The Writer Story | featuring Author Joanne Clague
Author interview with Joanne Clague as we discuss about her unputdownable historical novels.
Hello and Welcome to The Writer Story!
Today we have a wonderful author interview with the wonderful Joanne Clague. She writes beautiful Historical Saga novels that are absolutely gripping and unputdownable from the first page.
We talk about her fourth book, the first in a new series published - The House of Hope, her journey so far, her writing and research process, and her experience publishing with an independent press.
It was a wonderful interview, a must read and I am so excited to share it with all of my wonderful subscribers.
Okay, let’s meet Joanne…
Here’s her official bio.
Joanne Clague is the author of historical saga fiction set in nineteenth century Yorkshire. Born and raised in Sheffield, Joanne rediscovered her passion for the city, for its past and its people, during research for her debut novel The Ragged Valley. Two sequels followed – The Girl at Change Alley and The Watchman’s Widow. Joanne is working on a second series, The House of Help for Friendless Girls. Book 1 – The House of Hope – was published on August 15 2024. Books 2 and 3 will follow in 2025. She lives in the Isle of Man with her family and Labrador dogs in the beautiful coastal village of Laxey. She had a career in print, radio and broadcast journalism before turning to novel writing.
Welcome Joanne to the Writer Story. Congratulations on the release of your fourth book, and the first in a new Saga, The House of Hope. Tell us about your book.
Thank you for having me! The House of Hope is the first book in a new series about women seeking refuge and the women who help them, and the secrets in their lives. The story opens with the arrival at the House of Help, in the dead of night, of a young woman who claims to be suffering amnesia, and she is admitted by the warden of the house, who has problems of her own. The series title - The House of Help for Friendless Girls - was the actual name of an institution for destitute women, opened in the 1880s in Paradise Square in Sheffield. I came across it during research for an earlier book and the name struck me as very Dickensian. I had to find out more.
The House of Hope is set in the Winter of 1887. How do you do your research for the book, to make sure the people and customs are believable from the Victorian era? Do you have a process of researching? Do you do research before you start writing or do you research as you write along?
I do the bulk of the research before I start writing. This involves trying to find out as much as possible about a specific location or event - such as the devastating Dale Dyke flood of 1864 which I write about in The Ragged Valley. At the same time, I'm thinking about who will populate the story, and what I'm going to have happen to the characters, all before I write a word. To root myself in those times, I read from the period - novels, newspapers, magazines, court transcripts, receipts, anything I can get my hands on. A certain amount of research I have to do as I go along, as something arises in the story - and these are the times I can spend hours making a single line authentic. The other day I needed to find out how the passenger of a hackney cab would pay the driver (through a hatch in the roof, if anyone's interested).
I am curious, what is the difference between Historical fiction and Saga? What makes a novel to be marketed as a Saga?
I'm curious about that, too! My novels are placed firmly in the saga genre, but obviously they're also historical fiction. I wonder if it's because my focus is on the saga element - the humanity of the characters and how their fortunes ebb and flow against historical events, rather than the historical event or social circumstances being centre stage. But historical fiction is also character-driven, isn't it? I don't know the answer. Maybe that's why I call my books historical saga :)
Your books have been published with Canelo Saga, an independent publishing house known for its commercial list. A lot of new writers have this dream to be published by a Big 5 house which I think is probably due to lack of information. Would you share your publishing experience with Canelo?
Canelo is my first publisher and has been fantastic, as has Ulverscroft which publishes the audio, CD and large print versions of my books. I was completely naive of the workings of the industry - and still am, I'm still learning - but my editor at Canelo has guided me along and allowed me to focus on the writing. I'm really happy in her hands.
Having published four books and onto the next one, what would be your advice for writers trying to break into the industry?
Never give up. I always say this, because it's true. This industry is so subjective - as any writer with a stack of rejection letters will tell you - but if you've been told your writing is good (your mum doesn't count) and if you're passionate about storytelling, then persevere. One thing that really helped me was doing a couple of creative writing courses. The best ones give access to agents and authors - it's a peek into this opaque industry - as well as feedback on your work. Also, importantly, you'll find your tribe. This industry is a rollercoaster and it will save your sanity if you can share the ride with writer friends.
Let's go back to when you started writing, your origin story. Would you share your journey to writing your first novel, getting an agent and a book deal?
I'd worked for thirty years as a journalist and had a 'now or never' moment. Looking back, I think I was afraid of taking the plunge, but eventually decided I didn't want to have that regret, of never giving it a go. I did a course to develop an idea I'd had for a novel, researched agents and began querying. Meanwhile, the agency I'm with now launched a competition to find writers to mentor and I entered with the second novel I'd started while I was waiting for responses on the first. (Waiting figures heavily in this industry. That never changes). Actually, this is another piece of advice I'd give - enter competitions. I genuinely didn't think I stood a chance, but treated it as a useful exercise in honing a synopsis and doing a bit of editing. But it's how I found my agent, or how she found me. Kate is amazing, and made the process of seeking a book deal less fraught than it might have been. I'd handed that stress over, and was happy to get back to the research and writing (while incessantly refreshing the inbox, naturally). It was a dream come true to get a three-book deal with Canelo, and to now be writing a second series. I feel very lucky.
And lastly, where do our readers find you online?
You can find me on X @jonewsiom and at facebook.com/joanneclagueauthor
Follow me on Amazon for the latest book news and check out my website joanneclague.com
Don’t forget to order Joanne’s beautifully written historical Sagas and support her future writing endeavours. You can find all her books here.
Writerly Tip of the Week :
If all your characters sound the same, an easy cheat is to add a little quirk to each character and make sure you show the quirk as an action tag or someone explicitly mentioning that in dialogue. But don’t overdo it.
A quirk is something that is different yet accessible. For example - tapping fingers on the table while thinking, or chewing the inside of their mouth or fidgeting with things when talking on the phone or forgetting everyday items all the time.
That’s all for today. I would love to know if your characters have any quirks like that.
Thanks for reading The Writer Story. You can find me on social media - Twitter/X - @authoranima or Instagram - @authoranima
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Until next week,
~Toodle-oo~