Latest / The Book Deal / Kayte Nunn on writing bestselling fiction across genres and publishers
Transcript
- 0:09Speaker: The Book Deal Podcast Where you will discover the inspiring stories behind your favorite books.
- 0:15Speaker 2: We interview seasoned and debut authors, as well as publishing industry professionals, to bring you the best tips and advice on how to get that elusive book deal.
- 0:25Speaker 3: So no matter what stage of writing you're at, we've got you covered.
- 0:29Speaker 3: I'm Tina Strachan.
- 0:30Speaker: I'm Madeleine Cleary.
- 0:32Speaker 2: And I'm Natasha Rai.
- 0:34Speaker 3: And join us as we pull back the curtain of published authors.
- 0:37Speaker 4: One deal at a time.
- 0:43Speaker 4: The Book Deal podcast acknowledges the traditional owners of the land and waters which it's recorded on, and pays respect to their elders past, present, and emerging.
- 0:56Speaker 7: Hi, it's Madeleine here.
- 0:57Speaker 7: Today, I'm chatting with bestselling author Kayte Nunn.
- 1:00Speaker 7: Kayte grew up in England and the US before moving to Australia.
- 1:03Speaker 7: She's had a diverse career working in publishing, editing, and magazines before turning her hand to writing fiction.
- 1:09Speaker 7: Kayte is now the author of nine novels, including her latest, The Yacht, a page-turning crime thriller set on a super yacht in Majorca.
- 1:18Speaker 7: I chat with Kayte about writing the book that calls to you, how to be disciplined and resilient, and what success looks like when you are a prolific and bestselling author like Kayte.
- 1:28Speaker 7: A big thank you to Harper Collins Australia for sponsoring this episode.
- 1:32Madeleine Cleary: Kayte
- 1:32video1596645673: Nunn, welcome to The Book Deal Podcast.
- 1:35Kayte Nunn: Thank you for having me, Madeleine.
- 1:36Kayte Nunn: I'm happy to talk to you today
- 1:37video1596645673: I'm very interested to hear about your journey to becoming a writer.
- 1:41video1596645673: Um, I understand you worked in publishing for many
- 1:44Madeleine Cleary: years.
- 1:46video1596645673: So during this time I'm interested to know, were you always holding onto the dream of publishing your own writing?
- 1:52video1596645673: Um,
- 1:52Kayte Nunn: not in the slightest actually.
- 1:54Kayte Nunn: I thought people far cleverer than me wrote books.
- 1:57Kayte Nunn: Um, and I never imagined I could sustain a whole story for
- 2:01video1596645673: to 90,000 words and, and
- 2:03Kayte Nunn: keep it in my head
- 2:04video1596645673: and
- 2:04Kayte Nunn: have enough happen.
- 2:06Kayte Nunn: Um, no, so I, I did a publishing degree, and then I worked in book publishing and for a literary agency for a while.
- 2:12Kayte Nunn: Um, but interestingly, I was always in search of doing more writing, but it was mainly nonfiction.
- 2:17Kayte Nunn: And so I ended up working in magazines after I moved from book publishing to magazines where I could do more writing as a features writer.
- 2:23Kayte Nunn: And that was the bit I really enjoyed.
- 2:25Kayte Nunn: But I only came to
- 2:26video1596645673: fiction
- 2:27Kayte Nunn: relatively late.
- 2:28Kayte Nunn: I was in my mid-40s.
- 2:30Kayte Nunn: Um, and it became a case of now or never.
- 2:32Kayte Nunn: And a woman came up to me in the playground, a friend of mine, and she said,"I've written a book and I've, I've got a publisher." And I was like,"Oh my God, no, that's my dream." And of course, I was delighted for her, but it, it was also kind of quite galling and, and then it made me think, you know, it gave me permission, which was really good.
- 2:47Kayte Nunn: It's like, well, you know, if she can do it, why can't you, Kayte?
- 2:49Kayte Nunn: And come on, stop
- 2:50video1596645673: and
- 2:50Kayte Nunn: do
- 2:51video1596645673: about
- 2:51Kayte Nunn: it.
- 2:51Kayte Nunn: And then when I actually did start thinking about it...
- 2:53Kayte Nunn: And I'd, I'd had little bits
- 2:55video1596645673: ideas
- 2:55Kayte Nunn: for stories over the years and made notes and, you know, there'd always been something in the background going on.
- 3:02video1596645673: Um,
- 3:02Kayte Nunn: but I had about six weeks, I was working as a freelance editor, and I had six weeks between jobs, and I purposefully didn't take any work and thought,"Right, I'll give it these six weeks and see how I go." And the thing I actually found I really loved was the feeling of having written.
- 3:15Kayte Nunn: So at the end of every day, I had moved my story along a bit.
- 3:19Kayte Nunn: Um, it was quite painful then looking back.
- 3:22Kayte Nunn: Um, it's a bit like when you first learn to run, you know, it really hurts and, and, you know, even a couple of kilometers feels like a major effort.
- 3:30Kayte Nunn: And now, of course, the words
- 3:32video1596645673: much
- 3:32Kayte Nunn: more easily, but the ideas maybe not as, not as easily.
- 3:36Kayte Nunn: Um, the, the ideas have always, you know, that's always the, the most challenging part for
- 3:40video1596645673: me is, is- Really?
- 3:41video1596645673: fashioning that story.
- 3:43video1596645673: That's, that's interesting.
- 3:43video1596645673: Why, why do
- 3:43Madeleine Cleary: you think that?
- 3:44Kayte Nunn: Um, just because, uh, I think readers are becoming increasingly
- 3:49video1596645673: and
- 3:50Kayte Nunn: demanding more and more from books, um, and they really, they want, really want great characterization.
- 3:56Kayte Nunn: They want to be convinced, particularly now that I'm writing kind of closed circle murder mysteries.
- 4:01Kayte Nunn: Um, they want to not be able to guess who did it, but in the same time, they don't want to feel cheated, um, by, by, um, you know, you, you can't pull a fast one at the last minute.
- 4:11Kayte Nunn: So I think coming up with that kind of structural idea, um, is, is the challenge.
- 4:15Kayte Nunn: And I, you know, I'm, I kind of always make things harder for myself, I think.
- 4:20Kayte Nunn: Uh, I, yeah, I
- 4:22video1596645673: don't
- 4:22Kayte Nunn: ever...
- 4:22Kayte Nunn: I always want to write a better book
- 4:24video1596645673: Mm, mm.
- 4:25video1596645673: Well, I think we all do,
- 4:26Madeleine Cleary: don't we?
- 4:26Madeleine Cleary: No, that's really, really interesting.
- 4:28Madeleine Cleary: So, I
- 4:28video1596645673: how did you go, though, from, you know,
- 4:31Madeleine Cleary: questioning yourself
- 4:32video1596645673: the start, going,"How can I keep 80 to thou- 90,000 words in a cohesive novel?" Yeah.
- 4:37video1596645673: Um,"I'm not sure how I can
- 4:38Madeleine Cleary: do that," to actually sitting down at
- 4:40video1596645673: desk every day writing?
- 4:43video1596645673: Um,
- 4:43Kayte Nunn: I think it
- 4:44video1596645673: I
- 4:44Kayte Nunn: was just telling myself a story, and I could kind of picture it like
- 4:48video1596645673: movie
- 4:48Kayte Nunn: in my head,
- 4:49video1596645673: and it was just writing
- 4:50Kayte Nunn: to see what happened.
- 4:52Kayte Nunn: Um, and,
- 4:53video1596645673: and after the
- 4:54Kayte Nunn: first six weeks, I didn't have a lot of words, but I kept going with it.
- 4:57video1596645673: I
- 4:58Kayte Nunn: kept returning to it.
- 4:59Kayte Nunn: I would, you know, carve out time.
- 5:02video1596645673: I had two
- 5:02Kayte Nunn: young daughters at the time, so on the weekends
- 5:05video1596645673: husband
- 5:05Kayte Nunn: would
- 5:05video1596645673: them maybe to the movies, and I'd go
- 5:07Kayte Nunn: to the library next door and spend a couple of hours writing.
- 5:10video1596645673: I'd go to bed
- 5:11Kayte Nunn: at night
- 5:12video1596645673: and, uh...
- 5:12Kayte Nunn: 'cause
- 5:12video1596645673: couldn't
- 5:13Kayte Nunn: work, uh, really early in
- 5:14video1596645673: morning.
- 5:14video1596645673: I'd go to bed at
- 5:15Kayte Nunn: night and promise myself I'd just do 500 words before I
- 5:17video1596645673: asleep.
- 5:18video1596645673: So it's just
- 5:19Kayte Nunn: kind
- 5:19video1596645673: inching
- 5:19Kayte Nunn: the story along until I had a really rough draft.
- 5:22Kayte Nunn: Um, but at the time I didn't know what I
- 5:24video1596645673: know.
- 5:24video1596645673: I really knew very little about
- 5:26Kayte Nunn: how
- 5:26video1596645673: tell a story.
- 5:28video1596645673: Um, and I,
- 5:28Kayte Nunn: I, yeah, I learnt
- 5:30video1596645673: of on the
- 5:30Kayte Nunn: job and with good advice from people, and I did creative
- 5:34video1596645673: workshops,
- 5:35Kayte Nunn: just day workshops and things like that, that,
- 5:37video1596645673: taught me
- 5:38Kayte Nunn: more, and I began to read craft books.
