Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve always been a writer. I loved it at primary school and would get a sense of huge pride if my stories were displayed on the wall. That enjoyment of people reading my words led me in to a career in journalism and PR; crafting something to make an impression or get someone’s story across was always interesting and I still enjoy it. It’s taken me all over the world and to some amazing places and events – I’ve been very lucky. I’ve always written creatively but only recently have I decided to devote more ‘proper’ time to it. With work and family life to deal with there’s never been enough time in the day – or night, if I couldn’t sleep! I’m really enjoying the space and time to learn more about writing – there’s always more – and honing my craft.
I’ve published two books: ‘Working Mothers: The Essential Guide’ and ‘Broken Wand’. The first was commissioned off the back of a website I edited called mother@work and is exactly as it sounds, a guidebook for working mothers spanning everything from running your own business to employment law to guilt for working and guilt for not working – the list goes on. I was drawing a lot on my own experiences, interviewing lots of normal everyday working mums and definitely not trying to tell women they can have it all – I don’t think any working mum would say it’s a walk in the park!
I’ll talk about ‘Broken Wand’ next …
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called ‘Broken Wand’.
Mike is about to give up on his lifelong dream of becoming a famous magician; he’s in a rut, he’s nearly 40 and he’s never really got over losing the love of his life 9 years ago. Angelique is a young, highly intelligent online marketing genius looking for a way to get herself noticed and advance her career. She sees Mike’s act one night and decides to try and help him- and herself – realise their ambitions. They form an unusual friendship, bonding over rough childhood bullying – Mike because of his dad’s position in the local car works and Angelique because of her dwarfism. Friends and family try to intervene and when Angelique starts to get ore than her share of the limelight, Mike starts to see his life unravelling. Has he given everything up for an illusion of success?
The book was inspired by wanting to tell a normal person’s story; a life of normal ups and downs but maybe someone who is looking for a break, has ambition but just doesn’t know how to realise it. Second to that was wanting to explore an unusual friendship and how family and friends would react to that; curiosity? jealousy? rivalry? All of them it turns out …
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m not sure they’re unusual but I do find I do my best writing when I’m not writing! I take my dog for long walks and concentrate on where I am, who I’m with and what I’m seeing to have a proper break from life’s admin and sometimes then I find I have an idea or a solution to a problem just pop into my head. Sometimes the subconscious just needs the space to get your attention.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Too many to list here! I’ve always enjoyed books that have had strong female characters. Not in the kick-ass physical sense but in the mental resilience and intelligence sense. Whether that’s Moll Flanders or Lisbeth Salander and I think that’s what’s influenced my writing. Angelique in my book Broken Wand is incredibly strong and resilient and has had to come up with her own ways of dealing with harassment due to her dwarfism. As a result, she has used her intelligence to really make an impact on the world.
What are you working on now?
I’m working on another novel with the working title ‘All The King’s Horses.’ It’s also going to have a strong central female character and a more twisty-thriller plot than Broken wand with some flashbacks to the 70’s and 80’s. It’s going to explore eco-activism and how on persons childhood affected them deeply as they grew up with devastating consequences for people around her.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have an author page on Facebook – Denise Tyler, Author – which is the same name I use on Twitter and Instagram. These are the main outlets I use as they are well established with some great groups to take part in. It’s all about old fashioned networking in a sense – find the right groups with the right audiences and shake some hands! That said, I am booked on a blog tour in early September (my first) so looking forward to seeing how that pans out.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Seek early readers and have the humility to accept and examine feedback – for better or for worse. You don’t have to act on it but it will be extremely useful and you’ll come back to it on other projects.. More importantly, don’t let it put you off – you’ll never please all the people all the time – use it as fuel to get better.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I have this stuck to the wall next to my desk: ‘The beautiful thing about writing is that you don’t have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.’ Rober Cromier.
Wise words indeed.
What are you reading now?
I’ve just started New Grub Street by George Gissing. I’m slightly perplexed as to how I’ve never come across this book before as it is about the everlasting problem in a writer’s existence – to write commercially and make money or to write high literary art and stay poor. ‘New Grub Street was written at breakneck speed in the autumn of 1890 and is considered his best novel. Intensely autobiographical, it reflects the literary and cultural crisis in Britain at the end of the nineteenth century.’ Waterstones. The thing I love about it is that the book is over 130 years old and while we’ve moved on enormously in the literary and cultural worlds – especially in the last decade – I don’t think we’ve fully solved those problems yet …
What’s next for you as a writer?
Novel No. 2! Which I should be getting on with instead of filling in author interviews.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Three or Four? That’s difficult! Most recently I’ve read ‘Pew’ by Catherine Lacey which I loved and would take to read and read again until I’ve worked out how she elicits the emotion and responses she does. It’s a masterclass. I’d also take the Hobbit because it’s one of the first ‘proper’ books I read as a child and loved the way it took me on a dangerous, exciting adventure. It really fired my imagination and I still have the same copy. I would also like to take a book about surviving on a desert island, what to eat and how not to die. I don’t have a specific title in mind so if anyone has any suggestions, let me know.
Author Websites and Profiles
Denise Tyler Website
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