The Write Stuff with... Elaine Everest

Today it's my pleasure to welcome Elaine Everest to the blog to talk about the challenges when writing a series as part of the blog tour for her latest book The Teashop Girls at War. 

In some ways writing a standalone novel as opposed to a series is no different as the author should still aim to be as meticulous in their research and storytelling. However, once a series is agreed with our publisher.

Characters ages: 
Our characters will grow older especially if a series runs over a number of years. In my Woolworths Girls series, I have just completed a book set in 1953, that is sixteen years since Sarah, Maisie and Freda first met. In that time, they have married, had children, experienced life which can affect the way they look at life. No one stays the same. Keep these details with a file for each character.

Children 
Our girls will have families, which affects their working life and can be a problem for the author who must stay focused on their workplace. Women who are childless must seek war work which is an obstacle when I need them to be working in Woolworths or Lyons Teashops. I’m currently writing the twelfth Woolworths book and there have been a fair number of children appear, both adopted and born. As they get older, they are demanding their own storylines!

The Write Stuff with... Michele Gorman

As you may have noticed there hasn't been as much guest content on the blog this year which is due to a number of factors that have affected my energy levels so when romcom author Michele Gorman contacted me to ask if I'd like to host this post from her about a new direction for her, I didn't hesitate to say yes.

When we went into lockdown in early 2020, I never imagined it would set me off on a whole new path. But that’s what happened. 

It’s fair to say that my husband (HB) and I found ourselves with a lot of time on our hands. A Lot of Time together. Just us, all day, every day. 

I started to occupy myself with crafty projects. I taught myself visible mending, darning all the socks and jumpers in the house (even those without holes). HB and I bought sewing machines and stitched reusable all-cotton face masks, which became a healthy business for us. I even took up The Great Big Art Exhibition Challenge, making animals out of felt and rendering HB’s portrait from used coffee bags.

Meanwhile, my latest novel, The Staycation, published into the strongest headwinds of my career. In June 2020 the bookshops were closed, the supermarkets cleared their shelves to make room for essentials and there was no foot traffic at the airports to peruse WHSmith. 

The Write Stuff with... M W Arnold

It's my pleasure to welcome author M W Arnold to the blog today to kick off his publication day celebrations for I'll Be Home for Christmas, book 3 in his Broken Wings series. Over to you Mick.

Question to all those authors out there – have you ever fallen in love with your characters, from the first moment you began to create them?

I’d written a few books before the idea for the first in the series, ‘A Wing and a Prayer’, came along and I’d liked my characters, really liked them, but along came the girls and it was like being hit by a fork of lightning. So the question I asked myself was, why? I think a lot is to do with the fact the period they’re set in is one I’ve always been very interested in. The subject of World History was my favourite and best subject at school, probably because a lot of it was to do with the military.

Research is a big part of writing and with that book, my first historical saga, I immersed myself in it so much that the characters seemed to jump out of my head and onto the page. Reading up on the adventures of the real-life Air Transport Auxiliary pilots inspired my imagination, there’s no two ways to say it. I mean, can you imagine setting out to deliver a plane with no radio, no weaponry and therefore no way to defend yourself, in the middle of a vicious world war. Of course not, but that’s exactly what went on every day, in every weather; there was no other choice and without the gallantry of the women (and men, of course) who performed this arduous yet vital task, the war in the air would have been a lot harder to win.

I’m very proud to have created a diverse cast of characters, including my favourite creation, Doris Winter from New York, USA. She’s fun, brash, yet with a serious side and a dedication to her work which is second to none. Her main fault? A possible addiction to fish ‘n’ chips. Now, before you say hey, the Air Transport Auxiliary was a British institution, it was, but there were non-British personnel, including Americans. So why would I put an American in a British unit? Well, without giving much about the first book away, she needed to get away from a bad situation she found herself in back home and the ATA’s American equivalent, the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (known as the WASPs) were not known for how well they treated their female pilots, something which Doris knew.

The Write Stuff with... Victoria Walters

You may have noticed that the blog has been a little quiet of late as I've been struggling with a few things that have seriously affected my energy levels and in turn my reading mojo. Thankfully things look to be sorting themselves out and I'll hopefully have a few reviews to share soon but in the meantime I put a shout out on Twitter offering authors the chance to host some guest features on the blog. 

