Nicola Matthews's Blog, page 3

Author's Q&A (A fascinating journey)

This was my writing space on a lovely summer's day. It was here that I filled in a Q&A set by my wonderful publicist Hannah Hargrave. It was a fascinating journey and really helped me consider my process.

I was asked to cast the novel for a film. I probably spent far too much time on it. My writing refelcts my theatrical background and you will note it in the casting. Having excellent actors is the top priority over perfect looks.

We often think that things just come out of our heads, but a friend once reminded me that everything we see or hear or engage with with any of our senses, becomes a part of us. It wasn't until answering the Q&A that I realised the full extent of the influences that had become a part of the novel.

It amazes me how little we consider our motivations and inspriations until asked to do so. I suppose it is not unlike journaling, which is a great way to process thoughts. It is essential for all of us in the creative industries to think through what we are doing in a way that leads us on into the next project.

Here's the Q&A. Enjoy.

Excerpt from Kitty Canham

Below you will find an excerpt from my debut novel. The old oak stands on the water's edge, a five minute walk from my home. It was the inspiration for Kitty's favourite swimming spot.

Book Bomb Promotion

Like most writers or artists of any discipline, I struggled with the concept of PR. I had put all my energies into writing my debut novel. It took eighteen months of my life. There is all the research involved in writing an historical novel, then digging deep to draw out the best to weave an integuing tale. After all that, you have the edits, which seem to go on forever and finally you publish. Exciting right? Hmmm. Not so much. However good your book is, it is no good if no-one reads it. Just like a painting is made to be seen or a song to be heard, a novel cries out to be read, it is the whole point of its existance.

For the artist, creating an art work is what its all about. Then, (I hear a corporate artist groan) comes the time to promote your work.

Thankfully, I came accross the publicist and general wonderful woman, Hannah Hargrave (You can find her here). The first thing she pointed out was that I should have started promoting months before publishing. Well I missed that. So we had to think outside the box. It seems that publicity can be fun and very creative. So, I am leaving some of my babies... oops books, on benches when I visit the towns and villages along the North Essex coast, where my novel is set.

Today I was strolling along the iconic seafront of Frinton on sea. What a beautiful place for a sunny walk. If you find a copy of my novel, I do hope you enjoy it and pass it on. Keep an eye out, because I'll post my next book bombing location on twitter instagram and my facebook page. It could be near you! And whatever you are reading, enjoy.

Chelmsford Fringe Festival

I look forward to taking part in the Chelmsford Fringe Festival. The festival is the first of it's kind in Chelmsford. Well done Chelmsford.

I will be interviewed by the journalist, author and playwright, Danae Brooke, about the writing and publishing of my novel. Danae will be interviewing writers in various locations throughout the festival. I shall also be reading some of my poems at a spoken word event. Danae's own plays about Francis Bacon and Tracy Emin will be performed during the festival. There will be much to be enjoyed. I look forward to seeing the programme when it is set.

The covid years have been so hard, what a wonderful way to celebrate the arts again.

You can see more about the festival here

The storm after the calm

Why does the end of a creative project always feel like a desert place? You've completed your project. You have done what you love; pulling elements together to create something new. You even get a good response. The juice that kept you going through the long months has dried up. Surely a rest is what you need? So you try, but soon the sound of a restless wind ripples over the desert horizon until it blows in your ears and knocks you to the ground.

OK, so I may be over reacting, and I'm getting better at remembering this is what happens and that its OK. It will pass. But expressing it feels goood.

Something else that may have something to do with this moment, is the tedious business of promoting ones art. When something is quite against one's nature, the execution of it can feel relentless.

Still, on we go. We finish our creative output, saying, 'never again'. Until the next time.

Writing in a different landscape.

Doing ordinary things in a different landscape causes us to see our own with new eyes. But it is not only the view that is refreshing. It is the quiet. Not that there was much on our holiday with seven children. But those snippets of quiet, when everything stops, are like balm to the busy mind, when met intentionally.

But what I am wondering is if it is ever really possible to express creatively the nature of a persons relationship to the landscape if you have never lived there. The Yorkshire Dales are so far removed from the flat lands of Essex. How does it feel to only really see the sun once it is well risen? How is it that emergncy supplies are half an hour away? Does it mean the sense of comunity is greater?

Perhaps our imagination is such that it is possible. After all, writing history is the same. I could not live as a woman when Kitty did. However much I read about the time, in the end it was my imagination that had to come into play. I'd love to ask you to respond but I haven't set up a mailing list yet. If you find me, do let me know what you think through the contact page.

Beaumont Church

St Leonards in Beaumont-cum-Moze was Kitty's families church. Parts of it were built in teh 14th and 15th century, therefore making it old even in Kitty's time. It was rebuilt in the 19th century.

The church stands beside Beaumont Hall which was built in the 17th Century. It is possible that Kitty was born there, but for the sake of the narative I transported her to the fictional Mede Farm, which gave me the opportunity to give her a physical connection to the land.

The church is in a beautiful setting which jostles with blossom in the spring and bursts with every kind of green in the summer. It has been the site of many a family picnic. It is well worth a visit.

All these places, so familiar to me, have enabled me to walk in Kitty's footsteps and have informed my writing. However, there are many excellent films and books that I have enjoyed that have been set in a similar era. These also must have surely influenced me. Everything we have seen or experienced becomes a part of us and will inevitably find its way into our creative output.

Peeling Away History

Stones from the old London Bridge were carried to Beaumont in the mid nineteenth century, in order to build the quay side. You can see them in the photo, beyond the grass. Soon afterwards the lime kiln was built. There would have been other wooden buildings built along the quay at the time.

A landscape that looks timeless to us today may not be as old as we realise. You have to peel away layers of history to find what you are looking for. It has only recently come to my notice that the Cut (the long channel that ran to our present quay), was created after Kitty's time. So my calling it the Cut is, in fact, wrong. However, visually I pared it back, removing the stones and the kiln, to become the creek inlet that I breifly describe in the book. I added a wooded area because so much of our land was more heavily wooded then, and it served a helpful purpose for the narative.

As I have mentioned elsewhere, I am not an historian, I am a story teller. Although the facts are sometimes fascinating, it is the experience of being in the land that I draw inspiration from. Beaumont Quay today is a hidden little creek where families swim and paddle in the summer. It is like a secret place where magic happens.