The Patrick Gale Archive at University College Falmouth is now open to all those interested in how a writer researches, edits and gets an idea down on paper. Sarah Farley reports.

Patrick Gale recently donated his manuscripts to University College Falmouth. During a symposium to launch the archive, members of the public got the chance to meet him and a panel of publishing specialists, including an agent and editor who work with Patrick and an independent bookseller. I was there to find out why archives are important and to learn more about how a book moves from a writer's mind to the bookshelf.

What is archiving?
Archiving is the collecting of documents and records that provide information on places and people. They often include documents that are open to the public such as registers of births and deaths, but personal documents are sometimes donated too. The Patrick Gale Archive is significant because it's unusual for an author's documents to be held in a UK archive. Most novelists' notebooks are scooped up by the US universities, making Patrick's donation especially generous. He has donated his notebooks, manuscripts, correspondence, jacket ideas and finished cover designs. These documents reflect his career as well as his personal writing process.

The symposium
The focus of the event was Patrick's book Notes from an Exhibition, and the panel of guests talked about how it evolved from initial idea to successful novel (it was a Richard and Judy book choice for 2007). The novel is set in the world of the St Ives artists and features cameo appearances by real-life figures, including sculptor Dame Barbara Hepworth. The archive contains the manuscript of the novel together with notebooks that reveal the depth of research that went into creating it. During the event, University College Falmouth's archivist, Sarah Jane showed Patrick's notebooks, manuscripts and various jacket proofs to the audience, complete with doodles and coffee stains.

Getting started
Many new writers feel confused when starting a novel. It's reassuring to find out that someone as successful as Patrick experiences the same concerns when he begins a new project. He doesn't come up with a plot or specific plan for his stories; instead, he prefers to let the plot evolve from the situation. With Notes From an Exhibition, the story evolved from the main character, Rachel Kelly. He told us that when he began writing, the only thing fixed in his mind was the urge to write a story about a difficult mother and the knowledge that the book would start with her death. In terms of planning the story, he visualised each chapter as a single story and his main crisis was deciding on the order of the chapters.

Bringing characters to life
Even for an experienced writer, characterisation does not come easy. Patrick revealed that he often has to stop writing because he doesn't know who his character is. He'll break off and work it out before going back to it.

When it comes to creating authentic characters in his novels, he also admits that he is shameless about using real life. "The trick is to use bits of one person and bits of another. If you use just one person they come out a bit psychotic."

Keeping it secret
Patrick is quite superstitious about not telling anyone what he's writing. In the early stages of his books he prefers to work in secret before he gives too much away. Elinor Cooper an agent from Patrick's literary agency, AP Watt (http://www.apwatt.co.uk) told us that whilst she may not always know exactly what Patrick is working on, she's usually aware that he's at least working on something. Georgia Mason, an editor from Fourth Estate (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/about-harpercollins/Imprints/4th_Estate/Pages/4th_Estate.aspx?cm_sp=HarperCollins_Imprints-_-Left) agreed by saying "editors tend to leave authors to it, providing that they know that the author is at least working on something."

How important is research?
Patrick does a lot of research for his books, but stresses the importance of knowing when to stop reading and when to get on with writing. His sources are varied and he's prepared to make use of the people he knows and the contacts he has.

One of the problems he encountered with this story was including Dame Barbara Hepworth as a character. He created a timeline of the events in the story before realising that in real-time his characters could not have met her in Cornwall in the year he had planned. He then had to re-calculate the timeline so that the dates matched up. With regards to stories that take place over long time-periods he has some good advice: "Don't be too specific about period and you can get away with murder."

The central character in Notes From an Exhibition has bipolar disorder. Patrick wanted to understand how bipolar disorder feels as well as understanding the clinical background of the condition. He read books as well as speaking with doctors and psychiatrists. He also contacted a former patient of the mental institution that features in the book. He provided details about life in a mental institution - right down to what times pills are handed out. Writers need this deep, personal insight into a subject to bring a place to life and give it a sense of reality.

Controversial topics
The audience at the symposium were interested in whether publishers want to take on stories with difficult or controversial topics. Elinor Cooper gave the agent's perspective, saying that they sometimes worry about whether an issue like bipolar disorder should be a big part of the plot, but that they always look at the story from how a reader would see it and ask "Does it ring true?"

Similarly, Georgia Mason said that controversial subjects "are not to be shied away from and often are to be encouraged."

First drafts and rewriting
Patrick writes all his first drafts in longhand - a bonus for anyone wanting to see his archive. After he's written the first draft he then has to type it up. He tries to do this as accurately as possible but says: "Often I can't read my own scribbles." So he rewrites as he goes along and the typed version becomes the second draft. He then prints it out and makes edits to the copy in longhand to create athird draft.

All in the edit
Patrick does most of his editing himself before passing his novels onto his agent. While many authors rely on their editors, Georgia said that the publishing industry is changing: "There's been a move for the editing process to be started much earlier, often via the agency and before the publishers give input."

The first edit is usually structural in nature, such as working on the order of the chapters. The next stage is the line editing and copy-editing, which is done by a specialist. It takes great skill to do this work. Editors at this level are looking for consistency to make sure that no detail is missed. By the time an author gets to this stage of their book, they are so familiar with it that it's easy to miss things, which is why a good editor is an essential part of the team when publishing a book.

Judging a book by its cover
Authors don't get involved with choosing how the pages of the finished novel look, but Patrick confessed that he gets excited about the jacket design. The cover not only has to show what the story is like, but what makes it different from other books. As he says: "The challenge with the cover is reaching the reader who doesn't know the author or the book."

Katie Lazenby, manager of the Falmouth Bookseller (http://www.falmouth-bookseller.co.uk/) told us that they plan their window displays based on the cover of the book that they are promoting. As an independent bookseller, Katie has the freedom to choose what goes into her window, but cover design is just as important when selling a book through chains like Waterstones or supermarkets. Patrick told us that the reason his book Rough Music was picked for sale by Tesco was that they felt the cover (which shows a boy on a beach) would fit well in a display that included beach towels and sunscreen. Tesco's display worked, with Patrick testifying that they "shifted a lot of stock that way."

But sometimes book covers can cause controversy. Patrick admits that when the design for the paperback version of Notes From an Exhibition was revealed he didn't like it, but the publishers were reluctant to budge. Then the Richard and Judy Book Club got in touch. They'd read the book and liked it, but refused to promote it with the original cover. So it was changed, revealing the influence that the Richard and Judy phenomenon has had on the publishing industry. Sarah Jane showed us versions of the jacket from the archive.

Letting go

As a writer, one of the hardest things to get to grips with is letting go of your work. After months of love and labour you eventually have to stand back and let the publishing team guide your novel from idea to physical object. As Patrick pointed out, when one of his books hits the shelves, "It becomes a product to sell rather than a text."

Visiting the archive
The Patrick Gale Archive now open for anyone wanting to explore Patrick's manuscripts first hand and gain inspiration. He says: "If there's one thing that I hope this archive inspires students to do, it is to pick up a pen and paper rather than a computer."

The Patrick Gale Archive is available by appointment with the University College Falmouth's Archive Service at Tremough Campus. For more information click here (http://library.falmouth.ac.uk/522/resources/collections/archives-and-special-collections/article.asp) or contact Archivist Sarah C Jane on 01326 254303 or by emailing archives@falmouth.ac.uk.