Paula R.C. Readman's Blog, page 64

Clubhouse Chat Guest: Claire Boley

Welcome to Clubhouse Chat page. Those of you who are not a member won’t be aware that the location of the Clubhouse is shrouded in mystery. The only way to visit it is via membership or an invite to the tearoom. Every few days, I’ll be sharing a conversation with all sort of writers and authors at different levels of their writing careers. Over tea and cakes, or maybe a glass of something stronger, I shall be chatting with my guest about their work in progress, or latest book release.

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Today I’m chatting to Claire. Welcome to the tearoom.

Thank you Paula for inviting me for a cup of tea – I enjoy a good cuppa.

Let’s start by asking you when you first began your writing journey what drew you to your chosen genre?

I was looking through magazines in W H Smith when I came across articles on subjects that I enjoy i.e. bread making, ceramics, hand spinning and gardening. After a lot of thought I decided that I may be able to write an article about hand spinning as I felt I knew enough about the subject, having taught it at workshops which I held in Exeter. After writing the articles for a few months for national magazines I was lucky enough to get an advance to write Hand Spinning and Natural Dyeing. This lead to me writing two novels based in London.

What writing elements do you think is your strongest points, and what would you like to do better?

I love writing about life in London especially during the 60s and 70s when I lived there. I find it easy to get the story to flow. My dream is to write a crime book but I wouldn’t know where to start.

[image error] Claire Boley

Tell us a little about latest writing project. Is it a new idea, or one you have been mulling over for some time?

I’ve been mulling this story over for some time and at last I have started writing about a young lady that lives in a bedsitter in Covent Garden, before living here she was living on the streets in London.

Were any of your characters inspired by real people?

 I don’t base any of my books on real people. I always carry a note book in my handbag then if someone says something to me that amuses me I jot it down and may use it in a story.

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What did you learn when writing your book? In writing it, how much research did you do?

I did quite a bit of research for both my books. I was forever looking up roads in the A-Z or on google maps.

 Is there anything about you your readers might be surprised to find out?

Not many people will know that I went to an army school in Singapore for two years.

Did you uncover things about yourself while writing your books, whether that be a long forgotten memory, a positive experience etc.

While writing my first novel –If Only I’d Listened I remembered how I used to tell stories to my school friends and found it amusing when they believed what I said.

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How long on average does it take you to write a book?

When I wrote the hand spinning book I signed a contract saying I had to finish it in 9 months. I settled down at 9am most mornings and kept writing until lunch time when I went for a short walk around the block. In the afternoons I spent my time checking what I had written that morning.

Thank you so much for chatting with me in the tearoom. Brutus will bring the car round when you’re ready to leave, Claire.

Here’s a link to Claire’s Amazon Author’s Page

If you want to find out more about Clubhouse Member’s Books don’t forget to check out the Clubhouse Bookshops too.

Clubhouse Chat Guest: Paula Martin

Welcome to Clubhouse Chat page. Those of you who are not a member won’t be aware that the location of the Clubhouse is shrouded in mystery. The only way to visit it is via membership or an invite to the tearoom. Every few days, I’ll be sharing a conversation with all sort of writers and authors at different levels of their writing careers. Over tea and cakes, or maybe a glass of something stronger, I shall be chatting with my guest about their work in progress, or latest book release.

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Today I’m welcoming Paula to the tearoom. Welcome.

Thanks for inviting me to the Clubhouse, Paula. I’d love a latte, please.

It’s lovely to have you here, Paula. Now our refreshments have arrived let me start by asking you when you first begun your writing journey what drew you to your chosen genre?

I think the genre chose me. After writing mainly school stories as a child (based on Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers stories), I started writing romance stories in my teens for my friends to read on the school bus. Admittedly, they were very cheesy romances, but in my twenties I adapted and expanded one of these stories into a full length novel which was published by Mills and Boon in1968, followed by 3 more novels for M&B in the 1970s. After that, my family and career as a history teacher didn’t leave me much time for writing, apart from several short stories (romances, of course). When I eventually came back to writing novels (after taking early retirement from teaching), I automatically started writing romances again and have had 11 novels published since 2012. The only real change has been from character-led stories i.e. concentrating on the ‘romance’ between the characters, to plot-led stories in which some intrigue or external problem complicates the development of the relationship between the two main characters.

