Author chat: Pj kelly, ‘The Good teacher’
PJ is a long-time MAA author and when we recently discovered the success of his self-published book, The Good Teacher, we had to know more about how this success came about. Self-publishing is a competitive space so when an author carves a spot for themselves there and makes a success of that space then we definitely want to know ALL their secrets of how they did it! PJ took time out of his own busy day to fill us in …
PJ, can you tell us a little bit more about yourself?
I am a primary school teacher, living and working in Perth, Western Australia. I have a wife and two boys, and having travelled widely consider the whole world to be my real home. I am passionate about teaching and I believe that above all else, students and children everywhere have the right to feel safe and be free from harm. It is from this strength of conviction that The Good Teacher was born.
Can you provide a short synopsis of The Good Teacher?
The shrill ringing of the lunchtime bell signals the beginning of the end, as Miss Bell calmly dismisses her Grade Three class, before quietly escorting two of her students to her car. They depart the school premises and drive to the international airport, where they board a plane to Paris with plans to disappear on the other side of the world.
The children, Lisa and Jacob Johnstone, have suffered a well-documented childhood of neglect and abuse, so when their primary school teacher kidnaps them a crime of international proportions is committed.
But Miss Bell was not a bad woman. She was a good teacher. This is her story.
Kit: Well, if there was ever a synopsis that drew you in, that’s it! Now I need to know more!
What prompted you to start writing this particular narrative?
Sitting in the school staff room and hearing my fellow teacher’s stories about those students in their lives they wish they could have saved. Students who had got in to drugs, or gone to jail, or worse, committed suicide. I thought about the what ifs; what if they stepped in earlier and did what no one else expected them to? What is they put their own lives and careers at risk to do what they felt was right? That was the genesis of The Good Teacher.
Kit: I love that most writers have a whole other life that then informs their writing. So, I suppose that makes me wonder…
do you plan your narrative or do the ideas come to you as you write?
A mixture of both, I guess. I start with a very brief plan or outline and then run with it, allowing the characters to make some decisions for their own. If the path isn’t clear, then I might take a step back and look at where I need to get to and make some plans on how I could possibly get there. Then I get back to the characters and see what they want to do.
Kit: I love hearing about all different writing approaches, but I definitely identify with the ‘vague plan and then allowing the characters to make their own choices’ approach 😊 It is a fun way of writing!
What happened in writing that you didn’t expect?
PJ: I often get pieces of dialogue bursting from the characters mouths that I haven’t seen coming. Giving up pieces of information that surprise me and affect the story deeply. That’s when you know you are in the zone. It’s a great feeling.
Kit: Yes! Does it ever alarm you that you’re so easily able to inhabit the mind of a fictional character? It’s an incredible talent … or perhaps that you have issues, it could go either way 😉
PJ: Ha! Once, I had a character on a bike, riding home along a country lane. As far as I was concerned they were just trying to get home after a long day. They turned the corner into their street only to see their house on fire. I had not seen that coming and I had to sit back and watch the fire burn as if I was the character. When that happens you feel like you are actually imbedded in the story yourself.
Kit: I love this so much! When I write this often happens and I am so surprised by the turn of events.
Once those characters found their way and your narrative was ‘set’, you worked with us to develop your manuscript, how do you feel that helped to shape your work?
The MAA helped me to believe in my writing, providing both positive commentary and informing as to the areas that needed improvement. They made me feel like a writer, a professional dealing with other professionals. It’s incredibly important to have people you can trust on this journey with you. People whose opinions you value and The MAA are those people for me. I trust their voice implicitly, always looking forward to the reward of their critique.
Kit: Thanks PJ. Trust is so important, as is impartial, professional, and honest feedback about your writing. I am so glad we were able to raise you up 😊
How did your manuscript develop, both in your initial thinking about it and in the revision process?
PJ: It developed really beautifully because having worked hard on the first drafts by myself, taking it to others and then feeding off their reactions provided me, the writer, with another angle from which to tackle the story. You originally start writing as a writer and then having received some constructive criticism, you can write from the point of view of the reader, which just freshens everything up.
Kit: That’s true!
PJ: I found this revision process really enjoyable, because my goal in the end was to entertain and inform my readers so every step forward, further strengthened my dedication toward achieving this end result.
What do you hope people will take away from reading your work?
