A Plague On All Your (Country) Houses?

 If you look for any cosy crime/mystery stories set at Christmas then it's good odds you will find yourself embroiled in a country house party. 

And there must be a snow storm.

 Honestly, why would anyone accept an invitation to a house party  knowing that they would inevitably end up stowed in, with a murderer picking off guests one by one?

But readers, and therefore authors, love them!  They are frequently Golden Age, original or written as historical. Although  a contemporary setting  is possible the patina of a lost time seems to add to the mix. And, of course,  once the snow is deep and the single phone line down - probably courtesy of the killer - then no communication is available. None of that pesky mobile phone or Internet stuff. 

The basic ingredients are ripe for murder. A group if disparate people - obviously with various tensions in the relationships. Probably not a group anyone in their right mind would invite for a peaceful Christmas - but as my mother would say, if it wasn't like that, there would not be a story. So we find estranged children, uneasy business partners, former or illicit lovers, heirs in waiting. 

There must be a classic Christmas setting, with all the trappings - food, roaring fires, trees and decorations, almost the definition of cosy, lulling us into a false sense of security. The kind of Christmas everyone thinks they should be having, but probably few achieve? 

It is the darkest time of the year , with a power cut optional. The house is undoubtedly big and spooky, with long corridors, several staircases and perhaps a picture gallery. Also attics and cellars. It is usually attics - havens for neglected festive decorations and dressing up boxes. Cellars are more for thrillers, unless it is a wine cellar. 

There will be staff, and a 'lord of the manor' a good candidate for being the first victim. The second will be the person who appeared to have done the crime, and/or has crucial information which they are about to divulge to the sleuth. There must be a sleuth - an amateur or possibly a private detective - Hercule Poirot please step forward. The police - in the first instance likely to be the slow and bovine village bobby, complete with bike - will be late on the scene, held up by the snow. There will be clues, as the whole thing is based on a puzzle. 

Everything hinges on atmosphere. The conjuring of the perfect Christmas that actually isn't And we would not have it any other way.

Secret Santa?

It has become a workplace tradition - an anonymous exchange of gifts - some inspired, many naff, some just weird. I still haven't fathomed the whys and wherefores of the giant stuffed mouse - but he is cute.

The mystery secret santa - wearing my reading glasses. 

 Authors, being a solitary bunch, don't really get to play in this game. but I thought I would offer a list of suggestions of small and not so small gifts, just in case. 

•  Pens - always welcome. A certain famous romance author has a brilliant collection of designer fountain pens but if you can't run to a Montblanc a serviceable ball point would be fine. (There's an Agatha Christie set, with quotes, that I have my eye on.) 
•  Note books. Show me an author and I will be prepared to bet that they have a thing for notebooks - bright colours, fancy covers, embroidery, pictures - and please, don't get me stared on glitter, Writers tend to get very possessive and hoard them, like dragons. You have been warned. 
•  Chocolate - in any form - blocks, boxes, biscuits, even to drink ... 
•  And talking of drink - alcohol is probably in the mix. Not for me, but acceptable to many.
• Scented candles - possibly not for someone with allergies - a gift for someone whose taste you know? (That might also apply to anything edible too, by the way.)
• Books and/or bookish things - bookmarks, tote bags. jewelry ...
•  Gifty things - flowers, hampers, fruit baskets - if you want to be inventive cheese, tea, socks ... Yes we are getting a bit off the secret santa concept now and into the bigger stuff.

There is always one totally acceptable gift, of course, that doesn't cost a thing, except a little time - an appreciative and perceptive review for a book you have enjoyed. Even a few words, if time is tight. 'A good read - I recommend it.'

Finding your tribe

 Christmas is a time for family - or so we are told. When you don't have any family left, it becomes a time for friends. As a writer, it is time for hanging out with my tribe.  Like minded people that you chose to be with - which may be an improvement on some family gatherings? Just saying. 

So far this month I have met with some fellow creatives from various disciplines at a professional event - not friends as such, but a welcome interaction with people with like minds - lunch, chat and some formal business. A highlight was a discussion on the place of Mary Stewart as an influence on the kind of romantic fiction I write - that would be a very significant one as far as I am concerned - which was interesting as the two people I was talking with were men. We were united in the opinion that her books have been gravely overlooked by film and TV. There have been a number of very enjoyable radio recordings, but as far as I am aware the only book to make it to film was The Moonspinners. Dating from 1964, it was a vehicle for the transition of child actress Hayley Mills to adult roles and featured her first screen kiss. Which took place, if my memory serves. while hiding in the back of a converted hearse. 

Since then? Nothing. 

IMHO Wildfire at Midnight would be excellent for TV. Set on the Isle of Skye at the time of the Coronation of Elizabeth II and and the climb to the top of Everest, it has Beltane fires, supernatural superstitions, missing girls, murder and lots of fog. Perfect creepy Sunday night viewing. Perhaps some day a power-that-is will realise it. 

My second tribal outing was with seven members of the Cariad Chapter of the RNA for an excellent Christmas lunch at one of the local branches of Zizzis. The food was good and the service attentive and the company was - of course - first rate. Lots of laughter and gossip. 

I have another two outings on the calendar - one with a mob of crime writers and one with a collection of writers from various disciplines - mostly women's and romantic fiction but with a poet and non fiction writer in the mix. Looking forward to both. Good to be with people who totally understand you. 

Photo shamelessly stolen form Jan Baynham. 

Cupboards - with or without skeletons.

 One of the reasons that the WIP is going so slowly is that I am in the process of a whole house declutter. And that is going slowly too - and the result is not pretty. One of those going to get worse before it gets better scenarios. It has been in the air for a while, but now I really am attempting to bite the bullet. Being a writer and academic I naturally  looked around to see if there were books of advice that might help. There are - lots of them. I know about the giving joy thing - but I can't say that is totally useful when considering things like saucepans and spare kettles. Practical maybe, but joy? 