What writing elements do you think is your strongest points, and what would you like to do better?

I think dialogue is probably my strongest point – I enjoy writing dialogue, and can hear the characters in my head. I can even ‘think’ in different accents e.g. American, Irish, etc, even though I can’t speak them.

I used to think that descriptions were my weakest point – and so have been pleasantly surprised by some reviews of my series set in Ireland in which people have made comments such as ‘the descriptions of places in the book are perfectly heavenly and made me want to go there’ and ‘superb Irish countryside, so excellently described’. It seems I may be better at descriptions than I thought, but I confess I don’t find them easy to write, and can take longer to write a short descriptive paragraph than a whole page of dialogue.

[image error] The Wonderful Paula Martin

Tell us a little about latest writing project. Is it a new idea, or one you have been mulling over for some time?

My latest project came out of the blue, and is quite a departure from my other books, which have all been contemporary. This one is set in the mid-19th century and is based (loosely) on my great-great-grandparents. I knew from information my great-uncle gave me many years ago that his grandfather was a captain with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company for about 20 years, but that was all I knew until I started researching my family history. I’ve found a lot of interesting, and at times conflicting, references to him in the company minutes and in the Isle of Man newspaper archives. Was John your archetypical ‘drunken sailor’ or was he an experienced and well-respected sea-captain? After more research, I’m now trying to weave a story about him, his wife, and his children, based partly on facts but also using a lot of imagination.

How many unfinished projects do you have on your computer?

After a quick check, I found two first chapters (abandoned), and also discovered a prologue set in Croatia that I’d forgotten about. I also have several articles which sparked my interest and sowed the seeds for stories – all of which I may develop – eventually!

Do you write a synopsis first or write the first chapter?

There’s no way I could write a synopsis first! I know from experience that the finished story would probably bear no relation to any synopsis. I simply start off with a vague idea of what the story will be about, and see where it takes me. Of course, that means I sometimes write myself into dead ends and have to backtrack and/or delete, but the plus side is that the characters often surprise me, or a new character appears who either helps or hinders the main characters. That, to me, is one of the joys of writing.

When reading your work through do you ever find that your daily mood swings are reflected in your writing?
That’s an interesting thought, but no, it’s the opposite for me. I think I escape from my moods into my writing, and concentrate on my characters and their problems, instead of my own. That’s been even more true during this year’s COVID lockdowns. At least my characters can go out and about and meet with family and friends, which I can’t do at present.

What did you learn when writing your books? In writing them, how much research did you do?

I do masses of research – thank heaven for Google, and also for maps, Streetview, and YouTube. I research the places where I set my novels (even those I’m familiar with), to make sure I don’t make any errors – although I admit I did once have a police car going the wrong way up a one-way street in an Irish town– oops! I also need to research characters’ jobs – I’ve had a theatre producer, journalist, archaeologist, volcano expert, veterinary surgeon, professional photographer, ballerina, tour guide, undercover detective, and several actors as my main characters. My Irish novels have also involved research into the 19th century potato famine, the 1920s Civil War, and the horrendous treatment of unmarried mothers and their babies in the 1950s. For my current ‘work-in-progress’ I’ve had to research 19th century Liverpool and the Isle of Man, as well as paddle steamers, Victorian foods and fashions, etc. I definitely learn a lot with every book I write!

Is there anything about you your readers might be surprised to find out?

When I came back to writing fiction, I started with fan-fiction, and wrote several stories based on ‘The West Wing’, my all-time favourite TV series. At various times I actually managed to meet several stars of the show – Richard Schiff and Stockard Channing when they were appearing in plays in London, Bradley Whitford at a theatre in New York, and Martin Sheen backstage at a theatre in Los Angeles. I will be forever grateful to ‘The West Wing’ for inspiring me to start writing again after a long period of not writing.

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How do you select the names of your characters? Do you know everything about them before you start writing their story?

I don’t usually have any problem deciding on first names for my two main characters – their names seem to appear out of nowhere once I start thinking about a story. Secondary characters’ names are sometimes harder to find. I went through a phase where I had secondary characters named Kate in several of my books!I have more problems with surnames and usually trawl through surname sites until one jumps out at me.

When I start the story, I only know their names, their occupations, and maybe a few details of their lives, but I find they tell me more about themselves as I write their story – and sometimes they surprise me with information about themselves or their past history. In a sense, getting to know my characters gradually is rather like getting to know people in ‘real life’.

