Rachel Walkley's Blog, page 2

Places that inspire writers

We’ve all seen public buildings in our towns and cities: hospitals, schools, churches and swimming pools. Old and new in style, they perform a function and have a familiar interior. Some of these buildings, though, we perhaps only recognise on the outside. I’ve passed courthouses, the magistrates and the crown courts, and not thought much about their interior or what goes on inside them. Unless you work there, the only reason you might attend is as a defendant, witness or juror.

Sitting in an old courtroom, admiring the painted ceiling and generous quantity of oak panelling, (but not the scaffolding supporting one wall), my spell as a juror brought with it a civic sense of duty, and curiosity about the building itself. And, like any writer, it spurred on ideas, imaginations of a different trial to the one I heard. It started out with one issue – acoustics. The old court was problematic and once I had to raise my hand and ask for an answer to be repeated. ‘Please speak up’ was a frequent request. An unfortunate environment for a courtroom. Later, after the trial, I kept thinking about how voices carried, or not. The whispers I imagined, though, were not coming from the witness box, but closer to the ear, and they might be the kind that hung in the air, and disturbed the listener.

That was it. The start of a book. Whispers, unintelligible and accompanied by a little shivering and disquiet. Eventually, they would come to mean something, and lead the story out of the courthouse, away from the trial to somewhere different and unexpected.

Beyond the Yew Tree is as much about place as it is time, and that’s the play on the word ‘beyond’, because I wanted to take the reader back in time and also focus the story on specific locations, including a prison graveyard. (Yew trees are common in graveyards.) So from courthouse, to graveyard, then where? Well, that would be spoiling the story.

Pre-order today on Amazon

Whispers in the courtroom.

Only one juror hears them.

Can Laura expose the truth before the trial ends?

In an old courtroom, a hissing voice distracts reluctant juror, Laura, and at night recurring nightmares transport her to a Victorian gaol and the company of a wretched woman. Although burdened by her own secret guilt, and struggling to form meaningful relationships, Laura isn’t one to give up easily when faced with an extraordinary situation.

The child-like whispers lead Laura to an old prison graveyard, where she teams up with enthusiastic museum curator, Sean. He believes a missing manuscript is the key to understanding her haunting dreams. But nobody knows if it actually exists.

Laura is confronted with the fate of two people – the man in the dock accused of defrauding a charity for the blind, and the restless spirit of a woman hanged over a century ago for murder.

If Sean is the companion she needs in her life, will he believe her when she realises that the two mysteries are converging around a long-forgotten child who only Laura can hear?

Beyond the Yew Tree – available on pre-order

Publication day is one month off, but if you can’t wait, then you can pre-order the Kindle edition now.  Paperback will be available, too.

So, head on over to Amazon, and order or add to you wishlist.

Still not sure?  You can read the opening pages here.

Beyond the Yew Tree

Whispers in the courtroom.

Only one juror hears them.

Can Laura expose the truth before the trial ends?

In an old courtroom, a hissing voice distracts reluctant juror, Laura, and at night recurring nightmares transport her to a Victorian gaol and the company of a wretched woman. Although burdened by her own secret guilt, and struggling to form meaningful relationships, Laura isn’t one to give up easily when faced with an extraordinary situation.

The child-like whispers lead Laura to an old prison graveyard, where she teams up with enthusiastic museum curator, Sean. He believes a missing manuscript is the key to understanding her haunting dreams. But nobody knows if it actually exists.

Laura is confronted with the fate of two people – the man in the dock accused of defrauding a charity for the blind, and the restless spirit of a woman hanged over a century ago for murder.

If Sean is the companion she needs in her life, will he believe her when she realises that the two mysteries are converging around a long-forgotten child who only Laura can hear?

 

Cover reveal – guess the location

My third book is, like my first two, set in the east of England, but I’ve shifted a little north, out of East Anglia, but where?

The cover is the clue.

A Medieval city on a steep hill.

With a castle…

And a cathedral…

If you don’t recognise it, then don’t worry, there are so many beautiful cathedrals in the UK.

This is Lincoln, home of the Magna Carta, and plenty of history.

The location is an ideal place to set my story. Why?

Because within the old castle walls there is a courthouse, and a Victorian prison.

Whispers in the courtroom. Only one juror hears them.

 

Beyond the Yew Tree – to be published on 27th March 2020

Life imitating my books

I do like researching. I’m a natural researcher when it comes to digging up information and for many years that was my main career: finding and managing information. These days, the closest I get to researching is watching programmes like Who do you think you are?  It’s not the celebrity that fascinates me, but the effort involved in discovering their family background, all of which is done before the programme is even filmed by unsung genealogists and archivists, combing through archives and online records for an elusive entry. It takes time. Patience.

