A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry , and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to publish in the future. First-time novelists without a previous published reputation, such as publication in nonfiction, magazines, or literary journals , typically struggle to find a publisher.
41-514: Susanna Mary Clarke (born 1 November 1959) is an English author best known for her debut novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2004), a Hugo Award -winning alternative history . Clarke began Jonathan Strange in 1993 and worked on it during her spare time. For the next decade, she published short stories from the Strange universe, but it was not until 2003 that Bloomsbury bought her manuscript and began work on its publication. The novel became
82-484: A 19th-century novel." Reviewers highlighted this tale, one calling it "the most striking story" of the collection and "a staunchly feminist take on power relations". In her review of the volume in Strange Horizons , Victoria Hoyle writes that "there is something incredibly precise, clean, and cold about Clarke's portrayal of 'women's magic' in this story (and throughout the collection)—it is urgent and desperate, but it
123-422: A best-seller. Two years later, she published a collection of her short stories, The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories (2006). Both Clarke's debut novel and her short stories are set in a magical England and written in a pastiche of the styles of 19th-century writers such as Jane Austen and Charles Dickens . While Strange focuses on the relationship of two men, Jonathan Strange and Gilbert Norrell,
164-457: A five-day fantasy and science-fiction writing workshop, co-taught by science fiction and fantasy writers Colin Greenland and Geoff Ryman . The students were expected to prepare a short story before attending, but Clarke only had "bundles" of material for her novel. From this she extracted " The Ladies of Grace Adieu ", a fairy tale about three women secretly practising magic who are discovered by
205-591: A kind of waking dream ... about a man in 18th-century clothes in a place rather like Venice, talking to some English tourists. And I felt strongly that he had some sort of magical background – he'd been dabbling in magic, and something had gone badly wrong." She had also recently reread J. R. R. Tolkien 's The Lord of the Rings and afterwards was inspired to "[try] writing a novel of magic and fantasy". After she returned from Spain in 1993, Clarke began to think seriously about writing her novel. She signed up for
246-408: A number of other fanzines over the years, including Twibbet , Thangorodrim , Tweek , Ecce Fanno , Telos , Zed , and Flash Point . Through their small press, Ansatz Press, Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden published Samuel R. Delany 's Wagner/Artaud: A Play of 19th and 20th Century Critical Fictions From 1985 to 1989, he served on the editorial board of The Little Magazine ,
287-469: A reputation than from first-time writers. For this reason, literary communities have created awards that help acknowledge exceptional debut novels. In contemporary British and American publishing markets, most authors receive only a small monetary advance before publication of their debut novel; in the rare exceptions when a large print run and high volume of sales are anticipated, the advance can be larger. For an example of an unusually high advance: in 2013,
328-409: Is also natural and in the course of things." The collection received many positive reviews, though some critics compared the short stories unfavourably with the highly acclaimed and more substantial Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell . Hoyle wrote in her review that "the stories ... are consistently subtle and enchanting, and as charismatic as any reader could wish, but, while the collection has
369-483: Is contrasted with and highlighted by mundane details and Clarke's tone combines arch wit with antiquarian quaintness. The text is supplemented with almost 200 footnotes, outlining the backstory and an entire fictional corpus of magical scholarship. The novel was well received by critics and reached number three on the New York Times best-seller list , remaining on the list for eleven weeks. A seven-part adaptation of
410-452: Is reflected in the ladies of Grace Adieu's magical abilities and the prominent role needlework plays in saving the Duke of Wellington and Mary, Queen of Scots . The collection is a "sly, frequently comical, feminist revision" of Jonathan Strange . In tone, the stories are similar to the novel—"nearly every one of them is told in a lucid, frequently deadpan, bedtime-story voice strikingly similar to
451-610: The Oxford English Dictionary , the earliest attested usage of "first novel" is from 1876. However, the term is much older, with instances going back to at least 1800. The Oxford English Dictionary does not have an entry for "debut novel". The earliest usage of "debut novel" in the Google Books database is 1930 (as of 2011 ). The term appears in newspapers as early as 1922, in a review of Marjorie L.C. Pickthall 's novel The Bridge . The Google Books Ngram Viewer shows
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#1733094371526492-526: The Usenet groups rec.arts.sf.* in the 1990s. Since July 2000 he wrote a blog, Electrolite , until it was incorporated into his wife's blog Making Light in May 2005, where he now writes along with her, SF writer James D. Macdonald , and SF fans Avram Grumer and Abi Sutherland . From 1982 to 1987, he edited and published the science-fiction fanzine Izzard with his wife Teresa Nielsen Hayden . He has worked on
533-719: The House's walls. ' " Piranesi was published on 15 September 2020 by Bloomsbury. The audiobook is narrated by actor Chiwetel Ejiofor . Clarke has published her short stories in multiple publications, including traditional press and newspapers as well as radio broadcast. This list contains the first publication of each as well as first appearance of "John Uskglass and the Cumbrian Charcoal Burner" in her collection The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories . Debut novel Sometimes new novelists will self-publish their debut novels, because publishing houses will not risk