How long on average does it take you to write a book?

I used to say writing a book was like having a baby i.e. a nine-month task, six months to write the first draft, and three months to revise, edit, and polish. For several years, I had a new book published each year. However, I admit I have slowed down recently, especially during this past year. Being in lockdown for most of the year should have given me more time for writing, but somehow it hasn’t worked like that, as I’ve been working on my current book for over a year and the first draft still isn’t finished. Maybe my ‘excuse’ is that I’ve had to do more research since it is set in Victorian times.

Many thanks for having me as your guest today, Paula. I’ve really enjoyed answering your questions!

Thank you for joining me, Paula. You’re welcome back anytime.
If you’re interested in finding out more about Paula’s writing check out the links below.

Links: Website:http://paulamartinromances.webs.com

Amazon author page: author.to/MistNaMaraSeries

If you want to find out more about Clubhouse Member’s Books don’t forget to check out the Clubhouse Bookshops too.

Panic is Over

What an idiot I was yesterday. While trying to add another book to my Amazon Author’s Page list, I clicked on a button to say I wanted to be recognized a Multiple Author. My whole author’s page disappeared and I was left with a new screen that said, “Hello, Multiple Author.”

On realising my mistake, I sent them an email, explain what had happened. I kept checking my Author’s page, but whenever I signed in the screen kept say Hello, Multiple Author. I went to bed feeling quite sick. Would I have to create a new page?

In the morning when I first checked it was still the same. About mid-day (British Time) I checked again and saw my name. I signed in relieved to find all was back to normal. So Thank you to Amazon for sorting it all out.

The anthology I was trying to add was Mulling It Over published by Bridge House Publishing. I’m so please to be between the covers again with some wonderful writers and friends. Please check it out by clicking on the link.

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Book Blurb:

The Island of Mull, covered in mulls. To mull a drink. An important instrument for making a book. Plenty to mull over here. And plenty to make you think.

As ever, the interpretation has been varied: the Island of Mull, thinking about things, often quite deeply, the odd mulled drink and even something used in making a book – how appropriate again. You will find a variety of styles here and an intriguing mix of voices. There is humour and pathos, some hard-hitting tales and some feel-good accounts. All to be mulled over.

It’s that time of year again: story time. Enjoy!

Clubhouse Chat Guest: Mandy James

Welcome to Clubhouse Chat page. Those of you who are not a member won’t be aware that the location of the Clubhouse is shrouded in mystery. The only way to visit it is via membership or an invite to the tearoom. Every few days, I’ll be sharing a conversation with all sort of writers and authors at different levels of their writing careers. Over tea and cakes, or maybe a glass of something stronger, I shall be chatting with my guest about their work in progress, or latest book release.

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Today, I’m welcoming Mandy to the tearoom. Welcome. I’m sorry I could provide sunny weather. At least, you arrived safely having a driver bringing you here.

Thanks for inviting me to your tearoom. This lovely cup of tea is just what I needed on this dark and rainy afternoon. I love tea and rarely drink coffee. Might there be cake?

Of course, there’s cake. Now let’s start with when you first begun your writing journey, what drew you to your chosen genre?
​Reading, I think. I have always read lots of different genres since I was a kid, but through my teens and early twenties I tended to read adventures, suspense and thrillers. The Lord of the Rings made a big impact and I loved to escape reality into different and magical worlds created by Tolkien. My favourite suspense author is Dean Koontz and I wanted to write like him. My first novel, Severe Weather Warning was a suspense set in Monument Valley Arizona. It was published as Dancing in the Rain, but I now have the rights back, and so I think I’ll self-publish it at some point. Nowadays, I prefer to write uplifting stories with a bit of added magic.

Do you write a synopsis first or write the first chapter? 
Always the first chapter. I often leave the synopsis until the end. I do have a set of rough notes and bullet point important things I must include. I have a list of characters, what their eye and hair color are – age etc. You’d be surprised how often I have to check back on them. If I didn’t have the list, names of lesser characters might change halfway through. Even with the list this has been known!

[image error] The Wonderful Mandy James

When reading your work through do you ever find that your daily mood swings are reflected in your writing?
Yes! If I’m grumpy, my character might be – or they could unexpectedly change direction. Sometimes if I’m particularly fed up, and let’s face it, we’re all affected to one degree or another with this hellish year, I just stop writing and do something else. Some writing days just don’t work.

