book Archives - Page 3 of 3 - Lisa Manterfield

March 27, 2017 - Lisa Manterfield 5 Comments

Let Me Show You Around Sheffield

Writers are often advised to write what they know. While I don’t have a lot of personal experience with reincarnated boyfriends, I do know a thing or two about Sheffield, the primary setting for A Strange Companion.

Sheffield is a city in the north of England and it’s also is my place of birth. I lived there until I was 18, when I went away to study in South Wales (where the opening of the book takes place.) Much of my family still lives in Sheffield. In fact, my mum still lives in the same house where I grew up, so I go back to visit at least once a year.

There are usually three groups of people outside the U.K. who know anything about Sheffield:

Ice skaters—because some of the highest quality professional blades are made in Sheffield
Football (soccer) fans—because the city has two famous teams: Sheffield Wednesday (my team) and Sheffield United (not my team)
Music fans—because Sheffield has produced Def Leppard, Joe Cocker, Arctic Monkeys, and The Human League

If you’re a movie fan, you should know that The Full Monty was filmed in Sheffield and if you like comedy, Sheffield produced both Eddie Izzard and Monty Python’s Michael Palin.

The city sits at the confluence of five rivers, making it the perfect spot for the forges that eventually made it famous as a steel city. That same industry, as Kat points out in the book, also made it a bombing target during World War II.

Despite all the industry, Sheffield is known as “the greenest city in Europe” and boasts 83 parks. When you read A Strange Companion, you’ll quickly learn, through Kat, that the city is surrounded by stunning countryside.

Here are few pictures of one of my favorite cities in the world (and I am completely unbiased in this opinion!)

Sheffield from the surrounding countryside

Yours truly freezing in the Peace Gardens

March 20, 2017 - Lisa Manterfield Leave a Comment

How J. K. Rowling, Daisy Ridley, and Andrew Garfield Helped Me Write “A Strange Companion”

When I’m writing, I like to “see” my story. I tape a big piece of brown paper to my office wall and cover it with post-it notes of story lines, scene ideas, and nuggets of information I don’t want to forget, along with pictures of settings in which the story takes place.

Once I have a solid feel for the characters I’m creating, I add their photos, too. Sometimes I look for pictures of actors who might play the character and sometimes I look for people who just feel right. When I choose a picture, it’s often less about the way the person looks and more about the personality traits that the photo suggests.

If you’ve been reading A Strange Companion, maybe you’ve already formed images of your own about what the characters look like. I don’t want to ruin that because one of the wonderful things about books is that you get to cast the roles in your own imagination. So, if you prefer to keep it that way, don’t read any further. However, if you’re curious to see what was in my head—and on my storyboard—read on:

Kat:

To me, Kat is very down-to-earth. She loves climbing and the outdoors and she’s not big on fashion or make-up, but she’s still very feminine. Even though she’s going through a rough time in the story and doesn’t always make the best decisions, ultimately, she is tough and smart, and very determined. This photo of Daisy Ridley, not in her scruffy Star Wars garb, is the perfect representation of Kat.

Owen:

Oh, Owen. I do have a soft spot for this character. Although it was very tempting to cast Chris Hemsworth or Aiden Turner as Kat’s love interest (okay, those are my choices, not hers, I admit it) Owen is more the roguish boy-next-door type. He’s kind and funny, handsome, but not with the sort of moody good looks you’d trip over yourself to look at. (Is that just me, too?) Although Owen is loosely based on someone I knew, when I saw this loveable shot of Andrew Garfield, I chose it for my character board.

Gabe:

In the book, Kat describes Gabe as “beautiful.” In her memories, he is perfect in every way. I needed someone sultry, but cool, with the sort of moody good looks I talked about earlier, but in a younger, boyish package. Kat was a teenager when she and Gabe met, so I needed someone that 16-year-old Kat would find attractive. Nicholas Hoult has a boyish sexiness and seemed like someone Kat might have fallen for.

Mum:

Kat’s mother, Helen, is a young widow in her early 50’s, making a fresh start with a new man (much to Kat’s consternation.) I describe her as blonde when we first meet her at the airport, and I imagined to her to be attractive and well put together, but also down-to-earth, like Kat. It took me a while to find the perfect image and, finally, I came across this picture of J. K. Rowling. To me, she looks the part of Kat’s mum and I could imagine her being very pragmatic with Kat and also letting loose and having fun with Brian.

What do you think? Does your vision of these characters match mine? If not, who would you cast to play your favorite roles?

March 13, 2017 - Lisa Manterfield 4 Comments

Remembering to Savor the Moments

Things are suddenly getting very real around here. After months (okay, years) of writing and revising A Strange Companion, it’s suddenly a real book.

I know it’s a real book because:

It’s available for pre-order on the major bookseller sites.
A printed proof arrived and I have held it in my hand.
I’m throwing a Publication Party, and I couldn’t do that without a real, published book.

It’s all been a bit of a whirlwind these past few weeks and I’ve been living or dying by the task list. I’ve eaten meals but, more than once, I’ve looked at my empty plate with no recollection of cutting, chewing, or swallowing food. My husband has asked me questions and I’ve found myself staring at him as if he’s speaking an alien language, while my brain spins to catch up. If someone asked me my plans for the weekend, I’d say, “Oh, nothing special,” but I’d be thinking, Duh. I’m working on my book!

