Book Prize Winner, Joanne Garland, Is Proof That Writers Write

Joanne Garland is another Writers Write graduate to win a fiction writing competition. Joanne won The Citizen Book Prize.

Book Prize Winner, Joanne Garland, Is Proof That Writers Write

Amanda interviews Joanne Garland, winner of The Citizen Book Prize 2011, a competition for unpublished authors, run by The Citizen newspaper and Pan Macmillan.

Amanda: Congratulations, Joanne! I am truly happy for you.
Joanne: Thank you very much.
Amanda: How does it feel to win?
Joanne: Surreal. Exciting.
Amanda: What made you enter?
Joanne: When I was on the Writers Write course, I was taught by Mia Botha who won the Mills & Boon Voice of Africa Competition. She encouraged us to enter writing competitions, and she planted a seed.
Amanda: I have to ask this. Have the writing courses helped?
Joanne: Absolutely. I knew I wanted to write a book. I made up my mind at the beginning of 2011 that I was going to write but I didn’t know where to begin. Writers Write really helped me. I had so many preconceived ideas for writing a book that were wrong.
Amanda: It is amazing how we think we should just be able to do it…

Amanda Patterson, founder of Writers Write at Le Chatelat

Joanne: It really is. What the course did for me was give me practical guidelines. It gave me the tools to structure a novel properly. I hadn’t really thought about it before then. For example, the inciting moment hadn’t occurred to me before I signed up for the course. The course, and Mia, inspired me. It gave me the confidence to carry on.
Amanda: It’s good to know we’re doing something that works. Where did you get the idea for the story? It’s a psychological thriller, isn’t it?
Joanne: Yes. After battling somewhere between the chick lit and thriller genres, I took some advice and decided on the thriller.
Amanda: I’m glad. What is it called?
Joanne: I think I’ve settled on Layers. The idea has been brewing for a while. Emma Paige, my protagonist, has to deal with date rape, which is a huge problem today. And rape and sexual abuse is so bad in South Africa. I wanted a vehicle to show how this changes a woman’s life.
Amanda: All the layers of her life, I suppose.
Joanne: And a novel seemed an ideal way to do it. I wanted to write something meaningful without ‘preaching’.
Amanda: Show, not tell…
Joanne: As I learnt on Writers Write. In fact I decided to enrol for Writers Write 2 after finishing the course to finish plotting the book.
Amanda: Which you’ve completed after winning the prize?
Joanne: Yes, it was an amazing experience. Ulrike was our facilitator and the course forced me to hone the idea into a proper plot. I used the second course to incorporate the feedback from the judges. I was able to use their advice as I refined it into a new novel.
Amanda: You made the long list of the competition on the strength of a synopsis and three chapters?
Joanne: Yes, I decided to enter the competition after I came across it accidentally. I had three weeks and I sat down and wrote until the deadline. I finished at midnight the day before I had to send the entry off.
Amanda: I remember you missed one of our writing dinners because you had to finish. You missed a date to meet that deadline. You’re living proof that you can write if you really want to.
Joanne: And if you have the tools. When I was told I made the shortlist, I wrote another six chapters in a week. I never thought I would make it so I had this wait and see attitude.
Amanda: I’m impressed!
Joanne: If I make up my mind to do something, I do it. I want to write. I have been in PR, marketing and events, but I really want to write novels.
Amanda: I think, with your determination, and your lovely writing style, you have a brilliant chance of making that dream come true.

Visit Joanne Garland’s Fan Page on Facebook

Photographs of Joanne and Amanda taken at Le Chatelat

by Amanda Patterson. Follow her on  Pinterest,  Facebook,  Google+,  Tumblr  and  Twitter.

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