 Dorothy Fowler with her first novel What Remains Behind which is on sale at Take Note bookshop in Oneroa.
“Random took my book!” First time author and Palm Beach resident Dorothy Fowler managed to squeak out the same four words over and over to her partner on the phone after a call from editor Harriet Allan at Random House last year confirmed that the major publishing house had accepted her manuscript.
“I was so excited that my voice had changed and the guy who first answered the phone said to Grant, ‘there’s an old lady on the phone for you’. It was definitely one of the best moments of my life. I was in another world for about three days.” Dorothy describes her novel What Remains Behind - which is on sale in bookstores all over the country this week - as an archaeological mystery set in a small community in the Kaipara Harbour region, which she chose because it was where her late husband had his farm. She used the layout of the farm and the old homestead and drew on real events from the past in the area, following the fundamental advice given to first novelists to ‘write about what you know.’ However, the story of how she came to be a published author starts a few years back and should be used as inspiration for anyone thinking they’ve left it too late to follow that particular dream.
“I had been buying houses, doing them up and selling them. I had a bit of money as a result and woke up one morning and decided I wanted to take a few years out of my life to go back to university and study.” She was close to completing a Bachelor of Arts in archaeology and ancient history and needed one more paper to complete her degree when she picked up a course in creative writing taken by acclaimed writer Witi Ihimaera. She obviously impressed him because he suggested she come back and do the year-long Masters degree in the same subject. From 32 applicants for the course, six were accepted – all women, ranging in age from 23 – 56. “It was nice to be part of a group with a wide spread of ages rather than being the oldest in a class of 20-year-olds. None of us had done our first degree in English,” she says. “There were two psychologists, one lawyer, a girl who’d done a Masters in German, and another who had a Masters in Russian. We became close and started an informal wine drinking group as well.” As part of the course, all the students were asked to write a novel to second draft stage of between 70 and 90,000 words between the beginning of March and the beginning of October. Witi Ihimera was a patient tutor, says Dorothy. “I never heard him say a negative thing. But he did have a way of steering people in the right direction.” Each student was given a mentor and, by a great piece of luck, Dorothy was allotted NZ writer Emily Perkins whose fourth novel has just been short-listed for a prize in the Montana Book awards. “Emily was lovely, and so helpful. And I had read some of her work and been a real admirer so it was exciting to have her as a mentor. We had to send off what we had written to our mentors each week. I felt a bit sorry for Emily because she would get 5,000-word blocks from me on the email and have to wade through them.” Emily then sub-edited the work and made suggestions as she received it. Dorothy set herself to writing 1000 words a day, usually in the evening, because she says “If it was nice weather, I preferred to walk in the beach or do something else during the day.” Dorothy describes her taste in fiction as ‘classic whodunnits’; Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh. “But I didn’t realise how much craft goes into the writing. For this novel, I mapped it all out and knew where I was heading. For my next one, which I’ve already started, I am playing it a bit more by ear. If there’s a third, I think I’ll go back to having a more detailed plan before I start.” Cleverly, she was able to use all her recent archaeological research from her first degree (and the university online research tools) to form the basis of the research for the novel. The novel follows central character Chloe Davis, a contract archaeologist who has returned to her family-owned farm for a rescue dig before it can be sub-divided into lifestyle blocks. Excavating the site of a religious community that burnt to the ground in the 1880s, she is caught up in conflict as local resistance to the excavation mounts. Digging up more than shards of pottery, Chloe unearths “secrets that will not stay buried…” Chief editor at Random House New Zealand Harriet Allan told me she receives approximately 600 manuscripts from hopeful first time novelists every year. “Dorothy's novel is the only first novel I'm publishing this year. Each year there are generally only one or two new fiction writers who are taken on. Her novel stood out because, most importantly, I simply wanted to keep reading. “It appeals on so many levels: a mystery in the past; the mystery of where the current story will go; the terrific depiction of the contemporary Kaipara community and the landscape; the vividly realised historical storyline; the strong, stroppy personality of Chloe and her family relationships that are so brilliantly captured; the details of archaeology - to name just a few. “It's a thoroughly entertaining read.” After accepting her manuscript, Random House came back to her with about 40 small things they wanted changed. “There were a few things I really fought to keep the way they were but most of the others were queries like, “surely she wouldn’t be selling peas at that time of year?” I just assumed they would know best about that sort of detail so I went with it.” Because the novel has just been published, the reviews haven’t started coming in yet, but so far, 3000 copies have been printed and 1500 are in bookstores, including Take Note in Oneoa. Apparently, an average number of books for a first-time NZ author to sell is about 1000 copies. Meanwhile it looks like the adventures of Chloe Davis archaeologist, might turn into a series. “I didn’t even dream I would be able to sit in my little house in Palm Beach and be paid to write,” she says• Julianne Evans |
