Author Spotlight no.4 – YA/Adult fantasy/paranormal romance author Jodine Turner

To compliment my daily blog interviews I recently started a series of weekly Author Spotlights and today’s, the fourth, is of Jodine Turner. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate the author further. You can read the others here.

Jodine is an author of YA/Adult fantasy, magical realism, visionary fiction, and paranormal romance. She is also a therapist, a consecrated priestess and a deacon in the Gnostic Church of Mary Magdalene. A mystic at heart, Jodine is fascinated with the world of the unseen. After reading Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon, she became enchanted with Glastonbury, England. That’s what led her to move there (here ) for a year and to eventually train to become a priestess. That land and its sacred sites captivated her heart and imagination. She experienced inspiring dreams and waking visions about Glastonbury, studied its folklore, sacro-magical traditions, and legends. Using all those experiences, she began to write my Goddess of the Stars and the Sea series about priestesses who had lived in Glastonbury, the ancient isle of Avalon, throughout the ages to today.

Her newest novel, Carry on the Flame: Destiny’s Call is her third. The Awakening: Rebirth of Atlantis and The Keys to Remember are the first and second novels in her Goddess of the Stars and the Sea series, although she says she wrote her novels to be stand-alone reads. The series is an edgy saga of a young priestess who’s reborn during three different critical junctions in history in order to help humankind move through fearful and dark times – the demise of Atlantis, the Dark Age’s suppression of the feminine, and today’s turbulent world.

And now from the author herself:

My novels are adventure-filled journeys that carry keys to embodying the ultimate magic – love, both human and divine. The stories focus on exploring the wisdom of the divine feminine, providing an experience for the main character and reader alike. They are a portal to discovering how to unite the divine feminine and divine masculine in your heart to be able to receive and give love more fully. My hope is that readers will find a thoroughly entertaining read as well as ways to navigate through the chaos and turbulence of our modern times.

I like tapping into the realms of legend and magic, especially Celtic lore. In Carry on the Flame, I liked writing the scene where Sharay meets the elder, eccentric wizard, Dillon. Dillon offers to take her on a journey of initiation, a vision quest called the Celtic “Imram,” in order to set her on her rightful path. I loved playing with the archetypal themes of an Imram, and bringing that into contemporary times.

I want readers to get the flavor of the unseen worlds. What the ancient Celts call the Otherworld. I wanted them to see and get a feel for what’s inside Sharay’s mind. She sees things in visions and dreams that the average person might call crazy because they don’t see or hear the same thing. In the Scottish tradition that’s called the ‘Second Sight’. In other words, psychic.

The romance in Carry on the Flame was inspired in part by my personal story. I met my husband Chris while I was living in Glastonbury. He is English / Welsh / Irish, and the Welsh name his mother originally wanted for him, Guethyn, became the name of my main male character in Carry on the Flame. Guethyn is the wizard Dillon’s grandson, a rebellious college student. When he falls in love with Sharay, he finds himself, despite his rejection of all things magic, drawn into an adventure that requires him to awaken to the truth of who he really is.

I have visited the locations readers will find in Carry on the Flame - the coast of Wales and some of its quaint villages like Betws-y-coed, the Orkney Isles of Scotland, and of course Glastonbury. Each locale I visited informed my scene descriptions with firsthand knowledge. And each location imbued my story with its own brand of magic. I hope readers will feel that magic, too! 

Carry on the Flame: Book Two Ultimate Magic will be released October 31, 2011. You can find more about Jodine and her writing via…

Her website: http://www.jodineturner.com, blog: http://.www.visionaryfiction.blogspot.com, Facebook author page: http://www.facebook.com/JodineTurner.Author, on Goodreads: http://bit.ly/k1PPbJ, Jacketflap: http://www.jacketflap.com/drjodine / http://bit.ly/l1lVVs, Amazon’s author page: http://amzn.to/kzfNA7 and Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/JodineTurner.

Morgen: What a list. Thank you Jodine (again).

The blog interviews will return as normal tomorrow with historical and suspense western author Carol Crigger – the one hundred and thirteenth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, directors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/blog-interviews - Jodine was numbers 30 and 30b. The http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/schedule page shows you what else goes out on this blog.

And I enjoy hearing from readers of my blog; do either leave a comment on the relevant interview (the interviewees love to hear from you too!) and / or email me at morgen@morgenbailey.com.

 

Blog interview no.112 with children’s, YA and adult author Stacy Juba

Welcome to the one hundred and twelfth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, directors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate the author further. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/blog-interviews.

Morgen: Hello Stacy. Please tell us something about yourself and how you came to be a writer.

Stacy: I’ve been writing stories since third grade, and by fifth grade, I was writing my own mystery series. I wrote my first novel at 16 and it was published by Avon Books when I was 18.  After college, I wrote for newspapers, magazines and newsletters for several years. Writing has always been my strength.

Morgen: Wow, you’re so lucky you knew what you wanted to do when you were young, so many people don’t (including me). What genre do you generally write and have you considered other genres?

Stacy: I mainly write adult mystery / romantic suspense novels, but I’ve also written young adult novels and children’s picture books. I pursue whatever story idea most excites me at the time.

Morgen: Me too which is why I end up doing a bit of everything. What have you had published to-date? Can you remember where you saw your first books on the shelves?

Stacy: I saw my first book, Face-Off, on the shelf in a local chain store when I was 18 years old. I remember another time being at the mall with my friends and seeing the book on the shelf. That was quite a rush. My books published to date are: my adult mystery novels Twenty-Five Years Ago Today and Sink or Swim and my children’s picture books The Flag Keeper and Victoria Rose and the Big Bad Noise. My upcoming titles are the young adult novels Dark Before Dawn, Face-Off (which will be a reissue of my out-of-print novel), and Offsides (Face-Off: Book 2), as well as the picture book Sticker Shoes, and the children’s e-book bundle Teddy Bear Town, which will showcase all three of my picture books in one download.

Morgen: ‘Sticker Shoes’ sounds fun. How much of the marketing do you do for your published works or indeed for yourself as a ‘brand’?

Stacy: I do a great deal of marketing. I have a web site, blog, and am active on Twitter, Facebook, and Goodreads. I regularly contact reviewers and do several interviews per month for bloggers, newspapers and / or radio shows. I brand myself as a mystery author, and also as an author who has books for everyone in the family, from children, to tweens and teens, to adults.

Morgen: Some authors pick marketing as their least favourite but it sounds like you enjoy it. We shall see when we get to the favourite / least favourite. Have you won or been shortlisted in any competitions and do you think they help with a writer’s success?

Stacy: I was a 2005 recipient of the William F. Deeck Malice Domestic Grant, which was awarded at the Agatha Awards Banquet as part of the Malice Domestic Convention.  I received a $1,000 grant to use toward pursuing my career as a mystery writer. Winning this award definitely helped me to get to the next level with my career. I do think that contests are worth entering, as long as there isn’t an entry fee.

Morgen: And there are surprisingly many. Most do charge but if it’s in a writing magazine then it’s likely to be legitimate. I agree don’t hand over (chunks of) money unless you’re sure. Do you have an agent Stacy? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?

Stacy: I had an agent for nearly three years, and it didn’t lead to publication at that time, though the agent worked very hard on my behalf.  I wound up selling my books on my own. I don’t think agents are vital to an author’s success, with the way the publishing industry has changed in the past couple of years. Now authors can self-publish to Kindle and have their books available to thousands of readers. I would like an agent at some point for audio rights, foreign rights, and film rights.

Morgen: That’s a good point, let’s hope one sees your online presence and snaps you up. So your books are available as eBooks? What was your experience of that process? And do you read eBooks?

Stacy: Yes, I hold the digital rights to my books and have been independently publishing the e-book versions. There was a learning curve, but it turned out to be a much easier process to format and upload e-books than I had anticipated. I work with Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords. Thousands of readers have downloaded my e-books in 2011 and I am optimistic that this will continue to grow as more people buy e-readers.

I read both print books and e-books. I have over a 100 books on my Sony Touch, and I’m about to buy a Kindle also.

Morgen: I went with a non-Kindle (with the knowledge that my editor Rachel has one so we can test most if not all formats) but I may end up getting one as well, just to be sure). Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?

Stacy: I had many years of rejection between my sale of Face-Off as a teenager to my sale of Twenty-Five Years Ago Today as an adult – about 17 years of writing and submitting different manuscripts. It was a long, tough haul and it was frustrating. There was a lot of blood, sweat and tears. I never thought I would say this, but in hindsight, I’m glad I didn’t get published again until 2009. It’s so much easier to promote a book now, via the Internet and social networking, and with the growth of e-books, it’s much easier to reach readers now than it was five or 10 years ago.

Morgen: Me too. I’m rubbish at sending things out but am so glad I waited until I felt ready. Even the novels I presented this year I realise aren’t my best work, which is probably a good reason why they didn’t get taken up. What are you working on at the moment / next?

Stacy: I’m working on getting Face-Off and its sequel, Offsides, edited and into e-book format, and then I’ll work on releasing a double edition paperback. I’m also preparing for the release of my paranormal young adult thriller, Dark Before Dawn, coming out from Mainly Murder Press in early 2012.

Morgen: Do you manage to write every day? What’s the most you’ve written in a day?

Stacy: I manage to do something related to my writing career every day. It might be social networking, blogging, doing an interview, editing a book, proofreading or formatting a book. I’m taking a break from actual writing until next spring, when all of my books in production will be launched and available to readers. It will be fun to work on something new. My best writing day would be about 5-6 pages in a day.

Morgen: There’s always so much to do isn’t there but if you love it then it’s not a chore. Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?

Stacy: I always do an extensive outline. The outline for my work-in-progress, the first in a planned mystery series, is over 20 pages.

Morgen: I think that does help with a novel which is probably why I prefer short stories; I’m no planner. Do you have a method for creating your characters, their names and what do you think makes them believable?

Stacy: I often use baby name books to choose first names and telephone directories to find last names. I also fill out extensive character charts for my main characters and the most important supporting characters. My charts are about seven typed pages. I think it’s important to get into the viewpoint character’s head so that the reader understands why this character is saying certain things or acting in a certain way. Before the author can convey that information to the reader in a believable way, the author has to do his / her homework.

Morgen: That’s interesting, your character charts, author Ditrie Sanchez and I will be talking about exactly that in her forthcoming guest blog which will go out on Thursday 7th September. Who is your first reader Stacy – who do you first show your work to?

Stacy: My first reader is usually my critique partner Carol. We met in Sisters in Crime and have been critiquing each other’s work for nearly 9 years.

Morgen: That’s brilliant – sadly Rachel doesn’t write as much as I do (she’s a publisher’s feedback panellist amongst other things) so we can’t swap but she has a reader’s head on which for me is just as valuable. Do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?

Stacy: I did a lot of rewriting when I started out years ago, but now that I’ve gotten into long outlines and character charts, my writing is more fully formed. I edit as I go along and I give it a thorough edit once the first draft is complete, but the rewrites are a lot less than they used to be, thank goodness.

Morgen: Me too, it’s practice. Like playing the piano – the more you play, the less duff notes you’ll (hopefully) hear. Do you write on paper or do you prefer a computer?

Stacy: I prefer a computer. I do carry a notebook around with me sometimes and scribble parts of a scene, but I’m a lot more productive when I’m typing.

Morgen: Me too. What sort of music do you listen to when you write?

Stacy: I don’t listen to music when I write or work on the computer as it distracts me. But in general, my favorites are Aerosmith, Bon Jovi and Def Leppard.

Morgen: I saw Def Leppard in concert in the 80s, they were great. Fond memories. And I love Bon Jovi’s ‘twisted’ songs especially ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’ and Aerosmith’s (collaborative) ‘Walk this way’. What point of view do you find most to your liking: first person or third person? Have you ever tried second person?

Stacy: Definitely third person. I’ve never tried first or second. When I write, everything just comes out in third.

Morgen: Wow. Regular readers of these interviews will know my passion for second person but having never done first person isn’t necessarily a bad thing as I know that it’s been done to death and agents are fed up with it… well, the ones I’ve spoken to certainly. Do you use prologues / epilogues? What do you think of the use of them?

Stacy: I use epilogues sometimes, to wrap up the story, but I rarely use prologues. I find that prologues slow the story before it’s even begun and that it’s better to just start with chapter one.

Morgen: Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?

Stacy: I have boxes full of young adult novels that I wrote in my late teens and early twenties, and those will never see the light of day. The characters weren’t fleshed out and there wasn’t enough conflict.

Morgen: Maybe if you have time to go back… What advice would you give aspiring writers?

Stacy: I would recommend finding a critique group or a few critique partners, taking a few writing classes with published authors, and reading some books about writing and editing to get your manuscript as strong as possible. Then learn about all the options available to you, such as self-publishing on Amazon. Whether you wind up publishing with a large publisher, a small press, independently, or some combination of the above, you’ll also need to give yourself a crash course in book promotion and marketing.

Morgen: Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are a great way to start. What do you like to read?

Stacy: I’ve been enjoying the books of Claire Cook, Meg Cabot, Claire Cook, Darcia Helle, and Maria Savva lately.

Morgen: What do you do when you’re not writing?

Stacy: I’m spending time with my family, working on client newsletters, reading, or watching movies with my husband.

Morgen: Are there any writing-related websites and/or books that you find useful and would recommend?

Stacy: I helped to start the site Bestseller Bound, http://www.bestsellerbound.com, which is run by indie author Darcia Helle. It’s a great place for indie and small press authors to network with one another and reach readers. There is a lot of great discussion about books, writing, and marketing.  Coffee Time Romance & More and The Romance Reviews are great sites for romance writers.

Morgen: Ooh not heard of those but could be because I’m in the UK. In which country are you based and do you find this a help or hindrance with letting people know about your work?

Stacy: I’m in the U.S. and that’s where my main audience is. I sell some e-books every month in the UK, but I’d like to sell more there.

Morgen: Let’s hope some of my compatriots are reading this.

Stacy: Twitter does help a bit with getting the word out to readers in different countries, but I’ll need to look into more opportunities than just Twitter to reach readers in other countries. For example, when my Face-Off hockey novels come out, I’ll need to get the word out to people in Canada since hockey is so popular there. It will take some research to find the best avenues.

Morgen: There’s a nice long list at http://www.canauthors.org/links/writingassociations.html which may be a start. You mentioned Twitter, are you on any forums or other networking sites? If so, how invaluable do you find them?

Stacy: I’m on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads, and I hang out on a lot of forums such as Bestseller Bound, Coffee Time Romance & More, and the Kindle Boards. I find them extremely valuable. I’ve met readers on these sites, as well as book reviewers, bloggers and interviewers who have helped me to promote my books. Out of the social networking sites, I’d say that Twitter is by far much more helpful than Facebook.

Morgen: Goodreads and Kindle Boards – noted. Thank you. Where can we find out about you and your work?

Stacy: You can visit my web site: http://www.stacyjuba.com to find reviews, excerpts, book trailers, retailers, my blog and free downloads. I also have a newsletter that comes out 3 times per year and you can find the sign-up form by clicking the contact tab. You can also follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/stacyjuba and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stacy-Juba/100155471301.

Morgen: Wow, you are busy. What do you think the future holds for a writer?

Stacy: I think in the future, now that technology has come so far, writers will continue to be more in control of their careers than they were in the past. Before, they were dependent on publishing companies and agents to allow them magic access into the world of publishing. Now, books are becoming products and writers are becoming entrepreneurs. If you publish a quality product and have marketing skills, you can get it into the hands of consumers.

