It is finally happening. Roughly seven years after I first sat down at the iMac in my airy flat in the Oud Zuid quarter of Amsterdam and typed the words “Chapter 1”, my first novel is about to be published.
Under cover Writing one’s first novel is often a secret, hidden act
It has been a long and eventful journey, Dear Reader. And over the course of the next few posts, I’d like to share it with you. During those many years, when my evenings and weekends of mad creation were kept wholly separate from my real life in the lab, I learned, of course, a lot about writing fiction. But I also stepped into an entirely new world of science in literature, with all the issues and struggles that this unusual mixture entails. I embraced the arduous task of finding an agent and a publisher who might believe enough in my work to take a risk on an uncategorizable subgenre. I’ve learned how to promote myself, how to nucleate like-minded people in the name of the cause, how to follow up every connection and opportunity that might bring my goal one step closer. I’ve met an amazing array of close friends and staunch allies along the way. And I’ve learned how to take harsh criticism and multiple rejection letters, until now I don’t even blink at negative feedback – I relish it, because it’s far more useful than praise. In the process, I learned that writing the first draft of the book is the easy part, a matter of a few months: it is the revising and the selling that takes the time.
All stories have a beginning, and I remember this one well. I was working as a group leader in a start-up biotech company in Leiden at the time and had returned home as usual on the 18:31 Intercity to Amsterdam Centraal. As I walked home from Weesperplein metro station along Centuurbaan, trams clanged their bells, the River Amstel glinted in the sunset and the boats and barges were just putting on their lights. My partner at the time was working late in the lab, so I had the flat to myself. I can still see the vase of tulips on the pine desk, their dusky orange-rose color in the blue glass vase seeming to harbor some indefinable sense of expectation. I’d sketched out a plan, and I knew, somehow, that it was time to start typing. The first chapter flowed effortlessly, and the rest followed. For three or so months, I lived in another world: my characters felt more real to me than the flesh-and-blood people around me. And in truth, it was a sort of part-time insanity, one that my colleagues and acquaintances had no idea was unfolding. It was, in fact, an awful lot like falling in love and having a secret affair – only far more intense and passionate.
Experimental Heart is my first novel. Since then, I’ve completed another, and have a third half penned. I am proud of Experimental Heart, which was short-listed last year for the Dundee International Book Prize, the world’s largest contest for unpublished novels. But equally, I know that writing it was a necessary step towards improving in the craft, so in some ways it is almost painful for me to see it go live now, knowing what waits in the wings. I am assured by other authors that such squeamishness is an entirely normal reaction, and I am trying not to think too hard about how it might be received. It is enough just to know that I have finally made it.
I will write more about the interesting psychology and strategies required to incorporate science into fiction, and later still about my adventures in trying to sell the novel, along with all the hurdles that literature with a scientific bent seems to face. It is my hope that sharing what I have learned may help other authors who want to incorporate scientists and science into their fiction – because I am convinced there is still plenty of great lab lit waiting to be written.
For now, I would be honored if you would order my book.
Logistical note:
If you’re in America, you have a choice between purchasing directly from the publisher or Amazon.com. In the UK, you can order from Amazon.co.uk.
The book will probably ship sometime in the end of November – I will keep you posted.
Fantastic!
Well done you.
Many congratulations!
I will buy one on the condition that you promise to sign it for me at some point!
I haven’t even read the novel yet, but this made me homesick a bit:
“As I walked home from Weesperplein metro station along Centuurbaan, trams clanged their bells, the River Amstel glinted in the sunset and the boats and barges were just putting on their lights.”
Eva, my second book is set in Amsterdam – as well as in a small town that is not quite Oegstgeest.
Yay!
I second Cath’s request. A signature in it sometime when I get to meet up with you ;)
And congrats!! Really nice cover too! I so look forward to getting my hands on it.
The cover was designed by my friend Kris Franks in Amterdam = someone who helped keep me sane the whole time I was living there.
Many cheers (much more than three). If you intend to do a virtual book tour, feel free to stop by at my blog.
Would it be a “writing” then, instead of a “reading”?
Interesting idea…
That’s a super cover, Jenny. Sums up the first paragraph very well…
Thanks, Henry. I actually took that photo — it’s outside the place where I did my first postdoc, where the book is set (although the names have been changed to protect the innocent).
The whole ‘lit window’ metaphor is actually a play on ‘lab lit’ (or vice versa) – lit and literature; illuminating the hidden world of scientists. I was so pleased the publisher agreed that the designer could use it.
_I actually took that photo _
Really?
Brilliant. That’s perfect.
It’s been slightly doctored but I think someone who knew the place could probably work out what it was.
Can I suggest a competition to guess what the ‘L’ is short for?
Congrats, Jenny, on the publication of your book, and on the Dundee Book Prize shortlist!
I have mixed feelings about the cover photo, though -reminds me of a particularly intense postdoctoral year, during which I spent far too many hours in the cell culture lab.
I’d like a signed copy too, and then I’ll need Henry and Brian to sign my copies of their books as well. Can’t figure out how I’ll manage any of that, unless the books go on journeys without me ….
Your publishing adventures should prove an interesting read. And best of luck with breaking through the noise barrier and getting the word out on your book. Publicity is not an easy thing for a stable, law-abiding citizen to accomplish these days.
ha hah haaaa Well, my pretty, let’s see what we can do about that then!
I have mixed feelings about the cover photo, though -reminds me of a particularly intense postdoctoral year, during which I spent far too many hours in the cell culture lab.
If this is the feeling you are getting, Kristi, then the cover has succeeded.