What did you learn when writing your book? In writing it, how much research did you do?
I always do a certain amount of research. Often in suspense, I had to find out certain things about police procedure. Luckily, I have relatives in the police from whom I could ask advice. Very handy! One of my recent books – Nancy Cornish PI, involved researching a collapsed sea cave near where I live. If you write about real places, you must get details right. It’s very annoying for those who know about those areas to read books that get it wrong, I imagine. Plus the fact they would let me know about it – and quite rightly.

Is there anything about you your readers might be surprised to find out?

​I used to be a history teacher and when I wrote my time travel novels, I picked my favourite parts of history for my characters to visit in the book. It meant I could incorporate all the information I taught, and really bring it to life. I’m a very visual writer and see scenes in colour and great detail. 

Did you uncover things about yourself while writing your books?
I find sometimes that my character might do things that I’ve been meaning to try but never got around to it. Lottie, my main character in The Calico Cat walks around the South West Coast Path in Cornwall and meets lots of interesting people. I’d love to do that. I have walked bits of it, but not as far as she does. She walks from Newquay to Sennen Cove. What an adventure!

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How many hours in a day do you write?
​Sometimes none – other times four or five hours. I don’t have a set regime. I might write three or four days in a row and then nothing for a few days. Or I might binge write every day for two weeks. I can only write when the muse takes me. I’m rubbish in the evenings too. Morning is best until around three in the afternoon.

How do you select the names of your characters? Do you know everything about them before you start writing their story?
​Because these days I write stories set in Cornwall where I live, I normally like to choose Cornish names. They are easy as I just Goggle them. I have included names of friends and family too. Or sometimes, it’s just a name I like, picked from the air, or keyboard. The letters on the keyboard have been a way of choosing supporting characters especially. I hover my fingers across the keys and choose one beginning with H, for example. And no, I know very little about them when I start writing. They tend to take over after a very short time! No matter how much I argue with them, they tend to do whatever the hell they like!

How long on average does it take you to write a book?
​On average, I suppose it’s around four to six months. It can be longer, or shorter. A Stitch in Time was my fastest – six weeks! This has never been repeated. 
Thanks for the chat and the tea and cake, Paula. I really enjoyed it  

Thank you for joining me, Mandy. It’s been lovely. To find out more about Mandy and her writing check out her Amazon Author’s Page

If you want to find out more about Clubhouse Member’s Books don’t forget to check out the Clubhouse Bookshops too.

Clubhouse Chat Guest: Marilyn Pemberton

Welcome to Clubhouse Chat page. Those of you who are not a member won’t be aware that the location of the Clubhouse is shrouded in mystery. The only way to visit it is via membership or an invite to the tearoom. Every few days, I’ll be sharing a conversation with all sort of writers and authors at different levels of their writing careers. Over tea and cakes, or maybe a glass of something stronger, I shall be chatting with my guest about their work in progress, or latest book release.

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Today I’m welcoming Marilyn to the tearoom. Welcome.

Thank you for your invite. The tearoom is rather grand.

Thank you, Marilyn we are pleased with it. Now we have our drinks let’s start by asking you when you first begun your writing journey what drew you to your chosen genre?

I have always worked in computers (where facts invariably supersede fiction) and when I took my degrees (BA, MA and PhD) as a very mature student, all the essays obviously also had to be factual. Having achieved my PhD I wrote the biography of Mary De Morgan (1850 – 1907), a Victorian writer I had “discovered” during my research, which also had to be accurate and truthful. Despite having done a lot of research on De Morgan there were still gaps in my knowledge and by now, having learned to love the act of writing (beats housework), I decided to write a fictional account based on her life. That, by necessity was a historical novel (“The Jewel Garden”). After that, it has never occurred to me to write any other genre.

Tell us a little about latest writing project. Is it a new idea, or one you have been mulling over for some time?

