y first attempt at writing a novel was a hot mess. Following the guidelines shared in Book in a Month, I eventually fleshed out almost 80,000 words and was confident I was poised to become the Next Great American Novelist! As you can imagine, that didn’t happen. It took writing at least five more drafts, over the next five years, before I had the contemporary YA ghost story in my hands. Writing a novel isn’t easy, as we’re all crunched for time these days and pulled in a million different directions. Tom Bromley, Head of Learning at Reedsy, knows this, too, which is why he developed the course How to Write a Novel.

Tom’s course guides writers through the process of crafting a 75,000-word novel in 101 days. The course, How to Write a Novel ($1249.00 value), is one of the prizes we’ll be giving away in the Summer 2024 Flash Fiction Contest! Here at WOW, we are excited to have Reedsy as our contest sponsor. This summer’s contest also awards a higher first place cash prize than it usually does, and Tom Bromley will be serving as our summer season’s guest judge. We took this opportunity to interview Tom because he has a wealth of knowledge to share, and so WOW writers can get to know him and find out more about his incredible course.

After earning a master of arts in creative writing from Bath Spa University, Tom got his start in the publishing industry working as a bookseller and with a gig writing book blurbs. He served as a commissioning editor at Little, Brown, founded the imprint Portico, and was an editorial director for AA Books. In addition to his role at Reedsy, a platform that connects authors with publishing professionals for self-publishing and book marketing projects, Tom is the author of Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Half a World Away, the nonfiction music book We Could Have Been the Wombles, a book about cycling, Bespoke, and two pop culture memoirs, All in the Best Possible Taste and Wired for Sound. He wrote two crime novellas under the pseudonym Thomas Black, and his short story “Rings” was chosen as the opening piece for the Best British Short Stories 2021 anthology. Tom has also worked as a ghostwriter for the last decade, producing several prize-winners and international bestsellers.

Join us for a lively and informative interview as Tom and I chat about his work as a commissioning editor and ghostwriter, publishing trends, his novel writing course, and how you can successfully produce your dream project.

 

 

WOW: Hi Tom, and welcome! Your writer bio is so cleverly written it made me laugh out loud a few times. Do you have any suggestions for how writers can produce their own eye-catching bio?

Tom: Thank you! I think the key with bios, like writing generally, is voice. If you can get across something of yourself while listing your details, you’re doing well. And I think humor can, depending on the genre you’re writing in, cut through too and help make a bio memorable and stand out.

WOW: Speaking of presenting the best version of yourself as a writer, the query letter can be intimidating for a lot of writers once they have a book they are ready to pitch. In your vast experience working as a commissioning editor and founding a publishing imprint, are there any suggestions you’d offer writers on how to improve this part of their submission package?

Tom: The query letter is a means to an end: to set your stall out as quickly and painlessly as possible and get the prospective editor/agent reading the manuscript, hopefully in a positive frame of mind. Keep it short would be my first bit of advice—no more than a page if possible. What is useful to include is a short (paragraph-length) summary of the plot, a bit on your writing background and experience, and something on where your book might sit in the market (a couple of comparative titles never hurts).

WOW: In your work as commissioning editor, what were some of the common problems or reasons that made you decide to pass on a manuscript?

Tom: There are various reasons for rejecting a manuscript. Firstly, there is the list you are publishing and the constraints of that: you only have so much space for so many titles a year, so as an editor, you guard those slots carefully. Sometimes there’s a “like but not love” reason for rejecting, or it doesn’t feel like a good fit for the list, or there is something on the list already that is similar.

WOW: Ah, this makes sense about “the list.” The marketplace can be so competitive! Flash fiction can be a tricky art form, as you only have a limited amount of words to tell your story. What do you think are the hallmarks of a prize-winning short story?

Tom: When I started writing, one of my inspirations was the American short story writer Raymond Carver. He had a wonderful maxim for writing: “Get in. Get out. Don’t linger,” which I think would be good advice here. For me, the best short stories are usually about capturing a specific moment and leaving the reader to extrapolate out from there for themselves. It’s the opposite to a novel where the form is about telling a story of change over time.

WOW: That’s a great explanation. Switching gears to longer pieces of writing, as an expert ghostwriter, do you have any suggestions on how writers can break into this niche?

Tom:  Ghostwriting is a difficult trade to get into as there isn’t a recognized route in. Most ghosts tend to start out as something else—an editor, journalist, or author—and go into it from there. I came into it from the editing side: the first couple of jobs I did were a mixture of editing and rewriting. From there, I got a straight ghostwriting gig and built out a career through word of mouth.

Finding a way to offer some sort of experience is important to breaking in. There’s a number of publishers now who offer to self-publish your family stories. I don’t think it’s brilliantly paid, but getting a couple of books under your belt there couldn’t hurt.

WOW: On average, how long does it take you to ghostwrite a book from start to finish (specifically nonfiction)?

Tom: Of course. It depends on the project and what else is going on, but usually you’re looking at a six- to nine-month process from start to finish.

WOW: If, during a ghostwriting interview, your subject shares something private or sensitive in nature that the publisher and readers would love to know, how do you decide whether to include it?

Tom: Depends on the subject! It’s often the case that you’ll start the process with various subjects as off-limits, then the subject relaxes as they get to know you and tell you all kinds of things. Sometimes, they’ll tell you a story off the record or ask you to switch the tape recorder off, in which case you can’t use it (though I have tried to persuade at times!). Generally, I feel protective of the subject, so I will discuss with them whether they want the information in the book or not: my line is that once it’s on the page in black and white, you can’t take it back. Usually, once the publisher knows that the detail is there, they’ll want it to help sell the book. So to protect the subject, I’ll take it out before it gets that far. Where I do take such stories out, it’s often because it involves someone else. And while the subject might be in the public eye and able to handle it, the other person may be less battle-hardened.

