Jessica Seaborn: 'Keep moving through the first draft without going back to edit'
BY Katie Smart
15th Aug 2023
Jessica Seaborn studied on our online Writing Your Novel – Three Months course during the lockdowns of 2020. She is represented by Caitlan Cooper-Trent, associate agent at Curtis Brown Australia. Her debut novel Perfect-ish is out now from Michael Joseph, Penguin Books Australia.
We spoke with her about studying with CBC, the inspiration behind her debut, ‘anti-romcoms’ and her favourite female friendships in fiction.
You studied on our online Writing Your Novel – Three Months course in 2020. How did the course impact your approach to writing?
I’m incredibly grateful for all that I learnt on that course, and am convinced I wouldn’t be a published author without Curtis Brown Creative. The three-month course helped give me the confidence to continue writing my first draft. The tutorials were invaluable, the forum was so motivating, and with a goal of writing 1,000 words a day, I was able to finish the first draft before the end of the course.
What advice from tutor Cathi Unsworth resonated with you the most?
Cathi was a wealth of knowledge. Each week she provided such thoughtful feedback on the forum, and she certainly helped me work through some difficulties I was having with characterisation and pacing.
One particular zoom session we had was of the most value. A problem I’d always had with my writing was the tipping point of the story – usually three quarters of the way in, raising the stakes and then taking the end of the story to its resolution. Previous manuscripts just fell short in the second-half of the story, and she made me realise that I wasn’t really tackling the root of my character’s problems. I was going around in circles and never really confronting what it was about these characters that they needed to learn from, and grow from. That Zoom session was like a lightbulb moment for me, and helped me craft the second half of the manuscript into something much more substantial, and that advice has certainly helped me as I write my second novel.
Many of our students find lifelong writing friends on our courses. Are you still in touch with anyone you met on the course?
I am! Some of us are in a WhatsApp group and share updates on our writing and publishing journey. We’re scattered all around the world, so it’s nice to be able to communicate with ease. One of our members, Rob, was in Sydney last year and we caught up for coffee, which was lovely. I’m looking forward to meeting the others in person one day.
Your debut novel Perfect-ish is to be published by Michael Joseph in Australia this August. The novel follows Prue on her journey to live her best life, she is on the cusp of turning 30, has just been dumped by her fiancé and hates her job – but is on a mission to turn things around. Can you tell us a bit more about the novel and the inspiration behind it?
I like to think of my novel as Bridget Jones’ Diary meets turning 30. A fun, entertaining anti-romcom about what it’s like being in your late 20s.
The story was the amalgamation of a few ideas. I’ve always been fascinated by society’s tendency to project the best part of our lives onto others, particularly online. I’ve certainly been guilty of hiding certain parts of my life on social media, and when COVID-19 hit, I realised just how many others were doing it as well. Friends gushing about their husbands were suddenly leaving them, believing they were never in love with them to begin with. Friends with enviable jobs were realising they were actually unhappy with the direction of their career. And friends who always insisted on living in the inner-city were suddenly moving further away, seeking a different lifestyle.
I also found it interesting how anxious people can get as they approach 30. The desire to own property or get married or have children seems to accelerate the closer we get to exiting our twenties. I certainly had a habit of continually reassessing my life as I progressed through my twenties – I’d moved to Sydney and left a relationship to work in publishing but only made it five years before I realised the career I thought I wanted, I no longer did.
The book also explores loneliness, something I experienced when I moved to Sydney at 21. It was incredibly hard to form new friends when I moved and it wasn’t until I got older that I realised just how many others are going through the same thing. You can be living what appears to be an amazing life but you can still be unhappy if you don’t feel you have many people around you.
Your debut has been dubbed an ‘anti-romcom’, can you tell us a bit more about this and what drew you to experiment with the expectations of the romantic comedy genre?
Whilst there is a romance in the story, it’s in the background and isn’t a major plotline in the story. I wanted to write about a character whose life wasn’t going to plan, but it had nothing to do with a relationship. Instead, it was about her family, her friendships, her job, where she lived, her lack of direction in her career. I think there are a lot of reasons that your life may not be going to plan, and it’s not always about love. It was important for me to show that in the story.
The friendship between Prue and her best friend Delia is central to the story. What are some of your favourite fictional female friendships?
Great question! One of my favourite books, which I read while I was working on the first draft of Perfect-ish, is Expectation by Anna Hope. She crafts such incredible female characters and explores how their friendships have adapted and changed over time. I also love Dolly Alderton’s writing, as well as Marian Keyes and Mhairi McFarlane.
Do you have any tips for the aspiring authors reading this?
It’s easy to get swept up in wanting to edit your novel as you go, but what works best for me is to keep moving through the first draft without going back to edit. Even if you decide to alter the plot midway, or the characters. Or a relationship. Just tell yourself you’ll fix it in the second draft and keep moving forward.
What does your writing routine look like?
I write in the mornings, when I’m most motivated. I work full-time but if it’s a WFH day then I can write from around 6am – 8am. If it’s an office day, it needs to be slightly earlier, around 5am – 7am. And on the weekend, it’s whenever works best! The most I usually I write in one sitting is 1,000 words.
Finally, what’s next for your writing journey?
I’ve been working on my second novel since November, which is due for delivery to Penguin Random House by mid-October. It’s the same genre as my first novel – anti-romcom women’s fiction – but a completely new storyline and a new set of characters. I’m excited to share more soon.
Perfect-ish is out now in Australia.