From Premise To Publication – Writing The Sight Of You
The idea for The Sight Of You first came to me around a dinner table with friends, where we were debating that familiar-albeit-slightly-morbid question, If you could find out the date you were going to die, would you want to know? I was fascinated by how quickly and definitively the table split between Definitely, yes, and No, absolutely not.
Some people are planners and would want to know how long they had to tick everything off a bucket list; others (including me) would see the date of their demise as a ticking clock casting a shadow over every aspect of their lives. The cogs began to turn in my mind: I thought, Wouldn’t it be interesting to combine that question with a love story?
Once I’d mulled over the idea, I sketched out a rough chapter plan. I was abroad at that point, a week-long break somewhere warm – I always find I’m super-productive on holiday, where I have all the time I need to read and scribble and think.
Back at home, armed with my chapter plan, I started to write. My first draft was typically messy, and after some back and forth with my wonderful agent, Rebecca Ritchie of AM Heath, I edited out some characters, simplified the core relationships and cut a lot of preamble and padding that was distracting from the main premise: Would you choose love, if you knew how it would end?
The Sight Of You is heavily steeped in natural world themes – this being my female protagonist Callie’s passion – and some of it is set on a nature reserve. The research for this aspect of the novel was so enjoyable – I’m very lucky in Norfolk (where I live) to be surrounded by incredible countryside, scenery and wildlife. My husband also used to work on a nature reserve, so his knowledge and expertise was invaluable.
The nature theme helped to shape my writing style throughout the novel – I spent a long time working on imagery and creating a vivid sense of place. To me, it was important to try to ground the reader in something that felt very real, in order that they might more easily buy in to Joel’s ability to predict the future.
It took me about a year to finish drafting, after which it was time to go out on submission. I was incredibly lucky to end up signing contracts with Hodder & Stoughton in the UK and Putnam Books in the US.
This was when the hard graft truly began! I was fortunate to be working with two amazing editors – Kimberley Atkins from Hodder and Tara Singh Carlson from Putnam. Together we put the book through four rounds of edits (a lot, though each round did get progressively smaller!) followed by a copyedit then page proofs for both the UK and US versions of the book.
Having external eyes on your precious manuscript – which usually brings about big changes and structural revisions – can be nerve-wracking. But on the whole, I love edits – to me, receiving expert input, feedback and suggestions always feels exciting too.
Some of the changes were major – especially to the final third of the book – but without a doubt they improved the novel substantially. There was also an amount of extra research to do for some of the closing chapters, which felt slightly daunting; but this really transformed the ending. Though edits are challenging, they are always more than worth it in the end.
We debated the title for a while – both publishers felt my original title, As Long As It’s Love, wasn’t quite working hard enough, and didn’t fully reflect the heart of the novel. After much to-ing and fro-ing – involving a lengthy list of possible contenders! – my UK publishers suggested The Sight Of You, which received unanimous approval.
From sketching out the idea of The Sight Of You to publication in June will be almost three years. It’s been a long but incredible journey so far, and now I’m so excited to see the book reach readers’ hands around the world and to hear what they think of Callie and Joel’s love story.
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Holly Miller grew up in Bedfordshire, UK. Since university she has worked as a marketer, editor and copywriter. Holly currently lives in Norfolk, with her husband and their dog.
Follow her on Twitter https://twitter.com/ByHollyMiller
Find out more about her on her website https://www.hollymillerauthor.com/
THE SIGHT OF YOU
Joel is afraid of the future.
Since he was a child he’s been haunted by dreams about the people he loves. Visions of what’s going to happen – the good and the bad. And the only way to prevent them is to never let anyone close to him again.
Callie can’t let go of the past.
Since her best friend died, Callie’s been lost. She knows she needs to be more spontaneous and live a bigger life. She just doesn’t know how to find a way back to the person who used to have those dreams.
Joel and Callie both need a reason to start living for today.
And though they’re not looking for each other, from the moment they meet it feels like the start of something life-changing.
Buy links:
UK:
Hive (supporting local bookshops)
US:
IndieBound (a community of local bookstores)
Category: On Writing
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