Jennie Ensor's Blog, page 11
September 7, 2017
Writing and Living: How I Do It #guestpost #amwriting #writerslife
This week my guest is author Louise Walters, who shares how she finds time to write, edit and publish while looking after her 5(!!) children. Hats off to Louise. I am impressed, and vow to stop watching any more addictive TV crime dramas or twisty thrillers. Soon.
Given this is a subject close to my heart, I may have a few more authors on this later on.
Guest Post by Louise Walters
When Jennie asked me to appear on her blog and sent me a list of topics I could choose from to write about, this is the one that leapt out at me. It’s an ever-present concern of mine as a writer, editor and publisher. How the hell do I find the time to work? I have five kids, three of whom are under 12… and only one of them attends school! The other two are home educated, which, as you can imagine, takes up a lot of my time.
[image error]I’ll start with the obvious stuff. I don’t watch much TV, and I certainly don’t get bogged down in watching regular stuff like soap operas. I don’t have Netflix either, as that does seem to be a time drain for an awful lot of people. I’m a casual TV viewer and rarely make a point of watching anything.
I’ve also learned not to procrastinate (much). My writing time is precious and one of the best ways to guard it is to make the most of every minute. So I try to do this. Sometimes it is literally a matter of minutes. It goes a bit like this: Kids have a swimming lesson, so that’s 30 minutes to work. Kids have done their maths this morning – great, they can now play/read/watch TV/draw, and I will work for an hour. (My kids are all now old enough to understand I need my work time, and that makes a huge difference. It was much harder with babies and toddlers!)
If we are out and about, which we frequently are as home educators, I can take work with me. Their gymnastics class is one hour. One hour to myself to work. If I can’t fit in any work during the day, I work when I get home. Often that means doing a couple of hours in the evenings. It’s really no different to having a full time job, and I count myself very fortunate that I can fit all my work around my family commitments, and I have no childcare issues or expenses.
It just never seems to occur to us that writing men have these concerns, and I reckon that’s because… well, most of the time, they probably don’t!
I also make use of weekends, and I often work on both Saturdays and Sundays. Yes, some family time is sacrificed, but as we home educate we do spend a lot of time together, and none of us are truly missing out. It’s really all about developing a life style that works for you as a writer and for your family. A supportive partner helps, and mine is fantastic. He takes on more than his fair share of the housework (despite working long hours himself) which makes a huge difference.
I do think this “time to write” issue is more often than not applied to women. Not many men get asked, “How do you juggle writing and family life?” It just never seems to occur to us that writing men have these concerns, and I reckon that’s because… well, most of the time, they probably don’t! But I don’t like to dwell on that. My life is how it is, I’ve made my decisions, I have a large family. Now it’s up to me to manage my writing career and my family life. It’s a balancing act, but it can be done. Good luck with yours (and turn off that TV)!
Author bio: Louise Walters
Author of Mrs Sinclair’s Suitcase (Hodder 2014), now published in 15 languages, and A Life Between Us (Matador/Louise Walters Books 2017). My third novel The Road to California will be published in 2018 under my imprint, Louise Walters Books.
Info & links
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A Life Between Us on Amazon UK
Discussion
So, do male writers in general have the same issues about combining writing and family life? And is it really that hard managing to combine the two? Comments welcome!
August 23, 2017
Guest Post: Read what you want to read without pride or prejudice @SueF_Writer #Romance
Back from France, briefly, before heading off to Canada for a ‘proper’ holiday. Though it wasn’t always easy, I managed to survive a whole week alone in a big old house in France that my husband spent a decade making liveable. (More on that to come on the blog later.) In the meantime, h ere’s the latest in the summer Guest Author Takeover series.
Romance fiction is often the butt of snide remarks and sniggers. But an awful lot of people enjoy writing in this genre… And why shouldn’t a romance-centred novel or story be as brilliantly written/captivating/worthwhile as say a crime novel, or any other kind? (I’m biased, as my novel Blind Side and another that’s on its way both contain a fair sprinkling of sex, relationships and, dare I say it, romance.)
My guest author Sue Featherstone discusses her reading tastes and challenges us to look afresh at the romance genre.
[image error]There’s an awful lot of snobbery about literature. And I’m as guilty as the next person. You’ll almost never find me in a bookshop browsing amongst the romance titles.
Of course NOT! For goodness sake, I’m an English Literature First Class Honours graduate and a bona fide academic with a long career as a university lecturer. People like me don’t read books like that.
Except, confession time: I am an academic and I like romance fiction.
Especially if it’s published in Women’s Weekly. Or People’s Friend. Yes, friends. People’s Friend – ‘The Famous Story Magazine’ – is my guilty secret. And I don’t just buy it…I subscribe. I never miss an edition – even when I’m on holiday.