Morgen: Isn’t that great? Finally, do you have an extract of your writing you could include?

Stacy: Here is an excerpt from my adult mystery novel with a touch of romance, Sink or Swim.

Cassidy sat poised in her chair as former contestants filed onto the soundstage at WBC in New York. Together, the studio audience and television viewers had watched the recorded footage of her walking the plank. Gabriel would now interview the competitors from the inaugural season one final time.

More importantly, he would announce her prize. If it erased most of her debts, then it would at least make this whole embarrassing experience worthwhile. Cassidy’s heart kicked in her chest and sweat moistened her brow.

As one of her old teammates entered, her heart rate skyrocketed for a different reason. Josh Sanchioni slid into a bucket seat, carrying himself stiffer than normal in his sharp gray suit. Studio lights caught his sun-bleached strawberry blonde waves, brightening the reddish gold tints.

Cassidy slipped her gaze to his leather shoes. If Josh hadn’t been engaged, they could have been an item. Instead, they’d been good friends until that one evening when the cameras were off and they almost kissed. They’d both realized their mistake and backed away. Things were strained until Josh walked the plank a week later.

Tonight, not only did Cassidy have to face Josh, she would probably meet his fiancée.

Morgen: Ooh… Thank you Stacy.

Although Stacy Juba specializes in writing adult mysteries, she has also authored books for children and young adults – she pursues whatever story ideas won’t leave her alone. Stacy’s titles include the Amazon bestselling adult mystery novels Twenty-Five Years Ago Today and Sink or Swim, the mystery short story Laundry Day, the children’s picture books The Flag Keeper and Victoria Rose and the Big Bad Noise, and the upcoming young adult novels Dark Before Dawn, Face-Off and Offsides. She is a former journalist with more than a dozen writing awards to her credit.

If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me at morgen@morgenbailey.com and I’ll send you the questions. You complete them, I tweak them where appropriate (if necessary to reflect the blog ‘clean and light’ rating) and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything… and follow me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/morgenwriteruk) where each new posting is automatically announced.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t review books but if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract / short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it / talking about and critiquing it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use the comments or ignore them) on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast – see http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/bwt-podcast – then do email me. They are weekly episodes, usually released Monday mornings UK time, interweaving the recordings between the red pen sessions with the hints & tips episodes.

In the meantime, if you have a moment and like quite dark stuff then you can read one of my ditties at Nathan Weaver’s http://www.talesfrombabylon.com/2011/07/rogues-gallery-2-morgen-bailey.html. Thank you.

 

Blog interview no.111 with African-American interest and chick-lit author Yves Brown McClain

Welcome to the one hundred and eleventh of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, directors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate the author further. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/blog-interviews.

Morgen: Hello Yves. Please tell us something about yourself and how you came to be a writer.

Yves: I am originally from Detroit, Michigan and received my bachelor’s from Howard University in Washington, D.C. I’ve lived in seven places (all of them job / work related), but I’ve been residing in Tampa, Florida for the last three years with my husband and son. I have been writing since the second grade. I’ve always had this vivid imagination and would create these stories. Finally, I decided that I would pursue this dream of becoming published.

Morgen: I would have so loved to have started that long ago but I got there. What genre do you generally write and have you considered other genres?

Yves: My genre would mainly be African-American interest and chick-lit. I do have a story idea that’s a bit suspenseful and I would also like to do a few creative non-fiction pieces.

Morgen: Like me, a bit of all sorts. What have you had published to-date? How much of the marketing do you do?

Yves: I’m not currently published at the moment. I am working on a novella and I have novel that I am revising. Right now, I do all of my marketing, which is mostly social networking to build my platform.

Morgen: That seems to be the way to go these days. Do you have an agent? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?

Yves: I do not have an agent. There are so many pathways to becoming published nowadays, so it really depends on the route you want to take as a writer to determine if you need an agent.

Morgen: I agree and it’s great to have so many options these days although finding an agent doesn’t seem to be getting any easier. Do you plan to have your books available as eBooks? And do you read eBooks?

Yves: My books will be available in print as well as eBooks. I’m looking forward to going through the process of making them available in that format. I got a Kindle a few months ago and I LOVE it! It’s lightweight and easy to read. It also gives me the chance to read stories by writers that are not published by one of the major publishing houses and / or publish most of their work electronically.

Morgen: Isn’t that great. What are you working on at the moment / next?

Yves: I’m working on my novella entitled The Tenth. It’s about how desiring something you can’t have can lead to serious consequences. I’m also working on revisions to my novel, Wild Oats. That story is about a young woman who is newly single after a breakup with her college sweetheart, how she navigates the dating scene, and the things she learns about herself and relationships.

Morgen: Do you manage to write every day? What’s the most you’ve written in a day?

Yves: I do manage to get some writing in every day, except for Sunday. I average roughly a few pages a day.

Morgen: 500 words a day equates to 118,250 words a year… with February 29^th off but I’d say take Sundays out of the equation and you’d still have a hundred thousand word project. What is your opinion of writer’s block? Do you ever suffer from it? If so, how do you ‘cure’ it?

Yves: I think Writer’s block always has some other underlying issue. Either you’re not being true to the characters, you’re trying to force the story in another direction instead of just going with the flow of it, you get too bogged down in editing as you go, or you’re being so critical of yourself, you get frozen and can’t write. What helps me is taking a break (brief) from the piece I’m working on and doing something different. I’ve also found that reading helps because it gives me motivation to go back to writing. To help with the self-doubt, that’s when the cheerleaders come in to push and encourage you.

Morgen: I like that image. Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?

Yves: I’m an idea girl. However, I do try to at least get a rough idea of the direction I want the story to go, but I remain open to changing direction as the story unfolds.

Morgen: The best way I’d say as characters do have a tense to take over. Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?

Yves: At the moment, I think every idea I’ve got will be seen in some way, either in the form of a blog post, short story, novella, or full novel.

Morgen: That’s good going, I have loads although I’m hoping to look back at them at some stage. What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life?

Yves: There’s a lot about writing I enjoy. Coming up with an idea, creating the characters and the storyline, and just crafting this concept and turning it into something enjoyable. What challenges me about writing is effectively using my time. I have to balance my writing with the other parts of my life (family, work, school) so I have to stick to some sort of schedule to keep it all together.

Morgen: What advice would you give aspiring writers?

Yves: Do not give up, get a few cheerleaders to support you, be open to feedback, and it’s never too early to establish a fan base.

Morgen: What do you like to read?

Yves: I love fiction and will read a variety of genres from drama to chick lit to romance and suspense. I also enjoy inspirational non-fiction and books that motivate and empower.

Morgen: Which is why you write a diversity. Are there any writing-related websites and / or books that you find useful and would recommend?

Yves: I love Kristen Lamb’s blog http://warriorwriters.wordpress.com. She gives incredible advice about building a writer platform using social media.

Morgen: Ooh, I’ve not come across her… thank you for that. In which country are you based and do you find this a help or hindrance with letting people know about your work?

Yves: I live in the US, and I really can’t say if my location helps or hurts me because I utilize many social networking tools. Thanks to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Goodreads, and several other sites, I can talk with someone as close as Fort Lauderdale in one moment and talk with another person in Australia the next.

Morgen: The Word Wide Web doing what it say on the tin. Are you on any forums or networking sites? If so, how invaluable do you find them?

Yves: I am on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and The Professional Black Writer. These sites have been incredible as I have made many connections with other writers in various stages of the writing process, reviewers, and people who love to read.

Morgen: I’m only on the first three but it’s been a real eye opener to me over the past three months; a time swallower but oh so worth it. Where can we find out about you and your work?

Yves: Most of my information can be found on my blog, Literary Fierceness. (www.ybmauthoress.wordpress.com) I also have a Facebook Fan page (www.facebook.com/yvesbrownmcclain).

Morgen: Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

Yves: Follow me on Twitter www.twitter.com/yvesbmcclain.

Morgen: I do. Thank you Yves.

Yves Brown McClain is a native of Detroit, Michigan. She currently resides in Tampa, Florida, and is currently working on her first novel, Wild Oats, as well as a novella, The Tenth.

If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me at morgen@morgenbailey.com and I’ll send you the questions. You complete them, I tweak them where appropriate (if necessary to reflect the blog ‘clean and light’ rating) and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. … and follow me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/morgenwriteruk) where each new posting is automatically announced.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day I can’t review books but if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract/short chapter (ideally up to 2000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it/talking about it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use them or ignore them) on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast – see http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/bwt-podcast – then do email me. I plan to do one a fortnight (my shows are usually Mondays) so it’ll be interweaving red pen and hints/tips episodes.

In the meantime, if you have a moment and like quite dark stuff then you can read one of my ditties at Nathan Weaver’s http://www.talesfrombabylon.com/2011/07/rogues-gallery-2-morgen-bailey.html. Thank you.

 

Blog interview no.110 with multi-genre author and behavioural educator Louise Crawford

Welcome to the one hundred and tenth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, directors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate the author further. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/blog-interviews.

Morgen: Hello Louise. Please tell us something about yourself and how you came to be a writer.

Louise: Many moons ago, a friend asked me if I’d like to try writing a spy novel together for fun.  It was not a bad book for a first attempt, but she lost interest and I did not.  I then wrote a vampire novel while going back to grad school in psychology.  The first chapter later (after marriage, baby, finishing grad school, and finding a critique group) won first place in a contest.  That gave me enough confidence to keep writing and look for an agent.

Morgen: What genre do you generally write and have you considered other genres?

Louise: I started off writing science fiction and fantasy because the first critique group I could join was for those genres.  My first agent wanted romance, so I read a bunch of romance novels and rewrote my dark fantasy into a romance novel.  But all through writing science fiction, fantasy, and romance, I was reading a bunch of romantic suspense, mysteries, and thrillers.  So I wrote a chick-lit type mystery which is on the edgy side, called ‘Blaize of glory’ and it was published by the first e-publisher I’d ever heard of, New Concepts Publishing, http://www.newconceptspublishing.com, then later by http://www.hardshell.com when I decided to separate my mysteries from my other genres.

Morgen: What have you had published to-date? If applicable, can you remember where you saw your first books on the shelves?

Louise: Oh wow, the list is long.  In the Blaize/Zoloski series: ‘Blaize of glory’, ‘Hat trick’, ‘12 jagged steps’, and coming soon ‘Blaize of trouble’. In my BHPD Detective series with Art Murry and Billy Kidman, which has a supernatural element, ‘Beverly Hills voodoo’, ‘Fortune cookie karma’ (coming out in paperback and e-book this month from http://www.hardshell.com) and ‘Bad moon rising’ (available in hardcover from 5 Star). In my new suspense series set in Sacramento, with helicopter pilot Jane Blackwood and her foster brother (a serial killer), ‘Born in blood’, coming out very soon from New Concepts Publishing.

Morgen: Ooh that sounds very Dextery, I love Dexter.

Louise: I’ve also written a series of historical fantasies being re-released by New Concepts:

‘Mariah’s love’ and ‘Rathyn’s war’, ‘Rhiannon’s choice’, ‘Jarad’s return’, and ‘Darius’s revenge’.  These are Xena-type, lengthy, fantasy romance novels.  I also wrote a fun contemporary fantasy called a ‘Witch for good luck’ about a witch who is under a curse and must help a human couple find true love before her final deadline.  Her efforts create humorous havoc on the unknowing couple. When I started writing romance, I co-authored a number of books with Ramona Butler:

‘Sabrina says’, ‘Trouble in 3-D’, ‘Sagebrush Cinderella’, ‘Dance with destiny’, ‘High flying love’.  ‘High flying love’ and ‘Mariah’s love’ were both finalists in Romance Writers of America’s annual contest for best short contemporary romance, and best long fantasy romance, respectively. Okay, are you winded yet?

Morgen: Oh no, do keep going. Well, tired the list but please keep going.

Louise: Ramona and I also wrote ‘Jaded hearts’, a fun, steamy, novel about a kickboxer who is an FBI agent tracking a serial killer that has kidnapped her niece.  She and the cop, who is also after the ‘Sin City Killer’, have secrets that keep them apart.   Lastly, I co-authored a thriller called ‘The courier’ with Jay MacLarty.

Morgen: Wow, you obviously like collaborating.

Louise: As to when I saw a book of mine on the shelf in a store…it was Wal-Mart and a woman was taking one off the shelf to buy and I blurted, “That’s my book!”  Then I asked if she’d like me to sign it, which I did.  My hand shook the entire time.

Morgen: I love that, and oh what a way to see it. How much of the marketing do you do for your published works or indeed for yourself as a ‘brand’?

Louise: All of it, unless my publisher lets me know of a joint-author ad I can participate in, then they sometimes do the cover art prep for all the authors and send it in—but we pay for the ad.

Morgen: You mentioned earlier some competition success, do you think they help with a writer’s success?

Louise: Yes, I have won or been a finalist in many competitions.  I’ll only name a few because the list would take up the rest of this page. ‘Mariah’s love’ was a finalist for best fantasy romance in RWA’s annual contest. ‘Rhiannon’ was a finalist for best fantasy romance in the annual Eppie contest (for electronically published novels). ‘Hat trick’ won best mystery in the annual Eppie contest.  It was also nominated for the Romantic Times Magazine Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Mystery. ‘12 jagged steps’ was nominated for the RTM Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Mystery. ‘Beverly Hills voodoo’ was an Eppie finalist for Best Mystery.  It was also a Reviewer’s Choice nominee. ‘Blaize of glory’ won second place in the Houston Writers contest for Best Mystery. ‘Jaded hearts’ won third place in the Duel on the Delta Romance contest. I don’t know if my being a finalist or winner in competitions has helped.  Possibly.  I do remember an agent turning down my fantasy novel because “anyone who has been a finalist and / or won in that many contests and hasn’t gotten an agent must have something wrong with them.”   Go figure.  I’ve had several agents since then, depending on the project.

Morgen: I wonder if that agent would do the same thing today. Winning is hard, getting an agent is nigh on impossible. Do you write under a pseudonym? If so why and do you think it makes a difference?

Louise: I originally wrote the books with Ramona Butler under “Ramona Crawford”.  Publishers say that books with one author sell better, and they insisted on one name on all the projects I co-authored.  If I were doing it again, I’d put both names on all the books I co-authored because of reader recognition and name branding.  Authors used to use a different name for every genre they wrote in, but the genre lines are blurring and I think with e-books readers will look for more books by one author, even if it’s a different genre.

Morgen: Absolutely. Well, I’m hoping this is the case because I can’t stick to one genre and am going the eBook route, but then I figure the more genres I have (although I’m releasing writing guides and short story anthologies to start with) the wider audience I’ll have. Here’s hoping anyway.

Louise: I now write under Louise Crawford or L.F. Crawford.  I use L.F. Crawford for books with male protagonists, geared toward male readers, like the Murry / Kidman series.  Statistics show that male readers are more likely to buy a book written by a man, whereas female readers don’t seem care.

Morgen: That’s interesting. Joanne Kathleen Rowling went with JK for the same reason. Do you have an agent? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?

Louise: I think if you go the traditional route, an agent is the only way to get there.  But with all the new avenues opening up for writers, I don’t think they are vital.  Now, if a writer has a big contract with a major publishing house, then an agent can help protect the writer’s interests.  So, from a legal standpoint, an agent may be needed.  For many of the smaller publishers, the contract is pretty standard, and there are many helpful writers’ organizations that can give advice about what is standard and what is not.  (MWA, RWA, Sisters-in-Crime, SFWA, Authors Guild, to name a few).

