Jennie Ensor's Blog, page 10

Review of THE MISSING TWIN by Alex Day via @alexdaywriter

Publisher: Killer Reads (HarperCollins imprint)

Author: Alex Day

Date published: August 2017

Format of book read: e-book. Thanks to the publisher for my copy, via Netgalley.

Note: Not long ago I featured an interview with Alex Day on psychological thrillers. Ms Day writes novels in another genre under another name; this is her first thriller.

[image error]With each chapter of The Missing Twin I became more and more engaged, wondering what on earth was going on and just how the two protagonists might overcome their ever-worsening difficulties. The novel is carefully constructed; it consists of two storylines that appear at first to be unrelated, told in alternating chapters from the points of view of two young women in very different situations.

Edie, a middle-class English girl in her 20s, works in a Croatian resort as a cleaner/bar-hand. In her time off she enjoys freediving (swimming underwater while holding one’s breath). She is treading water in life, however, having given up on various possible careers and is besotted by a guy at work who clearly cares nothing for her. Fatima, in contrast, is married with two daughters and lives in an unnamed, war-torn country. Apart from being a similar age (and that Edie is a twin and Fatima is the mother of twins), about the only thing they have in common is that both face a crisis in their lives early on in the novel which brings them into life-threatening danger, forcing each to re-evaluate their lives and what is truly important.

It is particularly difficult to say much about the plot without giving away crucial information. One of the most memorable things about The Missing Twin is the rug-pulling twist close to the end, which puts a lot of earlier things into perspective. (Clever title, too.) Suffice to say, Edie comes to believe that her twin (Laura) who suddenly disappears has been the victim of something sinister, possibly connected with the resort. Edie feels compelled to investigate with the intention of finding Laura. Fatima’s crisis begins with losing her husband and her house during a rocket attack; she sees little choice but to flee her devastated homeland with her daughters to seek a new life.

Early on in the book, I admit, I did wonder about Edie – why she was doing such a dead-end job and why she was so preoccupied with Vuk, another resort worker. He seems to see her in purely sexual terms (he doesn’t even give her a good time in bed!) and is obviously not on her side. That’s not to say the ‘relationship’ wasn’t believable – many girls fall for the bad guy, after all – just that early on, when we had very little background information about Edie, I found it hard to understand what was in her head. But this changed over the course of the novel, as her character develops.

Both the Fatima and Edie threads of the plot are infused with suspense by around the halfway point, and the tension ramps up in the second half with quite a few pageturning scenes and some chilling, hold-your-breath moments. The separate storylines intersect satisfyingly close to the end.

The novel portrays the plight of refugees exceedingly well, showing how they are exploited by people seemingly able to carry on their activities with impunity. The journey towards the promised land of Europe that Fatima makes is full of peril – what she has to endure on the way felt horrifyingly real to me. In a short time, she goes from being a high-status wife and mother in an affluent household to a woman with virtually nothing except herself and her daughters.

This was an entertaining and emotionally involving read. This is a successful dive into the realm of the thriller for Alex Day, in my view – one with strong social elements as well as the psychological.  Re the final twist, I wouldn’t be surprised if this divides readers… But I’ll say no more about that and let you make up their own mind!

Q&A with author Judith Baker

[image error]My latest interview victim is Judith Baker, who writes domestic noir/psychological thrillers under the name J.A. Baker, published by Bloodhound Books. Ms Baker forthrightly answers my questions on finding time to write, tackling difficult subjects, genre issues and the stresses and conflicts of being a writer. Apologies Judith for the somewhat delayed appearance of this post! (blogger ineptitude)

Q: How do you manage to write, research and publish/promote your books – and also have time for the rest of life?

My latest releases – Her Dark Retreat and The Other Mother – were written one straight after the other, which sounds fairly easy if you write full time, but I don’t. Writing is my second job so I do most of it on an evening, at weekends, or during the school holidays. The main difficulty for me is time, or rather the lack of it! I have learnt to utilise my time wisely and make sure I leave enough time for seeing family and friends. I managed to study for a degree whilst working and having four children living at home so juggling being a writer as well as working is nothing new to me.

