Hilary Tailor: 'I am a big fan of using setting to alter the mood'
BY Katie Smart
19th Jan 2022
Hilary Tailor was a student on our six-month Writing Your Novel course in 2018. Now she has an exciting two-book deal with Lake Union Publishing. Her debut novel The Vanishing Tide will be published in June 2022.
We caught up with Hilary to find out more about her time studying with us, the inspiration behind her debut and her advice for writers at the start of their novel-writing journey...
You studied on our six-month Writing Your Novel course in 2018. How did your time on the course impact your approach to writing?
It made a huge impact! I was a complete novice when I began the course and had, like many beginners, written in secret and not shown anyone what I was doing. I learned that sharing my work and reading my colleagues’ work, critically, made me a better writer. I saw the ‘other side’ of writing when I met agents and publishers on the course. I began to understand that getting published isn’t just about being a good writer, it’s also about understanding the market. We met agents and publishers who explained to us what they were looking for and how they needed our work to be presented to them. I felt I got a more holistic understanding of the industry. On a more practical level, I also learned that many writers used Scrivener which has been a game changer for me in terms of being able to plan, write and keep track of my novel.
What is one piece of advice from your tutor Chris Wakling that has stayed with you?
One week, Chris asked us to write the ending of our novel – even though most of us were still at the beginning or halfway through. This was something I NEVER would have done, as I am a chronological kind of person, but when I completed that exercise, I realised I really liked what I’d written. I now had a goal to reach, and it made finishing the novel easier, somehow. That ending is still pretty much as I wrote it on the course. I am now writing a third novel and I will do this exercise at some point when I have arrived at that tricky mid-way point.
Many of our students form writing support groups. Are you still in touch with any of your course mates?
Yes, and they have been a godsend. Not just with writing, but with other stuff too. Everybody knows it can be quite soul destroying applying to agents and waiting, but there aren’t that many people who really understand what you are experiencing. It’s been lovely to be able to talk to sympathetic ears when things aren’t going so well. Most importantly, reading and commenting on an unpolished manuscript is a huge commitment that takes hours of time, but we still do that for each other. I have had some invaluable feedback from my course mates, and they have taught me a lot. Some of them got agents and publishing deals before I did, and it has been incredibly helpful to get their advice about the process.
Your debut The Vanishing Tide is set to be published in June this year by Lake Union Publishing. Can you tell us a bit about the story and the inspiration behind it?
I have to tell you that one skill I am yet to master is how to pitch my book well, so I am going to cheat and give you the excellent blurb that was written for it by the Lake Union team:
Isla knows her family kept things from her. When she inherits the cliffside cottage where she spent her childhood, she must face dark shadows of her past – the mother who rejected her in favour of her art, the aunt whose death haunted them both, and the silence that permeated every room. Digging through the belongings of someone she realises she never really knew, Isla finally has the chance to find answers to the secrets her mother spent a lifetime hiding. When Isla crosses paths with a mother and young daughter, she becomes entangled in their family’s secrets, too, forcing her to wonder if the truth will really set her free.
I actually got the idea for the book when I was pregnant with my daughter and attended a paediatric first aid course. We were being taught to resuscitate children who had fallen into water and a really disturbing thought entered my mind. I couldn’t shake it off, so I decided to write about it, and it unfolded into a whole storyline that eventually became The Vanishing Tide. My daughter is now fifteen so it’s been a long journey to publication!
The novel explores strained family relationships, secrets, and lies. What advice do you have for writers aiming to build tension in a story with dark, psychological elements?
I have learned to 'split up' my more suspenseful plot points into smaller, more impactful, chunks. Before, I would drop them in, bam, and that would be that. Now, I have learned to drip-feed and stretch out the information, so it creates tension and more of a mystery. I might begin with a bit of foreshadowing, then reveal a small bit of information, followed by deeper detail later in the novel, so the reader is desperate to find out what really happened and get the whole picture. I am also a big fan of using setting to alter the mood. The Vanishing Tide is set on a remote peninsula with an unspoilt beach, but instead of focussing on how beautiful it is, I have picked out the more menacing elements of the landscape and made it unsettling and spooky, to reflect what is going on in Isla’s head.
What does your writing routine look like?
I have never been able to hold down any kind of routine because I also work as a trend and colour forecaster so I can’t always write when I want to. I also have kids and a dog to chivvy and walk. If I am in the middle of something new, I try and write all the time, so I don’t lose the flow, and this means weekends and at night if I’ve been prevented by other things. If I’m in the middle of getting my work edited, it’s easier because the story and characters are already set, and I’m just changing elements. In other words, I can do a few hours here and there without worrying about losing the thread. One thing I really need, though, is quiet – I can’t work with people in the room or music, sadly. And I need tea. I drink a LOT of tea.
Who is your favourite fictional character?
That is a really difficult question to answer! I don’t really have one, if I’m being honest. I tend to get attached more to plot than character when I’m reading, but I am drawn to strong female characters, for sure. From recent books, I just finished Maggie Shipstead’s Great Circle and adored the protagonist, Marian Graves. I also loved the complex character of Martha Friel in Meg Mason’s Sorrow and Bliss, and Emira in Kiley Reid’s Such a Fun Age.
What one piece of advice would you give to writers at the beginning of their journey?
I would urge anybody who has written their novel and are submitting it to agents now, to begin another novel while they are waiting. For me, getting an agent took a while but when I signed with Rebecca Ritchie at A.M. Heath, she sold my book in a two-book deal only a couple of weeks after I signed with her. This meant that I not only had to rewrite 30,000 words of my first novel during the editing process (which I loved doing, incidentally), I also had to produce another novel within a few months of finishing work on the first. Because I had continued to write new stuff when I was looking for representation, I had another novel that I knew I could pull apart and put back together again with similar themes to the The Vanishing Tide. This has made the whole experience really pleasurable because I haven’t felt pressure to come up with an idea – I already had it in my back pocket. It also means (I hope), I am seen as easy to work with as I will hit my contractual deadlines early.
I have heard a lot of stories about authors selling in two-book deals while only having one book and then having to quickly pull something out of the air to clinch the deal. It’s a really stressful way to begin your writing career if, like me, you prefer to spend a bit of time thinking about a project without looming deadlines. Even if your new novel is just a long synopsis with a beginning, middle and end, it’s a good start and shows your publisher you aren’t a one trick pony.
Finally, what’s next for you and your writing journey?
I was lucky enough to get a two-book deal with Lake Union so I am finishing my second novel, ready for it to be edited later this year in time for publication next year. I’m also drafting out a third novel which is daunting, yet also quite freeing as I will be out of contract and therefore not constrained by deadlines!