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243 Lucy Jane Wood | Cosy Fantasy Author and YouTube Vlogger
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Cosy fantasy author and YouTube vlogger, Lucy Jane Wood is here. Tune in to hear about the amazing tale of how a vlog about a trip she did to New York ended up landing her a publishing deal!
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
This episode of the Right and Wrong podcast is sponsored by Ingram Spark. Stay tuned to hear more and enjoy the episode. Ooh, a spicy question. love it. Because the writing is sort of everything, right? Like you can fix plot holes, but if the writing... So some readers love that and some readers are like, but I wanted more of this. So it's kind of, it's kind of a gamble.
00:00:20
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to the Right and Wrong podcast. On today's episode, I am with Sunday Times bestselling cosy fantasy writer and online content creator, Lucy Jane Wood. Hello.
00:00:32
Speaker
Hi, what an intro. That feels like a very official title. I might start wearing it on a little badge or something. It'll be quite a big badge, I think. Yes, quite a wordy badge. Unless you did a really small font and the people had to lean really close to you. to Yeah, that's going to make for some awkward moments as well, isn't it?
00:00:49
Speaker
Yeah. We'll leave the We'll leave the badge.
Unveiling 'Uncharmed' and its Universe
00:00:52
Speaker
um Thank you so much for for coming on and chatting with me. I'm really excited to talk. Me too. We always start these episodes with the the new thing, the latest exciting thing, and that is your second novel, the upcoming book Uncharmed, which is out September 18th in the UK and I think two days earlier in the US.
00:01:13
Speaker
um So unless anyone listening is on Patreon right now, um it's probably already out. So tell us a little bit about your your second published novel Uncharmed.
00:01:24
Speaker
That is terrifying to think that when this episode is live, it will actually be out in the world. i hope future Lucy is doing okay right now. um Yeah, so Uncharmed is my second book. My first was Rewitched, which came out last year.
00:01:37
Speaker
and And both are set in the same kind of cozy, witchy, 90s-inspired witchy universe, and but are separate kind of standalone stories with a different cast of characters. So they can be read interchangeably, whichever one that catches your fancy.
00:01:51
Speaker
um But Uncharmed is the story of Annie Wildwood, who is practically perfect in every which way. And she's a total perfectionist and people pleaser. And she has to learn to embrace her most authentic
Exploring Cozy Fantasy and Writing Process
00:02:06
Speaker
qualities. magic instead when she is and unexpectedly tasked with mentoring a troubled teenage witch who's kind of just come into her powers and is really struggling to keep them under wraps.
00:02:17
Speaker
So the two of them are kind of unexpectedly thrust together by the coven and have to learn to embrace each other's authentic, very chaotic kinds of magic. Okay, sounds cool.
00:02:30
Speaker
Sounds fun. And this is, ah like I mentioned at the top of the episode, this is cozy fantasy. So I imagine it's low stakes, um kind of, how else do you describe cozy?
00:02:41
Speaker
Yeah, exactly that. I mean, i i go in quite low stakes, but I think just kind of naturally as a writer, I do quite enjoy throwing like a little bit of mild peril into the mix like I like to have I like to have a big baddie in there to you kind of root against um so there's a little bit of kind of like gritty plot in there and a little bit of adventure um and I like things to feel a little bit chaotic but under this umbrella of coziness to kind of lull you into a nice calmness and reassure you that everything is going to be okay in the end they've just got to learn a few lessons along the way I guess
00:03:15
Speaker
Okay. yay Yeah. And you mentioned that this is not ah not a sequel or anything with to do with rewitched, but it's but it is it's it's the same world. that is like an interconnected story.
00:03:27
Speaker
Yeah, exactly that. So it's like the same universe and the two main witches. So we have Belle in Rewitched and Annie in Uncharmed. They share a coven. So they are kind of connected together.
