlighting books that are firsts. When interviewing authors, it will be about their first book, as well as other firsts in their lives.

If you are an author wanting to take part in Fab Firsts then please do email on gilbster at gmail dot com and I'll whizz the questions over to you.

I hope you enjoy this look at a variety of hopefully fabulous firsts,.

I’m Phil Brady and my first novel, The Meal of Fortune was published recently by Unbound.

1) Can you tell us a bit about your first book?

The Meal of Fortune is the first book I have had published.  It is actually the third I have written but the first two will probably stay in a drawer with a cool flannel over them to stop them getting to excited at the prospect of being published, now that The Meal of Fortune has made it into print.   This won’t be happening.  The Meal of Fortune is a comedy thriller in which the worlds of arms dealing, espionage and TV cookery collide.  It is the first in a planned trilogy parodying the media and society’s obsession with celebrities, against a backdrop of guns, gangsters and general mayhem.  It tells the story of Dermot Jack, a failing celebrity agent and MI5 officer, Anna Preston.  Their teenage romance didn’t end well and when they’re thrown back together years later in a bid to bring a rogue Russian arms dealer to justice tensions tend to run a bit high.  As if they haven’t got enough to worry about with the arms dealer, murderous hitman and a very cross East end loan shark to deal with.  It’s meant to be fast paced and provide a few laughs along the way; not really a book that takes itself too seriously.

2) What was your original inspiration to become a writer, and to write your debut?

I’ve always wanted to write since I read The Lord of Rings as a kid.  Back then the ambition was to create whole fantasy worlds with swordfights and dragons.  I guess I’ve grown up a bit (although I still like a bit of Game of Thrones).  I spent most of my twenties viewing myself as some kind of writer in waiting, gathering life experiences that I would one day write about.  Then towards my late twenties I suddenly decided to stop messing about and get on with it.  The Meal of Fortune, which is a cookery themed gameshow featured in the book was originally a gameshow format that I developed and pitched to TV stations (none of them were interested).  Years later I remembered it and thought it would be useful for the plot of my book.

3)  How long did it take you to write your first book?

Yes, hmmm… Can we skip that one.  Too long is the answer.  Too much messing about writing and re-writing and the not looking at it for months (and sometimes years) at a time.  In all it took me over 10 years from start to finish, although in my defence I have a full time job and have had two children in that time. That’ still too long though.

4)  If you could do anything differently in retrospect, what would you change about your debut, or how you went about writing it?

I think you can always go on tweaking and tinkering and there is a time when you just have to stop.  I still wake up with ideas of how I could change The Meal of Fortune.  Then I remember that it is finished and published and there is nothing more I can do.  The one thing I would definitely do different is write it faster.  Life gets in the way of writing.  There isn’t much you can do about that so you just have to go with it and be disciplined and make time.

5)   Was your first book self or traditionally published, and how did you go about making that decision?

I published with Unbound, a crowdfunded publisher, which is kind of half and half I guess.   Once Unbound have agree to publish your book, you then have to crowdfund the costs of publication.  This varies depending on format – e.g. eBook, paperback or hardback.   I cannot recommend Unbound highly enough.  The input I had from my editor Rachel was invaluable in shaping and refining The Meal of Fortune. Definitely check them out www.unbound.com.  They’re allowing a lot of authors who cannot find a traditional publisher to get published and I’m hugely grateful for the opportunity.  I spend over a year trying to get an agent without any success before I decided to give Unbound a try.  I was actually sitting in a café with my two children when the email came in saying that they wanted to publish the book.  It was a pretty special moment (although it still doesn’t excuse looking at my phone when I am out with my kids!).  One thing that helped too was a change of title.  It wasn’t initially called The Meal of Fortune and I only changed the title just before I sent it to Unbound, maybe that swung it.

6)   Do you have any tips for other first time authors?

Probably the sort of tips that everyone gives, keep at it, don’t give up, be disciplined and make time to write.  And get ready for rejection.  It took over 15 years from me first putting pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) on my first novel to finally getting my third published. Some will get lucky but the mere mortals like me have to be in it for the long term. 