My PhD was on the utopian and dystopian aspects of Victorian fairy tales and Mary De Morgan, whom I am quite obsessed with, was a writer of fairy tales, amongst many other things. De Morgan was fairly well-known in her day, but very few people have heard of her today. I find fairy tales and their retelling to suit the agenda of the period, fascinating. After “The Jewel Garden,” I wrote “Song of the Nightingale: a tale of two castrati” based on something I had heard on a radio programme: that young boys were bought from poor families in Italy, castrated and sent to a conservatoire to be taught to sing as castrati. But fairy tales and the difficulties of women writers to have their voices heard was always in the back of my mind so when I sat down to think what to write next, I knew I wanted to incorporate these two themes.  I wanted one or more fairy tales to pass from female generation to female generation, but never published, due to the obstacles experienced by the women, until they are rediscovered and revealed during the second-wave of feminism in the 1970s. I originally thought it would be one book, but it is now going to be a trilogy. The first book (set in the 1820s) is with a literary agent and I am well on my way to finishing the second (set in 1880s), with the 3rd (set in 1910s) planned in my head. The best thing about the books, in my opinion, are the fairy tales I have made up, which pass from woman to woman – these have been great fun to write and I am rather proud of them.

[image error] The Lovely Marilyn Pemberton

How many unfinished projects do you have on your computer?

Although I am focussing on the second book of the trilogy, I do have an idea for what to write next, which I intend to research in parallel as it will be based on a real woman about whom I know very little, other than I think there is a wonderful story there! In addition, I always write something for each of my three young granddaughters for their birthdays in December and February, so I suppose you could say these are currently unfinished projects. They are simple stories which I have also started to illustrate myself, but they are in no way publishabled

Do you write a synopsis first or write the first chapter, or let the characters lead you?

I am definitely a planner. I always know how I want it to start and how I want it to finish, with an idea of the main events. I will then write a character study of each main character, along with a detailed timeline, which I put on post-it notes to begin with, then onto a spreadsheet once I am happy with the sequence. Then I start writing! Once I do and the characters have their own personalities, then it all changes, of course, but it is useful as a rough guide of where I intended to go. 

What did you learn when writing your book? In writing it, how much research did you do?

For “The Jewel Garden” I had done an enormous amount of research already for my PhD and for the biography of Mary De Morgan, so I didn’t need to do much more other than find out about life in Egypt in the early 1900s and how to travel in England and to Egypt. For “Song of the Nightingale,” I bought about six books on the history and life in eighteenth-century Italy, and of the castrati, but the book is about relationships and emotions which needs my imagination rather than in-depth research. For the books in the trilogy, again I have purchased books and accessed websites on aspects I need to know about: mining in the early 1800s, particularly in Wednesbury; how to become a missionary; women up at Oxford University in the 1880s; the life of women in the Settlements of London in the 1880s; the fate of unmarried women and how to terminate a baby; Victorian etiquette and much more!

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What is your work schedule like when you’re writing?

The ideal day is:

Up at 7 and walk the dog, then breakfast.

Do “stuff” until late morning (answer e-mails, do some painting, shop, basically faff around)

Walk dog, then lunch.

Write from about 2pm – 6pm.

Walk dog, then dinner.

Read or do the crossword (I don’t have a television) then bed.

Repeat.

Do you set yourself a daily word count?

On a writing day I like to try and write over 1,000 words, which I usually manage, but if I don’t, I don’t beat myself up. I currently don’t have any deadlines, so I don’t feel pressurised.

Did you ever consider writing under a pseudonym?

I do now but feel it is too confusing to change at this stage. I wish I had written all my books under my maiden name of Hammond.

How do you select the names of your characters? Do you know everything about them before you start writing their story?

I try and find names that were appropriate for the period, I need to like the sound of it and there should not be two names that are similar, as this is confusing for the reader. In the book I am writing, I changed one of the main male names from Daniel to Nicholas to Edward, because I couldn’t engage with him until he had a name I was comfortable with. As I have said earlier, I do write character studies, with their physical attributes as well as their personality traits. I probably don’t know absolutely everything about them – they tend to reveal themselves as the book progresses, but at least I can remind myself of the colour of their hair and eyes!

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How long on average does it take you to write a book?

I haven’t written that many, but if there is not too much research, as in the trilogy I am currently writing,  then I would hope to finish within 12 – 18 months.

Thank you for joining me today, Marilyn. If you would like to know more about Marilyn’s writing and books please click on the links below:

Marilyn’s books can be found on this links: “Song of the Nightingale: a tale of two castrati” and this link: The Jewel Garden”

Website: Marilyn Pemberton | Marilyn Pemberton Author

Marilyn Pemberton | Marilyn Pemberton AuthorBlog: writingtokeepsane.wordpress.com

It you want to find out more about Clubhouse Member’s Books don’t forget to check out the Clubhouse Bookshops too.

