tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58748885118950597482024-02-07T02:19:55.934+00:00literascribeA writer's take on the business of books and the writing lifeLorna Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902741383469719107noreply@blogger.comBlogger299125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874888511895059748.post-2350280999545142062019-12-26T17:26:00.000+00:002019-12-26T17:26:15.857+00:00Literascribe is archived - here's where to go now for my blogposts<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1uxxzzAR6Ss1TCg3xvqj5s4HpWKLaux5XEfTc42PbmuPuyM4svpO9T4R5yMXkG3DJVRbGoSyVd9DnBSLhgW2hcshO_93mbh1P1yRru2RA__8Rd-eq5XOEFG0HEX3Cq5O9OGJp1Tnyxs4/s1600/Stocksy_txp97f708b4TjG100_Medium_314245.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1053" data-original-width="1600" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1uxxzzAR6Ss1TCg3xvqj5s4HpWKLaux5XEfTc42PbmuPuyM4svpO9T4R5yMXkG3DJVRbGoSyVd9DnBSLhgW2hcshO_93mbh1P1yRru2RA__8Rd-eq5XOEFG0HEX3Cq5O9OGJp1Tnyxs4/s320/Stocksy_txp97f708b4TjG100_Medium_314245.jpg" width="320" /></a>My blog about this writing business, creative writing, recommended reads and literary events of note can now be found as part of my main website, <a href="http://www.fictionfire.co.uk/" target="_blank">Fictionfire</a>.<br />
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To see posts for 2019 go <a href="https://www.fictionfire.co.uk/blog/2019/12/26/collected-fictionfire-blogposts-2019" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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I'm leaving Literascribe's posts - more than a decade's worth - available. Just use the tags in the sidebar to follow what interests you!<br />
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If you're a writer or would-be writer, sign up for my Fictionfire newsletter for articles, tips and competition news <a href="http://www.fictionfire.co.uk/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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If you'd like to join the waiting list and get advance news and sneak peeks of my forthcoming book, The Unputdownable Writer's Mindset, go <a href="http://www.unputdownablewriter.com/" target="_blank">here</a>.Lorna Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902741383469719107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874888511895059748.post-46407135016244843282018-08-21T14:51:00.004+00:002018-08-21T14:51:52.884+00:00Steeped in Summer Stories - Winchester Writers' Festival and Oxford summer schools<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP5Osd5UnrxOaWPd_lNNMZXxYAvMBXcyPzOZ6d2ZZPRyzAhbnF6AZKxzwb5E8ImrjOwvAD2Xpu0que_U2pL4BNmwmAgDKA3W-TLZfmUNdePyMfuHXCPA0QnaNaq0rZ3xMIhZwkhB21z5k/s1600/773.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP5Osd5UnrxOaWPd_lNNMZXxYAvMBXcyPzOZ6d2ZZPRyzAhbnF6AZKxzwb5E8ImrjOwvAD2Xpu0que_U2pL4BNmwmAgDKA3W-TLZfmUNdePyMfuHXCPA0QnaNaq0rZ3xMIhZwkhB21z5k/s320/773.JPG" width="240" /></a>This is one of those catch-up posts as it dawns on me how long it is since I last blogged! And why is that, you ask? The spring and summer were intense phases of teaching, along with my core editorial work. I realised yesterday that we are on the cusp of autumn and couldn't quite believe it. This post, then, is a photographic diary of my summer and of the amazing people I've met.<br />
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I taught a part-time course on getting started in writing from April onwards as part of the University of Oxford's Department of Continuing Education work.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio17E1m4ZgfhirwxmSzZAAkmvKX0M9LISp2iWJr8WfQZssi2NX7BoMN5eopdwBj2eyhve8xtXy3tCcwq2njqW8B5qx89Ja2Ghr7TYY9Iwr-qgTgWpVSMGZgpRAIxa5FQQgQESysiYKukE/s1600/762.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio17E1m4ZgfhirwxmSzZAAkmvKX0M9LISp2iWJr8WfQZssi2NX7BoMN5eopdwBj2eyhve8xtXy3tCcwq2njqW8B5qx89Ja2Ghr7TYY9Iwr-qgTgWpVSMGZgpRAIxa5FQQgQESysiYKukE/s200/762.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At Winchester with my friend, writer Lisa Greaves</td></tr>
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In June I ran three workshops at Cornerstone Arts<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3joyg_9t4hAFwmLCfUzmzRAyoAVY7X0l9AmUUzkLAXtEdMN8rH9onXCoxeDzz-mOomcq_wMWZmYYOwdvxxIUviY2D00gUtqQVg89MVx3qPEYxPaB60GJ5uBX4BG-0w7vSyp87ae84tMo/s1600/770.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3joyg_9t4hAFwmLCfUzmzRAyoAVY7X0l9AmUUzkLAXtEdMN8rH9onXCoxeDzz-mOomcq_wMWZmYYOwdvxxIUviY2D00gUtqQVg89MVx3qPEYxPaB60GJ5uBX4BG-0w7vSyp87ae84tMo/s200/770.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With the Festival's original founder,<br />the wonderful Barbara Large</td></tr>
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in Didcot, then paid my annual visit to teach at the <a href="http://writersfestival.co.uk/" target="_blank">Winchester Writers' Festival</a>.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN3YaikK26DwpsRSHhY3KdtjRf3NymC6OJ6OCRTabs3LzNTIx_KU5frUq9GmekniDTk5hOICDKCtbo5CC_Zqi1ObeTHT0yV0SZun39ccOTxYXV9_7vucXQbhLopkCD20TCQQpZbL9f6N4/s1600/742.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN3YaikK26DwpsRSHhY3KdtjRf3NymC6OJ6OCRTabs3LzNTIx_KU5frUq9GmekniDTk5hOICDKCtbo5CC_Zqi1ObeTHT0yV0SZun39ccOTxYXV9_7vucXQbhLopkCD20TCQQpZbL9f6N4/s200/742.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Conference Director Judith Heneghan</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Speaker Helen Dennis</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcZaL2xraXKZ7_qDO1lBB2Z2Qz0dVCZaqyRGbe4wT6yZMZ75QD-N-ks35qr4wPpsc59hpS0dZq6UiWX1Y815o0LFmpEso1-HzU6x7tDxnHWNCCU4EDZoH-tp1kp27-PWKmU2ySvJ15ez4/s1600/772.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcZaL2xraXKZ7_qDO1lBB2Z2Qz0dVCZaqyRGbe4wT6yZMZ75QD-N-ks35qr4wPpsc59hpS0dZq6UiWX1Y815o0LFmpEso1-HzU6x7tDxnHWNCCU4EDZoH-tp1kp27-PWKmU2ySvJ15ez4/s200/772.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Stripe Theatre by night</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJi_LpNQjQeGTEm6tGqBNvfCOlvcnLgUC-5gGUWPTHd8sxdjd9dT7lM1CpAg8qK-syR00EDnl_8ZyilE-tDNV8ovHez8QXjn926TLPPRjA66x7mKksTUZyycfXTHjxqENd4U248s3bOp4/s1600/839.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJi_LpNQjQeGTEm6tGqBNvfCOlvcnLgUC-5gGUWPTHd8sxdjd9dT7lM1CpAg8qK-syR00EDnl_8ZyilE-tDNV8ovHez8QXjn926TLPPRjA66x7mKksTUZyycfXTHjxqENd4U248s3bOp4/s320/839.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Teaching on the OUSSA programme</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With my OUSSA students</td></tr>
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In July and August, I taught on Oxford University's Summer School for Adults (<a href="https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/about/oussa" target="_blank">OUSSA</a>) at Rewley House, followed by the university's <a href="https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/courses/creative-writing-summer-school" target="_blank">International Creative Writing Summer School</a> for three weeks at Exeter College.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">OUSSA students</td></tr>
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Along the way, I met, as I always do, writers who were starting out or more advanced, writers brimful of enthusiasm, motivation, curiosity and the desire to improve their craft. I read and gave feedback on writing that was poignant, dramatic, thoughtful, beautiful, gripping.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting ready to teach at Exeter College<br />with fellow tutors Julie Hearn, Frank Egerton and Matthew Barton</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkz8dSp9ohuxzLwpheKOSsWae9g1nbFAgUHrU0IvR306eopRnKbcA9i49nzJSuRAEu7RuWdtycsqTQO8_wM6JdkjJtxZ9eAU25D1xD2iktxDuXK-mXt_xYoYWYPqcwVunR8rFB5delJzw/s1600/023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkz8dSp9ohuxzLwpheKOSsWae9g1nbFAgUHrU0IvR306eopRnKbcA9i49nzJSuRAEu7RuWdtycsqTQO8_wM6JdkjJtxZ9eAU25D1xD2iktxDuXK-mXt_xYoYWYPqcwVunR8rFB5delJzw/s200/023.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Exeter College, its lawns drier than we've ever seen!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVOI5rn4yaW7HI-5brNTqKM3pex3IUiw7HnTP1V4m5lpCZPD5gHsiwc1yccoER0evr42Z9w1tmFVOMxnRfW6jixY5iYE6MJjFVWpaUz3JlIpAzFYq0r8V45U8SnbBuMcu_FsaQ7ig74Ps/s1600/053.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVOI5rn4yaW7HI-5brNTqKM3pex3IUiw7HnTP1V4m5lpCZPD5gHsiwc1yccoER0evr42Z9w1tmFVOMxnRfW6jixY5iYE6MJjFVWpaUz3JlIpAzFYq0r8V45U8SnbBuMcu_FsaQ7ig74Ps/s200/053.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tutors Susannah Rickards and Rachel Bentham</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDoI_X5cfm8SvEmvQ8wxaSctkoVml7R_iS5ywJSzKlhK4FRsX2wD7GJ2sov_GnUxaXNAdu2cSv4cmc5rIYQcWAbB9N-8CbHJp1NDBMVqGUOmYfoLp_b0FhPVZ61Lq1JQM3MGfOreSbXJE/s1600/054.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDoI_X5cfm8SvEmvQ8wxaSctkoVml7R_iS5ywJSzKlhK4FRsX2wD7GJ2sov_GnUxaXNAdu2cSv4cmc5rIYQcWAbB9N-8CbHJp1NDBMVqGUOmYfoLp_b0FhPVZ61Lq1JQM3MGfOreSbXJE/s200/054.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Turl Street Oxford</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9c8FiaL5xZPvkGnnxjXh-MNgk0Kp8VIpZKKrDWHlDNvRCJOkEQTI05esv8lZiA6OspVX87WbFNMl-T0KmkOnxoMB0T9Rj1j3ziPRfNMIO6xeGAlEwreLZSa50QwRVZhdBsWsuEy47xO0/s1600/Exeter+College+%25283%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9c8FiaL5xZPvkGnnxjXh-MNgk0Kp8VIpZKKrDWHlDNvRCJOkEQTI05esv8lZiA6OspVX87WbFNMl-T0KmkOnxoMB0T9Rj1j3ziPRfNMIO6xeGAlEwreLZSa50QwRVZhdBsWsuEy47xO0/s200/Exeter+College+%25283%2529.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Exeter College Chapel</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4lXvzTqmCgO6TDS9UeU7Vcn6Z3UccPd2IW7mkOwMmBLcd9IeXAH-sTPkw3lI5aIF6crY3mzrGvQu6J5jGVeRdW1MWCb6kBLsRhZ9q3u-NIv4yCsIgiac8eaPbtFdV2kzqAeWg5UD9dz4/s1600/Passport+022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4lXvzTqmCgO6TDS9UeU7Vcn6Z3UccPd2IW7mkOwMmBLcd9IeXAH-sTPkw3lI5aIF6crY3mzrGvQu6J5jGVeRdW1MWCb6kBLsRhZ9q3u-NIv4yCsIgiac8eaPbtFdV2kzqAeWg5UD9dz4/s200/Passport+022.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Exeter College Chapel</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpsoHZwkQtg7XWGfIztEceCs8CARDBxDPN8apubtOWtPjgFQetH7KJ-YlRZNkkxa0yWkZK78h-FYeqc-JE82Tf-q9eAANcIxzu8cVjzLXUMZvUZaFrRKsPttHNcaVpkU-6xcvfwpDuRnw/s1600/Passport+023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpsoHZwkQtg7XWGfIztEceCs8CARDBxDPN8apubtOWtPjgFQetH7KJ-YlRZNkkxa0yWkZK78h-FYeqc-JE82Tf-q9eAANcIxzu8cVjzLXUMZvUZaFrRKsPttHNcaVpkU-6xcvfwpDuRnw/s200/Passport+023.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Exeter College Dining Hall</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD3VuuHaCnQOfbOjnGnSaKnnYFnBazs4QcGpj1DuMcBAEajAAJ4fTQ_mDp_wWWl2r2yXtbv68EoF7lnxXSj0FC7hW_CPy8E_dcswAO7zLQsK25zoFC4ad_RZnYl-9ilwZs8P6yhTmBp_Y/s1600/Passport+027.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD3VuuHaCnQOfbOjnGnSaKnnYFnBazs4QcGpj1DuMcBAEajAAJ4fTQ_mDp_wWWl2r2yXtbv68EoF7lnxXSj0FC7hW_CPy8E_dcswAO7zLQsK25zoFC4ad_RZnYl-9ilwZs8P6yhTmBp_Y/s200/Passport+027.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Exeter College Chapel</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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I'll be back in the autumn with more musings about the world of books, an IGISIRI catch-up, and more interviews and guest-posts too. Till then, enjoy the rest of your summer!Lorna Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902741383469719107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874888511895059748.post-6573709766308459372018-03-01T01:32:00.000+00:002018-08-21T13:33:33.338+00:00From injustice to insight: Jane Davis guest-posts about what inspired her new novel's powerful examination of resilience after tragedy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkviDRYzcuToFWsmgFt-1GwfRn6CwZLklt6sJK47jRmJkbDf4SPTGgcJ6tI1VcjWoVw07khzYuF4005c8Bk3b_kHwCUqBbzB9IvgzTysXSQqpzFZF3IL9MOCkM9KdFc_T6QGwZXgWHWak/s1600/rsz_smash_all_the_windows_final_final_ebook_cover+325+x+521+for+website.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="521" data-original-width="325" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkviDRYzcuToFWsmgFt-1GwfRn6CwZLklt6sJK47jRmJkbDf4SPTGgcJ6tI1VcjWoVw07khzYuF4005c8Bk3b_kHwCUqBbzB9IvgzTysXSQqpzFZF3IL9MOCkM9KdFc_T6QGwZXgWHWak/s320/rsz_smash_all_the_windows_final_final_ebook_cover+325+x+521+for+website.jpg" width="199" /></a></div>
<i>My guest today is Jane Davis, who has written an absolutely fascinating range of novels. I do love this, that she doesn't keep stirring the pot and serving up the same old same old: every book has an extraordinary cover and an extraordinary, individual tale to tell. Her latest is no exception: </i>Smash all<i> </i>the Windows<i> tells you by its title that it is about rage and rebellion against injustice. I'm always fascinated by the triggers for story and how stories take hold of us until we simply must tell them. Here's Jane's account of how this latest novel came into being for her –</i><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Write
about how <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Smash all the Windows</i> came
into being? It sounds so simple. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">The seed
of my novel was anger. I remember that quite clearly. I was appalled by the
press’s reaction to the outcome of the second Hillsborough inquest. Microphones
were thrust at family members as they emerged stunned and blinking from the
courtroom. It was put to them that, now that the original ruling had been
overturned, they could get on with their lives. What lives? Were these the
lives that the families enjoyed before the tragedy? Or the lives that they
might have been entitled to expect?<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">For
those who don’t know about the Hillsborough disaster, a crowd-crush occurred during
the 1989 FA Cup semi-final, killing 96 fans. What was particularly shocking was
how the disaster played out in real-time in living rooms across the country. Live
commentary informed television viewers that Liverpool fans were to blame. In
that moment, victims became scapegoats. It would be twenty-seven years before
the record was set straight. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Elizabeth
Strout, an author I greatly admire, tells her writing students, ‘You can’t
write fiction and be careful.’ And I agree. I really do. But none of us exist
in a vacuum. The pain I saw on the faces of family members in the aftermath of
the second inquest, twenty-seven years after the disaster, was raw. My
favourite description of fiction is ‘made-up truth’. And so combining two of my
fears – travelling in rush hour by Tube, and escalators – I created a fictional
disaster. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">The
previous year, on my way to a book-reading in Covent Garden, I’d suffered a
fall. Already overloaded from a day’s work in the city, I also had a suitcase
full of books in tow. The escalator I would normally have used was out of
order. Instead we were diverted to one that was obviously much steeper, but I
was totally unprepared for how fast it was. When I pushed my suitcase in front
of me, it literally dragged me off-balance. Fortunately, there was no one
directly in front. A few bruises and a pair of laddered lights aside, I escaped
unscathed. But the day could have ended very differently. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">My
fictional disaster shared many common elements with Hillsborough. Because both
incidents happened before the explosion of the internet, voices weren’t heard
as they would be today. Photographs weren’t posted on Twitter. In both
instances, someone in management was new to the job. There were elements of
institutionalised complacency. (‘We’ve always done things that way’ is still
the most dangerous sentence in the English language.) Facilities dated from a
time when the relationship between pedestrian traffic-flow and human space
requirements wasn’t understood. Risk assessments hadn’t considered how multiple
casualties might be dealt with. Both disasters blighted the lives of many
hundreds – survivors, witnesses, families and friends, and the police, doctors
and nurses who dealt with the aftermath. I also wanted to reflect the
extraordinary pressure endured by the Hillsborough families following their
appalling treatment as they searched for loved ones. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">But,
writing about my fictional incident, new difficulties soon presented
themselves. And they came from far closer to home. In May 2017 came the London
Bridge attack, an incident that took place within the setting of my novel. I
witnessed first-hand the bouquets of red roses that spanned the full width of
the bridge. The messages written to loved ones. And the photographs of the
victims, all those devastating, beautiful obituaries. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Susan
Sontag said, ‘Every fictional plot contains hints and traces of the stories it
has excluded or resisted in order to assume its present shape.’ I had to make
conscious decisions if I should let this disaster shape the story I was
writing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">I had
already realised that I didn’t want to write a book about blame. This would do an
injustice to the many individuals who behave heroically in the most terrible
circumstances. Added to which, everything I read about accident investigation delivered
a clear message. Any finding that an individual is to blame is not only likely
be biased, but will fail to get to the root of how the disaster happened.