After getting my debut novel (Undercurrent) published, I naively thought I could sit back for a while and had no idea how important it is to get your books out there and get your name known to readers. I soon realised that writing was a full-time job and there was far more to it than simply sitting and tapping away at a keyboard. Interviews, book signings, meeting readers and other authors are all part and parcel of being a writer. I love doing all of these things but again, time is always against me. I’ve learnt that I need to prioritise now, choosing to attend some and not all functions and taking part in only a few interviews rather than putting myself up for all of them.

Q: Have you tackled difficult subjects in your books and how did you approach this?

My second book, Her Dark Retreat, gave me the jitters prior to release because of the content. It deals with an assortment of difficult subjects such as dementia and infertility and although I had some knowledge of both, I also know that everyone’s experience is different and braced myself for some sort of backlash. However, I feel they were dealt with sensitively and were integral to the story so I hope nobody was offended. I do feel there is responsibility attached to producing a story and putting it out into the public domain and if as a writer, you are going to tackle difficult subjects, then you have a duty to do your homework beforehand and make it as accurate as you possibly can. Nobody is perfect and as I said earlier, everyone’s experiences are different and people interpret things quite differently, but as long as you can say, hand on heart, that you did your research then I don’t think anybody can complain or find fault.

Q: What genre do you write in, and what draws you to it?

The characters in my books aren’t always likeable. I don’t necessarily go down the route of having a protagonist everybody immediately warms to. We live in a complex world where people have many facets to their personality. I am fascinated by how normal people react when plunged into abnormal situations. I like to write about how their darker sides emerge as the story unfolds and events begin to unravel. My background is in education and psychology so it’s the working of a character’s mind that I focus on rather than the actual crime and forensics. I don’t consider myself a crime writer, more a thriller writer with a bit of crime thrown in!

The genre I slot into has been described as both psychological thriller and domestic noir. I have heard it said that this sort of writing is predominantly written by females and geared towards a female audience. I haven’t seen any statistics to back this up and only have my own experience to go on. The readers of my books seem to be a mixed bag for sure, including male and females of all ages.

Q: How do you find the editing process and all that goes with getting your book out?

I am fortunate enough to have a publisher (Bloodhound Books) who are so supportive of all their authors, which is just as well as I am a bag of nerves prior to the release of my books. I find the whole editing/proofreading process highly stressful. By the time I receive my book back for one final glance over for errors etc, I’ve read it so many times I can hardly bring myself to even look at it. I spend the month before release worrying about glaring errors, holes in the plot, grammatical mistakes etc. and am constantly sending emails to Sumaira, the publishing assistant who does her best to calm my raging nerves. And then of course there is the worry about how it will be received and whether or not it will sell as well as the last book. The trauma of being a writer never ends! And yet I keep on doing it. Just when I think I can’t cope with the stress of it any more, those ideas come creeping back into my brain and I’m off again – plotting, inventing characters, thinking up new settings and before I know it, my next book has been born…

Author bio

J.A.BAKER was born and brought up in the North East of England and has had a love of language for as long as she can remember.

After gaining an MA in Education & Applied Linguistics with the Open University, she found herself with spare time and embarked on doing something she always wanted to do – write a novel.

She has a love of local history and genealogy and enjoys reading many genres of books but is an addict of psychological thrillers.

In December 2016 she was signed by Bloodhound Books who published Undercurrent. J.A.

Her second novel, Her Dark Retreat was published in October 2017. J. A. Baker’s third book, The Other Mother is due out on 5th December 2017.

She has four grown-up children and a grandchild and lives in a village near Darlington with her husband and madcap dog.

Book info

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Her Dark Retreat on Amazon UK

#Bookconnectors Q&A with Judith Baker @Bloodhoundbook

[image error]My latest interview victim is Judith Baker, who writes domestic noir/psychological thrillers under the name J.A. Baker, published by Bloodhound Books. Ms Baker forthrightly answers my questions on finding time to write, tackling difficult subjects, genre issues and the stresses and conflicts of being a writer. Apologies Judith for the somewhat delayed appearance of this post! (blogger ineptitude)

Q: How do you manage to write, research and publish/promote your books – and also have time for the rest of life?