574-541: The Philosopher's Stone , only receive small initial print runs. Debut novels that do well will be reprinted as sales increase due to word of mouth popularity of the novels—publishers do not often run large marketing campaigns for debut novelists. There are numerous literary prizes for debut novels often associated with genre or nationality. These prizes are in recognition of the difficulties faced by debut novelists and bring attention to deserving works and authors. Some of
615-700: The Pickwick Club (1837), all of which lack the complexity or stylistic characteristics which audiences praise in the authors' later work. There are however some debut novels that are regarded as the author's masterpiece , for example Gustave Flaubert 's Madame Bovary , Joseph Heller 's Catch 22 , Günter Grass ' The Tin Drum and Chinua Achebe 's Things Fall Apart . Sometimes, instead of writing novels to begin their career, some authors will start with short stories , which can be easier to publish and allow authors to get started in writing fiction. According to
656-582: The author gains a literary reputation. There are exceptions, however; YouTuber Zoella published her debut novel Girl Online in November 2014, and the book sold 78,109 copies in Britain in its first week. The novel saw huge sales because she already had an established audience, and publishers were willing to run a large print run. By comparison, bestselling Fifty Shades of Grey sold 14,814 copies in its first week, or later popular novels, like Harry Potter and
697-471: The author's typical literary characteristics . Huffington Post ' s Dave Astor attributes these to two forces: first that authors are still learning their own unique style and audiences are more willing to read works from unknown authors if they resemble more conventional styles of literature. As examples, Astor points to J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (1937), Margaret Atwood's The Edible Woman (1969) and Charles Dickens' The Posthumous Papers of
738-467: The beginning, [the novel] would lack depth, and I would just be skimming the surface of what I could do. But if I had known it was going to take me ten years, I would never have begun. I was buoyed up by thinking that I would finish it next year, or the year after next." Clarke and Greenland fell in love while she was writing the novel and moved in together. Around 2001, Clarke "had begun to despair", and started looking for someone to help her finish and sell
779-455: The book by the BBC began broadcast on BBC One on Sunday 17 May 2015. The book was adapted by Peter Harness , directed by Toby Haynes , and produced by Cuba Pictures and Feel Films. In 2006, Clarke published a collection of eight fairy tales presented as the work of several different writers, seven of which had been previously anthologized. The volume's focus on "female mastery of the dark arts"
820-473: The book. Giles Gordon became her first literary agent and sold the unfinished manuscript to Bloomsbury in early 2003, after two publishers rejected it as unmarketable. Bloomsbury were so sure the novel would be a success that they offered Clarke a £1 million advance. They printed 250,000 hardcover copies simultaneously in the United States, Britain, and Germany. Seventeen translations were begun before
861-413: The capital needed to market books by an unknown author to the public. Most publishers purchase rights to novels, especially debut novels, through literary agents , who screen client work before sending it to publishers. These hurdles to publishing reflect both publishers' limits in resources for reviewing and publishing unknown works, and that readers typically buy more books from established authors with
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#1733094371526902-518: The excitement of finding authors and writers without established legacies. In the same piece for the Times , Ayana Mathis describes the debut novel as "a piece of the writer's soul in a way that subsequent books can't ever be", because the novel is necessarily a work of passion and a product of all of their life before that moment. Often an author's first novel will not be as complex stylistically or thematically as subsequent works and often will not feature
943-418: The famous Jonathan Strange. Greenland was so impressed with the story that, without Clarke's knowledge, he sent an excerpt to his friend, the fantasy writer Neil Gaiman . Gaiman later said, "It was terrifying from my point of view to read this first short story that had so much assurance ... It was like watching someone sit down to play the piano for the first time and she plays a sonata." Gaiman showed
984-601: The first English publication was released on 8 September 2004 in the United States and on 30 September in the United Kingdom. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is an alternate history novel set in 19th-century England during the Napoleonic Wars . It is based on the premise that magic once existed in England and has returned with two men: Gilbert Norrell and Jonathan Strange. Centring on the relationship between these two men,
1025-403: The highly anticipated City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg captured the attention of ten publishers who started a bidding war that ended with Knopf buying the rights to the book for 2 million dollars. The book's film production rights were purchased soon after by producer Scott Rudin . For similar reasons that advances are frequently not very large—novels frequently do not sell well until
1066-848: The latter award), and is an editor and the Manager of Science Fiction at Tor Books . Born in Lansing, Michigan , he was first active in science fiction fandom while living in Toronto in the early 1970s. He continued in Seattle , before moving to the New York area in the 1980s to work professionally in publishing. After moving to New York, he worked at Literary Guild as an editorial assistant, then at Chelsea House as an associate editor. He changed his last name to "Nielsen Hayden" on his marriage to Teresa Nielsen (now Teresa Nielsen Hayden ) in 1979. He joined Tor Books in
1107-491: The mid-1980s as an assistant and has worked there ever since. He has published a number of essays and reviews. He has contributed to a number of books and magazines, including The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (2nd edition, 1993) and The Map: Rediscovering Rock and Roll . He is one of the regular instructors at Viable Paradise, a science fiction writing workshop held on Martha's Vineyard , and has also taught at both U.S. Clarion Workshops . He used to be active on