Today it's my pleasure to kick off the latest features with a guest post from Victoria Walters, who I first met 5 years ago, to talk about some of her favourite cosy mysteries.

The best cosy mystery books to curl up with this autumn 

I love reading cosy mystery novels, and watching cosy crime on the TV, so much so I decided to write my own! Thank you, Sharon, for inviting me on to your blog to share my favourite mysteries that you can curl up with and get cosy reading this autumn….

The Thursday Murder Club

I think everyone has heard of Richard Osman’s debut novel! It’s a fun mystery about four friends living in a retirement village who meet weekly to discuss unsolved murders, and then one happens on their doorstep! Quirky and charming, it’s been a huge hit and I think the rest of the series will be too. 

And Then There Were None

No cosy mystery list is complete without Agatha Christie, aka the queen of crime! This is an ingenious standalone mystery about ten strangers invited to an isolated island in 1939. And one by one they are murdered! I definitely didn’t see the twist ending coming and it really has a creepy atmosphere so it's perfect for Halloween reading. 

The Write Stuff with... Abbie Greaves

It's day 2 of The Ends of the Earth blog tour and it's my pleasure to welcome author Abbie Greaves to the blog to talk about some of her recommended reads that have a similar theme or connection to her books and writing.  

© Charlotte Knee Photography

Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane

Mental health is a theme that has run throughout both my novels, my debut, The Silent Treatment, and my latest, The Ends of the Earth. I am a huge fan of the way that Mary Beth Keane approaches the subject in her work - with nuance and sensitivity but most of all: compassion. This story of two ordinary families torn apart by a tragedy that will define their lives for decades is one of the most memorable novels I have ever read.

The Last Migration by Charlotte McConaghy 

This novel has the most phenomenal sense of place. As the protagonist, Franny Stone, follows the Arctic terns on what might be their last migration to Antarctica, we see her grow within herself too. In The Ends of the Earth, I was keen to track a similar path between mental and physical transformation, using a range of locations. After a year of seeing the same four walls, I hope that readers will enjoy the escapism!

The Write Stuff with... Bill Arnott

One of the things I have enjoyed most since setting up the blog is chatting to and getting to know more about authors. Last year I hosted a Q&A with Canadian author Bill Arnott which you can read here and today's it's my pleasure to welcome Bill back to the blog.

I knew I was a writer …

… around the time I signed my first book. The purchaser, someone I’d known for years, looked at me with excitement I’d never seen on them prior to the publication of my modest trade paperback – a book on personal development, what we labeled self-help in the day. It became a national bestseller. Fifteen years later people still buy copies and seem to enjoy them. Authors I admire say kind things about it. A number who gave glowing reviews actually read the book. From the proceeds I sent cheques to Make-a-Wish Foundation of Canada, granting wishes to children with life threatening illness. The whole experience was quite remarkable.

The Write Stuff with... Della Galton

Today it's my pleasure to welcome Della Galton, whose latest book Moonlight over Studland Bay was published last month, to the blog to talk about her alternative Christmas last year.  Welcome Della.

A motorhome, an odd dinner and a dog field – our alternative Christmas

I write novels with quirky characters because I’m quite quirky myself – write what you know LOL – but should Christmas arise in my novels, my characters invariably have quite traditional Christmases. Whereas I do not.

Last year my partner and I headed off to Cornwall in our motorhome on Christmas Day with our three dogs – two terriers and a staffie cross.  It’s a very large motorhome!  We had Christmas lunch parked in a layby on Bodmin Moor. More precisely we had part of our Christmas lunch as I’d got the timings wrong. More of that later.

We’d also booked a dog field for 12.00 midday – so the dogs could have a good run around and be tired while we ate dinner – and the same dog field at 3.00 pm for a repeat performance.

We arrived at the dog field at midday – surprisingly it was fully booked and we waited for a guy who looked just like Robbie Williams to come out with his two German Shepherd dogs. Maybe it was Robbie. Maybe he was having an alternative Christmas too! 

Dog fields by the way are big fenced fields you can hire by the half hour or hour where dogs can run freely. One of our terriers spent the whole hour trying to escape! 

