According to my Oxford Concise a manifesto is ‘a public declaration of a policy and aims’.

I’m currently planning a tour in October for 3 teen/tween writers – 3 days, 3 cities, 3 remarkable writers – title yet to be decided, but we have some pretty nifty names already. The writers involved are Judi Curtin, writer of the fab Alice and Megan series, Sophia Bennett, writer of the equally fab Threads series set in the London fashion world, and moi!

And I came up with a tongue in cheek manifesto:

No vampires
No werewolves
No boys that go bump in the night

Real girls
Real drama
Really amazing stories straight from the heart

We all write books for age 9/10+ with characters who are in their early teens. We all deal with real life issues – family drama, friendship problems, bullying – hence the no vampires, no werewolves bit.

So it got me thinking – maybe I should have my own writing manifesto, a Writer’s Manifesto. A ‘public declaration’ of my writing intentions.

So here goes:

I guess my most important aim is to…

Yours in writing,

Sarah X

On Writing by Stephen King
Inspiring and full of good advice.

From Pitch to Publication by Carole Blake
Invaluable guide to getting published from an experience agent.

The Right to Write by Julia Cameron
One of the best books about being a writer and living a writer’s life I’ve ever found. Succinct, direct and truthful, a book I come back to over and over again if I’m in need of a little writerly pick me up.

Write Away by Elizabeth George
Excellent if you want to write crime.

See Jane Write by Sarah Mlynowski and Farrin Jacobs
Tips on writing fiction for a female audience – American book – useful if you are interested…

It’s set in Dublin and is a love story with a difference. The main characters are thirty-eight and fifty and have the battle scars to prove it. It reminds me in a way of The Bridges of Madison County, another love story with a seam of melancholy running through it. I re-watched the film recently and I was struck by the simplicity and timelessness of the story. This Is How It Ends is very much set at a particular time (just before Obama was elected), but MacMahon’s writing has the same classic feel to it.

Over the weekend I read an interview with the writer, a journalist in RTE. In the interview (an excellent piece by Róisín Ingle of the Irish Times) she explained that it wasn’t her first book. She has been writing for eight years now, and had wanted to write a book since…

In the meantime I wanted to celebrate the shop and what it meant to me as a child and as a teenager growing up in Dalkey. When I was younger Dalkey village had a small children’s library that was housed in the Town Hall. Once a week special green wooden shelves would be rolled out and we’d be taken there to pick our books. Unfortunately there wasn’t much of a range and, as I became a more confident reader, I craved more choice. So Mum took me to The Exchange Bookshop and we looked through the second hand books together, searching for novels that would be suitable for a young teenager.

Gradually Mum allowed me to rummage on my own, and I managed to unearth some gems that…

‘I tilted my face up and squinted against the sunlight to follow the arc of the spray, which sashayed left, sashayed right, like a young girl swishing her skirts as she walked.’

Her sentences have the power to make you gasp. And you can tell that she’s mad about her main character, Aaron despite his glaring flaws.

It’s a masterful book and it got me thinking about fiction and why writers write.

I have a great fondness for first novels. Writers throw everything into their first book – passion, joy, heartache; hopes, dreams, failings – it’s all there in one heady mix. With a first book you have years to craft your sentences. Once you are a published writer deadlines sneak into the writing equation.

You also think about your readers – will they like your new book? Your editor – what will she/he think? Reviewers – if you are lucky enough to get reviewed. The page…

It got me thinking about the nature of the ‘bestseller’. A ‘bestseller’ is simply a book that sells a lot of copies, a book that has thousands of happy readers, all actively recommending it to their friends and family, and on Facebook and Twitter (which I think is the way most bestsellers are created – by word of mouth).

So I thought I’d jot down some of the things that came up during the panel discussion in case they are useful. And at the very end I’ll let you in on the secret – how to write a bestseller – as yes, there is a secret!

First of all: Character

We all agreed that creating big, interesting, real, lovable yet flawed characters is the key to writing good popular fiction. Monica…

Last year was a good year for children’s books written and illustrated by Irish authors and illustrators (the award is given to books published in 2011), with some exciting new names joining established ones. There were less ‘Irish’ picture books published last year (after a stellar year in 2010 – culminating in Chris Haughton’s win for A Bit Lost), but it was a strong year for teen novels, with Ger Meade’s Flick a notable debut. Ger has six young children, so the fact that she’s writing at all astounds me!

This list is my own personal opinion, and it’s just for fun. Let’s see how many I get ‘right’! The actual shortlist will be announced on 20th March.

1/ A Greyhound of a Girl by Roddy Doyle – my prediction for overall winner
One of my favourite books of the year – lyrical and touching, with fantastic characters.

2/ Spirit of the Titanic by Nicola Pierce – my prediction for the Eilís Dillon Award (or Ger Meade’s Flick – depending on the judges’ tastes) – a very strong historical novel about a young boy and the Titanic.…

Publishers

Once you are happy with your manuscript, it’s time to decide who to send it to. All of the Irish publishers (and Irish offices of the UK publishers) still accept unsolicited manuscripts, which is good news if you haven’t secured an agent. See last week’s blog – week 7 – for how to prepare your manuscript for submission (to an agent or a publisher). For most UK publishers you will need an agent – again, see week 7 for information on this and a list of recommended agents.

It is very important to match your book to the right publisher. There’s no point sending a crime novel to a children’s publisher for example. Do your research. Find out the kind of book each publisher actually publishes. Visit your local bookshop or library and have a look on the shelves. Familiarise yourself with what the various publishers actually bring out. Some of them specialize, some are more general publishers. Some publish children’s…

Book Titles

Book titles are very important. They say a lot about a book. Some writers find titles easy, for others it’s like pulling teeth. And it can differ with every book.
In the world of popular fiction/romantic comedy, I’ve always liked Katie Fforde’s titles: Thyme Out, Practically Perfect, Highland Fling. Maeve Binchy’s titles are also excellent – simple and catchy – Tara Road, Nights of Rain and Stars, Circle of Friends.

On the children’s side, I’ve always loved the quirky Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret as a title. It shouldn’t work, but it does. How to Train Your Dragon, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Under the Hawthorne Tree, Ballet Shoes, Skulduggery Pleasant, Artemis Fowl – all fantastic, memorable…

This week we’ll be taking about editing. Once you’ve finished the first draft, then comes the hard bit, the edits and the rewrites. Yes, plural. The first draft is just the beginning. Have patience. Rewrites make the difference between a published writer and an unpublished writer.

Before you even think of sending your book out to an agent or to a publisher, you must make it as good as you possibly can. Some people are excellent at editing their own work, others need help. Here is how I edit a manuscript before it goes anywhere near my agent or editor:

I print out the whole manuscript, read it and make notes as I go along in a (yellow) notebook. If you read this blog on a regular basis, you’ll know that I’m addicted to yellow legal pads.

Some authors suggest waiting a little while before reading. William Trevor puts his writing in a drawer for a year before taking it out to work on it again, and although it…