Interview with Tracy Culleton 5th sept 8pm

[catherine daly]

Hi All,
Tracy Culleton, a regular poster on the site will be on line on Mon 5th Sept 8pm (irish) to take your questions.
Tracy is the author of bestsellers Looking Good and Loving Lucy and her new book More Than Friends will be hitting your bookshelves any day now.......


If you can't make it on the night, post your question below and Tracy will answer as many as possible!

[Shirley]

Hi Tracy!
It's great that we're having the interview with you.
I wanted to ask you about how you plan out your books. Do you write out a general outline, and then plan out what's going to be in each chapter, or do you just write with a view to being open to going down paths that you hadn't originally anticipated?
Thanks,
Shirley

[marie]

Hi Tracy,

How long does it take you to write the first draft, and do you find you need to rewrite your first chapter many times before you are happy with it?

Marie

[Mary]

Hi Tracy,
I want to congratulate you on all of your books so far which I've absolutely loved.
Can I ask you if you have had to do alot of research on the topics you've written about so far?
You gave fantastic info in the novels.

Thanks, Tracy,
Mary.

[Judi Curtin]

Hi Tracy
I love your writing tips. It scares me how well-informed you are, and it makes me look deep into my own heart. Have you ever thought of writing a 'How-to-Write Book.' ? It seems to me there would be a huge market for it.
(Apologies if you have already done so and it has somehow passed me by.)
Best
Judi

[Tracy]

Hi everybody, I'm here. Surprisingly nervous, but I'm sure you'll all be gentle on me! I'll post this so you know I'm online and then begin answering the above questions (thanks for posting them!)

Tracy xx

P.S. Apologies ahead of time for the typing - If I'm rushing I often mistype....

[catherine daly]

Hi Tracy,
Welcome online!
I'lll pop in and out- My builders arrived today so I'm going to go and wash the concrete dust off- first stage demolition of the old extension- remember it?
Anyway, I'll then have to cook a meal in a much reduced kitchen. Fun. Not.
Talk to you tomorrow at the launch if I can't manage to get on much tonight...

xx catherine

[Tracy]

Hi Shirley, good question re how do I plan the books .... the truth is that I am still playing around with this. I have written four novels so far, and I suppose it's like anything, we try things out and improve (hopefully!) as we go along.

But so far I have always had a rough idea of where I wanted the story to go, without having much idea of the detail. I always start with an interesting situation ... it's hard to give examples from my own work because I dont' want to spoil the novels for those of you who haven't read them.

But just for example of my thought processes when I'm deciding what to write about:, my fourth novel, as yet unpublished, is about three sisters who are living a very constrained life, and then a catalyst happens to shake them up. So I needed a catalyst. Obviously for the genre of books I write (which always have a romantic component) there has to be a man, and so I decided he would be the catalyst. But how did he come into their lives?? What kind of man would come into such a constrained situation?
Originally I wondered if he would be somebody from a circus or travelling show of some sort. But no, I didn't like that. For a start it's an awful cliche, but also such a man wouldn't be the sort of man our heroines (and my readers) would aspire to. You have to make sure the reader totally gets why the hero is a catch, if she wouldn't want him then she won't be interested in the heroine wanting him and whether the heroine gets him.

So I had to think about this for a while, and eventually I came up with - an eco-village! (I'm actually going to be moving to Ireland's first eco-village myself, check it out on http://www.thevillage.ie) and that seemed like a fun solution, with lots of scope for funny/conflicting situations between the old order and the new. And so that's what I settled on.

Do you see how it works? You need something, (a suitable hero, a suitable conflict, a reason for them not to be able to get together and so on), and you play around with ideas until something works.

So at that point I had the starting situation (the constrained lives of the sisters), the catalyst (the man from the eco-village). That was also the conflict because of the different lifestyles. I knew I needed a number of different clashes or scenes (but had no idea what), and that it had to work out well (I'm probably not giving anything away by saying that, a happy ending is also part of the genre!), but I didn't know how it would work out.