Festive Edition: The Write Stuff with... Tracy Baines

Today it's my pleasure to welcome author Tracy Baines back to the blog to talk about writing a Christmas themed book in the middle of Summer, over to you Tracy.  

My kids might call me the Grinch from time to time. I do not embrace Christmas – until it’s Christmas. To me that occurs sometime around the 20th December and lasts until Boxing Day. I shudder when I see tins of Quality Street in the supermarket at the end of August, despair when the Christmas jingles are played in November. The reason it all ends on Boxing Day (for me) is because that’s the back to work day for those working in pantomimes. Christmas seemed all the more precious when you knew you had to be on the road again on Boxing Day morning. The theatre would be full of families who were in the very best of moods, full of food and fun. A time filled with joy and excitement – and laughter, lots and lots of laughter.

Christmas with the Variety Girls features a pantomime – because when you are in variety theatre Christmas is panto time. As this is the second book featuring the Variety Girls I already had my cast – I just needed to choose a panto.

The Write Stuff with... M Jonathan Lee

It's publication day for M Jonathan Lee's latest book 337 and it's my pleasure to welcome him to the blog to talk about writing.

*TRIGGER WARNING* reference to suicide 

In conclusion, life can be weird so why can’t stories be weirder?

I first got into writing when I was at school, aged 11. For an English class, I’d written an adventure story where an explorer had to find his way through a jungle to find his friend. On the last page, a pygmy hidden in the trees shoots a blow-dart at him and he dies. When my teacher read it, she went ballistic telling me that I couldn’t just kill off the lead character! From that moment on, I knew that that was exactly what I wanted to do: write books that broke the rules. 

I wrote The Radio to do just that. After my brother committed suicide, it seemed more important than ever to do everything I said I would and it felt easier to express how I felt by fictionalising it. I thought that if I could write it down, in years to come, my friends or family would have my book as a sort of legacy. Everything in the book regarding the deceased son, right up to him jumping off the top of the multi-storey car park, is all entirely true. I find inspiration everywhere. 

Fascinated by the human condition and the reasons people behave the way they do, I do find ideas for books everywhere. For example with A Tiny Feeling of Fear, my third book, the twist was inspired by an event in my own life. I was literally living the life of going to work in an office each day and pretending to be fine to then coming home and having the worst time. I realised that my work-self and home-self may as well have been different people with the same name and then when I went to a work presentation and the presenter was called also Jonathan Lee, I thought it wouldn’t be that weird to have it happen in a book. 

The Write Stuff with... Helen Matthews

Today it's my pleasure to welcome author Helen Matthews to the blog to join in the publication day celebrations of her latest book Facade.

Lessons from Lockdown: to Zoom or not to Zoom

I’m writing this piece some weeks before it’s due to appear on Sharon’s blog and the UK is emerging from the strictest part of lockdown. For a while now, we’ve been going back outside, blinking in the light. It’s my fervent hope that there won’t be a second spike and, when you read this, we’ll be beating a path back to normality and rebuilding our shattered economy.

But let’s wind back time to 23rd March when the country went into lockdown. As I recall, we spent the first few days in a state of collective shell shock. Would flour and fresh vegetables ever reappear on the supermarket shelves? How would we cope without loo paper? We reached out to friends and family in long phone calls and emails, knowing it might be months before we could meet in real life.

Being human, we needed a visual connection. Groping our way from isolation, we tried Facetime, WhatsApp video and Skype. A friend, who has been studying for an online degree, told us about Zoom. Her university had been using it for tutorials and seminars. We decided to give it a go. I like to think we were early adopters. I’ve been zooming ever since.

Those early days of Zoom were pure chaos. Comedian, Michael McIntyre posted a clip of zoomers looking smart above the waist while wearing baggy boxers on their nether regions. He mentioned how every conversation started with: ‘Can you hear me? Turn your microphone on? It’s in the bottom left hand corner,’ and managed to make it sound funny. It wasn’t.

The Write Stuff with... Michelle Kidd

Today it's my pleasure to hand the reins of the blog over to author Michelle Kidd to talk about how she managed to complete her third novel ahead of schedule during lockdown.