Corporate Manslaughter remains an option, but there are difficulties and
dangers holding companies and organisations to account. Unwittingly, in setting
my disaster in a London Underground station, I picked a prime example of an
organisation that is subjected to crippling external pressures. London’s
rapidly growing population is the most obvious. Add to this the inherent
difficulties of expanding the Tube network. And nowhere are these challenges
more concentrated than in the City. I certainly didn’t hold London Underground
to be responsible for my fictional disaster. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Then in
June 2017 came the Grenfell Fire, the most heart-breaking tragedy of recent
years, not only because of the scale of the devastation, but because facts
quickly emerged that suggested it could have been prevented. Inadvertently, in
avoiding writing about Hillsborough, I now appeared to be commentating on two
disasters, both of which were far closer to home! And having made a decision to
write about unblame rather than blame, I was seriously out of tune with public
opinion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Fortunately
the focus of my novel is human drama. My challenge was translate the emotional
fallout onto the page, capturing all of the guarded memories, the hidden sorrow
of a man whose wife will no longer leave the house, the man who mourns not only
the loss of a daughter but his unborn grandson and the end of his family line,
a woman who beats herself up for having been a bad mother, the daughter who
must assume position as head of the household, the sculptor who turns his grief
into art, the sheer heroism involved in getting up day after day and going out
into a world that has betrayed you. The real story is about human resilience
and the healing power of art. It is a story with a beating heart. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><i><b>Smash all the Windows:</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">It has taken conviction to right the wrongs. </span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">It will take courage to learn how to live again.</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">For the families of the victims of the St Botolph and Old Billingsgate
disaster, the undoing of a miscarriage of justice should be a cause for
rejoicing. For more than thirteen years, the search for truth has eaten up
everything. Marriages, families, health, careers and finances.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Finally, the coroner has ruled that the crowd did not contribute to
their own deaths. Finally, now that lies have been unravelled and hypocrisies
exposed, they can all get back to their lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">If only it were that simple. </span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Tapping into the issues of the day, Davis delivers a compelling testament to the human condition and the healing
power of art. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Written with immediacy, style and an overwhelming sense of empathy, <i>Smash
all the Windows</i> will be enjoyed by readers of <i>How to Paint a Dead Man</i>
by Sarah Hall and <i>How to be Both</i> by Ali Smith.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Smash
all the Windows</span></i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"> is currently on special offer at only 99p until May 31st</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">. The Universal Link is </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><a href="http://books2read.com/u/49P21p">books2read.com/u/49P21p</a> - choose your vendor and order from there.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><b>About Jane:</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Hailed by The
Bookseller as ‘One to Watch’, Jane Davis is the author of eight novels. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Jane spent her
twenties and the first part of her thirties chasing promotions at work, but
when she achieved what she’d set out to do, she discovered that it wasn’t what
she wanted after all. It was then that she turned to writing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Her debut, <i>Half-truths & White Lies,</i> won the
Daily Mail First Novel Award 2008. Of her subsequent three novels, Compulsion
Reads wrote, ‘Davis is a phenomenal writer, whose ability to create
well-rounded characters that are easy to relate to feels effortless’. Her 2015
novel, <i>An Unknown Woman</i>, was Writing
Magazine’s Self-published Book of the Year 2016 and has been shortlisted for
two further awards. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Jane lives in
Carshalton, Surrey with her Formula 1 obsessed, star-gazing, beer-brewing
partner, surrounded by growing piles of paperbacks, CDs and general chaos. When
she isn’t writing, you may spot her disappearing up a mountain with a camera in
hand. Her favourite description of fiction is ‘made-up truth’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Jane has also written:</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></b></div>
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<a href="https://jane-davis.co.uk/books/half-truths-white-lies/"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Half-truths & White Lies</span></a><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://jane-davis.co.uk/books/i-stopped-time/"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I Stopped Time</span></a><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://jane-davis.co.uk/books/these-fragile-things/"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">These Fragile Things</span></a><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://jane-davis.co.uk/books/a-funeral-for-an-owl/"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">A Funeral for an Owl</span></a><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://jane-davis.co.uk/books/an-unchoreographed-life/"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">An Unchoreographed Life</span></a><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://jane-davis.co.uk/books/an-unknown-woman/"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">An Unknown Woman</span></a><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://jane-davis.co.uk/books/my-counterfeit-self/"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">My Counterfeit Self</span></a><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i>Smash all the Windows</i> individual pre-ordering/buying links:<br />
<br />
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Amazon.com
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079MBP3WD">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079MBP3WD</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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Amazon.co.uk
<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B079MBP3WD">https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B079MBP3WD</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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Kobo:
<a href="https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/smash-all-the-windows">https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/smash-all-the-windows</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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Smashwords
<a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/788752">https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/788752</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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Apple
(iBooks)
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1346027779">https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1346027779</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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Barnes &
Noble
<a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/smash-all-the-windows-jane-davis/1127938176">https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/smash-all-the-windows-jane-davis/1127938176</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #111111; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Website: <a href="https://jane-davis.co.uk/">https://jane-davis.co.uk</a></span><span style="color: #111111; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><br />
<span style="background: white;">Facebook page:
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/JaneDavisAuthorPage">https://www.facebook.com/JaneDavisAuthorPage</a></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/janedavisauthor">https://twitter.com/janedavisauthor</a></span><br />
<span style="background: white;">Pinterest:
<a href="http://pinterest.com/janeeleanordavi/boards/">http://pinterest.com/janeeleanordavi/boards/</a></span></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Press enquiries
janerossdale@btinternet.com<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">High resolution
photos available from </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><a href="https://jane-davis.co.uk/media-kit/">https://jane-davis.co.uk/media-kit/</a></span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b>Finally</b>:</div>
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<h4 style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I, for one, am delighted it's March now! February was not my friend: I'm still ill with a tenacious virus but will be launching my first online course, Get Ready to Write, later in the year. If you're not already on my newsletter list and you want to be among the first to know more about my courses and special offers, then you can sign up <a href="http://www.fictionfire.co.uk/" style="color: #ff1a00; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">here</a>. You'll get a free productivity guide too!</span></h4>
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<br />Lorna Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902741383469719107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874888511895059748.post-83936894699835780092018-02-28T01:20:00.000+00:002018-02-28T15:43:15.483+00:00Self-publishing service shark warning: guest-post by Ann Kelley<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU0EimWF8UO3ehP6jtGU4lPBxo4KPEzJDWVsU-4VBI_G47JgDFTm_jTRAOC6fDN4wGosf479U847Ev9QFNMxDZiuqlTWQIa45Eq0PC2ZSSiW45WiJdTA6sGh8-UyPDQ1OoELoSzunSqwE/s1600/Ann+Kelley+On+a+Moonlit+NightWP_20170724_20_43_05_Pro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="617" data-original-width="640" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU0EimWF8UO3ehP6jtGU4lPBxo4KPEzJDWVsU-4VBI_G47JgDFTm_jTRAOC6fDN4wGosf479U847Ev9QFNMxDZiuqlTWQIa45Eq0PC2ZSSiW45WiJdTA6sGh8-UyPDQ1OoELoSzunSqwE/s320/Ann+Kelley+On+a+Moonlit+NightWP_20170724_20_43_05_Pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<i>You'll know that I have often celebrated the freedom writers have these days to choose between a traditional and an independent route to publication. My guest today is Ann Kelley, who has previously featured on this blog <a href="http://literascribe.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/writing-spirit-of-character-and-place.html" target="_blank">here</a>. I love her writing - her ability to observe the natural world is second to none. She has experienced success as a traditionally published writer, winning the Costa Children's Book of the Year with her novel </i>The Bower Bird<i>, the second in her enchanting and moving trilogy about Gussie, a young girl with a life-threatening illness, who is one of the most 'alive' people you will ever meet in fiction. The first in the series is </i>The Burying Beetle<i> and all are published by Luath Press.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Ann has also published an ebook herself, of her novella </i>On a Night of Snow<i>. She went on to publish it last year as a lovely paperback with her own illustrations - and if you're a cat fan, this book should be catnip to you!</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>I've invited her to guest-post, though, because she has a salutary tale to tell of the darker side of the self-publishing industry, where, sadly, there are still sharks cruising to exploit writers. I won't name the firm in question here - but if anyone is seeking to self-publish I strongly advise them to join the <a href="https://allianceindependentauthors.org/?affid=135" target="_blank">Alliance of Independent Authors</a>, because they can provide recommendations of good service providers and warn you off the baddies and incompetents.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Here's Ann's experience: </i><br />
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My
novella ON A MOONLIT NIGHT was first published as an Ebook (<i>On a Night of Snow</i>)
a few years ago under a different title. My editor, Jennie Renton, who had
worked on several of my published novels offered to set up the ebook for
me. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But,
I had started to draw, and was given encouragement by my teachers and others to
illustrate my own writing. I remembered the novella, and set to work
producing as many drawings of cats as I could.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">ON A
MOONLIT NIGHT is the first book I have published myself, having had over twenty
books published by mainline publishers in the past.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Self-publishing
is an exciting project. I had an excellent, helpful designer - Peter Bennett,
who had worked with me on several other productions. He helped with choosing
the correct paper and card as well as designing the entire book, cover to
cover. And what a cover! That was fun! We couldn’t decide which cat to place on
the front cover, and in the end he presented me with the image of all the
cats I had drawn! I particularly asked for the end pages to be visually
exciting with flaps. Having complete control over the design was wonderful. I
recommend it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">However,
when it came to finding a printer things started to go very wrong. I got quotes
from several local printers but decided on X (London based) as
the price was considerably lower. A mistake! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
designer sent the pdfs to them and they approved them. I ordered 250 copies. I
was offered a 10% discount if I paid upfront. I took up the offer - second
mistake! March 2017 I paid the discounted price of £1530. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
printer kept promising that the courier was on his way. We had house sitters to
answer the door if they arrived when we were on holiday in Scotland. The books
failed to arrive, more promises and excuses, no books. By June I had
given up hope. The printer wouldn’t give us the courier’s tracking number. We
failed to reach the courier on one or on the phone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He
said he would use another printer. I thought X was a
printer, but not so. He was just a middleman, it seems. Again no books.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
printer promised to pay the full refund if the books didn’t arrive by that
weekend. No books. I phoned and politely said that I felt stupid, duped, that it
was a scam.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And
now, no refund apart from little dribbles of £10 and £20 - adding up to £150.
So I went to the Small Claims Court. What a palaver! Had to send them three
copies of all emails or correspondence between X and myself and pay court
costs. Quite stressful even thinking about it.</span> </div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We
attended the court just before Christmas. No-one from X attended the court.
The judge went through the details carefully and found for me. She did say
thought that didn’t necessarily mean that I would get my money back. Was X a
limited company? No idea. I was naively expecting them to be honest with me. A
lesson learnt. PAY ON DELIVERY, NOT UPFRONT.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
eventually went to a more expensive local printer, who delivered the
beautifully printed books for free. I don’t know if I will get my money back. I
don’t want to pay for bailiffs. But I won my case. Have kept all the copies of
emails, just in case…<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlgv4BCihKOQVl75etBqNtdg3UpJxlgCdIzijGC8BAUCAA3ZeuPBb0u8mdSrsbefkNeYEXg5fkvURAY_KOXKq9ZvkVF5AAJvBMqiwFe-plcWlLM5af-SZf-bqtHgende3dk_CTGaUz13o/s1600/Ann+Kelley+author+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="214" data-original-width="320" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlgv4BCihKOQVl75etBqNtdg3UpJxlgCdIzijGC8BAUCAA3ZeuPBb0u8mdSrsbefkNeYEXg5fkvURAY_KOXKq9ZvkVF5AAJvBMqiwFe-plcWlLM5af-SZf-bqtHgende3dk_CTGaUz13o/s200/Ann+Kelley+author+photo.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<i>Ann's book is a delight, in spite of all the travails! If you are interested in it you can email her to receive a buying link (contact me at info@fictionfire.co.uk and I will forward your message). You can also find out more about Ann and her other books, by visiting her website at <a href="http://www.annkelley.co.uk/">www.annkelley.co.uk</a> If you'd like to read the original story in ebook form, here's the <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Night-Snow-ANN-KELLEY-ebook/dp/B00HXWQ7AU/" target="_blank">link</a>. </i></div>
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<i>My 2014 interview with Ann, discussing the spirit of place, is <a href="http://literascribe.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/writing-spirit-of-character-and-place.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</i></div>
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<i>Here's the link to the Alliance of Independent Authors again:</i></div>
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<span style="background: #ffd987; color: #2d2300; font-family: "palatino linotype" , "serif"; font-size: 11.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://allianceindependentauthors.org/?affid=135"><img alt="Alliance of Independent Authors /" src="https://allianceindependentauthors.org/members/banners/banner-125x125.png" /></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Finally, though a virus has derailed my plans temporarily, I will be launching my first online course very soon - if you're not already on my newsletter list and you want to be among the first to hear, then you can sign up <a href="http://www.fictionfire.co.uk/" target="_blank">here</a>. You'll get a free productivity guide too!</div>
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<br />Lorna Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902741383469719107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874888511895059748.post-59215108540440087742018-02-02T01:04:00.000+00:002018-02-05T13:41:48.269+00:00When is being faithful being faithless? Anna Belfrage guest posts about a wife's terrible dilemma <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcp9QHma2qPj0_Mp6sfcn8vDihInlLioIjAQFuZkO_x-Qtt7Z1gjs9ZLCzjdDDOctP1hdxxdccaVfEAzHtBHc4G1NLxNfe1GKgBmYwzHYg4ZhI6A67G8a1WiTcnuSAYbf8lv8-FqhR08I/s1600/P1090562.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcp9QHma2qPj0_Mp6sfcn8vDihInlLioIjAQFuZkO_x-Qtt7Z1gjs9ZLCzjdDDOctP1hdxxdccaVfEAzHtBHc4G1NLxNfe1GKgBmYwzHYg4ZhI6A67G8a1WiTcnuSAYbf8lv8-FqhR08I/s320/P1090562.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With Alison Morton on the left and Anna Belfrage on the right<br />
at the HNS conference in London 2014</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i>Yikes, where did January go? It may have been a long, dark month, but it went in the blink of an eye - probably because I've been working full-tilt on a project. All will be revealed soon and if you want to be the first to know, then join my newsletter list at <a href="http://www.fictionfire.co.uk/">www.fictionfire.co.uk</a></i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>After this post-Christmas break, I'm delighted to welcome Anna Belfrage to Literascribe, to talk about the inspiration for her story, 'The Sharing of a Husband', which appears in <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Distant-Echoes-stories-writers-Historical/dp/1909752312/" target="_blank">Distant Echoes</a>. Her story shows us a husband and wife who love one another but are in an absolutely impossible situation - I'll let Anna explain why:</i><br />
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In 1984, the Swedish Herrey brothers won the Eurovision Song
Contest with a song named ‘Diggiloo, Diggiley’. The Herrey brothers were
somewhat exotic in Sweden: they were practising Mormons. At the time, most
Swedes would equate Mormons with young men in dark suits who would knock on
your door and politely ask for some moments of your time so that they could
introduce you to their faith. Those of us who’d watched <i>How the West was Won</i> (a TV series featuring the Macahan family who
set out due west in the aftermath of the US Civil War that was a HUGE hit in
Sweden) had been presented with a somewhat more sinister version of Mormons:
dark clad men who practised polygamy and enticed young gullible girls into
plural marriages.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Obviously, this was a gross simplification. There was much
more to the Mormons than their take on polygamy.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The Mormon religion saw the light of the day in the early 19<sup>th</sup>
century. The first prophet, Joseph Smith, purportedly had a vision where an
angel guided him to discover a number of tables in gold, upon which was
inscribed the story of a lost people, the Nephites. This people were the
descendants of one Lehi who, inspired by God, had his extended tribe build
boats and sailed west, away from the land of Israel and to Central America.
Joseph Smith translated the golden plates into what became the Book of Mormon,
so named after the angel that pointed Joseph in the direction of the golden
tables.<o:p></o:p></div>
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At the time, the world was a restless place: in the wake of
the Napoleonic wars, the economy was generally unstable. The future looked
anything but pink and rosy, and more and more people turned to religion to find
some sort of hope. The Awakening was upon us, a period when preachers of all
denominations tried to grow their flocks by promising salvation. The young Joseph
Smith was so confused by all these preachers, all of them insisting their
interpretation of the Christian faith was the right one, that he went into the
forest and prayed, hoping for divine guidance. God delivered, telling Joseph to
seek guidance only in Scripture, not in charlatans. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Simultaneously with all this religious fervour, the world,
and in particular America, saw a number of Utopian movements. These were
movements aimed at building a better, fairer world. People traipsed off into
the wilds to build a brave new world, aspiring to societies built on equality
and freedom. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The religion Joseph Smith presented to the world in the
1830s was to a large extent influenced by Utopian thought. He wanted to build a
brand new way of life in which no one went hungry or homeless. Obviously, this
appealed. And as Joseph Smith was a charismatic and very handsome man, he was
especially appealing to women. <o:p></o:p></div>
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So far, so good, one could have said. Not so. The Mormons
were viewed with scepticism by the established churches, and when Joseph Smith
had the vision that had him urging his Mormon brethren to embrace polygamy, he
indirectly handed his enemies a loaded gun with which to shoot him. At the
time, polygamy was not expressly forbidden by American law, but it was
definitely frowned upon. Persecution of Mormons increased, Joseph Smith was
arrested and murdered in his prison cell, and the new leader of the Mormons,
Brigham Young, saw no choice but to lead his people even further west, all the
way to present day Utah where the tenacious Mormons would carve out a garden in
the desert and establish a new city, Salt Lake City. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Brigham Young was a firm believer in polygamy and considered
it to be the duty of every Mormon man to take multiple wives and of every
Mormon woman to accept having sister wives. But surely it can’t have been that
easy, can it? Jealousy between wives must have caused strife and disharmony,
and many men would probably have preferred having only one wife—because they
loved the one they had. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ve been fortunate enough to visit Salt Lake City on
several occasions. I count many LDS-members (Church of Latter Day Saints is the
official name for the religion founded by Joseph Smith) among my friends. And
when I ask them what they think of polygamy (which, BTW, is no longer permitted
by the Church of Latter Day Saints, hasn’t been since the late 19<sup>th</sup>
century) and what might have driven Joseph Smith to promote it, I get varied
answers. No one questions the validity of Joseph’s vision – as the First
Prophet, he may not be flawless in the eyes of present-day Mormons, but criticising
him is not really on. However, both men and women talk about the sacrifice a
plural marriage required: from the man, who had to distribute his time fairly
among his wives, from the women, obliged to share their husband.<o:p></o:p></div>
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One of my Salt Lake City friends lent me a biography of one
of his ancestors, one of the founding members of the LDS church. This man would
end up with three wives, but it was his first wife whom he truly loved, thereby
afflicted by guilt because he couldn’t quite summon the same feelings for his
other two wives. In his case, he set up separate homes for his wives and spent
his life ambulating from one home to the other, fathering close to twenty-four
children. He was extremely proud of all his children, and he did his best to be
a devoted husband to all his wives – but he only called one of them “my love”. <o:p></o:p></div>
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All of this inspired my short story, <i>The Sharing of a Husband</i>, the story of a young couple in Deseret.
The husband is under severe pressure by the elders of the church to take more
wives, but his present wife won’t hear of it. But poor Ellie is one lonely
voice and Joshua ultimately caves, betraying Ellie to comply with the
requirements of his church. Not, I imagine, an easy situation to resolve. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Thank you, Anna!</i></div>
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<b><o:p>A</o:p>bout Anna Belfrage</b>: Anna is a financial professional with two absorbing interests - history and writing. She has authored the acclaimed time-slip series The Graham Saga, winner of multiple awards including the HNS Indie Award 2015. Her ongoing series is set in the 1320s and features Adam de Guirande, his wife Kit, and their adventures during Roger Mortimer's rise to power. The latest Graham saga novel is <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/There-Always-Tomorrow-Graham-Saga/dp/1788039661/" target="_blank">There is Always a Tomorrow</a></i> - her loyal fans are, no doubt, already looking forward to the next! Anyone who knows Anna finds it impossible to understand just how she manages to be so incredibly productive - but then, she has an ultra-dynamic imagination that never seems to switch off! Anna frequently guests on history blogs and her website is at <a href="http://www.annabelfrage.com/">http://www.annabelfrage.com/</a>, her blog is at <a href="https://annabelfrage.wordpress.com/">https://annabelfrage.wordpress.com/</a> and you can find her on Facebook at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/annabelfrageauthor/" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/annabelfrageauthor/ </a></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Distant-Echoes-stories-writers-Historical/dp/1909752312/" target="_blank">Distant Echoes</a></span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> is published by Corazon Books in ebook and paperback and is available <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Distant-Echoes-stories-writers-Historical/dp/1909752312/" style="color: #ff1a00; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">here </a>. This anthology contains winners and runners-up of the past two Historical Novel Society’s short story competitions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPwidjq-2DRIgHVELtE8meTtDFdSJ7wd_i3VkE3yGXmW3OUgWSdlCHN2C_4G01-AtJ7hHt6N-9rhI6p0Z5yZslyRRBva-SpIZCg3_jj2W-pkiJCjg0sto5G6E6wb_9qE2ZBkUow-BS6r0/s1600/Distant+Echoes+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="600" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPwidjq-2DRIgHVELtE8meTtDFdSJ7wd_i3VkE3yGXmW3OUgWSdlCHN2C_4G01-AtJ7hHt6N-9rhI6p0Z5yZslyRRBva-SpIZCg3_jj2W-pkiJCjg0sto5G6E6wb_9qE2ZBkUow-BS6r0/s200/Distant+Echoes+cover.jpg" width="125" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I have also written about <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Distant-Echoes-stories-writers-Historical/dp/1909752312/" target="_blank">Distant Echoes</a></i> and the small lives on the fringes of great events of history on the Historical Novel Society’s website <a href="https://historicalnovelsociety.org/distant-echoes-small-lives-on-the-fringes-of-great-events/" style="color: #ff1a00; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Previous guest-posts from contributors are <a href="http://literascribe.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/whats-in-name-author-mari-griffith.html" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="http://literascribe.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/women-and-war-on-sidelines-of-action.html" style="color: #ff1a00; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">here </a>and <a href="http://literascribe.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/the-losing-of-lyonesse-yvonne-lyon.html" style="color: #ff1a00; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Are you a writer - or do you want to be? Visit my <a href="http://www.fictionfire.co.uk/" style="color: #ff1a00; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">website </a>to download your free guide to living a productive writing life and be the first to hear about my new online courses launching in February!</span></div>
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Lorna Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902741383469719107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874888511895059748.post-4447596308331291042017-12-31T20:00:00.001+00:002017-12-31T20:00:53.938+00:00Happy New Year - lessons and beginnings<div style="text-align: left;">
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Well, 2017 was a crazy ride wasn’t it? As we stand on the
threshold of 2018 I’m hearing my friends <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidH45GxXgeDM0SzYQ9hMeABprL6TYUGLanpkh66XdJKssCzzlky-Bs-QAIUc6QkrHSq9ItJQAFR4DockJn0-5n5LyMb25bB1VZgNcG434hE4DetBaMTCrcPxjNzcNBrd6oRuqkMc2yn6Q/s1600/P1170986.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidH45GxXgeDM0SzYQ9hMeABprL6TYUGLanpkh66XdJKssCzzlky-Bs-QAIUc6QkrHSq9ItJQAFR4DockJn0-5n5LyMb25bB1VZgNcG434hE4DetBaMTCrcPxjNzcNBrd6oRuqkMc2yn6Q/s200/P1170986.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the Society of Authors/Writers in Oxford<br />party at Balliol College</td></tr>
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on Facebook wishing one another better times in 2018, not just on a personal level but a global one. We seem to have
spent the past twelve months reeling from one shock to another or feeling
threatened by dark possibilities to come.<br />
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But the solstice has passed. Days are still dark but we
are turning towards the sun. Now is the time of beginnings, of new edifices
built on old foundations.<o:p></o:p></div>
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When I look back on my 2017 it is full of dark and light.