My latest releases – Her Dark Retreat and The Other Mother – were written one straight after the other, which sounds fairly easy if you write full time, but I don’t. Writing is my second job so I do most of it on an evening, at weekends, or during the school holidays. The main difficulty for me is time, or rather the lack of it! I have learnt to utilise my time wisely and make sure I leave enough time for seeing family and friends. I managed to study for a degree whilst working and having four children living at home so juggling being a writer as well as working is nothing new to me.

After getting my debut novel (Undercurrent) published, I naively thought I could sit back for a while and had no idea how important it is to get your books out there and get your name known to readers. I soon realised that writing was a full-time job and there was far more to it than simply sitting and tapping away at a keyboard. Interviews, book signings, meeting readers and other authors are all part and parcel of being a writer. I love doing all of these things but again, time is always against me. I’ve learnt that I need to prioritise now, choosing to attend some and not all functions and taking part in only a few interviews rather than putting myself up for all of them.

Q: Have you tackled difficult subjects in your books and how did you approach this?

My second book, Her Dark Retreat, gave me the jitters prior to release because of the content. It deals with an assortment of difficult subjects such as dementia and infertility and although I had some knowledge of both, I also know that everyone’s experience is different and braced myself for some sort of backlash. However, I feel they were dealt with sensitively and were integral to the story so I hope nobody was offended. I do feel there is responsibility attached to producing a story and putting it out into the public domain and if as a writer, you are going to tackle difficult subjects, then you have a duty to do your homework beforehand and make it as accurate as you possibly can. Nobody is perfect and as I said earlier, everyone’s experiences are different and people interpret things quite differently, but as long as you can say, hand on heart, that you did your research then I don’t think anybody can complain or find fault.

Q: What genre do you write in, and what draws you to it?

The characters in my books aren’t always likeable. I don’t necessarily go down the route of having a protagonist everybody immediately warms to. We live in a complex world where people have many facets to their personality. I am fascinated by how normal people react when plunged into abnormal situations. I like to write about how their darker sides emerge as the story unfolds and events begin to unravel. My background is in education and psychology so it’s the working of a character’s mind that I focus on rather than the actual crime and forensics. I don’t consider myself a crime writer, more a thriller writer with a bit of crime thrown in!

The genre I slot into has been described as both psychological thriller and domestic noir. I have heard it said that this sort of writing is predominantly written by females and geared towards a female audience. I haven’t seen any statistics to back this up and only have my own experience to go on. The readers of my books seem to be a mixed bag for sure, including male and females of all ages.

Q: How do you find the editing process and all that goes with getting your book out?

I am fortunate enough to have a publisher (Bloodhound Books) who are so supportive of all their authors, which is just as well as I am a bag of nerves prior to the release of my books. I find the whole editing/proofreading process highly stressful. By the time I receive my book back for one final glance over for errors etc, I’ve read it so many times I can hardly bring myself to even look at it. I spend the month before release worrying about glaring errors, holes in the plot, grammatical mistakes etc. and am constantly sending emails to Sumaira, the publishing assistant who does her best to calm my raging nerves. And then of course there is the worry about how it will be received and whether or not it will sell as well as the last book. The trauma of being a writer never ends! And yet I keep on doing it. Just when I think I can’t cope with the stress of it any more, those ideas come creeping back into my brain and I’m off again – plotting, inventing characters, thinking up new settings and before I know it, my next book has been born…

Author bio

J.A.BAKER was born and brought up in the North East of England and has had a love of language for as long as she can remember.

After gaining an MA in Education & Applied Linguistics with the Open University, she found herself with spare time and embarked on doing something she always wanted to do – write a novel.

She has a love of local history and genealogy and enjoys reading many genres of books but is an addict of psychological thrillers.

In December 2016 she was signed by Bloodhound Books who published Undercurrent. J.A.

Her second novel, Her Dark Retreat was published in October 2017. J. A. Baker’s third book, The Other Mother is due out on 5th December 2017.

She has four grown-up children and a grandchild and lives in a village near Darlington with her husband and madcap dog.

Book info

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Her Dark Retreat on Amazon UK

#Bookreview The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel

[image error]Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Publication Date: 2017

Device: iPhone; mostly listened to audiobook

Blurb:

EVERYONE WANTS TO BE A ROANOKE GIRL. BUT YOU WON’T WHEN YOU KNOW THE TRUTH.