The book I am ploughing through at the moment advocates meditation and mindfulness - and journaling. Lots of journaling. I can't help thinking that if I wanted to be writing, then there is a perfectly good WIP looking daggers at me from under the bed, where it is currently residing, safe from any over zealous tidying up. Not  that there is too much of that going on, but you never know. . (Note from Ed. I hope it is a perfectly good book). 

I don't think this advice book is the one for me - and am I just procrastinating anyway? 

There are just so many THINGS. And even worse than the things is the PAPER. It's everywhere, in every kind of form, from books and magazines to un-shredded documents. old bills - not that kind - manuscripts, scrap for future writing on, research notes, old shopping lists ...

It is going to have to go. I have made a start, filling at least one bag of paper recycling each week. But it is SLOW, because I do want to go through things before I throw them.   I know that way will make me feel more comfortable with the process, so that is what I am doing. And there is a process, that I have devised myself. I'm calling it the 'Really' method. I involves standing in front of a bookcase, cupboard, center of the room and asking - are you REALLY going to use, wear, read (fill in any other appropriate verb here) that again? 

It is working. I just have to keep at it. And so far there have not been any skeletons - only the one on the front of my old biology text book from school. And that says it all. But I will win. I have promised myself. Ask me again how it is going in three months. 

Oh no! Snow

 Regular readers will know I do not like winter weather. I don't like winter, full stop. The months with 'er' on the end are not for me. And when you add snow to the mix!!!! As much of the UK seems to be covered in the white stuff at the moment, you can understand why I began the day this morning googling 'existential dread'. I can hear my mother's voice in my head - snow before Christmas means a hard winter. UGH! 

Luckily my little corner of South Wales is currently white stuff free. Rain yes, but not snow. Long may it continue. Being right on the coast, snow is not so frequent here. It does happen - a few years ago we had several feet - but long standing neighbours said it was the first time in about 30 years that it had been that heavy. I didn't know this, when I bought my little house , but it is a big bonus. There seem to be several theories for this - warmer temperature because of proximity to the sea? Salt in the air? Who knows - I'm just happy about it. 

Snow is a vital ingredient for Christmas books however - and a lot of them are hitting the shelves right now. When I accidently wrote a Christmas book a few years ago, I steeled myself and invented a freak storm that cut off hero and heroine in the Brecon Beacons/Bannau Brycheiniog. I'm not quite sure why snow is a necessary ingredient for festive reading - but it is, so there you go. 

If you want to read the Christmas book it is still available on Amazon - and Kindle Unlimited.   

What Happens at Christmas.

Amazon

Original cover - still on paperback

Revised cover - e-book

https://

Making time

 When writers get together there is frequently talk about making time to write. Life happens, work happens -  often there are only snatched moments - the journey to work, time before the family wakes up, or after they are in bed - a short spell in a cafe. Carving these out takes effort - but they are not actually any good without thinking time to go with them. The brain needs time to process. If you don't get space to 'plan' - even if you are at heart a pantser, sitting down with an empty sheet of paper/computer screen probably will be difficult. It's not actually waiting for inspiration - writing is a job as well as a pleasure. And if it is not mostly a pleasure, then IMHO you are not doing it right. Okay - there are days when the words flow like treacle running up hill, but you do have to want to do it, deep in your bones. Wanting still requires application - you need to be professional, even if not yet published. You are expecting that someone will be paying you to read this - or you hope they will. It deserves your best shot. And if you enjoy it, the reader probably will too. Love shows. 

So - what do you do to get that thinking time? These are a few ideas I have heard.

Morning pages - writing a sort of stream of consciousness journal first thing when you wake up. to get the mind in the mood. Doesn't appeal at all to me, but others swear by it.

Music - this one I do use when stuck. For me it works at home and in concerts. Concerts tend to be new ideas. Need to make notes quickly though.

Walking. You will have seen social media posts from authors about 'plot walks.' Time out to get thoughts in order and fresh air and exercise too - something a writer needs! Very much my thing in the past, although health problems have curtailed my walks recently. I live in hope of resuming them. 

Simply staring into space /out of the window. A kind of guided meditation? Best done when alone or on public transport? You need to be relaxed enough for the mind to wander so I find looking out of train windows can be useful

Those are ideas. If you are stuck, I hope one of them works. 

The balance of the story

 I've been indulging myself recently in re-reading some cosy crime and police procedurals - Not as predictable an exercise as it may seem, as in a (possibly) alarming number of cases I have completely forgotten who committed the crime! 

I've been thinking about this. Why would my memory for denouements be so poor? I accept that old age and failing faculties may be a factor, but in mitigation, I would like to plead the balance of the story. Think about it - there are pages and pages about the crime, the characters, the setting, sometimes an overarching mystery that runs alongside the plot of the book in hand, drawing a series together and  keeping the reader hooked. And the resolution? Maybe a chapter, or not even that? 

The writer has to keep the reader engaged in the story on the way to the result, so it has to have plenty of interest. It's rare that I don't remember the first body,  or the second - usually the person who was the most obvious as chief suspect - or who has stupidly let it be known that they know something. I remember the setting - the village, the villa, the island, the library. I remember the romance, if there is one, because- hey - romance writer.  But after that, possibly because of my haste to actually find out, the recall faculty gets blurred. This may not be helped by those authors who claim not to decide who the guilty party is until the time comes for the reveal. If they don't know, how am I supposed to keep up? 

Actually I don't think the memory lapse is a completely bad thing. Apart from letting me re-read with enjoyment, a book is very much more than its ending. The portrayal of character in particular can often be much more engaging than knowing who actually stuck the knife in the Colonel in the gazebo.  Books with atmospheric settings are powerful things. How often have you been inspired to visit a location because you have read about it? Social attitudes and society can be tellingly revealed on the way to the ending. This is particularly true of Golden Age crime, which appeals to the historian in me. The revelation of attitudes in past times can be shocking - we've all read those warnings in the front of Golden Age re-issues - it is shocking, but worth knowing how far we have come.   