- 5:40video1596645673: And so
- 5:41Kayte Nunn: slowly, slowly I kind of built up the knowledge, um, of how to write
- 5:45video1596645673: And so was the draft you were working on, was that, um, your debut novel?
- 5:50video1596645673: Was that Rose's Message?
- 5:50video1596645673: It was.
- 5:51video1596645673: Yeah?
- 5:51video1596645673: Yes.
- 5:52Kayte Nunn: yes, it was.
- 5:53video1596645673: and
- 5:54Kayte Nunn: when I'd finished...
- 5:55Kayte Nunn: And I, you know, it was still in a very raw state, not that I knew that.
- 5:59Kayte Nunn: Um, and I sent it out to various agents and my, um, the ag- the woman who became my agent rang me,
- 6:05video1596645673: and we had about
- 6:06Kayte Nunn: a 45-minute conversation.
- 6:07Kayte Nunn: She told me everything
- 6:08video1596645673: I
- 6:08Kayte Nunn: needed to change about the manuscript,
- 6:11video1596645673: And then she simply- But how wonderful that she- Yeah.
- 6:13video1596645673: she called you.
- 6:13video1596645673: Oh, I know.
- 6:14video1596645673: That's awesome.
- 6:14Kayte Nunn: Yeah.
- 6:15video1596645673: She was
- 6:15Kayte Nunn: really good.
- 6:16Kayte Nunn: I really, really am so grateful for that input.
- 6:19Kayte Nunn: Um, and so sh- then she said,"Well, you don't seem phased
- 6:21video1596645673: that,
- 6:22Kayte Nunn: so do that and come back to me and then
- 6:23video1596645673: see how we
- 6:23Kayte Nunn: go." And I did, and made all the changes.
- 6:26Kayte Nunn: And I'm, you know, I've worked as a professional writer for a long time, so that,
- 6:29video1596645673: that whole idea of
- 6:30Kayte Nunn: 10,000 hours of practice comes in, I think.
- 6:33Kayte Nunn: I, you know, I
- 6:33video1596645673: I could
- 6:34Kayte Nunn: string a sentence together.
- 6:35video1596645673: I
- 6:36Kayte Nunn: knew h- um, I wasn't precious about my work.
- 6:38Kayte Nunn: I, I, I knew that you had to
- 6:40video1596645673: back and
- 6:40Kayte Nunn: back again.
- 6:41video1596645673: Um,
- 6:41Kayte Nunn: and so I did all that, and then she sent it on submission sort of bit by bit.
- 6:45Kayte Nunn: Um, and it probably took nearly a year before it was published.
- 6:49Kayte Nunn: So I mean, a lot of people say they never, you know, they have bottom drawer novels.
- 6:52video1596645673: Um, I don't have that, but
- 6:53Kayte Nunn: it did...
- 6:53Kayte Nunn: It wasn't a, you know, an immediate path
- 6:55video1596645673: publication
- 6:56Kayte Nunn: by any means.
- 6:57Kayte Nunn: Um,
- 6:58video1596645673: I did
- 6:58Kayte Nunn: what the only thing I could do
- 6:59video1596645673: in
- 7:00Kayte Nunn: that sense, and I started writing another novel.
- 7:02Kayte Nunn: And I think I just like
- 7:03video1596645673: process,
- 7:04Kayte Nunn: and at the end of the day, if you don't enjoy the process, and it can be hard sometimes,
- 7:08video1596645673: um,
- 7:08Kayte Nunn: there's really not a lot of point in sticking with it'cause it's, it's really tough
- 7:12video1596645673: Mm, mm.
- 7:13video1596645673: So how many years did it
- 7:14Madeleine Cleary: take then from the moment
- 7:16video1596645673: you heard from your friend when she got
- 7:17Madeleine Cleary: a book deal
- 7:18video1596645673: actually having Rose's Vintage published?
- 7:21video1596645673: Probably, probably
- 7:22Kayte Nunn: about two or three years.
- 7:23video1596645673: Yeah.
- 7:23video1596645673: Wow, that's pretty quick.
- 7:24Madeleine Cleary: That's pretty k-
- 7:25Kayte Nunn: I know.
- 7:26Kayte Nunn: It
- 7:26video1596645673: seem like a long
- 7:27Kayte Nunn: time at
- 7:27video1596645673: time, but
- 7:28Kayte Nunn: in the overall scheme of things,
- 7:29video1596645673: that's
- 7:29Kayte Nunn: not
- 7:30video1596645673: bad.
- 7:30video1596645673: Yes.
- 7:30video1596645673: Yeah, that's amazing.
- 7:31video1596645673: Yeah.
- 7:32video1596645673: And it is
- 7:32Kayte Nunn: it's an absolute marathon.
- 7:33Kayte Nunn: And interestingly enough, I was training for a marathon at
- 7:35video1596645673: time I was writing.
- 7:36video1596645673: And it was just like,
- 7:37Kayte Nunn: I didn't look too far ahead.
- 7:39Kayte Nunn: you know?
- 7:39Kayte Nunn: You just do what
- 7:40video1596645673: got to
- 7:40Kayte Nunn: do that day.
- 7:41Kayte Nunn: You do what you've got to do on the training program.
- 7:42Kayte Nunn: You go,"Right, yes, I've gotta write 1,000 words today.
- 7:44Kayte Nunn: I'm getting
- 7:45video1596645673: done." Um,
- 7:46Kayte Nunn: and you try not to think too far into
- 7:47video1596645673: future, because otherwise it seems insurmountable.
- 7:50video1596645673: Mm.
- 7:50video1596645673: I think there's some really good points there, and I think, like, giving
- 7:53Madeleine Cleary: yourself that time to
- 7:54video1596645673: able to sit down and do it as well, carving that out of your day when you're busy.
- 7:57video1596645673: You've got day jobs, you've got family.
- 8:00video1596645673: But you have to, you know, giving yourself- But yeah and really validating yourself.
- 8:03video1596645673: That saying,"Yes, I can do this." Yeah.
- 8:05video1596645673: Particularly when you are an emerging writer and you
- 8:07Madeleine Cleary: don't have a book deal,
- 8:08Kayte Nunn: No,
- 8:08video1596645673: and
- 8:09Kayte Nunn: part of me was like,"Are you just wasting your time, Kayte?
- 8:11Kayte Nunn: Are all
- 8:11video1596645673: these hours-
- 8:12Kayte Nunn: on something that is gonna go nowhere?" Um, but that didn't seem to matter too much.
- 8:16Kayte Nunn: Um, I think I'm quite grateful that social media wasn't such a
- 8:19video1596645673: thing then,
- 8:20Kayte Nunn: so
- 8:20video1596645673: I wasn't as distracted as
- 8:22Kayte Nunn: I might have been.
- 8:23Kayte Nunn: Um, but also I kind of, um, thought of it like having
- 8:27video1596645673: secret
- 8:27Kayte Nunn: lover.
- 8:27Kayte Nunn: You
- 8:28video1596645673: You could just kind of creep
- 8:29Kayte Nunn: away and just spend some time
- 8:30video1596645673: your imaginary friends
- 8:32Kayte Nunn: and,
- 8:32video1596645673: have this
- 8:33Kayte Nunn: whole other world going on in your head,
- 8:35video1596645673: Mm that
- 8:35Kayte Nunn: it was quite nice to spend time
- 8:37video1596645673: Mm.
- 8:37video1596645673: So, so then, uh, so you published your two contemp- uh, they were the contemporary romance novels.
- 8:43video1596645673: Uh, and then you released your four historical fiction w- we- Yeah and some of them are
- 8:49Madeleine Cleary: the dual
- 8:50video1596645673: timeline as well.
- 8:51video1596645673: So you've got- Yeah multiple
- 8:51Madeleine Cleary: timelines.
- 8:52Madeleine Cleary: So what was What inspired
- 8:54video1596645673: shift?
- 8:54video1596645673: And did
- 8:55Madeleine Cleary: you change publisher at the time as well?
- 8:57Kayte Nunn: Uh, I did, yes.
- 8:58Kayte Nunn: Um, my, um, first publisher of those two books had
- 9:02video1596645673: a contemporary fiction list,
- 9:03Kayte Nunn: but then decided not to, to go forward with it.
- 9:06Kayte Nunn: So it became a good opportunity to look for a
- 9:09video1596645673: publisher
- 9:10Kayte Nunn: for what became The
- 9:11video1596645673: Daughter.
- 9:12video1596645673: Yes.
- 9:12video1596645673: Um, and,
- 9:13Kayte Nunn: um, I didn't consciously decide
- 9:15video1596645673: change genres.
- 9:16Kayte Nunn: It was more that was where my area of interest was.
- 9:18Kayte Nunn: Those are the kind of books I was reading, and then I happened to be in the
- 9:21video1596645673: gardens
- 9:22Kayte Nunn: in Sydney one day and the, the first inkling of the story came to me, and I just
- 9:26video1596645673: knew
- 9:27Kayte Nunn: that I had to sit down and try and write it.
- 9:29video1596645673: Um, yeah, and I
- 9:30Kayte Nunn: I was really lucky.
- 9:31Kayte Nunn: That did, um, extremely well
- 9:33Madeleine Cleary: Yes.
- 9:34Kayte Nunn: surprisingly.
- 9:35video1596645673: became, best-selling, um, you know, and then you- Yeah published your next few books.
