LINDA TEMIENOR-VINCENT won 2023’s longlist prize with her Nigerian-set manuscript How to Marrie a Rich Man about Miracle, a flawed yet winning heroine with astounding agency. Her prize was the virtual course Edit Your Novel the Professional Way from Cornerstones Literary Consultancy run in collaboration with the Professional Writing Academy. Having just completed the course, Linda shares what she learned along the way.
Tell us about you…
I love telling stories. (Lol). I love to write about systemic oppressions, traumatic histories, family drama, and romance to push positivity if I can help it. I am working to push out compelling narratives to help and impact people. These days, I observe more and talk when necessary. I smile and laugh a lot. I enjoy my company and prioritise my spirituality and mind. It allows me to reflect and build myself. I am interested in getting to know people and socialising when needed. I prefer to take things slowly but can be spontaneous, too.
What did it mean to win this prize?
It doesn’t matter that we have millions of writers out in the world already; my contribution to the literary economy will aid and encourage someone out there. Before I entered for the BNA, the website was my movie night. I spent a lot of time reading and meditating over all the interviews from judges to editors to winners, reading sample stories and author tips while working on my manuscript. My lungs jumped when I saw my name for the prize. My heart almost exploded. It meant that my hard work and dedication paid off.
Your prize was a place on the Edit Your Novel the Professional Way course and have said you are a better writer, reader, and thinker for completing it. Can you say how?
Writing is a skill with many parts. The editors at Cornerstone know what they are doing. They are worth their weight in gold. I don’t know if the words interiority and physicality would ever leave my head. However, I learnt the importance of a rounded, relatable character and how to filter a dialogue to be convincing.
How has it changed the way you edit?
The importance of planning and thinking things through. Replacing cheap, basic, and superfluous with intriguing, engaging, and purposeful.
Delegates put in up to ten hours a week including reading and thinking, and completing practical exercises. How did you fit this time into your existing schedule?
Determination and mental strength are required. The adult life of responsibilities is challenging, and juggling additional passions requires planning, discipline and execution.
Sharing and receiving manuscript feedback with your peers is an important element of the course. What were the best and most challenging parts of this?
Experience, exposure and open-mindedness are essential factors for workshopping classes or exercises. I was initially worried that my peers would find my story challenging because of the writing style, but they crushed my doubts and provided feedback most kindly and lovingly. It’s incredible.
“I love telling stories … I am working to push out compelling narratives to help and impact people.”
Would you say the course helped you to develop your synopsis?
Very much so. You get to think things through and work the spine of your story.
How did the course help you to know how to query and identify the best fit agents for your book?
There’s no one answer. But it’s important to understand what genre you are writing in and thoroughly know your story. That way, you can reach out to agents interested in your book.
What was the most useful piece of individual feedback you had from your tutor?
Know your plot points and keep your synopsis flexible; it may change significantly.
What’s next for you?
Getting published, learning more, and serving my writing gift.
Linda Temienor-Vincent completed an MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia in 2022. She won the Spotlight First Novel Award and the Longlist Prize of the Bath Novel Award in 2023. She was selected for the National Centre for Writing 2023 Escalator programme. Authors she enjoys reading are Sam Selvon, Tsitsi Dangarembga, CNA, Teju Cole, Femi Kayode, Ayobami Adebayo, Doris Lessing and Rachel Cusk.
The Bath Novel Awards 2024 are now open for submissions. Each prize offers £5,000 for the overall winning novel, feedback for all listees plus a longlist prize worth £1,980 of a place on Edit Your Novel the Professional Way, sponsored by Cornerstones Literary Consultancy and the Professional Writing Academy