Tell us about your first…

7)   Book you bought

Can’t remember, the one that had the greatest impact on me as a child was Lord of The Rings.

8)   Memory

Burning my stomach on a radiator at our house in Scotland.  We moved from Scotland when I was five so I guess I must have been about four.

9)   Person you fell in love with

Properly?  My beautiful and fantastic wife Megan.  Then my two children when they came along.

10) Holiday you went on

A trip up to London with my parents when I was about seven.  I particularly remember the ice cream shop with 30 different flavours.  I think I’d only tasted vanilla and raspberry ripple before that.

11)  Prize you won

A spot the ball competition in a newspaper when I was about eight – £250. My parents put the money in the bank for me and wouldn’t let me spend it.  Not sure I every actually saw the cash but given everything they’ve done for me I’m quite relaxed about that.  Not sure I was at the time though.

12)  Album you purchased

Giles Smith’s talks about this in his brilliant book Lost in Music, saying that people always claim the first record they bought was something cool that reflects their musical tastes.  I’m not sure about albums but I used to tell everyone the first single I bought was Ghost Town by The Specials but it was probably Shuduppa Your Face by Joe Dolce or something by Shakin’ Stevens

13) Sport you enjoyed participating in

Football.  I still love it now and play although I am getting a bit old.

14) Embarrassing moment you can remember

Sadly there are just too many of them.  It was probably during that awkward adolescent period when I spotty and gawky and working out how to deal with girls.

15) Pet

We had a cat when I was very young.  I can’t even remember its name now.  It went missing when I was about five and I remember dragging my mum around fields and woods near our house to look for it.  She was very patient and humoured me, even though she must of known it was already road kill.

16) Time you were in trouble

I was about eight and some friends of mine and I picked some wheat from a farmers field (actually we took a whole black bin bag full of it).  The plan was to plan it plant the seeds in my friends garden and make bread.  It was only a sack full from a whole field.  The farmer didn’t see it like that.  Cue visit from the police and my friend’s mum tipping the bag of wheat over her back fence and everyone trying to act all innocent.  My parent said they weren’t angry, just disappointed.  Actually I’m fairly sure they were angry.

17)   ..choice of alternative career if you weren’t an author

I am not really sure I can call writing my career yet as it’s not the day job yet.  I work in marketing and PR and that’s been really enjoyable. But if I really could choose I’d be a full time writer.  I’m working on it.

18) …time you had any independence

I grew up in a small seaside village in Kent and then a small town in the Lake District.  As kids we had a lot of independence and would just go off on our bikes for whole days, only coming home when it was dark.  My children’s childhood is so different.  Lots of things organised and laid on but no real freedom to go and mess around in the woods, lights fires build go-karts and float old tractor inner tubes down the river.  Not sure things have got better.

19)  …toy that you recall loving

Probably my bike.  It gave me the freedom to go anywhere I wanted. There was probably some long forgotten bear or cuddly rabbit before that though. 

20)        … time you felt like an adult

Probably when I got my first real pay packet.  It was the summer before I went to University and my dad had got me a labouring with a company that was building a nuclear power station.  I’d only ever had a paper round before and earned about £6 a week.  Dad told he I’d get about £70 a week but when I got my payslip it was £370.   

21)        … time you realised you were good at something

I was always quite little at school. I could run fast but I was rubbish in a fight.  My tactic to avoid getting beaten up was to try to make the bullies laugh.  It worked.  Maybe that’s why I’ve always wanted to have a bit humour in my books.

22)        Dish you cooked

My mum thought I needed a stock dish before I went off to Uni.  She taught me how to make Lasagne (the height of Italian sophistication in Northern England in the late 1980s). I proudly offered to make it for my new flatmates on our first weekend at university and then slightly less proudly presented a greyish brown sludge about four hours later.  Hopefully I’m a little better at it now.

23)       … time you were really scared

Some other kids shot at me with an air rifle when I was about ten.  They were a long way away and I am not sure the gun could even shoot that far but it was pretty scary all the same.

Thank you so much Phil for taking the time to answer my questions. 

The world of arms dealing, espionage and TV cookery collide in this fast moving comedy caper.

