What made you get into writing?
Having a 4th child. She was lovely but seldom slept and mithered a great deal. I needed to ‘get away’ even if only for half an hour. So I started writing a book about my mother’s rather interesting life growing up in the North East just after the 1st World War. Halfway down the first page I realised I didn’t really know my mum in that way, only anecdotes. So it became fiction, but based on her life. It’s called After the Storm.
Did You find becoming a published writer easy?
Not at all. Having embarked on the novel I joined a writing class. I do wish more would these days, or at least learn the basics of structure, and how to edit one’s work. The class was not only crucial but also supportive, because I was working alongside like minded people, and it helped me enjoy the process. Mark you, my writing class had an excellent tutor, and you need to check this out. There are a lot of charlatans out there, selling their services when they know diddly-squat – and charge a lot. If you have the time, try ARVON and other residential courses. Also the weekend Winchester Writing Festival. That’s fantastic.
Then, of course, you reach the stage where you have a manuscript, finished. What next? How to get that publishing contract?
Try and find an agent. But how do you get the interest of an agent. I entered a competition and was one of the Best Entries. This helped when circulating the manuscript. I was finally taken by an agent who knew that Catherine Cookson, who wrote about the North East had just left Heinemann. Mine was a novel about the North East, and the publishers were immediately interested. Mark you, I then had to double it in length, put in a secondary character and sub plot, and do it all in 6 months. I was on my way.
So it is very much about what the publisher needs at a particular time. However, as you can see, the author does need to be flexible, and listen to the experts, and do as they want. Basically we are providing a product, which they have to need in the first instance. Then it has to be tweaked to be the best product you can create. They are invariably right. As a writer, you need patience. Learning to write well took me 4 years. Over those years I was serving an apprenticeship really, lhoning my skills, so that when the time came, I could do as they advised.
What else would you have liked to do?
Be a star. I feel the world has been deprived of a great talent!
What is your writing process?
Find that germ of an idea. Then think, think and think again, to see if it it will run as a novel. I work out the normal world, point of change, the tension, motivation, and totally getting to be the main and secondary characters. Alongside this, because I am invariably writing out of my time and place, I need to research, make notes, become so familiar with the context so that I can swim amongst the period, or situation, without overloading it with show-off details. Therefore I do a lot of reading, and that old chestnut – thinking again. Then, when I have a thorough plan, and by this I mean a chapter by chapter plan I get my head down and write hard for about 8 weeks. Because I’ve been doing it so long I have the experience to get it more or less right, and to create a sound structure. There is only one structure, you know. And it must be followed. It is the author’s ‘voice’ that makes a novel ‘different’. That’s the first draft, then I go through and alter, tweak, edit. So the second I usually sent into my publisher. Writers need to designate writing time. It’s a job, even if you already have a day job, so discipline yourself to create your writing time. You will find you do much of your thinking whilst traveling, driving, working, and at the end of the day you’re a bit further on.
A House Divided is the third Easterleigh Hall novel. How hard is it doing a series?
Hard in a way. You have to remember all the characters inside and out. What are their ages? Appearance, little ways, and then when you start the novel you have to try and make the novel stand alone, though it must also bring previous readers of the series up to date. I think that first chapter is the most difficult.
When can we expect another EH novel?
In a year.
Have you become close to the characters? Oh yes, I become all the characters really. You have to or it doesn’t work.
Can you tell us where the series is going next?
I would imagine into the 2nd world war. Perhaps Tim will go into the secret side of the war, but not quite sure about anyone else yet. It will come to me.
What do you like to do when you are not writing? I run my charity, Words for the Wounded, which raises money for the wounded through writing events. We have an annual Independent Author Book Award, and we also run workshops and an annual LitFest. We’ve helped a few writers along in this way. Last year’s winner was picked up by an editor, and others have found that the publicity of being placed has helped their sales. I love working with Frost, and reviewing books, and I do like to play truant and just have a good time.
Any tips for aspiring writers.
Work hard, go to writing classes, and literary festivals, listen to authors talking, and listen to a publishers’ or agents’ advice. READ books, learn how to write short stories, because publication in womens’ magazines promotes sales of your books. Most of all, don’t rush. Do several drafts, edit carefully, and enjoy it. Life’s too short not to.