So - at the moment I am enjoying my excursions into forgotten territory - a case of the journey being just as satisfying as arriving at whodunnit. 

 

Into the dark

 The bright day is done and we are for the dark

That quotation from Anthony and Cleopatra is always in my mind at this time of the year. I hate the months that end in 'er'., because they are the dark ones. Ironic, considering I write darker things into my romance. Now that the clocks have changed it is all down hill until the solstice in December. It is only physical darkness not death, which is what Cleopatra and her followers were facing - but I still don't like it. 

Tomorrow is Halloween  - celebrated with pumpkins, trick and treat and apple bobbing. We always bobbed for apples when I was growing up - usually tied from a string attached to the indoor washing line. I don't remember apples in a bath of water, but that would probably have been considered too messy. As a teenager there were parties and the chance to dress up as something spooky and witchy.

Traditionally Halloween is a liminal space, when the veil between the world of the dead and the world of the living is meant to be at its thinnest, one of the pause points in the Wheel of the Year. I've been researching that - because it interests me, but also because I want to include a folk lore element in the WIP. At the moment I'm working on Yule, which is around 21st December, as the village I am creating will be celebrating that and I want the book to culminate in another festival with pagan roots. Not Halloween as it is a bit too obvious. I've thought about Beltane on 1st May, but Mary Stewart's Wildfire at Midnight, uses Beltane fires on the Isle of Skye to very creepy effect. It is an inspiration, but I think I need to find my own festival. The Summer Solstice would be a classic but at the moment I am opting for Lammas which is 1st August and the first stage in the celebration of the year's harvest. The end of the book is very much in outline only at present. I'm not sure that it will be creepy so much as the chance for confusion with a lot of plot strands coming together and crossing - or maybe that should be tangling? I'm looking forward to getting there, and finding out, but there is a lot that has to take place before then.

Changing taste

 TV viewers and romance readers/watchers have dominated a lot of the news this week with the arrival of the adaptation of Jilly Cooper's Rivals on the screen. A quintessential 80s 'bonk buster' full of steamy scenes, and featuring all round cad, Rupert Campbell Black.  In the 80s Rupert was considered irresistible. Now - I'm not so sure. The idea of a romantic hero has changed. Rakes are not quite such a thing any more - except perhaps in traditional style historicals.  

That made me think of how fashions in reading have changed in general. Take size, for instance - and no, that is not mean as an innuendo - well, maybe, just a bit. In the 80 era of Riders, Rivals and others, like Shirley Conran's Lace, readers were looking for big books - ones that would last for a long haul flight and probably the holiday as well. Now you can load up a shed load of e-books and never have the fear of having nothing to read. Our attention spans have apparently got shorter, but with the rise of gaming and social media there are other avenues for entertainment. Reading has to cope with the competition. I don't think our appetite for extended stories has dimmed - but now they are more likely to take the form of series or trilogies - three books or more in place of one. 

The bonk busters had huge casts - I suspect that the number of characters in books has got smaller, but that is only gut feeling. They often extend over lengthy time periods too, which maybe is not so frequent now?

And then of course, there is the s.e.x. It really doesn't go out of fashion. What are currently termed 'spicy' books are still in demand. There is still a tendency for a particular book - or series - to make headlines, to be the one everyone is taking about and curious to read - Fifty Shades being the most recent example . Before that I'm thinking of Forever Amber and the Angelique books. Authors like Barbara Taylor Bradford and Jackie Collins are big names who have been known for writing sexy scenes, but romance writers who are not known outside romance reader circles write them too, it's just not so well publicised. Or perhaps that should be notorious? And now romantic relationships can be gay, sapphic or involving more than a couple. 

That's really what it is about - whether the bedroom door is open or closed - romance is about relationships. And that's never going out of fashion. 

Catnip for Authors

 You know what I'm talking about, don't you? Research. I've been posting recently about the up market kind - what I did on my holidays - but research can take all kinds of forms and be for all kinds of reasons. I just did a quick inventory of some of the things I've done recently that could be classed as research, if you use the loose definition of 'finding out'. 

The total comes to four classes and a catalogue for fruit trees!  A mix of planning and serendipity! You  never know where useful information will come from. 

The classes are a mixed bunch.

There is my regular gardens course, with the Lifelong Learning Department of the University, which is mainstream for the WIP. I am creating a garden for the book and am having soooo much fun working on the back story. Will it all get into the book? Possibly not, but I think that knowing it is there will add depth to the writing. And yes. It is FUN! 

I also did a lecture on divination. I have a character who is into this kind of thing and it was a good opportunity to find out the sort of tools she might use - observing natural phenomena, like bird movements and the sky. For things like that I think it is important to make sure that details are correct and plausible. 

Another one-off on-line course was craft - a webinair from the Crime Writers' Association on science and crime - very useful on the forensics that a writer might need and other practical stuff, - like the fact that poisons are not usually instantaneous in effect  and that someone hit in any part of the body by a bullet probably won't be running around chasing bad guys a few minutes later, even with an artistic sling.

The second craft class is this week - and in person workshop on characters which is being held by one of the writing groups I belong to. We don't do it often, but it is good sometimes to get together and consider the nuts and bolts of putting words on a page. I'm looking forward to it. 

And that fruit catalogue? I seem to have got on to the mailing list of a specialist fruit nursery. I'm unlikely to be planting any trees in the near future, although I have not given up on the idea of a tree in a pot, and I have managed to germinate an orange pip which might one day amount to something. My mother grew one that flowered, although I don't think it fruited - but Mum could have planted her walking stick and it would have rooted.  Anyway the catalogue has given me ideas for all sorts of unusual fruit - medlars, sloes, crab apples - that can be made into jams and jellies which fits into the ethos of the community I am also creating - and there is a bit of hedge witchery going on there. I'm enjoying that too, although I know I have to be careful, or it will be taking over the book. 