Morgen: We’ve mentioned eBooks a few times, presumably your books are available as eBooks? If so what was your experience of that process? And do you read eBooks?

Louise: Most of my books are available as e-books, or will be, so I hope readers will check out my websites for updates: http://www.louisecrawfordbooks.com (for fantasy, adventure and romance), and http://www.lfcrawford.com for suspense.  The process for an e-book usually runs faster from acceptance to publication with small e-book / paperback publishers, and authors often get to write the back cover blurbs and pick excerpts from the books.  The publisher does the cover art, but will ask for suggestions.  They will suggest edits and have you read a final version before it’s published. Yes, I read e-books, although once I started writing and getting published, my reading time dropped a lot.

Morgen: Me too. I was an avid reader in my teens, before I left home and haven’t read so much since (I’m talking very avid, like torch under the duvet avid – I blame Stephen King for me wearing glasses). What was your first acceptance and is being accepted still a thrill?

Louise: My first acceptance was for ‘Sabrina says’ and yes it was a thrill.   I think now it’s more of a business to me.  I may be thrilled, but I know it’s only the beginning of a long process.

Morgen: Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?

Louise: I get them all the time.  I’m constantly sending out projects.  I shove the letter in a file, or these days, I save the email in my email file, and figure out whether I want to send it out again right away, or sit on the book for awhile and think about the next step.

Morgen: What are you working on at the moment / next?

Louise: The second book in my in ‘Blood suspense’ series, ‘Memories in blood’, where Jane Blackwood remembers more of her past, and her brother, Nelson, gets arrested for murder. I’m also working on a novella, ‘Murder on mars’, which is science fiction / suspense.

Morgen: You’re definitely keeping busy. Do you manage to write every day? What’s the most you’ve written in a day?

Louise: I used to write every day, now I write at least one day a week, usually at the weekends.  The most I’ve written in a day is probably 20 pages, and after a spurt like that I wouldn’t get much written for several days.

Morgen: Oh dear. That’s amazing to hear considering how much you’ve written. So you clearly don’t suffer from writer’s block.

Louise: A blank page is always intimidating.  There are a million ideas and no matter how lousy my first draft is, I can work with it—so there’s no writer’s block, only fear that gets in the way.  I either go do something else, like mow the lawn or I persevere and get something on the page.

Morgen: Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?

Louise: I usually have a good idea of the plot, but as the characters develop, the plot may change.

Morgen: Do you have a method for creating your characters, their names and what do you think makes them believable?

Louise: I don’t think I’m any different than other writers when it comes to characters.  You use what you know about yourself, what you observe in others, and you figure out the rest as you go along.

Morgen: Who is your first reader – who do you first show your work to?

Louise: My critique group.  Right now there are two other people in the group, and I ask them to meet and read as time allows.

Morgen: Writing groups are great, aren’t they? Our trouble is time. There are usually 8-9 of us and have just upped the 2-hour session to 2.5 and sometimes we still only squeeze all our reading in (which I’m always keen to do). Due to holidays there were only four of us this week and we still only managed to finish on time. This is why I’ve gone the hired editor route as it would take too many fortnightly sessions (I run a writing workshop the Monday in between) to get enough read. Do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?

Louise: I do a lot of editing.  My writing may be better, but I also know it’s far from perfect.  I work on it until I can’t stand working on it anymore.

Morgen: My limit is usually four runs at it. Then it goes to Rachel, my editor who pulls it to pieces so I do wonder whether I should have sent her an earlier draft but then there’d probably be nothing left.

Louise: If the feedback from my critique group is good, I will send it out.  If it’s not, or I’m not happy with it, I may let it sit for awhile or forever.

Morgen: What is your creative process like? What happens before sitting down to write?

Louise: First I get an idea for a story.  Ex: for ‘Beverly Hills voodoo’, I had a dream about two detectives talking about a headless corpse and speculating on what happened to her head.  I woke up and jotted notes.  Once I’d finished the projects I was already working on, I did research on why someone might be beheaded.  What reasons and emotions might drive a man to behead a woman?  Revenge, love, hate, fear.  Injustices from the past?  What kind of person would be driven to kill?  Once you start asking yourself questions, you know what kind of research you need to do.  I started researching cults and religions, decided on Voodoo, and then decided to set the book in Beverly Hills for greater contrast between cultures and belief systems.

Morgen: Do you write on paper or do you prefer a computer?

Louise: Computer!!

Morgen: Most interviewees say that and I agree although I prefer to edit on paper. What sort of music do you listen to when you write?

Louise: Sometimes nothing.  Sometimes one song over and over so it kind of becomes white noise.

Morgen: That’s interesting. I have classical but that’s on a loop so it does become white noise after a while. What point of view do you find most to your liking: first person or third person?

Louise: I prefer first, like in my Blaize books.  But third works, too!  It just depends on what feels most natural with the character I’m writing.

Morgen: Some people start with one p.o.v. and change part-way through. I tend to stick but it’s an exercise I’ve started doing on the Monday nights (picking one of the earlier written pieces and re-write in a different tense) and it’s interesting to see the differences. Do you use prologues / epilogues?

Louise: I only use them when there’s a time change or a point of view that I won’t be using in the rest of the book.

Morgen: Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?

Louise: Yes, I have a dark angel story that I never got back to rewriting, a vampire novel, same thing, a thriller, and several others that I never quit finished.

Morgen: Maybe you will, although it sounds as if you have enough new ideas to keep you going. What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life?

Louise: Favorite: staying at home with my dog, and writing.  Least favourite:  book signings, although they don’t scare me quite as much anymore, and I think I’m a much better speaker now than 15 years ago.

Morgen: Ditto the favourite especially when I hear him squeaking a toy for attention. I guess I have book signings (if I do go anything but eBook route) to look forward to. I’ve done a few open mic nights but I’d say that would be less scary as there are more than just me doing it. If anything, what has been your biggest surprise about writing?

Louise: That it’s still hard work. I thought it would get easier.

Morgen: Oh dear. I guess I’ve got that to look forward to too. What advice would you give aspiring writers?

Louise: If you love you, you’ll find a way to do it.  Write every day and persevere.

Morgen: Yep, don’t give up. If you do give up, you didn’t want it badly enough. What do you like to read?

Louise: Everything from space opera to thrillers to fantasy.  It just depends on whether the story grabs me or not.

Morgen: And that’s what makes a good book. Are there any writing-related websites and/or books that you find useful and would recommend?

Louise: Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain. You may have to find a used version, because it’s old.  But he has great examples of “show” don’t “tell” and all the other stuff you may hear from other writers when you first get your work critiqued.

Morgen: I found http://www.amazon.co.uk/Techniques-Selling-Writer-Dwight-Swain/dp/0806111917 on Amazon and interestingly the lowest price was the same new and second-hand so I guess a popular book. In which country are you based and do you find this a help or hindrance with letting people know about your work?

Louise: I live in California, USA.  With the world becoming more Internet-based, I don’t know that it matters where you live.

Morgen: Yes, most people say that, and I agree. Are you on any forums or networking sites? If so, how invaluable do you find them?

Louise: I do have a Facebook page; I have tweeted a few times, and joined Linked-in or other sites that no longer seem so active.  I don’t have a lot of time, so I’m experimenting with these sites to see if there’s an impact on sales.

Morgen: You do, we’re friends. (thank you for finding me) Where else can we find out about you and your work?

Louise: At my websites: http://www.lfcrawford.com or http://www.louisecrawford.com or Author Central on Amazon, or at my publishers’ sites: http://www.hardshell.com and http://www.newconceptspublishing.com.

Morgen: What do you think the future holds for a writer?

Louise: I think it all depends on what the writer wants.  The more effort I put into my writing, marketing and promotion, the more I build up a readership.

Morgen: I do think it’s all about longevity. This is partly why I’m doing these interviews (spotlights, red pens etc), plus I’m having a ball. Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

Louise: Only that writing can be very cathartic, and fun!  If you enjoy writing, then you’re more likely to stick with it, even when you get rejection letters.

Morgen: Absolutely. A writer who wants to write has to have passion. Do you have a piece of your writing we can include here?

Louise: This is from ‘Born in blood’:

Shivering more from fear than the cold from the river, Elena Diaz clambered up the bank and into the jungle, then hunkered down behind dense undergrowth, the Ceiba trees towering overhead.  Her lungs burned, breath ragged from her escape.  She listened to El Serpiente’s men crush through the coca fields on the other side of the river, watched the glow of their flashlights, thirty or more, sweeping back and forth, back and forth—searching for her, while the dogs barked and howled in frustration.

Water trickled from her hair, down her back, and from the hem of her capris, spreading a stain at her feet that she could just make out in the moonlight.  The chill night air cut through her wet clothes and she rubbed her bare arms, while praying her swim threw off the dogs long enough for her to reach the Jeep.

Then she heard the first splash.  Shouts. 

They were crossing the river.

“Move, move, move.”

Morgen: Excellent – thank you Louise.

If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me at morgen@morgenbailey.com and I’ll send you the questions. You complete them, I tweak them where appropriate (if necessary to reflect the blog ‘clean and light’ rating) and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. … and follow me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/morgenwriteruk) where each new posting is automatically announced.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day I can’t review books but if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract/short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it/talking about it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use them or ignore them) on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast – see http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/bwt-podcast – then do email me. I plan to do one a fortnight (my shows are usually Mondays) so it’ll be interweaving red pen and hints/tips episodes.

In the meantime, if you have a moment and like quite dark stuff then you can read one of my ditties at Nathan Weaver’s website. Thank you.

 

Podcast: Bailey’s Writing Tips – Episode 38 (29th August 2011)

Episode 38 (length 23m 20s) is now available via iTunes, Google’s Feedburner, Podbean (when it catches up), Podcasters (which takes even longer!) or Podcast Alley (which doesn’t list the episodes but will let you subscribe). In the previous mixed episode, a fortnight ago, I covered the graphic novels and comics; this podcast has a focus on hints and tips culminating in a flash fiction freebie.

Websites mentioned in this episode were:

• http://www.dailywritingtips.com/34-writing-tips-that-will-make-you-a-better-writer
• http://homepage.mac.com/cssfan/jackfinney/lhj480400279.htm
• http://www.webook.com/911writersblock
• this blog’s sentence starts page (http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/sentence-starts)
• http://www.thelagoongroup.com.

This episode then culminated in a 309-word short story called ‘She has no-one who cares about her’ which was a prompt I had in one of my Monday night workshops along with a photograph of a woman and a dog.

Thank you for listening and / or stopping by here. If you have any feedback or areas you’d like covered in the hints & tips podcasts, you can email me at morgen@morgenbailey.com.

This blog also contains the weekly author spotlights and daily author interviews that I’ve posted to-date (110 when this episode came out). Although I currently have over 60 in hand, I’m always looking for more so if you write, regardless of genre (please note my blog and podcast have a ‘clean’ rating) or whether you’ve been published or not, do email me (morgen@morgenbailey.com) if you’re interested in taking part in these and / or a ‘red pen critique session’ of which the podcast episode next Monday (session no. 3) will feature.

 

Transcription of Bailey’s Writing Tips podcast episode 18 (Dec 2010) – Christmas

The eighteenth episode of the Bailey’s Writing Tips podcast was released on 20^th December 2010 and the content has never been released other than website links (on my website http://www.morgenbailey.com) so I hope you find this information useful. In the first seventeen episodes (see http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/bwt-podcast for earlier blog posts), I covered ‘show not tell’, the five senses, repetition, points of view, tenses, dialogue, characters, crime, poetry, short stories, novels, writing for children, scriptwriting, comedy, romance and chick lit, erotica, ‘writing rules’, historical & the classics, name & characters. This episode had a focus on Christmas.

• Francis C Farley is quoted as saying “Instead of being a time of unusual behaviour, Christmas is perhaps the only time in the year when people can obey their natural impulses and express their true sentiments without feeling self-conscious and, perhaps, foolish.  Christmas, in short, is about the only chance a man has to be himself.” And Norman Vincent Peale said “Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.”
• Maeve Binchy’s anthology ‘This year it will be different’ is a collection of Christmas-related short stories which I plan to start reading this coming holiday.
• Putting ‘Christmas writing’ into a Google search comes up with, probably not surprisingly 131 million results. One of the tops ones is a Guardian newspaper article by Bob Stanley (http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/dec/16/noisy-christmas-pop-song-hit), a member of the group Saint Etienne and former music journalist, on writing a Christmas pop song. A lot of it’s tongue-in-cheek but it makes amusing reading.
• http://www.christmas-time.com/ct-stories.htm is a sweet (and tuneful!) page of ‘Christmas stories’ (six to be exact). These are ‘A child’s Christmas in Wales’ by Dylan Thomas, ‘Christmas 1870’ by Rev’d Francis Kilvert, ‘The Christmas Walk’ by Hilary Flanery and three uncredited: ‘Is there a Father Christmas?’, ‘Christmas in the Castle’ and ‘Silent night’. The ‘Words and Music’ page http://www.christmas-time.com/wordsandmusic.htm has “lots of Christmas related information here, including Christmas Poetry, Christmas History, Christmas Prose, Christmas Music, Christmas Traditions, Christmas Stories, Bible Quotations, Christmas Quotations, Christmas Comedy, Christmas Entertainment, Christmas Food, Christmas Shopping and Christmas Graphics.”
• I mentioned quotes above and one of the many websites for quotes is http://www.brainyquote.com. You can search by topic, author or type (e.g. actor, actress, lawyer etc). It also has a list of people’s birthday on the current day and if you click on their name, it takes you to their quotes. Other quote websites include http://www.quotegarden.com (http://www.quotegarden.com/christmas.html has dozens of Christmas quotes).
• http://christmaswriting.com has some suggested reads for this year and in their Recent Posts section has tips no. 1 on the writing process (pre-writing, or plotting/planning, drafting, revision and editing) and tips no. 2 on writing dialogue amongst other useful information.
• http://www.theholidayzone.com/christmas/christmas-writing.html has some Christmas writing prompts for students of varying ages followed by some great Christmas story starts. The http://www.theholidayzone.com/christmas/index.html page is also packed with a variety of projects including songs, puzzles, poetry and arts & crafts.
• http://wordgrrls.com/index.php/2010/12/ideas-for-writing-christmas-cards has a delightful ‘ideas for writing Christmas cards’ page complete with falling snowflakes. Although some of the information given may well be too late as it’s about sending out Christmas cards but it may give you some inspiration for writing cards, or perhaps just something to think about for next year… unless you’re like me and am so woefully behind this year that you’ve still not sent yours out!

• The ‘Christmas Poems’ page features five sub-sections of ‘Your Christmas Poem’, ‘Christmas Poetry for Children’, ‘Christmas Poems’, ‘Featured Poem’ and ‘Christmas Poetry Books’. You can also submit your Christmas poems to them for their ‘Your Christmas Poem’ section. The ‘Christmas Poems’ section includes about 100 poems by some classic poets such as John Betjeman and Walter de la Mere, to contemporary poets including Pam Ayres, Benjamin Zephania and Stephen Leake. Towards the bottom of the page are summaries + links to books by these authors including Stephen Leake’s collection of poetry ‘Beyond the parasol’ which I have but shamefully haven’t read yet.
• The Christmas Prose’ page contains seven links to seven stories: George Bernard Shaw’s ‘An Atrocious Institution, H.H. Munroe (‘Reginald on Christmas presents), William Connor (‘The art of sending Christmas cards), Flora Thompson (Larkrise to Candleford), Laurie Lee (‘Cider with Rosie’ – which I read at school), Rev Francis Kilvert (Christmas 1870) and The Holy Bible’s Nativity.

