Danielle Simpson

ps – I’d love to catch up on your story of getting an agent, if you fancied sharing? I know there are so many different paths and I’d love to hear what yours was like x

Oh my goodness, this is brilliant! Congratulations to you! (And to your agent)

Hi Elle,

I remember you talking about this story, and I really like it. A very clever twist on the oldest of tales.

I think you set things up well: we are expecting her to be the victim, but it shifts dramatically and she becomes the predator, turning the tables with her newly-discovered sexual power. Your writing, descriptions etc. as always,…[Read more]

Hi Elle,
Yes, I can see how that addition can work to show her trying and failing.
xx

This is fab! Well done!!

This is fantastic news! Absolutely brilliant. Well done. And so exciting that you already have an editor at PRH lined up. I think it is great to get an agent too, to negotiate all those tricky contracts! Regarding the other rLondon agent, I think that you can simply inform her that you’ve signed with someone else and you wish to withdraw your…[Read more]

Good luck for when you sub! Xx

Yes, definetly more oblique, great. I wonder if you might change the ‘I hate sharing you’ lime (which makes Ashley sounds possessive) to something like “it’s just… you know how you get.” In other words, have Ashley referring to the problem without quite naming it…

FWIW, I actually think the phonemail is a really key pivot point! I would recommend keeping this in, and building the structure of the piece as a whole around it, as Kate highlights.
Remember, even though this story is built of a series of vignettes, it still needs to have a narrative arc. The phone call gives you a useful turning point, and the…[Read more]

Hi Elle,
Sorry it’s taken me a while to get to this.

I really enjoyed this. I think it’s an incredibly realistic portrayal of depression, especially the sense of complete hopelessness and almost indifference that invades. She almost simply accepts and embraces her “fate”, to the point where (for me) suicide in the bath seemed like simply the next…[Read more]

This is fantastic! Congratulations Helen! Can’t wait to hear more about it!

!!

Thanks Raine,
I’m realising I am forming a habit of having “successes” with books I haven’t actually written yet! I mean, no pressure…

*Daeds, even

Hi Deads, I can write a blog, but I’m only going to be at the Festival for the Sunday, so I’m not sure how helpful it will be!