‘Roanoke girls never last long around here. In the end, we either run or we die.’

The girls of the Roanoke family – beautiful, rich, mysterious – seem to have it all. But there’s a dark truth about them that’s never spoken.

Lane is one of the lucky ones. When she was fifteen, over one long, hot summer at her grandparents’ estate in rural Kansas, she found out what it really means to be a Roanoke girl. Lane ran, far and fast. Until eleven years later, when her cousin Allegra goes missing – and Lane has no choice but to go back.

She is a Roanoke girl.

Is she strong enough to escape a second time?

My thoughts

Engel led me into a darker than dark world that ought to repel, with a plot that could have been preposterous were the novel not so skilfully written. But The Roanoke Girls sucked me in with its weird claustrophobic atmosphere and sassy yet vulnerable narrator. I ended up riveted and was sad to reach the final page. For me the novel underlines the fact that little in this world is pure evil – between black and white there are endless shades of grey.

Note: The story involves sexual abuse; while not graphic, this may be upsetting for some.

Plot in brief: Following the suicide of her mother, who was brought up in the house before running away, Lane is drawn back to the Roanoke family mansion to find out what happened to her cousin Allegra, who’s now gone missing a decade after Lane spent a summer there with Allegra and their Gran and Granddad.

The story of present events and that past summer are narrated by Lane in alternating chapters.

In a startling scene early on, Allegra points out to Lane the framed photos of earlier Roanoke girls, all of whom died while young or went missing.

“Hearing their stories turned their faces in front of me from beautiful to tragic. They watched me now with haunted eyes. The only one left was Allegra. And me. I suddenly didn’t want a place on the wall.”

First of all, I loved the writing, especially the imagery and descriptions. The setting, a small rural community in Kansas, is a crucial element of the novel and the isolation verging on desolation of the place comes across strongly. The crazily constructed Roanoke mansion, symbolic of the destructive power that lies within it, creates a continual sense of trepidation.

“It was equal parts horrifying and mesmerizing. I slid from the truck, my eyes still trying to make sense of the strange angles and materials. It looked something like an insane person would build, or someone who didn’t give a shit.”

The relationship between vulnerable protagonist Lane, who had been long neglected by her mother, and the even more damaged but in-your-face Allegra leapt off the page. Though neither Lane nor Allegra are particularly likeable at first glance they are complex and relatable, and seemed authentic given the circumstances.

Gran is detached and enigmatic from the start:

“If some small part of me had hoped for hugs and loving words, sheer relief at my grandmother’s restraint drowned it out. I had no experience with maternal affection, wouldn’t have known what to do with it if it was offered.”

In contrast, Granddad’s charm, kindness and good looks exert a magnet pull on Lane; the mystery at the centre of the house and the story kept me guessing but clearly involved these two.

I felt Lane’s sense of loss and frustration as she tries to investigate Allegra’s disappearance amid the inertia/hostility of everyone who may be involved. I could identify with Lane as she fights to overcome both the family’s destructive power and her own self-destructive tendencies, and tries finally to do the right thing by Allegra – and I hoped her past botched relationship with local boy Cooper, also struggling to get over the damage of his upbringing, would work out this time.

The Roanoke Girls is a slow-paced psychological novel, a family drama with a layer of mystery and a strong touch of the gothic. There are definite thriller overtones towards the end – and a revelation that I was pleased to guess well in advance. It is about relationships within a highly dysfunctional family, and highlights the resistance of family secrets to discovery.

On a practical level, I did wonder just how the secret at the centre of the story could have remained hidden for so long. I would have liked more detail of how Gran and Granddad interacted with the local community and the wider world; there’s no mention of any of the Roanoke girls going to school, for example. But the novel does illustrate how society’s horror and reluctance to examine certain ‘taboo’ subjects, especially perhaps in small town in America, can allow secrets to flourish.

Highly recommended, if you can tolerate dark sexual themes.

Rating: 5 stars

Q&A: Author Alex Day on psychological thrillers

This week Alex Day answers my questions on psychological thrillers: their popularity, the writing of them and what she enjoys — and doesn’t — as a reader. Alex Day is author of THE MISSING TWIN, a psychological thriller published in August 2017 by Harper Collins (Killer Reads imprint). It is her debut psychological thriller; she also writes under another name.