The first quarter was one of physical disability and a sense that my horizons were
closing in because I simply could not walk without serious pain. The knee
injury of the autumn allied itself with the weakness in my hip. I couldn’t get
up and down the stairs without a stick. I couldn’t get out of chairs without the stick. I felt about 105 years
old – and I believed this was going to be my future. You can imagine how
depressing that was.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Now, at the end of the year, things are very different.
To my undying surprise, I find myself an active gym member. I do resistance
training. My muscles are more toned and I’ve lost over half a stone. I have
more energy. I go up and down the stairs and up from chairs without a stick.
Yay! There is a lot more progress to make but I feel Olympian compared to how I
was a few months back.<o:p></o:p></div>
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What is the lesson from this? That your body matters – it’s
the vehicle of all your creativity and when it is unwell it is hard to be
positive or make progress in any other sphere of life.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The other main aspect of my 2017 was the workload. I am glad
to have helped so many students and editorial clients over the past year. It is
extremely fulfilling. But when you realise you’ve edited 1.2 million words
during the year and none of them were your own, you start to wonder when you
will ever match the service you give to others with attention to your own writing
ambitions. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The lesson from this is that the balance of elements in
one’s life needs to be evaluated, constantly, because it is so easy to let one
aspect get out of hand. To that end I will be cutting back on my editing role
and launching a whole new Fictionfire activity in January. Wish me luck!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Highlights of my year were the Oxford summer schools, teaching
at Winchester, holidays in Cornwall and Provence, the publication of ‘Salt’ in <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Distant-Echoes-stories-writers-Historical/dp/1909752312/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1514749187&sr=1-1&keywords=Distant+Echoes" target="_blank">Distant Echoes</a></i> and my poem ‘Cooling’ in <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vine-Leaves-Literary-Journal-Collection/dp/1925417638/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1514749233&sr=1-1&keywords=Vine+Leaves+Literary+Journal" target="_blank"><i>Vine Leaves Literary</i> <i>Journal</i></a>. I read quite a few books as
part of my IGISIRI campaign – but not nearly enough, because of those 1.2
million words of clients’ books. My latest IGISIRI is Geraldine Brooks’ <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Year-Wonders-Plague-Geraldine-Brooks/dp/184115458X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1514749076&sr=8-2" target="_blank"><i>Year of</i> <i>Wonders</i></a>, which I have meant to read for years. It was stunning. I’m
hoping next year to be more consistent in my IGISIRI reading - for previous posts on what IGISIRI means, go <a href="http://literascribe.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/igisiri-catch-up-my-latest-reads.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’ll sign off now with my warmest wishes that you all
have a creative, fulfilling 2018 year ahead of you. I’ll be back this week with
news of my new <a href="http://www.fictionfire.co.uk/" target="_blank">Fictionfire </a>venture and historical novelist Anna Belfrage will
be guest-posting.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Happy New Year!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Lorna x</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Are you a writer - or do you want to be? Visit my <a href="http://www.fictionfire.co.uk/" style="color: #ff1a00; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">website </a>to download your free guide to living a productive writing life.</span></div>
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Lorna Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902741383469719107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874888511895059748.post-35372912122256578782017-12-21T19:05:00.002+00:002017-12-21T19:13:46.361+00:00What's in a name? Author Mari Griffith tells us about a Welshwoman of great spirit.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuz5bVN5cYoEVU9O5mmNWnvz_QYK3IhmAH2-k21oHUXw7UNpAaGOTWxvdCio8YgOrNzYB_vMPBqBEpdLPW5JCLFohDPB84eNziMyF0cMX2NJwaKhi5QaOAQayWq6BsJuFAVrT8CruTtWc/s1600/FP1C6052LK.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuz5bVN5cYoEVU9O5mmNWnvz_QYK3IhmAH2-k21oHUXw7UNpAaGOTWxvdCio8YgOrNzYB_vMPBqBEpdLPW5JCLFohDPB84eNziMyF0cMX2NJwaKhi5QaOAQayWq6BsJuFAVrT8CruTtWc/s200/FP1C6052LK.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mari Griffith</td></tr>
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<i>The latest in my series of guest-posts by writer-contributors to </i>Distant Echoes<i>, a wide-ranging anthology of historical short stories, is by Mari Griffith, who sheds light on a little-known episode at the end of the eighteenth century, when England dreaded the invasion of Napoleon's armies ...</i><br />
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Meghan. It’s a name on people’s lips on both sides of the
Atlantic: and just wait until the fifth in line to the English throne and his
American fiancé are well and truly wed and start producing children! Unimaginative
parents everywhere will be naming their babies after the newest, most glamorous
member of the royal family. That’s what happens. Just think of all the
Victorias, the Alberts and Alices. Now Meghan will be the name of choice and I
wonder how many people will realise that it’s a Welsh name – incorrectly
spelled in this case but at least it’s correctly pronounced and Ms. Markle
won’t end up being known as Princess Mee-gun. That really would make Welsh
toenails curl!</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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I was particularly amused to read that even the royal corgis
immediately took to Meghan. I wondered whether anyone told her that she was
patting the head of a Welsh dog? The
name derives from the Welsh ‘corach’ meaning ‘dwarf’ and ‘ci’ meaning ‘dog’. And,
while we’re on the subject, spare a thought during this festive season for the Christmas
song we now know as ‘Deck the Halls’ – yes, that too is Welsh. It was a 16<sup>th</sup>
century carol for New Year’s Eve, or ‘Nos Calan’. Wales is pretty much
everywhere, if you care to look for it.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXboSJsAL3vNIoaGiXk590dFRbrCCiNK8qGjA4gFFhJ-PmgxQh-67kUBhj-PNXHclCvwPyDa81aGCBVLR9CA4Oem-hT-4-tqnsPUy3Wtsle5Of7XpfgUBiSJyPwXEdjehzOKUw871hN7E/s1600/JemimaNicholasGrave.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXboSJsAL3vNIoaGiXk590dFRbrCCiNK8qGjA4gFFhJ-PmgxQh-67kUBhj-PNXHclCvwPyDa81aGCBVLR9CA4Oem-hT-4-tqnsPUy3Wtsle5Of7XpfgUBiSJyPwXEdjehzOKUw871hN7E/s200/JemimaNicholasGrave.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
But back to the name. It’s pure coincidence, of course, that
I had chosen it for my short story ‘For the Love of Megan’ which is included in
the HNS Anthology <i>Distant</i> <i>Echoes</i>. It tells the tale of Jemima
Nicholas, a woman of formidable stature who was the town cobbler in Fishguard on
the coast of West Wales when, in 1797, England was bracing itself against the
threat of a French invasion. Panic-stricken people withdrew their gold from the
banks, forcing the issue of promissory notes – what we now call bank notes –
for the first time ever. And yes, some 1,400 rag, tag and bobtail members of
the Legion Noire <i>did</i> land - not in
England but in West Wales. These undisciplined conscripts plundered farmyards
and ate undercooked chickens washed down with bootleg brandy from a shipwreck. Suffering
from hangovers and food poisoning, they were hardly in any state to defend
themselves against Jemima’s pitchfork as she rounded them up before turning them
in. She wasn’t going to let any nasty ‘Froggies’ ruin the life of her brand new
niece, baby Megan. Jemima then went on to coordinate the women of the town in
forming a convincing ‘defence force’ to intimidate the invaders. A memorial
stone to record her achievements was erected outside the church of St. Mary’s
in Fishguard and still stands to this day. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Jemima’s is just one of many, many Welsh stories which are
totally unknown outside Wales and this has a great influence on my work as a
writer. Belonging, as I do, to a nation with such a rich and diverse history, I
really want to share it with my readers and if either Megan or Meghan can help,
that’s fine by me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Thank you, Mari!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<b>About Mari Griffith</b>: Mari turned to writing historical fiction in retirement after a working lifetime of producing, promoting and presenting programmes in Welsh and English on BBC Wales. Her first novel, <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Root-Tudor-Rose-Mari-Griffith/dp/1783753293/" target="_blank">Root of the Tudor Rose</a> became an Amazon bestseller. She followed that with <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Witch-Eye-Mari-Griffith/dp/178375950X/" target="_blank">The Witch of Eye</a>, the story behind the most sensational treason trial of the 15th century. Mari's website is <a href="http://www.marigriffith.co.uk/" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Distant Echoes</span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> is published by Corazon Books in ebook and paperback and is available <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Distant-Echoes-stories-writers-Historical/dp/1909752312/" style="color: #ff1a00; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">here </a>. This anthology contains winners and runners-up of the past two Historical Novel Society’s short story competitions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I have also written about <i>Distant Echoes</i> and the small lives on the fringes of great events of history on the Historical Novel Society’s website <a href="https://historicalnovelsociety.org/distant-echoes-small-lives-on-the-fringes-of-great-events/" style="color: #ff1a00; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Previous guest-posts from contributors are <a href="http://literascribe.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/women-and-war-on-sidelines-of-action.html" target="_blank">here </a>and <a href="http://literascribe.blogspot.co.uk/2017/12/the-losing-of-lyonesse-yvonne-lyon.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Are you a writer - or do you want to be? Visit my <a href="http://www.fictionfire.co.uk/" style="color: #ff1a00; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">website </a>to download your free guide to living a productive writing life.</span></div>
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Lorna Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902741383469719107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874888511895059748.post-19611063031633879612017-12-13T15:30:00.002+00:002017-12-13T15:36:50.302+00:00Women and war: on the sidelines of the action but on the frontline of drama - with guests Richard Buxton and Jasmina Svenne<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZvaIUiO9o-nFaeY4zGjWCKGQ_oS4ynBWt7cgfFsZH874hbshgx7BLfBobXW3W1KJIDDOSynw32Cs29BkOXd4IVpAjlylWxI4DEaGVtXztGf3yHivfTXWWnwdgEsXOqNcdmZQo2xTsbf0/s1600/Distant+Echoes+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZvaIUiO9o-nFaeY4zGjWCKGQ_oS4ynBWt7cgfFsZH874hbshgx7BLfBobXW3W1KJIDDOSynw32Cs29BkOXd4IVpAjlylWxI4DEaGVtXztGf3yHivfTXWWnwdgEsXOqNcdmZQo2xTsbf0/s320/Distant+Echoes+cover.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">In 1980, I remember my late friend Catherine Reilly having trouble
convincing academics that the anthology she was working on, of women’s poetry
of the First World War, had significance. That anthology, </span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Scars upon my Heart<i>, went on to
great success and was on exam syllabuses for many years. The poems she sourced reminded
readers that the First World War wasn’t all about bully beef and muddy trenches
– it was about the experience of loved ones: the women who wait, who grieve, whose
experience of war is very different from that of their menfolks.</i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">For today’s post I have invited two other contributors to </span></i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Distant Echoes<i>, a wide-ranging
anthology of historical short stories, to share with me in exploring this topic
– the heartbreak and helplessness of women at times of war in the past.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">We’re starting with Richard Buxton, whose powerful story ‘Disunion’
introduces us to an American Civil War situation far removed from what we’re
familiar with when we watch </span></i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Gone with the Wind<i>. His focus is on the poisonous breakdown of
trust in the community when people take sides:<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Richard Buxton</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Civil Wars differ from
those between nations inasmuch as the wives and daughters were not only waving
their menfolk goodbye, but trying to survive in the midst of the war
themselves. </span><i style="font-size: 12pt;">Disunion</i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> is set in
Eastern Tennessee, as several of my stories are. What made it so much tougher
for those left behind was that, collectively, Tennessee voted to leave the
Union and side with the Confederacy, but a majority in Eastern Tennessee wanted
to remain part of the Union. It made this part of America a grim place to spend
the war (1861 – 1865). Scores were still being settled, usually violently, many
decades later.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The other characteristic of a
Civil War is that it’s impossible to remain neutral, which my female narrator comes
to learn in the hardest possible way. Others didn’t need persuading. Ellen
Renshaw House was an ardent Confederate supporter living in Knoxville who
referred to herself as ‘A Very Violent Rebel’. While I couldn’t agree with her
politics, I nevertheless found her voice hugely compelling. While Knoxville was
under Union control she split her time between looking after wounded
Confederates and criticising the military authorities. Her diary entries leave
no doubt as to the extreme bitterness felt on both sides in the city.
Executions were common and Ellen bore witness to many. She was eventually
expelled to Georgia.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">There were more than two years of
Confederate control before the Union took over. Conditions were every bit as
harsh, possibly even more so away from the cities where there was no garrison
to keep order. Coves (valleys) in the Appalachians held small scale communities
that were relatively cut-off from the outside world and wanted nothing to do
with the war. Life scratching a living on a one-mule farm was hard enough even
when there was a husband and a wife. That was the story I wanted to tell in <i>Disunion</i>: a woman trying to endure with
her husband gone but with others to care for, while all around her was
suspicion and antipathy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">As the war went on the age range
for conscription widened, particularly in the South, and women lost sons and
fathers to the army as well as their husbands. Irregulars, desperados outside
the sway of the Confederate Army and often made up of deserters, took refuge in
the hills and preyed on the weak and defenceless. The women</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"> of Cades Cove were driven to form themselves into home guards to protect
property and livestock, their children acting as pickets and blowing horns when
the raiders were spotted. There was no escaping the war.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Even after the war the suffering went on. It
was a time of great displacement. Families sick of the feuding moved away south
or west and new people displaced from elsewhere arrived. The women waited for
loved ones to return from the war, not knowing if they were alive or dead. Many
would never find out.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Thank you, Richard</span></i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik4l7PhmhN9zEQLQRs3Ju2mIy08oJ9k5msQTQQ9EyGQnzn7AQz4XovNT2gUtZBblKpPS0LnFjJC142p8DJJlazPpdNA7zP2dgRS8kV9dpTXCk7LZon7z7jhjTJmS9xNQLhUH4ay6nayTc/s1600/P1090538.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik4l7PhmhN9zEQLQRs3Ju2mIy08oJ9k5msQTQQ9EyGQnzn7AQz4XovNT2gUtZBblKpPS0LnFjJC142p8DJJlazPpdNA7zP2dgRS8kV9dpTXCk7LZon7z7jhjTJmS9xNQLhUH4ay6nayTc/s200/P1090538.JPG" width="150" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">My own story, ‘Salt’ tackles
the familiar subject of women watching their men go off to war. As Richard has
just mentioned, many would never learn what became of their men. That fear hangs
over my main character, Ina, and her sister Mary Bella. What’s more, they are
in an unfamiliar place themselves. They are Scottish herring girls – their job
is to gut, salt and pack the huge quantities of herring caught by fisherman off
Great Yarmouth on the eastern coast of England. For many years this was a
tradition in Scottish fishing communities – men and women would travel round
the coast of Britain, following the shoals of herring. Ina and Mary Bella are
dislocated from what is familiar, the hours are punishing, the work extremely
hard and their lodgings basic. But what they have is the warmth of sisterhood
and friendship – these young women worked in teams with allocated roles and
their efficiency was amazing. That female comradeship counterpoints the male
camaraderie over in France, in the trenches.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I wanted to write a story
that recorded my own heritage (my grandmother was one of those herring ‘quines’)
but as it unfolded it became a tale where emotion was heightened not only by
that sense of being in a ‘foreign’ place but by the speed of events. Mary Bella
meets a man and their shared passion is intensified by its vulnerability. War
stories often lead to scenes of parting – no one knows if or when the loved one
will come back. The final scene of the story carried me along on a surge of
swift writing and the final word fell into place with an almost audible click. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Since then, I’ve wondered
what Ina’s life held for her later – maybe I’ll write about that some day!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Finally, Jasmina Svenne’s story ‘Too Late, Beloved’
jumps us to the end of World War I. Her story and my one act as book-ends,
showing us the anticipatory dread and the poignant aftermath. Will my man come
back, every woman must have asked herself, and if he does, what will he be?
What will he find?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Here’s what Jasmina has to say:<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jasmina Svenne</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">As a writer of short historical
fiction, I find that one of the hardest tricks to pull off is to evoke another
era in as few words as possible and that the easiest way to do it is to go for a
period the average reader knows, or thinks s/he does. So my other passion – the
late-C18<sup>th</sup> – tends to be put on the backburner in favour of WWI.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The First World War, I think,
still has resonance because it’s only a few years since the last of the
veterans died and because so many ordinary citizens were caught up in it, in
one way or another, which probably makes it easier for readers to empathise
with characters that could almost be their (great-)grandparents.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">For that reason, a lot of WWI stories
tend to concentrate on civilian soldiers – the Pals Battalions and the families
they left behind them. I chose not to do so, because it strikes me that
sometimes professional soldiers like Edgar in my story – one of the Old
Contemptibles who was involved in the Retreat from Mons – tend to be
overlooked, as if their sacrifices are somehow worth less, simply because they
had chosen the army as a career even before war broke out. (Having said that, I
have a sneaky suspicion that, before the war, Victor probably worked in an
office or a bank.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The original inspiration for ‘Too
Late, Beloved’ was a story told by one of the 100-and-something-year-old
veterans interviewed on a BBC documentary called ‘The Last Tommy’. One of his
comrades had been taken prisoner during the war, but had somehow been missed
off the POW lists, so neither his family nor his sweetheart was informed that
he was still alive. On his return, he went to his sweetheart’s home, only to
find she wasn’t there. Instead her father told him that, presuming he was dead,
she had married someone else. Devastated, the POW emigrated almost immediately
and the young woman’s father never told her that her first love was still
alive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">That story, combined with the
Vivien Leigh film <i>Waterloo Bridge</i> and
contemporary news stories about missing people, made me wonder what it would be
like to live with that uncertainty – unable to grieve, unable to trust the
spark of hope you would inevitably harbour somewhere in the deepest depths of
your heart.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , "sans-serif"; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">How long would it take before you
cracked under the pressure from well-meaning friends and relatives, to accept
the unacceptable and try to move on with your life? And what if you discovered
you had made the wrong choice – maybe? Because I also believe it is possible to
love two people just as much, but differently and for different reasons.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Thank you, Richard and Jasmina!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Distant Echoes</span></i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">
is published by Corazon Books, in ebook and paperback and is available <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Distant-Echoes-stories-writers-Historical/dp/1909752312/" target="_blank">here </a>. This anthology contains winners and runners-up of the past two Historical
Novel Society’s short story competitions. ‘Salt’ won the HNS Oxford 2014 competition.