So at that point I started writing. So you see I had the very bare bones but not much else.

But I find that sometimes, when it's all going well, I get into a wonderful place where the writing comes directly from my subconcious to the keyboard. There are three states of brain activity: normal waking, sleeping, and then this in-between state. That's the state we're in just before we fall asleep, and when we're meditating or day-dreaming, and it's the most creative state. I'm sure you know yourself how often ideas pop out at you when you're day-dreaming, well it's exactly the same.

And so, because I access this state, I try not to pin myself down too much before hand with a structure because it's only my conscious which can plan structure, it's my creative self which provides the best work. And I have to say the work I do when I'm in this meditative state is always thebest work. And it amazes me, sometimes, it's so much fun, to see what happens. It's almost as if I'm watching the scene myself and am merely transcribign what happens, rather than creating it consciously. In this fourth novel I've been talking about, one whole character literally walked into the scene and I hadn't been expecting him at all, but it really added to the story.

But yet, with Loving Lucy, I did plan the events much more. But yet they were only headings really ... It's like saying Go from Carlow to Waterford to Cork to Killarney and end up in Dublin. But when you get down to it you fill out the detail, i.e. the route and what you'll do in each place.

Also with Loving Lucy and the current novel, More Than Friends, there's a twist in the tale which I obviously knew about from the beginning, and so I had to write towards that twist, but subtly.

So Shirley, I hope this answers your question!!!

Tracy xx

[charlene]

Hi Tracy
I'll confess I've not read any of your books yet let me stress the yet as they are on my to get list as we speak, I would like to ask you if you read and if so who do you like to read? and do you carry a notebook around with you incase you think of something while out and about which I've heard a few authors say they do,Thank you for taking the time to do this and I love reading your writing tips they have learned me so much I don't write myself but I would love to.

[Tracy]

Hi Marie, I couldn't tell you how long it takes to write my first draft, as sometimes I have worked for 12 hour days when I was up against a deadline, and other times I have worked for 3 or 4 hours a day. I should really count how many hours I spend on a novel ...

But I don't work on my first chapter at all until I'm finished the novel. I think of the whole process as being very much like sculpting. I write almost anythign for the first draft, I don't edit, I don't criticise, I don't judge it too much. Obviously I'm hoping to steer it the correct way as per the previous post, and I do have some work I'm very happy with in the first draft when I'm writing it in the semi-trance state as described above. But apart from that I operate on the principal - get it down, get anythign down!

A blank screen is scary, and you can't improve what doesn't exist, so if it's there it can be improved: re-written, pruned, extended, whatever's needed. It's like a sculptor will sculpt a rough outline first, and then go back to put in the details.

This, of course, means that I do many, many drafts. I do come back and re-write my first chapter afterwards, many times, but not until I'm finished the whole first draft. I work by applying different filters to each draft: plot consistencies, then writing style, dialogue, then spelling/typos maybe. And then I go through it again. I can't remember who said that writing is actually about re-writing, but they were dead on!

But if you're asking do I have to be happy with my first chapter before continuing, then absolutely not. And as much as I can presume to tell other writers what to do, I would urge them not to do that either. Because you can get bogged down in the first chapter and never get any further, and if it's not going great it can erode your confidence.

Hope this answers your question, Marie, do get back to me on this post if it didn't, or if there was any other questions!

Hugs, Tracy

[tatty]

Hi Tracy,

First let me say i hope your book does well in the bestseller this week.
Where do your ideas come from? Do you plan then well ahead or do you just sit there and write without a general storyline. I too dont write, couldn't write a shopping list if i tried, but im fasinated (sp) with how people can make such interesting and gripping books.

Also when did you know you had the talent that would make you become an author?

Thanks in advance Emma x

[Tracy]

Hi Catherine, thanks for popping in! Good look with the builders ... you're twice as kind to have offered any help with the book launch when you've this all going on! Just remember, you can't make an omlette without breaking eggs!!!