00:03:39
Speaker
But the events of Uncharmed actually take place a couple of years before the events of Rewitched. So technically, in a kind of formal timeline, it is a prequel to my first book. Right. um But yes, you can pick up one without the other. However, there are a few like fun Easter eggs peppered throughout Uncharmed, which... you'll appreciate more if you have already read rewitch before okay but conversely if you read uncharm first then you're reading them in chronological order yes exactly they tie up quite nicely together whichever one you whichever one you fancy yeah okay and do other than like minor easter eggs do like the characters cross into each other's well like d do you as a sort of secondary does does bella from rewitch pop up in uncharm
00:04:23
Speaker
So Belle doesn't, but there are two particular familiar faces who I did bring back for Uncharmed just because I am particularly fond of those two and have a bit of soft spot for them both.
00:04:35
Speaker
um And yeah, i'm I'm a little bit self-indulgent with things like that. Like if if it feels like it's going to be fun to write, then I will just kind of let myself do it and see how it fits into the story. So yeah, I brought back two familiar faces that I'm particularly fond of, ah which was yeah fun to revisit those two.
00:04:52
Speaker
Okay. And was it always something you wanted to write more stories within this world that you'd created? Is that always something you wanted to do?
Lucy's Writing Journey and Challenges
00:05:00
Speaker
i I basically set out writing these books with zero plan.
00:05:04
Speaker
I literally had no intention of, with the first one especially, I had literally no intention of doing anything even with it really. I kind of always assumed that I i might try and test the waters and see whether anybody wanted it. But in the end, I assumed I would probably just...
00:05:22
Speaker
self-publish it and have a copy for myself and a copy for my mum and just kind of prove to myself that I could do this thing that I'd always wanted to do. um So I really set out with zero intention of, you know, expanding the world or adding to the cast of characters or anything, but it's just kind of naturally happened that way. and And I'm so fond of that world now that it's actually really fun to be able to pick up and explore the people and the parts of it that I am especially fond of.
00:05:50
Speaker
So am I right in, would I be right in guessing that rewitched was the first time that you had, had sort of tried to write a novel in full? Yes. i'm Well, technically no, i I did try and write something while I was at university, but I think it was probably maybe the worst thing that had ever been committed to paper. And I still have it on an old laptop somewhere, but I don't know. I feel like I would have to take some kind of like, don't know.
00:06:14
Speaker
i I would have to have a major meltdown to even pick up that document i think it's just too mortifying to even think about um so yeah this was the first one that I really ever fully committed to it was the first idea that has ever completely captured me so much that I felt really compelled enough to like sit down and see it through Okay.
00:06:36
Speaker
And was, well, you've sort of mentioned It sounds like there wasn't really any kind of process or plan when it came to writing that rewitched like way back when? No, no, not, not at all. I, I was completely like stumbling through it. Absolutely blind of how how you are possibly ever supposed to form a full story in a full book.
00:06:56
Speaker
I was just trying to create something that I loved you know enough to to keep my bum on that seat and see it through. And yeah I just got completely obsessed with it for like a couple of years and it stole every spare second and spare moment that I had around other work and everything else that was going on.
00:07:15
Speaker
And so i mean, yeah, it took a really long time and yeah my methods were not sensible or time efficient, but it was just the, you know, the thought of actually being able to get to the finish line and and write the end at the end of a huge Word document was enough to to keep me going for that.
00:07:31
Speaker
But in my experience, ah writers love to write the end when you finish oh yeah that draft. But in my experience, that's really like the beginning of the process. Now there's like so many rounds of editing. Did you edit it a lot before you sort of took it out to shop it out to people?
