Claire Fuller

Teaching Editing at Arvon, May 2024

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Are you currently editing a novel or some non-fiction? In May 2024 I’ll be teaching on an Arvon residential writing week on how to edit fiction and non-fiction, alongside fellow writer, Adam Weymouth. Adam’s first book, Kings of the Yukon, tells the story of his 2000 mile canoe trip down the Yukon River through Canada and Alaska.

From a developmental review to the fine detail of the line edit, from comprehensive rewrites to the final polish, using exercises, readings, discussions and tutorials, we’ll share techniques, tips and best practices which will help you hone your voice, clarify your thoughts and transform your writing. Along the way, we’ll talk about the detail of hitting word-editing counts, creating and working with book maps, and how to break down your edit into manageable tasks. You will leave with a better understanding of how to know what needs changing, and how to know when it’s done. Whether you’re already published or just starting out, this course is for anyone with a draft that they want to bring to its best.

The week includes group teaching, workshops, one-to-ones with the tutors, as well as evening activities, accommodation and all meals. This writing week is held at wonderful house called The Hurst set in beautiful and inspirational grounds in Shropshire.

Arvon residential weeks are immersive, energising, and great fun!

More information / to book.

Alice Winn author of In Memoriam, in Winchester

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I’m absolutely delighted to be interviewing Alice Winn about her wonderful novel, In Memoriam, in Winchester on Thursday 21st March. In Memoriam is a searing love story between two men with WWI backdrop, and it won the Waterstones Novel of the Year 2023. Alice is over from Brooklyn for the paperback release and is only doing a few dates, so I’m very excited that she’ll be in Hampshire for an early event with Winchester Books Festival.

Tickets are on sale now.

Quay Words Hothouse: A three-day course for emerging writers

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I’m excited to let you know that I’ve been invited by Quay Words to host a three-day course for emerging writers with a focus on developing characters in your fiction. We’ll be discussing how to create ‘real’ characters on the page, looking at some published examples, workshopping pieces of writing, and doing some writing exercises.

It will take place in Exeter Custom House, Exeter, Devon, 26th to 28th April. The writers are selected via applications, and applications close on 10th March – so be quick! You can find more information about the course, how to apply, and costs here: https://quaywords.org.uk/take-part/hothouse-with-claire-fuller/

US and Canadian Cover Revealed

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Today I’m finally allowed to reveal the US and Canadian cover for my fifth novel, The Memory of Animals. And oh my goodness, I love it so much. It’s designed by Beth Steidle, Tin House Associate Director of Design & Production, using art work by Lisa Ericson.

It will be published by Tin House on June 6 2023, and you can find out a bit more about it here.

The Memory of Animals is available to pre-order:
In the US from Barnes and Noble, here. 
In Canada from Indigo, here.
In the UK from Waterstones, here.

Please order from your local independent when you are able. 

UK cover of The Memory of Animals

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I’m excited to be able to finally reveal the UK cover for my fifth novel: The Memory of Animals. Fig Tree / Penguin, my UK publisher says it’s a ‘gripping, haunting novel about memory, love and survival’, and I’ll add…also octopuses! It’s beautiful cover is designed by Penguin designer, Julia Connolly.

The Memory of Animals is available to pre-order now, so that it can slip through your letterbox on 20th April 2023:

From Waterstones

From Bookshop.org

From Amazon

Unsettled Ground Wins Costa Novel Award

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I’m so delighted and amazed that Unsettled Ground has won the Costa Novel Award 2021. It means a huge amount that Jeanie’s and Julius’s story will be more widely read, and it’s simply a wonderful privilege for the book to be chosen from so many entered and of course the brilliant shortlist. More information about the awards can be found here.

Unsettled Ground will now go forward for the Costa Book of the year where it will be judged against the other category winners: biography, first novel, children’s, and poetry. The overall winner will be announced on 1st February.