Greeting cards: speaking of which… Christmas would surely be one of the most popular type of card so when you receive yours, make a note of the verses inside and consider writing your own for submission in 2011! The Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook has numerous pages on the subject including a section on ‘Card and stationery publishers that accept illustrations and pages’ and another entitled ‘Winning the greeting card game’. Tips include finding the right publishers (with a suggestion to go shopping for cards – “most publishers include their contact details on the back of the cards” – and trade fairs, and a link to The Greeting Card Association website (http://www.greetingcardassociation.org.uk) which provides advice about submitting (http://www.greetingcardassociation.org.uk/info-resource/writers/writing-for-greeting-cards) and a list of publishers seeking freelancers.

• http://coolcardsblog.blogspot.com is a blog by a North Yorkshire-based greeting card company.
• http://www.howtoadvice.com/GreetingCards does what it says on the tin.
• http://bogglesworldesl.com/christmas_cards.htm has a variety of Christmas card activities.
• http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1048706 is 10 writing prompts by the aptly-named Holly Apidi.
• http://www.teach-nology.com/worksheets/misc/christmas/gwrite is a Christmas Group Creative Writing exercise that anyone can do.
• http://www.dailywritingtips.com/the-meaning-of-christmas is a discussion by subscribers to Daily Writing Tips on their meanings of Christmas.
• http://copywriter.typepad.com/copywriter/2008/08/merry-christmas-dear-writer.html is a page of information from Australian Angela Booth who’s very prolific in the writing fraternity – I see her name cropping up quite often.

London-based http://www.moonpig.com is one of the longest-running (from my memory anyway) self-design online greeting card companies to advertise on television. Their ‘About us’ page says “We use designs from many of the leading card publishers in the UK, such as Paperlink, The Paper House Group, Ling Design, Statics and Quitting Hollywood, as well as many smaller publishers and designers. We are always looking for new ideas.” I would suggest looking at their website’s submission page (http://www.moonpig.com/uk/Help/Default.aspx?index=9) before emailing them your designs and texts to submissions@moonpig.com.

Blue Mountain Arts is interested in reviewing writings for publication on greeting cards. They want “Contemporary prose or poetry written from personal experience that reflects the thoughts and feelings people today want to communicate to one another, but don’t always know how to put into words. Because our cards capture genuine emotions on topics such as love, friendship, family, missing you, and other real-life subjects, we suggest that you have a friend, relative, or someone else in your life in mind as you write. Writings on special occasions (birthday, anniversary, congratulations, etc.), as well as the challenges, difficulties, and aspirations of life are also considered. It’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with our products prior to submitting material, but don’t study them too hard. We are looking for new, original, and creative writings that do not sound like anything we have already published.” They also list what they are not looking for (including “Rhymed poetry, religious verse, one-liners, or humour and frequently overused words and phrases”). They pay $300 per poem for all rights to publish it on a greeting card and $50 if your poem is used only in an anthology. Submissions from outside the U.S. are accepted, but only in the English language.” Their guidelines are available from their website page http://www.sps.com/greetingcards/writers_guidelines.htm or you can write: Blue Mountain Arts, Inc. Editorial Department P.O. Box 1007 Boulder, CO 80306. Their website is http://www.sps.com and submissions should be emailed to editorial@sps.com.

Like greeting cards, if you’re thinking of writing seasonal stories you should allow at least three to six months so you should be writing Easter, Mother’s Day or summer holiday stories send to the magazines or card companies early! Another quote for you: “Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree.  In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall.” Larry Wilde from ‘The Merry Book of Christmas’.

Ideas: here I provide a couple of story ideas or ways to get new ideas then list seven sentence starts (more on my http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/sentence-starts page); each one, if you’d like to use them, for a daily writing project.

• It’s never too late or early to start think about writing Christmas stories. I can’t see any harm in submitting stories for Christmas 2011 early because if you leave it too late they may well have already bought some and there is only so much space for such specific stories. To open up your chances, make it less specific and write a winter story. If you are thinking of writing Christmas stories, during your holidays think about what’s happening around you and see whether you can make a story out of any event that takes place during the festivities.
• You could perhaps write a story about a character spending their first Christmas away from home – compare a usually cold UK with Christmas Day on an Australian beach.

And that episode’s sentence starts…

1. As Will stared out the window, the light made him squint…

2. “I can’t believe you did that!”

3. What choice did Mark have?

4. The conference/meeting was so boring that…

5. As Neil stared through the fish tank…

6. With friends like that, Laurence…

7. Barney was such an animal…

The podcast concluded with News & Feedback, On This Day in History and a poem entitled ‘Christmas wishes’ (let me know if you’d like a copy of it). That’s it. Thanks for visiting – a list of the other transcripts and summaries can be found at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/bwt-podcast.

 

Transcription of Bailey’s Writing Tips podcast episode 017 (Dec 2010) – names and characters

The seventeenth episode of the Bailey’s Writing Tips podcast was released on 13^th December 2010 and the content has never been released other than website links (on my website http://www.morgenbailey.com) so I hope you find this information useful. In the first sixteen episodes (see http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/bwt-podcast for earlier blog posts), I covered ‘show not tell’, the five senses, repetition, points of view, tenses, dialogue, characters, crime, poetry, short stories, novels, writing for children, scriptwriting, comedy, romance and chick lit, erotica, ‘writing rules’, historical & the classics. This episode had a focus on names and characters.

What’s in a name? Sometimes it isn’t easy thinking of names for different characters, places, creatures etc but there are plenty of sources of inspiration. Apart from phone books (ideal for surnames), there are baby name books (for first names), news programmes, newspapers, magazines etc., spam emails, just make sure you jumble them up a bit.

Character names: Doing a quick search on the internet, I came across the Thesaurus of British Surnames (http://www.tobs.org.uk) which has a link on it to a Forename Thesaurus (the home page of which is http://www.namethesaurus.com), a source for finding surname and forename variants. It has 348 million variants identified for over 5 million surnames, 22 million variants for over 1 million forenames and gender identification for more than 215,000 forenames. Their search facility lets you type in a name and find the nearest pronunciations. Many more suggestions in the ‘Recommendations – websites’ section below.

Pen names: Many authors have pseudonyms. Charlotte Bronte first wrote ‘Jane Eyre: An Autobiography’ under the pseudonym Currer Bell and many female authors wrote under male names, e.g. George Elliot was Mary Ann Evans and even Joanne Rowling wrote as JK to be taken more seriously for what was seen by her publishers as a boys book. Ian Rankin also writes as ‘Jack Harvey’ and Stephen King as ‘Richard Bachman’. You can write under any name you like but, unless you register a business bank account in that name, you need to ensure that payments received for work sold are made out to your real name.

Place names: Toponymy is the scientific study of place names (more details http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toponymy). Doing a web search on Google website (using keywords of ‘place’ and ‘names’) found over 33 million links!

• One of the first links was http://www.gazetteer.co.uk, a website belonging to the ‘Association of British Counties’! ‘The Gazetteer’ provides an exhaustive Place Name Index to Great Britain, containing over 50,000 entries and lists the historic county and the main administrative areas in which each place lies. The front ‘home’ page has six headings ‘Main feature of the Gazetteer’, ‘Detailed contents’, ‘Keys to abbreviations’, ‘Notes for historians and genealogists’, ‘map of historic counties’ (really useful when writing historical fiction!) and ‘map of administrative counties and unitary authority areas’.
• http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/freefun/didyouknow/placenames Ordnance Survey has links to the English Place-Name Society (http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/english/ins/kepn, now the Institute for Name-Studies, part of Nottingham University and with a very useful county postcode map!), the Scottish Place-Name Society (http://www.spns.org.uk), the Welsh Language Board (http://www.byig-wlb.org.uk/English/Pages/index.aspx) and the Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland, SNSBI (http://www.snsbi.org.uk).
• Queen’s University Belfast established a ‘place name project’ in 1987 which researches the origin and meaning of the place names of Northern Ireland. More details from: http://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/SchoolofLanguagesLiteraturesandPerformingArts/SubjectAreas/IrishandCelticStudies/Research/NorthernIrelandPlace-NameProject
• For those writing comedy, there is a site (and probably many more) which lists rude place names dotted around the world including the towns of ‘Bottom’ in the US and the Netherlands, and ‘Thong’ in Essex! Find the full list at http://www.i-r-genius.com/rudeplaces.html. Wikipedia has a list of unusual place names (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_names_considered_unusual) again not for the faint-hearted!
• Country Lovers’ website (http://www.countrylovers.co.uk/places/placnams.htm) has a great list of Anglo Saxon, Old Norse, Old English, Latin, Norman, Gaelic, Welsh and Cornish place name origins.
• There are also Latin place names on http://www.catholic-history.org.uk/latin_names.htm which lists numerous towns (UK and overseas) by Latin name/modern name then vice-versa. So when you go to the Winchester Conference next you’ll actually be in Wintoniensis or should you fancy a trip to Munich try asking for a return flight to Monachium, or Dublin ask for Eblana!
• One of the links on the Toponymy page mentioned above is a link to ‘Etymology’, the study of the history of words (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology). It makes interesting reading.

Publications: The main source for names would be baby name books but there are also the likes of:

• The Oxford ‘Dictionary of First Names’ is a 443-page paperback book which has over 7,000 world-widely used names (listed A-Z) and their origins. There is an extensive introduction which looks at the importance of a first name, how they’ve changed over the centuries, biblical names, Saints’ and royal names, surnames as first names, and 11 pages on naming practices in different cultures! It also has an interesting section entitled ‘The influence of literature, film and popular culture’.
• Baby name books include ‘2000 girls names’ (a freebie by ‘Parenting’ magazine! – traditional, modern and unusual names plus their meanings), ‘Cool names for babies’ published by Collins (freebie from Prima Baby – hot cool, cool cool, new cool, pre-cool cool and too cool names!). You can also buy gifts (mugs, pens etc) with names and their meanings but that’s an expensive way of researching the ideal name for your characters.
• Penguin’s ‘Dictionary of Surnames’ is an analysis of over 8,000 English, Welsh, Scottish and  Irish surnames, 100 common UK/Commonwealth/US surnames as well as first names created from surnames/place-names/occupations/nicknames. It also provides meanings and derivatives.
• ‘How place-names began’ is a (1979!) Beaver book published by Hamlyn. They also produce (produced?) a surnames equivalent.
• Bloomsbury’s ‘Dictionary of place names’ contains the origins and history of over 4,000 place names.
• Others sources…telephone directories are great for surnames, as are newspapers as almost every news story has a person’s name in it (best to use first or surname of a celebrity rather than both, to avoid a lawsuit!), even company names (e.g. franking machine company Pitney Bowes could make a John Pitney or Rebecca Bowes), some surnames work as first names (e.g. Frasier) or vice versa (e.g. Mr Allison or Mrs George)…or if you get desperate, the names of people you know, as long as they approve! If you’re creating a creature, you could try a mythological dictionary or failing that, pick a few letters out of a hat, rearrange them and see what you get!

Ideas: here I provide a couple of story ideas or ways to get new ideas then list seven sentence starts listed on my http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/sentence-starts page; each one, if you’d like to use them, for a daily writing project.

1. Flick through a magazine or newspaper, pick a picture of someone you don’t know (for example not a celebrity) and give them a name, age, job, height, preferences, family, friends, aspirations and quirks.

2. some time ago I gave my writing group some example characters and here are two (by name / nationality, age / job, hair colour, height, favourite music, favourite food, regular saying, relationship, siblings, aspirations, quirks:

• Fayola (Nigerian for ‘lucky), 7, a child prodigy, mass of black curls (she loves), 3’10½“ (mum’s wall chart), Justin Bieber and Beyoncé, fish fingers (“brain food”), “check mate”, eldest child of stable parents, 6 month old brother, to be world chess champion before her 10^th birthday, currently county chess champion and can count 1000 down to 1 in under 5 minutes.
• Stephen (East London, UK), 24 photocopier salesman, jet black spiky (has 25 types of gel), 5’10, 80’s Heavy metal (favourite: AC/DC), curry (hotter the better), “what?”, single (has feelings for co-worker), one (somewhere; a boy, he thinks), to get drunk this weekend (and snog colleague Andy), has Kylie Minogue as his mobile ringtone but keeps it on silent and vibrate modes.

And this episodes sentence starts were:

1. She’d/he’d never been here before and yet…
2. Nick’s smile grew with each step…
3. “Not all of these are for you, you know.”
4. As Kate pressed the phone to her ear…
5. Morag welcomed her visitors with open arms…
6. Samantha kissed the back of…
7. The machine exploded with deafening force…

Recommendations – websites: some websites on names and characters include http://www.writing-world.com/links/names.shtml. It gives links to other sites including ‘2000 names’ (http://www.20000-names.com/index.htm), dictionary of last names (http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/default.aspx), as well as links to a variety of names by nationality.

http://www.literary-liaisons.com/article002.html – this is an interesting one-page guide to naming your characters (with sub-headings of ‘know your characters’, ‘first names’, ‘surnames’, ‘secondary characters’ and ‘remember the genre’). This page also has links to their bookshop, romance bibliography and their writers’ resource page (http://www.literary-liaisons.com/resources.html) which is packed with links under topics such as the arts, fashion, history, medical, publications, societies & associations, Victoriana and writing resources.

Be The Story is a blog by J Timothy King about ‘writing stories and being a better writer’ and http://bethestory.com/2006/01/25/the-secret-to-naming-characters and http://bethestory.com/2006/02/24/how-to-name-characters are great pages. As is http://www.poewar.com/six-quick-tips-on-character-names a blog by writer John Hewitt. The latter contains six tips which are: 1 Character names should be easy to tell apart from one another; 2 Character names should never be distracting or annoying; 3 Try to avoid stereotypes in your character names; 4 Pick names that reflect the time, region and culture that your character is from; 5 Two excellent sources for names are baby name books and phone books; and 6 Be careful when choosing names that rhyme or are alliterative (where the initial letters or sounds are repeated, e.g. Timmy Thompson http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Alliterative+title). I noticed a link for http://www.booksie.com on the encyclopedia page which is a site where you can “share your poems, short stories, novels and more with the world”!

Hat Rack is a site run by an American writer (of sci-fi, poetry and plays) Orson Scott Card. This particular page (http://www.hatrack.com/writingclass/lessons/2003-03-05-1.shtml) is a question and answer on naming characters. OSC’s site also has many other ‘lessons’ on a variety of topics do worth a look! (http://www.hatrack.com/writingclass/lessons/index.shtml).

