Local author Michelle Vernal grew up in Auckland. These days though, she lives in the Christchurch and has to date written eleven novels. When she’s not writing, she spends an awful lot of time daydreaming about exotic locations she wants to visit with her family.
We asked her about her writing journey.
CANTERBURYWRITERS: Hi Michelle. Why did you start writing?
MV: I’ve always written and I can’t imagine not using writing as a way of expressing myself. I wrote short stories when I was at primary school, kept journals and wrote angst ridden poetry in my teens. When I reached my twenties, I kept travel journals and was a prolific letter writer when I lived overseas (before e-mail). In my thirties when my first son was born, I did a part time creative writing course at Canterbury University. From there I began to write opinion style articles for parenting magazines and I got paid! Then when my second son was born, I wrote my first novel. That was back in 2006.
CANTERBURYWRITERS: What does your normal writing schedule look like?
MV: I am fortunate in that I write full time. I take my boys to school of a morning and when I get home, I go over the last couple of pages I wrote the day before on my WIP and that acts as a warm up to moving the story forward.
CANTERBURYWRITERS: Describe your best writing moment.
MV: There are lots of small successes that have all been amazing. It’s important to celebrate them even if it’s just giving yourself a pat on the back because the rejections keep you grounded! A reader captured what I hope to achieve with my books the other day by telling me my series The Guesthouse on the Green has helped her through a trying time in her life by allowing her to escape for a little while. That is exactly what I hope to achieve with my stories.
CANTERBURYWRITERS: What about your worst writing moment?
MV: There’s no one moment, there’s lots. Rejection time and time again, getting close and then nothing happening. Realising when you get that traditional deal that you are one tiny cog in a very big wheel.
CANTERBURYWRITERS: What’s your writing motivation?
MV: I have lots of writing motivations, one being I have lots of stories in my head. It is an amazing feeling to know you have written something that gives somebody else pleasure, that’s my adrenaline buzz! I’ve done all sorts of jobs over the years but nothing has ever felt like I was doing what I was supposed to do until I started writing in earnest. Money is a factor now too, of course as I write full time.
CANTERBURYWRITERS: How many times have you participated in NaNoWriMo or Camp NaNoWriMo?
MV: I have done NaNoWriMo once. I found it helpful to move a novel I was procrastinating with along. I don’t really use Nano as these days I am on a tight turnaround with my series novels anyway as well as having other projects on the go.
CANTERBURYWRITERS: Hours or word counts?
MV: I try to do 2000 words a day and that takes me most of the day with breaks to do other jobs in between. Marketing my books takes a good chunk of time each day too.
CANTERBURYWRITERS: At what time of the day are you most productive, morning or night? How did you discover that?
MV: Later in the day. I have no idea why it just seems to happen that way.
CANTERBURYWRITERS: How did you figure out what genre you wanted to write?
MV: I didn’t, I just write the stories that come in my head.
CANTERBURYWRITERS: So, are you a Plotter or Pantser? (Not that I can't guess by your previous answer.)
MV: Pantser.
CANTERBURYWRITERS: How do you know when you’re finished with a manuscript?
MV: I move it along pretty much after giving it a thorough read through when initially finished. It will either go to my editor or my agent for comment and then further edits. I don’t sit on manuscripts that have The End on them for more than a few weeks.
CANTERBURYWRITERS: You have been writing for some time. What do you know now that you wish you’d known when you first started?
MV: For me personally, I wish I’d known there is no end goal. I got the trad deal and soon realised that is just one tiny step on a never-ending escalator. The biggest lesson I’ve learned though is that I love writing but it is also my business and I’m now making decisions with my head and not just my heart.
CANTERBURYWRITERS: What are your tips for aspiring authors?
MV: Never give up. Don’t treat your writing as a hobby if you want to make a career from it. Be prepared to put money into your end product if you decide to self-publish i.e. marketing and professional covers, editing etc – just as you would a business. Learn from rejections and get stronger. Don’t expect a publisher to market you, you have to be proactive. Open your mind to possibilities and listen to people who are successful at what they do. Be able to take constructive criticism. Be brave and put your work out there, good things can happen when you do.
CANTERBURYWRITERS: Let's take a slight shift for the moment. You have recently released a new book. Tell us about it.
MV: My latest novel is published with Orion books in the UK. It is called When We Say Goodbye and is fundamentally a story about love, loss and learning to live again which hopefully also makes readers smile.
Book Blurb from Amazon:
Can you love when all seems lost?
Ellie Perkins life was right on track until her boyfriend Sam suffers a near-fatal car accident, leaving him in a coma and all their future plans in limbo.
Desperately in need of something to fix, Ellie has to find a project and when her grandparents old house is put up for sale, she jumps at the chance. Because, like Ellie, the house is broken. And if she can fix the house, then surely, it's just a matter of time before she and Sam are back on their path to happily-ever-after...
In life, when the worst happens how do you pick up the pieces?
CANTERBURYWRITERS: Before we go, Coffee, Tea Or Wine?
MV: Coffee when I’m writing. Wine when I’m not.
CANTERBURYWRITERS: Ice cream or Cake?
MV: I’ve not got a sweet tooth. It’s the kids mini-packet of chips for the lunch boxes that are my downfall!
CANTERBURYWRITERS: Thank you so much, Michelle, and good luck for your recent release.