I’m happy to sign books! What a crazy thought.
Now you’re a world famous author, Jenny, you have to do a book tour.
I can put you up in Sydney. And you can sign my copy then :)
Not sure how my boss would react to that sort of absence from the lab, though he’s been very decent so far about all my ‘extracurricular activities’.
It’s a challenge keeping all the balls in the air recently.
But seriously, after I wrote The Science of Middle-earth my publisher set me up with lots of dates around the country at Cafes Scientifique. Just dates here and there, and over weekends. Didn’t clash with work. If it looked like it was I’d always arrange lab visits and so on that would have value for Nature.
Henry, that’s a good idea. Part of the problem for me is that my publisher is in America and I am here. Cafes Scientifique is a good idea and I will look into it. I was also thinking that I might ask Joanna Scott if I could do a reading on Second Nature. if anyone else has any ideas, please just say!
I like the 2L idea.
Great, CS is down. Bah. Bah I say, fie upon the internets and all pieces of soggy string.
You could try the Cambridge Science Festival…
Maybe you could sign N Networkers copies using the Margaret Atwood virtual pen?
Jenny> You can always swing by places on your way to and fro the conference in January in the US/North Carolina, right?
I think the cafe thing sounds like an excellent idea. Not only since it is a bit easier for you, it probably doesn’t cost too much to prepare so people will be pro having “a real scientist who’s an excellent writer and a good looking woman*” to visit thier cafe on a Saturday to draw some more people in from the useless Christmas shopping. ( “it’s just around the corner” )
and of course, then one present will be done – a signed copy of a cool, hot new book. Who can resist that?
*had to :)
If you do visit the States, I think your best bet is to contact “independent bookstores” in college towns for readings and to get in touch with the National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate in your area. Most sizeable college towns have a book store that’s a little more oriented toward thinking while reading than the typical chain stores, and they may well be open to having you drop by. (The one in my local area is great for this.) There are a few good independents outside of academic areas too, you just have to find them. National Public Radio has an affiliate in most of the urban areas, its listeners are the type who would be interested in lab lit, and they always seem to have one or two daily local shows where they chat with guests. Booking that many guests must be a pain, so they might be happy to have one handed to them. Campus and local newspapers would also be good to check out.
Respect!
These are good ideas – but hard to know where I’d find the time. Also, we are thinking more along the lines of exploiting online avenues. I guess the idea is that 70 people might go to a reading, or 700 people might listen to a broadcast, but 7000 people might hear about you if it were something online. I think it’s probably difficult to achieve that level of success, but the capability is certainly there. It’s an interesting question and one I’m sure a lot of publishers are thinking about: how far will the marketing budget go in this medium or that one?
Now I come to think about it, the publisher of Deep Time was keen to arrange radio interviews in US cities whenever I visited the States for work. A particularly memorable occasion was appearing om All Things Considered in (of course) Philadelphia. So, Jenny, if you happen to be goint to a conference in, say, Osmosis, Kansas, ask your publishers to set you up with a college station or NPR affiliate. Can’t hurt.
Wow, you were on All Things Considered? Amazing! Who was it that interviewed you?
That is the pinnacle, at least for an educated American.
Whereas for an educated Brit, the pinnacle is All Things Bright and Beautiful.
Henry’s advice about the college radio stations and NPR affiliates is excellent. Our NPR affiliate often produces local interviews and stories that are related to those on the national programs such as ATC and Talk of the Nation: Science Friday. You might also consider Pacifica Radio, which has the occasional direly inept and soporific interview (it’s “community radio”), but which more often presents diverse, interesting, and progressive viewpoints. Pacifica appeals to many aging Beats and hippies (my parents, for example), but also numbers loyal listeners among young progressive students, community organizers (horrors!), Asian and Latin American immigrants, treehuggers, and people who think that NPR has become an acronym for “National Pentagon Radio”. For years, I was geographically separated from the Pacifica affiliate of my youth, but now I can listen on teh interwebz, of course.
I join Jenny in being very impressed with Henry’s ATC interview.
Who was it that interviewed you?
Reggie Bryant. Quite a character.
Two words about moving beyond online into radio and print media: leverage and credibility. The online world is so huge the only way to really get noticed is to appear on one of the top 1000 websites or so. My observation through the years is that by far the best way to do that is by showing up in the media outside the of web. One interview by a “genuine” news organization adds a lot of luster. One newspaper article in a mid-sized paper can get put on the wires and picked up all over the country – and also seen often on the net. So I’d say its worth taking the time to do at least once. Otherwise its just your electrons versus a million other poor souls electrons for attention online. At least it seems to work that way here in the US. (Given different circumstances, it’s what I would have done.)
Fortunately the book appears to be being reviewed by several well-respected print outlets, and I’ve had a few interview requests. The press office at my university is being really helpful — they are smart and enthusiastic. I’m working every connection I gained doing freelance journalism in London, and so far, so good!
I remember listening to All things considered as a postdoc in Boston in the early 90s. I can’t remember who the main presenter was but he really loved the sound of his own voice. I used to yell at the radio for him to shut up so that the interviewee could get a word in edgeways. Hope you are prepared if you get on!
Any chance of a spot on Radio 4’s Front Row?
That’s great, Jenny.
@SCurry:
A bit like Timo?
yags, not those legs, again.
Those legs are feared down here, I can tell you.
Sounds good, Jenny. Congratulations and good luck.
Stephen, I met Pallab Ghosh at a party and he encouraged me to contact Andrew Marr about Front Row – no response yet.