- 9:39Kayte Nunn: Lots of, yeah, lots of
- 9:40video1596645673: rights sold.
- 9:41video1596645673: Um,
- 9:41Kayte Nunn: yeah, it quite a surprise.
- 9:43video1596645673: mean,
- 9:43Kayte Nunn: I, I knew I'd put a lot of, a lot of work into it, and I did a, a, an awful lot
- 9:47video1596645673: research for
- 9:48Kayte Nunn: it, but you never know how a book's to go.
- 9:50Kayte Nunn: You really don't
- 9:52video1596645673: Of
- 9:52Madeleine Cleary: course, of course.
- 9:53Madeleine Cleary: So
- 9:54video1596645673: then you so you're on this track of being this historical fiction bestselling author,
- 9:59Madeleine Cleary: uh,
- 9:59video1596645673: and then you pivot, to, to a crime, to So The Palazzo, which came out, uh, was it last year?
- 10:05video1596645673: Last year, yes.
- 10:06video1596645673: Yes.
- 10:07video1596645673: Um, and with HarperCollins, so you've, Yeah moved from Hachette to HarperCollins.
- 10:10video1596645673: Yeah.
- 10:11video1596645673: Can
- 10:11Madeleine Cleary: about the,
- 10:12video1596645673: The pivot, the change.
- 10:14video1596645673: Um, gosh,
- 10:15Kayte Nunn: it was quite
- 10:16video1596645673: actually, because I wrote
- 10:17Kayte Nunn: another manuscript in between that called Silver Lake.
- 10:21Kayte Nunn: And, um, as part of that I did a course with Curtis Brown in London.
- 10:25Kayte Nunn: Um, because I It was, um, crime and I hadn't really written crime before and I thought maybe I need to try and figure out,
- 10:31video1596645673: you know,
- 10:32Kayte Nunn: what the
- 10:33video1596645673: I need some
- 10:33Kayte Nunn: tips, I need
- 10:34video1596645673: know
- 10:34Kayte Nunn: what
- 10:34video1596645673: doing.
- 10:35video1596645673: So
- 10:35Kayte Nunn: I did that course, and as a part of that your work gets, um, submitted to all the agents in the agency and they have a look at it.
- 10:43Kayte Nunn: Very early work, um, just for something you've been working
- 10:46video1596645673: during the course,
- 10:46Kayte Nunn: and it happened to be this partial of
- 10:48video1596645673: manuscript, Silver Lake.
- 10:49Kayte Nunn: And, um, my now agent saw it, um, she's an agent
- 10:53video1596645673: Curtis
- 10:54Kayte Nunn: Brown in London, and absolutely loved it.
- 10:55video1596645673: And- Mm I hadn't been
- 10:56Kayte Nunn: thinking of changing agents
- 10:58video1596645673: at
- 10:58Kayte Nunn: the time, but it just seemed to make so much
- 11:00video1596645673: sense.
- 11:01video1596645673: They
- 11:01Kayte Nunn: were a much bigger agency, they have
- 11:03video1596645673: around
- 11:03Kayte Nunn: the world, um, they
- 11:05video1596645673: a, um,
- 11:06Kayte Nunn: a film to, to
- 11:07video1596645673: film, film
- 11:08Kayte Nunn: agency in Los Angeles, so it just made a lot more sense.
- 11:12Kayte Nunn: But that manuscript,
- 11:13video1596645673: couldn't get
- 11:14Kayte Nunn: quite the right deal for it.
- 11:15video1596645673: had
- 11:15Kayte Nunn: some offers, but they wanted, you know, my next three books and
- 11:18video1596645673: firstborn and all the world rights for- Wow you know, really not very much
- 11:21Kayte Nunn: money.
- 11:21Kayte Nunn: So it just wasn't worth it.
- 11:23Kayte Nunn: So we parked it and I began to write The Palazzo.
- 11:26Kayte Nunn: Um, and interestingly enough, Silver Lake will come out, um, I think hopefully later this year.
- 11:32Kayte Nunn: I
- 11:32video1596645673: say too
- 11:33Kayte Nunn: much about it.
- 11:33video1596645673: Um, but- Mm-hmm um, it's
- 11:35Kayte Nunn: nice to know that
- 11:36video1596645673: ever
- 11:36Kayte Nunn: lost, and no writing is ever, ever a waste
- 11:39video1596645673: time, I don't think.
- 11:39video1596645673: Mm.
- 11:40video1596645673: Even if it
- 11:40Kayte Nunn: never sees the light
- 11:41video1596645673: day.
- 11:42video1596645673: Um,
- 11:42Kayte Nunn: so and then I wrote The Palazzo and my current publisher here really liked
- 11:46video1596645673: but the
- 11:47Kayte Nunn: sales director wasn't so keen, and that's when I moved publishers.
- 11:51video1596645673: Gosh, that must have been hard though, Kayte, having published
- 11:54Kayte Nunn: it's a rollercoaster.
- 11:55Kayte Nunn: It is tough.
- 11:55video1596645673: you just have to learn not to take it personally.
- 11:57video1596645673: It's a business.
- 11:58video1596645673: Um, these are
- 11:59Kayte Nunn: the commercial realities.
- 12:01Kayte Nunn: Yeah.
- 12:01Kayte Nunn: And the only thing you can do as a writer is go on
- 12:04video1596645673: write, you know, the be- Mm next best book you can really, and hope that
- 12:07Kayte Nunn: that gets published.
- 12:09Kayte Nunn: And I am aware of what a privilege it is to, to be able to, to be And I think I changed direction from, sorry, historical fiction to crime.
- 12:17Kayte Nunn: It
- 12:18video1596645673: just more
- 12:18Kayte Nunn: about what I was reading and
- 12:19video1596645673: I
- 12:19Kayte Nunn: was enjoying.
- 12:20Kayte Nunn: Um, and I'm really easily bored, so I, I You know, I'd written four historical novels and I was just ready for a change, to
- 12:27video1596645673: something else.
- 12:28video1596645673: Yes.
- 12:28video1596645673: Mm-hmm.
- 12:28video1596645673: Which is quite hard, because publishers
- 12:30Kayte Nunn: want to build you as
- 12:30video1596645673: brand.
- 12:31video1596645673: Um- Yeah, I was gonna say that, that, that- and they're not
- 12:33Kayte Nunn: they're not so
- 12:33video1596645673: which is why the sales
- 12:34Kayte Nunn: director was not so keen that I
- 12:35video1596645673: gonna change direction and thought,
- 12:36Kayte Nunn: well, if I was changing direction
- 12:38video1596645673: crime, would I change
- 12:39Kayte Nunn: direction, you know, another
- 12:40video1596645673: later
- 12:40Kayte Nunn: on?
- 12:40Kayte Nunn: And who knows?
- 12:41Kayte Nunn: You can't tell.
- 12:42Kayte Nunn: But, um, I can only write the book that is the
- 12:45video1596645673: really.
- 12:48Madeleine Cleary: yeah No, that's so interesting.
- 12:49Madeleine Cleary: And
- 12:49video1596645673: mean, as a historical fiction writer myself, um, I know the amount of, um, energy and time that goes into these as well.
- 12:57video1596645673: Like, it is quite Sometimes it's really tempting to just, you know And it's not, I'm not saying that writing contemporary crime is easier, but
- 13:03Madeleine Cleary: there is a lot that has to go into these books as well.
- 13:07Madeleine Cleary: And finding
- 13:07video1596645673: right idea and the right concept that's hitting your readership and the market, like, it
- 13:12Madeleine Cleary: is tough
- 13:13video1596645673: Yes.
- 13:14Kayte Nunn: Yeah.
- 13:14Kayte Nunn: And, um, you just have to kind of rely on your own, um, internal sense of what
- 13:21video1596645673: work as
- 13:21Kayte Nunn: a story really.
- 13:22Kayte Nunn: I think
- 13:23video1596645673: I think that's the only thing you
- 13:24Kayte Nunn: can do.
- 13:24Kayte Nunn: Um, yes, there are vagaries of publishing in terms of,
- 13:28video1596645673: know,
- 13:28Kayte Nunn: um,
- 13:29video1596645673: certain time periods can be really
- 13:31Kayte Nunn: popular for a while.
- 13:32Kayte Nunn: Second World War fiction was huge.
- 13:34Kayte Nunn: It's not so much anymore.
- 13:35Kayte Nunn: And, and it can help if
- 13:36video1596645673: just
- 13:37Kayte Nunn: catch the wave at the right time.
- 13:38Kayte Nunn: If you're first
- 13:39video1596645673: second
- 13:39Kayte Nunn: on that wave, you can do really well.
- 13:42video1596645673: Um, but um,
- 13:43Kayte Nunn: um, you just really at the end of the day have to write the book that's calling to you,
- 13:46video1596645673: I think.
- 13:47video1596645673: Yes.
- 13:47video1596645673: Yes.
- 13:47video1596645673: That's It, it's hard to fake it
- 13:49Kayte Nunn: otherwise
- 13:54Speaker 6: Hello, it's A.T.
- 13:55Speaker 6: Pruitt here, author of The Picasso Ransom.
- 13:58Speaker 6: Set in Melbourne 1986 and based on a real crime that went unsolved, the theft of The Weeping Woman, the Picasso painting that was taken from the National Gallery on the 2nd of August, 1986.