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20010208b as you can probably guess by the name, is a fantasy site (mainly promoting the legendary game ‘Dungeons & Dragons’). This page gives you a free name generator which you don’t need to load on to your computer). I tried it and it’s fun. Firstly you put the first and last initials of your first name e.g. JohN then the first letter of your surname e.g. Smith then select male/female or random, character’s race (choices are dwarf, elf, gnome, half-elf, half-orc, halfling or human), class (choice of over 20 inc. bard, druid or monk), profession (25+ choices), status (noble, commoner or random), and how famous the character is (1-10). From J/N/S and random for all options I was given Jamlamin Soulaxe a male dwarf druid!

http://www.babynames.com is a very sweet site. You can search a multitude of names for inspiration from most popular, celebrity and cool names. There’s also a mini-video of latest celebrity baby news and a ‘name of the day’ (which at the time of writing this was Mieko!). There’s also a great section at the bottom for searching for names by origin with over 25 nationalities to choose from…so, if you’re writing a story where your Japanese character meets a Mexican one you’ll have no problems! http://www.babynamescountry.com also lets you search by origin.

http://www.seventhsanctum.com/index-name.php is also sci-fi/fantasy related but it has ‘evil name’ and ‘evil sounding name’ generators. I like the sound of those! They also give you generators for fantasy, Greek, heroic, quick (random common names taken from the US Census!), lovecraftian (as in writer HP Lovecraft – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._P._Lovecraft is an interesting biography) and weird name generator. There are also generators for names of locations, species and things (including pirate ships!). Again you don’t have to download anything just go into the relevant section, select the relevant options (e.g. boy/girl etc) and click on ‘generate’. The names are then shown.

http://www.wenspencer.com/blog/archives/000013.html Wen Spencer is a sci-fi/fantasy author who provides advice on how he uses names.

http://www.fmwriters.com/Visionback/Vision21/AdvNamestorming.htm advice is similar to other sites but does provide links to name finding websites such as http://www.cool-baby-names.com, http://www.babynamecenter.com and http://www.zoope.com (a site set-up by a Chicago-based woman nicknamed ‘word girl’ who shares some of the 10,000 names she had when writing her stories).

I have mentioned the ‘suite101’ site before and http://www.suite101.com/content/not-your-average-joe-naming-your-characters-a302699 is a great page. There’s also a link on Suite 101 to ‘creating a character sheet’ which asks the questions: What is your full name? How old are you? Where were you born? When were you born? Where were you raised? What are your parents’ and siblings’ names? What do you eat? What is your favourite food? What is your favourite drink? How do you spend your Saturday nights? Do you read? What kind of books? Do you watch television? What is your favourite show? Do you listen to music? What kind? Are you married? Divorced? Do you have children? What are their names and ages? What is your job? What do you like about it? What do you hate about it? What do you spend your money on? Do you travel? Where and why (or why not)? What does a typical day in your life consist of? Then you create a physical description of your characters with questions about eye and hair colour, height, weight, scars, physical or mental challenges. You probably wouldn’t want to go into so much detail for a short story but you should know your characters in-depth for a novel to the point where they certainly feel, and almost become, real!

Although http://goodcharacters.com is a name site with a Chinese influence it’s definitely worth a visit.

Carolyn Jewel (http://www.carolynjewel.com/craft/names.php) is a Californian who writes historical and paranormal romance! In amongst the advice, Carolyn links to http://www.behindthename.com ‘the etymology and history of first names’. This also has a name generator and you can browse by nationality.

http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/4902-help-naming-characters.html the Chronicles Network is ‘host to the world largest, and friendliest, science fiction & fantasy forums’. The forums (chat rooms) can be viewed by author name, TV series and films as well as general discussion groups. One of the discussions mentions using the names from ‘spam’ (junk) e-mails as character names (either the whole name or part of it) and this is something I’ve heard before when listening to podcasts (radio shows).

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977076908 Gather has been one of the sponsors of the ‘Writer’s Almanac’ podcast hosted by writer Garrison Keillor and, like Facebook, is a site where people “keep up with the people, conversations and moments that matter”. This page suggests that you find character names in “your imagination, phone books, baby name books, family records, company and product names, among your friends, the obituaries and the dictionary”.

As you can see there are a multitude of websites out there which help the writer whether it’s for inspiration or information. The last word on names…some people change their name unofficially but many have legally because they may not like the name they were given or they simply want something more extraordinary or ordinary. In this country this can be done via the UK Deed Poll Service (http://www.ukdps.co.uk/index.html) and costs just over £30. I’ve read of people changing their name to their favourite football team (see http://www.ukdps.co.uk/Media.html)! Despite some restrictions Deed Poll Service has apparently issued deed polls for Jellyfish McSaveloy, Toasted T Cake, Nineteen Sixty-Eight, Hong Kong Phooey, Daddy Fantastic, One-One-Eight Taxi, Ting A Ling, Huggy Bear, Donald Duck, Jojo Magicspacemonkey and James Bond…there are some weird people out there…and the strange make the best stories!

The podcast concluded with News & Feedback, On This Day in History and a 60-word story entitled ‘Home help’:

Fred hated living alone. Having no family and being new to the area, he relied on the television or radio for company. With nothing interesting on either, he flicked through the local telephone directory and spotted the number he wanted. He dialled and listened to the soothing female voice, “at the third stroke, the time according to ‘Timeline’ will be…”

That’s it. Thanks for visiting – a list of the other transcripts and summaries can be found at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/bwt-podcast.

 

Blog interview no.109 with script & multi-genre writer Kevin Broughton

Welcome to the one hundred and ninth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, directors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate the author further. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/blog-interviews.

Morgen: Hello Kevin. Please tell us something about yourself and how you came to be a writer.

Kevin: I’m not a professional writer and although I’ve written short bits and pieces in the past I only started writing in earnest about 6 years ago. I’ve never been much of a reader so it would be very hard for me to be a novelist, since you need to know what you’re trying to achieve before you can achieve it.  One day on a mailing list there was an e-mail from the great writer Joe Michael Straczynski in which he explained the difference between writing for a book and writing for the screen. It was like an epiphany; I Iove films and television, so it was something I knew. I started scriptwriting and have been going ever since.

Morgen: You’re a braver man than me (not that I’m a man but you know) – I adore films (I have a season ticket for the local flicks and see 1-2 a week either on my tod or with a local cinema group on http://meetup.com) but I did Script Frenzy in April 2010 and found the format too bity for my liking but I know some scriptwriters who wouldn’t (or perhaps couldn’t?) do prose. What genre do you generally write and have you considered other genres?

Kevin: I don’t really have a genre. I suppose I tend to gravitate towards historic or speculative fiction. What’s important to me is to go where the story takes me. I like writing comedy but I haven’t fewer ideas for doing that so I most often end up writing straight pieces. I’d write whatever the story was, except perhaps crime stories, just because I don’t think I have an analytical enough brain for crime stories. In fact I have written a script where my main characters had to solve a crime and they couldn’t. I thought it was interesting to put them in that situation. They didn’t like it much.

Morgen: Crime and comedy are the two genres I love reading so am concentrating on these now. I watched the four-part ‘Mad Dogs’ whilst doing some filing (of magazine short stories – that’s as nerdy as my research gets) yesterday and although it was a crime-led (with some character focus) it was hilarious in places, and I sat there thinking “this is what I want to write”. Maybe I could write the prose and you could turn it into a film. What have you had published to-date?

Kevin: I’ve had one play published, called “I Stand Alone”. It’s set in Britannia, which is a future Britain where war has ravaged the nation and left it derelict. Wealthy Celts have returned and started rebuilding, pushing out the existing population who have identified themselves as Saxons. One Celt stands alone against a small incident and gets drawn deeper and deeper into the conflict. It’s a thinly-veiled allegory of the Palestinian / Israeli situation. The publisher is interested in seeing more, so that’s a good sign.

Morgen: Ooh great, let me know. How much of the marketing do you do for your published works or indeed for yourself as a ‘brand’?

Kevin: I’m always on the lookout for a way to get my work out there so that it has the best chance of being noticed. On one occasion I had a play that could only be performed in sign language and I approached a lot of deaf theatre groups to see whether they were interested in performing it. I found out there is a difference in the syntax of sign language and the play doesn’t work very well. As a result of the contact with one group I ended up writing the outline to a pantomime for them because they were running out of time, and they’d produced a poster but had no storyline. From that, I was asked to write dialogue for another project. That’s my approach really, take whatever opportunity I can and hope it snowballs.

Morgen: Absolutely, just keep plugging away. As long as it’s enjoyable it won’t be a chore. Have you won or been shortlisted in any competitions and do you think they help with a writer’s success?

Kevin: I reached the semi final stage of the first play competition I entered; it was for a ten-minute play contest in the United States. That gave me the confidence to keep going. I think competitions help in that they give you deadlines and directions for a story idea. There is a danger though that if you don’t win you could feel somewhat despondent, but part of being a writer is dealing with rejection so you have to get used to not being chosen.

Morgen: Yes, once you receive the first couple it does get easier (for me anyway). Do you write under a pseudonym? If so why and do you think it makes a difference?

Kevin: I don’t, but I can understand people who do. Sometimes they want to differentiate between genres, or sometimes as in the case of Cordwainer Bird (Harlan Ellison) they want to disown the work altogether. Others will probably be able to speak more knowledgably about this than me, but I believe it was a practice of women in the past to use names that hid the fact that they were women, because of the institutional sexism in certain areas.

Morgen: They do – JK Rowling has got to be the most obvious example here. Do you have an agent? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?

Kevin: No and Yes. I don’t have an agent, I think they are vital to the success of an author, but it has to be the right agent. The right one will know how to open doors and they will be hard negotiators on your behalf. In short they will be out there doing their thing while I write, which is my thing. They take a large cut but most writers I’ve heard talk about this, say that agents will get you more return after the cut is taken than you’d get yourself anyway.

Morgen: I agree. I was listening to a recent episode (no. 6.8) of Writing Excuses called ‘What an agent does’ and it was fascinating as to how much they have to do. The bit about the agent handling an auction where as she said that it would be unlikely that this would happen to an author directly was where it sounded like they really earn their money.

Kevin: The wrong kind of agent can be harmful to your career, so you do have to pick wisely. So far the agent I would really like has turned me down twice. I would mention her name here, but there is a fine line between persistence and stalking.

Morgen: Phew, then I don’t have the dilemma of whether to edit it out. I met one at the 2010 Verulam Get Writing who’d been recommended to me but she wasn’t interested in even speaking so I didn’t warm to her one bit and I think even if she approached me now I’d listen but probably still not warm to her. You have to have a good rapport with your agent (I do with my editor so I know how it should feel) and first impressions do count – it was before the event started so there wasn’t anyone else clambering for her attention. Hey ho. What was your first acceptance and is being accepted still a thrill?

Kevin: Yes, I think it’s a thrill every time you break new ground. It might sound silly but my first acceptance was when a group of people performed my first pantomime.

Morgen: That doesn’t sound silly at all. I’d say that’s better than having a short story published (my first acceptance) because I wasn’t to know whether anyone else would read it (it was Woman’s Weekly so highly unlikely but I’d have no proof of course).

Kevin: It was cheap, very amateur but they threw themselves into it and I had my first taste of working with a Director. It was a great success and I’m very proud of it. The main thing it taught me is that I am very good at visualising how the play will look and sound when it’s performed. That knowledge builds confidence. When I was first asked to write the dialogue for a project, that was a thrill because it was the first time someone had recommended me based on work I’d done for them. Getting published was a great thrill because it shows there is an acceptance of the work as being marketable, and seeing it on the web gives me a good feeling. In a field where your ego takes plenty of knocks I think it pays to look for the victories no matter how small, then press on and write some more.

Morgen: I love having my work on the net (on other people’s sites; mine is cheating) and especially getting feedback on it. For me, it’s a prelude to having my books on Smashwords, Amazon etc. (again no guarantees but if I sell one copy I’d be thrilled… to some I don’t know!). Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?

Kevin: I’ve had plenty of rejections, but I comfort myself with the knowledge that many now famous writers were also rejected. Roger Zelazny was a great writer and I’m told he was rejected 500 times.

Morgen: I think Dean Koontz had about that many.

Kevin: At one time nobody was interested in Lord of the Rings. I’m not for one minute comparing myself to those writers but it demonstrates just what a tough world writing is. I deal with the rejection in different ways. Sometimes I think it’s not what they’re looking for and sometimes I react rather badly. It depends a lot on how much the work means to me, who has rejected it and whether their reasons seem valid. All the scripts are my intellectual children and I’m protective of them, but some are just fun and others are what I feel are important stories to be told.

Morgen: And, especially in short story land, depends on what they’ve bought already. What are you working on at the moment / next Kevin?

Kevin: At the moment I’m working on a story with a working title “Spirit of the Meadow.” Which has grown from an entry I made to a weekly writing competition on Facebook run by Sue Welfare.

Morgen: They’re great aren’t they? That’s how we ‘met’.

Kevin: The entries are short paragraphs as an opening to a novel on a set subject. I’d recommend taking a look at it and giving it a go.

Morgen: Yes do. They can often be hilarious, spooky, tear-jerking… but most of all fun to write and yes, I’ve had a couple that I want to keep going. Do you manage to write every day? What’s the most you’ve written in a day?

Kevin: Most days I write, but I couldn’t say every day. Sometimes the day job gets in the way, and sometimes there are social engagements. I couldn’t say what the most I’ve written is because I don’t pay much attention to it, though I will work fairly solidly if I’m committed to the story, or if there is a deadline.

Morgen: Tsch to the day job and social life. I’m lucky I only have a half-week day job but my social life has been a tad lacking recently. I mentioned Meet Up earlier and see all the events being put up and go to some but have to turn some down due to lack of time. That said, I don’t mind. For me, at the moment, getting my eBooks ready has to take priority, it’s my baby, and I’ve got NaNoWriMo coming up in November so I may see my friends again at Christmas. Actually I have my writing group and I belong to two others so I get to see people, it’s just that it’s all writing-related… but nothing wrong with that, right? What is your opinion of writer’s block? Do you ever suffer from it? If so, how do you ‘cure’ it?

Kevin: I haven’t experienced it. There are times when I think a story isn’t going too well and I leave it to work on another one, and there are times when I don’t get on and write as much as other times. I guess it becomes more of a problem for staff writers who have to come up with ideas and write them up each week. I take my hat off to them. Harlan Ellison says that you should quit while you’re hot and never finish the scene, so that when you come back to write you’re not starting from a dead stop. He says if you do that you’ll never have writer’s block.

Morgen: I’m a bit the same, variety means little halting but then I tend to write short stories so they tend to be written before I get a chance to falter. Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?

Kevin: I have an ideas file with the very basic ideas in. I then write an outline, which I call an ‘outkline’ due to a typo in the first outline I wrote, and it having become a silly tradition with me.

Morgen: I used to work for a chocolate company and wrote to a customer once enclosing a ‘git box’. Fortunately I spotted it but I always smile when I see ‘gift box’ written down. Yes… outlines.

Kevin: That gives me the story in a nutshell, but I don’t mind straying from the outline. This is going to sound very cheesy and pretentious but sometimes the characters surprise me and they don’t do what I was expecting them to do, so I often have to make changes along the way.

Morgen: My goodness not cheesy or pretentious – I’d say this happens to every writer. Even the aforementioned JK Rowling is quoted as saying that she was planning to kill off a character (I don’t know who) but he / she wouldn’t let her so she killed off someone else instead (I won’t say who in case anyone reading this hasn’t read the book or the film – actually that almost passed me by in the film, it wasn’t made a big deal of which surprised me in a way). Do you have a method for creating your characters, their names and what do you think makes them believable?

Kevin: This is hard to explain, they just sort of form with the story. They have their own story that intersects with the one I’m telling. I recently wrote a six part television series and for that I wrote the background for all the characters. I think it helps make the characters believable if the things they say come from somewhere rather than just appear when it’s convenient for the story. For me a great source of character ideas is the post office queue.  I’m stuck there so I might as well observe the way different people react to each other as they shuffle forward.