Failing celebrity agent Dermot Jack thinks his luck might have turned when a mysterious Russian oligarch hires him to represent his pop star daughter. 

Disaffected MI5 officer Anna Preston is just as happy to be handed the chance to resurrect her own career. Little do they know that their paths are about to cross again after seventeen years as they're thrown together in a desperate attempt to lure a notorious arms dealer into a highly unusual trap. 

Hard enough without having to deal with the lecherous celebrity chef trying to save his daytime TV career or the diminutive mafia enforcer who definitely has his own agenda. Then there's the very impatient loan shark who 'just wants his money back'. 

And Anna's bosses are hardly playing it straight either. But one thing's for sure. There'll be winners and losers when the Meal of Fortune finally stops spinning. Oh, and another thing, Anna and Dermot are absolutely not about to fall in love again. That's never going to happen, OK?

Purchase from Amazon UK 

AUTHOR BIO:  I was first inspired to write when I read Lord of The Rings as a child. Back then the ambition was to create a whole fantasy world with dragons and sword fights. Sadly George RR Martin seems to have cornered that market, so I now try to comedy thrillers set in the (almost) real world instead. These feature spies, gangsters, vicious (if feckless) criminals, washed-up private detectives and daytime TV presenters. The Meal of Fortune is my first published novel. It is the first in a planned trilogy of comedy thrillers parodying society’s obsession with celebrity.

The follow-up, Tinker Tailor Solider Chef, sees the characters reunited in an attempt to foil a plot by the world’s most secretive intelligence agency (The Belgians) to bring the UK economy to its knees. The final book, centres on a referendum in Wales to decide whether the country should sell itself to an international technology giant for use as a conveniently located tax haven. It will be loosely based on the hilarious 80s film Local Hero.

My main rule in life is to never let tomato ketchup touch any food that is green. I am yet to work out any deep meaning behind this and suspect it is not the soundest of principles by which to live your life. But it’s better than quite a few I’ve come across down the years. Best not to get started on that one though.

I live in London with my fantastic wife and two remarkable children and didn’t vote for BREXIT

Twitter @philbradyuk

Fab Firsts - Q&A with Emily Elgar

Fab Firsts is my regular Sunday feature, that is going to be highlighting books that are firsts. When interviewing authors, it will be about their first book, as well as other firsts in their lives. When reviewing books for this feature, there will be a mix of debuts, first books in a series, the first time I read an author, and possibly other firsts depending on what I can think of!

If you are an author wanting to take part in Fab Firsts then please do email on gilbster at gmail dot com and I'll whizz the questions over to you.

I hope you enjoy this look at a variety of hopefully fabulous firsts, while making some sort of dent in my review and paperback TBRs which are my current main focus!

Hello! I’m Emily Elgar, a debut novelist. My book If You Knew Her is being published in the UK on August 24th 2017 by Little, Brown and in 10 other countries – god, it still feels amazing and completely surreal to write those words! 

1) Can you tell us a bit about your first book? 

If You Knew Her is a suspense novel. It’s about a woman called Cassie who is in a coma. Frank, the patient in the bed opposite Cassie, finds out a secret about her, a secret that is still threatening her life. Frank is the only one who can save her but Frank has locked in syndrome and can’t move or speak…

2) What was your original inspiration to become a writer, and to write your debut? 

I’m not sure there are any writers who aren’t devoted readers. I have always adored books but for a long time it felt too audacious to write one! I was at a turning point in my life, I felt restricted and perhaps a bit bored. I needed something to shake things up so I booked myself on a writing course, and then I booked another, and another until I ran out of money and only then did I start writing If You Knew Her.

3) How long did it take you to write your first book? 

Three years – two while working part time and one year as a full time writer. 

4) If you could do anything differently in retrospect, what would you change about your debut, or how you went about writing it? 

I would try and plan more! I’m the kind of writer who loves to chase after ideas even when they disappear down rabbit holes. That’s fine, but sometimes I find the rabbit hole is a dead end and I’m totally lost. 

5) Was your first book self or traditionally published, and how did you go about making that decision? 

My book is traditionally published and I suppose my brilliant agent made that decision for me!

6) Do you have any tips for other first time authors? 