On 23rd March 2020, life as we knew it in the UK changed. Suddenly we were thrust into the unknown. An invisible enemy was amongst us. And for most of us, this was a totally unique experience. We had not lived through anything like it before. 

As a full time NHS worker, life altered in ways that no one could have foreseen. Suddenly, my local hospital was no longer full of patients and visitors; instead the corridors were eerily empty, taking on the feel of a ghost town. Anybody you did see was dressed head to toe in protective equipment. It was very shocking and very surreal – almost like a scene from a supernatural thriller or a disaster movie. 

As a writer, I wasn’t quite sure how lockdown would affect me and, more importantly, my writing. I was still going to be working full time with the day job – and as for the writing? Well, we’re a pretty solitary bunch at the best of times, so how would it affect me? What would it mean for my creativity? Would I be able to string a sentence together? Or would I struggle?

I was fortunate enough to work from home for most of the time, so I found myself juggling an eight hour working day plus trying to finish my third novel. I had a tentative publication date in mind of December 2020/January 2021 – but was I going to make it in these unprecedented times?

The Write Stuff with... Jeff Pollak

Today it's my pleasure to hand the reins of the blog over to author Jeff Pollak whose debut novel First Second Coming is published tomorrow.

What a Wild Ride

Born and raised in New York City, I’d visited the World Trade Center a few times. Later on, as a partner in a Los Angeles law firm, I attended annual seminars my firm put on there each spring.  Clients of mine worked in that building, some of whom didn’t survive.

Safe at home in Southern California, I watched the tragedy unfold. A deadline I had to meet required my presence downtown, so after two hours of sadness and outrage I drove to my office to do some work.

On the way, the L.A. police chief came on the radio to urge everyone who worked downtown to stay away. The concern was that a plane might smash into one of L.A.’s skyscrapers. Although I was only a mile away from the office, I dutifully turned my car around and headed home. That’s when this thought popped into my head: “Our world needs a new god who’s a planetary turnaround specialist.”

Even today, I don’t know where that idea came from. Religion and I parted ways in my childhood. Although I know what a corporate turnaround specialist is, a planetary one wasn’t something my practical-minded sensibility would conjure up. Nonetheless, the concept of a planetary turnaround specialist replacing Earth’s god took root somewhere in the deeper recesses of my brain. Over the ensuing years I must’ve subconsciously fleshed out that story seed. By 2014, when it dawned on me that retirement was no longer far off, I decided to try my hand at writing fiction.

The Write Stuff with... Renny deGroot

Today it's my pleasure to welcome author Renny deGroot back to the blog to talk about Marketing, the Indie Author way.

“We are at the tipping point where the majority of writers will want to indie publish, not get a traditional publishing deal.”

Laurence O’Bryan    
Founder BooksGoSocial & The International Dublin Writers’ Festival, 20 July 2020

As an indie author, I’m responsible for the whole process of writing, publishing and promoting my book. I love the control I have over the end product but it is a lot of work.  You know what that’s like. The fun part is the writing. I get absorbed into the story and laugh and cry along with my characters. The editing is less fun. First a couple of rounds of self-edit, then working with a professional editor and then another round or two with a proof-reader. It’s fun again seeing what the cover artist comes up with and then – oh joy – it’s done and ‘out there’. Now what? How to get it into the hands of readers is the biggest challenge of all.

In today’s world, social media and digital marketing is such a key piece in the overall promotion plan. I’ve tried most of the current methods. I’ve written blog posts on my blog and as a guest for others (thank you Sharon for this opportunity!). I’ve tweeted and I’ve used the services of an agency that blasts out thousands of tweets. I’ve shamelessly (or perhaps in fact a little shamefully) used facebook and I’ve even opened an Instagram account, but how the daily blocking of dodgy fellows wanting to send me messages actually helps me is still a mystery.

The Write Stuff with... M. J. Mallon

Thank you for the opportunity to talk about This Is Lockdown on your blog, Sharon.

This Is Lockdown is a compilation/anthology of twenty-nine authors, bloggers and creatives from the UK, US, Australia, Zimbabwe and Italy.

How did it come about?

I’d started writing my COVID diaries and asked fellow authors to answer this question:

How do writers, creatives, artists and bookish souls cope with isolation? Is their capacity to cope different from the rest of the population? It’s an interesting question and one that fascinates me.