00:07:50
Speaker
I did to start with, I actually find it quite helpful is what I'm starting to realize. i know I know it's like the ultimate golden author rule that everyone always tells you. It's like you should never edit until you get to the end and then you go back and polish it up and turn it into something shiny. But especially kind of like the first, I don't know, like the first quarter of a book or something, I'm starting to really learn now that I actually find it quite helpful to go back and polish that up a little bit before I go any further because I do think reading those early chapters over and over almost kind of drill it into my head a little bit and remind me what this story is who these characters are it's like meeting them over and over again in a bit of a loop to start with to kind of really pull myself into what this new world is going to be and what this new story is
00:08:35
Speaker
Because otherwise I kind of lose track of what it even is that I'm supposed to be writing this time around. um So, yeah, i find that like very early editing quite helpful at the very beginning. But then when it starts to turn into something, you know, where the plot is beginning to blossom kind of thing, that's when I have to go full pelt and just keep looking forwards and don't look down, as they say.
00:08:54
Speaker
yeah So, yeah, the process kind of changes a little bit throughout. Okay. It's interesting when you talk about people having like rules for writing and stuff. think the only rule that I really adhere to is that there are no rules and that everyone has their own.
00:09:08
Speaker
Because I've also spoken to authors who will edit every chapter as soon as they've written it. You know, that they finish the chapter and they edit the chapter. I've spoken to authors who will write a paragraph and then reread the paragraph 10 times before they start writing the next one. That feels like you're going to get stuck into a spiral. That might be slightly looking at it too closely. Yeah.
00:09:28
Speaker
But it's it's whatever works for you. in then i think And I think, yes, the majority of people do find that what works for them is the vomit draft and just going and just getting the whole thing done and then coming back and editing it. But I think, yeah, it's whatever really works for you.
00:09:44
Speaker
I love the phrase vomit draft. That's so funny. Like the the junk draft or whatever you want to call it, the zero draft. It really like doesn't come naturally to me. Like i'm I'm currently in that stage at the moment, like tinkering with something new.
00:09:56
Speaker
And the, you know, that moment where you just have to pour out all every single rough thought that's in your head onto paper just doesn't come naturally to me at all. I'm such a perfectionist and I'm constantly you know trying to battle this idea that like whatever goes straight on the page has to be the perfect final version. That's the voice in my head that's always telling me like, oh, well, you're not going to be able to do that. So don't write today kind of thing. um So that that's the one that I'm constantly battling every single day. So that's Yeah, lot a lot of people love that stage and, you know, get really obsessed with getting sucked into that story for the first time. But for me, it's it's kind of hell. Like that's the real trenches for me. And it's the the part afterwards when I can go back in and turn it into something a bit shinier that I enjoy a lot more.
00:10:38
Speaker
That's good. Well, we established, um before we started recording, we established that you and I both anxious-minded people. Oh, yes, very much so. I've never relaxed a day in my life. Okay, great. um I think a lot of that that vomit draft that people call it, I think part of the reason that people...
00:11:00
Speaker
like it so much as as an approach is that the that they kind of said to them they're kind of taking all the pressure off themselves is that they're saying i'm gonna write whatever and it doesn't matter like i know i'm gonna change it so nothing here is permanent it's so hard to believe that though sometimes yes i kind of feel more like you it's like i try to do it but there is a part of me that will reread a sentence i've just written and just tweak it and then be like oh no i need to keep writing I think so. So I don't know whether it just comes from being like, I don't know, a bit of like a high performer at school or like always setting particular standards for yourself, like throughout your life or whatever, just literally never giving yourself a day off ever.
00:11:37
Speaker
But I literally have to drill it into myself like affirmations every time I open up that word document of being like, this doesn't matter. No one's going to see it. This can be whatever it needs to be. i have to like coax myself into feeling okay about it.
00:11:51
Speaker
Okay, so you're not, I'm going to guess you're not the sort of writer that's going to be writing something and then write like, insert conversation about this here and then just get to the next one. Never. I would rather procrastinate for six days in a row and make absolutely no progress than kind of write, insert fight scene here. It doesn't work for me at all. I've got a got to keep it going and got to keep it chronological.
00:12:14
Speaker
Okay. Okay. Okay. So my question then is we've established that- I'm myself sound like a psycho. Well, now i'm going to give you a chance to redeem it because we've established that Rewitched was chaotic in your approach to it.