And, yes your book does get pirated

Nothing is sacred these day. After years of working hard on your book, putting in the hours, typing alone in your room, giving up hours of free time you could have spent with family and friends but instead you followed your dreams blindly. Then after years of hard work your book is finally published you discover to your horror someone on this vast planet has pirated it.

With millions of books out there, by hundreds of well known established writers and authors you asks yourself why? Why mine?

I can’t tell you why? The question that bothers me is how am I supposed to feel about it? I myself have mixed emotions. Should I look upon it as free marketing? My book is out quite a few of these sites, but going by my sales, it hasn’t made it into a bestseller. If readers are silly enough to download from these unofficial sites then they deserve to get a bad experience, or even a virus on their computer.

The trouble is you could spend a life time chasing down these sites trying to get your book removed, only to discover the next day your book cover has reappeared on four more dodgy sites. Most just use the cover, some have copied the opening chapters from Amazon sample read.

This morning while checking to see if I had any new reviews on Stone Angels, my crime novel, I discovered another pirating site has my book cover on it. Though there’s a slight problem. Instead of my novel being categorised as gothic crime, it’s listed as literary fiction. Yes, I love the idea of my first novel being listed in that category, but I take issue with the fact they haven’t done their homework

Clubhouse Chat Guest: Jenny Worstall

Welcome to Clubhouse Chat page. Those of you who are not a member won’t be aware that the location of the Clubhouse is shrouded in mystery. The only way to visit it is via membership or an invite to the tearoom. Every few days, I’ll be sharing a conversation with all sort of writers and authors at different levels of their writing careers. Over tea and cakes, or maybe a glass of something stronger, I shall be chatting with my guest about their work in progress, or latest book release.

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Today, I’m welcoming Jenny to the tearoom. Welcome.

Thank you for inviting me for a chat, Paula. The tearoom is amazing and look at all those cakes. Mmm.

Yes, the cakes are too lovely. I hope your freshly ground coffee is to your liking. My first question is can you choose five of your favourite authors and list them in order 1 begin the top of your list and say how have they influenced your writing? 

Only five…. Okay, right Jane Austen for her wit and comedy. Barbara Pym, for the same. Anne Tyler, for her celebration of the uniqueness of the ‘ordinary’ person. Kate Morton for her incredibly complex plots and intriguing mysteries. And A J Pearce for the fantastic Mrs Bird – a novel I adored from beginning to end for the wonderful way she conjured up wartime England in the 40s with great sensitivity and tremendous humour.

When reading your work through do you ever find that your daily mood swings are reflected in your writing? 

Not really – more the other way round. If my writing is going well, it’s a good day for me.

[image error] Jenny Worstall

Were any of your characters inspired by real people? 

My characters are, of course, entirely imaginary and most definitely bear absolutely no resemblance to anyone (are you a lawyer?!).

(Nope

Clubhouse Chat Guest: Lorna Read

Welcome to Clubhouse Chat page. Those of you who are not a member won’t be aware that the location of the Clubhouse is shrouded in mystery. The only way to visit it is via membership or an invite to the tearoom. Every few days, I’ll be sharing a conversation with all sort of writers and authors at different levels of their writing careers. Over tea and cakes, or maybe a glass of something stronger, I shall be chatting with my guest about their work in progress, or latest book release.

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Today I’m welcoming Jasmine to the tearoom. Welcome. My first question is what drink would like?

Please could I have Lemon and ginger tea. Thank you.

Now we have our refreshments let’s start with when you first begun your writing journey what drew you to your chosen genre?

I was six when I started writing, but I was writing songs – yes, the music, too – and poetry, rather than prose. I started to write an adventure book about cowboys when I was eleven. I don’t think I have a chosen genre. I am still experimenting! I got a job on a romantic fiction magazine when I was in my thirties. That’s when I started writing romantic stories and selling them to magazines such as Woman’s Realm. My then boyfriend became a literary agent (lucky me!) and encouraged me to write for the Sapphire Romance library and from there, I started writing romances for teenagers, for Pan and Scholastic.

What writing elements do you think is your strongest points, and what would you like to do better?

