What a difference a win makes

I was browsing through some old copies of Writing Magazine recently (part of my ongoing clutter-clear burst!) and came across an article entitled, What a difference a win makes, dated 2004.

The magazine had followed up previous winners of some of their writing competitions to find out what had happened since their win. There were eight winners mentioned, and I was one of them, having won the Summer Ghost Short Story Competition in 2002.

The general consensus amongst the eight, was how much of a boost to a writer's self confidence it was to win a competition and how it inspired them to keep writing. So, with it being 10 years since the article, I began to wonder what the rest of the winners had been up to since the piece was published and set about googling the names...

Faye Robertson was one of the eight I contacted. She'd won an Adult Fairy Story competition which, she said in the article, had given her a marvellous boost to her career. Since her win she'd gone on to have three further competition successes and had short stories accepted in Woman's Weekly and People's Friend. Well, Faye certainly hasn't rested on her laurels! When I got in touch, she told me she'd had over 25 books published, some with digital first publishers, some indie published.

"I mainly write romance under the name Serenity Woods," she said. "I also write epic fantasy as Freya Robertson (via Angry Robot Books) and I won the NZ Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Novel earlier this year."

You can read more about Faye, who lives in New Zealand, on her Serenity Woods website, along with information about her books and her alter-ego, Freya Robertson, who she mentions above.

Another winner who's been writing furiously since, is Jo Franklin who'd had two winning stories published in Writing Magazine - Science Fiction and Crime. Jo has also been busy; writing short stories and articles, as well as novels, one of which, Cytherea's Island, is due out shortly. You can find the details of that and more, on her website.

As I was drafting this post, I learned of the death of David St John Thomas, the founder of Writers' News, from which Writing Magazine evolved. It was his vision to create a source of guidance, inspiration and support for those of us who wanted to travel the writing journey but didn't know where to start. Thousands of writers have benefited from both publications, learning about the craft of writing and connecting with others with similar aspirations.

Jo said that DSJT, as he was often referred, had been a source of inspiration to her ever since she won those two competitions.  She told me, "Over the years I have kept in touch with him, sending him some of my stories published in various women’s magazines and getting nice replies."

Faye summarised things nicely by saying, "I love Writing Magazine and definitely believe my successes there (I also won the Open Poetry Competition) gave me the courage & confidence to continue to submit."

I'll second that! Thank you, David. And thank you to all those who continue his legacy by producing a great magazine for the aspiring writer.

Nora Batty stockings and a dash to the altar

I've just finished reading Millions Like Us, by Virginia Nicholson, which chronicles the lives of women during WW2 (read my review here).

It's a fascinating account and the result of meticulous research. The women's recollections range from the horrific to the amusing and everything in between.

It's easy to understand the famous clamour for nylons with the arrival of the GIs, when you learn that the only alternative to silk stockings (which had become almost impossible to get hold of) were those made from cotton lisle, more suited to socks than stockings.

Not only were these less hard wearing than silk, not to mention ugly, (I suspect Nora Batty knew a thing or two about them), they were impractical too. Apparently, when washed they would take up to three days to dry!

On a more uplifting note, there's the lovely story of Eileen and her RAF fiancé Victor. It was the eve of their wedding day and Eileen had gone to meet Victor off the train at Kings Cross, only to find that all leave had been cancelled. She returned home distraught, convinced that the wedding would not now take place.

But her brother and Victor's we're not so easily deterred. They borrowed a van, hared off to Victor's RAF base in Cambridge and "kidnapped" him, returning to London at break-neck speed to meet Eileen at the church for the ceremony. Wedding completed and following a hasty toast to the happy
couple, they chased back to Cambridge and smuggled Victor back into his base before he was missed!

The heart warming end to the story is that Victor survived the war and the couple went on to enjoy 49 years of marriage.

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Written the novel - now for the blurb!

With the manuscript of the new Esme Quentin novel currently being copy-edited (exciting news of that coming soon!), I've been focusing on writing the blurb. Always a challenge!