I featured many authors on my blog, and these ‘isolation writers,’ contributed their pieces to the anthology.

So, encouraged by this, I kept on writing short stories, flash fiction and poetry. I compiled these pieces of writing and photographs from my walks in This Is Lockdown and included the ‘isolation writers’ and several other pieces and poetry from authors and bloggers.

Here’s one of the excerpts:

It’s a poem from author Adele Marie Park:

World End

Rain falls on parched empty streets,

A child’s face framed by a window, eyes watch,

No school today no chance of play either,

A frown creases an unlined brow,

Not understanding, but sensing echoes of adult fear,

Something is very wrong in this new world,

The grown ups cry and they shout,

She turns away from the grey wet streets,

And wishes and wishes for the old world again.

© Adele Marie Park

The Write Stuff with... Lynne Milford

Today it's my pleasure to welcome author Lynne (LM) Milford back to the blog to talk about her latest book A Deadly Truth which was published this weekend.

Writers often get asked where they get their ideas from and one of the answers I would usually give is stories in the news.

There are acres of ideas to be found in the news, even without looking very hard.

This one came from a story many years ago in which a young man was found dead in his flat, supposedly entirely alone. But there were several other mysterious elements – which I won’t go into as the case is quite recent – which suggested that there was another person involved and a police murder investigation was launched. I deliberately didn’t look back at the media coverage and just worked from the bare bones that I could remember. I wanted to make the story my own, albeit influenced by real life.

The Write Stuff with... Mary T. Bradford

Last month I posted on social media offering authors the opportunity to be featured on the blog with their experiences of writing, publishing or promoting their books during lockdown. Today it's my pleasure to welcome Irish author Mary T. Bradford as my latest guest.

I regret Sulking

I was buzzing with words, thoughts and ideas. I was on a whirlwind of creativity, story after story after story were spilling out. My mind was overflowing and I tried my best to keep up. The dynamism of my fellow writing friends and classmates had me productive to a level that I thought I’d never have a dry well again. But I did and not in the way I thought. 

I started a new story. The character, Michal was Polish and living in Ireland with his wife. He and I were getting on well, the connection flowing until he stopped up without warning. Nothing came from him, no whiff or hint of what was next, he had disappeared. 

I wondered why, I asked the questions, I re-read what I had but I was without inspiration. Yet I knew it wasn’t me, it was Michal. 

So I went about my business. I painted bedside lockers, the main bathroom, cleared the garden, and baked, everything I usually keep putting off got sorted. In fact, I enjoyed my new found freedom so much from not being at the beck and call of words, I revelled in this me time. 

The Write Stuff with... Ellan Aldryc

Today it's my pleasure to welcome author Ellan Aldryc to the blog with her suggestions of  '5 Easy Genre Starters for Those Who Want a Taste of Something New'.

As readers, we all have our favourite genres, but every once in a while, it’s good to read out of your comfort zone. The world of literature is humungous, and who knows—you might find a new favourite in an unlikely place. But dipping your toes into a new genre can be a little intimidating, especially when you don’t know what to look for. Here’s a few light genre starters that might help you discover new horizons.

Science Fiction

You might be aware that Space Opera is a sub-genre of science fiction that roughly corresponds to epic tales in the embrace of outer space, but today, I want to talk about ‘Space Opera’ - the novel. Catherynne M. Valente is a superbly funny literary mind that used her talent to ask a most important question: what if Eurosong happened in space and humanity’s survival depended on our performance?

This novel doesn’t alienate the reader with fancy technological terms and places the emphasis on real connections, exploring what it means to be sentient in a hilarious way. Beware, Space Opera might spark a real interest in the genre, and set your standards quite high.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Space-Opera ebook/dp/B0786NTJDV

Epic Fantasy

Reading about vast imaginary worlds is a worthy whole pursuit, but when a whole Tolkien-verse sounds a bit too ambitious to start with (no shame in that), it’s good to pick up a lighter fantasy read to see what kinds of characters and plots you most enjoy. My pick for a nice starter read is ‘The Innocent Mage’ by Kate Millen. It follows a young fisherman Asher as he leaves home and his family that doesn’t take him seriously to find a better life in the big city. His world, however, is ruled by a noble class of magic-wielding people who don’t really appreciate the ordinary folk like Asher, but somehow, he makes friends with the gloomy prince Gar, starting a whole lot of mysterious trouble. The characters in this two-part series are wonderfully presented and truly relatable, the plot is well-paced, and the world is beautiful and effortlessly presented.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Innocent Mage ebook/dpB0053YQN3Q

The Write Stuff with... Charlie Ferguson

Today it's my pleasure to welcome blogger and aspiring author Charlie Ferguson to talk about how lockdown has inspired and affected her multiple projects.