1148-805: The more prestigious awards around the world include the American Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award , the French Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman , the British Guardian First Book Award , the German Aspekte-Literaturpreis and the Japanese Noma Literary Prize . The New York Times commentator Leslie Jamison described the big, and often very public, "to do" about debut novels and novelists created by these book awards, as associated with
1189-455: The novel in her spare time. She also published stories in Starlight 2 (1998) and Starlight 3 (2001); according to The New York Times Magazine , her work was known and appreciated by a small group of fantasy fans and critics on the internet. Overall, she published seven short stories in anthologies. "Mr Simonelli, or The Fairy Widower" was shortlisted for a World Fantasy Award in 2001. Clarke
1230-598: The novel investigates the nature of Englishness and the boundary between reason and madness. It has been described as a fantasy novel, an alternative history, and an historical novel and draws on various Romantic literary traditions, such as the comedy of manners , the Gothic tale , and the Byronic hero . Clarke's style has frequently been described as a pastiche , particularly of 19th-century British writers such as Charles Dickens , Jane Austen , and George Meredith . The supernatural
1271-465: The novel is set in 'a richly imagined, very unusual world.' The title character lives in a place called the House and is needed by his friend, the Other, to work on a scientific project. The publisher went on: 'Piranesi records his findings in his journal. Then messages begin to appear; all is not what it seems. A terrible truth unravels as evidence emerges of another person and perhaps even another world outside
Susanna Clarke - Misplaced Pages Continue
1312-503: The panache of the novel, it lacks its glorious self-possession." When she began writing her next book, Clarke was living in Cambridge with her partner, the science fiction novelist and reviewer Colin Greenland . They met when she took his fantasy writing course. She was, in 2004, working on a book that begins a few years after Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell ends and which would involve characters who, as Clarke said, are "a bit lower down
1353-611: The rest of that year in County Durham , in a house that looked out over the North Sea. There she began working on her first novel, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. In 1993, she was hired by Simon & Schuster in Cambridge to edit cookbooks, a job she kept for the next ten years. Clarke first developed the idea for Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell while she was teaching in Bilbao: "I had
1394-756: The social scale". She commented in 2005 and 2007 that progress on the book had been slowed by her ill health. In 2006 it was reported that she suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome . Clarke found that writing the sequel to Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell was becoming too complex considering her illness, and she returned instead to an earlier project with fewer characters and requiring less research – which became her second novel. While writing this book she moved to Derbyshire. In September 2019, Publishers Weekly reported that Clarke's second novel would be titled Piranesi and published in September 2020 by Bloomsbury. Quoting their press release, "A Bloomsbury spokesperson said
1435-689: The stories in Ladies focus on the power women gain through magic. Clarke's second novel, Piranesi , was published in September 2020, winning the 2021 Women's Prize for Fiction . In January 2024, she stated that she was currently working on a novel set in Bradford , England. Clarke was born on 1 November 1959 in Nottingham , England, the eldest daughter of a Methodist minister and his wife. Owing to her father's posts, she spent her childhood in various towns across Northern England and Scotland, and enjoyed reading
1476-483: The story to his friend, science-fiction writer and editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden . Clarke learned of these events when Nielsen Hayden called and offered to publish her story in his anthology Starlight 1 (1996), which featured pieces by well-regarded science-fiction and fantasy writers. She accepted, and the book won the World Fantasy Award for best anthology in 1997. Clarke spent the next ten years working on
1517-407: The term becoming more widely used after about 1980, gaining in popularity since. Patrick Nielsen Hayden Patrick James Nielsen Hayden (born Patrick James Hayden January 2, 1959), is an American science fiction editor , fan, fanzine publisher, essayist , reviewer , anthologist , teacher and blogger . He is a World Fantasy Award and Hugo Award winner (with nine nominations for
1558-520: The voice that narrates the novel." The title story, "The Ladies of Grace Adieu", is set in early 19th-century Gloucestershire and concerns the friendship of three young women, Cassandra Parbringer, Miss Tobias, and Mrs. Fields. Though the events of the story do not actually appear in Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell , they are referenced in a footnote in Chapter 43. Clarke has said, "For a long time it
1599-453: The works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle , Charles Dickens , and Jane Austen . She studied philosophy, politics, and economics at St Hilda's College, Oxford , receiving her degree in 1981. For eight years, she worked in publishing at Quarto and Gordon Fraser . She spent two years teaching English as a foreign language in Turin , Italy and Bilbao , Spain. She returned to England in 1992 and spent
1640-451: Was my hope that these three ladies should eventually find a place in ... the novel ... I decided there was no place for them ... I deliberately kept women to the domestic sphere in the interests of authenticity ... it was important that real and alternate history appeared to have converged. This meant that I needed to write the women and the servants, as far as possible, as they would have been written in
1681-449: Was never sure if she would finish her novel or if it would be published. Clarke tried to write for three hours each day, beginning at 5:30 am, but struggled to keep this schedule. Rather than writing the novel from beginning to end, she wrote in fragments and attempted to stitch them together. Clarke, admitting that the project was for herself and not for the reader, "clung to this method" "because I felt that if I went back and started at