- 14:11Speaker 6: Uh, now nobody knows who did it, so I wrote the book as though I knew.
- 14:15Speaker 6: Three senior citizens, Phoebe, Eva, and Dave, they take the law into their own hands, and they sneak out into the night to remove this Picasso from the wall of the gallery in protest against art funding.
- 14:28Speaker 6: They then send a series of ransom letters, which were the actual ransom letters that were sent in the'80s.
- 14:34Speaker 6: And, uh, if you've ever been looking for some great insults, these ransom letters have everything you need.
- 14:40Speaker 6: I do hope that perhaps this novel will inspire the original thieves to finally come forward and say,"You know what?
- 14:47Speaker 6: It was me." But, uh, in the meantime, we at least have this book.
- 14:51Speaker 6: It's called The Picasso Ransom, and it is out now.
- 15:00video1596645673: Well, let's talk about the most recent book that calling to you, Kayte.
- 15:03video1596645673: Uh, so The Yacht,
- 15:05Madeleine Cleary: which
- 15:05video1596645673: set in beautiful Mallorca, um, on
- 15:08Madeleine Cleary: a super yacht.
- 15:09Madeleine Cleary: Um,
- 15:10video1596645673: now I
- 15:10Madeleine Cleary: heard this was inspired by a trip
- 15:12video1596645673: that you took to Mallorca, which sounds very, like a very dreamy inspired story.
- 15:18video1596645673: Um, and I was saying to you before we started recording that reading this in Melbourne winter was delightful.
- 15:24video1596645673: Oh, good.
- 15:24video1596645673: Uh, you capture the beautiful warmth, um, of, of
- 15:29Madeleine Cleary: Mallorca in summer,
- 15:30video1596645673: which was lovely.
- 15:31video1596645673: Can you
- 15:31Madeleine Cleary: tell us a
- 15:32video1596645673: bit about The Yacht and the inspiration
- 15:34Madeleine Cleary: behind it?
- 15:35video1596645673: Yes, yes.
- 15:35video1596645673: Um, I, um,
- 15:37Kayte Nunn: I was
- 15:39video1596645673: for an
- 15:39Kayte Nunn: environment that was very contained,
- 15:42video1596645673: and
- 15:42Kayte Nunn: there's nothing more contained than a yacht.
- 15:44video1596645673: know,
- 15:44Kayte Nunn: there's only a certain number of people who
- 15:45video1596645673: who can be
- 15:46Kayte Nunn: on it at one time.
- 15:48Kayte Nunn: Um, and things can go really badly wrong
- 15:50video1596645673: sea.
- 15:50Kayte Nunn: I had read with some interest of
- 15:53video1596645673: the
- 15:53Kayte Nunn: tragic sinking of the yacht, the Bayesian, off Sicily a
- 15:56video1596645673: of
- 15:56Kayte Nunn: years ago.
- 15:57Kayte Nunn: Um, and just the stories behind that and
- 15:59video1596645673: quickly
- 16:00Kayte Nunn: it happened.
- 16:01Kayte Nunn: Um, and that kind of stayed in my mind.
- 16:03Kayte Nunn: I also read, um, a story, I think it was in New York Magazine or something like that, about the Millers.
- 16:08Kayte Nunn: Brandon Miller was a, a New York and Long Island based, um, property investor, and his wife was all over social media.
- 16:16Kayte Nunn: You know, pictures of their beautiful life.
- 16:18Kayte Nunn: The, you know, um, they,
- 16:20video1596645673: were super
- 16:21Kayte Nunn: ultra
- 16:21video1596645673: rich list people.
- 16:23video1596645673: But
- 16:23Kayte Nunn: he, uh What happened, uh, there was it was all a sham.
- 16:27video1596645673: It was an absolute house of
- 16:28Kayte Nunn: house of cards and he was in, sinking in all kinds of debt.
- 16:31Kayte Nunn: And tragically, he committed suicide
- 16:33video1596645673: in the
- 16:33Kayte Nunn: the garage, uh, of his house while his wife was in Italy with
- 16:36video1596645673: his children.
- 16:37video1596645673: And it just struck me as, uh,
- 16:38Kayte Nunn: just ineffably sad and that, that people
- 16:41video1596645673: like
- 16:41Kayte Nunn: they
- 16:41video1596645673: to,
- 16:42Kayte Nunn: um, keep up with the Joneses in such an, a, you know, incredible way.
- 16:46Kayte Nunn: Um, so those two things fed, those two
- 16:48video1596645673: of
- 16:48Kayte Nunn: stories fed into it.
- 16:49Kayte Nunn: And then I watched a lot of Below Deck.
- 16:51Kayte Nunn: I
- 16:52video1596645673: I have a huge
- 16:53Kayte Nunn: appetite
- 16:53video1596645673: trash
- 16:54Kayte Nunn: TV and I watched a lot of that and I was like,"Yeah, this could..." This whole
- 16:57video1596645673: of
- 16:57Kayte Nunn: upstairs downstairs, the them and us, the, the increasing gap
- 17:02video1596645673: rich and
- 17:02Kayte Nunn: poor, all those kind of things really quite fascinate me.
- 17:05Kayte Nunn: So, um, it's, that seemed to be like the perfect, um,
- 17:09video1596645673: kind
- 17:09Kayte Nunn: of the perfect combination of ideas.
- 17:12video1596645673: And then I had
- 17:12Kayte Nunn: been on holiday in Majorca quite a long time ago, but just fell in love with the island.
- 17:17Kayte Nunn: Um, and I just, I had an idea that the yacht could kind of almost circumnavigate the island while the story was unfolding.
- 17:23Kayte Nunn: So it sort of, that sort of
- 17:25video1596645673: in a way.
- 17:26video1596645673: Mm.
- 17:26video1596645673: Yes.
- 17:26video1596645673: Did you- Um, and it
- 17:27Kayte Nunn: also happens to be a really big, um, sailing hub.
- 17:30video1596645673: Mm-hmm.
- 17:30video1596645673: Um,
- 17:31Kayte Nunn: Palma itself has a massive marina and so that, it just felt like the ideal place to set it.
- 17:36Kayte Nunn: I do like to try and set places where I have spent
- 17:40Madeleine Cleary: Mm.
- 17:42video1596645673: Perf- yeah, it was the perfect setting.
- 17:43video1596645673: And it's funny'cause you mentioned Upstairs Downstairs.
- 17:45video1596645673: That's exactly what I thought about when I was reading- reading it.
- 17:49video1596645673: Because you do get that insight, not only into the world and the eyes and the views
- 17:53Madeleine Cleary: of the super-rich
- 17:55video1596645673: who can afford
- 17:56Madeleine Cleary: to
- 17:57video1596645673: purchase these incredible super yachts, like, they just sound amazing.
- 18:01Madeleine Cleary: um, but then you see
- 18:03video1596645673: the undercurrent, so the, you know, the underbelly, which are the- Yeah staff involved.
- 18:07video1596645673: And so I found, like, Piper's story really quite interesting.
- 18:11video1596645673: Do you wanna tell us a little bit about Piper?
- 18:13video1596645673: Um,
- 18:14Kayte Nunn: I think she
- 18:14video1596645673: was one
- 18:15Kayte Nunn: of the first characters that came to me.
- 18:17Kayte Nunn: Um, and I knew she had to be hiding something.
- 18:19Kayte Nunn: There was a reason, you know, that she was on that yacht.
- 18:22Kayte Nunn: She's not a total innocent bystander
- 18:24video1596645673: by
- 18:25Kayte Nunn: any means.
- 18:25Kayte Nunn: Um, and so she became one of the main drivers And then interestingly to me, um, Melissa,
- 18:31video1596645673: is
- 18:32Kayte Nunn: the daughter of the, the billionaire, um, uh, from
- 18:36video1596645673: first marriage.
- 18:37video1596645673: She became
- 18:38Kayte Nunn: really quite an important character to
- 18:39video1596645673: because, uh, to
- 18:41Kayte Nunn: the outside world she
- 18:42video1596645673: looked
- 18:43Kayte Nunn: like
- 18:43video1596645673: real kind
- 18:43Kayte Nunn: of hard ass, and she was, um, incredibly self-disciplined and hardworking and seemed
- 18:49video1596645673: have it
- 18:49Kayte Nunn: all.
- 18:49Kayte Nunn: But really when you dig a little deeper, she's dealing with all
- 18:53video1596645673: of issues as well.
- 18:54video1596645673: Oh, yeah.
- 18:54video1596645673: It was those
- 18:55Kayte Nunn: two female characters that to me felt the strongest in the novel.
- 18:58Kayte Nunn: Although there are I think about five or six different points
- 19:01video1596645673: view,
- 19:02Kayte Nunn: plus some kind of social
- 19:03video1596645673: comments.
- 19:04video1596645673: I spent quite a bit of
- 19:05Kayte Nunn: time going down Reddit wormholes and, just really enjoyed the way people talked about things
- 19:10video1596645673: if, you
- 19:10Kayte Nunn: know, they knew all about them and they were the authorities on, on what had happened in various events.
- 19:15Kayte Nunn: I added those for a bit
- 19:16video1596645673: fun as well.
- 19:17video1596645673: And, uh, on the multiple perspectives, I mean, sometimes when you do have...