Jasmina’s The Beggar at the Gate’ won in 2012 and is published in the ebook <i>The Beggar at the Gate</i>, available <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beggar-Gate-Other-Stories-HNSLondon12-ebook/dp/B00EZSXUKU/" target="_blank">here</a> –
my runner-up story ‘Reputation’ appears there too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I have also written about <i>Distant Echoes</i> and the small lives on
the fringes of great events of history on the Historical Novel Society’s
website <a href="https://historicalnovelsociety.org/distant-echoes-small-lives-on-the-fringes-of-great-events/" target="_blank">here</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Further reading</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">:
<i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wake-Anna-Hope/dp/0857521942/" target="_blank">Wake</a></i>, by Anna Hope, a moving novel
about women after the end of the First World War as Britain prepares its
ceremonial funeral for the Unknown Soldier; <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Testament-Youth-Virago-Modern-Classics/dp/0349005923/" target="_blank">Testament of Youth</a></i> by Vera Brittain, which follows that familiar arc from the pre-war
to the post-war experience and which I defy you to read without weeping; <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Harry-Patch-Last-Fighting-Tommy/dp/B00RWP271Q/" target="_blank"><i>The Last Fighting</i> <i>Tommy</i></a> by Harry Patch – mentioned by Jasmina. I blogged about Harry
Patch some years back and you can read my post <a href="http://literascribe.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/last-fighting-tommy.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">About my guests:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Richard Buxton grew up in
Wales and lives in Sussex. He is a graduate of the Creative Writing Masters
programme at Chichester University. His writing successes include winning the
Exeter Story Prize, the Bedford International Writing Competition and the
Nivalis Short Story Award. His US Civil War novel, <i>Whirligig</i>, which was longlisted for the 2015 HNS award, was
released this spring. <a href="http://www.richardbuxton.net/">www.richardbuxton.net</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Jasmina Svenne was born in
Derby to Latvian parents. Her writing career began with a novel, </span><i style="font-size: 12pt;">Behind the Mask</i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">, winner of the Katie
Fforde Bursary, followed by nine historical novellas. Her stories have also
been published in </span><i style="font-size: 12pt;">Journeys Beyond</i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
(Earlyworks Press), </span><i style="font-size: 12pt;">Wooing Mr Wickham</i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
(Honno).</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Are you a writer - or do you want to be? Visit my <a href="http://www.fictionfire.co.uk/" target="_blank">website </a>to download your free guide to living a productive writing life.</span></div>
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Lorna Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902741383469719107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874888511895059748.post-57804479939453244212017-12-01T12:23:00.001+00:002017-12-13T14:49:02.848+00:00The losing of Lyonesse - Yvonne Lyon guest-posts about the inspiration for her moving story The Hungry Sails<div class="MsoNormal">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjf0dMwnWwKXCnVJ69HeATx73Eycg4qTQlJUjVDxab32WOx9YkFt_DyJrAQtKgnfbixrNtS0-rlTVzWc4_0GHpoYNUM4WDNdbwotbOIo6oAZ3qpMMvBuX2IE5K1ndeizANRMgbshOlbDU/s1600/Yvonne+Lyon+photo+Toddington+Station+me+%25283%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjf0dMwnWwKXCnVJ69HeATx73Eycg4qTQlJUjVDxab32WOx9YkFt_DyJrAQtKgnfbixrNtS0-rlTVzWc4_0GHpoYNUM4WDNdbwotbOIo6oAZ3qpMMvBuX2IE5K1ndeizANRMgbshOlbDU/s320/Yvonne+Lyon+photo+Toddington+Station+me+%25283%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yvonne Lyon, author of The Hungry Sails in <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Distant-Echoes-stories-writers-Historical/dp/1909752312/" target="_blank">Distant Echoes</a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><i>Today I'm featuring the first guest-post from contributors to <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Distant-Echoes-stories-writers-Historical/dp/1909752312/" target="_blank">Distant Echoes</a>, published by Corazon Books. All the contributors have won or been shortlisted for the Historical Novel Society's story awards and the anthology covers a really diverse range of historical periods and topics. Readers are often fascinated by how ideas come to writers, so I thought I would ask Yvonne what triggered her very moving tale, The Hungry Sails, set on the Scilly Isles in the mid-nineteenth century. Welcome, Yvonne!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">A big thank you to Lorna for allowing me to tell you about my story, <i>The Hungry Sails, </i></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">which is set on Samson, now an uninhabited island, one of the Isles
of Scilly which lie sixty miles off the coast of Cornwall. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">My interest in
Scilly is long-lived. In the 1990s I had several holidays there, camping with a
friend and her family on St Agnes. One year I took a boat trip over to Samson
and wandered around the small hilly island, coming across fallen stones from
ruined houses. It was a haunting experience and I never forgot it.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Circumstances change, people move on. I didn’t go back to the islands until
June 2016 when I decided to holiday on St Mary’s. The memory of the unspoilt
beauty of the islands had never left me. I’d promised myself, <i>one day I’ll return</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">After a week of boat-trips to the off-islands, sunbathing, walking cliff
paths in stunning weather, the day before my departure to the mainland I visited
the Islands’ Museum. I stood before a display board about Samson with its
photos of now ruined houses and knew I’d found something to write about.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">All week I’d been looking for a subject, as a break from novel writing. Perhaps,
I thought, other visitors I talked to on boat-trips would spark an idea for me.
Briefly, I considered writing a piece about a racist visitor and his conversation
with another man about Brexit. (It was early June, just before the EU referendum.)
Thankfully the world has been spared that!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In 1822 seven families farmed the land and made a living but by the
mid-nineteenth century their descendants were starving. The reports about the
last two families from 1855 made a huge impression on me. I learnt that the self-styled
Lord Proprietor of the Isles of Scilly, Augustus Smith, wanted them gone so he
could graze deer there. The families were to be re-housed on St. Mary’s. They
couldn’t stay. They were deprived, living in poverty. But how did they feel
about quitting a place where their families had lived for generations? That was
the germ of the idea.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Back home I was unsuccessful in finding any library books about Samson
but there was enough information on-line for me to use. I’d taken notes at the
museum and seen a large stoneware jug there called a Bellermine, a name I’d
never come across before. It crept into the story as a way of cheering up a
small boy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The names of characters are actual Samson names though unfortunately I
know nothing about the real people. I think of my story as paying homage to
their endurance and love for their home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">On a final note of irony, once the Webbers and Woodcocks had left, Augustus
</span><span style="color: #252525; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Smith built a deer park on the island but the animals did not like the
environment and escaped from their stone-walled enclosure, some attempting to
wade across to Tresco at low tide.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #252525; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><b>About Yvonne</b>:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #252525; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Yvonne Lyon is from Lancashire and now lives in Oxford where she studied for an MA in Creative Writing at Oxford Brookes University. She dips in and out of periods depending on what catches her eye for a story so The Hungry Sails, set in 1855, feels modern compared to her current book, The Burning Road. The period is the late Iron Age and characters believe in the old gods, Epona and Lugh. Her first novel was Edgeburn, a YA timeslip story set in present-day Lancashire and late Anglo Saxon times.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #252525; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Learn more about the Scilly Isles <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isles_of_Scilly" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #252525; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Distant Echoes is published as an ebook <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Distant-Echoes-stories-writers-Historical-ebook/dp/B075MQSCBV/" target="_blank">here </a>and as a paperback <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Distant-Echoes-stories-writers-Historical/dp/1909752312/" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><br />
<span style="color: #252525; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #252525; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Interested in writing? Visit my <a href="http://www.fictionfire.co.uk/" target="_blank">website </a>to download your free guide to launching a productive writing life. </span><br />
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<img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="828" height="121" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2lwWOHBBuzjlQiY3_C9PeMFkogDvNn2U_68kVTHkQ0tBNHxhVHs8vmu-xufQHDZgy-UfUPXAtrEkzN6-FoJTKIx7FrHD4o0q-q4q7SpXrSPaJww3JUM9Kb4HP-Wx23PsWzNna9JqjD9M/s320/Fictionfire+new+website+Facebook+banner.png" width="320" />www.fictionfire.co.uk</div>
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Lorna Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902741383469719107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874888511895059748.post-12280162298816475892017-11-21T13:00:00.001+00:002017-12-13T14:50:35.036+00:00IGISIRI catch-up - my latest reads<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnU-bGGPWUx3rSwDY37GcP181l6qhC4Ripw3m0GNefIpD0g5Mg4qJ6ksC0pts5LjYgukX3KEup-LUmmKU3KuDxClDHjIDHyRR73U_sJtrp7JxAe9atxZbCLSqnM1UxWZwYMXHcnWLVpi8/s1600/P1180018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnU-bGGPWUx3rSwDY37GcP181l6qhC4Ripw3m0GNefIpD0g5Mg4qJ6ksC0pts5LjYgukX3KEup-LUmmKU3KuDxClDHjIDHyRR73U_sJtrp7JxAe9atxZbCLSqnM1UxWZwYMXHcnWLVpi8/s320/P1180018.JPG" width="240" /></a><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A quick post today about
my IGISIRI programme – you may have wondered why things have gone a bit silent
on that front! If you remember, IGISIRI stands for I’ve Got It So I’ll Read It
and it’s all about tackling those books on your TBR pile, at the rate of two a
month. You choose them from your shelves quickly, without too much thought –
because if you dither for too long you find you want to read </span><i style="font-size: 12pt;">everything</i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> you own </span><i style="font-size: 12pt;">all at once</i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> and you make no decision at all!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">I was doing well until the
summer. Summer, for me, is all about teaching. So my focus is on
useful-sources-for-illustrative-passages for my creative writing students
rather than damn-fine-reads-I-can-escape-into.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Here, then, is an update
of books I’ve read for pleasure since my last IGISIRI post, taking us through
the end of summer and the autumn.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">On holiday after the
teaching gigs ended, I read a couple of thrillers: Karin Slaughter’s <i>Pretty</i> <i>Girls</i>, which was in the holiday rental we were staying in and Peter
Swanson’s <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Her-Every-Fear-Peter-Swanson/dp/0571327125/" target="_blank">Her Every Fear</a></i>, bought at
the airport. The former was, I found, well done but far too long and pretty
distasteful, even though I have a strong stomach for the gory end of the thriller
market. Peter Swanson’s novel was OK but curiously flat and I was irked by the
errors of ‘British’ thought and expression when he was narrating from a British
character’s point of view. Both books, I felt, could have done with better
standards of editing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Since then I’ve read Liz
Jensen’s <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rapture-Liz-Jensen/dp/1408801108/" target="_blank"><i>The Rapture</i> </a>– extremely dark
and scary and I hope not too prescient. Then Michelle Paver’s <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thin-Air-chilling-compelling-ghost/dp/1409163369/" target="_blank">Thin Air</a></i> – like her previous
ghost/horror story <i>Dark Matter</i>, it
makes use of a chilly, inhuman location. In <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Matter-Michelle-Paver/dp/1409121186/" target="_blank">Dark Matter</a></i> (which is one of my favourite ghost stories ever) she set the story
in the Arctic – here it’s the Himalayas. It was excellent, though not quite as
good as <i>Dark Matter</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">This month I’ve finished
reading Michael Haag’s <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Durrells-Corfu-Michael-Haag/dp/1781257884/" target="_blank">The Durrells of Corfu</a></i>, which I started back in the early summer. I loved it yet almost didn’t
want to know the ‘truth’ behind <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Family-Other-Animals-Corfu-Trilogy/dp/0241981697/" target="_blank"><i>My Family and Other Animals</i></a> and its sequels.
What was lovely was the recognition of the places mentioned such as the White
House at Kalami – we had lunch there twice when we holidayed in Corfu some
years back (see my post <a href="http://literascribe.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/corfu-idyll.html" target="_blank">here</a>). It made me want to return to the island with my extra
knowledge not just of Gerald Durrell but of Lawrence Durrell. I have to say
that this book has emerged as a result of the popularity of the Durrells series
on ITV, which I have watched occasionally because of the gorgeous scenery but
find irritating in the way it patronises Greeks as ludicrous eccentrics, though I
suppose the original books did that too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Next, Jessica Bell’s
memoir <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dear-Reflection-Never-Meant-Collection/dp/1925417557/" target="_blank">Dear Reflection: I Never Meant to be a Rebel</a></i>. This is a book that shocks you not only with the events it describes but with its degree of honesty. She lays bare what she did and why
she did it in such an unsparing, unflinching way you long to dart forward and
tell her to be kinder to herself. What is also extraordinary is that her mother,
musician Erika Bach, who suffered from psychosis brought on by withdrawal from
prescription painkillers and whose relationship with her daughter was intense
and love-hate all the way, writes directly to the reader at the end. Jessica
ricochets from depression to alcohol abuse to self-destructive melodrama in her
quest to reconcile herself to her family, society, the world and her own self.
Searing stuff.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Finally, many readers have
waited a long time for this treat – Philip Pullman’s long-delayed new trilogy
The Book of Dust. I wasn’t going to wait for <i>La Belle Sauvage</i>, the first in the trilogy, to come out in
paperback. I bought the hardback at the Book House in Summertown – see the
lovely bag that came with it?! Beneath the dust(!)jacket, the book itself is
beautiful with little gold speckles of dust on the binding and a lines from the
story inscribed down the spine. <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Belle-Sauvage-Book-Dust-One/dp/0385604416/" target="_blank"><i>La</i> <i>Belle Sauvage</i></a> is proof yet again that Pullman
is a master storyteller. Though it doesn’t pack quite the revelatory punch of <i>Northern Lights</i>, the first of the His Dark
Materials trilogy, it is an enthralling read all the same. It is a joy to
return to the alternative Oxford he creates and an added joy for me, as an
Oxford-dweller, to recognise the landmarks and places he describes, from the
Trout and Godstow nunnery all the way down the Thames – a Thames that decides
not to flow sweetly in this story, but to inundate the landscape and island the
spires of the city. (Not all that unlikely, given that Oxford is very prone to
flooding).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Till my next ISIGIRI
round-up, keep reading!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Next time, a guest post by
Yvonne Lyon, whose story The Hungry Sails appears in <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Distant-Echoes-stories-writers-Historical/dp/1909752312/" target="_blank">Distant Echoes</a>, as does my story ‘Salt’,
published by Corazon Books - see the sidebar on the right.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Past IGISIRI posts are <a href="http://literascribe.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/igisiri-books-for-may-2017-what-were.html" target="_blank">here </a>- with links to previous ones at the foot of that post.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Read more about Jessica Bell here: <a href="http://literascribe.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/triskele-book-launch-power-of-writing.html" target="_blank">http://literascribe.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/triskele-book-launch-power-of-writing.html</a>and her website is <a href="http://www.jessicabellauthor.com/" target="_blank">here</a>. Jessica is a musician too. And a publisher and cover designer ...</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Are you a writer - or do you want to be? Visit my <a href="http://www.fictionfire.co.uk/" target="_blank">website </a>to download your free guide to launching a productive writing life. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2lwWOHBBuzjlQiY3_C9PeMFkogDvNn2U_68kVTHkQ0tBNHxhVHs8vmu-xufQHDZgy-UfUPXAtrEkzN6-FoJTKIx7FrHD4o0q-q4q7SpXrSPaJww3JUM9Kb4HP-Wx23PsWzNna9JqjD9M/s1600/Fictionfire+new+website+Facebook+banner.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="828" height="121" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2lwWOHBBuzjlQiY3_C9PeMFkogDvNn2U_68kVTHkQ0tBNHxhVHs8vmu-xufQHDZgy-UfUPXAtrEkzN6-FoJTKIx7FrHD4o0q-q4q7SpXrSPaJww3JUM9Kb4HP-Wx23PsWzNna9JqjD9M/s320/Fictionfire+new+website+Facebook+banner.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Lorna Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902741383469719107noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874888511895059748.post-55664433691470792132017-11-12T18:28:00.000+00:002017-12-13T14:50:52.017+00:00Where have I been?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA66WYLKy86zcixaSaPCR_8kNVjpGHECqVpl78xUVxu9HDVCb2A8_c-5KYl7SuZA38RzrGmmp1HES-Ehv1y_SLe5ncXhih-X_Ea3lvION-2_-oC1CK5OcoPUn0uglGhWsZ4ARTeyTT_AU/s1600/P1170653.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA66WYLKy86zcixaSaPCR_8kNVjpGHECqVpl78xUVxu9HDVCb2A8_c-5KYl7SuZA38RzrGmmp1HES-Ehv1y_SLe5ncXhih-X_Ea3lvION-2_-oC1CK5OcoPUn0uglGhWsZ4ARTeyTT_AU/s200/P1170653.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting ready to start teaching<br />
at Oxford University <br />
Summer School for Adults</td></tr>
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It’s a while since I last blogged so this is a round-up
of what was going on and advance notification of what is coming up!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Summers equate with creative writing teaching: no sooner
had I finished running a part time course for Oxford University during the
spring, but I taught at Winchester Writers’ Festival where my subject was the
power of point of view, then two summer schools on two different programmes for
Oxford University. This was my fifteenth year at OUSSA and my fourth at the OUDCE
Creative Writing summer school at Exeter College.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As ever, I was blown away by the quality of work I was
assessing and hearing. I loved meeting my students and hearing their stories.
Summer schools bring together the most extraordinary mix of nationalities,
backgrounds, life experiences and writing dreams. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUaRE97uDBuZLdl2KJVpZa4tO2qfp6B54KqU97LJihZPElnla86u-XQdw0OpDQHXY6oRRf_Y2w9KWdG4uHBj6NXA6EalK_OdnQ660RvDBQR-gtApW6Nv4OOOcrJL2RrAZ8RapyCN1OjnY/s1600/P1170603.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUaRE97uDBuZLdl2KJVpZa4tO2qfp6B54KqU97LJihZPElnla86u-XQdw0OpDQHXY6oRRf_Y2w9KWdG4uHBj6NXA6EalK_OdnQ660RvDBQR-gtApW6Nv4OOOcrJL2RrAZ8RapyCN1OjnY/s200/P1170603.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With lovely tutor and writer<br />
Judy Waite, at Winchester Writers' Festival</td></tr>
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By mid-August I was just <i>desperate</i> for a holiday, though! I hadn’t had a break since our
holiday in Cornwall in early spring. But before I could relish any down-time, I
had to face tasks I had been putting off for months – nay, <i>years</i>! I moved my website host, I created an opt-in PDF, I learned
how to use Convertkit and moved my mailing lists to it, I got all the elements
talking to one another!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Before we left for our holiday in France in September, I
set up my new website landing <a href="http://www.fictionfire.co.uk/" target="_blank">page</a>. I felt tired but pretty damned chuffed.
What would be a walk in the park to some people was like climbing Everest to
me, but I had done it – I had got that far.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgESxt6gwIB1QiZoXr6JIOvV3Y8WMGehvyTDiM_sbFvq6BEEZ7OfQin9Pfe5BohWzbFdMsg_wC5_rof6qqRA72gCKqV5D8OJsXA9X1BTdyAEFVH7d30JXOl9S4kFHH8iiFs6lUMgvRbSYg/s1600/IMG_0950.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgESxt6gwIB1QiZoXr6JIOvV3Y8WMGehvyTDiM_sbFvq6BEEZ7OfQin9Pfe5BohWzbFdMsg_wC5_rof6qqRA72gCKqV5D8OJsXA9X1BTdyAEFVH7d30JXOl9S4kFHH8iiFs6lUMgvRbSYg/s200/IMG_0950.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roussillon, Provence</td></tr>
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We went back to Provence, which we had visited last year.
And oh, it was still gorgeous. For two weeks I genuinely unwound and it did me
a power of good. I even wrote something! <o:p></o:p></div>
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Back home, I soon got all wound up again. Life has been
full on since then. I have been editing, mainly, for long-term clients. I’ve
also been the co-ordinating judge of the short story competition Writers in Oxford
has been running for young Oxfordshire writers. Now, our choices have been made
and sent to Philip Pullman, our head judge. The prizes will be announced next
week at the Writers in Oxford 25<sup>th</sup> Anniversary party, held in
conjunction with the Society of Authors.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5NLGl_9GqC3JsQPEQJooEo1-7p7f63jNs1K_iyZe_qvZdHebVvI_uXtIkg19yLb4xaCVtHzb1iCRrmej-tFg1X8gdrWpeNONWHKZXToXK21yGd_40dUojL_Sov9qKVDw4OR2QXx0JuXk/s1600/Lorna+during+Radio+Oxford+interview+August+23+2017+publicity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="900" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5NLGl_9GqC3JsQPEQJooEo1-7p7f63jNs1K_iyZe_qvZdHebVvI_uXtIkg19yLb4xaCVtHzb1iCRrmej-tFg1X8gdrWpeNONWHKZXToXK21yGd_40dUojL_Sov9qKVDw4OR2QXx0JuXk/s200/Lorna+during+Radio+Oxford+interview+August+23+2017+publicity.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Being interviewed at Radio Oxford<br />
to publicise Writers in Oxford's<br />
Young Oxfordshire Writer competition</td></tr>
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<o:p><br /> </o:p>And what about the website, you may ask?</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Ah. Ahem … a work in progress still, but progress is being made!<o:p></o:p></div>
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Well, do go and visit: you can download my free PDF on
leading a productive writing life! <o:p></o:p></div>
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In other news, I got published!<o:p></o:p></div>
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More of that in my next post too …<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.fictionfire.co.uk/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="828" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuMDTGGqq7vxImXLqDEEUD8wPQr1MsbmxbIHukn904kCBQ3AiL6PpHWnkiL2LyIsoRBS9WDlIk4fHAKwJjxeFFJqI6mQ8svWvRzVkoeiNEpdEoefopxyifk07vHfS1QYEs2oJpHK3owng/s400/Fictionfire+new+website+Facebook+banner.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Download your free guide to launching a productive writing life by visiting the website <a href="http://www.fictionfire.co.uk/" target="_blank">here</a></td></tr>
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Lorna Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902741383469719107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874888511895059748.post-20946262747448501442017-07-06T09:20:00.000+00:002017-12-13T14:52:10.406+00:00History on the Doorstep - author Clare Flynn and the inspiration for The Chalky Sea<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Today I'm welcoming Clare Flynn to Literascribe. Clare has just published her fifth novel, <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chalky-Sea-Clare-Flynn-ebook/dp/B071J8J3ZK/" target="_blank">The Chalky Sea</a>, set during World War II, and I invited her to tell me how she drew on local knowledge and local history when she wrote it. The result is a fascinating article, reminding us that we often don't know the details even of the recent past, in the places familiar to us. If you're a writer and you choose an exotic location, you're all set to research it thoroughly, whether in person or on the internet. But even if you're writing about home, you need to look at it with a fresh eye and delve into records and old images - you will be amazed by what you turn up, as Clare proves here!</i></div>
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I recently moved to Eastbourne, on the Sussex coast. I lived
here as a teenager and because I love the sea and the Downs decided to move
back after twenty years in London. I get very cross when people have a go at
Eastbourne – describing it as “God’s waiting room” and the like. Someone
reviewing my novel <i>Kurinji Flowers </i>referred
to the fact that the main character honeymoons here in the 1930s with the
comment “I suppose someone has to”. There is so much more to this town as I quickly
discovered.<o:p></o:p></div>
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During my school days in the late sixties/ early seventies,
no one spoke of Eastbourne’s pivotal role in the Second World War. It was as if
the town had put its past behind it and wanted to focus on the present. So it
was a big surprise when I moved back and discovered that it was said to have
been the most heavily bombed town in south-east England. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Walking the streets the evidence was there – I just hadn’t
noticed it. There is the ugly 1960s extension tacked onto the Victorian
Cavendish Hotel on the seafront, built to replace the original east wing bombed
in May 1942; the Central Library is a modern building, opened in 1964 to
replace the red brick structure that was destroyed in 1943 and there are post
war buildings to replace Marks & Spencers – bombed while people were doing
their Christmas shopping in December 1942, Barclays Bank (1943), and the central
fire station (1943), St John’s church, Christ Church junior school, to name but
a few – as well as four hundred and seventy four houses. For years I had walked
unknowingly past an unmarked spot, where a blast shelter sustained a direct hit,
killing everyone inside during a raid that across the town centre claimed
thirty-two lives with ninety-nine injured.<o:p></o:p></div>
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One hundred and ninety-nine people died in the bombing raids
on Eastbourne – one hundred and seventy-two of them ordinary civilians. The
raids began in July 1940 and continued until the last bombs fell in March 1944.