00:12:27
Speaker
But you've now, obviously with Uncharmed as your second novel, you've done this with a sort of, you have um the resources of of your agent alongside you, of an editor alongside you. Has the process sort of got more structure now? Have you kind of got a much better handle on what's happening?
00:12:45
Speaker
and'm I'm not sure about having a handle on anything. It doesn't certainly doesn't feel like that at all. But the the writing process has, i mean, it feels completely unrecognizable from the writing process that I i did rewitch with.
00:12:58
Speaker
and ah Obviously, it's just a completely different experience when there's time constraints involved and there's eyes on early drafts and, you know, people checking in with you to see how you're getting on and stuff. It's a very, very different experience. I think I will probably always long for that completely...
00:13:15
Speaker
you know, free, open experience of tinkering with the first one to see what it might possibly turn into. Because yeah, with the second one, it was like, oh, this has to happen. and You know, I was locked in for a two book deal. It was like, oh, I have to make this happen. I have to do these deadlines.
00:13:31
Speaker
um Yeah, a completely different writing experience. And I definitely had to be a lot more disciplined with myself, um which in some ways, actually does help me because I certainly work better under pressure and I work better when I have a short time window.
00:13:47
Speaker
and ah because I am such an overthinker, it it almost meant I didn't have time to overthink. Like I just had to barrel on and keep going. um So it was definitely a lot more of an efficient writing process with the second one.
00:14:00
Speaker
Okay. And were your agent and your editor, were they kind of involved from the start or were you sort of like, I want to write this and when it's ready, I'll let you guys see it.
00:14:11
Speaker
um I think like with the ideas, like the initial ideas that go down and, you know, scratching that plot out from nothing, that that was just kind of really me by myself. And i I pitched it to them as it's going to be this kind of perfectionist witch who's always using her magic to be as perfect as she possibly can for everyone around her. That was kind of like the umbrella pitch that I let them know. And they were like, okay, cool, go for it.
00:14:32
Speaker
um And then my editor, my agent came in. I probably drafted it about three times or something. And that that was the version that they then saw. um They gave me some notes and that's when all the structural edits start and that kind of thing.
00:14:45
Speaker
um So yeah, that was kind of the point that that they stepped in and I had a bit of assistance. Okay, right. Okay, so you did it pretty much independently once you'd actually started writing the prose and stuff and then did one. Yeah, with that Yeah, and then it's um my my editor, hi I have a really close relationship with her. She's actually left the publisher now and has gone freelance, but um I have a very close relationship with her. So that was once we got to kind of the structural edits point and she'd read that kind of third, fourth draft, that was when we went for...
00:15:14
Speaker
six cups six cups of coffee and a very over caffeinated like creative brainstorm meeting together and she's like this is what I think's working this what not what don't think is working um and kind of like sends me back to the drawing board a little bit to to jig things around okay yeah that's useful to have and I guess there's more stress because like you said that you know you're with the second book you're under contract you know that there's a time now you don't have two years to kind of mess around with it but you do have like a lot of support systems around you and people who you can like tap on to kind of help you out exactly yeah it's it swings and roundabouts and I think I probably use them more for just like pet talks and motivation rather than know anything too too writing based I kind of just need someone cheering me a little bit in the background I think that's where they really come into come into their own
00:16:05
Speaker
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00:16:22
Speaker
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00:16:33
Speaker
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From YouTube to Writing: Lucy's Content Creation Path
00:16:40
Speaker
I'd love to change tack a little bit here and talk about some of the other things that you've been doing, which actually predates your writing, I believe. And that's that you have been running a YouTube channel and you're on other social media as well. Yes, for sins, yes. For your sins.
00:16:54
Speaker
um I looked at your YouTube channel and I found the earliest video from 12 years ago. no. You've been doing this for a while. You're really exposing me there. um i just wanted to establish your credentials. ah You know, you've been you've been doing that for a long time. Who is this girl?