- 19:21video1596645673: 'Cause you've got quite a few perspectives in this novel, and sometimes I find when you flip between them,
- 19:26Madeleine Cleary: like, you become a little bit,
- 19:28video1596645673: um, you have to just
- 19:29Madeleine Cleary: sort
- 19:29video1596645673: think,
- 19:29Madeleine Cleary: "Oh,
- 19:30video1596645673: where's this story up to?" Da, da.
- 19:31video1596645673: But I didn't find that in The
- 19:33Madeleine Cleary: Yacht
- 19:34video1596645673: Oh, okay.
- 19:34video1596645673: That's good.
- 19:34video1596645673: Perhaps because the, the chapters are...
- 19:35Madeleine Cleary: Well,
- 19:36video1596645673: some of them are only two pages.
- 19:37video1596645673: Was that- Yeah was that deliberate?
- 19:39video1596645673: Yes, it was.
- 19:40Kayte Nunn: Just
- 19:40video1596645673: keep the story going, to
- 19:41Kayte Nunn: maintain a sense of momentum and, and to, to maintain a sense of all these different
- 19:45video1596645673: things going on board, you
- 19:47Kayte Nunn: know, uh, on one kind of fairly contained
- 19:49video1596645673: space.
- 19:50video1596645673: Yes.
- 19:50video1596645673: And perhaps it is because
- 19:52Madeleine Cleary: it is
- 19:52video1596645673: so contained.
- 19:53video1596645673: And I was i- really interested,
- 19:55Madeleine Cleary: that was actually when you mentioned
- 19:56video1596645673: finding somewhere where it
- 19:57Madeleine Cleary: was confined,
- 19:58video1596645673: was really curious to know, as a writer, was that easier to have all your characters, like a big cast of characters together
- 20:05Madeleine Cleary: in
- 20:05video1596645673: space?
- 20:05video1596645673: Or were there more challenges?
- 20:07Kayte Nunn: I had to draw myself
- 20:08video1596645673: a map of
- 20:09Kayte Nunn: where And I looked at yacht plans
- 20:12video1596645673: and, thought,
- 20:13Kayte Nunn: "Right, I'll try..." And so I could work out where the cabins were and what was on each, deck, I looked at lots of yacht plans and worked out, you know, um, how much
- 20:21video1596645673: might
- 20:21Kayte Nunn: have cost, what would have been included on a yacht, all that kind of stuff.
- 20:25Kayte Nunn: So that kind of, that sort of research was a lot of fun.
- 20:28Kayte Nunn: Um, and no, I didn't find it too tricky'cause it's qu- it's relatively big given the, the number of people on board still.
- 20:34Kayte Nunn: So there were And I think there are places on board a yacht where you
- 20:37video1596645673: really be quite private and- Mm get away.
- 20:39video1596645673: So- Did you get invited onto one?
- 20:41Kayte Nunn: Uh, no, but I did.
- 20:42Kayte Nunn: I have Well, actually, um, quite a few years
- 20:45video1596645673: I used to be a travel writer.
- 20:46video1596645673: Yes.
- 20:46Kayte Nunn: and I did spend some time on a, uh,
- 20:50video1596645673: a yacht
- 20:50Kayte Nunn: sailing, that normally sails around the Kimberley, and we sailed up the Hawkesbury for a
- 20:54video1596645673: days.
- 20:55video1596645673: So
- 20:55Kayte Nunn: I had a little bit of a sense
- 20:57video1596645673: that, yeah.
- 20:57Kayte Nunn: yeah, And it was just, I
- 20:58video1596645673: maybe
- 20:58Kayte Nunn: f- yeah, I think there were probably only 14 of us on board, so probably a similar size.
- 21:03Kayte Nunn: But not quite so many bells and whistles maybe.
- 21:05video1596645673: so.
- 21:05video1596645673: I think there were...
- 21:06video1596645673: You said there were two staff per, um, passenger.
- 21:10Madeleine Cleary: which is quite extraordinary.
- 21:12video1596645673: Um, I actually found one of the best parts was the detail of the super
- 21:16Madeleine Cleary: yacht.
- 21:17Madeleine Cleary: Like, I, I
- 21:18video1596645673: all the language and the words.
- 21:19video1596645673: It sounds
- 21:19Madeleine Cleary: like you did do a lot of research.
- 21:21Kayte Nunn: I did.
- 21:22Kayte Nunn: That was
- 21:23video1596645673: Yes, yeah.
- 21:23video1596645673: Quite a bit
- 21:24Kayte Nunn: of
- 21:24video1596645673: Yeah.
- 21:25video1596645673: Yeah.
- 21:25video1596645673: Yeah.
- 21:25video1596645673: Well, hopefully, um, someone will read this and they have a super yacht, and say, Kayte come I didn't quite get that.
- 21:31Kayte Nunn: that.
- 21:31Kayte Nunn: Oh, no.
- 21:32Kayte Nunn: Oh, maybe.
- 21:32Kayte Nunn: I d-
- 21:33video1596645673: I d- I'm
- 21:33Kayte Nunn: not holding my breath, no.
- 21:34video1596645673: It al- it always sounds quite glamorous working on a super yacht, but, um, I don't think I would ever want to after reading your book.
- 21:40video1596645673: Oh, look, I think
- 21:41Kayte Nunn: it's, um, it's really hard work and, uh, and you're dealing with people who aren't used to hearing the word no.
- 21:47Kayte Nunn: I
- 21:48video1596645673: that would be
- 21:48Kayte Nunn: the biggest challenge.
- 21:49Kayte Nunn: And then I think I touch on it briefly, there are all kinds of, um, issues of people behaving inappropriately with young women,
- 21:57video1596645673: working on yachts,
- 21:58Kayte Nunn: Because, yeah, they're not used
- 22:00video1596645673: hearing the word no, and they just, you know, they
- 22:01Kayte Nunn: think they own everything.
- 22:03Kayte Nunn: Uh, and I think
- 22:04video1596645673: that's
- 22:05Kayte Nunn: the kind of s-
- 22:05video1596645673: of
- 22:06Kayte Nunn: the seamy underside what can go on
- 22:09video1596645673: Yes.
- 22:09video1596645673: And I guess
- 22:10Madeleine Cleary: that's quite, it
- 22:11video1596645673: quite the interesting part too because, um, you know, while this is a thriller, um, it's a fast-paced turn- page-turner, um, you also offer this sort of subtle critique of wealth and power and class.
- 22:22video1596645673: Um, and exploitation as well.
- 22:25video1596645673: Yeah.
- 22:25video1596645673: Like, there's a lot of that.
- 22:26video1596645673: Um, was that something you always wanted to include?
- 22:30Kayte Nunn: Absolutely, but without, um, being kind of prescriptive about it.
- 22:34video1596645673: Mm-hmm.
- 22:34video1596645673: Just to, you
- 22:35Kayte Nunn: know, to, to comment on that, that this does happen and, and make the reader aware of that without kind yeah, without being
- 22:42video1596645673: I suppose.
- 22:43video1596645673: Yeah.
- 22:43video1596645673: Mm.
- 22:43video1596645673: Mm.
- 22:43video1596645673: You, you never
- 22:44Kayte Nunn: dictate to the reader.
- 22:45Kayte Nunn: You can never kind of bash the reader over the head with your own viewpoint.
- 22:48Kayte Nunn: You just have to
- 22:49video1596645673: of lay it out, um, and let them
- 22:51Kayte Nunn: make up their own mind about
- 22:53Madeleine Cleary: Hmm.
- 22:53video1596645673: Did you plot it out, The Yacht, or are you a pantser?
- 22:55video1596645673: Um, I
- 22:56Kayte Nunn: wish I could be a plotter.
- 22:57Kayte Nunn: I'm absolutely 100%
- 22:59video1596645673: 100% a pantser.
- 22:59video1596645673: I
- 23:00Kayte Nunn: try, I really try, and I've tried all different sorts of methods over
- 23:03video1596645673: years, with whiteboards, with
- 23:04Kayte Nunn: whiteboards,
- 23:05video1596645673: big
- 23:05Kayte Nunn: sheets of paper.
- 23:06video1596645673: Occasionally I'll
- 23:07Kayte Nunn: do a bit of brainstorming and I'll go to
- 23:09video1596645673: café just with a notebook and
- 23:10Kayte Nunn: have some thoughts, and that's about as far as I get in terms
- 23:14video1596645673: planning.
- 23:14Kayte Nunn: If I
- 23:15video1596645673: the
- 23:15Kayte Nunn: whole story out, I'd be bored before I started'cause I would know what happens.
- 23:19Kayte Nunn: Um, you know, I'm writing to find out what happens as much as the, the reader is reading to find out what happens, and often it surprises me, too.
- 23:28Madeleine Cleary: I'm glad that
- 23:29video1596645673: say that because
- 23:30Madeleine Cleary: as,
- 23:30video1596645673: Because I write historical mysteries, and a lot of other crime writers tell me that they are
- 23:35Madeleine Cleary: are plotters
- 23:36video1596645673: because it helps with all the hooks and the twists and the
- 23:39Madeleine Cleary: the turns and everything.
- 23:40Madeleine Cleary: So it makes me feel much better.
- 23:42Madeleine Cleary: But I suppose though,
- 23:43video1596645673: a lot Some, some One writer
- 23:44Madeleine Cleary: told me even if
- 23:45video1596645673: don't plot out initially and you do pants the first
- 23:49Madeleine Cleary: draft, there comes a time in the editorial where you do have to
- 23:53video1596645673: s- really unpick it and start to plot out those points.
