Authors Electric

  Scrolling through my phone this morning I saw the quote that inspired this blog. Not realising it at the time I got up and went to do something else at which point what I wanted to write was fully formed but there was no way I could find the exact quote I wanted to use. So instead of a few pithy words I am ambling through this long introduction, which is a little ironic as I want to write about how the small things in life are the ones that can bring joy. This is especially true when it comes to evaluating success. I don’t make a living out of my writing. I’m not sure if I even cover the costs on some of my books, nor am I well known for what I do. I can’t say therefore if being in the best seller list would make me any happier than I am. Initially I suspect there would be a moment of euphoria, a sense of achievement at having finally been validated by the rest of the world. But how long would that last? In the event, this is a question I will never have to answer. What I do ...

  Welcome to the year of the Dragon. Here’s hoping that for all of us it will be a happy and productive one. I don’t know why but dragons have always held a fascination for me. One of the first stories I ever made up was about a dragon called Roostance who lived under my bed.   Roostance was fat and did all sorts of things he shouldn’t while his sister, or was she his friend, who lived under my sister’s bed, was a much better behaved creature. Anuk listened to these stories when we were both supposed to be asleep and much later she drew me a sketch of a happy little green dragon which I have on the wall of my office. Dragons also play a part in The Adventures of Letty Parker. During the day they masquerade as downspouts and door knockers but at night they take wing and fly through the city in search of dark deeds which they will relay to the gargoyles squatting on the roofs. Then of course there are the Dragonfire books. The first ones I self-published and in which all...

  October is a month for sprits, ghosts, phantoms, ghouls and witches. This October for me is also the time for an angel – the Ice Angel to be precise. She is one of the characters in the eponymous final story of my series of children’s books “The Adventures of Letty Parker.”   Set in an alternative Victorian Bristol, Letty and her Associates solve mysteries and seek the missing, but this time Letty must travel out of the city where she has contacts and support and into the Land of Ice where she will have to face her angelic opponent on her own. Stories, like books, start with a seed of inspiration, or an idea which grows into a final product. Unlike fruit, however, books don’t grow by themselves, they need beta-readers and editors and proof-readers and in my case someone to format the publishable copy. A writing group that gives feedback and support is invaluable and if you’re very lucky, like I am, there is also an artist who has produced the picture for the cover and th...

  I’m a great one for mislaying my mobile, which set me musing recently about our attitude to our phones. Some time ago I was faced with the prospect of having to go into town  WITHOUT MY PHONE as Mike was expecting a call from the clinic and they had my mobile number not his. The horror of this situation did not bear thinking about, so plan B had to be put into action: i.e. I would have his phone and he would have mine, so any emergency I might have to deal with on a fifteen minute walk to the library could be coped with. If this all sounds somewhat over dramatic, it shows how reliant we are on these devices.   Years ago, you went shopping, or out for the day, or even away for a weekend, or on holiday, without feeling the need to have the means of instant communication at your fingertips. Of course there were times when being able to summon help was useful. I remember coming back from swimming one evening with my three kids in the car and having a puncture on a l...

  This month I will finishing “The Ice Angel” the last book in my series “The Adventures of Letty Parker.” Aimed at readers between 8-12 and set in an alternative Victorian England, the stories were originally intended to be a trilogy. As time went by and I became more and more absorbed in the world I had created , Letty and her Associates ended up having so many cases to solve and missing persons to find that what should have been three books became six. I have, however, finally come to the end. Right from the very start I had decided that there was a point at which I was going to stop and that was when Letty got to the age when she would fall in love. I didn’t want to write romance, but I knew that my readers would want to know what happened on an emotional level to Letty and her friends in their future and as the books went on I seeded enough hints as to who would eventually end up with who without specifically saying so. In “The Ice Angel” some narrative threads come to an ...