Morgen: I don’t go into the Post Office if I can help it (my three local branches are a nightmare) but maybe I should. Who is your first reader – who do you first show your work to?

Kevin: My wife, Penny, but usually only for important stories. Others I send out when I’m happy with them or I send them to be professionally appraised.

Morgen: I think it’s worth having an editor, especially as you say for the important stories, as someone else is bound to pick out things that had never occurred to the author because they’re too close to it, or know the intention behind something. Even if you don’t hire a professional, someone who reads books will be able to read a story as a reader would, which is what you want. Do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?

Kevin: I do a few edits, but I don’t like edit the life out of the script. Sometimes I find it useful to go back to a script after I’ve left it for a while. I get a fresher look and I see what is really there, as opposed to what I wanted to be there when I was writing it. In one case I wrote long speech for a character to say just before he was executed. When I looked at it again later I decided to cut the whole speech because I thought if I had to listen to that I’d kill him myself.

Morgen: What is your creative process like? What happens before sitting down to write?

Kevin: Ideas come from everywhere and I jot them down on paper. For example there is an advert that begins with a naked man running, he uses his credit card to buy things. At the end he arrives at his wedding. That gave me a story idea for a film which is now sat in my ideas folder for me to use at a later date. Once I have the idea I think about them until I’m able to set down an outline. It’s during that stage that the characters and locations start to appear more vividly in my imagination. The outline is usually pretty well formed by the time I set it down.

Morgen: Do you write on paper or do you prefer a computer?

Kevin: When I’m jotting down ideas I use paper, but once I get down to proper writing I use the computer.

Morgen: Yeah I’m pretty much the same. What sort of music do you listen to when you write?

Kevin: Usually I don’t. But if I do, at the moment, it would probably be Classical, The Association, Salif

Keita, or the theme music from Sharpe or Due South.

Morgen: Oh I loved Due South. Nothing to do with the 6’-something Paul Gross and an equally adorable husky. What point of view do you find most to your liking: first person or third person? Have you ever tried second person?

Kevin: Scripts are written in first and third person; the dialogue is first person and the action is third person. I’ve not had cause to use second person, but I would do if I came up with a great story for a video game.

Morgen: Ooh that’s an idea. I love second person (as readers to some of my previous interviews will know so I won’t go on about it again here). Do you use prologues / epilogues? What do you think of the use of them?

Kevin: For episodic TV scripts there tends to be a teaser and a tag so I have used them. I think the writer should use whatever they think is best to tell the story the way they want to tell it. Nearly every rule I’ve read I can think of a successful example of where that rule has been broken.

Morgen: That’s what I love about rules – I’m not a red tape person. Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?

Kevin: I have some that are not ready to see the light of day yet but I wouldn’t want to give up on them. They might take a different form or be joined with something else. Usually I’ve stopped work on them because the story seems to have run its course without producing a full script.

Morgen: But they could be something else. I have hope that my dozens of unsubmitted stories could be tweaked (some need it more than others) and have life. What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life?

Kevin: I don’t write full time so I pretty much enjoy all of the process of writing. Sometimes it’s more enjoyable than others, such as the days when the action is playing out in front of me and I can’t get the story down fast enough. I find it hard to be constantly pushing my work out to people, and I don’t like the rejection. I’m quite shy by nature but I force myself to bring my scripts to people’s attention because it seems to me that you have to have no shame if you want to get noticed.

Morgen: I’m rubbish at sending things out but only because I don’t get round to it, which is bit silly really because I’m not going to get published if I don’t submit. Rejections are the downside but I think new writers will soon develop a thicker skin and just keep going. I have just under 30 rejections so I’m somewhere in between.

Kevin: Proof reading is not something I dislike, but I do find it difficult. My mind tends to wander and not pay great attention to detail. It helps with the creative side but not the craft of writing; still you can’t have everything. I try very hard though because bad spelling and grammar will put people off before they’ve even given your story a chance.

Morgen: Perhaps that’s where Penny comes in? If anything, what has been your biggest surprise about writing?

Kevin: How much I enjoy it, particularly play writing. I like the puzzle of telling the story in real time and without having the effects and changing locations that other forms of script allow.

Morgen: What advice would you give aspiring writers?

Kevin: Don’t write my way. All writers have their own way of doing it so find a way that suits you, and that you enjoy. Even the best writers get rejected and you’re going to have to enjoy it so that you keep going. All I can do is pass on some of the things I’ve picked up from writers far more qualified to comment than me, and there do seem to be some common threads. Don’t try to please everyone. If you write something that really touches you, and your honest about it, the chances are that it will affect someone.

Morgen: We mentioned Sue’s weekly competitions (I say competition but we don’t do it for the money because there isn’t any but having your name in lights (on an email) – Kevin’s a regular on those, I’ve been on a couple – is a thrill and as you say it can easily kick off a bigger project but also you get the emotions just reading those couple of hundred words; amazing. Any more advice?

Kevin: Appreciate the great moments in the things you like and try to create great moments in your own work. Write, finish a project and then start on another one. Keep going and don’t let anyone make you give up. Above all keep aspiring.

Morgen: Absolutely, I’ve even heard top writers say they’re still learning. Doctors still read up on new developments etc. What do you like to read?

Kevin: I’m not an avid reader but when I do it’s either non fiction or science fiction. I recently came across Ben Jeapes who wrote some very good stories with fresh ideas in so I’d like to give him a plug. Joe Straczynski’s book “The Complete Book of Scriptwriting” was a great help to me when I started writing and I still refer back to it. It not only tells you the craft of writing it tells you how to go about selling it.

Morgen: Christopher Vogler’s ‘The Writer’s Journey’ is another good one. Even though I don’t write the genre, I have a few script books; Robert McKee’s ‘Story’ is another – my bookshelves are heaving (100+) writing guides that I (sometimes) dip into. What do you do when you’re not writing? Any hobbies or party tricks?

Kevin: I enjoy movies and some television. I used to do longbow archery and mediaeval re-enactment, but nowadays I just enjoy being at home with Penny and the cats. My party piece used to be sliding down stairs on my shins, but I’m a bit older and wiser now, I just try to bring a bit of humour to the parties I go to these days.

Morgen: And I’d say hitting the bottom bannister post would hurt a little more these days. Humour, yes, I can tell by your novel intros. Are there any writing-related websites and/or books that you find useful and would recommend?

Kevin: Apart from the scriptwriting book I mentioned earlier, there are loads of clips on YouTube where writers give their views on writing. These give interesting insights into the world of a writer. This one on the shapes of stories is a good example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP3c1h8v2ZQ.

Morgen: Ah yes Kurt Vonnegut’s videos – they’re great aren’t they? In which country are you based and do you find this a help or hindrance with letting people know about your work?

Kevin: I live in England. I think that’s probably a help because there seem to be quite a few opportunities that come up, particularly through the BBC’s Writers Room. Having said that I don’t have any experience of working in any other country so I have nothing against which to compare.

Morgen: The BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom) is so encouraging. Although I don’t do scripts I’ve been tempted to write a play for Radio 4 although they read out short stories too so definitely an opportunity there. Are you on any forums or networking sites? If so, how invaluable do you find them?

Kevin: I’m in a local playwriting group, and I interact with writers and actors on Facebook and Google plus. I find them very useful for contacts and for hearing about opportunities.

Morgen: I’ve not tried Google plus yet but I’m also on Twitter and LinkedIn so it leaves little time. I’ll get there at some stage, I’m sure.

Morgen: Do you have a phrase or quote you like?

Kevin: Quentin Crisp said: Artists in any medium are just hoodlums who cannot live within their income of admiration.

Morgen: I wonder how many of us wear hoodies. Where can we find out about you and your work?

Kevin: I have one script on http://lazybeescripts.co.uk so you can see a piece of my work. I have a Facebook page for Bounder, a stuffed toy I bought as a pantomime prop. He spreads the news about me and my writing.

Morgen: Wasn’t he one of the dogs in Neighbours? What do you think the future holds for a writer?

Kevin: Difficult to say. The ability for self-publishing is better than ever because of the online world but it is also easier to copy and distribute work without paying for it. The need to get better at writing and find a way to stand out from the competition is the same as it has ever been.

Morgen: I’ve heard (from podcasts mainly) that famous authors have their worked ripped off all the time and whilst most find it infuriating (with some taking legal action), others surprisingly don’t mind as it means that there are people out there who want to read what they’re writing, which I guess is what it’s all about. I guess I wouldn’t mind if I could afford to. Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

Kevin: I had a sticky issue over copyright when I did a collaboration. It was resolved amicably in the end when we both decided to pursue individual projects. If you are going to collaborate I’d recommend agreeing the copyright issues first.

Morgen: Absolutely, everything in writing, even if it’s via email. Is there a question you’d like to ask me?

Kevin: What drove you to pluck me from the masses to appear on your blog?

Morgen: Because I loved your sense of humour (and quality of writing) on Sue’s Facebook Competition we mentioned earlier. That and the fact that you’re a writer. I’m not actually that fussy. No, I shouldn’t say that… Kevin, I’m incredibly fussy and you’re very lucky to be here.

I then invited Kevin to include a portion of his writing and he took this from one of his contributions to Sue Welfare’s weekly writing contest (http://www.facebook.com/sue.welfare), the entry that he says he is currently working up into a full story:

“We filed past, our faces pressed against glass darkened to protect our eyes from the bright artificial light within. Ours had become a twilight existence. There was no time to stop, so the glimpse of our national treasure was all too brief. It is said that people once wanted it to disappear, but I don’t believe it. Why would there be a perennial queue to see the last of its kind? What would life be, without once looking on the beauty of a Dandelion?”

He then added “If the TV Series I’ve written gets made, this will be the opening weekly dialogue”:

“The King I served is dead and I have been exiled for carrying out my duty. So I stand now before a stone hewn from, and rooted in, this land. As an arch is only as strong as its weakest stone, so is a nation as strong as it’s poorest citizen. Once the weakest stone fails so does the arch.  Wherever I see anyone suffer injustice, I will fight with my sword in my hand and compassion in my heart. I am a Knight of the Stone King and this is my vow.”

Thanks Kevin. See you on Facebook.

If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me at morgen@morgenbailey.com and I’ll send you the questions. You complete them, I tweak them where appropriate (if necessary to reflect the blog ‘clean and light’ rating) and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. … and follow me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/morgenwriteruk) where each new posting is automatically announced.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day I can’t review books but if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract/short chapter (ideally up to 1,000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it/talking about it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use them or ignore them) on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast – see http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/bwt-podcast – then do email me. I plan to do one a fortnight (my shows are usually Mondays) so it’ll be interweaving red pen and hints/tips episodes.

In the meantime, if you have a moment and like quite dark stuff then you can read one of my ditties at Nathan Weaver’s http://www.talesfrombabylon.com/2011/07/rogues-gallery-2-morgen-bailey.html. Thank you.

 

Blog interview no.108 with crime and thriller novelist Graham Hurley

Welcome to the one hundred and eighth of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, directors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate the author further. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/blog-interviews.

Morgen: Hello Graham. Thank you for joining me today. Please tell us something about yourself and how you came to be a writer.

Graham: Think post-war Britain.  Imagine a household without television.  Invent a dad mad about classical music.  Picture that intimate semi-circle of armchairs drawn up around the steam radio.  And then listen to the naked feet of yours truly retreating upstairs for an early night.  Always with an armful of books.  And a torch.

Morgen: I blame me having to wear glasses (not that it bothers me that I do, it’s supposed to indicate intelligence after all) on a torch… and Stephen King under my duvet as a teenager – or it might even have been sheets rather than duvet back then. What genre do you generally write and have you considered other genres?

Graham: I’ve always been fascinated by story, by stuff happening.  As a kid the word I used was adventure.  A lot of it came from the war.  In the early Fifties people had given themselves time to sort their memories out and pass on what had happened to them – either on active service (like my Dad) or (in my Mum’s case) under the bombs in London.  Some of this stuff was anecdotal, other narratives found their way into movies or books (both fiction and non-fiction). I lapped it all up.  The magic of story.  Totally irresistible (thus the torch).  Genres?  Once I was published, I slipped into the box marked “International Thriller Writer”.  That was a huge adventure and sustained seven books.  Then I wrote a couple of first-person thrillers seen through the eyes of two separate women.  Big contrast but – in their own way – enormously challenging.  Finally came an invitation from Orion to plunge into crime fiction with a series based in Portsmouth, where we lived.

Morgen: Go Pompey! I’m not a football fan, at all, but have caught some of your comments about them from time to time. I knew they were having a blip last year (2010) but looking at Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portsmouth_F.C.) they’re still plodding on. Sorry, off-topic. You were saying…

Graham: I’m not a great fan of crime fiction and, to be frank, I had a lot of initial reservations but this particular genre box turned out to be far less claustrophobic than I’d imagined. Portsmouth is a gift to any working novelist, the UK writ small, and early on it occurred to me that here was an early example of a society in the process of disintegration. Cops are frequently first-person witnesses at this carnival of self-destruction and as the series developed I managed to create a powerful undertow of social (and thus political) unease.  There was also a technical challenge I had to face as a writer because I’d always worked within the framework of one-off stories.  Series writing can be tricky but – like a good dinner party – the trick lies in the guest list.  These people have to combust over a significant number of books.  And, dare I say it, they do.

Morgen: You certainly can. What’s a plot without strong characters? You have an extensive catalogue, what have you had published to-date? Can you remember where you saw your first book on the shelves?

Graham: WHSmith’s, Southsea shopping precinct, a wet Wednesday morning in 1988.  Three weeks later the book was still there.  I always thought that the ink drying on your first publishing contract was the battle won.  How wrong was I?  To date, incidentally, I’ve published twenty-six books, two of them non-fiction.

Morgen: 26, my goodness. You must write quickly. You mentioned in one of your emails to me that you’ve seen someone reading your book on a train… have you ever spotted any of your books in an unusual location?

Graham: Vang Vieng, Laos, in the hands of a Buddhist monk.  Extraordinary moment.

Morgen: I hope he was enjoying it. How much of the marketing do you do for your published works or indeed for yourself as a ‘brand’?

Graham: Marketing, alas, is what you have to do to get that single first book off the shelf of the Southsea WHSmith’s (see above).  The big publicity push used to be part of the publisher’s commitment, and if you’re lucky enough to be charting in the Top Ten, it still is.  But for the majority of today’s published mid-list writers, most of the publishing budget is spent on getting your bookshelf space.  The rest is down to you.  With social messaging and all the rest that’s a more interesting ask than it used to be but the deafening clamour that passes for today’s cyber-culture makes your voice one of millions.  Thank God for blogs.

Morgen: I love having one and I’m surprised how much difference they make (hits to my website rather than sales of books, as mine aren’t ready yet). Have you won or been shortlisted in any competitions and do you think they help with a writer’s success?

Graham: I’ve been short-listed twice for the Theakstons and have just won a national prize for a novella.  This kind of stuff can work wonders in-house and often badges subsequent editions of the paperback.  Does it work?  Do readers take notice?  Some definitely do.  The rest?  I wonder.

Morgen: I’d say something as well known (in the UK anyway) as Theakston’s must make a dent. Like the Bridport for short story authors (which I must enter next year!). Oh, and congrats on the novella. Woo hoo! Do you write under a pseudonym? Do you think they make a difference to an author’s profile?