Winchester paperback publication event

On 13th January I’ll be celebrating the publication of the UK paperback of Unsettled Ground at Waterstones in Winchester. There are limited tickets to keep numbers low, so if you’d like to come, please do get yours soon. They are £3.00 each (including a glass of wine) and are available either by emailing winchester@waterstones.com or by dropping into the High Street shop. More info here. I hope to see you there.

Unsettled Ground Shortlisted for Costa Book Awards

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I’m thrilled to let you know that my fourth novel, Unsettled Ground has been shortlisted for the Costa Book Awards. This prestigious annual prize, which is fifty years old this year, awards prizes for books written by UK and Irish authors, in five categories: Novel, First Novel, Biography, Poetry and Children’s Book. One of the winners from these categories is selected as the overall Costa Book of the Year.

Unsettled Ground is one of four books in the Novel category, the winner of which will be announced on 4th January 2022. The five category winners will then be considered for the £30,000 prize announced in early February. You can read more about the prizes here, as well as seeing which other books are included in the novel category.

With this and the shortlisting earlier in 2021 for the Women’s Prize for Fiction it’s been quite a year! Keep your fingers crossed for me.

And if you’re in the UK and you’d like to buy a signed and dedicated copy of the hardback of Unsettled Ground, or any of my other books, click here.

Buy Signed Copies of my Books

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This November and December, in time for Christmas, I’m offering UK readers a chance to buy signed and dedicated copies of my books, whether for yourself or as a gift. You can buy a single copy, several of the same book, or a combination. Find out more about Our Endless Numbered Days (paperback), Swimming Lessons (paperback), Bitter Orange (paperback), and Unsettled Ground (hardback). Once you’ve let me know which book or books you’d like and what you’d like me to write in them, I’ll calculate the cost of the books and the postage, email you a secure payment link, and once you’ve paid, I’ll get the books in the post. Simple.

Send me a message using this form, and make sure you include:

  1. Which book or books you would like
  2. What you would like me to write in each one (whether just my signature, or whether you’d like me to dedicate the book to someone as well as sign it)
  3. Your UK postal address
  4. I will assume you would like the book(s) sent second class, but let me know if you’d like to pay extra and have it/them sent first class

    If you’re very local to me, I may even be able to hand deliver! Paperbacks are £8.99 each, and Unsettled Ground (hardback) is £14.99 (plus postage).

(Offer closes on the last 2nd class posting date in time for Christmas: 18th December 2022. I buy my own books from local book shops in order to support them.)

Updated Cover for Unsettled Ground

/ Claire Fuller / 3 Comments

The UK cover of Unsettled Ground has had a refresh! The colours have been made much brighter, so now you can see all the creepy-crawlies in more detail, as well as the rotting fruit. Also included is a new quote from The Times (the previous one was about Bitter Orange, and some readers found that confusing), and the Women’s Prize For Fiction Shortlisted ‘sticker’ appears permanently in the bottom right-hand corner. I love how the cover really glows now, which makes it very eye-catching. Do let me know what you think. At the moment this new cover will only appear on the ebook.

Flash Fiction: A Great Guy

/ Claire Fuller / 5 Comments

Another week, another 100-word flash fiction story inspired by a photograph. My story is below. Feel free to join in, and if you post yours on your website or on social media, link back here and let me know, so I can have a read of it.

A Great Guy

Let me tell you ‘bout my uncle Jack. He added a kitchenette and a bedroom to his place on Switcheroo Road and let the rooms out to men who stole from him, small stuff mostly: teaspoons and hammers, glasses and tobacco, and left without paying the rent. Each time he said it’d be different: this man was down on his luck; another was a great guy. Reckon he was in love with them all, just couldn’t admit it. Finally, that annex stood empty for five years ’til my aunt Rosie rented it. Although, course, she wasn’t my auntie until later.

***

For any Oxford / Oxfordshire-based people, I’m doing my first in-person literary event for a long time, at Blackwell’s Oxford on 21st July, with author Lucy Atkins (Magpie Lane). It would be lovely if you could join us. Tickets here.