I think emotion is my strongest point. I wish I could write better dialogue. I need to listen more… catch the cadences and vocabulary of other people’s speech.

[image error] Lorna Read

Tell us a little about latest writing project. Is it a new idea, or one you have been mulling over for some time?

My latest writing project is non-fiction. It’s an account of all the strange and spooky things that have happened in my life, such as an angel coming into my living room when my mum died. She hadn’t even been ill. I had no idea what was going on when the ceiling suddenly vanished and all this pink light flooded in, to be followed by mighty, feathery wings that came right through the wall.

How many unfinished projects do you have on your computer?

There are five unfinished projects on my computer. Two are follow-ups to books I have already had published, two are autobiographical, the spooky book being one and the other being an account of the times I was at knife point and gun point. I’ve had a very strange life! The final one involves a murder. This is something new for me. It’s not a police procedural, it’s a psychological thriller, I suppose.

When writing poetry do you plan your poem?

My poems come out of the blue. So do my songs. They are visitations. With books, I get the germ of an idea and let it fester for while. Then I start making notes on my computer, but I can never start writing until I have the end firmly fixed in my mind – in fact, I sometimes write the final sentence and that gives me something to work towards. I write a sketchy kind of chapter breakdown that’s always likely to change. I also make a list of characters and a brief biography of them all, so I don’t change their eye or hair colour halfway through.

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Choosing only five of your favourite authors. Can you list them in order 1 begin the top of your list and say how have they influenced your writing?

Favourite writers. I have plenty. Gerard Manley Hopkins’ rhythms and stresses fill me with joy. I can hear music in his lines. D. H. Lawrence, although he writes a lot of purple prose, has emotional power and gritty realism in his writing, and I admire the way he doesn’t avoid sex but plunges in (ahem!). I love Peter Robinson’s writing in his DCI Banks books. He is particularly good at conveying internal dialogue in an unobtrusive way. I keep one of his books on my shelf and often open it at random to check how he does it. I am a great fan of Lindsey Davis’s Falco and Flavia Alba novels set in ancient Rome and I admire the way she is so steeped in her research that absolutely nothing shrieks ‘info dump’ at you. I think A.J. Griffiths-Jones is a terrific writer with an amazing imagination. She is tremendously versatile. I first encountered her work when I was given the job of copy-editing her book Black Sparrow, and I am currently reading The Seasiders.

When reading your work through do you ever find that your daily mood swings are reflected in your writing?

My daily moods don’t affect my writing. If anything, it’s the other way round. When one of my characters suffers a tragic death, I weep over the keyboard and am miserable for the rest of the day.

Were any of your characters inspired by real people?

Sometimes I base characters on real people, but not directly. For example, Cassidy, in Half A Rainbow, is a combination of three people I used to know. Leah is more like me!

What did you learn when writing your book? In writing it, how much research did you do?

For Half A Rainbow, I researched goats and goat breeding. For The Earl’s Captive, I didn’t have time for research as I only had five weeks in which to write 85,000 words, but I am happily researching all things Regency for the next book about Lucy Swift.

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Is there anything about you your readers might be surprised to find out?

One thing that surprised me about myself was when I did one of those Ancestry tests and was told I had 4% Neanderthal DNA. That is a very high proportion and puts me in 1% of the population. I have a theory about it. I bet if all those who were in any way psychic were to be tested, they would be found to have high dose of Neanderthal DNA, too. We needed a sixth sense in those days, partly for communication purposes and also to avoid being bumped off by a brontosaurus.

Did you uncover things about yourself while writing your book, whether that be a long forgotten memory, a positive experience etc.

I can’t say I have unlocked any hidden memories or made any personal discoveries while writing, so I can’t answer this one.

 What is your work schedule like when you’re writing?

My work schedule varies. I was a freelance journalist for many years, writing to tight deadlines and many of my more than twenty books have been written to deadlines, too. I am much more disciplined when I know my work has to be in by a certain day. Without that deadline, I think ‘There’s always tomorrow’, and don’t get down to it. I certainly don’t whip myself into writing a set amount of words a day. I should. Perhaps I need to set myself some rules. During lockdown, it’s far too easy to drift and play Words With Friends!

Do you set yourself a daily word count?