[image error] Any thoughts on the rise in popularity of psychological thrillers?

The rise and rise of the psychological thriller cannot have escaped any reader, writer, agent, publisher or blogger. Lots of the aforementioned have pondered how and why it’s happened, what is behind it and whether it will continue. In answer to the latter, I believe that the genre as a market favourite is here to stay. And I think the reasons are very simple. Psychological thrillers are easy to read, thoroughly enjoyable and, if they have a twist, often surprising. Though the caveat for twists is that the more I’m told I’ll never get it the more mental energy I expend on making sure that I do. But the great thing is that, even if I don’t try to work out the twist, or even if I can’t, it doesn’t matter because it will all be explained to me at the end.

The other reason that I personally enjoy a good psychological thriller is that they are usually not full of blood and gore. The fear and suspense are in the mind and built by the rising tension rather than the body count. Every now and again you get ones that feature a murder a minute and those I don’t usually enjoy. Apart from anything else, a) it’s quite hard to kill someone (I imagine; I don’t speak from experience here!), so the story stops ringing true b) it’s hard to commit murder and get away with it for any length of time but that’s often what happens in books and c) murder just isn’t that common in our society (fortunately), so if there’s too much of it going on in one book it ceases to be believable. Above all, to me a good story is about the characterisation and the plot development and that’s rarely enhanced if the author is killing people off all along the way.

Do you enjoy writing twisty plots? What are the pitfalls/challenges and how do you go about creating good twists?

I like twisty plots but I’m easily confused as a reader and so if there are too many twists I can find them really hard to follow. Personally, I prefer a really great twist at the end. I don’t even mind if I’ve guessed the twist if the writing is good and compelling, but I am getting increasingly frustrated with the number of books that are labelled ‘the twist you’ll never guess’ – I might, and I often do – or ‘if you only read one book this year, make it this one’ – I’ll decide what I read, thank you – or ‘the thriller of the year’ – says who? Some twists do feel incredibly laboured and I think if an author has to spend hours cooking them up they probably aren’t going to work that well. A very simple twist is often the most effective – for example, as in Apple Tree Yard – although interestingly I read an interview with Louise Doughty in which she said that she doesn’t think of her books as psychological thrillers, even though that is how they are generally labelled.

Do you find it easy to write about very dark themes? What draws you to them? Do the best authors of these books have their own dark sides, would you say?

Some books are incredibly dark and I have no idea how the authors come up with the ideas. Perhaps I don’t want to know! I simply couldn’t write scenes of torture or excessive cruelty. But I don’t think that being able to write about dark themes means you have a dark side – I think it just means that you have an imagination (that works in a particular way), which is after all the most important attribute for any writer to possess.

The Missing Twin contains characters who are ruthless and without any kind of moral compass. Who will do whatever it takes to get what they want. And both female protagonists suffer at the hands of men who take advantage of them and who use sexual violence as a weapon and a form of control. Sadly, many millions of women the world over will have been used and abused in the same, or similar, ways. How they respond and what happens to the women at the end I can’t tell you as that would be a spoiler. You’ll have to read the book to find out….

What are your favourite authors/novels in this genre, and what do you like about them? Any comments on other books/sorts of books that you like less?

I really enjoyed I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh and He Said/She Said by Erin Kelly – I partially guessed the ending of both of these but it didn’t take away from the interest of reading. As I’ve alluded to earlier, books that are based on completely ludicrous premises or feature serial killers gaily getting away with murder after murder just don’t do it for me at all. Mentioning no names!!!

Last year on holiday my kindle broke and I ended up reading some Patricia Highsmith novels that were in the place I was staying. I loved the movie of The Talented Mr Ripley, especially in its French incarnation Plein Soleil, but I found Strangers on a Train and The Blunderer preposterous because they were so implausible. Absolutely no one would behave the way the protagonists do and it was so frustrating that they just let themselves get drawn further and further into the s*** without doing anything about it. I was literally screaming at both of these books (quietly, because I’m British and was on a public beach) and I only finished them because I didn’t have anything else to read!