  It was a notice on Facebook that spiked my interest. There was to be a demonstration by a medium at the local Spiritualist Church in aid of charity. At first I thought this was going to support the Pensioners’ Club but apparently it was for the upkeep of the building itself. Even so I could see this was a good cause and since I had never attended anything like this and I find the whole idea of an afterlife intriguing, I decided that I would give it a go. Those of you that have read my books, “House of Shadows” and “Belvedere Crescent” will know that ghosts and the supernatural are a recurring theme. Whether I can truly say I believe or not, I am not sure. All I know is that I find the concept of a world beyond our understanding fascinating. I am convinced that there are people who do have genuine glimpses of what will happen in the future. There are others who know when someone is coming to visit, or who is on the other end of the phone. I also believe that children can see and...

  When I have a commission or a project, I like to finish it way before the deadline. Last minute spurts of writing are not for me, so it’s somewhat ironic that this month’s blog is being written so late in the day. It’s not what I planned, but family visits, a birthday treat, a phone call from a friend who needed a little TLC have left me with less time than I thought. Time, however, is something I have been thinking about over the past few days. My musing began when I realised that having arrived in April, a quarter of the year has gone and most of it has passed in a blur. This is not because I have been idle. Far from it. “Yet More Adventures of Poppy and Amelia” book 3 of the series I am writing with my granddaughter is now out.   I have an adult novel almost ready to go and am editing the sixth and last of the Adventures of Letty Parker.   Having said that, I’ve not spent every day writing. There has been lots of domestic, medical and family stuff going on too,...

  Book launches scare me, I have to confess. I’ve done a couple for my own books. One I had at home, inviting friends and neighbours for wine and cake and suggesting, as tactfully as possible, that if they would like to buy a copy of my new book … Needless to say, everyone bought a copy of “ House of Shadows ” which should have left me feeling elated, but being me, I started to worry if they had felt obliged. Once the guilt kicked in, it was hard to convince myself to repeat the process even though in financial terms it had been very successful. Each time I’ve had a new book coming out, I’ve thought about doing it again and each time I’ve shied away from the idea. I suppose it’s all part of my writer’s fear of being rejected, which to a certain extent is compounded by being Indie published. Not that I want to change that though I suspect that the validation of traditional publishing would give me the confidence to host another launch. The crazy part of all this is that when...

  Once upon a time, everyone came to us for Christmas, the kids and their partners, their half-brother, my ex-husband, his wife, my sister and brother-in-law. It might have meant eating on our laps but we opened the doors between the sitting and dining rooms and squeezed everyone on in. It was great, everyone brought a contribution to the meal so there was no panic about getting it all ready and we ate and drank and once or twice even made it to the mid-night service. Then the kids grew up and had their kids and their own houses and our roles changed. Instead of being hosts, we were guests. For the first few years this felt strange and a little sad, then gradually I became aware of the advantages. I was no longer the one who organised everything, nor did I have to worry about cleaning the house, or making sure there was enough cutlery, crockery, crackers and paper napkins. This year will be different again. It will be just the two of us. Mike is having a hip operation in Ja...

  What is it about dragons that fascinates and sparks the imagination? These mythical reptiles are found in cultures as diverse as those in China and the UK. They are the staple of story and legend and their presence can be found in the most unlikely places. It is the prevalence of dragon imagery that sparked off one of the threads that runs throughout “The Adventures of Letty Parker”, my series of children’s books set in an alternative Victorian world. In my Bristol, dragons are to be found on roofs, on the top of drainpipes, as sculptures and door knockers. During the day, they are inanimate, at night they fly over the city searching out dark deeds of “’napping, slitting and robbing” and reporting their findings to the gargoyles that await their news. I’ve always had a thing about dragons. When I was a kid I had to share a bedroom with my sister and at night I would tell her stories about Roostance, the dragon that lived under my bed. One of the first plays I wrote was “B...

