Author L.M Nathan & literary agent Ciara Finan on The Virtue Season
BY Emily Powter-Robinson
18th Jul 2024
Lisa (L.M. Nathan) studied on our online six-month Writing Your Novel course in 2021 - she is now represented by Curtis Brown literary agent, Ciara Finan. Her debut novel The Virtue Season is described as Bridgerton meets The Hunger Games with shades of The Handmaid's Tale and 1984.
We caught up with Lisa and Ciara to talk about BookTok trends, the inspiration behind the novel and how they worked together to get the manuscript ready to submit to publishers.
Lisa, you studied on our six-month Writing Your Novel course in 2021, how did your time on the course impact your approach to writing?
To say it was transformative is not an understatement. I am an English teacher, and I thought I understood narrative structure, voice, character development, plot – all of that. But I only understood how to recognise it, and analyse, not how to employ it. I had very little idea how to craft a story to its completion, or what stylistic choices would impact in what way, and how to get round difficulties when they arose. Getting round that thing people call ‘writer’s block’ was one of the most valuable things I learned – that no writing is ever wasted and to simply give yourself a writing task, something away from the story itself. Perhaps put your character in a different scene or write from a different POV and the rest will reveal itself. And, more than anything, I learned that the dialogue around writing is everything. You must have those critical readers, people who help advance your thinking about character motivation, plot options or who simply say, with kindness, no, that doesn’t work.
Many of our students find their writing community on our courses – are you still in touch with any of your course mates?
Absolutely! The offer is always open to share work and we are each other’s champions at every stage. It’s been amazing to share in their successes and to have them share in mine and, as a group, I don’t think we’re done yet. I’m certain we’ll see more deals announced and more books on the shelves in the fullness of time.
Ciara, what initially struck you about Lisa’s writing and made you want to read on? What made Lisa’s submission stand out to you?
The first thing that struck me about Lisa’s writing was the incredible calibre of it! Lisa had such a sure and immediate voice for the first few lines I read – she painted her world so vividly and the friendship at the heart of her novel spoke to me on such a deep level. Every word felt considered.
The relationship between author and agent is a special one. Was there any point before signing the client agreement where things ‘clicked’, and you knew you had to work together?
LN: I had an instinct about Ciara from the outset. I had just finished reading Ember in the Ashes, which I adored, and she had mentioned Sabaa Tahir on her submissions page, which I took as a sign. When we discussed The Virtue Season (via a zoom call for which I had Covid), she suggested something that had been rumbling around my head for a while – something I knew I needed to do and had been avoiding because it meant hard work. I deliberately hadn’t mentioned it, but she saw it straight away. It was to do with giving Agatha a real voice in the story. So that was compelling, that we were on the same page. And it was absolutely the right thing to do.
CF: After reading Lisa’s manuscript we spoke and over the course of that phone call it felt like we connected on so many levels: on our love of dystopian fiction, on the core themes Lisa wanted to convey in this novel, on our editorial vision for the book and some of the other brilliant ideas Lisa had for future novels – I knew I just had to work with her after we got off the phone!
Can you tell us a little bit about the work you did together on The Virtue Season before sending the book out to editors?
I feel really lucky that Ciara could see potential in that first draft because, looking back, it was very rough and ready and was full of extraneous POVs that weren’t really necessary to the arc of the story, but were more to do with me finding my way through each character’s motivation. If I came to a point where Manon couldn’t explain or didn’t understand, I added a chapter from a different perspective. So, we did a couple of rounds of edits to really make it Manon’s story before it went out – and to develop Agatha’s character.
Lisa, can you talk us through how it felt when Ciara delivered the news that The Virtue Season would be published by Scholastic?
It was a pinch-me moment. I think I always expected to ‘die on submission’. I always expect the worst, and waiting for news is so tense. It’s easy to tie yourself in knots but I understood from Ciara that it can often be a long wait to hear any news at all, so I was dug in for the long haul and was trying not to think about it. So, when she sent me an email with a potential editor’s enthusiastic words only three months into the submission process, I couldn’t believe it. I printed that email off and still have it in my office. It still makes me smile.
The Virtue Season is described as Bridgerton meets The Hunger Games with shades of The Handmaid's Tale and 1984. Lisa, can you tell us a bit more about the inspiration for the novel?
The setting was inspired by the Ribble Valley where I live, which is simply stunning. It’s surrounded by hills and there are three rivers and a castle in the middle. It rains a lot and floods from time to time. I was standing at the top of the castle one day – not long after flash flooding – and was struck by how much of civilisation could disappear if the floods were deep enough. Only the hills and the castle would protrude.
The demonisation of the chronically ill, mentally ill and disabled is more personal. My dad became registered disabled in his fifties, and I saw the way society began to treat him differently. Yet he hadn’t changed. He was still the same irreverent, funny, heroic man I’d always known. He was a storyteller, a fixer of all things, and the most devoted family man. His disability did not define him. His spirit did. It was something I wanted to believe for myself – through my anxiety and depression, which was at its strongest when I started writing this book. And it was something I wanted to tell all the young people I’d seen in my years teaching, who were trying to understand where they fit in the limitations of the world. I wanted them all to stand up and scream: you do not define me.
The book features the ever-popular BookTok tropes of forbidden romance, friends-to-lovers and forced proximity. Ciara, why do you think that books within the dystopian and fantasy genres are particularly popular with the TikTok audience?
At the core of it, I think people are craving escapism. Books within the dystopian genre, and particularly in fantasy, give readers new worlds and places to explore and exciting relationships to obsess over. As well as this, when you find recommendations for books in these genres through a platform such as TikTok and then contribute to that conversation, I think you feel a part of a larger community and something bigger than yourself!
Ciara, without giving too much away, what is it about The Virtue Season that you’re most excited for readers to experience?
Of course, very hard not to give spoilers but I think readers are going to love Lisa’s take on some classic tropes and the swoon-worthy romance at the heart of this book. But going a bit deeper, I think readers will really connect with the message Lisa is trying to get across and the care in which she tackles some difficult issues we are facing in our own society. As well as this, the writing reads like silk and the message of the importance of friendship, love and resilience even at the darkest of times will warm your heart and stay with you long after reading!
The Virtue Season is out now!
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