That's always the thing - research that gets into the book is almost always only the tip of the iceberg. 

The Hidden Garden - Plas Cadnant

The last post about my North Wales holiday. And this visit definitely qualifies as research. It was unexpected. I knew there was a garden on the schedule for the last day of the tour, but I had no idea that it would be a perfect inspiration for the garden I am creating for the WIP. On the Isle of Anglesey, overlooking the Menai Strait, Plas Cadnant has been reclaimed from an overgrown state and it is lovely - and exactly what I envisaged for the garden I am trying to create, a coastal setting with series of different moods - formal and much wilder. 

 I have a thing for writing gardens in my books, and happily readers also seem to like them. I have a half realised idea for a derelict garden sometime in the future, but the one in the current WIP is far from that. I have created a whole back story for it, and its past owners, which may not even make it into the book, except as passing references, but I have had so much enjoyment from imagining it. And now I know what parts of it  might look like. My creation has a stumpery, a number of follies and a lot of sculpture so it will be different, but I now have a reference point that I know is real. I took a ton of pictures. These are some of them. 

Topiary - there will definitely be topiary

Formal - and very pretty

A pond and a river god, lurking in an alcove. 
I'm thinking more on the lines of the green man -
or maybe Cernunnos, the horned god from Celtic mythology. 

Another pool lower in the garden - down a steep and rather scary path.
But I made it! 

One of the wilder areas. 

More wildness

Back to the formality and sunshine. 

Port Meirion

 This was a bucket list trip. It's been on that list since The Prisoner  TV series used it as a location - yes, I am that old.

It is colourful and a bit crazy - a little piece of Italy on a Welsh hillside, running down to the sea - a folly in the form of a whole village, and I loved it.

The sun shone, I rambled around, ate ice-cream and soaked up atmosphere. It has given me ideas for the colour scheme for my garden, when I finally get that sorted out and can paint some currently grey block walls. Next summer, now. I have a wooden container that holds the recycling bags that I painted blue and which came out a bit more vivid that I expected, Now I know that it is Port Meirion blue  and that I might be painting some of the walls terracotta. I'll keep you posted on that.

In the meantime I have pictures. 

Archways were a thing

This could be on an Italian hillside 

See what I mean about the colour scheme. 

More colour here

This might be my favourite view -
 and you can just make out the sculpture in the exotic planting. 

Research Holiday?

 Regular readers will know that I'm taking a break from the Riviera and the next book, which is making very slow progress, is set mostly in Wales, although the location is one that I have made up. I live in South Wales and have spent time in West Wales - many childhood holidays for starters, but I have only been an infrequent visitor to the top end of the country.  I've never set a book in North Wales, but maybe that will change in the future as I've just had a very enjoyable holiday in Llandudno and its environs - an escorted tour with Great Rail Journeys. 

It was billed as railways and castles, both of which featured, but it was two other locations in particular that captured my attention - more of those in future posts. The castles were Conwy and Caernarvon and the railways were Ffestiniog, the West Highland Railway and the Snowden Mountain Railway.  The first two were steam - memories of my very early childhood - and the last one was rack and pinion, because of the gradient and was a bit scary with some jaw dropping sheer drops. It was a perfect clear day and now I can say that I have been to the top, (almost, as I didn't climb up to the summit) of the highest mountain in Wales, and have the pictures to prove it courtesy of Helen and Paul, my fellow holiday guests. 

I haven't been on an escorted tour like this for a long time and was a little nervous, but I really enjoyed myself and saw one place = Port Meirion - that has been on my bucket list for a long time, and also a lovely garden which was definitely research material. 

I'm not sure that steam trains and castles will be making an appearance in a book anytime soon, but never say never to an author. Port Meirion might - although I suspect it maybe a re-invented place by then. A bit like the gothic buildings I have written about in the past, which owe a lot to Cardiff Castle and Castell Coch.  And the garden ...

And I even managed to take pictures. 

Paragliders - and an amazing view

Proof I was there, plus the train. 

This one is steam. 

Work in Progress.

 Yes - it is slow. but it is happening. 

I've moved on to what I think of as the second part of the book - in which the heroine Eleri is moving on -  to a new and totally unexpected life in a house she has inherited. It's an idea I have used before - in A Villa in Portofino - but the setting and circumstances this time are very different, and it still spoke to me of something I wanted to explore. 

The next part is spinning around in my head, which is always exciting - if writing it down and getting it right is more laborious.

Eleri is moving into a small community and while I have known the people in it for a long while, I have only just realised that they are going to want to know as much about her as she does about them. Actually probably more so, as she is keeping a low profile, for various reasons. Now I get to work with some minor characters, at least one of whom has long roots in the community, the significance of which will only be apparent at the very end of the book.  

There are a number of mysteries to unravel involving the house and there are exterior threats from at least two quarters, so I have plenty of things to keep me busy. I have no idea how big this books is going to be - write first, edit later - but I suspect it may be big. 

At the moment it is a messy sprawl of papers dotted all around the place. I am going to have to have a comprehensive round up session in the near future to get it in some sort of order. The thing is, I am enjoying it, so I hope readers will too - once I finally get it finished and out in the world. 

Radical Victorians

 Regular readers will know that I have a bit of a thing for the Pre-Raphaelite painters. As I don't have the bank balance of Lord Lloyd Webber, who has a notable collection, I have to get my fix visiting galleries and exhibitions. And the place to go has always been Birmingham, as the museum there has a fabulous collection. 

That collection is the basis for an exhibition that has been running most of the year and will be on until Xmas - Victorian Radicals.