Hopefully, some of you will believe me when I claim I only became a subscriber so I could pass on magazine copies to friends and family. But you shouldn’t. Everyone I know is more than capable of buying their own magazines. And they do. Usually Private Eye and New Statesman.
No, I buy People’s Friend and the Friend’s Fiction Specials and the Women’s Weekly Fiction Specials because I love the short stories. They’re unbelievably well written – every single word has earned its place on the page – and there are a substantial number of best-selling, big name authors, who can’t hold a literary candle to these largely female short story writers. And yes, their stories, which are often but not exclusively romance fiction, are in the main undemanding feel-good, happy-ever-after, pot-of-gold-at-the-end-of-the-rainbow fiction. But that’s absolutely perfect at the end of a working day when my head has been thoroughly scrambled by the demands of writing or editing or teaching. The last thing I need is a story that makes me THINK too hard.
Not that I’d normally admit it in public – what would people think?
Actually, whatever they might think, most people are, like me, secret romantics. According to the Romantic Novelists Association over 90 per cent of all readers – men as well as women – like a bit of romance in their reading.
I like that phrase ‘a bit of romance’. It sums up exactly what I want from a novel. Because, however much I enjoy a short story romance, I’m not quite as enamoured with long form girl-meets-boy, initial-attraction-followed-by-misunderstandings-followed-by-a-reconciliation and happy-ever-after stories. For me, the formula doesn’t work quite as well in novel form. Largely because it is – well, too formulaic.
Possibly, I’m being a bit contradictory here. But, unless I’m actually reading Erich Segal’s classic Love Story, I don’t want to wallow in the love story. Except, perhaps, if it’s written by Georgette Heyer, Karen King, Kate Blackadder or Tracie Bannister – all authors whose romances I have reviewed and enjoyed in the last 12 months on bookloversbooklist.com. All are great storytellers and, apart from Heyer’s penchant for putting an exclamation mark – or screamer – at the end of every other sentence, all excellent writers.
[image error]However, at risk of sounding like one of those snobby readers I condemned in my opening sentences, if I’m going to invest time and energy into engaging with a novel I like one with a little more bite and a little more unpredictability than can normally be found within the pages of the traditional girl-meets-boy romance format. I can perfectly understand the appeal of this sort of pure romantic fiction but, unfortunately, I’m the sort of woman who’d rather have a man who does the washing-up and ironing than one who comes home once a week with red roses and boxes of Milk Tray. (Reader: I married him.)
Guess I’m just too prosaic. Instead, the novels I prefer tend to be those which American writer Rebecca Vnuk describes as stories where ‘a man may be waiting for the heroine at the end of her journey but there is more to the story than the love interest or sexual interest’. In other words, novels where the romance is not the narrative driver. Novels such as Beneath the Skin, a new fantasy from my Lakewater Press stablemate RL Martinez; Mama Day by Gloria Naylor; and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Oh, and A Falling Friend, the book I co-authored with my writing partner Susan Pape.
All are complex, multi-layered stories that explore the lives of female protagonists, focusing on all kinds of relationships – with parents, children, friends, colleagues or neighbours as well as lovers and partners. But all with a nourishing soupçon of romance. In other words, stories that reflect my life and those of my women friends and relatives, where the romance in our lives often has to co-exist alongside all the other plates we’re spinning.
Author Bio
Sue Featherstone is a former journalist and public relations practitioner turned academic. Her career started in local newspapers before switching to PR to become internal communications manager with a large utility company. She completed a degree in English Literature as a mature student and subsequently moved into higher education, teaching journalism to undergraduate students at Sheffield Hallam University.
At the beginning of 2017, Sue left Sheffield Hallam to focus on her writing. Together with her friend and writing partner Susan Pape, she has written two successful journalism text books – Newspaper Journalism: A Practical Introduction; and Feature Writing: A Practical Introduction. Their first novel, A Falling Friend, was published by Lakewater Press in 2016 and a sequel will follow in autumn 2017.
[image error]Sue has recently had her first short story ‘Growing Pains’ published in Grit, a new compilation of short stories by Yorkshire writers. Grit will be launched at Wakefield Literary Festival on Saturday, September 23, when contributors will be reading from their stories in Wakefield Central Library on Burton Street 11am-1pm. Admission is free and there will be a ten per cent discount off the £10 cover price for anyone attending.
Author / book info
Purchase link: A Falling Friend
Sue and Susan write about books at their website: bookloversbooklist.com
Sue is on Twitter: @SueF_Writer
Comments welcome!! Should romance fiction be moved higher up the literary pecking order?