WOW: It can be tempting to try and write a novel that follows current trends (e.g., rom-coms, unreliable narrators, domestic thrillers). How important do you think it is to follow these publishing trends?

Tom: I’d always suggest the opposite: write the book that you want to write, not what you think will sell. If you’re traditionally published, the gap between writing and getting published can often be eighteen months or two years. So while you might be on trend when you start the book, the publishing world might have moved on by the time it is out.

 

WOW: I love this advice. Speaking of novels, music and pop culture feature heavily in your works of fiction. Do you have any advice to writers on how to effectively weave these types of themes into a book while still having it appeal to a larger audience?

Tom: I might not be the best person to answer this question as my own novels with a musical theme were published here in the UK but failed to sell in the US on account of being too British. Certainly, the music played a factor in that. To work more internationally, you’d have to think about music and moments that travel. With the most recent novel I’ve been working on, I’ve been trying to steer away from more specifically British references partly for this reason.

WOW: You’ve developed a course through Reedsy on how to write a novel. Why do you think writers should check out this informative master class that sets the goal of producing 75,000 words in 101 days?

Tom: I’ve taught novel writing online for over a decade now, and the course is really a culmination of all that knowledge accrued. My pitch for the course is Masterclass meets NaNoWriMo, so mixing learning with getting the words down. We want writers to come away from the course with a deeper knowledge of writing and a full first draft to go away and work on. If that sounds like you—and you’d feel encouraged to do it in a supportive writing community—then we’d love to have you along!

WOW: WOW! Executive Editor Angela Mackintosh reviewed your course, and it sounds comprehensive and well-designed. How did you decide on the structure of the course? Is it based on how you write your own novels?

Tom: I tried to mirror the writing of a book, so a week about beginnings at the beginning, the challenges of the “middle bit” in the middle and endings at the end. In between, the focus is more on core writing skills in the first half (e.g., plot, character, dialogue) and more developed skills in the second half (e.g., emphasis techniques, doubling up, use of chapters). So in theory, as you’re working on your draft, you’re learning skills that are relevant to where you are in the story.

 

WOW: What advice would you give a writer who has an idea for a novel but is limited on time to write?

Tom: Well, as I tell my students, there is no shortcut to writing a novel. You’re going to have to put the hours in somewhere along the line. But what I would say is that with a regular routine, it’s amazing how that word count can tick up, even if you can only carve out thirty minutes a day.

WOW: At WOW, we love to hear about success stories and even have a column in this newsletter where writers share their publications. Do you have a success story you can share about working with one of your students?

Tom:  Lots! Over the years, I’ve had about fifty or so students go on to get published. I have a soft spot for Jo Cannon, who if memory serves, got a tax rebate and tossed a coin between writing and dancing classes. I watched her debut novel, The Trouble With Goats and Sheep, unfold from the first few pages, and it went on to become the biggest selling literary debut of the year.

WOW: Oh, wow, her book sounds intriguing! Thank you for sharing that with us. Do you have any specific recommendations for tools an aspiring author should have at their disposal (e.g., apps, software, books on the craft of writing)?

Tom: I’m quite basic here: a notebook is good to jot down ideas (you always forget if you don’t). I’ve tried and failed with Scrivener over the years—I seem stuck in a Microsoft Word world forever! The one app I would recommend is Freedom, which blocks the internet from your computer. Seems strange to pay for an app to stop the internet working, but I find it really helps to concentrate. As for books, I always say that the best teachers are the novels themselves: go back and reread the writers you love and work out what makes them tick.

WOW: I’ll have to check Freedom out! Distraction online is one of my biggest vices when writing. What does a day in the life of Tom Bromley look like?

Tom: It varies depending on the day of the week, but it starts with Wordle and a cup of tea (I know). I’m usually working from home, so it’s a mixture of writing, editing, and teaching, depending on the day of week, punctuated with a bit of exercise and walks. I tend to write in the mornings when I’m fresher, and will edit/read in the afternoon, when I drink more tea to see me through to the end of the working day.

WOW: We always like to end our interviews with a fun question! You play guitar, bass, and double bass and have played in rock, funk, and folk groups! Who are your current top five? (musicians/bands)

Tom: That is a question and a half! I’m a jazz fan, and two of my current favorites are pianist Aaron Parks and guitarist Julian Lage (both good to write to as well!). My all-time musical hero is Bob Dylan, though he’s less good to write to. My second novel was based around the 70s folk singer Nick Drake, and I still listen to him a lot. I’m taking my daughter to see Taylor Swift in August, so I’m listening to her a lot to gen up for the gig!

 

 

Thanks again to Tom Bromley, published author, writing instructor, and Head of Learning at Reedsy for joining us today!

If the idea of having a linear path to writing your novel appeals to you, consider checking out Tom’s course. WOW! Executive Editor Angela Mackintosh took Tom’s How to Write a Novel course, and you can read her detailed review on our blog. As a bonus, you can sign up first without entering any payment information to receive a free video on character, so you can get an idea of Tom’s teaching style.

Tom’s next session of How to Write a Novel begins on September 2. You can click on this link to learn more. Our Summer 2024 Flash Fiction Contest is open until August 31, and Tom Bromley will be serving as the guest judge.

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Renee Roberson is an award-winning writer and has picked up accolades for both her fiction and nonfiction writing. Her short story, “The Polaroid,” won first place in the suspense/thriller category of the 2017 Writer’s Digest Popular Fiction Awards, and “The Monster in the Woods” took second place in the Genre Short Story category of the Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Competition in 2022. She created and produces the true crime podcast “Missing in the Carolinas,” and it receives approximately 50,000 downloads per year with Renee researching and writing all the episodes.