 The Pre-Raphaelites had a distinctive style - brightly coloured painting told stories - from the Bible, from legends and from literature. It appeals to my love of story and drama. I've wanted to visit this exhibition for months but health issues have interfered, but on Thursday I finally made it. It was well worth it. Fabulous paintings, but not just them - the art movement gave rise to the Arts and Crafts movement - with the same artists designing or inspiring household items - everything from textiles to glassware. The exhibition had many examples on display. I was a happy bunny - this was a fun day out but it was also RESEARCH. The Arts and Crafts house I am creating for the WIP would have been built and fitted out around the time all these items were being created. As the country home of a wealthy man who would have wanted the most up to date furniture and fittings, many of these things will still be there when my contemporary heroine inherits the house.  With my memories of studying the exhibits and the very expensive catalogue - which is absolutely gorgeous - I am going to have so much fun selecting items. When I have had the chance to study the book and make some choices I'm sure I will be posting again about the exhibition. In the meantime, I do have a few pictures. 

You can't really see it clearly, but the painting on the wall - of a young Jesus in the Temple
was one I remember from Sunday School. 

An unfinished painting of Jane Morris by Rossetti 

I think this marble sculpture was commissioned by Gladstone.
More background research needed. 

Sorry about the glare from the flash. This is a late scene from Shakespeare's Two Gentlemen of Verona.
I've had a copy of a postcard of it for ages. You can see the level of detail and the wonderful colours. 

Secondary Tropes?

 Tropes seem to be a big thing in the romance writing world at the moment - enemies to lovers, fake relationship, grumpy/sunshine - you can fill in the list. 

It has occurred to me during my recent reading that while these might be the main tropes - the headline acts as it were, there are other supporting 'tropes' that feature in the action. Including, but not exhaustively:-

 A controlling and interfering ex

A protagonist who likes to cook with a love interest who can burn boiling water

Extended family, as demonstrated by the Sunday lunch. This can be a hostile affair or a lovefest of homely togetherness and warmth,

Houses and gardens as 'characters' in the action

Evocative locations = bakeries, libraries, universities, bookshops,

Animals - I've read a few lately with working or service dogs, but also with animal familiars, I have wide reading tastes. 

The power of scent. Clothing, bed linen, or just general smell. 

I'm sure you can add a few. I'm still collecting them. 

While those headline tropes define the book these are the ones that give it substance and help create a world you want to inhabit for a few hours or even longer. 

Life of a romance writer?

 This week I thought it might be fun to think about what an author actually does with her time. This author, in fact. 

So what have I done this past week? 

Well, one day was spent in Herford with a group of like minded writers catching up on news and life in general. Gossip, giggles, exchange of experiences, commiserations over rejections, professional support and general bookish chat. Cake and lunch were involved and as I managed to catch an earlier train, because it was late (are you with me?) there may have been a sneaky bacon butty in Morrison's cafe on the way to the theatre where the meetings are held. It was an enjoyable if tiring day. 

There has been the usual social media and e-mail stuff, including fixing another writerly get together later in the year, a research trip to Birmingham, and admin connected to some future personal appearances. Watch this space. Some time was spent on searching for the script of the book trailer that I scribbled down on the train the week before last. I did not find it. I hope it will turn up in due course in whatever safe place I have stashed it. 

I spent a couple of happy hours looking at weddings a Chelsea Old Town Hall. Lots of snazzy photos of brides, grooms and guests, confetti explosions and a good gawp at the venue rooms available from large halls to intimate spaces seating only a handful of people. And don't get me started on the rabbit hole of  the rich and famous who have married there, including the wedding that didn't happen. If you have an idle moment or sixty and like weddings, have a google,  This was RESEARCH for the wedding of a secondary character in the WIP. It may eventually only occupy a line or two in the book, but the devil is in the detail. 

And writing? Oh yes, there has been a bit of that. This week I have been inhabiting the mind of a serial killer. An interesting place to be, if not always comfortable. I think it is a thread I ought to included in the new book, but it has to be married to the romance in the right way, Much grittier than I have been writing lately and stretching a bit, but good for the writing muscles.  I'm working on the principle of getting it down and then seeing what I have got. 

A bit like writing a blog post. 

Oh, and I did that too. 

Romantic Novelists' Association Conference 2024

 Let's get this clear from the outset. I had a really good time. 

This year's conference was at Royal Holloway, University of London - which is actually in leafy Egham. It is a sprawling campus - much puffing and groaning between venues - with a very fancy set of gothic buildings at its centre. 

The weekend was hot, the food was good, the accommodation studentish but comfortable - I was not in the block with a dead lift and dodgy lights - the company excellent. 

I went to some enthralling if slightly scary talks on various techy topics - Artificial Intelligence, keywords, self publishing - and now know more than I did about all of them. I'm looking forward to putting all that learning into practice. I particularly enjoyed a talk on making book trailers. I used to do that for my books years ago. Apparently this time around they can be used for Facebook adverts and for some quick book plotting. I had a go at that on the train home - about 20 words for about 30 seconds of air time. I now know a bit more about the WIP and have found out that is a slightly different book from the one I thought I was writing - all good. 

Lots of friends had good appointments with agents and editors and were asked for full manuscripts. Fingers crossed that stuff happens for them. Imogen, my fellow Cariad Chapter member did not win the Joan Hessayan trophy- sad about that as I would have liked to see another Cariad's name on the cup. Quite a lot of the group were featured in the shortlist for the Elizabeth Gouge trophy,  though, which is awarded for a conference based contest set by the Chairperson, which shows what a talented group we have with Georgia Hill coming second.  

There was a barbeque in the Quad, a quiz, a disco and a lot of giggling and gossip - what you might expect if 200 odd romantic novelists get together. Yes, alright, some of us are very odd. 

I didn't take any pictures so I shamelessly stole this one from Sue McDonagh.  As usual I am gurning at the camera. It's a good one of Sue and Jan though,

Photo stolen from Sue Mc Donagh

I say again  - I had a really good time, 

Only sadness is having to wait two years before doing it again. 

Of course we have the internet now ...

As you know, I'm a fan of vintage crime and the differences in what could be written even in the 1940s and now are often striking. Books like Josephine Tey's Brat Farrar, with a plot about a mystery claimant who may or may not be heir to a country estate could now only be written as an historical, or not at all. These days DNA would settle the matter in a few weeks. We have CCTV, forensics, social media. Ah yes, social media. 