July 31, 2017
Guest Post: Linda MacDonald on Writing Bullies, Stalkers, Narcissists and Manic Depressives via @LindaMac1
The latest author to take over my blog is Linda MacDonald, who tackles questions on the psychological themes that appear in her novels.
All your novels have themes related to psychology running through them. Could you tell us a little bit about them?
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My early education was spent at a boys’ prep school. At the age of nine, I was the only girl in the class for a year and I was bullied. I believe it affected me into later life and I always wanted to bring this into a novel. Meeting Lydia is the result. Research now shows that bullying often causes a lack of self-esteem which in turn may influence social relationships and career prospects. In the novel, Marianne has hit midlife and menopause, and her insecurities from the past return to haunt her when she discovers her husband has befriended a younger and glamorous colleague. The novel is also about jealousy and obsession and the pros and cons of internet relationships – another topical issue that if not handled carefully can lead to much heartache.
A Meeting of a Different Kind contains a main character with borderline bipolar disorder. Also known as manic-depression, this is when a person’s mood cycles between two extremes. In borderline cases, the manic and depressive episodes may not be serious enough to require treatment, but the manic phase in particular may cause a person to behave unwisely which in turn may affect other people. In this novel, femme-fatale Taryn sets about the seduction of the unseducable and faithful Edward. It is a story of betrayal where issues of loyalty and friendship are severely tested.
In 2010, I received dozens of threatening nuisance calls from the partner of a supermarket delivery driver who thought I was having an affair with him. How this came about and how it was resolved has been told elsewhere, but the incident gave me the idea to include a stalker in The Alone Alternative. She starts out as a seemingly innocent neighbour, but becomes obsessed with one of the characters. This sub-plot runs alongside the main storyline where two key main characters have lost their partners for different reasons and have to decide whether to take a chance of a new relationship with each other. New midlife relationships are a feature of the modern world and the positives and negatives of starting again, including the effects on children, form the core of this novel.
[image error]Emotional betrayal can be more damaging to a relationship than a physical one – particularly to women. And social media, email and texting make it much more likely to occur. I wanted to highlight this issue in The Man in the Needlecord Jacket in the hope of encouraging people to discuss the boundaries of relationships. The book contains a character with a narcissistic personality and also looks at psychological abuse. With a narcissist, everything is always about them and they have little empathy for others. Coll is full of flirtatious charm and it is not immediately evident that he has issues. Narcissism is a continuum and in the western world a degree of narcissism – confidence, even arrogance – may help a person to be successful, particularly in business. However, in relationships, it may cause problems for the partner.
Why did you choose to have low-grade versions of these issues rather than more dramatic, full-blown versions?
It’s easy to imagine the disruptive effects of a full-blown problem or disorder, but I wanted to show how even low-level manifestations – which more people can relate to – have the capacity to disrupt and damage.
What interests you about these issues? How may they affect relationships?
My background is in psychology and I’m fascinated by human behaviour. Relationships are a minefield at the best of times. Add a psychological problem or a midlife challenge and you have the basis of a plot. In the case of narcissism or borderline bipolar disorder, it may not be obvious when people meet. Indeed such individuals may appear exciting and interesting. People often find themselves attached before discovering the extent of the problem. I would like to think that my novels may help people in the same position to work out a strategy to cope.
How do you incorporate them into your work? What are the challenges?
My novels are character-driven and each one contains at least one key character with an issue. I place the character among others and wait for the drama to begin. The challenges are ensuring accurate representation of the known facts. Also, plausibility of the plot. I’ve had people say that they were waiting for the dramatic bullying event to justify Marianne’s later-life insecurity in Meeting Lydia. But it happened to me so I know it’s valid. If people make fun of you often enough, you begin to believe it. One reviewer said she didn’t believe such bullying could be kept from a partner for twenty years. But I know this to be possible. Many unpleasant childhood occurrences are suppressed from the people closest to us.
Author Bio
Linda MacDonald is the author of four novels: Meeting Lydia and the stand-alone sequels, A Meeting of a Different Kind, The Alone Alternative and The Man in the Needlecord Jacket. All Linda’s books are contemporary adult fiction, multi-themed, but with a focus on relationship issues. After studying psychology at Goldsmiths’, Linda trained as a secondary science and biology teacher. She taught these subjects for several years before moving to a sixth-form college to teach psychology. The first two novels took ten years in writing and publishing, using snatched moments in the evenings, weekends and holidays.
Links
Twitter: @LindaMac1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MeetingLydia
Author page on Amazon UK
Author page on Amazon US
Taking off for a break
[image error]This will probably be my last post for a few weeks, unless I can summon the energy to polish up a reflective piece on my blogging fears from a few years ago that I sensibly forgot to publish. But most likely you’ll next hear from me in late August. I’m looking forward to a couple of weeks to our house in SW France, doing little except write, read books (or listen on my iPhone) and lie out in hot sunshine (cross fingers). Also hoping that the mice don’t return until I’ve left, and the coffee machine works.