KEEP GOING, KEEP GOING, KEEP GOING!

Tell us about your first…

7) Memory – Running head first smack into a glass door

8) Person you fell in love with – Shane from Neighbours

9) Prize you won – The Keep Trying prize in primary school.

10) Album you purchased – Radiohead The Bends. 

11) Sport you enjoyed participating in – I’m terrible at sports but for a while I loved Rounders

12) Embarrassing moment you can remember – My mum turning up at a sports day at school dressed as a clown. All the mums were supposed to be dressing up, but they changed their minds at the last minute and my mum hadn’t got the message. MORTIFYING.

13) Pet – Henry a white duck

14) ..choice of alternative career if you weren’t an author – Helicopter pilot

15) … time you felt like an adult – Pending.

16) Dish you cooked – oven fish and chips when I was about 10. My sister and I cooked for my parents and we made ourselves chef hats and drew moustaches on our faces.

17) … time you were really scared – I still can’t look at a sink plug without seeing the clown from IT 

Thank you so much for answering my questions. It was a pleasure to meet you at Jane Corry's launch party, and I really hope you mean the original Shane from Neighbours, as the latest Shane (different character) is really quite new and not as good looking!

Bio: 

Originally from the Cotswolds, Emily Elgar studied at Edinburgh University and went on to complete the novel writing course at the Faber Academy in 2014. She currently lives in East Sussex with her husband. If You Knew Her is her first novel.

Social media: Twitter: @emily_elgar

                   Website: www.emilyelgar.com

Purchase Links: Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/cka/If-You-Knew-Her-Emily-Elgar/1408706814/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1493976409&sr=8-1&keywords=If+you+knew+her

Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/books/search/term/if+you+knew+her

Abe Books: https://www.abebooks.co.uk/9781408706817/Knew-Emily-Elgar-1408706814/plp

Fab Firsts - Q&A with Helena Fairfax

Fab Firsts is my regular Sunday feature, that is going to be highlighting books that are firsts. When interviewing authors, it will be about their first book, as well as other firsts in their lives. When reviewing books for this feature, there will be a mix of debuts, first books in a series, the first time I read an author, and possibly other firsts depending on what I can think of!

If you are an author wanting to take part in Fab Firsts then please do email on gilbster at gmail dot com and I'll whizz the questions over to you.

I hope you enjoy this look at a variety of hopefully fabulous firsts, while making some sort of dent in my review and paperback TBRs which are my current main focus!

1) Can you tell us a bit about your first book?

The Silk Romance is a feel-good contemporary romance set in the silk-weaving district of Lyon. It's a modern-day Cinderella retelling with a difference.

The Cinderella of my novel is Sophie Challoner. Sophie is tied to her domestic responsibilities because she made her dying mother a promise that she would look after the rest of her family. Her responsibilities make Sophie seem a serious young woman, but when her French grandmother throws a party for her in Paris, Sophie meets Jean-Luc Olivier – and she does something reckless and brilliant. It's a night Sophie never forgets...

Years later, Sophie and Jean-Luc are reunited. Sophie realises her Prince Charming isn't the person she thought. Jean-Luc is a force to be reckoned with…

2) What was your original inspiration to become a writer, and to write your debut?

I had my first idea for a romance novel when I was sitting on a commuter train to Leeds, looking at the rain running down the grimy windows, and thinking how wonderful it would be to be somewhere warm. I'd worked in Lyon as a teenager, and an image of that sun-soaked city popped into my head. Gradually a story began to formulate in my mind about a young woman from London who goes to work in a modern-day silk mill in Lyon.

That's how my writing journey started. Every morning after that, as I sat cramped next to my fellow sufferers on the 7.25am, I’d bring my idea to life in my notebook.  Eventually the seed of the idea on that commute became my first novel, The Silk Romance.

3) How long did it take you to write your first book?

It took about eighteen months, but only because I had a lot to learn about how to craft a romance novel. Most of my writing was re-writing – honing the story until it focused on the hero and heroine and their developing love for one another.

4) If you could do anything differently in retrospect, what would you change about your debut, or how you went about writing it?