While watching a foray into the family history of Paul Merton the comedian, the programme touched on prison life during mid-Victorian era. Now as it happens I’m writing a book that dips into this period in history, although the main story is contemporary. Merton’s ancestor was sent to Wandsorth Prison, the comparable location in my book is Lincoln prison in the grounds of the castle. An old gaol that once practised segregation and isolation, just as Paul Merton’s ancestor experienced during her prison sentence.

Prisoners wore masks so that they couldn’t see each other’s faces, this included the wardens, who were forbidden to interact with the inmates. The condemned were referred to by numbers and not by name, their crimes unknown. There was strict silence, nobody was allowed to speak to each other. Prisoners where kept physically separated at all times in solitary cells and when exercising they couldn’t come into close proximity. The idea behind this draconian practice was to force the prisoner to address their crimes and find salvation. But really, let’s face it, it’s a form of mental torture and unlikely to result in rehabilitation, just good old fashioned punishment. The Separate System didn’t last long and the concept was abandoned, but not on humanitarian grounds – it was costly and hard to maintain.

The TV programme showed an illustration of the chapel with its individual cells where prisoners stood unable to see each other, only the preacher on his high pulpit would be visible.

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Surrey House of Correction, Wandsworth

Lincoln Prison’s segregated chapel still exists and is a popular part of the museum’s tour. It also features in my current work in progress – a ghost story where nothing is seen, just heard. My protagonist, Laura, finds herself seemingly alone in one of those cells. But is she really?

The final part of the visit was the chapel, a well-known exhibit, and she believed in savouring the best last. Facing the eagle’s nest pulpit was a honeycomb of tiered wooden cubicles in the form of four crescent rows of individual pews, each with their own divider and no view other than the pulpit before them. Plain and simple, the chapel was a tidy construction that ensured a prisoner never saw another; they were loaded into the row at one end and kept in a perpetual state of isolation until the service ended.

Laura entered one such lidless crate and shut the door. There was only space to stand or sit upon a hard bench. She tucked her elbows in and perched on the edge of the seat. Opposite her was the high balcony. What kind of sermon would the prisoners have heard? Hell fire and damnation or redemption through salvation? Either way, the congregation in their tiny upright coffins had no choice but to listen. The layout reminded her a little amphitheatre. Was there about to be a real-life performance – she glanced up at the overhanging pulpit. Empty, the towering box seemed to loom over the pews, casting a long shadow. Had the prisoners quaked in their boots or dozed off in boredom?

She stood, swayed slightly, aware of a cooling brush of air against her face. Then a noise close by: a cough? A sneeze?

She turned, cocked her ear and focused on the sounds slipping by her. Shuffling, or scuffling shoes? The direction was clear: somebody was in the cubicle next to her, and probably seated as the crown of his or hers head wasn’t visible above the partition. The unnerving discovery meant her neighbour had been there since she’d arrived in the chapel – how else could a person be barricaded into a miniature cell when she blocked their exit? Holding her breath, she leaned toward the wooden partition. Should she say a little ‘hello’ or clear her throat?

 

How do I write? #amwriting

A common question writers debate amongst themselves is do you write linear or not. Is it better for a writer to start at the beginning and move through the story to the end, or go to the part of the book that appeals most and start from there?

[image error]Now, I would say I’m a linear writer. I have an outline, I know the roots of my story and the outcome at the end. It’s easy, just begin at chapter one and … Except, I don’t really know my characters. What if I can’t find their voices or one character refuses to settle down? I know, it’s crazy, but authors have these voices in our heads and they can be quite independent. For The Last Thing She Said, I had to evoke the life of three sisters, including twins, meaning three personalities – what a challenge after my last book where I primarily focused on one voice.

To overcome this possibility, I wrote a passage in each character’s voice from somewhere in the book, just to make sure I knew them and had their voices in my head. It snowballed, and I ended up writing each of their parts as separate narratives, then rearranged them according to the plot. It wasn’t quite what I had planned!

The other concern I had was in critical scenes where the plot evolves dramatically or changes direction. What if those just didn’t go as I planned? I abandoned chapter two and wrote something much further along in the story. This scene had to work or else that character would not live on the pages of my book. Again, I broke with the linear writing definition and jumped into the book three-quarters of the way in. Then I danced back to the middle and wrote another crucial scene, before finally settling back at the beginning. Then I jiggled everything around so the middle became the beginning and… okay, it’s not linear at all.

If asked again by a writers’ group – do I write linear style or not – frankly, I don’t know. It depends on the book, and the great thing about writing … no two books are the same. I’m writing my third at the moment, and that too is going its own particular way.