July 25, 2017
Women’s Fiction, or what? The Eternal Genre Conundrum @ThorneMoore
This week I welcome another veteran author to my blog, Thorne Moore (in terms of number of books published and not years, I hasten to add – they include a book of self-published short stories and now a fourth novel, published by Endeavour). Ms Moore has written about the head-scratching process of deciding on a genre for one’s book. I can certainly relate to this as will many other authors, I’m sure.
Summer Author Takeover: Guest Post by Thorne Moore
[image error]Thorne Moore
When I go into a library or bookshop, I head straight for the shelves marked crime, or historical, or travel, very grateful that someone has taken the time to sort things out for me. But I hate the process of attaching a genre label to my own work. It’s impossible, because every time I recognise an element of one genre, I then trip over elements of two or three others. Which one do I go for? I write about crimes, but I don’t write about police investigations. My books tend to be defined as Psychological Crime or Domestic Noir (I do like that one, because nobody quite knows what it means.) But I use crimes merely as the dramatic trigger for the emotional turmoil at the heart of the story, so I wonder if they really belong in any sub-genre of crime fiction.
[image error]The Munsters
I would place my latest book, Shadows, in exactly the same, vaguely psychological, imprecise genre as all my others, but it does have a slight paranormal element, which somebody must have seized on because I have found it listed on Amazon as Occult Horror (which it really isn’t), although it’s also listed as Family Life (which it very much is). I wouldn’t have thought the two really go together, although I suppose they did in The Munsters.
When my first book came out, A Time For Silence, I traced all the classifications Amazon provided for it. Crime, obviously, because there’s a crime in it. Family sagas – well it does deal with several generations of the same family, so fair enough. Literary fiction! I got quite excited by that, until I found my book listed with exactly the same authors under popular fiction too. What is the precise difference? Romance was truly puzzling, because there is not the slightest hint of romance the book.
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Then there was ‘women’s fiction’. I had no idea what women’s fiction was supposed to be. I am a woman and I read and write fiction. I very much like John le Carré and I also like Jane Austen. Do they both count as women’s fiction because a woman enjoys them? Or is it only Jane Austen because she writes about women? I write about women. Or is it because she was a female writer? Is there a difference between women’s and men’s fiction?
I thought about it long and hard and decided that, in very generalised terms (and allowing for endless exceptions), there possibly is. Men tend to write and read about action and plot – the fights, the car chases, the thrills – whereas women are more focused on the characters – relationships, emotions, psychology. Since my books are definitely driven by psychology rather than action, I decided that the label ‘women’s fiction’ would do just fine.
Then I explained my reasoning to someone who knew all about genre definitions, and was told, bluntly, “No, women’s fiction is another label for chick lit.” Hmm. My books have humour, I hope, but also murder, abduction, suicide, abuse and heaps of guilt. Does that really qualify as chick lit?
Could there be a genre called “Thought provoking?” That I would really like.
[image error]Thorne Moore’s books
Have you been baffled by genre, or have you disagreed with the Amazon categories assigned to your book? How do you define women’s fiction, women’s crime fiction and all those other sub-categories? Please comment via the form below! Your opinions and experiences are most welcome.
My own book Blind Side is in two women’s fiction categories on Amazon: Literature & Fiction > Women’s Fiction > Psychological and Literature & Fiction > Women’s Fiction > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Crime. Lastly, the more obvious one: Crime, Thriller & Mystery > Suspense > Psychological.
This came about after much mulling over categories that might be suitable – and my shock after publication on finding that my book had been placed in Romantic Suspense, alongside a swagger of sculpted male torsos. Noooo!! I cried and asked my publisher to get this changed ASAP. Not that I’ve got anything against romantic suspense, it’s just that it doesn’t convey the tone and scope of my book. I understand Amazon has some kind of automatic tool that searches books and assigns a category based on the words found in the text, odd though this sounds, which is why they shoved in it in Romantic Suspense. I’d really like to know what those words were. There’s sex in it, yes, but nothing that steamy.
I’m not at all sure about the suitability of the ‘Women’s Fiction’ category either, since it has plenty of action and some *Advance Sexist Remark Warning* ‘manly’ subject matter, such as politics and terrorism… But it does have a woman’s emotional development as its central concern, along with relationships (between three characters) so that’s a tick for women’s fiction. Then again, maybe I should think again about Romance…
Biography of Thorne Moore
Thorne Moore was born in Luton, where she worked in the library for six years after taking a history degree at Aberystwyth. She returned to Wales with her sister to set up a restaurant, but now spends her time writing and making miniature furniture for collectors. She lives in Pembrokeshire, which forms a background for much of her writing, though she also delves into her memories of Luton, for a complete contrast. She’s had five books published to date, the first three published by Honno Welsh Women’s Press. More books are on the way.