00:17:11
Speaker
it didn't It doesn't look like you were always doing the book stuff. When did you move into doing more bookish stuff? Although it's largely vlog stuff, isn't it? Yeah, it's so it's always been a bit of everything, to be honest. Like I've never really seen I do online as fitting into one person particular category or whatever. I think the kind of general term for it is like lifestyle content. So you are the theme really, like me as a person is the theme. And then...
00:17:36
Speaker
the videos can be kind of anything branching off whatever's going on in my life at the time really so you know the ones that you you were looking at that were 12 years ago um when I was you know a lot younger and a lot more naive and I talked a lot more about personal things and the experiences I was going through in my early twenty s and all that kind of stuff. i think as I've got a little bit older, I've pulled, pulled away from that slightly because you learn that, you know, the internet doesn't need to know everything about you. There has to be some boundaries in there somewhere.
00:18:04
Speaker
Um, and I think just as I have, yeah, grown up a bit and realized what I love talking about and the things that I'm really passionate about in life, uh, books certainly kind of stepped, as stepped out as one of the really kind of key themes that I talked about a lot.
00:18:21
Speaker
as well as just kind of general, yeah, cozy vlogging and taking people along for the ride kind of thing. Okay. Yeah. ah Is it, I know it's but obviously book talk on TikTok. Is it booktube on YouTube? Yes, I believe it is. And ok I, I, I wouldn't ever consider myself to be like a booktuber. I don't think I'm like hardcore enough to have earned that title yet. I just, yeah. Every so often love to say,
00:18:45
Speaker
oh I read this book and I thought it was amazing basically like if you enjoy all the other stuff that I enjoy if you have you know similar sense of style and decor and you know similar sense of humor and stuff then you'll probably quite like this book kind of thing okay right right right and have you talked much about your kind of writing and and the publishing journey on the vlogs or did you do you try and keep that more separate Yeah, when when I was first writing Rewitched, i I kept it as a completely private personal experience. I didn't i didn't say anything about it online.
00:19:18
Speaker
um I just kind of very vaguely mentioned that I was working on a project and that was taking up my free time kind of thing. I think I just thought as soon as I say this is what I'm doing...
00:19:31
Speaker
It's going to put way too much pressure on it and I'm going to overthink it into oblivion and I won't get anywhere with it if I'm, you know, have people waiting to see what it is or people interested in supporting it already or that kind of thing. Like that's just way too much pressure.
00:19:44
Speaker
So I kept the actual writing experience completely private. But I mean, you you know, I've always talked about books and before I was full time content creator, I was a freelance journalist. So writing is kind of always been, you know, a steady theme in my life.
00:20:00
Speaker
um So it certainly wasn't like a completely unexpected surprise for everyone when I did eventually share what i what I'd been working on and and the deal that I had landed Yes, I imagine. yeah people that followed your your vlogs could see like, oh, yeah, I can connect those dots. That makes sense. Exactly. Yeah, I think it was quite like a natural progression kind of thing.
00:20:21
Speaker
Okay. Okay. And then outside of YouTube, you also have over a hundred thousand followers on Instagram and TikTok together. Yes. I try not to think about the numbers. It's a bit mental. Well, you're you're in the numbers now where like the human brain can't really comprehend it. Like you can't picture what a hundred thousand people looks like. Yeah, exactly. It's just, i'm and I mean, you know, you don't get that many people on every single piece of content that you ever post, but seeing those numbers crawling up all the time is, yeah, a little bit disconcerting.
00:20:52
Speaker
No, it's a good thing. It's positive, right? I suppose so. Yeah. The only way I, sometimes if I'm looking at those kinds of numbers and I want a frame of reference, what I do is I go on Google and I look up um the size of sports stadiums in the world. Oh no And then you can, you can see, you find one that's the right size and then you look at, find a picture of it full and that's the, that's the number of people.
00:21:13
Speaker
And then you completely terrify yourself into never posting ever again. It's perfect. Yeah. Exactly. Perfect. Yeah. um So as the industry has e evolved, being out there, being like having a presence online on social media, that can be a huge boon for for
Online Presence for Authors
00:21:31
Speaker
authors. And I think a lot of publishers do encourage their authors to kind of be more active.