- 23:57video1596645673: Is that something you have to do?
- 23:58video1596645673: Yeah.
- 23:58video1596645673: You just have to make sure that
- 24:01Kayte Nunn: there is enough going on to kind of maybe misdirect the reader or just leave
- 24:05video1596645673: reader
- 24:06Kayte Nunn: wondering, um, to, to pique their interest.
- 24:10video1596645673: Um, and
- 24:11Kayte Nunn: then s- usually I have a few ideas
- 24:13video1596645673: kind
- 24:13Kayte Nunn: of tent pole things that might happen along the way, um, and where it might end up.
- 24:18Kayte Nunn: Although it doesn't of- you know, it doesn't always end up quite where I think it is.
- 24:21Kayte Nunn: And interestingly, um, both
- 24:23video1596645673: Palazzo and
- 24:24Kayte Nunn: and The Yacht, my editors have pushed me that bit harder and gone,"We just need another twist.
- 24:28Kayte Nunn: We need another twist." And so that has come, that last final twist has actually come in the editing process.
- 24:33Kayte Nunn: Um, so yeah, it's not
- 24:35video1596645673: I
- 24:35Kayte Nunn: can do all at once.
- 24:36Kayte Nunn: I have
- 24:36video1596645673: come
- 24:36Kayte Nunn: back
- 24:37video1596645673: take
- 24:37Kayte Nunn: small bites at it, and then
- 24:39video1596645673: about it
- 24:39Kayte Nunn: again, and do a lot of walking before I can come up with, with the, you know, uh, like,"Oh, yes,
- 24:45video1596645673: this could
- 24:45Kayte Nunn: happen and that will make it brilliant."
- 24:46video1596645673: And yes, it's a
- 24:48Kayte Nunn: slow process
- 24:49video1596645673: Hmm.
- 24:49video1596645673: Um, w-
- 24:50Madeleine Cleary: I wanted to ask you about your relationship with your publisher and editor
- 24:53video1596645673: 'cause y- obviously you're a, you know, you've published nine books now, very experienced author.
- 24:58video1596645673: What does the editorial process look like these days?
- 25:01video1596645673: And you- you're publishing a book a year as well, which is
- 25:04Madeleine Cleary: a lot of, you know, full pressure
- 25:06video1596645673: to, to deliver and,
- 25:07Madeleine Cleary: and,
- 25:08video1596645673: you know- Yeah write.
- 25:09video1596645673: So what's, what's your relationship like now?
- 25:11Kayte Nunn: Oh, look, I am
- 25:12video1596645673: so grateful
- 25:13Kayte Nunn: for editorial input, and I have
- 25:15video1596645673: couple of brilliant
- 25:16Kayte Nunn: editors both here and in the UK.
- 25:18Kayte Nunn: Um, and yeah, putting a
- 25:20video1596645673: out
- 25:20Kayte Nunn: into the world is, it's a team effort.
- 25:23Kayte Nunn: And, um, particularly my, uh, my kind of
- 25:26video1596645673: editor
- 25:26Kayte Nunn: on The Yacht was amazing.
- 25:28Kayte Nunn: She really She worried about all the little details and picked
- 25:32video1596645673: on everything and
- 25:33Kayte Nunn: so that
- 25:34video1596645673: incredible.
- 25:34video1596645673: But
- 25:34Kayte Nunn: I love the over-
- 25:35video1596645673: big picture overview
- 25:36Kayte Nunn: I get as well from,
- 25:38video1596645673: my
- 25:38Kayte Nunn: acquiring editors.
- 25:39Kayte Nunn: Yeah, it's I, I couldn't write as- the books I do without their input.
- 25:44Kayte Nunn: absolutely invaluable.
- 25:46video1596645673: Yeah.
- 25:46video1596645673: Do you- And I'm grateful for it
- 25:47Kayte Nunn: it every single time
- 25:48Madeleine Cleary: So
- 25:49video1596645673: when you come up with new ideas for future books,
- 25:51Madeleine Cleary: do you
- 25:52video1596645673: to them first, and, and then sort of discuss the idea
- 25:55Madeleine Cleary: and
- 25:56video1596645673: go write it?
- 25:56video1596645673: Or are you- Um, no submitting them straight?
- 25:58video1596645673: Usually
- 25:59Kayte Nunn: I pitch it to my literary agent
- 26:01video1596645673: and we discuss it, Mm.
- 26:03video1596645673: and
- 26:03Kayte Nunn: we're in the process, um, of discussing what I'm going
- 26:05video1596645673: be writing next
- 26:06Kayte Nunn: just
- 26:07video1596645673: this
- 26:07Kayte Nunn: moment, and that's quite interesting.
- 26:08Kayte Nunn: It's helping me just focus my mind
- 26:11video1596645673: and
- 26:11Kayte Nunn: my literary agent has
- 26:12video1596645673: a good commercial
- 26:13Kayte Nunn: sense as well.
- 26:15Kayte Nunn: Um, but generally I tend to, particularly if
- 26:19video1596645673: a new contract, I'll write the book before it then gets submitted
- 26:22Kayte Nunn: to a publisher.
- 26:22Kayte Nunn: Um, and then I might have a, a pitch for a second book, and so they might offer me and that's what happened with The Palazzo and The Yacht.
- 26:30video1596645673: Yeah.
- 26:30video1596645673: That's great.
- 26:30video1596645673: And are you writing more crime, Kayte?
- 26:33video1596645673: Yes.
- 26:34video1596645673: Yes.
- 26:34video1596645673: That's what your plan is?
- 26:35video1596645673: Yeah?
- 26:36video1596645673: But you can't tell us anything about it.
- 26:38video1596645673: Oh, not
- 26:39Kayte Nunn: really, no.
- 26:39Kayte Nunn: I just worry that sometimes if you talk about something too much, it,
- 26:42video1596645673: it
- 26:42Kayte Nunn: loses that spark, and you have to kind
- 26:44video1596645673: keep it
- 26:45Kayte Nunn: close for a while so that the,
- 26:46video1596645673: know, the flame doesn't go out.
- 26:47video1596645673: Of course.
- 26:48video1596645673: No, I understand.
- 26:48video1596645673: So,
- 26:48Kayte Nunn: and h- honestly, because I'm a pantser, I don't know where it's going
- 26:52video1596645673: the time.
- 26:52Kayte Nunn: time.
- 26:53video1596645673: No, I completely understand that.
- 26:56Madeleine Cleary: So how do, how does
- 26:57video1596645673: process look like when you are publishing a book a year?
- 27:00video1596645673: And of it, and this year it sounds like you might have two books out in a year.
- 27:04video1596645673: Yes.
- 27:04video1596645673: Well, I had-'Cause
- 27:04Madeleine Cleary: it doesn't take
- 27:05video1596645673: just one year to, to- No write a book, does it?
- 27:07video1596645673: I had a gap of a couple of
- 27:08Kayte Nunn: years because this other book, g- didn't get published.
- 27:12Kayte Nunn: Um,
- 27:13video1596645673: I just, um But
- 27:14Kayte Nunn: basically I try and make myself
- 27:17video1596645673: kinds of
- 27:17Kayte Nunn: revisions, schedules, and you know, like I
- 27:20video1596645673: to do for
- 27:21Kayte Nunn: exams.
- 27:21Kayte Nunn: I'll do this much this day and that much that day and, um, I try
- 27:25video1596645673: write Monday
- 27:26Kayte Nunn: to Friday.
- 27:27Kayte Nunn: Sometimes I have to w- write on weekends as well.
- 27:29Kayte Nunn: Um, even if I used to do this ridiculous thing called the hour of power on the weekends.
- 27:33video1596645673: I'm
- 27:33Kayte Nunn: just going away to the bedroom
- 27:34video1596645673: an
- 27:34Kayte Nunn: hour and leaving my family behind
- 27:36video1596645673: and
- 27:36Kayte Nunn: usually, you know, an hour would
- 27:38video1596645673: by
- 27:38Kayte Nunn: and I'd
- 27:39video1596645673: be
- 27:39Kayte Nunn: writing and they would've forgotten that I'd disappeared.
- 27:41Kayte Nunn: Uh,
- 27:42video1596645673: I
- 27:42Kayte Nunn: I have to trick myself into, into writing sometimes.
- 27:45Kayte Nunn: Uh, but often in the course of a year it might mean that I am editing one book,
- 27:50video1596645673: I'm promoting
- 27:51Kayte Nunn: another, and I'm writing, um, you
- 27:54video1596645673: know,
- 27:54Kayte Nunn: writing
- 27:56video1596645673: the,
- 27:56Kayte Nunn: the first draft of another.
- 27:57Kayte Nunn: So you kind of As long as I'm not swapping day by day, I'm doing it
- 28:01video1596645673: big
- 28:01Kayte Nunn: chunks, okay to keep my, my brain focused on that one
- 28:06video1596645673: But-
- 28:06Madeleine Cleary: And how's the work-life balance
- 28:07video1596645673: then?
- 28:08video1596645673: Oh, look, it's pretty good.
- 28:09video1596645673: My daughters
- 28:10Kayte Nunn: are older now, so I'm doing less mothering, and that's taking up a lot less of my time.
- 28:15Kayte Nunn: So, um, yeah, no, it's, it's I'm, I'm really fortunate to be able to have plenty of time, almost too much time.