Author links
website: www.thornemoore.co.uk
Amazon page: http://amzn.to/1Ruu9m1
FB: https://www.facebook.com/thornemoorenovelist
Twitter: @ThorneMoore
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July 17, 2017
Summer Author Takeover AJ Waines: Making psychological thrillers a bit different @AJWaines
A special guest post for this week’s Summer Author Takeover by the bestselling author of six mystery-laden psychological thrillers, AJ Waines! Over to Ms Waines, who reveals her love of hidden things…
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As a former psychotherapist, it was a natural progression for me when I first had a go at writing fiction to choose psychological thrillers as my genre. I’d worked with ex-convicts from high security institutions, so I felt I had some insight into the disturbed and criminal mind.
[image error]AJ Waines
As a child, I’d devoured books by Enid Blyton and later was drawn to crime thriller/mysteries; my all-time favourites being A Simple Plan by Scott Smith and The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth.
[image error]As an adult, too, I was captivated by psychological thrillers ever since they began to be recognised as a distinct category, loving writers such as Minette Walters and Nicci French. So, crime mysteries and psychological thrillers have clearly influenced me.
My own books tend to have both a distinct mystery on the surface and a deeper psychological thriller lurking underneath, with that essential twist at the end, of course! The mystery element is not usually a police-procedural as such, but a dark and deadly puzzle involving clues and hidden dangers that the main character, an ordinary person like you or me, gets caught up in. My protagonists range from a journalist, a lecturer in criminology, an archivist and more recently a clinical psychologist – most are feisty, but vulnerable, women with their own unresolved issues lurking just out of sight.
At the start of each book, an incident usually takes place which shakes the protagonist’s world upside down. These incidents range from a body found in The Thames wearing the main character’s own clothes (The Evil Beneath), a suicide under a train that isn’t what it seems (Girl on a Train), a missing woman and child in a quiet village (Dark Place to Hide), the body of a stranger that appears one morning in a remote cottage (No Longer Safe) and a Tube fire where survivors give accounts that don’t add up (Inside the Whispers). My main character is pushed to breaking point, faced with lies, deception, secrets, moral dilemmas or concealed psychological disorders and gradually as the plot unfolds the mystery and the psychological elements link up. The hidden connection becomes clear – or gets turned on its head!
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In my latest book, Lost in the Lake, a van leaves the road and plummets into a lake, killing all but one of the passengers. Or so it seems. The sole survivor, Rosie, knows in her bones that it wasn’t an accident, but has gaps in her memory. That’s the tangled murder mystery on the surface. She turns to psychologist, Samantha Willerby, to help recover her memories and that’s when the psychological thriller begins to simmer. A chilling, altogether different dynamic is going on underneath the main enigma. Rosie looks like she’s searching for answers about the crash, but very soon it becomes clear that she’s after something else…
I’ve always loved hidden things. I was a secretive child and kept diaries with tiny keys and padlocks. I also collected money boxes with intricate locking devices and even used to hide magazine clippings of the Queen under a rug beside my bed! [image error]
That’s where it all stems from. Anything concealed and I’m hooked!
Lost in the Lake is available for Pre-order now and published (e-book and paperback) on September 7.
Author Bio
AJ Waines has sold over 400,000 books worldwide and topped the UK and Australian Kindle Charts in 2015 & 2016 with her number one bestseller, Girl on a Train. Following fifteen years as a psychotherapist, she is now a full-time novelist with publishing deals in France, Germany, Norway, Hungary and USA (audiobooks).
Her fourth psychological thriller, No Longer Safe, sold over 30,000 copies in the first month, in thirteen countries. AJ Waines has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and The Times and was ranked a Top 10 UK author on Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) in 2016. She lives in Hampshire, UK, with her husband. Visit her website and blog, or join her on Twitter, Facebook or on her newsletter.
July 10, 2017
Guest Post: Carol Cooper on the challenges posed by her debut novel @DrCarolCooper
The third in my Author Takeover Summer series of guest posts and interviews is Carol Cooper, or perhaps I should say Dr Cooper given she is a GP in her other life.
Ms Cooper discusses the difficulties and challenges of writing and publishing her first novel, One Night at the Jacaranda. (Hampstead Fever, her second novel, was published in 2016.)
[image error]Dr Carol Cooper
What are the main challenges you faced when writing your debut novel?