The word 'blurb' is said to have originated in 1907 when a young lady, the fictitious Miss Belinda Blurb, was pictured on the dust jacket of a book at a publishing trade event, apparently shouting out the merits of the book. She was said to be 'blurbing'. The term stuck.

The trick with a book blurb, of course, is not to give too much away, while hooking the reader into the story.

A good blurb shouldn't be too long winded and should only offer a taster of the story, rather than a plateful.  There's nothing that turns me off more than a rambling summary of events in the first quarter of the book. And I lose the will to live if I'm not completely grabbed by the first sentence or two. 

While browsing my bookshelves for inspiration (something you can't easily do with a kindle, it has to be said!) I came across this example.

"What can you say about a 25 year old girl who died? That she was beautiful. And brilliant. That she loved Mozart and Bach. And the Beatles. And me." 

The blurb (and opening lines), of course, to Erich Segal's Love Story, published in 1970.

Segal had originally written it as a screenplay but it was rejected by the main studios as being too sentimental. It was suggested that Segal write it as a novel instead. It proved good advice. It spent a year in the New York Times' hardback bestseller list and sold tens of millions of copies, helped no doubt by the movie of the same name, which came out later that same year. 

The book is only 127 pages long. Erich Segal said of it, "The average person takes an hour and a half to read the book. The movie lasts longer." That can't happen often, if ever!

Love Story has a special place in my past reading list. It was the first book I ever read which made me cry. A lot.

To smile or not to smile, that is the question...

A recent article by Jill Dawson in The Author, raised the subject of the author photograph. Should an author take on a serious expression in order to present a "professional" image?

But it seems readers prefer their authors to appear "friendly" and therefore a smiling photograph is more fitting.

Being a writer of mystery/crime fiction, as opposed to romance or even light-hearted 'cozies', my inclination was towards a neutral expression, not one of me grinning from ear to ear. But when I went to have my author photo taken my husband and the photographer colluded in flattering me into agreeing to smile.

Now while engaged on social media sites, I cringe at seeing my smiling self looking back at me whenever I post a comment on Facebook or Twitter. And there are times when the Cheshire cat look is embarrassingly out of place, such as when posting a downbeat message or responding to sad or distressing news that a friend has posted on Facebook.

Perhaps, just as when Facebook gives a choice of thumbnail (or none) when sharing a link, they could devise a system where we could opt for our happy, sad or neutral selves to accompany our comments, as and when appropriate. Molly Mouse demonstrates below...

Standard pose

Serious pose

Sad pose

May Newsletter

Welcome!

The blog has been rather neglected of late while I've been in the deep dark tunnel of the "novel-edit zone". So now that I've escaped from there for a while, I thought I'd do a Newsletter-type post as a catch-up.

Port Quin

We've just spent a few days walking the spectacular cliffs of north Cornwall, while staying at a National Trust holiday property, Lacombe Cottage, in Port Quin. 


The area was used as a film location for the original BBC Poldark series.

With excitement mounting for the new BBC series, due to be screened next year, The Western Morning News reported disappointment that filming had started... in Wiltshire! 

But the producers insist that film crews will be arriving in Cornwall at some point in the near future. So will Port Quin feature, this time around, I wonder?

St Enodoc Church

To allow our legs to recover from the rigors of walking the South West Coast Path, the following day we took the more gentle stroll amongst the sand dunes at the end of Daymer Bay, near Polzeath, and visited the delightful church of St Enodoc, John Betjeman's final resting place.

The church sits in a 'trench' in the centre of its churchyard, which itself sits in the middle of St Enodoc Golf Course! From the 16th century until the 19th, the church was completely buried in sand, only accessible via a hole in the roof. The vicar and his parishioners would undertake this bizarre journey to ensure the church carried out its once-a-year service, which they were obliged to do to maintain the church tithes. It was finally dug out and the dunes stabilized in 1864.

Family History Secrets

On the blog at the moment is the story of my great-uncle Tom, Thomas Diggory, who fought at Gallipoli in WW1. His story must reflect that of many. Although he survived, the legacy of his participation lasted for the rest of his life. Read about it here.