Book link

The Missing Twin on Amazon

Author bio

Alex Day is a writer, teacher, parent and dreamer who has been putting pen to paper to weave stories for as long as she can remember. The Missing Twin is her first psychological thriller but she is a bestselling author of fiction under the name Rose Alexander.

Inspired by a real pair of identical twin girls, The Missing Twin also draws on Alex’s experience of teaching newly arrived refugees, migrants and asylum seekers in a London comprehensive school.

You can find and follow Alex on Twitter @alexdaywriter and on Facebook.

My week away from civilisation, in which I sought inspiration and found only a long, deep silence

This August I set off alone to the house in the mountains of south-west France that my husband and I visit intermittently. I was hoping to write copiously and come up with reams of ideas for novel 4 (novel 2 is now finished and novel 3 is awaiting a final edit).

A week without a dog to walk or a hungry chap to feed, unplugged from the wider world… I imagined a sun-infused creative outpouring, ideas flowing while I yielded to the slower rhythms of a remote region that’s peaceful even in the height of summer, with way more cows and goats around than inhabitants. As we have no TV in the house, there’d be few distractions…

What actually happened was nothing like my imaginings, of course. I began writing a journal of sorts to cope with my sense of isolation, the darkness, a dead mouse and so on. This turned into a piece for TripFiction about my experience, which you can read here My Week Alone in a Remote French Village: 10 things I learned

Some photos from the week:

 

 

Inspiration is clearly not something that can be scheduled. Happily, I’m now deep into the short story I mentioned in an earlier post.

Review of Ghostbird by Carol Lovekin #Bookreview @carollovekin @honno

As I enjoyed Ghostbird so much, and a paperback was sent to me from the author as part of the Writers For Grenfell fundraiser earlier this year, I thought I’d review it on my blog.

[image error]

Publisher

Honno Welsh Women’s Press (17 Mar. 2016)

Blurb

Someone needs to be forgiven. Someone needs to forgive.

‘Charming, quirky, magical’ Joanne Harris

Nothing hurts like not knowing who you are.

Nobody will tell Cadi anything about her father and her sister. Her mother Violet believes she can only cope with the past by never talking about it. Lili, Cadi’s aunt, is stuck in the middle, bound by a promise she shouldn’t have made. But this summer, Cadi is determined to find out the truth.

In a world of hauntings and magic, in a village where it rains throughout August, as Cadi starts on her search, the secrets and the ghosts begin to wake up. None of the Hopkins women will be able to escape them.

My thoughts

I put this book down for a bit at the first mention of ghosts – I know, I could have guessed there might be one from the title – as things were getting creepy. Once I restarted (when no longer alone in the house), Ghostbird took me over… in a good way. There’s a blend of mystery, coming of age, quest, family secrets, magic realism and the supernatural here, all of which make for an original and surprising novel.

I fell in love with the writing – the prose is wonderfully crafted, especially when describing the natural world, always with great attention to the sound of language. There are so many amazing sentences it’s almost impossible to pick just one. The dialogue is excellent too; it captures personalities and feels authentic, and is never superfluous.

While the novel contains considerable darkness, delicious moments of low-key humour and non-realism keep the tone upbeat, if not bright. The rain, part of the ‘old wisdom’ of the village, appears so often it is like another character.

“From the first day of August until the last, it rained at least once a day in the village. When the sun broke through, people caught their breath, marvelled at the glimmer turning raindrops to treasure.”

So, to the plot. After she meets a mysterious newly arrived man in her village, 14-year-old Cadi decides she is going to find out the truth about the circumstances of her father’s and sister’s deaths, despite opposition from her emotionally absent, grief-stricken mother Violet and her white-witch lesbian aunt, Lili, Violet’s sister. Cadi also has to contend with the childlike ghost that appears one day by the local late, where years ago her sister drowned as a small child. As she becomes more estranged from her mother, who resists Cadi’s questions, Cadi is drawn to seek out the mysterious apparition…

Ok, this might sound like the start of a horror story but it definitely isn’t one. Moments of spookiness recur but they won’t freak you out

How to get a novel written despite chronic illness via @bookish_yogi #writingtips

Author Rachel Burton shares her tips on how best to manage your writing practice for those with a long-term health condition. They were gleaned from the process of writing her debut novel, The Many Colours of Us, published in April 2017 by HQ. However, most of them sound to me like excellent suggestions for anyone who struggles to keep writing given the demands of daily life. That’s more than a few of us, I suspect!