00:21:36
Speaker
Yes. That being said, a lot of authors famously introverts, scared of that kind of thing, apprehensive about doing it. yeah What would your advice be to to writers or authors who are thinking about trying to sort of build up a presence online through whatever social media it might be?
00:21:54
Speaker
Yeah, i I completely get that. And i I always think it's such a funny, like pairing of characteristics that authors have to like pull from themselves because I think you're right. Like I think authors are drawn to writing and to books because most of us are naturally quite introverted, quiet people.
00:22:11
Speaker
And I think to some extent that actually happens with vlogging and well, it used to back in the day anyway, before it became this like huge shiny industry. I think, you know, quite quiet, introverted people were drawn to sitting in their room and chatting to a camera to reach out and find a bit of community online.
00:22:28
Speaker
So that' that's certainly why I started YouTube, you know, 12, 13 years ago or whatever it was. um So yeah, it's similar characteristics. And then with with being an author, you're suddenly expected to appear on camera and yeah you know talk eloquently about the emotional process of writing a book and here it is look look at this please buy my book kind of thing um so it is like a real opposites situation i think um it can be quite a scary thing to do and it does really feel like putting yourself out there but i think there's two kind of key pieces of key pieces of advice i like to keep in mind with it all is number one
00:23:06
Speaker
you know, there's this this fear of kind of, oh, you never know who might be watching. You never know who's keeping an eye on you kind of thing. But I always kind of really love to flip that on its head and think like, well, who who might be watching? You know, the the whole way that I ended up getting my books published was that an editor, one of the biggest publishers in the UK, happened to stumble across my YouTube channel because she was looking for vlogs about New York and And if I hadn't uploaded those videos and shared those little moments, she would never have have found me and she would never have heard me mention that I had this project I was working on and, you know, things wouldn't have worked out the way they have done. So I i love to flip that kind of fear on its head and think, well, you literally never know who's watching. All it takes is...
00:23:49
Speaker
the one right pair of eyes to come across your book and see it and be intrigued by it and I i know quite a few people that that's happened to you know like self-published authors who an agent has stumbled across a a TikTok that they've made and has then inquired and they've landed a publishing deal through it like the most amazing things can happen through it so I think that's quite a motivating thing to keep in mind and now that I said I had a second thing and I can't remember what it was so maybe we'll just leave it at that until it comes back to me Okay.
00:24:19
Speaker
Yeah. No, that's, that's a great way of looking at it is is like, yes, you know, there are some bad downsides and there's some like bad actors out there. yeah I like to think that there's probably more good actors out there, or at least apathetic actors ah course out outnumbering the bad ones. And yeah, exactly you I've had a few are authors on now who have found either their agent or their editor slash book deal through being scouted on tiktok usually to be honest yeah i don't think it's that unusual anymore i think it's you know a huge factor of publishing now that you kind of have to get on board with otherwise you're probably going to get left behind you know it's it's just a ah big part of it now is that marketing books on tiktok especially instagram youtube whatever
00:25:08
Speaker
It's this huge springboard that you can provide and create for yourself. And if you don't allow yourself to do that, then, you know, you're going to, you're going to lose out. You've got to give yourself permission to put yourself out there and see what can happen.
00:25:20
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I had, um, Rebecca Thorne oh cool recently and she was, we were talking about a similar kind of thing as she was saying how she thinks the industry has shifted in the way that querying agents is not what it used to be. And like we were kind of so many agents now do bra that they are actively browsing.
00:25:39
Speaker
Tick tock to try and, you know, they're on for yeah yeah because so many people self publishing on tick tock. Absolutely. I think that's a real thing that publishers are now, you know, maybe not necessarily top prioritizing, but really keeping in mind all the time is that there's an absolute treasure trove of amazing books out there that have been self-published, which have a really dedicated following to them. And it would be stupid for them to not tap into that. You know, it's an absolute goldmine just waiting to be discovered.