- 28:22Kayte Nunn: You know, sometimes if,
- 28:23video1596645673: your
- 28:23Kayte Nunn: time is limited, you, you just have to sit down and get
- 28:26video1596645673: done.
- 28:26video1596645673: And I
- 28:27Kayte Nunn: remember that, feeling that pressure always.
- 28:28Kayte Nunn: Like,
- 28:29video1596645673: just
- 28:29Kayte Nunn: wanna go and write.
- 28:30Kayte Nunn: I just wanna write this." Whereas now I'm like,"No, Kayte, you have to to laptop
- 28:34video1596645673: by
- 28:35Kayte Nunn: 10:00 this morning."
- 28:37video1596645673: That's interesting.
- 28:38video1596645673: Yeah, I've, I've found that too,'cause I have a day job, and I've always wondered if I wor- if I had full time to write, if I would produce more, and I don't think I
- 28:46Madeleine Cleary: would.
- 28:47video1596645673: Yeah.
- 28:48video1596645673: Yeah.
- 28:48video1596645673: You know, you squeeze- Yeah those hours.
- 28:50video1596645673: You do it in the cracks, and perhaps just not having that much time still enables you to be,
- 28:55Madeleine Cleary: you
- 28:55video1596645673: y- you- I think it does forced to sit down.
- 28:58video1596645673: Yeah.
- 28:58video1596645673: Yeah.
- 28:58Kayte Nunn: and I think
- 28:59video1596645673: it's That's such an,
- 29:00Kayte Nunn: an, a good position to come,
- 29:01video1596645673: come
- 29:01Kayte Nunn: at
- 29:02video1596645673: from, because so-
- 29:03Kayte Nunn: so many people can say,"Oh, well, if I only had the time,
- 29:05video1596645673: write." And
- 29:05Kayte Nunn: it's like, no, no, no, you make
- 29:07video1596645673: time.
- 29:07video1596645673: You,
- 29:08Kayte Nunn: you
- 29:08video1596645673: half an hour a day.
- 29:09video1596645673: You
- 29:09Kayte Nunn: know, how much time do you spend scrolling on your phone?
- 29:11Kayte Nunn: You could cut that in half and just focus and do that.
- 29:15Kayte Nunn: And, and I think the trick is
- 29:16video1596645673: just
- 29:17Kayte Nunn: go, I, and I often do, I'll just go into the manuscript.
- 29:19video1596645673: just have
- 29:19Kayte Nunn: have a, a
- 29:20video1596645673: through.
- 29:20video1596645673: I'll just have a look, and before
- 29:22Kayte Nunn: I know it, I'm in the story and I'm coming up with some ideas and writing,
- 29:25Madeleine Cleary: Mm.
- 29:26video1596645673: Mm.
- 29:26video1596645673: Well, I,
- 29:27Madeleine Cleary: I think everyone should take your advice,
- 29:29video1596645673: because you are prolific and productive, and- you write great novels, so And bestselling novels as well.
- 29:33video1596645673: I'm
- 29:33Madeleine Cleary: And best-selling
- 29:34Kayte Nunn: very deadline oriented.
- 29:36Madeleine Cleary: That's a, that is a really,
- 29:38video1596645673: really good way to be.
- 29:39video1596645673: Um, is there something that
- 29:41Madeleine Cleary: you wish
- 29:41video1596645673: that you'd known at the start of your career, um, that you know now?
- 29:46Kayte Nunn: Um, I wish I'd known that, um
- 29:50video1596645673: um-
- 29:54Kayte Nunn: Lots
- 29:54video1596645673: things
- 29:54Kayte Nunn: actually.
- 29:55Kayte Nunn: Not to compare myself with other people, with other writers.
- 29:58Kayte Nunn: Um, comparison is the thief of joy and it, it serves no purpose, and that, um,
- 30:04video1596645673: The, the writer's career is very much
- 30:07Kayte Nunn: a rollercoaster.
- 30:08Kayte Nunn: You can have amazing times and don't forget to celebrate them, and then you can have really tough times when
- 30:12video1596645673: don't
- 30:12Kayte Nunn: quite go your way, and a lot of it is out of your only thing you can control is writing the best can at that point in time.
- 30:20video1596645673: Um, and to kind of hold onto that, I think, is
- 30:22Kayte Nunn: really
- 30:23video1596645673: Mm.
- 30:24video1596645673: So, uh, was W- when you are in the dip of the rollercoaster, what are some of the things that have helped you?
- 30:30video1596645673: Um, not
- 30:31Kayte Nunn: looking too far ahead.
- 30:33Kayte Nunn: Just, um, immersing myself back in the writing and, um, just taking it one day at
- 30:38video1596645673: time.
- 30:39video1596645673: Mm-hmm.
- 30:39video1596645673: Um, it's
- 30:40Kayte Nunn: the only thing,
- 30:41video1596645673: yeah, Mm.
- 30:42video1596645673: The only thing I c- I can way
- 30:43Kayte Nunn: I can,
- 30:44video1596645673: um,
- 30:45Kayte Nunn: figure out how to,
- 30:46video1596645673: to
- 30:46Kayte Nunn: deal with it.
- 30:47video1596645673: Yeah.
- 30:47video1596645673: Yeah.
- 30:48video1596645673: Yeah, no, it's, it's really import- I think it's really tough when you're in the moment, isn't
- 30:51Madeleine Cleary: it, to try
- 30:52video1596645673: get yourself out of it.
- 30:54video1596645673: Um, I know.
- 30:54video1596645673: Yeah.
- 30:55video1596645673: And, and, and the thing is, it, it comes for everybody.
- 30:57video1596645673: No one's a-
- 30:58Madeleine Cleary: no one's going to
- 30:58video1596645673: a linear success- No,
- 31:00Kayte Nunn: no, exactly.
- 31:02Kayte Nunn: I think you actually have to
- 31:03video1596645673: quite
- 31:03Kayte Nunn: bloody-minded as a writer.
- 31:04video1596645673: You
- 31:05Kayte Nunn: just
- 31:05video1596645673: to go,"You know what?
- 31:06video1596645673: Don't underestimate
- 31:07Kayte Nunn: me.
- 31:08Kayte Nunn: I'm gonna keep going." Um, yeah, even if nobody reads what I'm writing, I'm doing it because I
- 31:14video1596645673: can't do anything else.
- 31:15video1596645673: Mm, mm.
- 31:16video1596645673: So how do
- 31:17Madeleine Cleary: you measure success these days
- 31:20video1596645673: Um, readers
- 31:22Kayte Nunn: telling me they've enjoyed a book.
- 31:23video1596645673: I
- 31:23Kayte Nunn: think it, it, that's what it comes down to.
- 31:26Kayte Nunn: Um, and a friend of mine has this great theory in terms of negative reviews, which used
- 31:29video1596645673: get
- 31:30Kayte Nunn: to me.
- 31:30Kayte Nunn: They don't so much anymore, which
- 31:32video1596645673: fantastic.
- 31:32video1596645673: It's
- 31:33Kayte Nunn: only taken 10 years.
- 31:34Kayte Nunn: Um, it's, uh, called The Wrong Restaurant, and she used to work for, um, a three-hatted restaurant, and they'd occasionally get terrible reviews.
- 31:42video1596645673: I hated it.
- 31:43video1596645673: It
- 31:43Kayte Nunn: it was awful." And she'd go,"You know what?
- 31:45Kayte Nunn: They just went expecting a burger.
- 31:47Kayte Nunn: They, they went to the wrong restaurant." And it's
- 31:48video1596645673: if people
- 31:49Kayte Nunn: read my books
- 31:50video1596645673: they don't
- 31:50Kayte Nunn: enjoy it, maybe they're, it's not what they were expecting.
- 31:53Kayte Nunn: Um,
- 31:54video1596645673: so
- 31:54Kayte Nunn: And, and as Elizabeth Gilbert says, you can be the ripest, juiciest peach on the tree and somebody isn't gonna like So you just, you know, just ig-
- 32:02video1596645673: just ig- you
- 32:02Kayte Nunn: know, yes, it's fantastic to hear
- 32:03video1596645673: people who have enjoyed the book,
- 32:05Kayte Nunn: uh, or the books,
- 32:07video1596645673: and for all the various reasons, and the
- 32:09Kayte Nunn: things it's meant to them.
- 32:10Kayte Nunn: That's amazing.
- 32:11Kayte Nunn: Um, and I love it when
- 32:12video1596645673: email me.
- 32:13video1596645673: It really does cheer me up and, and, you know, make me think it's worth, worth keeping going.
- 32:18video1596645673: Um, but,
- 32:19Kayte Nunn: um, yeah, you try, you just try not to, y- you know, ignore the, the voice on your shoulder that tells you what you're
- 32:24video1596645673: is
- 32:24Kayte Nunn: a waste of time or no good, and then ignore, ignore the haters
- 32:28video1596645673: there's, yeah, there's
- 32:29Kayte Nunn: no point in dwelling on that
- 32:31video1596645673: One of the things I always tell debut writers is just not to check Goodreads, or have someone
- 32:37Madeleine Cleary: that will
- 32:37video1596645673: filter through the good ones and read you those.
- 32:41video1596645673: Yeah.