Guest Post by Rachel Burton

 

[image error]Rachel Burton

I work full-time as a paralegal in a large law firm in Leeds and I also struggle with chronic illness – fibromyalgia and endometriosis in my case. As you can imagine, writing books as well is very much a case of careful management of both time and energy.

I know a lot of writers, particularly those writing their first novel are in a similar position, so I thought I’d share a few things that I discovered, mostly through trial and error, that helped me.

 

 

 

1. Write little and often

When I was writing my first novel I set myself a writing goal of 300 words a day. I know that seems a very small amount but it felt manageable alongside balancing my work and my health. And here’s the thing. I often ended up writing more than that, but knowing I only had to sit down and write 300 words meant that I sat down and wrote nearly every day. And sitting down and writing nearly every day is how you get that first book written!

2. Move as much as you can

This is important for all writers but perhaps the most for those of us with chronic illness who feel too exhausted to go to the gym or for a walk. On days when I know I’ll be sitting at my desk writing for a long period of time, I set a timer for every 45 minutes and when it goes off I get up and walk around the room, or have a stretch or dance around the kitchen for a couple of minutes. It really helps get your energy moving again!

3. Meditate

I don’t necessarily mean sitting cross-legged on the floor in silence (although if that floats your boat I highly recommend it – nothing beats it for a restorative practice in this crazy busy world). By meditation I mean allowing yourself to find time to just be, to let your brain slip into neutral and have a rest. Not only is this restorative, it’s also the place where I unravel the most plot holes. Otherwise known as daydreaming, it can be done in the bath, while staring out of the window, sitting in the garden or on a gentle walk.

4. Don’t forget to do things you love

It can feel sometimes as though every spare minute that you have should be spent writing. I tried to do that and didn’t find it particularly conducive to either my health or my writing process in the end. Give yourself time to do the other things you love as well. Read, knit, crochet, watch TV, cook, go to a yoga class. We can load the guilt on ourselves sometimes and buy into the idea that a lot of time spent doing these things is wasted time but balance is important for your energy levels and your creative brain.

5.  Make sleep a priority

It’s tempting to stay up late writing, or to get up early to write before work, especially if we see other writers doing the same. But when we are living with a chronic condition, good quality rest is important – don’t compromise. Your first novel will be done when it’s done – enjoy the process because this will probably be the only book you write without a deadline…. And speaking of deadlines, one last little tip…

6. Be honest with people about your health

I used to try to hide my illness and pretend I was “normal” (whatever that means). It doesn’t help, and 99.9% of people will support you in any way they can. My agent and my publisher both know that I need flexible and generous deadlines because of my health. I was really nervous when I broached the subject with them but they were so helpful. So always be honest, always ask for what you need – you’ll be surprised how much people want to help.

Author bio

Rachel Burton has been making up stories since she first learned to talk. After many false starts she finally made one up that was worth writing down.  After graduating with a degree in Classics and another in English, she didn’t really know what to do when she grew up. She has worked as a waitress, a paralegal and a yoga teacher. She has spent most of her life between Cambridge and London but now lives in Leeds with her boyfriend and three cats. The main loves of her life are The Beatles and very tall romantic heroes. She is currently working on her second novel in which the heroine is a yoga teacher. It has no autobiographical elements at all…..maybe.

Find Rachel on Twitter and Instagram as @bookish_yogi or search Facebook for Rachel Burton Author. She is always happy to talk books, writing, music, cats and how the weather in Yorkshire is rubbish. She is mostly dreaming of her next holiday….

 About the book

[image error]‘Gorgeous, touching story, wonderful heroine, and I’m totally smitten with the hero.’ – Cressida McLaughlin, bestselling author of The Canal Boat Cafe

Fall in love with Rachel Burton’s stunning debut novel, perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell, Adele Parks and Sheila O’Flanagan

Can finding yourself allow you to follow your heart?

Julia Simmonds had never been bothered about not knowing who her father was. Having temperamental supermodel, Philadelphia Simmonds, as a mother was more than enough. Until she discovers she’s the secret love-child of the late, great artist Bruce Baldwin, and her life changes forever.