00:26:10
Speaker
Yes, absolutely. Yeah. I'm realizing now I've had lots of cozy fantasy on recently. Perfect. Yeah. Oh, I remember my second piece of advice. Okay, go. My second piece of advice is I think if if the reason that you are not making content, not wanting to put yourself out there is because you find it cringe.
00:26:30
Speaker
I think um I love this idea that like happiness is on the other side of cringe and like freedom is on the other side of cringe. And this idea that, um you know, creating content is like an embarrassing, cringey thing to put yourself out there.
00:26:44
Speaker
I love this idea of just like, well, if you just give yourself permission to be cringe, you'll you'll find a lot more on the other side of it. It's only really, you know, the judgment of others that is the concept of cringe. So it's just kind of giving yourself permission to to be silly and feel a little bit more freedom with things like that. And then the other side of that is is a lot more free and joyful, I think.
00:27:06
Speaker
I would imagine also a lot of the content which does end up coming across as like awkward and janky is when people are overcompensating for what they think one might be perceived as cringe. And then it ends up being cringe because they, that you know, didn't weren't just themselves. You've got to commit to the cringe.
00:27:27
Speaker
Exactly, yeah. Just commit to it and be like, embrace it, be relaxed about it. Yes. Because it's, that yeah, it doesn't feel, ah feel like we've said cringe too much, but it doesn't feel cringe.
00:27:37
Speaker
It's a key word though. I think it stops so many people from doing the thing that they want to do because they're worried that it might be perceived that way. i mean, really cringe people tend to generally be very happy, myself included.
00:27:53
Speaker
Yeah, because I think if you don't think it's cringe, then then I think generally it's not because you're like, it's the way you're carrying yourself. It's the relaxed nature. i Yeah, I get that. Yeah, I get that.
00:28:03
Speaker
But it's difficult. um No matter I think no matter how you approach it, like yeah completely. Yeah. Putting yourself out there is always one of life's biggest challenges. But great things do do tend to happen when you do.
00:28:16
Speaker
Yes, exactly. you're you'll give your You're opening yourself up to more opportunities, even if every now and again, you know, you'll catch some strays from somewhere or another. Yes, absolutely. That does happen.
00:28:29
Speaker
Yes. um Some great
Lucy's Literary Favorites
00:28:31
Speaker
advice in there. And that brings us to the point in the episode where i um pack up your things and ship you off and say, Lucy, if you were stranded on a desert island with nothing but a single book, which book do you hope that it would be I would really appreciate actually my bags all being packed for me and just being shipped off to a desert island. That sounds great right now. Yeah, but they're packed in storage.
00:28:53
Speaker
I'm just keeping them safe for you. Okay. Respectful kidnapping. Yeah. Okay. I appreciate that. ah So, you know how early we were talking about over being in ah like a chronic overthinker all the time. So obviously hearing this question and advance in advance a few days ago from my publicist was, i would much appreciate because I like to, you know, be prepared. But this is also just like an overthinker's worst nightmare of a question, I feel.
00:29:16
Speaker
um And i you know came up with a came up with a few very quick answers. And i was like, oh, I would want to take probably like The Secret History or Little Women or Piranesi, like some of my absolute favorite books. And then i was like, well, actually, none of those, because I i tend to lean towards like cozy fiction.
00:29:34
Speaker
I love like autumnal, dark academia-y, strange, like very comforting, cozy books like that, that you tend to read in the colder months. And then I was thinking, well, if I was on a gorgeous tropical desert island, is that the vibe that I want to go for?
00:29:50
Speaker
So then I was really spiraling and thinking like, oh, maybe I need to pick some kind of some kind of lovely, easy summer read that I would want to reach for over and over. Like um I thought, oh, maybe I'll take like I'll take a Kristen Hanna with me, like Firefly Lane or something like that. Another one my absolute favorite books.