Not I hasten to say the author’s voice. At least I hope not. What I’m referring to is the Word programme that reads back your work. For someone like me who types, writes and thinks fast making use of the boring voice is a vital part of the editing process of my newest book, “A Gathering of Gargoyles.” As she reads on in her monotonous way I can pick up where I have missed out an “a” “to” or “the” and even the odd verb or two. Checking for this on screen, or even on paper, the mind reads in the absent word and I suspect that most readers would do the same. Which makes me wonder whether subjecting myself to the boring voice is really necessary. Except of course it is as the thought of publishing a book I know to be less than perfect in this respect is not something I could contemplate. The trouble is that it takes so much time and it is easy to let the mind wander. I have done a whole chapter only to realise I haven’t really listened and have to go back to the beginning. The soluti...

  Sometimes when the writing is going very slowly, or the marketing has ground to a halt meeting up with a fellow writer can be a necessary spur to action. Before the pandemic Jan and I used to go out for a coffee every week where we would discuss our work in progress, or bemoan our lack of progress and share hint on how to extricate ourselves out of the mire of procrastination or self-doubt. We also considered setting up a regular writing slot, perhaps once a month,   where we got together with other writers,   to write and then to give each other feedback. Although in principal it sounded like a good idea there must have been some reluctance on both our parts because it never happened. Then came the pandemic and everything changed. Locked down, Jan and I discovered Facebook video calls. The writing group I go to went on line and I began to Zoom or FaceTime regularly with friends. So when I found that Kris Johnson runs a lunchtime write in in the Mslexia Salon each M...

  It’s a strange experience having a book on a longlist. It’s never happened to me before and now suddenly two of my books are awaiting a decision. The first is “Vladimir the Vampire’s Cat” a children’s book which I entered some months ago for Writing Magazine’s Chapter Book Prize. “Vladimir” is something I’ve been working on literally for decades. I began in the 1980s and it has gone through endless incarnations since then. Last year however I decided that I was going to work on the final version. Whatever shape it ended up in, whether as a short story, a picture book, or something longer that was going to be it. The decision having been made, it didn’t take long to do. Years of reading to grandchildren gave me a feel of how it should be, plus constructive feedback from Renegade Writers, and I finally could type THE END. When it was done, I had to make up my mind what to do with it. After sending off the first chapter an agent wanted to see the full ms. When that came back wit...

  Whenever I am asked for tips for new writers one I always give is to join a writing group. I then go on to say that you must choose your group carefully, for if you want to benefit from the comments of other writers there are certain points to be considered. Firstly, are you looking for critical feedback or for approbation and encouragement? The two things are not mutually exclusive, but there are some groups where the first is singularly lacking and, pleasant though it is to read out your work and be told it is really good, if you want to improve and move forward, unalloyed praise is not very helpful. Secondly, your group needs writers with experience and a track record of success. I don’t mean they have to be best sellers or traditionally published but they should be people who know what they are talking about and whose work you respect, for if they are not you won’t value their advice. Thirdly, are the members of the group going to be kind, supportive and encouraging? If...

  When it comes to writing a novel, I’m a planner not a pantster. Once I’ve got an idea, I can sit down and do a chapter by chapter synopsis. This isn’t necessarily the final version but it is more or less the shape the book will take. From then on it’s fairly straightforward. I sit down, I write and, when I have finished, I edit. The editing might involve a little re-structuring but it general this is fairly minor. That’s how I usually do it. With my current WIP the whole process is more like wrestling with an octopus.   There are so many tentacles to drag me down and when I escape from one, another is waiting to twist and tangle my thoughts. I have a basic narrative. I have characters that I'm growing to know and mostly to like, but it wasn't coming together and after 40,000 words I was at the point of giving up when I posted my dilemma on various writers’ forums and on Twitter. Fellow writers were quick to help. Some people suggested putting the m/s away for a while and...

