Phillipa Fioretti: on writing competitions, sequels and the annoying adverb

“I just wanted to scream!”

That’s how debut author, Phillipa Fioretti, recalls the moment a stranger called to say she had won a writing competition.

“It was terribly exciting because I didn’t really know if I was any good at writing or not, so being selected was a huge boost of confidence,” says Phillipa.

That was in 2008 and the competition was the Queensland Writers’ Centre/Hachette Manuscript Development Program.

Today, her romance novel, The Book of Love, can be found sitting at eye-level on the front shelves of many major bookstores.

“I never expected a contract,” Phillipa says, explaining that the program’s organisers stressed that from the eight writers selected to participate in the program, there was no guarantee any would earn a book contract.

But Phillipa and two others did.

As part of the program, Phillipa spent time learning about how the publishing industry operates and working with editors on her manuscript.

“They suggested changes to the manuscripts. Then the ones that they liked they took to an acquisition meeting and those that everyone liked got through,” she says.

A manuscript so good they wanted two

But Phillipa did more than just get through. The publishers at Hachette were so impressed with book number one that they offered her a two-book deal.

Although she had written The Book of Love as a stand-alone novel, she says it was fortuitous she liked the central characters - Lily and William - enough to spend more time with them developing the sequel.

But she admits it has been challenging.

“The couple’s relationship is at the core of the story, so I had to pull them apart and bring them back together to get that romantic tension that pushes the story along,” says Phillipa.

“It was a real challenge to do it. It’s been full of the usual despair and agony and there have been lots of highs and lows, but... I have learned a hell of a lot, and I think I’m there.”

Annoying adverbs and perplexing points of view

In the absence of any formal writing education, Phillipa has learnt the craft simply through being a voracious reader.

However, she admits to discovering many vital elements of good writing style from the program’s experts and her editors at Hachette.

“I don’t know what syntax and grammar means. I don’t know the formal rules of it. If you are a big reader, I don’t think it is necessary to know it all,” she says.

“But one thing that was really handy to know was point of view. My point of view was all over the place. In, say, two paragraphs, I’d jump from Lily’s point of view to the dog’s point of view, to William’s point of view without distinguishing who was talking."

Another tip she gleaned from the experts was the need to trim excess adverbs in the text.

“I can see why: it clutters the page and it’s too much. You're wading through the description and it doesn’t work,” she says.

Now, as Phillipa wades through the final stages of her sequel, she is already mentally preparing for her next book.

“I have a number of ideas that are in development. I would really love to do something different, still romantic comedy, but I want characters who are very different Lily and William.”

• The Book of Love is a tale of romance spiced up with ancient Roman erotica, theft, betrayal, retro fashions, the stylish back streets of Rome and a dog named Otto.

The Book of Love
By Phillipa Fioretti
Published by Hachette Australia
April 2010

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