Helen Fisher, author of 'Joe Nuthin's Guide to Life' - Writer discusses the rocky road to publication, writing when you're not writing, and the plot road map
Writer's Routine
Dan Simpson
4.9 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 19 January 2024
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Helen Fisher's debut, 'Space Hopper' was acclaimed as one of the most unique debuts of 2021, recommended by Cosmopolitan, Woman's Weekly', Marian Keyes, and many more, it looked set to launch her to a glittering career.
Things weren't that simple for Helen. In the following 2 years, she wrote 3 novels which were all turned down and rejected. At an incredibly low point, she almost gave up. It was only the story of Joe, along with her editor, that gave her enough strength to carry on for one last go.
'Joe Nuthin's Guide to Life' tells the story of Joe, who likes everything predictable, consistent and in order, yet he soon finds an adventure pushes him well outside of his comfort zone, where sometimes joy lies.
We discuss how Helen overcame her tricky 2 years, what she's learned from it, and how that is affecting how she approaches publication now. Also, you can hear why she's always writing, even when she isn't writing, why it wasn't the plot that drew her into the story, and how she made characters authentic, not cliched or predictable.
This week's episode is sponsored by true-crime podcast, 'Who is the Cheese Wire Killer?', find it wherever you're listening to this!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome along to a brand new episode of writer's routine. This week we're chatting to Helen Fisher. Her new book is Joe Nothing's Guide to Life. It's her second published novel, and it's had a rocky road to publication. |
| 0:22.7 | You'll hear all about it. We chat through how she is writing all the time, even when she's not |
| 0:27.2 | writing, go figure. Also, how it wasn't the plot that drew her into the story. And after a long |
| 0:33.7 | and hard journey to getting her book published, we hear how she is appreciating it being out there more than ever. |
| 0:40.7 | Just don't think about the next novel or what I'm doing next. |
| 0:44.7 | So I put all thoughts of that completely on hold because I know that I will look back |
| 0:52.0 | and wish that I had made the most of every second of the book about to come out. |
| 0:57.6 | And, you know, you get one publication day. |
| 1:00.6 | The book comes out. |
| 1:01.4 | It's great excitement. |
| 1:03.0 | And then, you know, the next day, someone else has got a book coming out. |
| 1:06.4 | And so I want to take my moment. |
| 1:08.3 | There is more with Helen in this week's writer's routine. |
| 1:19.0 | Yes, welcome along. |
| 1:20.0 | My name is Dan Simpson and this is writer's routine where we take a look through an author's working day. |
| 1:24.9 | I hope you are dealing well. |
| 1:26.2 | And if you're in the UK, dealing with |
| 1:29.3 | just a bit bitter, bitter, bitter cold that's lingered over the country. And I hope you're |
| 1:35.9 | not been too affected by flooding and the snow. And it's a good time to just hunker down, |
| 1:41.8 | hibernate inside and read. Preferably right, actually, it's what we're |
| 1:45.9 | here for. This week's episode of the show is brought to you by the new true crime podcast, Who |
| 1:50.9 | is the Cheese Wire Killer? And I think this is perfect for you, because if you love crime |
... |
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