  Cleanliness is next to Creativity For the whole of the past week I’ve been suffering from blog block. It’s a phenomenon which causes a complete inability to begin writing a blog. It’s not that I don’t have any ideas. I do, I have lots to say about the intended topic, but what I can’t manage is to construct the opening sentence and without it the words don’t flow. I have tried just writing, something, anything, but what I’ve achieved is so clunky that I can’t get any further. When that happens, one of my go to remedies is to take a walk. The rhythm of taking one step after another often frees my brain. Mostly. This week the blockage refused to shift. What makes it worse is that I have set myself a deadline and I’m not good at working like that. Having to throw something together at the last moment doesn’t do it for me. I like to plan, to give myself time. The moment I feel a piece has to be written, my creativity shuts down. I shouldn’t have put the pressure on myself, b...

  A “Midsummer Night’s Dream” is my favourite Shakespeare Play, I’ve acted in it, produced and directed it and seen countless versions on stage and screen. One of the many things I love about it is the play the mechanicals put on for Theseus and Hippolyta’s wedding feast. I still laugh at “The Lamentable Tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe”− especially the scene with the Wall. The humour may be slapstick, but there is an element of satire too. Shakespeare is gently mocking fellow actors and their need to be centre stage. When Quince casts Bottom the Weaver as Pyramus, Bottom is, at first, delighted to be given the lead role, but as each new part comes up he thinks he’d like to give that one a try too “An I may hide my face, let me play Thisby too, I'll speak in a monstrous little voice. 'Thisne, Thisne;' 'Ah, Pyramus, lover dear! thy Thisby dear, and lady dear!' ” Or “Let me play the lion too: I will roar, that I will do any man's heart good to hear me; I ...

  Cover detail by Michael Walters Years ago I was featured in an article in “Writing Magazine” which took writers who were looking to be published and analysed the steps they were taking towards their goal. At the time I was writing a play, while simultaneously working on a novel and mulling over the idea for a children’s book. The play was to be performed at the school where I was a drama teacher, the novel would be sent out to a list of agents and in the meantime I would begin the children’s book. The feedback when it came was not encouraging. Although I was commended for working hard it seemed that if I wanted to make it in the publishing world I needed to concentrate on one thing and one genre at a time. That way I could put the maximum effort into succeeding as a playwright, novelist, or children’s author.   I probably should have taken the advice, but over the years I’ve come to accept that this is my approach to writing and that having a number of projects on the go...

    One of the great mysteries of the universe is how meringues came into being. I understand about toast-bread getting burned on the fire-and about stew-throwing vegetables into the cooking pot to bulk up the meat, or simply to avoid having to cook them separately. Custards and sauces make sense too. I can imagine cooks experimenting with milk, eggs and cream or adding flour to a runny sauce to stop it dripping off the plate, but who on earth decided to separate an egg and then whip up the white with sugar and vanilla? Whoever it was, I am eternally grateful, as meringue is one of my fail safe and most popular desserts. Apart from the classic Pavlova with cream and strawberries, I do one with banana and stem ginger, a plain coffee meringue, one with whisky flavoured cream, another with summer berries and am about to try out a chocolate version. In fact the list of fruit or flavours is vast and it’s fun to experiment. Once you’ve got the basic technique sorted, it’s easy...

What do you do when you finish a book? When the final edit has gone to the publisher, or you’ve pressed the publish button and it’s live on Kindle do you take a break, or immediately start to write the next one? Some writers take time off to recuperate, or to plan, or research their next novel. Lee Childs famously starts to write each Jack Reacher book on September 1 st , the anniversary of being made redundant, and aims to finish in six months, leaving the rest of the year free. For Susanna Clarke there were sixteen years between her debut, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and Piranisi which was published in 2020. Years she spent planning and writing. Lee Childs never plans. He simply sits down and starts writing. Other writers, especially those writing historical fiction, use the time to research the background for their next novel. As for me, much as I like the idea of taking time off, I find that it never works out that way. It is as if the stories are lining up waiting to be told...