I was lucky to be part of the Romantic Novelists' Association New Writers' Scheme when I wrote The Silk Romance.  I wouldn't change anything about how I went about writing it, because they gave me some excellent advice on the importance of romantic conflict that honed my craft for this and all my future books.

5) Was your first book self or traditionally published, and how did you go about making that decision?

My first book was traditionally published by a Canadian publisher called MuseItUp. I learned a lot from them. My editor was excellent – really made me focus on whose point of view I was writing in, for example – and through MIU I made some genuine friends in America and Canada who I'm still friends with today. MIU published my second book, The Antique Love.

After three years with MIU I was entitled to take my rights back. I decided to do this, as at that time I felt it wasn't particularly easy having a publisher based so far away. I've really enjoyed the self-publishing process since then, and have learned a tremendous amount. 

6) Do you have any tips for other first time authors?

Read, read, read lots of books in the genre you are writing. Read books that are popular, and analyse what makes them work so well with readers. If you can, find a mentor to help you develop your manuscript – as I did with the Romantic Novelists' Association. There are people out there who can help you develop your novel. The Alliance of Independent Authors has a directory of editors, for example https://www.allianceindependentauthors.org/ and I also now offer a manuscript appraisal service for writers looking for advice https://helenafairfax.com/my-editing-services-and-rates/ 

Tell us about your first…

7) Memory

Lying in my cot and suddenly realising I didn't have my pink security blanket. I was distraught. I loved it so much my mum had to cut it in half, so she could wash one half while I had the other!

8) Holiday you went on

My parents always used to take us to Hell's Mouth – an enormous beach on the Lleyn Peninsula in Wales. My brothers and I a brilliant time on the beach every day, and I used to take my own children there, too.

9) Prize you won

When I was 10 I won a watch for a project I'd written at school about Uganda, where I was born. I wore that watch for years, and I still have it.

10) Album you purchased

My brother and I used to go halves on albums. In those days we didn't have the money for the full price! I think the first one we bought might have been the Beach Boys. I still love Brian Wilson.

11) Sport you enjoyed participating in

I used to play cricket with my brothers and loved it, but in those days girls didn't play cricket at school. I liked running, though, and even enjoyed the dreaded cross country.

12) Pet

We had a three-legged cat called Stumpy, who was much loved.

13) ..choice of alternative career if you weren’t an author

A ballet dancer – but since I have two left feet, that was never likely!

14) …toy that you recall loving

I loved dolls as a child. My mum was a needlework teacher and made all their clothes. I still have my old doll's cot with the quilt she made.

Thanks so much for having me, Rachel, and for letting my revisit some happy memories!

You are very welcome Helena.

Here is the blurb to The Silk Romance:

Sophie Challoner made her dying mother a promise to look after the rest of her family. Sophie takes her responsibilities seriously, but sometimes she forgets to enjoy her own life … that is, until her French grandmother throws a party for her in Paris. It's here Sophie meets Jean-Luc Olivier – and she does something reckless and brilliant she never forgets.

Years later, Sophie and Jean-Luc are reunited. Sophie realises her Prince Charming isn't the person she thought. Jean-Luc is a force to be reckoned with…

Amazon Buy Link: http://mybook.to/SilkRomance 

Author Biography

Helena Fairfax writes engaging contemporary romances with sympathetic heroines and heroes she's secretly in love with. Her novels have been shortlisted for several awards, including the Exeter Novel Prize, the Global Ebook Awards, and the I Heart Indie Awards. 
Helena is a British author who was born in Uganda and came to England as a child. She's grown used to the cold now, and these days she lives in an old Victorian mill town in the north of England, right next door to the windswept Yorkshire moors. She walks this romantic landscape every day with her rescue dog, finding it the perfect place to dream up her heroes and her happy endings.

Social Media Links

Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/bRQtsT
Website: www.helenafairfax.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/HelenaFairfax/
Twitter https://twitter.com/HelenaFairfax
Pinterest https://uk.pinterest.com/helenafairfax/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/helenafairfax/ 

Giveaway
All new subscribers to Helena’s newsletter receive a FREE feel-good romantic story for the summer. You can subscribe here: http://eepurl.com/bRQtsT

Fab Firsts - Q&A with Hollie Moat

Fab Firsts is my regular Sunday feature, that is going to be highlighting books that are firsts. When interviewing authors, it will be about their first book, as well as other firsts in their lives. When reviewing books for this feature, there will be a mix of debuts, first books in a series, the first time I read an author, and possibly other firsts depending on what I can think of!