Uncovering the secrets of a man she never knew, Julia discovers that Bruce had written her one letter, every year until her eighteenth birthday, urging his daughter to learn from his mistakes.

Julia begins to dig deeper into the mysterious past of her parents she also begins to unravel her future. With gorgeous lawyer Edwin Jones for company Julia not only begins to discover her roots but she may just fall in love…

Book links

Amazon UK

Amazon US

iBooks

Kobo

 

Inspired by bears, death and the Rocky Mountains #amwriting #Canada #inspiration

Hello, it’s me again, along with some pics of my recent holiday – any excuse to show them off

Ethical Dilemmas in Novel Writing via @Laura_E_James @ChocLituk #writing

Have you ever been uncertain about whether you should include something in a novel or story that might adversely affect readers (e.g. sex abuse, drug-taking or self-harm) – or how to tackle a particularly sensitive topic? I certainly have when dealing with both sex and terrorism, wondering whether I should exclude certain details that although authentic may be disturbing for some. As a reader, have you ever been affected in a good or bad way by the treatment of an issue in a novel?

Today my guest author wdiscusses ethical dilemmas and conundrums in novels and during the writing process.

Guest Post by Laura E. James

Jennie, thank you so much for inviting me onto your site.

[image error]Laura E. James

One of the greatest authors to tackle the big issues is Jodi Picoult. My Sister’s Keeper was the first novel of hers I read, ten or so years ago. If I recall correctly, Picoult’s books were breaking through in the UK at that time, and it seemed a new novel appeared on the supermarket shelves every time I visited. I’m still making my way through the backlist, and love the fact there are more Picoult books I’ve yet to enjoy. Her books cover an array of issues and moral dilemmas, and her latest, Small Great Things, is lauded as her most important book to date.

 

I’ve been fortunate enough to attend three Jodi Picoult talks over the last few years, and the research, care and concern she puts into producing her books is apparent. During her visit to the UK in December 2016, Picoult explained that Small Great Things took approximately two years to research and write. Dealing with the issues of prejudice and power, she spoke about the importance of getting the characters right, of understanding both sides of the story and of portraying the issues accurately and with sensitivity.[image error]

Her words resonated. The books I write, while character driven, also focus on issues and moral dilemmas. My 2013 debut, Truth Or Dare? questions whether it’s acceptable to do the wrong thing for the right reason. Are there times when it is the only option? What circumstances would lead a person into making that choice?

My second book, Follow Me Follow You, looks at child attachment disorder and I recall reading a review which made me consider whether I was ready for the responsibility that comes with writing such novels. The reader remarked that the book made them rethink how they speak with their children. I was blown away that something I’d written had left such an impression, but it made me truly thankful I had carried out the research and represented the facts accurately, even though they were within a fictional world. That reader’s comment is in the back of my mind when I’m researching and writing, as it brought home the importance of keeping the story authentic.

[image error]What Doesn’t Kill You, my third book, delved into deeper issues including teen self-harm. When I started researching, I almost talked myself out of including the issue. I was so shocked by the prevalence and the methods of self-harm, I wasn’t sure I was brave enough to put it in the book. Yet, these concerns also convinced me it was a subject that needed to be discussed; needed to be in the novel. I had to present the facts accurately, not glamorise self-harm, not be so descriptive as to act as a trigger, and to ensure my teen had a positive outcome. I wanted to get it right.

It takes courage for people to tell their personal story, and I am truly grateful to everyone who tells me theirs, because without them, my books wouldn’t exist. I have a responsibility to get it right, for all the kind and courageous souls who share their stories, for those who have travelled the same paths as my characters, and for the readers who invest in the story.

And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Author bio

Living in and enjoying the inspirational county of Dorset, Laura E James is a graduate of the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s New Writers’ Scheme, and one eighth of The Romaniacs, the RNA Industry Awards 2015 Media Stars Winner.

Laura’s latest novel, What Doesn’t Kill You, is the first title in Choc Lit’s Dark imprint ‒ compelling, emotional, hard-hitting novels.

Author info and links

author website

The Romaniacs

Twitter: @Laura_E_James