Even twenty years ago the world would not be getting moment by moment updates on what you had for breakfast, but some of that vintage crime I have been reading lately have got me thinking about some of the parallels. 

I've read two which feature poison pen letters - the equivalent of trolling? And when mail would be delivered within 24 hours and possibly more often during the day a barrage of unpleasant correspondence would be possible. We have 24 hour news - but when newspapers were the main means of communicating events, editions could be produced several time a day.  Social media can give instant glimpses of what celebrities are doing - but newspapers and magazines had their society pages for the great, the good and the not so good.  Now authors are encouraged to keep their readers in the loop with newsletters - but the likes of GK Chesterton and William Morris produced their own newspapers. Print was more cumbersome, but possible. 

As someone who writes crime I have to admit that technology can be a bit of a bother. How to get around that pesky CCTV isn't just a matter for the criminal fraternity! The aforementioned DNA is a consideration, and what about mobile phones? So many crime novels from the past could be solved by a simple phone call. Authors have a fun time making protagonists lose phones, drop them in water, have them stolen, forget to charge them. Then there is the good old standby  - no signal. This feels like a cliche, but if you listen to the Today programme on Radio 4 - which I do - you will know how often a line disappears mid call - and not just those spanning long distances. 

Communications are not new, if technology is. In the past it just took a bit longer. And sit was ometimes more difficult - but not always. 

It's a man's world?

 Regular readers will know I have a bit of a weakness for the vintage crime put out by the British Library. Haven't succumbed to a subscription yet, but they are trying hard in my Facebook feed, 

One of my favourite Golden Age authors is E C R Lorac, in real life Edith Caroline Rivett. As you can see as well as reversing one of her names, Carol, for her pseudonym she also adopted the use of initials, a device often used by female writers and still being done today, particularly in the crime genre. The general feeling seems to be that this widens the prospective audience. Women will apparently read a crime novel by a man, but  a man read a woman author? Not so much. 

It's a matter for discussion, and one that is not new. The most recent Lorac I read was Death of an Author in which the debate over whether a critic/reader can tell whether a book has been written by a man or woman forms a keystone of the plot. I enjoyed it - and it shows that the discussion has been around a long time - and it is probably not going away anytime soon. 

I'm not entirely sure where I am going with this post except to flag up something interesting. 

Although there are a great many females being just as gory and twisty as their male counterparts is there an implicit assumption that crime is a male thing? 

One event I will be interested in is the first short list for the new cosy crime category in the CWA Dagger awards which makes its appearance for the first time next year. It is a genre with a lot of women writers and writing well too. Certainly worthy of a dagger. So - is there a possibility the the CWA might have an all female short list for this one? 

An intriguing idea. 

Eavesdropping

 You've all seen the mugs, tee shirts, etc. with the writer threatening to 'put you in my book'. Yes, it's funny, but I would never do it. Some authors do base their characters on real people, but for me it's an an invasion of privacy. And I'd be afraid that the victim might recognise themselves and come round and punch me on the nose! 

Which is not to say that I am not an inveterate eavesdropper. Public transport is a great place for this, but anywhere that people gather can be a prime source. What do I get from it? Apart from fascinating snippets that I could/would never use? Rhythm, pace, the pattern of speech and the flow of conversation, which all help with making dialogue sound real.

One of my favourite playwrights is Harold Pinter, who was the master of using a pause - which is something I do - listening to conversation gives the patterns that can be adapted for the book. The way conversations overlap, repetition - although you have to be careful with that or your editor will be putting a red line through it, Local colour and frequently used expressions - swearing too perhaps. Ums and Ahs - we are all guilty of those - make speech realistic, judiciously used. 

And then again, despite what I said above, there are occasionally snippets that no one would recognise as theirs. This post was inspired by one I heard last week. Two colleagues in the Premier Inn as everyone trooped back into the building. 

'And where were you when the fire alarm went off? 

It seemed to me that it would make an intriguing first line for a story. 

Maybe I'll use it one day.

And no one will ever know where it came from, will they? 

What would you write if ...

 They say everyone has a book in them. I've always taken that to mean we all have a life story that could be told - but writing fiction is not the same. Life experiences are important but they are not the whole thing.  

So -if you were unpublished, just taking the plunge, what might you choose? What you like to read? What you think you are suited for? What will make money? 

All of the above? 

I think the big thing is that you enjoy what you write, because IMO it shows.

I experimented with a variety of genres before I settled on romantic suspense. Even so my early books are different from the most recent Riviera Series as my publisher wanted something lighter - holiday reading. 

The WIP? Don't ask. Really. I have no idea what genre it is - probably still romantic suspense as there is romance and crime/suspense but there is a lot else besides, Main thing is, although it is slow, I am enjoying it. 

It is natural, I think, to squint occasionally at other genres and wonder. Particularly if you have read something good and/or interesting by another author.  

A number of romance authors are making a very successful transition to cosy crime at the moment. And I admit to temptation. 

Theoretically I could write historical/saga - World War Two, as that is my academic thread, and I do have a completed WW2 family saga in the bottom drawer that twice went through the RNA's New Writers' Scheme but didn't find a publisher - possibly because I didn't push it hard enough. Having done it, and proved I could, I didn't want that to be my future - although you will have noticed that the war does get into my contemporary plots - and the WIP is no exception. 

Having just read K J Charles Death in the Spires which I enjoyed very much and which is an unsolved murder mystery with a strong slant of the dark academia genre, I am now re-reading M L Rio's If We Were Villains (I am drawing the line at Donna Tart's The Secret History. Not going back there, good and clever as it is. Don't have the stamina any more.)  

Of course, now I am wondering ... 