When I first heard that the lockdown was approaching I was quite excited to be getting some well needed time at home to work on the multiple projects I had been neglecting and putting on the back burner due to work. Since 2018 I have 2 blogs, one bookish based where all my book reviews, book and blog tours and anything else bookish went which has been running for 6 years now, the most recent blog is a mix of everything else, lifestyle, cooking, advice and all the things in-between. The blogs were and are not the only thing on my project list, I also have a book manuscript and a human nutrition course to complete.

Within the first week of lockdown I was catching up on my sleep mostly and then happily planning on what was next. Within the second week I was gliding through my course, feeling completely inspired and motivated for the rest of my projects. I was so inspired I managed to edit my books first chapter and I felt like I was on a great course to continue my editing as I was using the comment feature to mark up improvements and questions that were relevant to my editing process which would help me make my work the best it can be with less chance of doing my head in. Managing this only furthered my motivation and inspiration as I headed back over to my blogs determined to get them cobweb free ad running silky smooth again. First came the bookish one, A Books Eternal Glory, which I managed to post on for the first time in 9 months and even agreed with a close friend to partner up so she could also take part in posting on the blog as she is a huge bookworm. Next was the mash up blog, I was planning so many posts and coming up with ideas I was just simply bursting at the seams. There was nothing stopping me for the next 2 weeks and I was feeling unbeatable with all of my inspiration running through my veins. 

The Write Stuff with... Paula Harmon

Today it's my pleasure to welcome author Paula Harmon to the blog, over to you Paula.

A while ago, while writing The Wrong Sort to Die, a historical mystery set in 1910, I found out why babies are said to be born under gooseberry bushes.

More recently, in a I don’t know what to do with myself moment, I rescued an actual gooseberry bush. Not because I wanted a baby but because it was being suffocated by an exuberant sage plant. Normally when I feel wound up, I write. In fact, with a novel started, I should have been feeling conflicted - knowing that gardening had to be done yet wanting to catch up with characters who were waiting for me to get on with things. 

But I had become too anxious to write.

Over the last few months, I’ve read a great deal about the impact of coronavirus on creativity. Some found that lockdown helped them discover, refresh or indulge their creative skills. ‘Try it!’ they often said. ‘It’ll help you feel better.’ Others felt so overwhelmed by the impact of Covid-19 that even with extra time on their hands and when normally creativity was the one thing that helped them cope, it just wouldn’t come.

The Write Stuff with... Jennifer C. Wilson

Today it's my pleasure to hand the reins of the blog over to author Jennifer C. Wilson, welcome Jennifer.

Hi Sharon, and thanks for hosting me on your blog today, to talk about my experiences of writing in Lockdown. It’s definitely been an up-and-down experience for me. 

At work (I’m an environmental consultant), we were told on 17th March that we should take whatever we needed away with us that day, and expect to be working from home for the foreseeable future. Heading home, laden down with screen, keyboard and mouse, we had no clue how long this going to go on for. I’m still working at home, with no sign of that changing. 

My first thought, with no commuting, and an empty diary, was that I’d get plenty of writing done. Nope. Not one word for almost a fortnight. Then, I was told I needed to take some time off. With five days to play with, and nowhere to go, I decided to try harder, working on a short story collection which technically had an end-of-March deadline, extended into April. Miraculously, everything clicked!

I don’t work well without structure, so I suspect those first couple of weeks were never going to be productive for me, but completing and submitting Kindred Spirits: Ephemera gave me that structure, especially when the editing process began. I still wasn’t writing anything new though – most of the Ephemera stories had been started to an extent before Lockdown, so this was working in a structure that was already there, and finishing off ideas.