Graham: I don’t write under another name and I’m not sure I ever would.  The authors for whom I have real respect are the guys who – by and large – keep a low public profile.  John Le Carré is one of them.  But – hey – his real name is David Cornwell.  And he has this to say on his website:  “A good writer is an expert on nothing except himself. And on that subject, if he is wise, he holds his tongue.”.  Excellent advice.

Morgen: Do you have an agent? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?

Graham: I’ve had a number of agents over the years, and in between I’ve represented myself. But if you’re new to the publishing game, and you’re offered a contract, you’d be crazy not to seek representation.

Morgen: I’d agree but I think the hurdle for most newbies is getting agents to pay attention. Have a publisher’s contract wafted in their faces would, I’d say, make them sit up and listen.

Graham: A good agent can make a huge difference by getting you a reasonable deal in the first place and by latterly holding the ring between you and your publisher.  One caveat: e-publishing threatens to make a bonfire of all the old nostrums.  And in some respects agents are as challenged by this development as publishers.

Morgen: I’ve involved in Radio Litopia and it’s probably the most talked about topic. Most of us in the chatroom are unrepresented / newbies so we’re interested and Litopia is run by an agent (who never touts, by the way, and like most agents, he’s fussy) so it’s bound to crop up. Are your books available as eBooks? If so what was your experience of that process? And do you read eBooks?

Graham:  Yes, most of my books are available as e-books.  For readers, laying aside the print / screen debate,  the e-revolution can only be good (imagine sitting on a train and downloading Nostromo or Bleak House onto your Kindle – for zilch – because you fancied it).  For would-be novelists, distribution platforms like The Kindle Store also short-circuit the desperate business of trying to find a publisher.  But you still have – somehow – to get yourself noticed.  The clamour, again.  Your voice amongst millions of others.

Morgen: A lot of discussions (I’m on Linkedin) are about this and I think that is the worry for most newcomers (I’m in that process) but I still think it relies on reviews. Someone can only have so many friends and family. If 500 people give it a 5-star then the bulk of those are going to be independent. That’s the hope anyway. What was your first acceptance and is being accepted still a thrill?

Graham: My first acceptance came relatively late.  I’d written a couple of mercifully unpublished novels as a teenager, gone to university (which hatched a couple more), then laid the whole thing aside while I ducked into TV documentary-making for a couple of decades.  Towards the end of that period, afloat in the North Atlantic looking for the wreck of the Titanic, I had plenty of time to dream up an idea or two and one of these fantasies became a six-part drama commission for ITV (“Rules of Engagement”).  That led pretty much instantaneously to a two-book contract for Macmillan… and I’ve done a book a year ever since.  Was I thrilled when my agent (Carole Blake) phoned with the news from PanMac?  Just a bit…

Morgen: 26 books, a book a year… I’d say not so late (I’m 44 and although I’ve written 4.5 they’ve not been published… yet). Have you had any rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?

Graham: Loads.  And they still happen (chiefly in the field of film and TV).  How do I deal with them?  By muttering a quiet prayer for the name at the bottom of the e-mail and moving swiftly on.

Morgen: A prayer because you’ll use them in a tortuous manner in a forthcoming book? We met at a book talk you hosted at Northampton library in September 2009 has much changed in your writing world since then?

Graham:  Yes.  My books have always sold OK in France and we’ve attended a thousand and one crime festivals, which are always a delight.  Recently, my Faraday crime series has been bought by French TV on a one-book-per-film basis and last week I saw the first two DVDs.  They’ve done me (and Faraday) proud.

Morgen: I bet that was such a thrill. What are you working on at the moment / next?

Graham:  I’m shortly going to embark on a spin-off crime series after the end of the Pompey-based Faraday books (of which there are twelve).  My guys were getting far too old to be plausible cops (in a series which is badged by its authenticity)…

Morgen: Mark Billingham was on Litopia last night and was talking about ageing Thorne, prompted by a question in the chat room, and said he’s stopped ageing him because he didn’t want to retire him. Ian Rankin aged Rebus in real time and I think by 15 books he was probably pleased to move on to someone else. Authenticity is vital so I don’t blame you one bit.

Graham: …plus Lin and I have moved west and no longer live in Pompey.  The new series will feature young D/S Jimmy Suttle and – as ever – it’s been a delight to get stuck into the research.

Morgen: You love research… yuk, you can do mine for me then.

Graham: Suttle will be joining one of Devon and Cornwall’s Major Crime Investigation Teams, based in Exeter, and the debut title is “Western Approaches”. These will be tightly-drawn stories, character-driven, less freighted with all the procedural clutter. Can’t wait to lift the pen in anger.

Morgen: Ah, so do you write on paper or do you prefer a computer?

Graham:  PC most of the time.  Paper on trains and in pubs.

Morgen: Pubs… what a great excuse. “Just going to the office, dear.” Do you manage to write every day? What’s the most you’ve written in a day?

Graham:  I write between the end of October and Christmas, with a month reserved thereafter for a second draft.  The rest of the year we go travelling (ancient camper) and offshore rowing with an amazing bunch of guys who’ve become a second family.  Good crack.  Excellent scenery.  Superb pubs.  The most I’ve written in a day?  19,000 words, against a savage deadline.

Morgen: Wow wee. Your computer must have been smoking. So this is probably a redundant question… what is your opinion of writer’s block? Do you ever suffer from it?

Graham: Mercifully, it’s never happened.  If it did, I guess I’d row harder.

Morgen: Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?

Graham:  Broadly speaking, I know where the book begins and ends.  As a series develops, I get to know the characters on first name terms and if the thing’s working properly,  they take responsibility for the middle bits.

Morgen: I love it when that happens.

Graham: This dynamic, incidentally, often changes the book’s intended  destination – and always for the better.  That might sound fanciful but it’s true.

Morgen: Not at all to me. To a non-write maybe but then I think even a non-writer who’s an avid reader would understand especially when a good book starts to feel real. Talking of characters, do you have a method for creating them, their names and what do you think makes them believable?

Graham: These are often people I have to live with for some time (in the case of the Faraday series, more than a decade), so they have to be interesting, self-motivating,  and – to me at least – real.  Sometimes I nick bits and pieces of people I know and glue the bits together in odd combinations. Sometimes I clock a face in a pub or on a train and let the odd snatch of overheard dialogue do the rest. Other times, my characters come from literally nowhere.  This latter process, as you might expect, is mysterious and slightly troubling.  Writers might be solitary by nature but their heads are full of other people.

Morgen: Earwigging is great isn’t it? And my characters keep me company, especially when the dog is asleep in the other room. Who is your first reader – who do you first show your work to?

Graham: My wife, Lin.  A savagely honest critic.

Morgen: Perfect. Unpaid, close to hand and doesn’t pull her punches. I have an editor so but have you thought of hiring her out when you don’t need her skills? Speaking of editing, do you do a lot or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?

Graham:  I write from about nine in the morning until six in the evening.  Then we have a couple of beers and I cook supper.

Morgen: Wow, a writer and chef… do you hire yourself out?

Graham: After that I’ll go back upstairs and re-read the day’s work before wading in with a revision or three.  The beers give me a different perspective.  Like I’ve become someone else.  Never fails.  Do I do much editing beyond that?  No.

Morgen: What a shame I don’t like beer. I wonder if Bailey’s or Southern Comfort would have the same effect. You mentioned research earlier, how much research do you have to do for your writing? Have you ever received feedback from your readers?

Graham:  I do huge amounts of research, chiefly because I believe that most fiction is an act of trespass and the least you owe the world you’ve hi-jacked is some kind of attempt to understand it (or at least get it right).  This is especially true with crime fiction, both in terms of the good guys and the not-so-good guys.  You’d be amazed at the number of unpublished MSS I get from would-be crime writers who wouldn’t dream of risking a conversation with a working cop.  Is this bottling out or simple laziness?  I dunno…

Morgen: Maybe naivety? It wouldn’t occur to me that people send you their manuscripts. Wow (I’ve used that word a lot today haven’t I… note to self, get my thesaurus). What is your creative process like? What happens before sitting down to write?

Graham:  Boringly mundane.  Rub eyes, check the Guardian website, rub eyes again,  read yesterday’s last paragraph,  plunge in.

Morgen: I hope you don’t rub your eyes too hard, my optician told me a scary story once… now there’s a plot. Some writers like quiet, others the noise of a coffee shop etc. Do you listen to music or have noise around you when you write or do you need silence?

Graham:  Silence.  I love music, especially classical music, but would hate to dilute the pleasure with writing – which is concentration of a totally different kind.

Morgen: I go for classical. That said I’m sitting here in silence (with aforementioned dog on my lap which makes typing really easy!). Ok, play button… What point of view do you find most to your liking: first person or third person?

Graham:  Depends.  Third person is really effective if you want to ping the narrative from character to character and push the story along whereas first person becomes a strange kind of journey into someone else’s head.  If you’ve chosen (created?) the right head, of course, the possibilities can be limitless…which is, in itself, slightly spooky.

Morgen: There was a brilliant film at the flicks earlier this year called ‘Limitless’, superb. Ah, thanks dog. He’s just got down, decided it wasn’t comfortable, clearly. Do you use prologues / epilogues? What do you think of the use of them? Oh great, squeaky toy and Saint-Sans. Yes, prologues, epilogues…

Graham:  I love them.  It’s a cliché, I know, but the first page of any book is really important – just like the last – and if you get off to a flying start it gives you an astronomical fix that will shape the entire journey.

Morgen: I agree. I’m not an ‘oguer’ but hook and climax are the pivotal strengths of a book. Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?

Graham:  Many.

Morgen: OK. Nuff sed. What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life?

Graham:  Favourite?  The solitude and the opportunity for a spot of serious control freakery.  Least favourite?  Pass…

Morgen: Yay, nothing you don’t like. Oh yes, you love research. I love solitude too, I’d be a hermit if I could, although I love going out with the dog. Oh, speak of the devil, you want to play? In a minute? OK? Thanks. Sorry Graham. If anything, what has been your biggest surprise about writing?

Graham:  That the ideas, and – so far – the readers, keep coming.

Morgen: That’s want every writer dreams of, I’d say. What advice would you give aspiring writers?

Graham:  Keep at it.  The joy of a really effective sentence, or a passage of dialogue, or something that takes you utterly by surprise outweighs anything else.  Forget the glittering prizes and those posters on the tube.  Writing remains one of life’s true mysteries.  Enjoy.

Morgen: And hopefully we all do. I love it when I’ve written something I really love and sit here clapping to myself – the advantage of having a dog rather than human company, although it sounds like Lin would understand. What do you like to read? Any authors you could recommend?

Graham:  Early John Le Carré.  Justin Cartwright.  Graham Greene. Alan Furst.

Morgen: What do you do when you’re not writing? Any hobbies or party tricks?

Graham:  We row. And row. And drink. And row again. And head the camper south.

Morgen: You’re based in the UK, do you find this a help or hindrance with letting people know about your work?

Graham:  No.  Thanks to the I/net.

Morgen: Isn’t it great! Are you on any forums or networking sites? If so, how valuable do you find them?

Graham:  I’m afraid I’m not.  They drive me nuts.  I haven’t even got a mobile.

Morgen: That’s why you write so many books, I guess, they do eat time. Your website is http://www.grahamhurley.co.uk. Are there other places where we can we out about you and your writing?

Graham:  There are loads of entries on the I/net, which might be useful, and just now I’m basking in a newly-designed website which is bringing in lots of new readers.  Check it out!!

Morgen: Yes, please do. What do you think the future holds for a writer?

Graham:  To be honest, I’m not sure.  My own view is that writing is a kind of virus.  If you’ve got it, it’s extremely hard to get rid of it and I know countless writers who labour on in the sure knowledge that they’ll never find a publisher.  Yet they still do it.  Why?  Because it’s one of the few creative areas left that is cheap, low-tech and offers an almost limitless sense of imaginative possibility.  Get stuck into a book (as a writer, rather than a reader) and you start playing God.  Anything can happen.  And often does.

Morgen: And that’s what I love. You never know what’s going to come out but it’s a thrill a minute (a second) for me. I so value the time I spend writing. Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

Graham:  How come the one shop left untouched in the recent looting on Clapham High Street was Waterstone’s?

Morgen: Because books are too sacred to damage? Looters with taste? Or on the flipside they can’t read? Is there anything you’d like to ask me?

Graham: You were one of four in the audience at Northampton Library.  Hope I didn’t disappoint.

Morgen: Absolutely not – fond memories of the evening and actually one of the early ones that got me hooked meeting ‘real’ authors. There were some empty chairs but definitely more of us than that including, I remember, a rather vocal lady (even more enthusiastic than me) who had read your books (as I’m shamefully yet to do but I do have nine of them and loved Nocturne so I’m part-way there ). I had three when we met and you kindly signed one to my German friend Heike which went off to her shortly after that and you can imagine how thrilled she was… Thank you Graham.

I then invited Graham to include an excerpt of his writing:

What follows is an imagining.  It was sparked by the events that followed my father’s death, and it’s based on the months of reading, archival research, and face-to-face conversations that followed.  As Dad’s only daughter, for reasons that I still can’t explain to myself, it felt right for me to try and connect the many dots that comprise the strangeness of his life.  The dates and the locations are real, as was the vicious little eddy of history that swept him into captivity.  The rest, I confess at once, is my take on what may have happened.  The closer I shadowed my father’s wartime journey, the better I felt I understood the man he became.  That I may also have stumbled on a larger truth – that we are all the prisoners of our past – is for you to judge.

Morgen: Thank you again Graham and now I’m (finally) getting involved in writing crime (readers of some of my previous interviews will know that I was told by agent Judith Murdoch “you’re a crime writer, you need to write crime” at the July 2011 Winchester Writers Conference), a genre I’ve read for years, I hope to see you again before too long. The hound and I are off to the park now.

If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me at morgen@morgenbailey.com and I’ll send you the questions. You complete them, I tweak them where appropriate (if necessary to reflect the blog ‘clean and light’ rating) and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. … and follow me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/morgenwriteruk) where each new posting is automatically announced.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day I can’t review books but if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract/short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it/talking about it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use them or ignore them) on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast – see http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/bwt-podcast – then do email me. I plan to do one a fortnight (my shows are usually Mondays) so it’ll be interweaving red pen and hints/tips episodes.

In the meantime, if you have a moment and like quite dark stuff then you can read one of my ditties at Nathan Weaver’s http://www.talesfrombabylon.com/2011/07/rogues-gallery-2-morgen-bailey.html. Thank you.

 

Blog interview no.107 with multi-genre author Jeannie van Rompaey

Welcome to the hundred and seventh of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, directors, bloggers, autobiographers and more. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate the author further. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found at http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/blog-interviews.

Morgen: Hello Jeannie. Please tell us something about yourself and how you came to be a writer.

Jeannie: I have written stories for as long as I can remember. My mother called them “scribbles” and always thought I should be using my time more profitably. Well, here I am still scribbling. I decided quite early on that it was something that was important to me and, never mind what anyone else thinks I shall continue.

Morgen: Hopefully people are more behind you now? What do you write now you’re “all grown up”?

Jeannie: I generally write fiction – four or five novels and a plethora of short stories, but I have considered other genres – plays, poems and newspaper articles.

Morgen: Like me, a bit of everything. What have you had published to-date? If applicable, can you remember where you saw your first books on the shelves?

Jeannie: I am very bad at submitting my work.

Morgen: Oh, I’m really rubbish. I’ve written loads but it just sits there – I need to get more organised.

Jeannie: I never think it is finished.

Morgen: Ah, OK. I don’t have that problem. Three or four edits tops and I move on.