I'm an academic, with the letters to prove it., I have a thing for books, libraries and Gothic architecture - all of which I understand are ingredients - and I have a much professed desire to write something Gothic (is that actually another genre?)  I don't think I can reproduce the hot house atmosphere of the DA genre though, and despite my qualifications I certainly don't have the scholarship to twist into the plot, And I am strictly red brick, not dreaming spires so that is probably a no.

But it is tantalising...

Write what you know. Maybe that's write what you enjoy? Maybe the knowing bit is knowing your limitations? 

Competitions for debut authors?

 One of the ways that an unpublished author can attract some attention to their work, possibly get feedback and maybe win a prize is by entering competitions. If nothing else, to be long or short listed gives you a confidence boost. I worked for me, although even then it was still a while before a UK publisher was willing to take a chance on a genre that mixed crime and romance. 

Of course you do have to get onto the long/short list! But that is down to writing the best book you can, making sure that you meet all the competition criteria and presenting your work in a professional way in whatever format the rules require. Debut contests are usually looking for potential, not perfection - although if you can produce that, it will be welcome! 

If you live in Wales, are unpublished and write crime, you might like to consider the Gwobr Nofel Gyntaf/Crime Cymru First Novel Prize., which is open now and closes on 1st September. There are two sections - Welsh and English, judged separately.

Crime Cymru is a collective of crime authors with Welsh connections, and is offering a fledgling writer the chance of winning a series of mentoring sessions. There is only one first prize winner, but if that's not you (this time) there is still the chance of appearing on one of those encouraging short lists.  

The entry fee is £10 and you can find  the details HERE

I was one of the judges in the initial stages for the English language side last time the contest was run, and have volunteered to do it again this year. I am looking forward to it. The quality and variety of the entries was impressive. It was not an easy choice. Every one I read had potential, although they were very different. Some were further along the way than others. I hope those contestants will be trying again with a new entry. 

Maybe one of the entries I will be reading this year will be yours? 

What happened to our sunshine?

 Here in the UK the summer of '24 has been notable by its absence - although I gather we are promised some warmer weather later this month. 

Apart from the fact that it is COLD, the lack of sunshine was brought home to me while I was limping around Cardiff in the search for a frame for my second Jackie Collins finalist's certificate. The limp because of back and hip problems and the search because no one had what I wanted - the right size frame capable of standing up rather than being wall hung. Wilko, we miss you! I didn't find a frame, but I did notice large areas of stores given over to the goods of summer - picnic blankets, hampers, outdoor furniture and tableware, lanterns, barbeques - and the kind of food cooked on them - were pretty empty of customers, which was rather sad. All that bright cheerful merchandise sitting neglected on the shelves.  

So - where do we go for that summer feeling - other than leaving on a jet plane? You could try a book. Increasingly these days in the romance field, publishers are looking to issue two offerings  a year. Summer and Festive. Both designed to compliment the season, or get you in the appropriate mood if weather and circumstance are not coming up with the goods?

Do you buy the Summer book to read by the pool - or to replicate the feeling?  Does 'summer' in the title - and there are quite a few of them out there - make you disposed to buy? I have to say it does me - but I have always been one for warmth, sun and escape. 

When I was a kid and my dad went off on one of his Sunday day trips to a meeting - he was very involved in the national administration of his hobby, sea angling - mum and I often had an indoor picnic instead of Sunday lunch- all the picnic things, complete with table cloth on the living room floor. It was fun, and it didn't matter if it was cold or raining. 

If it won't happen you have to invent it - and a book is as good a place as any. Only one thing that worries me. If the summer season has been disappointing will all those retailers be starting their Christmas even earlier?

At least the weather is appropriate. 

Managing expectations

 I've just finished reading a book - spooky goings on and ghosts - where it was mentioned several times that good things rarely happen in basements. Very true. Places where young women should not venture in the dark when the local serial killer is on the loose. 

It got me thinking about 'short cuts' in novels - ways of telegraphing expectations to the reader. This can be very obvious - publishers' obsession with covers showing women in red coats running thorough various landscapes to denote a thriller is an obvious one - but it can be more subtle than that. 

As in life - a phone ringing between the hours of midnight and 5 am is unlikely to be  a Good Thing. Basements are creepy - although for some reason a cellar doesn't have quite the same connotation, possibly because of the link in the mind to wine cellar? 

Attics mean secrets - storage for old papers, dressing up boxes, childhood debris. You can have a good time in an attic. I had fun in A Villa in Portofino making mine virtually empty, but of course there was still a room full of luggage.  A character who announces they are going up to the attic - well, you just know they are going to Find Something. Libraries and studies mean books and papers, desks and filing cabinets so more potential for secrets. Kitchens equal meals and baking - places of comfort. Similarly cafes. 

Town houses, cottages, mansions, lofts - all property that denotes a certain style of life and inhabitant. Writing seasonal and festive books gives you a whole lexicon of images from carved pumpkins to fairy lights and tinsel to set a scene. 

At the moment I am heavily into creating a garden. Now gardens can have multiple personalities. The one I am working on is a sanctuary - a place where a WWI veteran coped with his shell shock and decades later a woman running from an abusive marriage can find a refuge. But I also have in mind another story with a derelict garden, a creepy half ruined green house, maybe a falling down summer house ... 

Some things are great for signifying an activity or a mood - but it's also good to have a wide open canvas. 

Work in Progress

 'Progress' is a bit slow, but I am working and enjoying it. Not sure what the finished product will look like - definitely not a 'Riviera' book, or even in that style. I've envisages it as one of a pair of books, the link being that security business run by the two heroes- Nathan and Luke, but it is going to be a while before we get there. 

But writing is not just about actually putting words on paper. Not words that will eventually be read, that is. Knowing I was getting myself into a few knots with the time lines of the various characters in the secondary plot that is the pivot of the story I spent an afternoon sorting out their overlapping time lines and producing a fancy board to prove it. As shown below. Now I have a better idea of what I am doing! Emrys - who is a famous artist - was born in 1924 and was old enough to serve in WW2, which is an important part of the story. The other lines on the chart are the women in his life - his first love, the woman he eventually married and the Shakespearean actress who became his muse in later life. The ramifications of those relationships play out in the contemporary part of the story. It's not exactly dual time, maybe a present day story with roots in the past? While I was doing it I discovered some important facts about the personalities - notably that although it was generally assumed that Emrys and the actress were lovers, in fact their relationship was platonic as they were both married to other people.