I’ve answered this in my previous paragraph really, but I once managed 13,000 words over a weekend, because my then agent had a meeting set up with a publisher and wanted three chapters to show them. My book idea was rejected because, quote, “Books set in Cornwall are old hat”. But those chapters became Half A Rainbow.

How many hours in a day do you write?

I find I can’t write for more than four hours a day now. I have arthritis in my fingers – something which I share with Lindsey Davis; we have emailed each other with advice – so I try not to hammer the keyboard for too long, though it’s only too easy to get carried away and suddenly realise it’s got dark and you’ve been writing since lunchtime.

Did you ever consider writing under a pseudonym?

I used a pseudonym just once, for the original version of The Earl’s Captive, which was published by Futura Books in the ‘80s as Sweet Temptation. They chose that title and I always hated it. The book was a ‘bodice ripper’, which was all the rage then and I used the pseudonym Caroline Standish (the Standish came from the name of the stately home my ancestors once lived in). I only did this because my mother begged me to, so that my prim father wouldn’t find out I had written steamy prose! I actually toned the sex down a lot when I revamped the book for my current publisher, because it was too voyeuristic somehow and didn’t fit with today’s climate.

How do you select the names of your characters? Do you know everything about them before you start writing their story?

Choosing names for characters was so much easier back when I first started writing professionally, because we all had phone books! I would think of a Christian name, then flip the pages looking for a surname that fitted well with it. Now, if I come across a name I like, I scribble it down, thinking, ‘That would make a good name for my next hero or heroine’. As I mentioned earlier, I keep a ‘cog sheet’, as we used to call it, containing info about the characters. I love the way in which Lindsey Davis starts all her books off with a snappy resume of each character in her books; just a few laconic words such as ‘Sosthenes, a water-features expert, bit of a drip’, or ‘Alina, a wife dreaming of love: no chance’!

What was your hardest scene to write?

My hardest scene to write? The tricky murder in one of my works-in-progress. I’m still trying to work it out.

How long on average does it take you to write a book (story, poem, or play)?

Writing a poem can take anything from an hour to a year, though this one barely took five minutes:

SENIOR MOMENTS

I’m having a senior moment. My memory’s let me down flat. Was Sandy the name of your sister, Or was it the name of your cat? Did you live in a basement in Balham, Or was it a penthouse in Bow? And your name, is it David, or Alan? And (forgive!) did we ever… you know?!

I write poems in a frenzy, almost channeling them, then put them to one side and re-read them a few weeks later to see what needs polishing. Sometimes it’s an endless task. I am still reworking poems I wrote when I was a student in 1966! With books, I would say the average length of time it takes me to write one is three to six months if I have no interruptions. But life has a habit of getting in the way, doesn’t it?

Thank you so much for joining me today, Lorna.

If you would like to know more about Lorna’s work please click on the links:

Facebook: Lorna Read Author For her new book, Half A Rainbow 

It you want to find out more about Clubhouse Member’s Books don’t forget to check out the Clubhouse Bookshops too.

Clubhouse Chat Guest: Jasmine Jarvis

Welcome to Clubhouse Chat page. Those of you who are not a member won’t be aware that the location of the Clubhouse is shrouded in mystery. The only way to visit it is via membership or an invite to the tearoom. Every few days, I’ll be sharing a conversation with all sort of writers and authors at different levels of their writing careers. Over tea and cakes, or maybe a glass of something stronger, I shall be chatting with my guest about their work in progress, or latest book release.

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Today I’ve invite Jasmine to the tearoom. Welcome. Was Brutus late picking you up?

No, no, my apologies for the delay, Paula. I wasn’t quite ready when he arrived. Thank you so much for this opportunity. I really appreciate it.

That’s okay then. Right, my first question is what would you like to drink?

May I have a coffee and one of those lovely looking cake

Book Launch and Promotional Ideas.

Today my friend Dawn is launching her book The Macaroon Chronicles published by Chapel Town Books , and is set on an exotic Isle of Macaroon featuring a set of anthropomorphic characters. A sort of humorous Animal Farm.

What I found so interesting is the idea Dawn has come up with to market her book. It’s not something I would have thought of doing. Dawn got in contact with three manufacturers of Macaroons (a type of biscuits). As my novel Stone Angels and my novella The Funeral Birds are the sort of things an undertaker might be interested in link their products with, do I have the courage to contact a few of them and ask… I’m not sure.