When I began writing One Night at the Jacaranda, I wasn’t sure I had the ability. The plot and the characters came to me while I was on a plane heading for my father’s funeral, but could I carry the idea through? On the plus side, I had a lot of experience in journalism and had penned a string of non-fiction books, mostly on parenting and child health. On the other hand, a drawer full of unpublished manuscripts told me I might not have what it takes.
Fiction and non-fiction demand different writing styles. Take info dumps as an example. A fact-packed page is terrific in a health book or a parenting guide, but in a novel it would quickly send readers to sleep. However, creating a novel involved a lot more than changing a few habits. I had to find my own fiction voice, and that meant hard graft.
Did you have any difficulties when it came to publication?
I did indeed. Unlike my non-fiction, my novel wasn’t commissioned. While I have an agent, One Night at the Jacaranda proved not to be her kind of thing. That wasn’t surprising, as the genre is hard to classify. It’s contemporary fiction, though neither romance nor chick-lit, and it isn’t truly women’s fiction either. I therefore decided to go it alone. Self-publishing is respectable these days, and gives the author control over the content of the book, the timing of publication, and so on.
However, control also brings the risk of getting it horribly wrong. In hindsight, I’d have made different decisions about editing and proofreading, and I’d have chosen a more professional cover design right from the start. But, with e-books and print-on-demand, such things are easy to rectify. All I’d lost was a little time (and face). In the end, the spruced-up version did very well and was shortlisted for a couple of awards.
What made you choose the setting for your novel?
London is my home, so I know it makes an ideal location for a multi-viewpoint, multi-cultural story, particularly as it has so many different areas, each with its own vibe. In One Night at the Jacaranda, Dan is newly released after wrongful imprisonment. He lodges in a shabby bedsit in Kilburn, northwest London, where he fondly imagines amazing views instead of the blank wall in front of him. Charity worker Sanjay often goes home to his parents in Harrow, west London, a suburb which is very different from stylish Fulham where lawyer Laure has just bought an apartment. Harriet lives with her boyfriend. The relationship has hit the buffers, but she can’t afford her own place. The characters all meet early on in upmarket Marylebone, where they’re looking for love (or just pretending to) at a speed-dating event. London means different things to each character and it’s very much part of the story.
Tell us something about the process of writing your first novel.
I wrote it in snatches, fitting it in, as many authors do, around work and other commitments. People have asked me why my novel has so many characters and points of view. I think it’s a good way to crank up the tension, and to include different insights (half the voices are male). And it works because the viewpoints are all very different so it’s not confusing.
I’m sure my day job as a family doctor helped shape the structure of the novel. There are no real patients or colleagues in the story, but there are frequent scene breaks. No surprise, perhaps, since every ten minutes I see someone new and try to put myself in their shoes.
Author bio
Carol Cooper is a doctor, journalist and author. She contributes to The Sun newspaper, broadcasts on TV and radio, and has a dozen non-fiction books to her name. Her debut novel One Night at the Jacaranda got her hooked on writing fiction. This year Carol’s latest novel Hampstead Fever was picked for a prestigious promotion in WH Smith travel bookshops around the UK. More fiction is in the pipeline.
Links
One Night at the Jacaranda on Amazon: One Night at the Jacaranda
Hampstead Fever on Amazon
Blog: Pills & Pillow-Talk
Website: drcarolcooper.com
Twitter: @DrCarolCooper
July 6, 2017
#GuestPost: @Moria_Forsyth on the ethics of using real life in #writing
Writers are always being given presents. Not the diamond bracelet/Hermes handbag/two dozen red roses kind of present; not even the warm pyjamas/pruning shears/hardback book kind. People are always trying to give writers stories. ‘This would make a great book!’ Sometimes they add, ‘It’s amazing – I’m going to write it down one day’. They say this wistfully, and you know they never will. Perhaps that’s why they want to make you a present of it.
[image error]Moira Forsyth
The trouble is, these stories are no good to the writer. We must find our own. An overheard conversation, a scene in a café, a crashed car in a ditch, a boy in a country lane: something resonates, catches light, and a story takes shape.
Readers also want something from you: where do you get your ideas? Is anyone in your book based on a real person? The truthful answer is 1. I don’t know and 2. They all are.
When I published The Treacle Well in 2015, I admitted it was my most autobiographical novel: it used my family background, the landscape where I grew up, and the ethics and beliefs that shot through my childhood like veins, carrying the lifeblood for what I would become, grown up. In every character there are elements of people I knew, family members, and me. Not a single character is that person.
As an editor I’ve had to check with authors writing memoir that they have either disguised/renamed real people in their work, or obtained permission to write about people they’ve known and have not represented altogether flatteringly. With a rather lively memoir, a libel lawyer went through it in detail!
