06/04/2014
I should start this post by saying a huge
thank you to Vikki Gemmell for recommending me for the blog tour. I first met
Vikki at the Scottish Association of Writers’ Conference. We both have a shared
passion for writing but both struggle to find time to pursue it whilst working
and juggling busy life-styles. Vikki’s writing is excellent and I really admire
her enthusiasm and persistence. She is
also the reason I started a blog at all and is great at motivating me to write.
Check out Vikki’s blog here:
As part of the blog chain I was asked to
answer four questions.
1) What
am I working on?
There are three areas of writing I’m currently working on. These are my thriller novels, my charity column and this
blog.
When I wrote my first full-length novel
aged 16, I leant instinctively towards crime, as detective stories and
science-fiction form the bulk of my reading. I quickly realised (well, after
three novels,) that the methodical, police enquiry treatment of mysteries
didn’t suit my writing style. Instead my later works (I’ve now completed seven
full-length novels) have been more fluid. They always explore psychology and
relationships, often pushing characters to the very edges of their capability
and sanity. The novel I return to most often is called Liminal. It’s set in South Africa and I’m really quite fond of it.
However much I put it in a drawer, it keeps re-emerging. It won an award at the
SAW conference and has always received good feedback. I’ve spent some time on
it in recent years and it’s now in a state I am happy with. So, my aim this
year is to get it recognised and published in some form.
I loved the characters in Liminal a lot, especially the central
figure called Tom who is a policeman struggling to recover from a traumatic
experience. His mental battle is the main feature of the book, coupled with
exploration of the landscape of South Africa. I’ve taken some of the
characters, including Tom, into a different area and I am writing the sequel, working title: the Leaves of Memory.
In addition to my novel writing, I draft a
regular column for a third sector magazine, called ‘Tea and Cake’. In it I
describe the highs and lows of volunteering and working for charity.
I also have this blog, which describes my
efforts (not always successful) to get around to doing all those things I
should have done ages ago.
2)
How does my work differ from others of its genre?
Liminal is always quite difficult to place as it isn’t strictly a crime
novel. However there is a crime at its centre, one which links together several
characters and spans the miles between England and South Africa.
Stylistically, I originally made it
different by including passages of journal to expand on Tom’s mental trauma. I
later discarded these as they created a separation for the reader.
When I met Karen Maitland, who gave it an
award at SAW, she was surprised the work was written by a woman. I started
thinking about how many adventure stories there were for adults that weren’t
murder mysteries, especially ones that both men and women could enjoy. I think Liminal fits a real gap in the market-
perhaps for anyone who really misses being able to curl up with a Famous Five
or a Hardy Boys adventure!
I’d love to take the central characters to
a few different countries throughout the series. Liminal made use of my own experiences travelling through Africa
and I’ve been to lots of places since that could be the basis for future works.
Who knows, if it’s a success, I might get the excuse to travel even more.
3.)
Why do I write what I do?
The simple reason is, that I write because
I can’t not write. My full-time job is as a grant writer and fundraiser
for charity, so I’m used to telling stories that inspire people. Given five
minutes of quiet, I find the characters often fill my head and I’m transported
into another world that I would love to share with others.
Looking through all my work there are
definitely themes. Liminal I suppose
reveals my love of people and psychology, what makes us tick and how we cope
when we’re pushed to the edge. I have a strong love of wildlife and landscapes
and enjoy a good puzzle. A lot of my work features difficult decisions and
situations.
There’s also quite a lot of humour
alongside the darkness. So at the root I hope that everything that I write,
whether it’s one of my novels, a short story, my column or a blog entry,
inspires people that however dark times can get (and they can get pretty dark
as we all know,) there has to be hope, humour and friendship. We can surprise
ourselves with how strong we are, especially when we have good friends and
family beside us. My endings aren’t always happy, but there’s always some sort
of light I hope.
4.)
How does my writing process work?
Very sporadically! If it’s a column entry,
I often start with a theme, recent event or even a title, then draft as many
points about that as I can think of. Later it gets honed down to 500-700 words.
I’ll often start thinking about it a few days before the deadline and start
noting points in a pad or on my phone. Then of course I end up submitting it at
the very last minute.
My novel writing process is similar but
less regular. Trains are great places to work. I often write in coffee shops or
even sitting up in bed. Basically I work around whenever there is time and
inspiration. But as with the columns, I frequently find myself typing down
notes of phrases, pictures or situations that will be included.
The first draft is normally very messy. Liminal started as just inter-weaving my
journal entries with a fictional mystery. I’ve now integrated the diaries into
the main novel and broken it up into handy chapters, also adding some action
where needed and taking out a lot of the unnecessary description- I love to wax
lyrical.
The Leaves
of Memory is actually being written very much how the title suggests, like
lots of leaves being turned over. The characters have periods of nostalgia or
remembered sequences. I’ve written a lot of the sections separately and am now
stitching them all together. It’s not an easy way to write, but as I said, I
enjoy a good puzzle.
My blog is very sporadic as it relies on me
actually doing one of the activities on the list of forty things. So, there can
be quite a gap between entries. That said, there is another one due very soon
so watch this space...
The blog I’ve chosen to follow mine in this
chain is called Earth Be Glad and it’s run by a group of very enthusiastic
volunteers at St. John’s, the church I currently work for as a fundraiser. They
all have love of the environment and wildlife at the heart of everything they
do, which is why ‘Earth be Glad’ appeals to me as a secret hippy.
There’s currently a programme of events
looking at how we can respond to Climate change, pulling together scientists
and all of us enthusiastic amateurs to produce events that inspire and appeal
to both faith and non-faith based audiences. The most recent one involves
creating a wildlife garden.
Even if church isn’t your usual ‘bag’, I’d
encourage you to take a read of this blog. It’s really thought-provoking and
hopefully fun and enjoyable too.
Here’s their official biog:
"Earth be Glad is a project of St
John's Edinburgh to use Christian wisdom as the basis of radical thought and
effective action in the face of environmental crisis. It takes its name from Psalm 96, an ancient Hebrew poem which depicts all of
nature flourishes in a world in which true justice has been established."