- 32:41Kayte Nunn: I think the other thing to do is go onto Goodreads and look at the reviews of a book you think
- 32:45video1596645673: absolutely incredible- Yeah and one of the best books you've ever read,
- 32:48Kayte Nunn: and, you know, and read
- 32:49video1596645673: one
- 32:49Kayte Nunn: and two-star reviews, and then you go,"Ah, okay.
- 32:51Kayte Nunn: You know what?
- 32:51Kayte Nunn: Everybody's got an opinion," and it doesn't make them right in your mind.
- 32:55video1596645673: Yes, exactly.
- 32:56video1596645673: Exactly.
- 32:56video1596645673: Can you tell us about your publication day of
- 32:59Madeleine Cleary: The Yacht?
- 33:00video1596645673: So what you, you mentioned that you were in Spain- Ah, yeah which is a really nice place to be.
- 33:03video1596645673: I,
- 33:04Kayte Nunn: I, I'd got the dates wrong as well,'cause I think the dates
- 33:07video1596645673: changed.
- 33:07Kayte Nunn: So I was in Spain staying with some friends, quite coincidentally, um,'cause I haven't been to Europe in a very long time and I just did a, a...
- 33:15video1596645673: just come back from a big
- 33:16Kayte Nunn: six-week trip.
- 33:17Kayte Nunn: And, um, and
- 33:18video1596645673: looked on the thing, I was like,
- 33:19Kayte Nunn: I
- 33:19video1596645673: my God, that's today." So I made a quick video,
- 33:22Kayte Nunn: and I had no makeup on.
- 33:23Kayte Nunn: I'd been sunbathing all day.
- 33:24Kayte Nunn: I'd had a lovely long boozy lunch.
- 33:25Kayte Nunn: I was like,"Oh goodness,
- 33:26video1596645673: publication day and here I am in Spain." Wait, so you forgot?
- 33:28Madeleine Cleary: Oh, no, in
- 33:29video1596645673: Spain.
- 33:29video1596645673: Okay.
- 33:29video1596645673: I just got Yeah, I
- 33:30Kayte Nunn: just
- 33:31video1596645673: got the dates wrong-
- 33:32Kayte Nunn: um,
- 33:33video1596645673: for
- 33:33Kayte Nunn: the, um, I
- 33:34video1596645673: it was
- 33:34Kayte Nunn: the Australian publication date,
- 33:35video1596645673: 'cause
- 33:36Kayte Nunn: I think it had changed.
- 33:37Kayte Nunn: So, um, yeah, that was quite funny.
- 33:38Kayte Nunn: And then afterwards I was
- 33:39video1596645673: "Oh my gosh,
- 33:40Kayte Nunn: here I
- 33:40video1596645673: Who would
- 33:40Kayte Nunn: have thought
- 33:41video1596645673: I started
- 33:42Kayte Nunn: writing this, you know, 18 months or so ago, I'd actually be in Spain on publication day?
- 33:46Kayte Nunn: That was
- 33:47video1596645673: special.
- 33:47video1596645673: Oh, and I love that you just didn't even plan it.
- 33:50video1596645673: It was just- that
- 33:50Madeleine Cleary: that was the way it was gonna be.
- 33:52video1596645673: was the way it was meant to be.
- 33:53video1596645673: It was like it was meant to be.
- 33:53video1596645673: It was.
- 33:53video1596645673: I hope you had a copy of it that you could take a photo.
- 33:56video1596645673: I
- 33:56Kayte Nunn: didn't because I was traveling.
- 33:57Kayte Nunn: I'd, I'd left, uh, Australia before I had any, um, any
- 34:01video1596645673: copies.
- 34:01video1596645673: So I
- 34:01Kayte Nunn: didn't see them
- 34:02video1596645673: I
- 34:02Kayte Nunn: came home again.
- 34:03Kayte Nunn: So that was kind of nice.
- 34:04Kayte Nunn: It was like an extra special present when I got back
- 34:07video1596645673: Aw.
- 34:07video1596645673: That's so, so lovely.
- 34:09video1596645673: Um, okay, so we always, um, finish our podcast asking writers what their number one tip is.
- 34:16video1596645673: Um, so Kayte, what is your number one top tip for writers?
- 34:21video1596645673: Look, I've got
- 34:21Kayte Nunn: so many, but, um, I think the most thing is, is learn your craft and learn about the industry.
- 34:29video1596645673: Um,
- 34:30Kayte Nunn: so go to other book- people's book launches.
- 34:34Kayte Nunn: Um, do
- 34:35video1596645673: writing workshops.
- 34:36Kayte Nunn: There's loads of resources online.
- 34:39video1596645673: about Read craft
- 34:40Kayte Nunn: books about writing.
- 34:41Kayte Nunn: Um, you
- 34:42video1596645673: and, and
- 34:43Kayte Nunn: realize that, um, nobody ever, you know, came out of, of,
- 34:48video1596645673: know,
- 34:48Kayte Nunn: suddenly sat down one day and
- 34:50video1596645673: "I'm gonna
- 34:50Kayte Nunn: be a writer," and writes a perfect first draft.
- 34:53Kayte Nunn: Um, you
- 34:54video1596645673: it's
- 34:54Kayte Nunn: don't be, uh, don't
- 34:56video1596645673: your first draft
- 34:57Kayte Nunn: with other writers' finished products.
- 34:59Kayte Nunn: There's absolutely
- 35:00video1596645673: point.
- 35:00Kayte Nunn: It takes a lot of work.
- 35:01Kayte Nunn: And be prepared to, to do the work.
- 35:03Kayte Nunn: Once the first draft is written, that's actually when the work starts, not when
- 35:06video1596645673: think,
- 35:07Kayte Nunn: "Great, I've done it.
- 35:07Kayte Nunn: Can I hand it over to somebody else?" And I've come across
- 35:10video1596645673: who've done
- 35:10Kayte Nunn: that.
- 35:11video1596645673: like,"Well, you know, I'm done now.
- 35:13Kayte Nunn: Here you go." And it's like, no, no, no.
- 35:14Kayte Nunn: This is where the work really starts
- 35:16Madeleine Cleary: Mm.
- 35:17Madeleine Cleary: How do you go
- 35:18video1596645673: How do you think that writers can go about and find that community?
- 35:21video1596645673: 'Cause a lot of writers don't have a writing community, especially when
- 35:24Madeleine Cleary: you're starting out.
- 35:25video1596645673: What, what would you recommend?
- 35:26video1596645673: Yes, and I think
- 35:26Kayte Nunn: also if you,
- 35:27video1596645673: live regionally, it can be quite
- 35:29Kayte Nunn: difficult because a lot of
- 35:30video1596645673: seems to
- 35:30Kayte Nunn: happen in the
- 35:31video1596645673: cities.
- 35:32video1596645673: But there'll be a bookshop near you.
- 35:34Kayte Nunn: There'll be a library that has events.
- 35:35Kayte Nunn: I mean, I live
- 35:36video1596645673: quite remotely, and our library
- 35:38Kayte Nunn: has some incredible events with writers.
- 35:39Kayte Nunn: Try and go along
- 35:40video1596645673: those.
- 35:41Kayte Nunn: You
- 35:41video1596645673: even
- 35:41Kayte Nunn: connect with writers
- 35:42video1596645673: social media.
- 35:43video1596645673: If you
- 35:43Kayte Nunn: liked one of their books, send them a message, that kind of thing.
- 35:46Kayte Nunn: Um, yeah, there's, there's a lot you can do.
- 35:48Kayte Nunn: Uh, and then there's a huge amount of
- 35:50video1596645673: online
- 35:51Kayte Nunn: that are free even if you don't have, the, the funds to, to do workshops.
- 35:56Kayte Nunn: There's a huge amount of resources online.
- 35:58Kayte Nunn: Um, you know, your local library probably has some craft books that you can order or reserve
- 36:02video1596645673: as well.
- 36:03video1596645673: Mm.
- 36:03video1596645673: Mm.
- 36:03video1596645673: Do you have any that are your favorite?
- 36:05video1596645673: 'Cause you mentioned they were- I- helpful at the start.
- 36:07Kayte Nunn: I do.
- 36:07Kayte Nunn: Um, there is a book by Donald Maass called The Emotional Craft
- 36:11video1596645673: Fiction.
- 36:11video1596645673: Mm.
- 36:12video1596645673: And I've read
- 36:13Kayte Nunn: that two or
- 36:13video1596645673: times
- 36:14Kayte Nunn: now and always go back
- 36:15video1596645673: and it's
- 36:15Kayte Nunn: very helpful.
- 36:16video1596645673: Okay.
- 36:17video1596645673: I will pop that into the show notes.
- 36:19video1596645673: That's a really, really important one.
- 36:21video1596645673: Um, Kayte, thank you so for joining us.
- 36:23video1596645673: You've given us so many great tips.
- 36:25video1596645673: Um, and if you want to escape from Australia's winter- buy a copy of The Yacht, in bookshops now.
- 36:33video1596645673: Thank you so much, Kayte, for on.
- 36:34video1596645673: Oh, Thanks,
- 36:35Kayte Nunn: Madeleine.
- 36:35Kayte Nunn: Thanks for chatting to
- 36:37Speaker 5: Thank you for listening to another episode of The Book Deal Podcast.
- 36:41Speaker 5: If you are enjoying the pod, we'd really appreciate you following or sharing the show in your podcast directory, checking us out on Instagram and Facebook, or supporting us through our Patreon community at patreon.com/thebookdealpodcast