Txx

[Tracy]

Hi Mary, thanks for your kind words re my novels so far! Much appreciated. Yes, I've had to do a reasonable amount of research. The first book (Looking Good) was the hardest as there was a lot I needed to know. There's a court case in it for example, and I went to see a barrister friend who guided me through the whole legal procedure. And I was lucky enough that my mother had been a juror in the same kind of case as I had in the book and she was able to give me lots of information. Obviously you can imagine I needed to learn more about one other issue (obvious if you've read it, don't want to spoil it if you haven't!), and I went to the appropriate organisation and they were a great help to me. I felt very nervous with my first novel asking people to help you with research, almost like a fraud! It's got easier as I have gone on because I can say that I've had two (three now!!!!) novels published and therefore they know I'm not wasting their time. But people are very kind, and most people love talking about their area of passion or experience and are only too delighted to have somebody sitting there hanging onto their every word!

And of course, I mustn't forget - the internet is absolutely superb! How did we manage without it!

Hugs, Tracy

[Una]

Hi Tracy,
I loved Looking Good and am looking forward to reading your new one. Just wanted to ask you if you ever have days when it seems youre writing 'rubbish' and no one would ever want to read it? (that happens to me!)
Also - do you have a publisher for your 4th books which sounds very interesting and do you recommend a new author to try Poolbeg?
Thanks,
Una

[Sandie]

Hi Tracy,
I'd love to hear more about your eco village. Will the one in the book be like the real one you are planning? And how will the eco village affect your writing do you think? Or will it at all?
Cheers, sandie

[SarahW]

Hi Tracy, Just dropping in to say hi! I have to put the kids to bed so I'm afraid I can't stay. But best of luck with More Than Friends - can't wait to read it. I'll see you at the launch tomorrow, looking forward to it!
All the best,
Sarah XXX
PS - do you have an idea for book 5 yet

[Tracy]

Hi Judi, thanks for posing the comments re my writer's workshops! I'm especially honoured that such an established writer as yourself finds them to be useful. I read a lot and I think about things a lot, and I suppose the articles are a mixture of those.

In one way I never thought of writing a how-to book on the nuts and bolts of writing because there's so many good books out there already, and I didn't feel I have much new to say ... but maybe you're putting thoughts into my head if you think I do have something new to share with people.

But having said that, I plan a very special kind of book for writers. Some members of this forum may have 'heard' me banging on about EFT, Emotional Freedom Technique. (check out my website www.tracyculleton.com/eft). It was originally designed for clearing phobias and traumas, but we are finding tons of uses for it, it's the most incredible tool I've ever come across and it has revolutionised my life, no exaggeration.

And one thing it is superb for is Improving Performance, for example in sports. It does the same job as sports psychology but in a very quick way.

And I use it for my writing all the time! As I explained above, my novels are not very constructed before hand. That has its advantages but it does mean that I'm constantly needing inspiration. And that's fine if I'm in that semi-trance state I spoke about, but it's not always easy to access. And I've ended up totally stuck in the novel. The dreaded Writers' Block.

And EFT resolves Writers' Block in about 2 minutes! And if I need help with a plot line, for example if I need Character A to do Action B, but there's no good reason for her to do it, I'll use the EFT procedure (which involves tapping on acupuncture points whilst speaking about your issue), saying something like : I don't know why on earth Character A would do Action B, she needs a plausible reason. And within a minute or two the perfect solution, most often a beautifully elegant solution, will come into my head. It's magic.

And what I want to do is to solicit from the people on this forum, published writers and yet-to-be published writers alike, a list of all the problems they encounter as writers - and write a book solving those problems using EFT!! I'm so excited about this, and I'm hoping to post here and e-mail around soon getting that list of problems. (After I finish editing my 4th novel! Also I have at least a dozen ideas for EFT books and I don't know where to start!!!).

So thanks again for your really kind comments, it's very much appreciated. And if you'd like to send me a list of all the problems you encounter as a writer, I would very much appreciate it. I'm talking about a brainstorming list, with absolutely everythign you can think of. For example if somebody has a problem that they don't have a private space to write, well obviously EFT can't put an extra room on their house ... but it can shift their belief/experience from the thought that you can't write unless you have your own space.