As well as being bombed out of their homes, the townspeople endured being
strafed in the streets by machine-gun fire from the fighter-bombers. The early
raids were doubtless to soften up the town ahead of Hitler’s planned invasion, Operation
Sea Lion, which was expected to take place along the Sussex coast. But the
bombing didn’t stop when the invasion was called off. Eastbourne suffered from
bombs dumped on the return leg from London and the Midlands but, being just a
short hop across the Channel, it was subjected to “tip and run” raids with
bombers coming in low under the radar then, as they reached the coast, climbing
up over Beachy Head to the Downs, banking and swooping down to attack the town
before nipping back across the Channel. These attacks were not aimed at
strategic targets – there were none – they were designed to cause terror and
damage morale.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Another factor that may have made the town a target,
especially in the run-up to the catastrophic allied Dieppe raid, was the
presence, from 1941, of thousands of Canadian soldiers until the D-Day
preparations of 1944. They were essentially the allies’ reserve army and thus
an attractive target for the enemy. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The town also witnessed the loss of German life. The first
“kill” over Eastbourne of a German fighter plane happened at the end of my
road. A twin-engine Messerschmitt Me110 was shot down and crashed into the
grounds of the Aldro School – now part of Brighton University’s Eastbourne
campus. The pilot, Hauptmann Ernst Hollekamp, already dead, landed on the roof
of another school half a mile away, while the rear gunner parachuted into the
sea and drowned. For years, the people of Eastbourne believed the crashed plane
to have been a Henkel bomber until the pilot’s widow visited the town and
confirmed he had flown a Messerschmitt.<o:p></o:p></div>
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With the heavy bombardment of Eastbourne, which began a
month before the London Blitz, the vast majority of the population evacuated,
so that the local MP described the place as “Ghost Town on Sea”. The arrival of
the Canadian army must have been welcome to the pubs, cafes and retailers who remained
open throughout the war.<o:p></o:p></div>
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With all this history on my doorstep, it was impossible to
resist the idea of setting a book here. It was not in the plan when I moved,
but within two months of arriving I had started writing <i>The Chalky Sea</i>. The book is set mostly in Eastbourne, but also in
Aldershot, where numerous Canadian regiments were garrisoned throughout the war
years, and a little bit in Ontario, Canada. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The challenge in writing fiction based on actual events is
to be respectful to those involved while also being accurate. It is probable
that relatives of victims of the bombings still live in the town. I have used
real bombings, but all the characters involved are completely fictitious. I
have tried to ensure that I stuck closely to the dates and places that were
actually bombed, beginning with the first attack on the town in Whitley Road at
11.04 on July 7<sup>th</sup> 1940 – a Sunday morning. If people die in the
book, then people actually died in that raid at the time. Sadly with so many
raids there was no need for invention.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The book follows two main characters – Gwen, an Eastbourne
woman, alone and refusing to evacuate the town after the departure of her
officer husband to an unknown destination for what we now know as Special
Operations; and Jim, a young Canadian farmer, who joins up in a fatalistic
effort to escape from a broken heart. <i>The
Chalky Sea </i>follows their individual journeys and examines the impact of war
on them and how it changes them profoundly.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://mybook.to/chalkysea">http://mybook.to/chalkysea</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://www.clareflynn.co.uk/">http://www.clareflynn.co.uk</a><o:p></o:p></div>
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<i>Clare Flynn writes <b>historical fiction with a strong sense of time and place and compelling
characters</b>. Her books often deal with characters who are displaced - forced
out of their comfortable lives and familiar surroundings. She is a graduate of Manchester
University where she read English Language and Literature.</i></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><i>Born in Liverpool she is the eldest of five
children. After a career in international marketing, working on brands from
nappies to tinned tuna and living in Paris, Milan, Brussels and Sydney, she ran
her own consulting business for 15 years and now lives in Eastbourne where she writes
full-time – and can look out of her window and see the sea.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><i>When not writing and reading, Clare loves
to paint with watercolours and grabs any available opportunity to travel -
sometimes under the guise of research. </i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US">Links<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Website <a href="http://www.clareflynn.co.uk/">http://www.clareflynn.co.uk</a> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Twitter - <a href="https://twitter.com/clarefly">https://twitter.com/clarefly</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Facebook - <a href="https://www.facebook.com/authorclareflynn">https://www.facebook.com/authorclareflynn</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Amazon Author Page <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Clare-Flynn/e/B008O4T2LC/">http://www.amazon.com/Clare-Flynn/e/B008O4T2LC/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Goodreads <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6486156.Clare_Flynn">https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6486156.Clare_Flynn</a>
<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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Want to be a writer? Visit my <a href="http://www.fictionfire.co.uk/" target="_blank">website </a>to download your free guide to living a productive writing life.<br />
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Lorna Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902741383469719107noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874888511895059748.post-19690558954771924812017-07-05T17:57:00.000+00:002017-12-13T14:54:48.810+00:00Triskele book launch: the power of writing communities to create connection, promotion, celebration<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrv_2nHO7RFH9ygwrPAkMLTTro_Jx3a8jVuGP1OMwmtdP57ZywWJ2HIRyIXsSwD17RooDxLY7tlb4wDO6_0Pg_nqLHcn_zjhP8Jq1FECqH95CL8zM3kv02ipWjsgRke4o_mK8TbShF8L8/s1600/P1170510.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrv_2nHO7RFH9ygwrPAkMLTTro_Jx3a8jVuGP1OMwmtdP57ZywWJ2HIRyIXsSwD17RooDxLY7tlb4wDO6_0Pg_nqLHcn_zjhP8Jq1FECqH95CL8zM3kv02ipWjsgRke4o_mK8TbShF8L8/s200/P1170510.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jill Marsh and Catriona Troth<br />
of Triskele Books</td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">We’re stronger together<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Phew!
As I look back at June, I wonder what happened – it went by in the blink
of an eye. What I want to do with this post is celebrate the power of
friendship in this often challenging world (see the heading above this paragraph). Whether we’re writers or readers –
or, indeed, both - it’s an absolute joy to make connections and discoveries, to
support and celebrate one another’s successes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alison Morton, Antoine Vanner,<br />
Anita Chapman and you know who</td></tr>
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M<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">y
June started with a book launch in London on the 3</span><sup style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">rd</sup><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">, at The English
Restaurant in Spitalfields. An amazing group of writers got together to send their books out into the world.
After my rather hermit-like winter it was good to see so many old friends all
gathered together.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
party had been organised by the Triskele book collective (see my <a href="http://literascribe.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/triskele-books-launch-party.html" target="_blank">blogpost </a>on
the last launch of theirs I attended). A nicer, more professional, more sickeningly
<i>productive</i> bunch of women you are not
likely to meet!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jane Dixon-Smith aka JD Smith</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Here’s
the list of their new books:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">JJ
Marsh was launching the last in her successful Beatrice Stubbs series of crime
novels, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bad-Apples-European-Mystery-Beatrice-ebook/dp/B072HRHKQG/" target="_blank">Bad Apples</a></i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Gillian
Hamer – the latest in her Gold Detectives series set in Wales, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sacred-Lake-Gold-Detectives-Book-ebook/dp/B07141DNTY/" target="_blank">Sacred Lake</a>.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">JD
Smith – <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rebel-Queen-Overlord-Book-ebook/dp/B071HWHY4S/" target="_blank">The Rebel Queen</a></i> is the fourth
in her series about Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra (exotic or what? Who could resist
such names?)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Liza
Perrat – who sadly could not be with us on the day – was launching her suspense
novel, <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silent-Kookaburra-Liza-Perrat/dp/B01N5P2FOT/" target="_blank"><i>The</i> <i>Silent Kookaburra</i></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gillian Hamer</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jessica Bell</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Plus,
the Triskelites had invited two more writers to join the launch. Alison Morton
had just published <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/RETALIO-Roma-Nova-Thriller-Book-ebook/dp/B06XZBDN2Y/" target="_blank">Retalio</a></i>, the
latest in her Roma Nova series of alternate history thrillers, which have been
a huge success. Jessica Bell was launching her powerful memoir, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dear-Reflection-Never-Meant-Collection-ebook/dp/B06W2KPV6S/" target="_blank">Dear Reflection: I Never Meant to be a Rebel</a>.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Every single book looked absolutely gorgeous, with excellent production values and brilliant covers. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Readers,
we had a ball! Catriona Troth very ably compered a series of readings and
interviews, there was fizzy wine, lots of food, and the chance to meet other
friends again – Roz Morris, Rohan Quine, Clare Flynn, Glynis Smy, Anita
Chapman, Jane Davis, Helene Halme, Antoine Vanner, Debbie Young (who had just
published her latest, the brilliantly named <i>Best
Murder in Show</i>), Carol Cooper and Karen Inglis - plus Jessica Bell’s
amazing mother, musician Erika Bach.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizZ9xm-NUtFH0BpkNm4EsBoDtPOzOmLKnSwprFzUaPVdse6T0AyH4LiKPmLPXLiEVp_Ei4t0uF4WMfgpNdCRFNJ-9JTYfq7dpsVVzAXlPY227usewwDR-vyePqJASLhcNtFY5PbB3bfu4/s1600/P1170466.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizZ9xm-NUtFH0BpkNm4EsBoDtPOzOmLKnSwprFzUaPVdse6T0AyH4LiKPmLPXLiEVp_Ei4t0uF4WMfgpNdCRFNJ-9JTYfq7dpsVVzAXlPY227usewwDR-vyePqJASLhcNtFY5PbB3bfu4/s200/P1170466.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Erika and Jessica</td></tr>
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<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">After
such an afternoon of fun on a very hot London afternoon, I took the train home
and came back to earth heavily when I heard the London Bridge terrorist attack
had just taken place, so the end of the day was spent checking Facebook to make
sure everyone was OK and texting my son to make sure he hadn’t been in the area
(he wasn’t – but he had been just 22 hours earlier …)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">It
was a salutary reminder of the preciousness of friendship and of celebrations
on warm, free summer days, of the freedom to write what we want and share it.
Let’s cherish it all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivwt28nx0HRqmbOfvpiUgBHqNs6eQGrbaaOXM6RiWobNEkTYIgZadvWCVubrdjcJOUNYYaWF3h2se2sRyD0nEwsLXflzBk_CEFfFBEAuD1i7Js8M9Hn-FzL-vQZQTggU_7Qh_96jcsHrs/s1600/P1170467.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivwt28nx0HRqmbOfvpiUgBHqNs6eQGrbaaOXM6RiWobNEkTYIgZadvWCVubrdjcJOUNYYaWF3h2se2sRyD0nEwsLXflzBk_CEFfFBEAuD1i7Js8M9Hn-FzL-vQZQTggU_7Qh_96jcsHrs/s200/P1170467.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Glynis Smy and Clare Flynn</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I’ll
be blogging again soon about this year’s Winchester Writers’ Festival, but in
the meantime, Clare Flynn will be guesting on Literascribe tomorrow, talking
about her fifth novel, <i>The Chalky Sea,</i>
an exciting wartime drama – don’t miss it!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">You can visit the Triskele <a href="http://www.triskelebooks.co.uk/" target="_blank">website </a>and their blog <a href="http://triskelebooks.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">here</a>, Alison Morton's amazing Roma Nova website <a href="http://alison-morton.com/" target="_blank">here </a>and Jessica Bell's multi-dextrous website <a href="http://www.jessicabellauthor.com/" target="_blank">here</a>. Is there nothing these people can't do?!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ros Morris</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Want to be a writer? Visit my <a href="http://www.fictionfire.co.uk/" target="_blank">website </a>to download your free guide to launching a productive writing life.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2lwWOHBBuzjlQiY3_C9PeMFkogDvNn2U_68kVTHkQ0tBNHxhVHs8vmu-xufQHDZgy-UfUPXAtrEkzN6-FoJTKIx7FrHD4o0q-q4q7SpXrSPaJww3JUM9Kb4HP-Wx23PsWzNna9JqjD9M/s1600/Fictionfire+new+website+Facebook+banner.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="315" data-original-width="828" height="121" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2lwWOHBBuzjlQiY3_C9PeMFkogDvNn2U_68kVTHkQ0tBNHxhVHs8vmu-xufQHDZgy-UfUPXAtrEkzN6-FoJTKIx7FrHD4o0q-q4q7SpXrSPaJww3JUM9Kb4HP-Wx23PsWzNna9JqjD9M/s320/Fictionfire+new+website+Facebook+banner.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Lorna Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902741383469719107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874888511895059748.post-16760707842101126762017-06-24T09:37:00.000+00:002017-06-24T09:37:00.059+00:00IGISIRI books for May 2017 - what were your reads?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNV-tn6J9afokKqpBnYL3IGKfNAlLs4kfLv1utO0YjgCyPc7s8HmtIlsxPsLhPLjXxwULP9hfMfrixUGD0_JcMwXXcufwzI8-mDqQiDqCHzs5p4uSiw-G-nEaA_pl_rR9B9VU1S2SjdEo/s1600/P1170547.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNV-tn6J9afokKqpBnYL3IGKfNAlLs4kfLv1utO0YjgCyPc7s8HmtIlsxPsLhPLjXxwULP9hfMfrixUGD0_JcMwXXcufwzI8-mDqQiDqCHzs5p4uSiw-G-nEaA_pl_rR9B9VU1S2SjdEo/s320/P1170547.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(Photo © Lorna Fergusson)</td></tr>
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It's a measure of my life that I'm posting my IGISIRI reads for May when we're coming up to the end of June! This will be a very quick post - next time I'll be posting about Winchester Writers' Festival and the Triskele book launch I attended this month. In the meantime, here we go:<br />
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Both my May IGISIRIs are poetry books -<br />
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<i>Poems that Make Grown Women Cry</i>, edited by Antony Holden and Ben Holden (Simon and Schuster).<br />
This collection is named to match the earlier collection <i>Poems that Make Grown Men Cry</i>. I have to say I find both titles irritating, as if an emotional response is something to be wrung out of us in spite of ourselves and our adult status. Poetry is more than a sob-fest, anyway. So my advice is ignore the titles and relish the range of poems and, what is more, the short essays written by the contributors describing why they chose the poems they did. Their reasons are both moving and enlightening, sometimes sending you back with new insights to a poem you thought over-familiar. And if no other poem does make you cry, Claire Tomalin's choice will: it's a poem written by her daughter, Susanna Tomalin. 'It is a poem of farewell, clearly stating her intention to be gone.' As I have lost someone from my life too, who wished to be gone, the last verse of this calm, lovely and resolute poem in particular broke my heart.<br />
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Alice Oswald, <i>Falling Awake</i> (Jonathan Cape) <br />
Poetry is all about perception and expression of that perception. I bought this book after standing entranced in a shop, reading the first few poems. All too often with modern poetry I feel shut out by the knowingness of it, the archness, the deliberate obscurity or awkwardness. Here I felt that sense of revelatory recognition you should feel when the poet pounces, captures, holds up to the light, the thing, the sense, the perception. It's a blend of the familiar and the utterly refreshed - something I have always loved in metaphysical poetry when poets like Herbert and Donne dazzle with a swift piercing image, like an arrow thocking into the bullseye. Oswald's title poem, written in rhyming couplets, has the deceptive simplicity of a poem by George Herbert, her poem Swan has a fairy tale quality like Angela Carter as the dead swan lifts from the 'plane-crash mess of her wings', the 'clean china serving-dish of a breast bone' and her 'black feet/lying poised in their slippers.'<br />
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Poetry is never well-served in reviews, I feel, by short quotations. Somehow the spell of all is lost - so I highly recommend you take up these books and make your way through them, putting them down at intervals to absorb the beauty or the power of what you've just read.<br />
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[What is IGISIRI? <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">remember, IGISIRI means 'I've Got It, So I'll Read It!' and it's a simple project where you read two books each month, books already on your bookshelves. You choose them quickly and without too much consideration. And you read them. That's all there is to it! </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">I'd be delighted to hear about your latest reads. You can comment here on the blog or on my Facebook pages, </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/LornaFergussonAuthor/" style="background-color: white; color: #ff1a00; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">LornaFergussonAuthor </a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">and </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Fictionfire-Inspiration-for-Writers-111098085596903/" style="background-color: white; color: #ff1a00; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Fictionfire</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">.]</span><br />
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IGISIRIs for April 2017 <a href="http://literascribe.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/igisiri-books-for-april-2017-what-were.html" target="_blank">here</a>: March <a href="http://literascribe.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/igisiri-books-for-march-2017-what-were.html" target="_blank">here</a>; the campaign introduced <a href="http://literascribe.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/what-is-igisiri-well-its-to-do-with.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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Lorna Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902741383469719107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874888511895059748.post-43986369278288072632017-05-12T16:41:00.001+00:002017-05-12T16:41:43.468+00:00IGISIRI books for April 2017 - what were your reads?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4u7I0xOfDxYuPD40CG4Fgs6dbiWflLa7ygFZbopTz9o3ZfgvS329KWYSNcC848O8rwylWf4sXxHRipNYc2X0RTeptNv0zRULE3eDWj3VJMOrFfUtpcpne1bhEVZG1imbnZLjYTi5hhaY/s1600/P1170025.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4u7I0xOfDxYuPD40CG4Fgs6dbiWflLa7ygFZbopTz9o3ZfgvS329KWYSNcC848O8rwylWf4sXxHRipNYc2X0RTeptNv0zRULE3eDWj3VJMOrFfUtpcpne1bhEVZG1imbnZLjYTi5hhaY/s320/P1170025.JPG" width="240" /></a>Here I am with my latest IGISIRI update: remember, IGISIRI means 'I've Got It, So I'll Read It!' and it's a simple project where you read two books each month, books already on your bookshelves. You choose them quickly and without too much consideration. And you read them. That's all there is to it!<br />
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For the past two months I managed four books off my TBR pile each month, not two, and last week I was enjoying the first break I've had this year down in Cornwall, so I was armed with several paperbacks and my trusty Kindle. The irony is, I didn't read as much as I expected in April. First, I was up to the wire finishing a client's edit and report before I left. Secondly, Cornwall is just so lovely (as you'll see from the photo here!) I spent far more time gazing at the sea and going out for great meals than reading...<br />
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Anyway, here's the latest IGISIRIs for me - and as usual, I'd be delighted to hear about your latest reads. You can comment here on the blog or on my Facebook pages, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LornaFergussonAuthor/" target="_blank">LornaFergussonAuthor </a>and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Fictionfire-Inspiration-for-Writers-111098085596903/" target="_blank">Fictionfire</a>.<br />
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Remember, I list my latest reads briefly here - I'm not writing lengthy reviews.<br />
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Two thrillers, this month, then:<br />
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J J Marsh, <i>Raw Material</i> - this is one of the Beatrice Stubbs series of novels. I'd read one before (<i>Tread Softly</i>) and certainly intend to read the whole series. Pacy, witty, quirky, yet dealing with dark topics - human trafficking and sexual exploitation. Great use of location. You won't meet anyone else quite like Beatrice in other detective stories! I read it in two sittings - I love J J Marsh's writing.<br />
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Tess Gerritsen: <i>Playing with Fire</i> - longterm readers of Literascribe will know she's one of my favourite thriller writers and a lovely person too (I met her several years ago). This is one of her standalone novels, rather than one in the Rizzoli and Isles series. Here she starts with what looks like a kind of <i>Exorcist </i>situation, with an innocent-seeming child and a strangely powerful piece of music. What unfolds is a historical tragedy with a powerful moral message. Extremely moving.Lorna Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902741383469719107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874888511895059748.post-49919907736893366802017-04-18T09:50:00.000+00:002017-04-18T09:50:49.341+00:00IGISIRI books for March 2017 - what were your reads?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga1oNfY4yoANLHVlyQzugdSlaI6mIuLqfQfV-j8n_keCUCaq74uSAE0z6aplYqjaBTy5BtKDjUcvbXlmXKN6HLNIDYlcaJLslhb7hvArgcGaryAcXjmMYftSb8G1siHAZxoepKl1mYKm0/s1600/Lorna+Fergusson+talking+about+editing+at+Winchester+Writers%2527+Conference+2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="111" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga1oNfY4yoANLHVlyQzugdSlaI6mIuLqfQfV-j8n_keCUCaq74uSAE0z6aplYqjaBTy5BtKDjUcvbXlmXKN6HLNIDYlcaJLslhb7hvArgcGaryAcXjmMYftSb8G1siHAZxoepKl1mYKm0/s200/Lorna+Fergusson+talking+about+editing+at+Winchester+Writers%2527+Conference+2015.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A reminder that I'll be teaching at <br />Winchester Writers' Festival in June.<br /> Bookings are now open<br /> so visit the <a href="http://writersfestival.co.uk/" target="_blank">website </a>for details.</td></tr>
