When John Fowles’ The French Lieutenant’s Woman came out in 1969 with its alternative endings, his publishers received angry letters from readers assuming there had been a printing error. In my new novel Given the Choice, I started with a female character who is complicated. She’s intelligent, creative and capable of generosity, but she also resorts to lying when the …
How to revise a novel
A writer friend confessed recently she was enjoying revising her novel so much she really did not want the process to end. I know what she means. There’s something very satisfying about taking that hard-won first draft and making it better. I thought my second novel (provisionally entitled Given the Choice and set in the London art world) was finished, …