If you are an author wanting to take part in Fab Firsts then please do email on gilbster at gmail dot com and I'll whizz the questions over to you.

I hope you enjoy this look at a variety of hopefully fabulous firsts, while making some sort of dent in my review and paperback TBRs which are my current main focus!

Today I'm interviewing Hollie Moat, whose debut was out earlier this year.

Can you tell us a bit about your first book?

It’s a modern retelling of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. In the beautiful English countryside, Will and Imogen - the very image of love’s young dream – are just days away from marriage…and then something terrible happens, something that makes them question everything they thought they knew about each other. Suddenly all around them relationships are breaking down and heating up, and the race is on to discover what’s real and what isn’t when it comes to love. So it’s Will and Imogen’s wedding that provides the fireworks, but the heart of the book is really the love/hate relationship between their friends, Bee and Ben. Their chemistry builds the novel’s tension up to an explosive conclusion. 

What was your original inspiration to become a writer, and to write your debut?

My head has always been full of stories – I think that’s why I told so many lies as a child! I once read that every time Woody Allen has an idea for a film he writes it down on a scrap of paper and puts it in this drawer – which is now bursting with stories just sitting there waiting to be brought to life. As the years went by, that’s what the inside of my head started to resemble, I had to start writing a novel for my own sanity. I started with this one because I had a point to prove – I am crazy about Shakespeare but people were always telling me he’s too hard to read, too old-fashioned. But I just knew Much Ado would be a perfect love story for 2017. 

How long did it take you to write your first book?

It took 4 years from conception to publishing, although I should point out that wasn’t a solid 4-years of locking myself away and tinkering with it like some mad scientist. I’m a big believer in letting a manuscript breathe between drafts and it went through maybe 6 or 7 revisions in that time. In the same period I’ve also done 4 drafts of my 2nd novel and explored the idea of a couple of others.

If you could do anything differently in retrospect, what would you change about your debut, or how you went about writing it?

I regret my original title, which was an extremely pretentious choice for what is essentially a rom-com. I went through some real shockers before I hit upon calling it Other People’s Business. 

Was your first book self or traditionally published, and how did you go about making that decision?

A few drafts in I attracted some interest from a publisher, and the woman I was in touch with there gave me a load of notes, which were amazing and improved the book so much. After I sent the revised manuscript back to her she passed it on to some colleagues for another round of notes. There was a lot of stuff in these new notes about character development that was extremely helpful and I used, but they also suggested I strip out several bits of the plot that are crucial to Much Ado About Nothing, and replace with some more recognisable rom-com tropes. That would have meant it wouldn’t be the story I felt passionate about telling, so I decided not to resubmit and go it alone. 

Do you have any tips for other first time authors?

If you have a story just get it down. That’s the hardest, and most daunting part. Even if your first draft is rubbish, you can reshape and edit it over and over again until you’re happy. But you need something to start with. 

Tell us about your first…

     Memory

I remember fancying a boy at nursery called Daniel. I had an early appreciation for romance. 

Person you fell in love with

Look, I liked Daniel but I didn’t love him. That honour belongs to Zack Morris from Saved By The 
Bell.

Prize you won

An Easter Egg decorating competition. I will hold my hands up and say there was probably a mix-up as I have no artistic talent whatsoever, but I took the glory anyway. 

 Album you purchased

Rhythm Of Love by Kylie Minogue. It’s still a classic. 

 Sport you enjoyed participating in

It would be a stretch to say I’ve ever enjoyed participating in sport. I enjoy winning – if that counts. But honestly, I work out four times a week and the endorphins when I’m done are the only remotely enjoyable part of it. 

     Pet

I had a rabbit called Darla. She went feral. 

