publishing

Join the Arvon Editing Retreat in January 2025

/ Claire Fuller / Leave a comment

I’m delighted that I’ll be back at Arvon in January 2025 teaching Editing Fiction and Non-fiction again.

Are you currently editing a novel or some non-fiction? In January 2025 I’ll be back teaching on an Arvon residential writing week in Shropshire on how to edit fiction and non-fiction, this time alongside fellow writer, Mike Parker. Mike’s books include the bestselling Map Addict, republished last year, On the Red Hill, which was Highly Commended for the Wainwright Prize and won the Wales Book of the Year, and his most recent, All the Wide Border, named by Waterstones as one of the best ten travel works of 2023.

And I’m very excited that our guest author, visiting for an evening discussion is Kit de Waal, author of novels, My Name Is Leon, The Trick to Time, as was short stories.

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.

Three Years Since Our Endless Numbered Days was Published

/ Claire Fuller / 10 Comments

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I can’t believe it’s been three years since my debut novel, Our Endless Numbered Days was first published. The book has introduced me to some wonderful people, and has given me amazing experiences. Here are 10 things you might not know about me and this book:

  1. I can’t play the piano (there is a lot about piano music in the book), but I can just about read music thanks to a year of oboe lessons when I was fourteen.
  2. My mother is German, but like the mother in the book she never taught me German. (That’s the only resemblance my mother has to Ute.)
  3. The book was originally going to be called The Great Divide, and then Briar Rose (after Sleeping Beauty), until I decided on Our Endless Numbered Days (from the album by Iron and Wine whom I listened to while writing).
  4. I chose the name Reuben for one of the characters because that’s one I had on a list of possible names for my son before he was born. (He ended up with Henry.)
  5. When I was writing the book a friend shot me a squirrel and kept it in his freezer so I could see what it would be like to skin it, cook it, and eat it. (It went rancid when it was defrosted and I never even saw it.)
  6. As a child I was as obsessed with the film of The Railway Children as Peggy is. My sister had the album and I listened to it so often I can still quote it.
  7. The book was inspired by the real-life story of a teenager who turned up in Berlin saying he’d been living in the German forests for the previous five years.
  8. At the UK launch we had a chocolate cake in the shape of a cabin. It all got eaten. (Very Hansel and Gretel.)
  9. I am much more aware now of disaster preparedness and will sometimes buy more cans of beans than we actually need.
  10. I didn’t go to Germany for research, but I did walk the woods near where I live in England. I wanted to spend the night alone in them, but when it came down to it, I was too frightened.

 

Buy a copy of Our Endless Numbered Days via these outlets.
Read an article about what I’d learnt a year after Our Endless Numbered Days was published.
Watch a video of me drawing the cabin from Our Endless Numbered Days.
Contact me to ask me about the book, or if you’d like a set of book club questions.

Publishing Interviews: The Publicist

/ Claire Fuller / Leave a comment

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This is the last in my series of publishing interviews. I’ve discovered so many things about how this world works including answers from a publishing director, to an art director to a literary agent, and many roles in between. And of course there are a lot more people who help get a book written, published and on the shelves that I haven’t managed to talk to: booksellers, writing course teachers, sales reps, editorial assistants, and many more. But I need to take a break because I have lots of Swimming Lessons events coming up; if there are any roles in particular you would like me to interview, just drop me a line, or comment below, and I’ll store up the suggestions for later in the year.

Continue reading →

Publishing Interviews: Head of Sales

/ Claire Fuller / 7 Comments

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This week I’ve been asking questions of Samantha Fanaken, Head of Sales at Penguin General. Penguin General is a publishing division of Penguin Random House, dealing with the imprints Fig Tree, Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Ireland, Penguin Life, Portfolio and Viking. Read on to find out how many meetings Samantha has to cram into a day, and whether she reads all the books.

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Claire: It seems to me that Head of Sales in a publishing house sits right in the middle of things: talking to editors, marketing and booksellers. Is that how you see it? Can you give a job description of your role? Continue reading →