Lessons From Authors Featuring Maggie O'Farrell's "After You'd Gone"
A quickie book review and advice for the fiction writers out there and the writers who wish they were fiction writers
I read the book, “Hamnet,” by Maggie O’Farrell earlier this year and I was blown away. I had never heard of O’Farrell (how is that possible?) and was listening to O’Farrell being interviewed about her latest book on one of my favorite podcasts, “Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books” by Zibby Owens (imagine pitching to that podcast and scoring an interview!) I ripped through “Hamnet” and decided to keep reading Maggie O’Farrell books because of my love it. Well, book two for me, “After You’d Gone,” was book one for her and at this writing is celebrating its 20th anniversary. What that signals to me is is “Yay! More Maggie O’Farrell books” and also “Where has this 20 year old gem been all my life?” It is no matter now because I found “After You’d Gone” and read it… more like ripped through it. It is a page turner.
Mini review of “After You’d Gone” by Maggie O’Farrell
The book starts as Alice boards a train to leave London for Scotland to visit her sisters. She meets the sisters, sees something that upsets her, and immediately re-boards for London. After Alice returns to her flat she steps out to buy some cat food and gets hit by a car. She is in a coma.
The book flashes forward and flashes back with different narrators. Once you get used to that…and by the way I thought the “flash forward / flash back” thing was a more recent method of writing, but in this case it was employed 20 years ago!…. you will be immersed in the story of young Alice, Alice’s Mom - Ann, and Alice’s Grandmom - Ellsbeth. _
In the anniversary prologue, if it helps you to decide to read it, Barbara Trapido writes of the book “…a compelling, gothic sequence about bereavement and desire,” YES “rich and layered.” YES “well-structured” YES and “‘one of the most compelling evocations of love and loss I can remember.” YES, YES (the “yes’s) are mine.
Lessons for the Fiction Writer and Aspiring Fiction Writer
For the fiction writer and aspiring fiction writer, there are many lessons with this book. One of the important lessons is that this was O’Farrell’s first book. She knew all “rules”and it seems to me that she broke them all - change of POV, flashback, change of narrator, 1st person to 3rd person narration - all of it - and the book is still fantastic. Story is Everything.
Another lesson is that your books are evergreen and your potential audience is never-ending. Continue to add to your book offerings, self-published or published, and readers will have an easier time finding you. Continue to find ways to market your existing catalog. If self-published, you could consider changing the title of the book as Joanna Penn described on a recent podcast episode on Get Your Book Seen and Sold Podcast. If traditionally published, consider changing the cover of the book to reach a new audience, as Maggie O’Farrell did for “After You’d Gone.” The link I added is one of my affiliate links but if you search for the title on BookBub, you’ll see a different cover. These are just a few ideas to re-market your existing books.
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