Thomas Diggory of The 7th battalion, The Gloucester Regiment

Garden

The sunshine has brought on the garden flowers and we returned from our trip to find one of my favourite Oriental Poppies, Patty's Plum (bought in memory of my mum) had started its stunning display. Not much sunshine today but its beautiful subtle colour is still impressive.

The blue lupins are doing well and for some reason haven't succumbed to the aphids like the yellow version right next door to them. Obviously not as tasty!

We moved the Viburnum placatum last year so are delighted to see it has recovered nicely and is looking wonderful.

There's nothing quite like the froth of London Pride at this time of the year.

Currently reading

I'm about half way through Linda Gillard's latest novel, Cauldstane, the second of Linda's books I've read (the first being The House of Silence, which was excellent). The book's title is the name of a Scottish castle to which the protagonist Jenny Ryan is invited to interview the current owner, Sholto McNab, in preparation to be the ghost writer for his biography. McNab is a former adventurer with many travelling tales to tell but it's the mysterious history and dark secrets of the unlucky McNab family which force themselves upon Jenny in a way she could never have imagined, let alone believed. An intriguing and haunting story which I'm enjoying very much.

News

• Our local Art Exhibition is on over the bank holiday weekend, showcasing some amazing talent from the surrounding district. 
• My beta readers have been given their homework so I wait with baited breath (and not a little nervousness) as to their feedback on my latest Esme Quentin novel. More details to follow... so long as they like it!
• The refurbished Exeter Library opens on Thursday of this week, after a £4.1 million face-lift.

Respect the Writer

Tonight (Wednesday) sees the final installment of the current Line of Duty story. It's been an excellent series and one of its many strengths is that each episode has ended on a gripping cliff-hanger. But, even more commendable, there have been NO irritating "next time...." trailers shoe-horned in before the credits. 

Sadly such restraint is rare on TV these days because the "they" (producers? directors? programme controllers? who?) seem unable to appreciate the power of the cliff-hanger to create tension and anticipation, further amplified by having to wait a week to find out what happens. Not only is the "next time" trailer unnecessary it's detrimental, as it immediately releases the suspense the writer has worked so hard to achieve. 

Please, please, please, whoever you are, learn a few basic lessons about suspense from the master,  Alfred Hitchcock: "There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it."

And for pity's sake, have some faith! If the writing is good enough, the audience WILL return to watch the next episode. 

Engaging Write Brain

I've been putting the title of this blog and post into full operation over the past few weeks. Having completed one draft of my current novel, the usual has happened. I suddenly decided there was a different, and better, order of the final scenes at the end of the novel.

So it was back to the index cards and pencil to re-jig things. And, recalling my O-level Physics - every action has an equal and opposite reaction - I've then had to deal with the knock-on effects of each of the changes. Phew! Spinning plates doesn't even start to cover it.

But now it's done. Next stop - print out again and read through, red pen in hand!

So while I let things settle in my head before I do that, I thought I'd update the blog.


In January I took part in the SilverWood Books Open Day in Foyles Bookshop, Bristol. Having only 'met' many of the SilverWood authors online, it was good to meet them in the flesh. The talks were very informative and lots of interested members of the public came along to listen and learn.

The SilverWood authors.
The debate's still on as to the correct group term:
a scribble? an anthology? a binding?

Some of us read short passages from our books.

There have been some very nice reviews posted on the internet recently which you can read about on my website here. It's heart warming and exciting to read a good review of a book you've sweated blood and tears to write, so thank you all those who have taken the trouble to read Blood-Tied and share your thoughts. In many ways, to read such enthusiastic reviews helps and encourages the writing of the next novel but it also piles on the pressure to make sure the standard is kept high! Which is good in the long run, I guess...

I've also been busy digging in the online archives for a few more stories for my other blog - familyhistorysecrets. If you haven't had a look-see recently, there's the latest revelations of the black sheep of the family, Edward Henry Coules Colley.

Ah, well - back to the coal face! Which reminds me... I've just discovered a coal miner ancestor in Shropshire I need to investigate...