A magical real world

There’s nothing more exciting and satisfying than seeing you book appear on Amazon. As it sells, which thankfully is happening for my books, I’m wondering who is buying my book and why. Books on Amazon are categorised and appear on lists which are linked to people’s reading habits. So where a book is categorised can have a significant impact on its future sales.

Both of my books are Women’s Fiction; they feature the lives of women and the category is generally marketed to female readers. I also consider my books to fall under the umbrella of Magical Realism, a small genre that is invisible on Amazon’s UK listings, although it is there behind the scenes. (Amazon US has a different approach to categories.)

[image error]I’ve always been a reader in this genre, long before I knew what it is was called. The stories told are anchored in the real world, whether historical or contemporary, and into it, the writer overlays something extraordinary. The author, Isabel Allende, is my strongest influence with her House of Spirits, which I read as a teenager, and The City of Beasts. The magical part of the story isn’t fantasy, like Tolkien or Pratchett, and it should be described in such a way that it integrates with the familiar real world a reader would know. Unlike Fantasy novels, writing Magical Realism isn’t world building or elaborate in its set-up. I simply injected something supernatural and made it part of the real world. In The Last Thing She Said, the sisters have gifts, and one of them would consider hers to be far from normal. How will she cope with it? And what impact will it have on her life?

The challenge of writing in this genre is not to get carried away with the magical aspects, just allow them to blend into the story, and focus on the reality, the things readers will recognise—the relationship between the sisters, their ambitions and need for love in their lives. In hindsight, the magical elements were the least of my worries; making the realism part work was far more important to the story.

 

Blog Tour Day 7 – a conversation

[image error]It’s the final day of the book tour week, and this week has certainly whizzed by. So my final three bloggers, last by no means least, include another extract from The Last Thing She Said.

Mixing Reality with Fiction – Review

The Divine Write – Review

Ali- The Dragon Slayer – A conversation between two sisters on different sides of an ocean.

 

With the tour wrapping up today, I’d like to give a big thank you to all the book bloggers and reviewers who’ve given up the time to help me, especially tour organiser, Rachel. @rararesources, at Rachel’s Random Resources.

Don’t miss out on the giveaway prize- a free copy of The Women of Heachley Hall is on offer to a lucky winner – follow the link.

 

Do you like to read about free chapters and short stories, or find out more about your favourite author including their work in progress?

Interested? Then sign up for my reader’s club newsletter: Rachel’s Readers and you’ll receive a complementary short story.

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Blog Tour Day 6 – Love and Romance

[image error]The penultimate day of my book tour! There’s still much I want to tell you about the book, but I don’t want to ruin the plot. My guest post goes a little way to anwer some of those questions about the story, but not too much I hope.

Mai’s Musings – Review

Laura’s Interests – Review

Jazzy Book Reviews – a guest post on love and romance. Will any of the three sisters find happiness and does romance feature in the book?

Don’t miss out on the giveaway prize- a free copy of The Women of Heachley Hall is on offer to a lucky winner – follow the link.

 

Do you like to read about free chapters and short stories, or find out more about your favourite author including their work in progress?

Interested? Then sign up for my reader’s club newsletter: Rachel’s Readers and you’ll receive a complementary short story.

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Blog Tour Day 5 – Read an extract

[image error]Do you need to read a passage to help you make up your mind? I know when I’m looking at books on Amazon I wish I could see inside, and not just the opening chapters. When I’m in a bookshop, I thumb through a paperback and pick a few pages at random to get a feel for the writing. It’s not the same on a Kindle. So today if you’re following my blog tour, you’ll get a chance to read an extract of The Last Thing She Said.

Dash Fan Book Reviews – Review

Ellesea Loves Reading – Rebecca rarely steps out of her house. Find out what happens when she does.

Jessica Rachow – Review

Don’t miss out on the giveaway prize- a free copy of The Women of Heachley Hall is on offer to a lucky winner – follow the link.

 

Do you like to read about free chapters and short stories, or find out more about your favourite author including their work in progress?

Interested? Then sign up for my reader’s club newsletter: Rachel’s Readers and you’ll receive a complementary short story.

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Blog Tour Day 4 – Two reviews and a guest post.

[image error]Today I’m visiting some wonderfully named book bloggers. I would like to think my book is devilishly delicious, especially as it opens with a chocolate birthday cake and a quirky ritual involving blowing out a solitary candle.

Devilishly Delicious Book Review – Review

Splashes into Books – Review

Nemesis Book Blog – Guest post on how I wrote The Last Thing She Said

 

Don’t miss out on the giveaway prize- a free copy of The Women of Heachley Hall is on offer to a lucky winner – follow the link.

 

Do you like to read about free chapters and short stories, or find out more about your favourite author including their work in progress?

Interested? Then sign up for my reader’s club newsletter: Rachel’s Readers and you’ll receive a complementary short story.

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