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In February I told you about my IGISIRI campaign and I hope you were interested enough to start your own! If you remember, IGISIRI stands for 'I've Got It So I'll Read It' and the simple concept is that you read two books a month, two books you already own and are selected quickly and without too much thought or dithering from the many many I know are sitting on your bookshelves. If they're anything like mine, they reproach you silently every time you scan those shelves. 'Read me, read me!' they plaintively call ...<br />
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So here, slightly late, are my ISIGIRIs for March (it's not my intention to write full reviews here - just record them and draw your attention to them in case they might interest you):<br />
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Jessica Bell: <i>The Book</i> - a novella written in several different voices, at the heart of which is a troubled child. Compelling in its satire of relationships and the lies we tell ourselves, with a very moving ending.<br />
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Clare Flynn: <i>A Greater World </i>- a damn good historical read, mainly set in Australia after World War 1. A classic search for self and love against a very well realised backdrop.<br />
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Kathleen Winter: <i>Boundless </i>- a poetic account of being writer in residence on board a ship travelling through the North West Passage. Fascinating blend of history, travelogue and introspection.<br />
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Marcus Ferrar: <i>The Fight for Freedom</i> - a lucid summary of how various kinds of freedom have been worth struggling for over more than two thousand years of civilisation.<br />
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As you'll see, instead of two books, I give you four! That's the remarkable thing - in saying I only read two I seem to facilitate the ability to read more than that.<br />
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I hope you'll join me and share your recent IGISIRIs <br />
- you can do so by commenting on this post or by visiting my Facebook pages, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/LornaFergussonAuthor/" target="_blank">Lorna Fergusson Author</a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/Fictionfire-Inspiration-for-Writers" target="_blank">Fictionfire-Inspiration-for-Writers</a>.<br />
<br />
You can see my introductory post about IGISIRIs and the books I read in January <a href="http://literascribe.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/what-is-igisiri-well-its-to-do-with.html" target="_blank">here</a>.Lorna Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902741383469719107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874888511895059748.post-51968452991915620312017-02-28T16:02:00.000+00:002017-02-28T16:04:02.992+00:00Twelve free books too good to missTime has almost run out but until midnight on 28th February you can take your pick of any or all of these twelve amazing reads, simply by visiting <a href="http://www.helenahalme.com/instafreebie">www.helenahalme.com/instafreebie</a>!<br />
<br />
I've got together with eleven other women writers in an experiment in co-promotion of our stories. It has been a revelation to work this way, where we can pool our resources and talents to improve our chances of discoverability. We're hoping to increase our lists of subscribers and develop that relationship between writers and their readers that's so important to us. After all, we write to be read!<br />
<br />
Let me introduce you in this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ztqAQyffkI&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">video</a>.<br />
<br />
If you visit the landing page you can download any or all of the books, in return for subscribing to the author's mailing list (and you can unsubscribe later, of course, if you want!).<br />
<br />
Here are the twelve books, including with my own An Oxford Vengeance:<br />
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I hope you'll enjoy these reads and for those of you who are writers, I'll report back on how this sort of promotional activity has worked - or not - for me!<br />
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Remember, you can always sign up for my newsletters at <a href="http://www.fictionfirepress.com/">www.fictionfirepress.com</a> and <a href="http://www.fictionfire.co.uk/">www.fictionfire.co.uk</a> and you can follow me on Facebook at LornaFergussonAuthor and at Fictionfire-inspiration-for-writers!<br />
<br />Lorna Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902741383469719107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874888511895059748.post-47189243699140569602017-02-22T17:04:00.002+00:002017-02-28T15:44:59.693+00:00What is IGISIRI? Well, it's to do with reading ...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO59vLPYLw7cLZdgtMWPNyNWd7y1gAtgOKchgSPh0Jmkl2RMSa7Eldgw8zexW6YTurAELfCEGO5PftcWODnarGSOLi2D_F100HbQ1RnXkyw_I7VbeHyyQeE9XRmhQha0tLLvxaZ0nn_Eo/s1600/P1140090.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO59vLPYLw7cLZdgtMWPNyNWd7y1gAtgOKchgSPh0Jmkl2RMSa7Eldgw8zexW6YTurAELfCEGO5PftcWODnarGSOLi2D_F100HbQ1RnXkyw_I7VbeHyyQeE9XRmhQha0tLLvxaZ0nn_Eo/s200/P1140090.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This photo tells you something about what is known by addicted book-buyers as the TBR pile. This is just a tiny corner of mine! Shelves fill up, nooks and corners fill up, the space by the bed fills up, the floor starts to disappear ... wonderful books, all deserving of attention, all wait patiently to be read.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">So today, I want to introduce you to a fun activity to help you start to tackle the TBR pile if you ever, like me,
stand in front of your bookshelves and find yourself in a state
of guilt and near-panic! Do you find yourself overwhelmed by the sheer <i>number</i> of books sitting there,
beautiful, enticing, intriguing, entertaining, worthy, informative – and you
haven’t read them yet? Do you worry that you never will? Do you approach the
shelves determined to pick one to read – and then, because there are so many,
you can’t choose?! Argh!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I’ve been in that state of mind all my
adult life, it sometimes feels! So, just after Christmas, I made a decision. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I am going to tackle the To Be Read pile</i>, I said to myself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">A small voice deep in my brain,
chortled at that. Not for the first time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Ah! But I have a cunning plan</i>, I replied.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Oh yeah?</i> The small voice said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Yeah!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This is what I’m doing – and I’m
inviting you to join in, if you like. This is not an ambitious, discipline and demanding reading programme. Like diets, plans like this are all very well when you
start, but real life and distractions pull you away from sticking to them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">So here it is, and it's really simple. I decided to read <b>two books</b> from my TBR pile, <b>per month</b>. Couldn’t be simpler. Not one
book a day or week. Two per month. But <b>they
have to be from the TBR pile</b> – not newly-bought ones. I am playing with the
notion of making one fiction, one non-fiction, but that’s not a binding rule.
The whole point about this is <i>not</i> to
feel bound at all, not to be obligated, driven or burdened. I make my decisions each
month as quickly and spontaneously as possible because if I look at the shelves
for too long then <i>all</i> those lovely
books will start nagging me – <i>Pick me! Pick
me!</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I walk over, grab one, start. There we
are.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">So far it’s working – and the paradox
is that I’m actually reading more than two because there’s a kind of playful
liberation going on with this process.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Want to join me? I’m going to post
which TBR books I’ve read each month here on Literascribe, and on my
Facebook pages – both <a href="http://www.facebook.com/LornaFergussonAuthor" target="_blank">LornaFergussonAuthor </a>and Fictionfire-Inspiration-for-Writers.
I may say a few words about them, I may not. I am not going to write long
reviews because then the playfulness will go out the window and I’ll feel like I’m
tackling a task – guilt and pressure will sneak back in, before I know it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">If you’d like to join in – I’m calling
it ‘I’ve Got It, So I’ll Read It!’ (IGISIRI for short) - add
what you’ve been reading to my Facebook page discussion, or subscribe to Literascribe
and add your comments. If you discover one of those books that has been lurking
on your TBR pile is a total gem and you think everyone should read it – let us
know! (Although, of course, that will mean you’re adding to our TBR piles …!)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">To kick us off: my IGISIRI books this
year so far are:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;">·<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Georgette Heyer’s <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Snowdrift-Other-Stories-three-recently-discovered-stories" target="_blank"><i>Snowdrift</i> </a>– a Christmas gift from my sister, a collection of short
stories which were a nostalgic pleasure<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;">·<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Vanessa LaFaye’s <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Summertime-Vanessa-Lafaye/dp/1409155390" target="_blank"><i>Summertime</i> </a>– beautifully written, set in Florida after World War I
and culminating in an edge-of –the-seat account of the worst hurricane ever to
hit that region<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;">·<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Catherine Ryan Howard’s <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Distress-Signals-Incredibly-Gripping-Psychological/dp/1782398406" target="_blank">Distress Signals</a></i> – an enjoyable thriller
set on a cruise ship, with really sparky dialogue<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin-left: 36.0pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: inherit;">·<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]--></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jane Alexander’s <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Treasure-Hunt-Jane-Alexander/dp/1908643803" target="_blank">The Last Treasure Hunt</a></i> – a darkly witty satire on our hunger for
fame and how feeding the public’s hunger for inside stories can spiral out of
control. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Lorna Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902741383469719107noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874888511895059748.post-62460557483011260412016-11-03T17:30:00.000+00:002016-11-03T17:30:09.742+00:00The route march to publication - author Marg Roberts guest-posts about her novel A Time for Peace<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>I'm delighted to welcome author Marg Roberts to Literascribe to describe her route to publication and the challenges she met and overcame along the way. I'm full of admiration for how she has kept faith with her novel during its evolution and then the lengthy submission process - perseverance has paid off!</i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoMS2z0q4Gh8dQLg2u84DqxIBGArUZGo-XCkLJZOkqwyGi3qS9TXFSJ3L-l3F5_bi5-ZjG5CxqyIxvuCYhrP6tBLP21CNfAyw6iTHUYZW6KhihKnPFGm8VtukXsRQwYYbZYxmo3id5190/s1600/Marg+Roberts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoMS2z0q4Gh8dQLg2u84DqxIBGArUZGo-XCkLJZOkqwyGi3qS9TXFSJ3L-l3F5_bi5-ZjG5CxqyIxvuCYhrP6tBLP21CNfAyw6iTHUYZW6KhihKnPFGm8VtukXsRQwYYbZYxmo3id5190/s1600/Marg+Roberts.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It
has taken many years to reach the stage where I can hold the novel I have
written in my hands. Part of the satisfaction relates to the time it’s taken-
the classes and courses I’ve attended, the pages that have been critiqued –
occasionally rubbished – and the life events that have disrupted the process.
So my advice on how to keep writing is personal and not prescriptive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Writing is a process of discovery, and
like a good story, comes in a series of revelations rather than the waving of a
wand at the last moment. Because I didn’t have a clear narrative or plot in
mind when I began, but rather an idea I needed to develop, it took some time.</span></div>
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<span style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I was fascinated by the story of Flora
Sandes, a woman who became a soldier in the Serbian army during the </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; text-indent: 36pt;">First World War. My first attempt at this novel alternated between the journeys of a Serb colonel and a British medic. Stefan wanted peace when other Serbs wanted to fight, but I couldn't discover a reason, so I concentrated on Ellen. After completing a full length novel about how she overcame antagonism from men within the army, and her personal repugnance at killing another human being, I wasn't satisfied. I wasn't satisfied that the character I described could actually shoot to kill and I changed her story.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQLgBVv5AJ6IyWJ9qM0vPc9IR0nSjA_F992mzqP8uhwJeMY-0qh1IsJPhcaL99AHpYvBhcFosVm6_X0kcL6ZOyixJx5sbaKsvFjDucjE6_oMgNJj9-RL-0Fqo9IjWPguYTchZv-AzOBM4/s1600/Marg+Roberts+A+Time+for+Peace+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQLgBVv5AJ6IyWJ9qM0vPc9IR0nSjA_F992mzqP8uhwJeMY-0qh1IsJPhcaL99AHpYvBhcFosVm6_X0kcL6ZOyixJx5sbaKsvFjDucjE6_oMgNJj9-RL-0Fqo9IjWPguYTchZv-AzOBM4/s400/Marg+Roberts+A+Time+for+Peace+cover.jpg" width="252" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">During this time, I was writing,
developing my craft, researching not only Serbia during the First World War,
but finding out about its history, its place in the Balkans, its religion, its way
of living. I learned how its army was structured, the role of aid agencies
during that war and eventually, from all this confusion and passion, emerged
the beginning of a love story. Two separate ones, actually: Stefan’s and
Ellen’s. I explore how their relationships, Stefan with his wife, and Ellen
with her fiancé, were threatened by the experience of war.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Initially I expected to be able to earn
money by writing. It became evident that I couldn’t write mainstream commercial
fiction. Many writers of prose and poetry have to take other paid employment in
order to do the writing they choose, but by the time I came to write, I had an
occupational pension and my husband was still working, so providing ourselves
with food and shelter wasn’t an issue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This, I appreciate, is a luxury. Many
squeeze writing in after work, when children are in bed, or as they travel to
and from work. What we have in common is the compulsion to write. Because I’d
worked regular hours, I used this structure as a template for my new career. I’d
visit a café first thing in the morning so I was with ‘real’ people–that I made
friends in the various cafés was a bonus. Each day begins with the practice of
writing and reflection even if the rest of the day doesn’t allow for any more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As I finished each novel (4 in all), I
submitted them to competitions and eventually to agents. Doing so helped me
both take myself seriously and polish each submitted piece. Was I toughened by
this process? No. Each disappointment I experienced as failure, despite advice
to see if I could reach 100 rejections and view each as a triumph of some sort.
I met agents at conferences and publishing events and came to understand the
business world they operated in. Nonetheless, the rejections hit hard.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 36pt;">The big chance for publication came when
Jan Fortune at Cinnamon Press offered </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; text-indent: 36pt;">a year’s mentorship for writers with
potential. Jan and her son Rowan wrote a comprehensive analysis of the novel
and for the first time, a professional liked it. After a year revising and
tightening the plot, Jan advised I submit to mainstream publishers because she
believed the novel deserved a wider readership than Cinnamon Press might
provide. For 18 months I submitted online, by post and ‘pitches’, but without
success. As that process drew to an end, I entered a Cinnamon Press novel competition,
</span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; text-indent: 36pt;">A Time for</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; text-indent: 36pt;"> </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, serif; text-indent: 36pt;">Peace</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; text-indent: 36pt;"> was shortlisted to the last five and I was offered
publication in 2016. After a further year of editing scenes, by March this
year, I was at the stage of proofreading.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTQLXuhq_cUoxxqRVG0S5a8E_pPm8SxVSliho3aAJMKt7kPjLYqmY4b_SECvjm65BGZ9dxnunwPFcvzALtmXK0tYe7CMQBGnV-CSAIW5QQGPbJWKTByPzK_wehDQNeV-80juAk6eJoLQ0/s1600/Marg+Roberts+launch+party.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTQLXuhq_cUoxxqRVG0S5a8E_pPm8SxVSliho3aAJMKt7kPjLYqmY4b_SECvjm65BGZ9dxnunwPFcvzALtmXK0tYe7CMQBGnV-CSAIW5QQGPbJWKTByPzK_wehDQNeV-80juAk6eJoLQ0/s200/Marg+Roberts+launch+party.jpg" width="150" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Marg's friends listen<br />intently at the book launch</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="text-indent: 36pt;">On 18</span><sup style="text-indent: 36pt;">th</sup><span style="text-indent: 36pt;"> October 2016, </span><i style="text-indent: 36pt;">A Time for Peace</i><span style="text-indent: 36pt;"> was launched at
Waterstones, Leamington Spa, in the company of family and friends. Jan Fortune
introduced the novel in her passionate, inspiring way and with the help of
Nigel Hutchinson, a friend, I read a couple of extracts from the novel. </span><i style="text-indent: 36pt;">A Time</i><span style="text-indent: 36pt;"> </span><i style="text-indent: 36pt;">for Peace</i><span style="text-indent: 36pt;"> was ready for its readers!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You can buy A Time for Peace via the
Cinnamon shop <a href="http://cinnamonpress.com/index.php/hikashop-menu-for-products-listing/fiction/product/227-a-time-for-peace-marg-roberts" target="_blank">here</a>, and on Amazon.co.uk <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Time-Peace-Marg-Roberts/dp/1910836370/" target="_blank">here</a>, and at Waterstone's <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/a-time-for-peace/margaret-roberts/9781910836378" target="_blank">here</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Marg's website is <a href="http://www.margroberts.co.uk/">www.margroberts.co.uk</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A quick reminder - if you're interested in writing for teens booking closes next Friday (11th November) for Fictionfire's day course The Next Big Thing in Teen Fiction - Could You Be the One to Write It? with acclaimed author Julie Hearn. Julie talks about why she writes for teens <a href="http://literascribe.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/why-write-ya-author-julie-hearn.html" target="_blank">here</a>. Details of the day course are <a href="http://www.fictionfire.co.uk/course-dates-&-details" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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Lorna Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902741383469719107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874888511895059748.post-71685097092146081032016-10-13T00:44:00.000+00:002016-10-13T15:15:09.942+00:00Why write YA? Author Julie Hearn explains why writing for young adults matters to her<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some years ago, I came across an amazing book. It was written for a younger readership but like many books in that genre it pulled no punches when dealing with challenging, even poignant issues. At the same time it was packed with wit, energy and a kind of magical sprightliness I found immensely appealing. The book was <i>Follow Me Down </i>and its author was Julie Hearn.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I met Julie herself years later: we were both teaching on Oxford University's International Creative Writing Summer School. It was a joy to make friends with a writer who was as much fun and as charged with imaginative energy as the book she'd written. I'm delighted that Julie will be teaching a day course on writing teen fiction as part of my autumn programme of Fictionfire events: she's a truly inspiring teacher with so much knowledge of the craft and the industry to impart. I've asked her over to Literascribe to describe how she came to write in the YA genre and why it matters to her. Over to Julie -</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Why
did you start writing Young Adult fiction?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I get asked this a lot. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Firstly,
I was tired of writing for adults. Aged thirty, I was a journalist, writing a
mother and baby column for <i>The Daily Star</i>.
Aged forty I was at Oxford University, writing about maternal power and
witch-hunts in Early Modern England, for a MSt in Women’s Studies. I felt – and still feel – a wicked sense of
satisfaction over that shift but, aged forty-one, the thought of writing more
stuff requiring footnotes appealed about as much as the thought of writing more
dross for the tabloids. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I needed
another shift. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Secondly,
the story idea that hooked me so completely that it got into my dreams seemed
tailor-made for the Young Adult market
(for readers aged eleven to seventeen, or thereabouts) I had found it in the
Bodleian Library’s collection of printed
ephemera: an eighteenth century handbill, about a young girl being shown as a
“monster” at Bartholomew Fair.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><u><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Changeling
Child <o:p></o:p></span></u></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To be seen next door to the Black Raven in West
Smithfield, during the time of Bartholomew Fair, a living skeleton taken from a
Turkish Vessel. This is a Fairy Child supposed to be born of Hungarian parents
but changed in the nursing. Aged nine years or more, not exceeding a foot and a
half high, the legs, thighs and arms so very small that they scarce exceed the
bigness of a man's thumb and the face no bigger than the palm of one's hand and
seems so grave and solid as if it were threescore years old. You may see the
whole anatomy of its body by setting it against the sun. It never speaks. It
has no teeth but is the most hungry creature in the world, eating more victuals
than the stoutest man in England. Gives great satisfaction to all that ever
did, or shall, behold it. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I
wanted to give this Changeling Child the happy ending she surely did not have
in real life. I wanted to address issues of abuse, and difference, and love and
loyalty without cynicism or the rueful wisdom of an adult author addressing
adult readers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I
camped out in the Bodleian, researching Bartholomew Fair and eighteenth-
century London. I read about the surgeons at St Bartholomew’s Hospital who dissected corpses as often, and
as cheerfully, as they might have cut up a chop for supper. I read about the grave
robbers who supplied those corpses, charging extra for anything “unusual”. My young
protagonist, I decided, was going to be a time traveller who would meet the
Changeling Child and uncover a plot that could see her dead before her time,
and under the knife of my hard-hearted dissectionist, Dr Flint. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Writing
<i>Follow Me Down</i> was like sliding down
a rainbow – a giddy, exhilarating swoop towards – what? I didn’t know. I didn’t
wonder, much, about the publication process. It was enough, back then, to be
making things up, with no worries about libel actions or plagiarism!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Follow Me Down</span></i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> went
to auction. It was translated into French, Italian, German, Spanish and Japanese.