…choice of alternative career if you weren’t an author

I have mentioned this before but when I was very young I had this fantasy game where I would buy a run-down petrol station and do it up. I had so many good plans for that petrol station…

 …time you had any independence

When I was 14 I became an Avon lady. I had my own money and as many make-up samples as I could want. It was heaven. 

 …toy that you recall loving

Apparently I was extremely attached to a doll’s head (no body) and a blue plastic cricket bat. All these questions about my demented childhood are not putting me in the best light…

 … time you felt like an adult

I’m not sure I’m a proper grown-up yet. I still ask my mum for advice about everything. 

 … time you realised you were good at something

They picked me to be Mary in our school nativity. It was a musical version and I had lots of solos and more lines than anybody else so I thought I was destined to be a star. But in the end, my sister (playing an angel) upstaged me by putting her dress over her head and flashing her knickers to everyone. 

..time you bought or received flowers

When I was 17 somebody sent me a dozen red roses on Valentine’s Day. I don’t know to this day who it was. But at least I know it wasn’t my parents, who would never have splashed out on red roses. Tulips or something, maybe. 

Thank you so much Hollie for answering my questions. I'm not sure any of us really feel like proper grown ups!

About the author: HJ Moat

‘For me, the idea of writing a novel has been much like dating that guy you’ve always had a thing for, but you never seem to be single at the same time as. As a pre-teen I wrote short, fantasy stories for no real reason other than my mother thought I was good at them. The lack of passion, I think, stems from a personal disinterest in the genre – even Lord of the Rings I appreciate only as an aid for insomnia (yes, I know many people think it’s nothing short of a masterpiece, don’t shout at me).

Then suddenly, at the age of 16 I felt compelled to start a YA novel about all the things that 16 years olds are interested in – boys, friends, feuding and getting drunk at festivals. I wrote the first few chapters obsessively, furiously – and my own teenage naivety and arrogance encouraged me to send it off to some agents I looked up in a copy of the Writer and Artist’s Yearbook. In a shocking twist – one of them actually called me saying he liked it and wanted to see more. To my eternal regret (and if this was a film I would be watching this bit through the cracks in my fingers) my attentions wandered back to all the things that 16 years olds are interested in – boys, friends, feuding and getting drunk at festivals. 

So I never got around to writing, or submitting those new chapters – the flirtation was over. Shortly afterwards I got into a pretty serious relationship with fashion, and by the time I exited my teens I was doing a degree in Fashion Journalism at the London College of Fashion. Creative writing and I were not destined to meet for some time – I went straight from graduation to a job as Editorial Assistant at Arena magazine. I embraced the indie music boom of the 2000s and eventually became Music Editor, and when Arena folded in the recession I went freelance, writing entertainment and style stories for the likes of Q, Empire and Glamour. About 7 years ago I went in-house at a sweet little shopping website, a start-up that has since become one of the world’s biggest luxury fashion companies. I still work there  (I’m the Editor) and my life revolves around catwalk trends and celebrity interviews and style advice and fashion shoots. 

Which sounds pretty amazing and for the most part is, but in the winter of 2014 something unexpected happened. I started thinking about writing a novel – thinking about it all the time. The stories I dreamed up in my head when I was on the treadmill, or trying not to fall asleep in a boring meeting, were getting too crowded in there and I need to tell them before I went quite mad. So I suppose you could say that I was 28 when I finally got together with the love of my life. By which I mean, writing Other People’s Business.’

Other People’s Business on Amazon https://www.amazon.co.uk/Other-Peoples-Business-HJ-Moat-ebook/dp/B071D2LW2L/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494255205&sr=8-1&keywords=hj+moat

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16733352.H_J_Moat

Twitter @HJMoat (I’m very new to Twitter and still getting to grips with it)

Book blurb

Some cupid kills with arrows, some with traps...

Bee and Ben haven't always hated each other, but they certainly hate each other now. They hate each other so much that it threatens to derail the wedding of their best friends, Imogen and Will. 

But then something unthinkable happens and turns everything on its head. Within the wedding party, some hearts swell and others are broken, but will anyone work out that relationships are rarely quite what they seem?
This modern retelling of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing explores the idea of whether we're ever really in control of our own romantic destiny and if true love really can conquer all.