Okay, okay, I'm stopping now. Just so excited and enthusiastic about it all!

Tracy xx

[Tracy]

Dear Charlene, thanks for your question! Thanks for putting my novels on the 'to get' list - I know there's a lot of good books out there and you only have so much time, so I really appreciate that.

Unfortunately I don't get much time to read nowadays, which is a shame as it's through being an avid reader that I wanted to write. But as i said I don't get enough time, and also you don't want to pick up on another writer's ideas and/or voice which you can do without meaning to while you're writing. If I do get time to read it's often non-fiction at the moment - technical EFT books for example.

BUT

I love reading! Marion Keyes would have to be one of my favourite authors. She makes it look so effortless but there's a huge amount of skill in there. I get really involved in the stories and the characters. Another one of my favourite writers is a woman called Diana Norman. She isn't so well known - she's the wife of the film critic Barry Norman, and my favourite book by her is called Daughter of Lir. It's terrific! It's set in the time of the Norman invasion of Ireland, and despite her being English she's really sympatheic to the Irish viewpoint. This book as a superbly strong female heroine who is just brilliant.

I really enjoy reading the novels by the Irish Girls too ... they're great reads anyway, but it makes it even better when you know the people concerned.

Hugs, Tracy

[Tracy]

Charlene, sorry, forgot, you also asked about notebook. No. Don't. Should. Have dictaphone bought for that very purpose but forget to bring it too. Very annoying as my mind is always whirlling and thinking and a lot of (what I think is) good stuff comes through, to be lost forever!

Also if I'm in the first draft stage I write whole chapters in my mind as I fall asleep at night. Brilliant, I think, I'll remember that in the morning. But guess what .....

[Tracy]

Hello Emma/Tatty, delighted you're online tonight! Thanks for reminding everybody about this evneing's interview, I was worried in case I'd be on my own!

As I wrote above, I have a very general outline for the novel and then just throw myself in the deep end. I am toying with the idea of trying to be more structured, however. But I'm worried that that would lose a lot of the flow of it. And it makes it more interesting for me if I don't know exactly what's going to happen.

When did I know I had the talent to be an author??? When Poolbeg rang to say they were accepting Looking Good. Not before.

I always loved writing, don't get me wrong. It was always my 'thing.' But who's to say how good is good enough? How talented was I really? That's the question all writers ask themselves, and it's a hard one to answer for yourself. Which is why I didn't know it till 19th March 2003. (Date engraved in my heart!)

All best, Tracy

[tatty]

thanks for replying Tracy,

i wish you all the best on your latest book it will certainly be on my next list, cant buy it between them dates over here but otherwise i would.

[Tracy]

Hi Una, thanks for your comments re Looking Good, much appreciated. Hope you like MTF as much (and don't forget my 2nd novel Loving Lucy!).

Yes, of course I have days when I write rubbish, writing pages and pages which are fit only (and barely) for the delete button. There's a bit in my new novel More Than Friends where the character (an aspiring novelist, write what you know!) says that her characters were just sitting there like puppets with their strings cut. And I was able to write that because I've experienced it! Days when the characters move like robots, and speak like robots too. I've described above where the 'good' times are when the scene is playing out in my mind and all I'm doing is transcribing it. The opposite of that is days when the image of the scene is very distant and not at all intimate. And how can I write it like a fly on the wall (which is what we want when we read), when I'm not a fly on the wall myself.

But as I've explained above, I do use EFT to get myself out of those times. I find it gets me back into the scene very quickly, so that's a great help.

Brill question, though!

No, I don't have a publisher for my 4th novel. I'm out of contract with Poolbeg now, so it's an interesting time. I'm looking for an agent as we speak, and what happens next depends on that.

And yes, I would recommend a new author to try Poolbeg. They're very good, kind and helpful, and good at giving new Irish talent a chance. The only thing I would do differently is that I wouldn't have given Poolbeg my foreign rights ... you might bear that in mind when you're looking at a contract. Good luck with it!