I think it’s supposed to be this way. A book launch is supposed to be a crazy time of preparation, of dotting i’s and crossing t’s, of smoothing the way for the shiny new book to burst out into the world.

As insane as it’s been, it’s also been a lot of fun. I’ve had some incredible moments, such as:

The moment I finished inputting the proofreader’s final edits and realized I’d never have to read this book again. (I still love it; I just don’t want to read it again for a very long time. Plus, I know what happens at the end!)
The day I arrived home to find the printer’s first proof copy sitting on my doorstep.
When I read the first review and realized that someone other than me and the people who care about me loved my book.

So, in all the swirling madness, it’s these moments that I’m trying to remember and savor.

Now for some details:

If you’d like to pre-order the book, grab it by April 3^rdfor a special bonus gift. All that information is here.

Here’s the wonderful first review I received from The Reading Wolf.

Here’s my video of the unboxing of the proof.

And, if you happen to be in the L.A. area, I would love for you to join me at my Publication Party. It’s at {pages} a bookstore in Manhattan Beach. 7 pm, Friday, April 7^th. There’ll be drinks and hors d’oeuvres. And of course, there’ll be the closest thing I can find to Owen’s legendary chocolate cake. (And if you’ve no idea what I’m talking about, you’d better take a look at the sneak peek of the book here.)

March 6, 2017 - Lisa Manterfield 1 Comment

How Stories Evolve

When people ask me, “What are you working on?” they’ll often get a blank stare in return. It’s not that I don’t know what I’m writing about, but in the early stages of a project, so much can change. Plots evolve, characters take over, and themes emerge. What might have started off as “a book about the war” will undoubtedly evolve into a book about something completely different, such as a story about how people deal with grief.

My novel, The Smallest Thing, (coming out later this year) was inspired by the plague village of Eyam. I had envisioned retelling a 400-year-old story of love and self-sacrifice, but once I started writing it, I couldn’t find a way to make it contemporary.

I started writing anyway, beginning with two real-life characters, Emmott Syddall and Roland Torre, and wrote a few scenes in present day. I liked the scenes, but the story wasn’t compelling. Frankly, it was a bit too sappy for my tastes. Undeterred, I kept on writing. I wrote about the village, about Emmott’s fictional family. I wrote a scene where the quarantine is imposed (I kind of loved that scene), and I sketched out a story idea. But it still wasn’t gripping me (not to mention my plot was full of holes!)

And then, in a writer’s workshop, I was given a first-line prompt, “He hides in the marrow of my bones.” I wrote what amounted to an internal monologue, with no idea where it would lead. All of a sudden, a new character walked onto the page and hijacked my story.

Suddenly, my dear, sweet Emmott wasn’t carrying on a chaste affair across the river with a boy from the next village; she was falling in love with an untouchable man. Suddenly the story wasn’t about how a village is ravaged by a plague; it was about one young woman and her journey of self-discovery. And suddenly, I loved this new story.

The story continued to evolve once my mystery man sidled onto my page and, even as I got closer to a finished draft, I kept discovering new details. It’s one of the things I love most about the creative process!

I’m noodling ideas for my next novel project now. So, if you happen to ask me what I’m working on and what it’s about, and all you get from me is a blank stare, know that something is going on in my head, and my story is just waiting to evolve.

June 24, 2016 - Lisa Manterfield Leave a Comment

Why Writers Must Ask “Why?”

FullSizeRender — Photo courtesy Rebecca Lacko

Two weeks ago I got to visit the beautiful Pacific Northwest to teach a workshop about book promotion. I met the most generous and supportive group of writers at BARN (Bainbridge Artisan Regional Network) and we dug into how to find readers for fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

One of the most important questions to ask as a writer is “Why?”

Why should a reader care about my book?

Why should she invest her valuable time?

And why the heck am I writing this book in the first place?

It’s not reasonable for an author to expect to inspire someone to pick up her book if she doesn’t know what inspired her to write it in the first place. How can you assure someone they won’t regret reading it when you have no idea why they might get something valuable from it?

So, the first exercise we did in the workshop was to answer the question: Why are you doing the work you do?

I watched brows furrow around the room as the members of the group considered the question. Then, one-by-one, I watched realization hit. When people shared their reasons—everything from giving a voice to baby boomers to inspiring children to explore outdoors—you could hear the passion about their topics in their voices.

Whenever I read a book I love, I always want to know what inspired the author to write it. Don’t you?

To that end, I’ll be writing more soon about what inspired me to write my current projects, as well as sharing some books that have inspired me to ask “why?”

But for now, I’ll leave you with some pictures that have inspired me to put the Pacific Northwest on my list of places to visit again soon.

Until next week!

Mandatory lunch at Elliot's — Mandatory lunch at Elliott’s

View of Seattle from the Bainbridge Ferry

The result of buying too many books at Eagle Harbor Book Co.

What do you think? Does your vision of these characters match mine? If not, who would you cast to play your favorite roles?

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