It was shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award and nominated for the CILIP
Carnegie Medal. It paid for my kitchen extension and a holiday in Antigua. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCNn5mCN7sATUO1968RuVpzt8FNeWcH8ytFsECY1MTJo7Dspx2-Ch7kzyKeHnF0EwWCloFaLAjpzG0vqX0myt2Mntf_-o0JB9IPtABSw9AJU_yV8ZOembKqTfmP3cXmRATUakDu1I2csU/s1600/promo+pic+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCNn5mCN7sATUO1968RuVpzt8FNeWcH8ytFsECY1MTJo7Dspx2-Ch7kzyKeHnF0EwWCloFaLAjpzG0vqX0myt2Mntf_-o0JB9IPtABSw9AJU_yV8ZOembKqTfmP3cXmRATUakDu1I2csU/s200/promo+pic+-+Copy.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Julie Hearn</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Best of
all it sent me on a writing journey that has been challenging, rewarding and
never, ever dull. I care about this kind of
writing. I care about my readers and, while mindful of what author
Madeleine L’Engle said - “…<i>the best
children’s books ask questions, and make the reader ask questions. And every
new question is going to disturb someone’s universe.</i>” – I am careful about
the way I frame a question for impressionable young minds. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I care
about my characters. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“How
old is the protagonist in <i>Follow Me Down</i>?”
I was asked, a while ago, during a radio interview. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“Tom’s
fifteen,” I replied. And then I realised: “No … sorry… he’s twelve. In the book,
I mean. He’s fifteen now.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
interviewer gave me a look that said “Are you mad?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When I
tell that story to other YA writers they smile, and nod. They absolutely get
it. They, too, have worked so hard to create characters “real” teenagers will
recognise, and bond with, that should those characters knock at the door one
day they would not turn a hair. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">They,
too have slid down a few rainbows in their time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: 1.0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It is
great, great fun. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>The Next Big Thing in Teen Fiction - Could You Be the One to Write It?</b> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: center; text-indent: 1cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Day course in Oxford, 19th November 2016</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: center; text-indent: 1cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: center; text-indent: 1cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Are you keen to write or develop your fiction for teens or young adults? Julie Hearn, who has published seven acclaimed novels including <i>Follow Me Down</i>, <i>The Merrybegot</i> and <i>Rowan the Strange</i>, will help you develop your storytelling techniques, including crucial aspects such as openings, character and voice, plot and pace. You'll learn about the young adult genre and what's hot in the current market, maximising your chances of success with your submission. With discussion and writing exercises during the course, you'll leave with increased confidence, enhanced skills and the courage to make your pitch.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The course runs from 9.45-5.00 and includes all refreshments and a delicious lunch.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For full details and how to book, visit <a href="http://www.fictionfire.co.uk/course-dates-&-details">www.fictionfire.co.uk/course-dates-&-details</a> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: center; text-indent: 1cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Other Fictionfire workshops are listed <a href="http://www.fictionfire.co.uk/focus-workshops" target="_blank">here </a>and the next Simply Write Retreat is <a href="http://www.fictionfire.co.uk/simply-write-retreats" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: center; text-indent: 1cm;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Contact info@fictionfire.co.uk if you have any questions.</span></div>
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Lorna Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902741383469719107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874888511895059748.post-40720932939641462412016-09-16T12:19:00.002+00:002016-09-16T12:24:45.573+00:00Historical Novel Society Conference Oxford 2016 Part 4: Rights, Responsibilities and Relationships<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS9vNU58GzJ7t35LQl2vi7sEqvHPNb7CwYu1WSd1JbDFudCp_cdY7tGccuATd6nwKOw_Ax-qdYD7726eKag5Rlt6o-KRfK9sxrLTPy8JRzz1lvZVqIrBpWZ4Elm7B2rroj_fxj0G6ahnU/s1600/P1140221.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS9vNU58GzJ7t35LQl2vi7sEqvHPNb7CwYu1WSd1JbDFudCp_cdY7tGccuATd6nwKOw_Ax-qdYD7726eKag5Rlt6o-KRfK9sxrLTPy8JRzz1lvZVqIrBpWZ4Elm7B2rroj_fxj0G6ahnU/s320/P1140221.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the Emperors outside the Sheldonian Theatre<br />
is surprised to receive a visitor!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">After
the packed conference Saturday, we could be forgiven for feeling a little punch
drunk on Sunday but more panel discussions, chat, bookstall foraging and
friendship-making awaited!.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
attended a panel on Foreign Rights and Translation, with agent Carole Blake
chairing, in discussion with Louise Rogers Lalaurie, a translator, and Laura
Morelli, a novelist who has made her own successful foreign rights deals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">This
is the sharp end of the industry: ‘This is business’, as Carole says. It’s the
sort of area we writers might feel wary of and it’s certainly an area where I
for one would prefer to have an agent to do the horse-trading rather than do it
myself, though Laura has demonstrated that it’s perfectly possible. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAeeY-OMLHHxguVv-FmEe2I94LbbLMMyQFVcBt7FoiZC4xrypnWnccfImlnH4WnR60y4ap97f241PyyO_egLmKnyWIrXe54zBH8AlzNGWlJlIYrdivFM5PCGomz3Z9x2KvgiZGDYBR0Ao/s1600/P1140075.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAeeY-OMLHHxguVv-FmEe2I94LbbLMMyQFVcBt7FoiZC4xrypnWnccfImlnH4WnR60y4ap97f241PyyO_egLmKnyWIrXe54zBH8AlzNGWlJlIYrdivFM5PCGomz3Z9x2KvgiZGDYBR0Ao/s320/P1140075.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Louise Rogers Lalaurie, Laura Morellis and Carole Blake</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">What
are the key lessons to be learned? First of all, research. If you’re doing it
yourself you need to research the markets in foreign countries and if someone
makes an offer to publish or to translate your work, you need to do your
homework. As Carole said, ‘Don’t be so grateful that you don’t ask around and
do your research.’ Laura had been contacted by a Hungarian publisher and had
the good sense to check them out. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Secondly,
be aware of territories. Know which territories you can sell to and whether
some rights have been reserved after your initial publishing deal. Has your
agent sold UK rights first, followed by US/North America? Contracts will have a
schedule of countries where rights are still available. Brexit – which had
become a dark undertone to the conference – will make things like this more
complicated in the future. In addition, Louise said that EU funding for
translations of works will now decline – it’s already happening. Boo.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Thirdly,
the contract. Carole said, ‘Think of every eventuality that might produce an
argument’. Think of the relationship you have with your agent – you want
someone with whom you can build a longterm partnership, not someone creaming
off the profit from success you’ve already created for yourself, doing one deal
and deserting you. She recommended that you have multiple income streams
derived from separate sales of rights into different languages.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
learned that ‘In some markets it’s a legal requirement to pay a royalty to the
translator’, which I hadn’t known before. Louise advocated encouraging the
translator to become part of the whole selling process rather than being a
temporary gun for hire. You can do this by offering a small royalty – the
translator can end up being ‘your best advocate’. She said that some
translators work with self-publishing authors. They may also have relationships
with publishers that enable them to suggest to publishers that they should buy
the rights to your work or commission a translation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Favourite
quote: ‘Agents hate the word “gave”.’ Carole Blake<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Interesting
book recommended: <i>Tregiani’s Ground</i>
by Anne Cuneo<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
ended up being very late for Tracy Chevalier’s Keynote Address (and as a result couldn't get a good photo of her). Luckily I’d
seen her at the Oxford Literary Festival in the spring and since then I’ve read
<i>At the Edge of the Orchard</i> which she
was talking about then and very much enjoyed it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv1HckAZhual3RfCB_AmX5aM3qGK08xVjAaFVGRdgxTChrIgY9nX7H6amFZfmL__87j886KWFJnJXPA9KsfOL-DRVP1K9j-8QIqoMXxJrzgcvENVNI3LjnCOOmNlUAfd_gWM2Mi3_2WxU/s1600/P1140025.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv1HckAZhual3RfCB_AmX5aM3qGK08xVjAaFVGRdgxTChrIgY9nX7H6amFZfmL__87j886KWFJnJXPA9KsfOL-DRVP1K9j-8QIqoMXxJrzgcvENVNI3LjnCOOmNlUAfd_gWM2Mi3_2WxU/s200/P1140025.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blackwell's bookstall was busy all weekend</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Once
again she proved to be a warm and witty speaker, discussing how she came to
write HF: ‘It allows me to step outside myself – and no one will ask if it’s
autobiographical’. She expressed wariness, though, when it comes to the HF
label, saying that if she were to sum up each of her novels in a tagline, it would
come across as a contemporary story. She added ‘Being interested in the past
makes us better people’, clearly feeling that the modern age is a solipsistic
one. Her latest work is a take on Shakespeare’s <i>Othello</i>, transferred to an American school in 1974. (Hogarth Press
has been commissioning authors to re-envision Shakespeare – I’ll be attending
Margaret Atwood’s talk here in Oxford in November. Her novel, <i>Hag-seed</i>, is an interpretation of <i>The Tempest</i>. I’m not sure, actually, how
I feel about all this, but we’ll see.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Writing
this book led her to wonder whether 1974 could be said to be historical – so we
were coming full circle to the discussion started by Fay Weldon and Jo Baker on
Friday. This also led, as with Melvyn Bragg, to a consideration of the times
we’re living in (or <i>through</i>), in this
truly insane year of politics, of Brexit, of what Tracy called ‘terrible
news’. ‘Sometimes you feel you’re living
history,’ she said and we all agreed. And to be honest, it doesn’t feel good.
Maybe, I thought, that is one of the reasons we love HF – it’s the past and
it’s safely in the past. Nothing feels all that safe right now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA3fymQafrZY7B64DEbnsxyhdzXQ3nizeQJX4fzWorc3mZg4etjoMNaNT8EgwB5rI4bKvomJ2fhm5t9yNvvE3Q447trpXbhKx-neO7nH6UW6WpRxExeWwkYOCIaRoKP3vTb1kkRkDpZwA/s1600/HNSGoing+Indie_slide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA3fymQafrZY7B64DEbnsxyhdzXQ3nizeQJX4fzWorc3mZg4etjoMNaNT8EgwB5rI4bKvomJ2fhm5t9yNvvE3Q447trpXbhKx-neO7nH6UW6WpRxExeWwkYOCIaRoKP3vTb1kkRkDpZwA/s320/HNSGoing+Indie_slide.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lovely slide design by Alison Morton</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">After
the coffee-break I took part in a panel discussion myself, along with Alison
Morton, Helen Hollick and Antoine Vanner. Our topic was Going Indie: Questions
and Answers. We discussed the benefits of going indie: Control! Freedom!
Transparent royalties and income! Choosing your own cover! Taking pride in
producing your work as professionally as possible!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">We
were also honest about the pitfalls. As a literary consultant myself I stressed
the importance of proper editing. We talked about the burden of responsibility
that never ends: the constant marketing and promotion which can feel like a
treadmill sometimes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">However,
dear reader, bear this in mind: whether you are trade-published or indie, the
ultimate responsibility for your book is <i>yours</i>.
And you will always have to market it, no matter what.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_NLnPF344rH3zcVrFgOx3tdZ1aTIdelplktUDo8Q9pOx0Wzyf7OUprzVwXQN820fKbqzPNJjMP6Icn98rp2M1WrMfV00eBGNujyOqJLmdZM2r140AAwttVaIOBF0pSjmCx9m204MswXE/s1600/P1140083.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_NLnPF344rH3zcVrFgOx3tdZ1aTIdelplktUDo8Q9pOx0Wzyf7OUprzVwXQN820fKbqzPNJjMP6Icn98rp2M1WrMfV00eBGNujyOqJLmdZM2r140AAwttVaIOBF0pSjmCx9m204MswXE/s320/P1140083.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tracy Chevalier, Harry Sidebottom and CC Humphreys</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">After
a lively Q & A session I made it to the final event, the hilarious HistFictionist
Challenge, a quiz that pitted the panel – Tracy Chevalier, CC Humphreys, Harry
Sidebottom - against the audience. We learned the many names under which Jean
Plaidy wrote, the relative number of words in <i>Ben</i> <i>Hur</i> versus the
population of London at a certain era and much much more …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Then,
in a rush of final speeches, lunch, buying books and getting them signed, hugs
and farewells, it was all over.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzObu_ME23klVkw39g1CZKPQOxeG-K_nzR2PskN0h7aJ61ZIg2kKTCZwiu-9x_qAVKPUBKj30os8PNf-5xYiPAMvyV5Y06heT4fWNKnzXOzTZNhbkCrN0wLpGi7bb5xhoaaRezwWPutqQ/s1600/P1140089.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzObu_ME23klVkw39g1CZKPQOxeG-K_nzR2PskN0h7aJ61ZIg2kKTCZwiu-9x_qAVKPUBKj30os8PNf-5xYiPAMvyV5Y06heT4fWNKnzXOzTZNhbkCrN0wLpGi7bb5xhoaaRezwWPutqQ/s200/P1140089.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carol McGrath and Jenny Barden<br />
are thanked by HNS chairman Richard Lee</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
committee breathed a collective, contented but utterly exhausted sigh of relief
– Oxford 2016 had been everything we’d wanted it to be, under the guiding hands
of Carol McGrath and Jenny Barden. Memories have been made, friendships forged
– and Oxford itself was a star player, though it could have done slightly better
on the weather front!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Shout-outs to the
Committee:<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Richard
Lee (HNS Chairman), Carol McGrath, Jenny Barden, Liz Harris, Deborah Swift,
Anita Chapman, Alison Morton, Nikki Fine, Clare Flynn, Antoine Vanner, Mary
Fisk, Ouida Taafe, Charlotte Betts, Helen Hollick, Charlie Farrow.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I’d
like to thank the staff at St Anne’s College who were incredibly helpful during
many months when I was fielding accommodation inquiries!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Shout-outs to old
friends and new acquaintances:<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Essie
Fox, Emma Darwin, Karen Maitland, Douglas Jackson, Alison Morton, Anna Belfrage
and many others, plus the friends I knew were present – yet we didn’t even have
time to say hello!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNRbiySy7Gy7jKfUlrpKcbqvYMXgYFPuN6pRqA0G60UF20r24ITzY3M2qAnRFeUc7HfQqQ9LGkcvBfLogPoqR_IuHPye91yIZwBxateZ58bU_QBpqfAogBFKjIn6lRnhmAx625D-OOHng/s1600/P1120339.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNRbiySy7Gy7jKfUlrpKcbqvYMXgYFPuN6pRqA0G60UF20r24ITzY3M2qAnRFeUc7HfQqQ9LGkcvBfLogPoqR_IuHPye91yIZwBxateZ58bU_QBpqfAogBFKjIn6lRnhmAx625D-OOHng/s320/P1120339.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Farewell to the beautiful venue, the Andrew Wiles Building</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggvsNHw1nw4liSXYkCVFEKWz7h1tkLKuDvFLtKHhWOjP3mtlAAB762am74NjQdLYuuGLNW5HM_Thz56sSHm0Nh2gnTdJk_WjQq8pGQICpKwDOYwo9ny0u46SBqM0fi6wIZGNay3QiwntI/s1600/P1140090.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggvsNHw1nw4liSXYkCVFEKWz7h1tkLKuDvFLtKHhWOjP3mtlAAB762am74NjQdLYuuGLNW5HM_Thz56sSHm0Nh2gnTdJk_WjQq8pGQICpKwDOYwo9ny0u46SBqM0fi6wIZGNay3QiwntI/s320/P1140090.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Home again - and lucky me, home means Oxford!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTkAk6B_JEK2C3VR8b1KACuq2UOuXRJtXtEidCqE5-kHYFqnPmQgztSXuDF7UEUGkbUA-1C-Wr7IEzhHu5K65HP5vvxfaXjKTivIzPFRIZu7_2rETjvtz81RnW93PnAYooKhBdm8fF2M8/s1600/P1140264.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTkAk6B_JEK2C3VR8b1KACuq2UOuXRJtXtEidCqE5-kHYFqnPmQgztSXuDF7UEUGkbUA-1C-Wr7IEzhHu5K65HP5vvxfaXjKTivIzPFRIZu7_2rETjvtz81RnW93PnAYooKhBdm8fF2M8/s320/P1140264.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A selection of my lovely conference swag!<br />
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<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 10.56px; line-height: 14.784px;">
<span style="font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: start;">Details of the new season of my Fictionfire workshops, a day course and a retreat can be found </span><a href="http://www.fictionfire.co.uk/" style="color: #ff1a00; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: start;">, and you can sign up for my Fictionfire newsletter - articles, recommended reads and resources, competitions and more.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;"><i>An Oxford Vengeance, </i>my collection of short stories including 'Salt', which won the Conference London 2014 Award, is available to buy on Amazon <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oxford-Vengeance-Lorna-Fergusson-ebook/dp/B01LBU8216/" style="color: #ff1a00; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here </a>and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Oxford-Vengeance-Lorna-Fergusson-ebook/dp/B01LBU8216/" style="color: #ff1a00; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">Part 1 of these posts on the 2016 HNS conference is <a href="http://literascribe.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/historical-novel-society-conference.html" style="color: #ff1a00; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a>, Part 2 is <a href="http://literascribe.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/historical-novel-society-conference_9.html" style="color: #ff1a00; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a> and Part 3 is <a href="http://literascribe.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/historical-novel-society-conference_14.html" target="_blank">here</a>. My posts on the conferences of 2014 and 2012 go <a href="http://literascribe.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/historical-novel-society-conference_30.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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Lorna Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902741383469719107noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874888511895059748.post-1833659089311135432016-09-14T13:41:00.001+00:002016-09-14T13:41:12.623+00:00Historical Novel Society Conference Oxford 2016 Part 3: Awards, Ears and Eating<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn0Jssmeu3CcF9UL7-qgWCPDEXOKeIp3Es5Fnwlwpe7H37eqtvEPh6dQU1h6WaW7c2ztlhh_8wlCcIUikN-ODfoxraM2jNBbU4p2LCcXOx364N16hmLaFSXU7C_EGeA_j4LYGqQqZpPFQ/s1600/P1140042.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn0Jssmeu3CcF9UL7-qgWCPDEXOKeIp3Es5Fnwlwpe7H37eqtvEPh6dQU1h6WaW7c2ztlhh_8wlCcIUikN-ODfoxraM2jNBbU4p2LCcXOx364N16hmLaFSXU7C_EGeA_j4LYGqQqZpPFQ/s320/P1140042.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vanessa Lafaye and Ian Skillicorn</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The
first event of Saturday afternoon was Conference Oxford 2016 Short Story Award.
This was so exciting because I’d been one of the judges, along with Deborah
Swift and Ouida Taafe, who chose the longlist – and all twelve stories on that
list were of an incredibly high standard. We didn’t envy judge Ian Skillicorn
the task of selecting the top stories from the shortlist of six, but here they
are and many congratulations to the writers! Third equal prize went to Richard
Buxton for ‘Disunion’ and Anna Belfrage for ‘The Sharing of a Husband’. Second
place went to Jeffrey Manton for ‘The Fat Lady Sings’ and the deserving winner
was Vanessa Lafaye for ‘Fire on the Water’.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3l9qv4JQJ6ALochg32LfOv3fGIA-eVZUxejYu4tAVcEQw4uBJJawn1C0bG9PNo3k1Xxfx39w1k3yXzTwtx5L_ZPuYtD2K02hejK-H2VRdR9Mc3rq5aJ5280jSUfzeqZBqlXOHvL4qvtU/s1600/P1140044.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3l9qv4JQJ6ALochg32LfOv3fGIA-eVZUxejYu4tAVcEQw4uBJJawn1C0bG9PNo3k1Xxfx39w1k3yXzTwtx5L_ZPuYtD2K02hejK-H2VRdR9Mc3rq5aJ5280jSUfzeqZBqlXOHvL4qvtU/s200/P1140044.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lucienne Boyce</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
award ceremony passed so speedily and I was so concerned to give out
certificates and congratulations that I didn’t take many photos! The story
award was followed by the HNS Indie Award 2016 – I was delighted to see
Lucienne Boyce win with <i>Bloody Bones </i>jointly
with Barbara Sjoholm for <i>Fossil Island</i>.
