November Q&A | Questions from Instagram
I requested some questions over on my Instagram recently. Here are the questions and also my answers. Thank you for asking a few!
In future, I’m going to make Q&A posts Subscriber-only – but I think it’s only fair to show you what you’re paying for, so here’s a little taste.
Question 1: What are the main differences in getting a novel published vs a poetry collection?
A really brilliant question, and one I don’t think I’m totally equipped to answer, as I have not published a poetry collection before (either self-published or traditionally published).
In general, when you’re seeking representation from an agent, or pitching your book to publishers, it doesn’t hurt to have a track record you can point to. I imagine it’s similar for poets. Submit your work to literary magazines, both local and national, even international. Submit to digital anthologies and print anthologies. Get your name out there a little. Poetry Ireland is a good place to look, and here is a good list of resources from the Irish Writers Centre.
I don’t know if poets tend to get literary agents – I’ll write a whole post dedicated to what an agent is and what they do – or if publishing houses take unsolicited poetry submissions. I know of poets that do not have agents, and have published collections. I also know of novel writers who do not have agents and have published novels. As a general rule, it’s important to look at the guidelines for each and every place/person you submit your work to, anyway.
I’ve never had my poetry professionally edited, but I imagine you do go through several rounds of edits, of the poems themselves and the order in which you lay them out.
I think a lot about being traditionally published is nebulous and vague and difficult to find instructions for. And I think traditionally publishing your poetry is even foggier. But there are a lot of cool poets doing really great work – like Molly Twomey, for example – and demystifying the process!
Question 2: If you could only write one more book, what would you want to say in it?
Hi hello are you trying to break my brain. What an incredible question. What an impossible question. The things I want to say now will be different when I am older and wiser and a better writer (hopefully). Maybe I would write a book about wanting to write many more books, and the injustice of it all. But that would be a waste, probably.
I think when I write, I write about big gaping bleeding wounds and how much they hurt, and how much it matters that someone comes to hold your hand through the pain. Love doesn’t always solve the problem, or shift the narrative from its trajectory, but it matters that love is there.
I imagine everything I write from now until forever will contain some form of that thread. If I only had one more book left in me to write, I would try to distil that concept until it was so concentrated it hit like a shot of whiskey. Or something stronger. I don’t know. I’m going to stare at a wall and think about this question some more.