Jeannie: My novel, Life Drawing is published by Lulu.com. I have had poems and short stories published in various magazines and small presses. My short plays, Power Games and various other plays have been performed, but not all of them have been published.

Morgen: And I have one of your collections ‘Straight Talk’. That’s how we got in touch actually; the joy of Facebook and you having an unusual name. Speaking of (social) networking, how much of the marketing do you do for your published works or indeed for yourself as a ‘brand’?

Jeannie: Almost nothing! But I know I should.

Morgen: I do think the onus is on the author these days the disadvantage of which is that it eats into our writing time but we do get to meet our readers. Have you won or been shortlisted in any competitions and do you think they help with a writer’s success?

Jeannie: I won the first prize in the Barry Hillman International New Play Competition in 1995 with a full-length play called Sunshine Skyway. This gave me confidence and I went on to write, produce and direct plays on the London Fringe. I came first in the H.E Bates short story competition with Afternoons on the Keyserlei…

Morgen: Yay, well done. I’m one of the first round judges on that competition but that would have been before my time.

Jeannie: …and second in the Anne Tibble poetry section with Bitter Spring. These two wins gave me a buzz, but I didn’t enter again as I became one of the judges in both competitions!

Morgen: How spooky – we have probably sat in the same seats.

Jeannie: I also came second in the Bridport short story competition.

Morgen: Oh wow. That is something for your CV. Stiff competition in that, er… competition.

Jeannie: These things were ages ago, but I am just beginning to enter competitions again in the hope that, if I could win, the kudos would help me to publish more pieces.

Morgen: I do think it all helps, just keeping plugging away. Do you write under a pseudonym? If so why and do you think it makes a difference?

Jeannie: No. I write under my married name of Jeannie van Rompaey because my husband is proud and supportive of what I do.

Morgen: That’s so important, especially when you have to steal time. And of course you’re not going to get anyone using the same name as you… as Jeffrey and Geoffrey Archer have. Do you have an agent? Do you think they’re vital to an author’s success?

Jeannie: I did have an agent. He was helpful and one novel got to the monthly meeting with Harper Collins, but it didn’t make the cut.

Morgen: Oh how frustrating.

Jeannie: I think an agent is an asset, but it is as difficult to get an agent as to get published.

Morgen: I’d say it is yet (I’ve stumbled at that hurdle too).

Jeannie: The way forward may be through a literary consultancy but I haven’t gone along this route yet.

Morgen: That is an option. Or you could try going it alone I guess. Are your books available as eBooks? If so what was your experience of that process? And do you read eBooks?

Jeannie: Yes, but haven’t earned much money from it yet. I do read ebooks.

Morgen: Oh dear (see aforementioned reference to “keep plugging”). What was your first acceptance and is being accepted still a thrill?

Jeannie: My first acceptance was when I was still at school, a short story. Oh yes, it’s still a thrill having professionals value my work.

Morgen: Which again ads to the CV. Having been so prolific over the years, presumably you have had some rejections? If so, how do you deal with them?

Jeannie: I am quite philosophical about rejections and tell myself it’s only one person’s opinion.

Morgen: It is. It’s just a numbers game. You could have the best story in the world but if they’ve already bought something similar they won’t have room, or budget, for both. What are you working on at the moment / next?

Jeannie: I am honing and toning three novels to enter for a competition. Yes, three, because I haven’t done anything with them yet and they are not doing any good lying in a filing cabinet. One of them is about ex-pats on Gran Canaria so I’ll have to keep a low profile if that is successful.

Morgen: Especially if you’ve not changed their names.

Jeannie: I am also writing short pieces, poems, flash fiction, short stories which I intend to enter in competitions or send off to magazines. I am also preparing a play called GONE that had its first performance in a festival in Totton this year with a view to publication.

Morgen: Yay! You do sound ridiculously busy but wonderfully so. I’m so green. Do you manage to write every day? What’s the most you’ve written in a day?

Jeannie: Yes every day, something new or continued work as well as my honing and toning.

Morgen: I like that; ‘honing and toning’.

Jeannie: I don’t know how much I write in a day. I suppose I’m more interested in quality than quantity, but when I’m on a roll – about five thousand words. My husband has to tell me to remember to eat or go to bed.

Morgen: I’ve tried to get my dog to tell me that but apart from soppy looks (nothing new) it’s not working yet. What is your opinion of writer’s block? Do you ever suffer from it? If so, how do you ‘cure’ it?

Jeannie: Yes, I have been blocked, but a good walk by the sea can do the trick. Useless to sit at the computer and force ideas to come.

Morgen: “By the sea…”, oh how lovely. Now I really am green (sitting here in my landlocked house). Do you plot your stories or do you just get an idea and run with it?

Jeannie: I certainly do not plot every detail beforehand, chapter by chapter. I tried that once and felt trapped, as if there were no room for creativity, but if I run with the idea too haphazardly that can be a mistake too, because I can go a bit haywire.

Morgen: So a bit of both, sounds like a good… er, plan. Do you have a method for creating your characters, their names and what do you think makes them believable?

Jeannie: I think my characters evolve fairly naturally, but I do live with them for a while. I often brainstorm each person, looking at things such as background, gestures, habits, likes, dislikes, beliefs etc. but this is very much an exercise that I rarely refer to afterwards, but perhaps it remains in my psyche. Names are important – as far as age, period and character are concerned and should be distinct from other names in the story. I hate it when I’m reading and there are two characters with names beginning with the same letter for example, so names need to be reader-friendly.

Morgen: They do. I read a story once with Ray and Roy and got very confused. I think you could get away with something completely different like Philip and Peter but even so…, why complicate a story unnecessarily, unless of course the name confusion is part of the plot. Who is your first reader – who do you first show your work to?

Jeannie: Usually Tony, my husband, but he is not a critical reader as far as the nitty-gritty goes. He’s not a literature person. I do have several friends whose opinion I respect who I can call on.

Morgen: It’s so important to have someone and I really think unbiased is best (I’d a friend is more likely to be than a husband but it obviously depends on the people). Do you do a lot of editing or do you find that as time goes on your writing is more fully-formed?

Jeannie: I do a hell of a lot of editing. Too much maybe.

Morgen: If you’re redoing what you earlier undid then probably. What is your creative process like? What happens before sitting down to write?

Jeannie: I have a notebook full of ideas, some of which I use, some I don’t. I’m a bit like litmus paper, absorbing ideas from things around me, the media, dreams, people’s overheard conversations… A lot of things in my mind, but I do like to jot a few things down so that I remember them.

Morgen: Do you write (jot) on paper or do you prefer a computer?

Jeannie: Computer. Sometimes, I write things longhand first but I cannot find the right phrase until I’m sitting at the computer.

Morgen: That’s interesting, it’s funny how our minds work. What sort of music do you listen to when you write?

Jeannie: I prefer not to listen to music when I’m writing.

Morgen: I’m surprised how many interviewees have said that. I can do classical (Schubert’s on at the moment ) but word-packed music is a distraction). What point of view do you find most to your liking: first person or third person? Have you ever tried second person?

Jeannie: Depends what I’m writing. I find it easier to find the voice of the character when writing in the first person, but third person from one viewpoint is also useful. Changing viewpoint for each chapter, gives opportunity for irony without intrusive all-seeing omniscient narrator telling the reader what to think. I have tried second person, but only for short pieces. I think it might be tedious for a complete novel, but I may be wrong about that.

Morgen: I’ve got about a third of the way through Jay McInerney’s ‘Bright Lights, Big City’ and I’d agree with you but it’s rather a gritty story (although too slow for my liking) but I’ll keep going. I don’t think I’d write a novel in second pov but am planning an anthology of stories in it. Do you use prologues / epilogues? What do you think of the use of them?

Jeannie: I have used them but generally cut them because I have to learn to trust my reader.

Morgen: That’s interesting, I hadn’t thought of it like that. Do you have pieces of work that you think will never see light of day?

Jeannie: Definitely. They should be put in the bin.

Morgen: Oh dear, that bad? What’s your favourite / least favourite aspect of your writing life?

Jeannie: Favourite: Finding exactly the right final line. Least favourite: Back ache.

Morgen: I get sciatica so sympathise completely. If anything, what has been your biggest surprise about writing?

Jeannie: When the ideas that have been gestating begin to flow on the page and somehow you know it’s going to work.

Morgen: What advice would you give aspiring writers?

Jeannie: Keep at it. Write every day.

Morgen: Absolutely, practice makes published (well, often). What do you like to read?

Jeannie: Very wide range – from Jane Austen to Margaret Atwood, Thomas Hardy to Kashuo Ishiguro and Ian McEwan. Also Rose Tremain, Jonathan Franzen, Carol Ann Duffy, Jackie Kay, Elizabethan love poetry. I could go on for ever. Most important for me is the language used, story and plot less important. Theme important. I like psychological works. I also read history books and other non-fiction.

Morgen: You definitely sound as if you live and breathe writing; like me. Are there any writing-related websites and/or books that you find useful and would recommend?

Jeannie: Not really. I’m often disappointed. Maybe you could tell me some.

Morgen: Happy to. Stephen King’s ‘On Writing’ has been the most recommended book here (I have it but am yet to read it) and http://jbwb.co.uk and http://womagwriter.blogspot.com are sites I often visit. I’ve been recommended http://duotrope.com a couple of times recently. In which country are you based and do you find this a help or hindrance with letting people know about your work?

Jeannie: Spain. Gran Canaria. It could be a hindrance, but with the internet it’s not impossible and I´m only four hours from London.

Morgen: Exactly. I think it’s now very easy to just operate from a computer although writers conferences, lit fests etc are a great excuse to ‘get out’. Are you on any forums or networking sites? If so, how invaluable do you find them?

Jeannie: No, but I’d like to be.

Morgen: I’d recommend the writing groups on http://linkedin.com (except for the one I was denied entry to … naming no names) or there are the likes of Twitter and Facebook (I know you’re on the latter). I couldn’t find you on Twitter but it looks as if ‘jeannierompaey’ is free. One of my writer friends recommends http://writewords.org.uk which I’m yet to get on to (that’s a good reminder actually). Where can we find out about you and your work?

Jeannie: Difficult because I haven’t got a website yet. I’m still waiting for my big break and then we’ll see. I really should do something about this. Too busy writing. Life Drawing is available from http://lulu.com or Amazon etc.

Morgen: I have the opposite problem, if you can call it that, I’m involved with so many things that the writing takes a back seat (forthcoming meetings with my editor, Rachel, is a great motivation!). You could try a WordPress blog – it’s quick and free. OK, I’m biased I know. What do you think the future holds for a writer?

Jeannie: Lots of opportunities, online and there will always be books.

Morgen: I think there will be. Most people love ebooks but still hanker after pbooks; it’s just the convenience. Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

Jeannie: I used to run a creative writing group in Northampton at the University Centre, Nazareth House. I wondered if it’s the same group you’re connected with?

Morgen: Oh wow. It might have been in a former life? I started at Sally Spedding’s workshop group at the University of Leicester which I took over when she moved to Wales, and I also belong to Northampton Literature Group (who meet at the University of Northampton, the Park Campus) and Northampton Writers Group (who meet at the Quaker Meeting House – the home of the aforementioned H.E. Bates comp). Is there a question you’d like to ask me?

Jeannie: What is your next writing project and your plans for the future? What do you think of Literary Consultancies? Are they worth the money? Maybe we could meet one day when I come to England or you come to Gran Canaria. I think you could teach me a lot about internet opportunities.

Morgen: Ooh, great questions. Next main writing project is http://nanowrimo.org (50,000+ words in November) but I have lots of editing to do in the meantime of anthologies and novels to convert into novellas (removing the waffle in other words) so they can go to Rachel then out as eBooks. A couple of writing guides will be the first releases and they’re pretty much ready (woo hoo!).

I know a couple of people who have used literary consultants (rather than consultancies) with mixed results. I’d shop around as some will be better than others. Perhaps join LinkedIn or WriteWords (mentioned earlier) and have a chat with writers on the forums to see if there are some recommendations there. A writing group will give you great feedback but only a chunk per session, unless you join an online group where you share your work around. And there are sites like http://authonomy.com (Harper Collins’ slush pile) and http://youwriteon.com where you upload a chunk (10,000-15,000 words) and get feedback on it. This is time-consuming though as you have to read in order to be read. I’d love to meet up if you’re here, especially if you still have contacts here in Northampton… and an invitation to Gran Canaria… where did I put my passport? Happy to tell you what I know about internet opps. Just drop me an email and I’ll help where I can. In the meantime there’s a load of stuff on my http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/useful-info and http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/links pages. Finally, do you have some writing handy that you’d like to share?

Jeannie: I have a monologue…

Morgen: My favourite… right up there with second person.

Of course I believe you, darling. Mummy and I are both on your side. You know that. We’re your parents, for Christ’s sake. Whatever you decide is fine by us. No pressure. You’ve been hurt by this boy, physically and mentally. I understand that. I really do. It’s a terrible thing for him to have done. He’s a little shit. OK, a big shit. No doubt about it.  But there are one or two things I think you should consider before making the decision to report the – er – incident to the police. The boy absolutely denies he did anything wrong. He admits he may have been a little too – passionate – but said lots of girls like it rough. I know you said he wouldn’t take no for an answer and wouldn’t stop when you asked him to, and yes, I can see that your arms and thighs are covered with scratches, which proves you fought him off. But the thing is, it will be your word against his and his father can afford top lawyers…. Oh, and something else. Whatever made you wear that low cut T-shirt and very short skirt to the party?

Morgen: Thank you Jeannie.

Jeannie has an MA in Modern Literature from the University of Leicester (1994) and has had a varied career as an English and Drama lecturer, a freelance theatre director, actress, performance poet and drama adjudicator, the latter as Jeannie Russell GODA.  Now living in Gran Canaria with historian husband, Tony, apart from enjoying the climate, she writes novels, short stories, plays and poems, runs poetry evenings and a reading group. She and Tony also paint and have had several exhibitions. Novels:

Life Drawing, a tale of modern witchcraft and sibling jealousy, published by lulu.com

Maddy’s Last Dance, a black comedy about the thin line between life and theatre

Four Hours from London, about ex-pats on Gran Canaria

Gone, about the effect on the parents of their missing teenage children.

Her latest play, Gone, based on the novel, was performed in March 2011.

If you are reading this and you write, in whatever genre, and are thinking “ooh, I’d like to do this” then you can… just email me at morgen@morgenbailey.com and I’ll send you the questions. You complete them, I tweak them where appropriate (if necessary to reflect the blog ‘clean and light’ rating) and then they get posted. When that’s done, I email you with the link so you can share it with your corner of the literary world. And if you have a writing-related blog / podcast and would like to interview me… let me know.

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. … and follow me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/morgenwriteruk) where each new posting is automatically announced.

Unfortunately, as I post an interview a day I can’t review books but if you have a short story or self-contained novel extract/short chapter (ideally up to 1000 words) that you’d like critiqued and don’t mind me reading it/talking about it (I send you the transcription afterwards so you can use them or ignore them) on my ‘Bailey’s Writing Tips’ podcast – see http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/bwt-podcast – then do email me. I plan to do one a fortnight (my shows are usually Mondays) so it’ll be interweaving red pen and hints/tips episodes.

In the meantime, if you have a moment and like quite dark stuff then you can read one of my ditties at Nathan Weaver’s http://www.talesfrombabylon.com/2011/07/rogues-gallery-2-morgen-bailey.html. Thank you.