A realisation that teachers see a lot of good and bad in the classroom that has nothing at all to do with education. It’s what makes teaching so hard, because you are quite powerless in these situations. Making change is almost impossible because these problems are so deeply entrenched in the lives of the families involved. They will always run from a solution than actually seek to improve the issues at hand. Children are our most precious asset and protecting them should be at the forefront of our lives. Pushing paperwok around so it looks like we are doing that, has become a disease infecting most organisations whose sole responsibility is the protection of minors.
Kit: It is so sad to hear this. I feel teachers have been overburdened with box-ticking items that don’t add a lot of classroom value necessarily, which sucks the passion right out.
You decided to self-publish your book, what were your reasons for choosing this path?
I’d gone down the traditional route of sending my synopsis off to publishers and agents, and whilst I did get to the end of the process with a few, i.e. them reading the full draft, I never made it all the way through the net to a ‘YES’. having chased this dream for over a year I was jaded sure, but I knew this story had to be told and I wasn’t going to let others control that outcome. I was never short on the passion required to see it through, so I started investigating what it would be like to self-publish. I found an industry insider who helped me with all the formatting and connected me with Amazon’s printing services and then it was all go. It was great to be involved in every decision and to have one hundred percent control over the novel’s destiny. Overall it was an incredibly positive experience for me and one that I would do again in a heartbeat.
That’s so wonderful to hear – that you enjoyed it, I mean. What did you find easy, difficult, surprising about the process?
PJ: I found the promotion of my book very easy and enjoyable.
Kit: What?! I am sure you’re the first author I’ve ever heard say this!!
PJ: I’m not an extrovert by any stretch, but promotion ended up being one of the highlights actually, and having make some connections with Dymocks I found myself doing book signings outside their stores and book club visits to people’s houses. I even got invited to The Margaret River Writers Festival which was huge, with people approaching me for my autograph. It was all very surreal.
Kit: That is brilliant 😊
PJ: The biggest difficulty was managing the distribution of the book. I was driving everywhere across the state of WA, and even posting off boxes of ten books to the eastern states stores. It was a lot to manage, whilst also continuing with my full-time job as a primary school teacher. Keeping track of all these dispatches and then invoicing the sales was a steep learning curve, but again it was still very satisfying. I now have a distributor called Peribo who do that all for me and it’s been a massive help.
The surprising part for me was that if you can make just two or three really strong connections then the others parts of the puzzle will come a lot easier. My three most important pieces were Dymocks Joondalup who came on board early on, Maggie Dent who just happened to read my book, post her love of it to her Facebook page and then agree to allow one of her quotes to adorn the front cover of my book, and finally Peribo Distributers who managed to bring all of my hard work together to bring Dymocks head office in Sydney on board. Those three connections made a lot happen for me and I will always be indebted to them for their support.
Kit: That really is amazing, PJ. It is so good to hear that it went so well for you.
I wonder, do you usually read ebooks or paperback?
I am still definitely a hard copy reader. I love the feel of the book in my hand and the turn of the page. I love placing a particularly favourite literary experience onto the bookshelves at home, to be remembered or to be shared with others. I have tried eBooks and the like but they just don’t cut it with me.
Kit: I hear you! Although, I’ve recently gotten the hang of reading e-formats.
Where do you mostly buy your books from?
I buy almost all my books from Dymocks Joondalup. I always have, but the support they have given me over the last few years, means that I always will. They know me now too, and that recognition when I walk in is priceless.
Kit: You can’t beat a great local bookshop! Let’s hope we always get to enjoy them!
Now, importantly, where can we buy your book?
My book is available across Australia, through Dymocks and QBD and other independent bookstores. It’s also available internationally via Amazon in both hard copy and ebook as well as on most other book sites.
And is there anywhere else we can find out more about you?
My website address is www.thegoodteachernovel.com and you can message me on Facebook and Instagram at ‘The Good Teacher’.
Tell us what’s next for you?
I’ve almost finished my second book titled The Narrative. It’s another teacher-driven story, this time a graduate who is confronted with the issue of Mandatory Reporting during her first placement in a country town. Half way through her first year a student in her class writes a narrative, which is suggestive of a sexual abuse issue at home, between herself and her father. The teacher tries to do the right thing, but it all too quickly starts to blow up in her face, the intricacies of both the mandatory reporting system and small-town country life combining to create confusion and fear.
Kit: Again, you’ve drawn me in! I want to read that one!
Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me, PJ. It has been a pleasure working with you through The MAA and such a pleasure to see your book take on a life of its own and reach so many readers!