I’ve never once asked that question of a novelist. I assume (I hope I’m right) that they make things up. That in the transference from real experience to fiction, events, people and experiences go through that magical transformation which means they serve the novel, not memory or reality. It certainly happens to me when I’m writing fiction: a character starts by being rather like someone I’ve known, very like, once or twice, but as the story progresses they acquire different characteristics and become simply themselves: they fit the novel.
This means that the ethical considerations which attach to using real life situations or real people in novels, should not cause concern. Of course writers use the truth – what matters is how they do. There’s one source for my new novel I won’t reveal when I discuss it, because there are people who might be hurt or offended. The story itself has become so different from the reality, no one would recognise it between the pages.
After 9/11, some writers felt they were unable to produce fiction – where could it go, after that? Then, gradually, novels appeared which used this, referred to it, or were based on it. Real life is, after all, even in the most speculative novels, the source of fiction. It’s not whether we use real life that matters, but what we do with it.
Book info
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‘A Message from the Other Side’, Moira Forsyth’s fifth novel, is published by Sandstone Press on 20 July 2017.
Author links
Twitter: @moira_forsyth
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moiraforsythauthor/
Website: http://www.moiraforsyth.com
June 27, 2017
Guest Post: Hemmie Martin on THE RELUCTANT MOTHER
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To make a change from my musings on terrible things in the news, and because it’s summer and I’m looking forward to doing nothing much for a few weeks except read under shady trees and finish Book 2, my blog will look a little different for a while.
Coming up is the first of a series of guest posts from authors I’ve invited onto my blog. Some are just starting out, some are long established and some are well known penners of bestsellers. Their books are in various genres: ‘bookclub’ fiction, crime fiction, psychological suspense/dramas/thrillers, historical and contemporary fiction (i.e. the kinds of books that most interest me).
These posts will be weekly at first, and will continue on past the summer. (I’ll be sneaking in from time to time too.) They will be about something the author especially wants to share, such as an aspect of their latest book, or else they’ll be chosen from a list of topics that I’m particularly interested in, ranging from how the hell authors find the time to write and also have a life (I can’t wait to find out!) to the ethical conundrums they’ve faced during the writing process.
First up is Hemmie Martin, author of an impressive list of novels in several genres. The Reluctant Mother, her latest, raises the fascinating issue of mental illness caused by motherhood.
Guest Post
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Thank you for inviting me to be on your blog, Jennie, and giving me the opportunity to discuss my latest contemporary novel, ‘The Reluctant Mother’.
I am always drawn to writing about mental health issues in my novels as I come from a nursing background where I’ve worked as a community nurse for people with learning disabilities who had mental health issues, and a forensic mental health nurse for young offenders between the age of ten and eighteen.
Seven of my novels include mental health issues to varying degrees. Even in my crime series, DI Eva Wednesday’s mother suffers with a schizoaffective disorder, and her sister has bi-polar. My novels touch on subjects such a self-harm and suicidal ideation and intent, as these are issues I came across quite frequently when working with the young people.
Postnatal psychosis is a very cruel manifestation of mental health for the sufferer and her entourage. My husband, a psychiatric nurse, worked with a woman who had sadly killed all three of her children – a very distressing case for all involved.
I do try and have a positive slant in my novels, however, although two of them do contain the suicide of a character. With ‘The Reluctant Mother’, Colette does push through the worst of it, and tries to rebuild her life, even though her mother-in-law is very judgemental, seeing postnatal psychosis as something to be ashamed of. Her husband, Finn, is torn between supporting his wife and taking on the fear produced by his mother’s ignorance.
I enjoyed researching this topic, although I did get quite side-tracked at times. I gleaned information from my husband, specialist websites that included professional articles, and I also used my own experience of postnatal depression. Although my experience was very mild compared to postnatal psychosis, it gave me insight into the darkness of depression, and the struggle to be the perfect mummy that everyone expects, when everything seems stacked against you. Writing this novel, took me back to that dark place, but fortunately it was a problem that remained in the past, of which nothing has remained today.
‘The Reluctant Mother’ touches on postnatal psychosis as a foundation for Colette’s story, but the novel takes the reader on a journey of her getting her life and marriage back on track. She meets another mother suffering from the darkness of depression, whose life is spiralling out of control. Can Colette save her and her two daughters?
Thank you for having me here, Jennie.
Book and Author Links
Buy The Reluctant Mother on Amazon
Hemmie Martin Amazon Author Profile
Hemmie Martin Author Facebook Page
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June 9, 2017
Real-life horrors, humour, running and fiction
Yet another terrorist atrocity, this time in London… and only a few miles from my home. I admit to feeling shocked and depressed for several days afterwards, despite making an effort to carry on as normal. Yes, though it can seem heartless, we need to do that as best we can, I believe, while doing our utmost to oppose Islamic extremism.