00:30:07
Speaker
Um, so I really did just completely overthink this question into oblivion. Um, and I think I've taken all the fun out of it now. Um, I think my natural answer though, if I'm just going to pick something that I will want to reach for over and over and over and just never get sick of, I'm going to go for little women, I think.
00:30:27
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. It's a classic. It's such a classic. It's such a comfort. I would never get tired of that book. It brings me so much joy. And I think it would be quite inspiring to read as well.
00:30:39
Speaker
Yes. I mean, that's, it's ah an empowering novel. i when people pick classics like that, I love to ask, um, how do you feel about the film adaptations?
00:30:51
Speaker
I am very passionately in love with both the 90s version and the 2020s version. So if I could also pack some kind of like, what were those like tiny portable DVD players that we used have in the early 2000s? Like if I could also sneak one of those onto the island, then I would really appreciate that too. Oh, the ones that like flipped up like a mini Exactly, that you'd have on like, well, yeah, that people would have on like a car journey or whatever. Yeah.
00:31:16
Speaker
Retro tech. Yes, Okay, great. that's It's always nice to know that you're a big fan of the book and then you you're also a big fan of both adaptations because yeah but usually people are fans of one or the other. I i just love both. I mean, you can't go on wrong with Winona Ryder ever. So she is like an amazing Jo.
00:31:36
Speaker
But then the newer version is just like a perfect film, honestly. it's a it's the new one has like a crazy stacked cast as well doesn't it yes it's just like such a beautiful film every time it's on tv i i simply have to tune in and watch it what whatever point it's at my husband is like we cannot watch this film again oh yeah yeah my wife's the same with the new emma one with anya taylor joy yeah she loves that one Awesome.
00:32:02
Speaker
A great choice. Little Women, an absolute classic to take with sure very tropical island suitable really, but we're going to have to roll with it. Maybe you could send me to like a, you know, a castaway cabin in like a Canadian forest somewhere instead, and then it would suit me a little bit better.
00:32:18
Speaker
Um, sure. You can go to a cabin in the Canadian woods. I'll take that. I mean, I imagine you'll have to do more to survive, but I don't know, maybe not. But I won't get horribly sunburned, so.
00:32:33
Speaker
That's true. You definitely won't get horribly sunburned. I'll take that situation instead. Okay, it's a deal. Next up, we are going to chat a bit more about Lucy's publishing journey, getting more into the sort of business side of things, um how she connected with her agent Maddie Belton, who was on the show a while back, and um Lucy's experiences with everything and what she's up to at the
Conclusion and Book Promotion
00:32:55
Speaker
moment.
00:32:55
Speaker
That will be in the extended episode, which you can find at www.patreon.com forward slash right and wrong. Well, that's, yeah, that's what we have over here.
00:33:10
Speaker
um Amazing. ah Well, that brings us to the end of the episode. And it's been fun chatting with you, Lucy. Thank you so much for coming on and telling us all about. everything that you've been up to in your kind of uh quite incredible um journey into publishing thank you yeah it's been it's been fascinating chatting yeah i've had such a lovely time i feel like i've absolutely chatted your ear off there so thank you for listening i really appreciate it thank you so much for having me um And for everyone listening, Uncharmed is out 18th of September in the UK, 16th of September in the US, in all the usual places.
00:33:45
Speaker
um And if you want to keep up with what Lucy is doing, you can find her on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube at Lucy Jane Wood on TikTok at Lucy Wood.
00:33:56
Speaker
That's Lucy with three Ys. And to support this podcast, like, follow and subscribe. Join the Patreon for ad-free extended episodes and check out my other podcast, The Chosen Ones and Other Tropes.
00:34:07
Speaker
Thanks again, Lucy. And thanks to everyone listening. we will catch you on the next episode. Shout out time. One of my amazing patrons, Lee Foxton, is querying their debut novel. It's a family drama, commercial fiction along the lines of Jojo Moyes and David Nichols.
00:34:24
Speaker
Fingers crossed. I am rooting for you. Good luck.