[Tracy]

Hi Sandie, The Village is so exciting. It's to be built on a 67 acre site in Cloughjordan Co. Tipperary. (Near Nenagh). 1/3 of it is housing, 1/3 farm and 1/3 amenity land. All houses are to be built to green principals (but we're into that anyway, so we had no problem signing up to that condition). There's going to be, for example, a reed bed sewage system, and a communal wood burning heating system (hopefully we'll grow the wood ourselves in time to come). Communitiy is a big part of it, the design is based around meeting places. One example of this is that there isn't going to be private post-boxes, we'll have to go and collect our post so that we'll be out and about meeting people! There's going to be a community centre from day one, and lots of communal activities such as music nights. But yet it's all about independence too, we're not getting joined at the hip. We'll own our own sites/houses and we'll obviusly have our own outside lives as well. We're already making friends with our new neighbours-to-be so we have a community already even though the houses aren't built yet. Do check it out on www.thevillage.ie if you're interested - they hold information days regularly. We are looking for a total of 132 members (households), and we have about 70 already, so there is still room but I don't know for how long (we got the planning permission and the purchase of the land about 1 month ago, so people are signing up veyr quickly now that it's a definite goer).

I actually wrote this 4th novel back in 2003, (I'll admit it, Poolbeg didn't like it enough to publish, but I still have great hopes for it, I like it), before we joined The Village. So I can put hand on heart and say that the fictional village and the real one are totally different. Some of their ideas are the same, of course, but all people are fictional! Honestly!

All best, Tracy

[Tracy]

Sarah, thanks for logging on! Understand re putting children to bed, my son Tadhg is still hanging around. He doesn't do bed times!!

I've actually about 12,000 words written of novel 5, but am concentrating on editing novel 4 first, and then I want to write some non-fiction books (as described above) as well. I think I'm going to practise splitting myself in three! What hints have you got, you seem to serenely manage multiple projects!

See you tomorrow!

Hugs, Tracy

[tatty]

Gotta go now girls enjoyed reading your posts Tracy, take care x

[Judi Curtin]

Thanks for that, Tracy. (Though I have to admit that even your answers tonight make me feel inadequate.)
I will definitely check out your website for more info on EFT. I'm intrigued.
Please let me know when you want the info, as I will happily share all my writing woes with you any time you please.
Best of luck with the book launch. Sorry I can't be there. Geography and the school run keep me from most Dublin events. I am in Dublin for a week in October for activities relating to my children's book, so I hope to catch a few launches while I'm there.
Judi

[Tracy]

Hi Tatty/Emma (which is it???) Good night, and thanks for all your interest this evening.

And Judi, sorry you can't make it tomorrow ... where are you based?? Hopefully we'll catch up with you soon, are you going to the 1st October gig??

Is there anybody else there with any questions?? I'll leave it about five mins and then sign off if not. But feel free to leave questions even after this evening, and I'll answer them soon.

[Tracy]

Okay, everybody, I'm going to sign off now. Thanks so much for the great questions, I really enjoyed this (see, needn't have been nervous at all!). Please feel free to post any further questions and I'll answer them tomorrow or (more probably) Wednesday.

Good night!

Tracy

[charlene]

Thank you for replying Tracy I had to go of line for a bit as my sister phoned and the kids took over on the internet,Good Luck with your new book and I hope you have a good night tomorrow.xx

[Shirley]

Hi Tracy,
Thank you so much for giving me such a detailed answer to my question.
You have a lovely, soothing way of writing - there is almost a lilt to the words you wrote for us in this interview. I feel very relaxed after reading it! I don't know if that makes sense....maybe it's the EFT influence!
I'm afraid I can't come to the launch.....work is mayhem these days, and overtime is required! I barely have time to check into writeon anymore! :-( Really sorry about that - but I know I'll meet you again at some stage in the future (not-too-distant future, hopefully).
Have a fantastic time at the launch!
Shirley