This week I’ve spent hours checking the TV news and Twitter in horrified fascination and disbelief. While I couldn’t read the profiles of those killed without tears in my eyes, it’s been cheering to feel the warmth of fellow Londoners out and about in the capital, and to hear the stories of those who courageously fought back or rushed to help others.
And thank god for the British sense of humour. I for one couldn’t help but smile at the irony of this picture of Roy Larner, the ‘Lion of London Bridge’ who quite incredibly fended off the three attackers with nothing but his fists:
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Humour is badly needed at a time like this. Life seems more precarious to me than it did just a few weeks ago. I know the chances of being attacked by a terrorist are probably lower than getting knocked over on my bicycle, but even so… I’ve been jumping at noises in the street and while out with the dog the other day was startled to come across a dark, bearded, young man enthusiastically kicking and punching an invisible assailant. He was clearly practising some kind of martial arts. Normally I wouldn’t have batted an eyelid. This time, I hastily called the dog and jogged well away, and felt relieved on the way back when the guy had left.
Later I wondered at this sudden bout of fearfulness – along with that other thing which many around the world will have considered, if only briefly. Just what are you going to do if you’re ever confronted by a bunch of knife-wielding maniacs?
Run like hell, in my case. I’ve gone running every day this week and whenever I go anywhere I’ve put on new trainers rather than heels. Also I’ve renewed my resolve to learn kickboxing.
The latest UK terrorist attack has brought back memories of the earlier one in London back in 2005, which set me off on the path of writing the novel that would become Blind Side. I’ve written about the challenges of building a story around these terrible events in a guest post (due 12th July in the BibliomaniacUK blog) and I will be talking about this in an event I’m taking part in soon.
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Real Life, Real Books (8pm 5th July in Harpenden, an hour north of London) features three Unbound authors: me, Kerensa Jennings and Jessica Duchen. (Event details) It’s hosted by the energetic Katherine Sunderland who created the BibliomaniacUK blog. Katherine will lead a discussion of how authors incorporate real and reality-inspired events into our novels, and the dilemmas and challenges of doing so.
All three books have an element of real-life horror lurking behind the pages. Kerensa Jennings, author of Seas of Snow was influenced by her coverage of the Soham child murder investigation for the BBC (horrific crimes carried out by a psychopath). Jessica Duchen’s Ghost Variations, alongside its music mystery plot, touches on the oppression and suffering in Nazi-occupied Germany in the prelude to the second world war. My own thriller Blind Side involves the July 2005 London bombings and the horrors of the war between Russia and Chechnya.
Later this month (July 20th) I’ll be at the recently opened, bright and spacious Crouch End Waterstones in north London with Kerensa Jennings and Ian Skewis on a crime/psychological thriller-themed panel. More on this soon.
All those within spitting distance of either event, I’d love to see you!
May 29, 2017
Monster On The Loose
After the suicide attack at a pop concert in Manchester this week, I struggled to find any words that would manage to express my stunned horror at what had been done in the name of religion. To target teenage girls and children in this way seems to many to be sub-human, to go beyond what we can attempt to understand or even imagine.
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Waking up on Tuesday morning to the news of so many injured and dead… It was like finding oneself in a nightmare that never ends. Although many stress the community spirit unleashed in Manchester immediately after the bombing, and urge for love to conquer hate, there seems to be no end in sight to such terrorism… only the promise of worse to come. Is there any solution possible? Is there anything we can do, as individuals, that will change anything? Or do we just have to do our best in our own ways to cope with our grief and anger, and the threat of another terrorist attack? I believe that the power of the internet can be a powerful force for good, and that citizens of the world acting together can achieve a great deal, perhaps more potentially than individuals within nations and their governments can. But how to harness that power?
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Here’s a poem I wrote several years ago that tried to express some of my thoughts on the ever-present threat of terrorism. It seems particularly relevant this week.
MONSTER ON THE LOOSE
By Jennie Ensor
It will bite into your flesh
as you would bite into an apple.
Its breath will burn off your hair.
Its claws will rip off arms and legs
poke out eyes and steal your heart.
Its roar will turn your guts to jelly.
It doesn’t care about colour, size, shape
or what time you go to bed –
it is hungry for everyone.
Children and babies are best –
they’re easily broken. The old are crunchy
but don’t scream so loudly.
The monster can strike at any time.
It can take on different forms.
It will seem like one of us –
the woman lugging Sainsbury’s bags
or the guy sitting next to you on the bus
tapping into his iPhone.
Some say we must get rid of it.
Some say we must do what it wants.
Some ask: Why does it hate us so much?
Others say there’s nothing we can do –
no matter how many it slays
the monster will never be satisfied.
Try not to be scared. Never think:
Will I be next? You must carry on
as always, pretend it’s not there.