I also had to do some ongoing research. I have a list. 

• Obituaries of the great and the good.
• Honours awarded to servicemen for bravery in WW2
• Dates and ages for call up during the war.
• Dates and details of the Nuremberg Trials and Dame Laura Knight, who was an official war artist. 
• The rules of probate
• Herbs with associations with Wicca. What every good witch would have in her rather wild garden. That one was fun, as I did an on-line course and now I know what my 'witch,' Iris will have in hers. 

  

All of the above are essential to the plot but probably won't merit more than a passing reference. They are building blocks that are the foundations for the book. 

And a wonderful excuse for productive procrastination. 

 

Chelsea Flower Show

 As I special treat I got myself an 8a.m to 8 p.m  ticket for the first members' day of the Chelsea Flower Show. Staying just moments away I fully intended to be there when the gates opened. But then the RNA Awards came along and my plans went up in smoke with a late night of celebration! I made it to the show a little later than planned and reading the runes on the weather did the marquee first. This was the voice of experience as once the rain began everyone came flocking in and I was ready to wander around the other exhibits under my trusty umbrella. The gardens were lovely - I got a few ideas for the Tuscan idyll I eventually want to create outside my back door. There were some drool worthy plants. I celebrity spotted Monty Don and Rachel De Thame being interviewed for the TV. I bought lilies and a mushroom growing kit and a few other odds and ends and had a good time, despite the weather. 

The Newt's Roman Villa garden

This is a hydrangea - I thought it was an azalea. On the plant of the year shortlist and on my wish list. 

An Italian Balcony - Venice, not Tuscany, but I'll take it. 

The lilies I hope are going to grow for me.
I'll try anf rememebr to post the results, and the mushrooms! 

The Joffe Garden party

 As part of my fancy week staying in London I was able to attend my first publisher's party - a garden party no less, in the grounds of the Royal Overseas League, off Piccadilly. Luckily it was a lovely evening - the rain had stopped. The Choc-lit authors met up first in the pub around the corner and then it was on to the party. It was a lot of fun with the chance to meet and talk to the staff of the publishing house - including the man himself - Jasper Joffe - and other authors including a few friends from the Crime Writers' Association, as Joffe publishes crime as well as romance. It was the tenth anniversary for the publisher, although the Choc-lit family has only been with them just over a year. It was good to celebrate with glasses of bubbly and some very fancy - and tasty - canapes. We all enjoyed ourselves, photos were taken (I've stolen a few again) and the rain stayed away. Looking forward to doing it again next year. 

Meeting in the pub. 

Me. Carol Thomas, Jasper, Morton S Gray
and Jan Baynham

The Joffe authors. 

What I did in Chelsea.

 My original plan for my recent London trip was a day at the Chelsea Flower Show. I decided to do something I'd had in mind for a while and book a couple of nights in the mansion block where I lived when I worked in Eaton Square. Then the awards were announced, and my new publisher Joffe invited me to their annual garden party and the few nights became a week. Cost a fortune, but I had a wonderful time. The apartment in the mansion block is the one that features in Summer in San Remo and Masquerade on the Riviera. It was good to re-visit old haunts.  I had a studio, which was fun and spent a couple of days flaneuring around the neighbourhood.  I did the RHS show - more of that in a future post -  and the party - more about that later too. I spent some time in the re-vamped Battersea Power Station - lots of shops, a very nice bookshop and lunch at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant. I accidentally had dinner in Tom Kerridge's London pub too, without realising. It was raining, I was tired after wandering around the show and the pub was the nearest eating place, at the end of the street. And very good it was too.  I ate icecream in several up market icecream parlours, went to a concert in Cadogan Hall, which was just around the corner,  a ensemble called Voces8 which I had never encountered before, and which was very enjoyable. As well as the flower show, Chelsea had it's own flower festival going on, with all the shops dressed to the nines, so the place was manic on Sunday with florists getting ready and then on all the days after with tourists taking selfies. I intended to take some too, but it was just too crowded! I had a wonderful, if expensive, time. Now I'm wondering if I can do it all again next year. 

There will be a full post on the flower show later - but until then these are a few of the friends I made along the way. 

Well - I didn't win ...

 But I had a wonderful evening. 

It was great to be on my publisher Joffe's table to celebrate simply being nominated. Sue Fortin won the Jackie Collins but she is a friend so I have forgiven her. Next time! 

I enjoyed wearing my sparkly jumpsuit. I took the long gloves then forgot to put them on! I wondered if traveling on the Tube to the venue at Tower Hill from Chelsea at 4 p.m. in all my finery would be 'interesting'  but except from one young girl no one batted an eyelid. 

Anton Du Beke was an excellent celebrity presenter, along side the RNA's Brigid Cody and he was super generous in posing for selfies with everyone. There was food and drink and photos and excitement. Lots of gossip and laughter and the chance to see old friends.  Finalists had to arrive early for a photo shoot, but I haven't been able to get those photos to open! The tension built up from there until the moment when the envelope was opened. If you want to see - and read - all the winners you will find them on the RNA website. A real variety of popular romantic fiction. 

The awards were only the start of a fabulous week I spent in Chelsea. More posts over the next few weeks. 

I've  borrowed the photos from Fellow finalist and Cariad Chapter member Jan Baynham and from the official photographer Katie Hipkiss Visuals. Ownership acknowledged with many thanks. 

Table awaiting guests.

My name in lights

Deep in conversation - and where did the sumo wrestler arms come from? 

Posing with Anton along with fellow Joffe contender Jan and her daughter Jo.