Sara Ochs, author of 'The Dive' - Thriller author discusses the path to publication, how impatience affects drafting, and making characters authentic
Writer's Routine
Dan Simpson
4.9 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 1 September 2023
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sara Ochs is an attorney, law professor, and now author. Her debut is 'The Dive'. It's inspired by her own time travelling through Thailand, and hearing about a grisly murder near her hotel.
We discuss why being an impatient person affects her drafting, also why getting an agent doesn't mean everything suddenly falls into place, and how she made characters feel genuine when they could so easily become stereotype.
You can hear how splitting her time between the US and Sweden helped her write a novel which travels across the world, also why she's thinking rationally about the future, and how much she knew of the story at the start.
This week's episode is sponsored by 'The Return of King Arthur', a historical fantasy series by Jacob Sannox. There are 3 in the series, 'The Ravenmaster's Revenge', 'Agravain's Escape' and 'Tristan's Regret'. It's dual-timeline, flashing between modern day and the 5th century. If you enjoy fantasy like Tolkien and George RR Martin, crime like Lee Child, and a touch of historical fiction like Bernard Cornwell, you'll love these. Get a copy on Amazon or at jacobsannox.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, welcome along to a brand new episode of writer's routine. |
| 0:12.7 | Two in a week. |
| 0:13.9 | Look at that. |
| 0:14.6 | In this episode, we're chatting to Sarah Oaks. |
| 0:16.6 | Her debut is The Dive, inspired by her own experience, hearing about backpackers murdered in a hotel in |
| 0:24.5 | Thailand. You can hear why being an impatient person affects her drafting, also her path to |
| 0:30.6 | publication, and why getting the agent doesn't always mean everything falls into place right |
| 0:36.8 | away. And then when I did get my agent, I will note that it wasn't just, you know, I got an agent |
| 0:41.9 | and then immediately she started submitting my manuscript to publishers. |
| 0:47.8 | I actually had my manuscript with my agent for close to a year. |
| 0:53.0 | And we went back and forth. She gave me several rounds of structural edits that made the book |
| 0:58.8 | so much better than it was when I first submitted to her. |
| 1:01.8 | And it really was, like I said, close to a year before she started sending it out to publishers. |
| 1:07.8 | So that was probably the lengthiest part of the process for me, actually. |
| 1:11.4 | There is more with Sarah Oaks in this week's writer's routine. |
| 1:19.9 | Yes, welcome along to the show. My name's Dan. This is where we take a look through an author's |
| 1:24.7 | working day. Just see how they get stuff done. Are they take an idea |
| 1:28.6 | and get it down onto the page, however that is, however they plan their life around that. |
| 1:35.4 | This week's episode is supported by the return of King Arthur. It's an Arthurian fantasy trilogy |
| 1:41.0 | by Jacob Sannix. There are three books in the series, The Raven Masters Revenge, Agravain's Escape, |
| 1:47.5 | Tristan's Regrette, too. |
| 1:49.1 | They are a fascinating take on history novels, a real twist on the form, and particularly |
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