The MM Bennetts Award 2016 went to Stuart Blackburn for <i>Into</i> <i>the Hidden Valley</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUIk8GNebqxn_QQmZl9KfXB6VvFNpB8tusrtBTeMsNmky7F4UBtp-oM-x_OUCRVOBOBuKKQKNML8ydEU1-I0FpNAt3PiDInf58b4KQxAIe5HrYSUDipirqG4nx4cpTr_Jv0DOAZxUABdY/s1600/P1140046.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUIk8GNebqxn_QQmZl9KfXB6VvFNpB8tusrtBTeMsNmky7F4UBtp-oM-x_OUCRVOBOBuKKQKNML8ydEU1-I0FpNAt3PiDInf58b4KQxAIe5HrYSUDipirqG4nx4cpTr_Jv0DOAZxUABdY/s320/P1140046.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jo Baker, Suzannah Dunn, Charlotte Betts,<br />Deborah Swift</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
then attended a panel discussion, Ears at the Door, looking at how novelists
can use servants’ points of view in their fiction, with Jo Baker, author of <i>Longbourn</i>, Charlotte Betts, author of <i>The House in Quill Court</i> and Suzannah
Dunn, whose most recent novel is <i>The Lady
of Misrule</i>, chaired by Deborah Swift. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In their discussion they talked of
the advantages of using servants – sometimes servants could go to places their
mistresses couldn’t and they could be privy to knowledge or make independent observations.
This new point of view could be enlightening: Jo Baker referred to the servants
in Jane Austen’s novels as ‘the ghosts in the texts’. Suzannah Dunn’s agent had
said to her ‘Don’t just tell us what we already know’ so a servant’s
perspective could cast a new light on things. She said that the servant figures
need to be more than just observers, though: ‘they have to have their own story’.
Jo Baker agreed – and this is the point of <i>Longbourn</i>
where the servants’ stories weave in and out of the action of <i>Pride and Prejudice</i> – or is it the other
way about? Charlotte Betts pointed out that it can be difficult to have a maid
or social inferior at ‘the right place at the right time’, which led to a
discussion of the separation of employer and servants in the rigid hierarchies
of past centuries. Considering the kind of language to employ, Jo said it
helped to read documents never originally intended for publication, such as
Jane Austen’s letters and that she aimed for a kind of ‘demotic’ style. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHEzNXL5LyEna1BS8HLPIkh7sel8xB9HB3CXKakqb8BtP9M7Pw_lzxIAM9l1L0PQcuYrUO_PuLzc50UohLB8IxLggpxn583X1wcjiB7VsokeWv8BeOzXXwDzSbNspYuvVn6BjyQ28khoM/s1600/P1140048.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHEzNXL5LyEna1BS8HLPIkh7sel8xB9HB3CXKakqb8BtP9M7Pw_lzxIAM9l1L0PQcuYrUO_PuLzc50UohLB8IxLggpxn583X1wcjiB7VsokeWv8BeOzXXwDzSbNspYuvVn6BjyQ28khoM/s200/P1140048.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Suzannah Dunn</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
session ended with a communal shaking of heads over inappropriate ‘frilly frocks’
on covers. This struck a chord with me because I’d recently read Tracy
Chevalier’s novel <i>At the Edge of the
Orchard</i> in hardback, the (admittedly lovely) cover of which featured a swampy
woodland (yup), an apple (yup) and someone holding an axe (yup – though not of
primary importance, I felt) but the person holding said axe was a young lady
wearing a white dress, clearly to make us think a young woman is at the heart
of this story (nope).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL39TAOlSXerLb8azPFYw-7tByaNHkuPy9_MTvp8WH_YRnL0FzRIXFSjUqwNygxcoE8p80AtHnAoonReK4QZVLhx8C9ZHboOT9iw6IAVMC_izl11SQsFMrEALuK9BhKQbmdu3YlTECAaI/s1600/P1140054.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL39TAOlSXerLb8azPFYw-7tByaNHkuPy9_MTvp8WH_YRnL0FzRIXFSjUqwNygxcoE8p80AtHnAoonReK4QZVLhx8C9ZHboOT9iw6IAVMC_izl11SQsFMrEALuK9BhKQbmdu3YlTECAaI/s320/P1140054.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Manda Scott, Kate Williams and Margaret George</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
was unable to attend any of the next panel discussions as I was on front of
house duty, but was there for a conversation about Faith and Morality in
Historical Fiction and Biography, chaired by Manda Scott and featuring Kate
Williams and Margaret George. And wouldn’t you know it, much of the discussion
was about that line between what was true of the time and the degree to which
one can invent or stretch things to satisfy readers’ demands. Margaret George
said ‘You might have to step on some toes, offend some readers’. In addition,
Margaret said, it can ‘turn off readers to portray the mindset and discourse of
centuries where religion was permeating everything’. Kate Williams said we
often don’t perceive how ‘radical’ it was for characters to ‘break convention’,
referring to Jane Austen’s writing and how to us that doesn’t seem all that
startling an activity for a young woman to pursue but it was back then. She
mentioned that one of the criticisms levelled at Jessie Burton’s <i>The Miniaturist</i> is that the main
character wanders about Amsterdam quite a lot, unescorted – but that ‘we need
some licence’ as storytellers. Manda pointed out that there is a dividing line
and that if you give your characters overly ‘modern sensibilities … it rings
false’, so, once again, our question as HF writers is whether ‘we do have a
duty’ to represent the past accurately. Kate said we need to ‘try to give the
truth of the characters’ and that ‘In fiction you have to come down on one side’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">My
favourite quote of the day came from Margaret George: Emperor ‘Nero has had a
terrible press because of the Christians’. Shucks, those pesky cults …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghYqzk7tEiGxkOcY13pxR9ARrhxfm5AtCdUKOkNn1HCf28XBbbcrAj7cP5YCMq-tmZeCCSZgy02b1jb1wnDALyPdKkcCrsI1vmgSJ4tsAYeCziUAwbFVojcPn8u-OuNDNE3IR2aXVJzHI/s1600/P1140055.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghYqzk7tEiGxkOcY13pxR9ARrhxfm5AtCdUKOkNn1HCf28XBbbcrAj7cP5YCMq-tmZeCCSZgy02b1jb1wnDALyPdKkcCrsI1vmgSJ4tsAYeCziUAwbFVojcPn8u-OuNDNE3IR2aXVJzHI/s320/P1140055.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">And
so, to the Gala Dinner, held at St Anne’s College. Lovely food and the buzz of
chat, a glorious Costume Pageant and an inspiring after-dinner speech by
Christopher Gortner. Finally, some extraordinary readings by Joanna Courtney,
Gillian Bagwell and CC Humphreys – the last of these so powerful and
brilliantly read that I made sure next day to buy the book in question, <i>Fire</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Here
are some more photos – my next blogpost will be about the Sunday sessions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The longlisted short story writers waiting for the result!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBc0G9NqfVa2sEavb76Vb1PFJ0BiM6Bss0_OYkmRDRY3SvfQyrd3c3AcPWnE6WVeXGpnh0vOhJD3QF2ctddd0gXSYFHzseenSA66MPp9PuLh6rdJgHlITAADX7ttfVXRYBeWlB1LnX7ZI/s1600/P1140052.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBc0G9NqfVa2sEavb76Vb1PFJ0BiM6Bss0_OYkmRDRY3SvfQyrd3c3AcPWnE6WVeXGpnh0vOhJD3QF2ctddd0gXSYFHzseenSA66MPp9PuLh6rdJgHlITAADX7ttfVXRYBeWlB1LnX7ZI/s320/P1140052.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jo Baker</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lovely photo of writer friends David Penny and Alison Morton<br />(Alison was on the shortlist for the Indie Award)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: start;">Details of the new season of my Fictionfire workshops, a day course and a retreat can be found </span><a href="http://www.fictionfire.co.uk/" style="color: #ff1a00; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: start;">, and you can sign up for my Fictionfire newsletter - articles, recommended reads and resources, competitions and more.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>An Oxford Vengeance, </i>my collection of short stories including 'Salt', which won the Conference London 2014 Award, is available to buy on Amazon <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oxford-Vengeance-Lorna-Fergusson-ebook/dp/B01LBU8216/" style="color: #ff1a00; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here </a>and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Oxford-Vengeance-Lorna-Fergusson-ebook/dp/B01LBU8216/" style="color: #ff1a00; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Part 1 of these posts on the 2016 HNS conference is <a href="http://literascribe.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/historical-novel-society-conference.html" style="color: #ff1a00; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a> and Part 2 is <a href="http://literascribe.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/historical-novel-society-conference_9.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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Lorna Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902741383469719107noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874888511895059748.post-37134661996492095902016-09-09T09:08:00.000+00:002016-09-09T09:08:04.618+00:00Historical Novel Society Conference Oxford 2016 Part 2: The Next Big Thing, Re-enactors and Rebellions <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Take
a deep breath, dear reader; we’re going in. Saturday 3<sup>rd</sup> September
marked the central day of the HNS conference. It began with a panel discussion ‘The
Next Big Thing in Historical Fiction, featuring Carole Blake as Chair, with
David Headley of Goldsboro Books, Nick Sayers of Hodder and Stoughton, Simon
Taylor of Transworld and Jane Johnson of HarperCollins. Quite a powerhouse
panel, all trying to answer the unanswerable question – yet a question asked at
every conference: where is HF going? Which era will be the most fashionable? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">David
Headley wants to see more sweeping World War 2 sagas. Simon Taylor thinks
ancient Greece. Jane Johnson wants more diversity, having ‘had enough of
Tudor/Elizabethan’ and she’d like more cross-cultural HF. Nick Sayers is keen
on literature in translation, referencing as an example Christina Eckhart’s <i>Wolf Winter</i>, the subject of which is the
relationship between Sweden and Lapland in the 17<sup>th</sup> century. Carole
Blake asked him if that had been ‘an easy sell within the publishing house’ –
he replied that ‘It was easy because it was a wonderful read.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carole Blake, Nick Sayers, Simon Taylor,<br />David Headley, Jane Johnson</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
I’m giving workshops on self-editing or pitching, I always draw people’s
attention to this very point: that selling isn’t just about selling your book
to the reader, the end-user. There are many different selling junctures
throughout the process: you ‘sell’ to the agent, the agent sells to the editor,
the editor sells in-house to the sales and marketing people who then sell to
the bookseller – and eventually, if you’re lucky, your book is sitting on a
shelf ready to catch the eye of the browsing customer. Phew! As Carole Blake
said: ‘Every book has to be sold half a dozen times. … The editors here are not
the gatekeepers. The gatekeepers are the sales teams.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
panel members highlighted how, at every stage, a clear sense of the book’s
essence is necessary. However ‘fresh’ the voice, however individual the topic
or treatment, we seek to encapsulate it, whether by comparison with other
established writers, or by period, or by genre or sub-genre such as historical
crime. This, as Jane Johnson said, is why Tudor or Roman HF is successful:
‘It’s seen as an easier sell’. David Headley commented that ‘It’s difficult to
sell a period that’s not sexy’ and Jane said that HF ‘often has feet in
different genres but sales teams want to pin it down’ before adding that
‘centralised buyers … don’t seem to read. If they don’t like the look … they
simply won’t stock it’, reminding us how crucial the cover treatment is to that
instant assessment of what the book <i>is</i>,
without the bother of ploughing through all those pesky words … Nick Sayers
said that ‘people might think a cover beautiful but walk past, not knowing what
it is.’ He also said ‘Booksellers like a label.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">You’ll
have noticed by now that the conversation had strayed from ‘the next big thing’
to ‘reasons why the current big things are big’. The panel also segued into a
discussion of publicity, particularly with regard to social media now that
newspaper review space is shrinking more and more. Carole Blake uttered a
heartfelt ‘Thank God for bloggers’. Jane Johnson highlighted how poor publicity
departments in big trade publishing houses can be sometimes when it comes to
tweeting about books and authors on their lists. Carole echoed this: ‘It takes up time and some
authors don’t enjoy it … there are times
when the publishers sit back and let the authors do all the marketing.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Jane’s
comment that ‘As a writer you don’t want to be doing the hard sell. … Writers
want to write’ will have struck a chord with many in the audience. Carole
stressed, quite rightly, that if you engage with social media you shouldn’t
shout ‘Buy my book!’ all the time, but instead take part in natural
‘water-cooler’ chats, establishing a presence and creating relationships rather
than indulging in a digital version of marching up and down with a placard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Finally,
the panel returned to that old chestnut – that ‘You can’t write to the market.
You have to write what’s in your heart – it’s the only thing that will let the
voice shine out.’ (Jane Johnson). Yes, that’s true. I probably talked about
this in the aftermath of the last HNS UK conference and the one before that.
Heart v head, Muse v Mammon, the individual voice v genre expectations. We
writers square circles like these all the time!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">As
I was on front of house duty after that, I couldn’t attend any of the
interesting panels – though I did see the 1066 Re-enactors demonstrating an
Anglo-Saxon shield-wall to the war-cry <i>‘Ut!
Ut! UT!</i> – great fun!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Before
lunch the keynote address was given by Melvyn Bragg whose latest novel, <i>Now is the Time</i>, focuses on the
Peasants’ Revolt – or as he’d prefer, Rebellion – in the fourteenth century. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Melvyn’s
keynote was passion: he was tripping over himself at times, in his enthusiasm
and his indignation. He drew contrasts between our world and the time of
Richard II but at the same time highlighted the similarities. He felt the
peasants – not that they were peasants, in his view – were like those who
recently voted for Brexit: tired, quite simply, of not being heard, of being
disregarded by the high and the mighty of the land, taking drastic action to be
listened to. It was an unsettling parallel to draw – the Revolt/Rebellion
didn’t exactly turn out well …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">He
mentioned the focus on mortality back then, perfectly understandable in the
wake of the Black Death, where ‘the only cure at their disposal was prayer’,
and the rise of English as the language of political debate and poetry – how Wyclif
and Chaucer were creating new audiences for expression in English words, not
Latin or French. He told us how much he hated William the Conqueror. He
asserted ‘the rights of fiction’ to inhabit that space I was discussing in my
previous post, that space between what happened and what is imaginable. If
Herodotus and Shakespeare could reimagine history, why can’t we?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Delegates
had much to discuss, then, over lunch. I’ll tell you about the story awards,
afternoon session and gala dinner in my next post!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Essie Fox - whose novel The Last Days of Leda Grey<br /> comes out in November. I can't wait to read it!<br /><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0PfRXWeNNTziy-ISk8usSxm1_3QMVhTggjUc13Kyey5iV9NUwEFvQ_tMdupaBFqxgvjMMHgrE5m7mkYWbMFvC_nVY9XeRN-utT9AfbgY_mzbX0lSCz0_gHoA6gHuPN3x9NEml9MSVNyA/s1600/P1140030.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0PfRXWeNNTziy-ISk8usSxm1_3QMVhTggjUc13Kyey5iV9NUwEFvQ_tMdupaBFqxgvjMMHgrE5m7mkYWbMFvC_nVY9XeRN-utT9AfbgY_mzbX0lSCz0_gHoA6gHuPN3x9NEml9MSVNyA/s320/P1140030.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Karen Maitland, one of my favourite writers<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: start;">Details of the new season of my Fictionfire workshops, a day course and a retreat can be found </span><a href="http://www.fictionfire.co.uk/" style="background-color: white; color: #ff1a00; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: start; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-align: start;">, and you can sign up for my Fictionfire newsletter - articles, recommended reads and resources, competitions and more.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>An Oxford Vengeance</i> is available to buy on Amazon <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oxford-Vengeance-Lorna-Fergusson-ebook/dp/B01LBU8216/" style="color: #ff1a00; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here </a>and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Oxford-Vengeance-Lorna-Fergusson-ebook/dp/B01LBU8216/" style="color: #ff1a00; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Part 1 of these posts on the 2016 HNS conference is <a href="http://literascribe.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/historical-novel-society-conference.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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Lorna Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902741383469719107noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874888511895059748.post-65893413895886754892016-09-07T14:48:00.000+00:002016-09-07T14:48:40.697+00:00Historical Novel Society Conference Oxford 2016 Part 1: Dreaming of History among the Spires<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Welcome
to the first of my posts on the HNS Conference of 2016, this time held in the
glorious city of Oxford, last weekend.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Historical
fiction has been on my mind all summer. I gave a lecture at the Oxford
University Creative Writing Summer School at Exeter College at the start of
August, the title of which was ‘Writing Historical Fiction: Spinning Fact into
Fiction’. That was a title decided upon a <i>very</i>
long time ago, so it was ironic to see on the HNS conference programme, that
Tracy Chevalier would be talking about ‘Fact into Fiction: A Historical
Novelist’s Relationship to the Past’ and Lord Melvyn Bragg’s speech would be ‘Now
is the Time: Historical Fact or Fiction?’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">This
highlights the constant concern debated in HF: the interface between fact and
fiction, between what is known and what can be imagined. A couple of days
before the conference opened, I published an ebook, <i><a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oxford-Vengeance-Lorna-Fergusson-ebook/dp/B01LBU8216/" target="_blank">An Oxford Vengeance</a></i>, because I wanted to celebrate the privilege of
living here, in a city where extraordinary facts jump out at you, crying out to
be turned into fiction. Oxford has inspired writers for centuries and those who
attended the conference could very well see why. Their eagerness to come here,
their joy and fascination during their brief stay, served to remind me how incredibly
lucky I am to be surrounded by such beauty and tradition in a location that
oozes history from every pore.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
title story of <i>An Oxford Vengeance</i>
straddles fact and fiction: in it I imagine what might have happened in the
aftermath of the events of Chaucer’s ‘The Miller’s Tale’, one of the famous <i>Canterbury Tales</i>. He located it in
Oxford, in Osney – so I set about researching the 14<sup>th</sup> century
history and creating a darker set of consequences from the farcical scenario he
relates. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">But,
back to the conference! Friday afternoon saw willing helpers and members of the
committee, who have been dedicating themselves to the preparation and smooth
running of the event for many months now, gather at the Mathematics Institute
to fill goody bags for delegates. The logistics of this operation were quite
something and very well described in <a href="http://aviewfromavillage.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/how-to-stuff-three-hundred-goody-bags.html" target="_blank">Nikki Fine’s post</a> on the subject! Hundreds
of bags were stacked against the wall, to vanish quickly during the course of
that evening and the following day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
conference proper got under way in the evening. Conference co-ordinator Carol
McGrath welcomed Fay Weldon and Jo Baker to discuss The Big House Story. Fay
wrote the first parts of <i>Upstairs,
Downstairs</i> and Jo Baker wrote <i>Longbourn</i>,
which focuses on the stories of the servants in the household of the Bennets of
<i>Pride and Prejudice</i> fame.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">They
started with an analysis of the importance of servants – how, as Jo said, they
were ‘the clockwork of the house’. Fay said that ‘The life downstairs is the
real life’. They went on to discuss the paradoxical position of servants, able
to eavesdrop and observe, but in some cases not even allowed to make eye
contact with their employers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Broadening
the discussion from the central topic, they discussed their writing practices
and aims. Jo said she’d discovered she’d been writing a large part of her
current work in progress in a stage of ‘indignation’ – ‘Indignation is a great
thing’, Fay reassured her, before asserting that ‘You have to choose your
characters to make your point and your novel has to have a point.’ When
discussing historical fiction and the accuracy of research, Jo told us ‘If you
become too mimetic you make it less accessible to a reader’, so there we are,
at that interface between the actual and the imagined once more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">As
for what counts as historical fiction, Jo claimed that ‘Books start to be historical
when clothes count as vintage.’ That’s a goodly portion of my life turning into
history, then …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
evening concluded with a wine and canapés reception. I’ll tell you all about
the packed Saturday programme in my next post – in the meantime, enjoy the
photos!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>An Oxford Vengeance</i> is available to buy on Amazon <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oxford-Vengeance-Lorna-Fergusson-ebook/dp/B01LBU8216/" target="_blank">here </a>and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Oxford-Vengeance-Lorna-Fergusson-ebook/dp/B01LBU8216/" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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Details of the new season of my Fictionfire workshops, a day course and a retreat can be found <a href="http://www.fictionfire.co.uk/" target="_blank">here</a>, and you can sign up for my Fictionfire newsletter - articles, recommended reads and resources, competitions and more.</div>
Lorna Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902741383469719107noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5874888511895059748.post-30174582430162351152016-08-18T09:51:00.000+00:002016-08-18T09:54:12.760+00:00M.K.Tod and the Making of a Novel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>I've had a very busy creative writing teaching schedule this summer, plus I've given a lecture at Oxford University on writing historical fiction and am getting ready for the Historical Novel Society conference here in Oxford at the start of September - I've been helping judge the short story competition and I'll be on a panel at the conference discussing the relative advantages and disadvantages of traditional and self-publishing. With this focus on historical fiction, I'm particularly delighted to welcome M.K. (Mary) Tod to Literascribe with a guest-post on how she set about writing her third novel, <i>Time</i> <i>and Regret</i>, published this week by Lake Union Press. If you're interested in historical fiction, Mary also writes a brilliant blog on it at www.awriterofhistory.com </b></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">Each author creates and writes in her or
his own way. There is no best approach; what matters most is whether in the end
the story is compelling from a reader’s point of view. I tend to get an idea
and then put flesh on it using a detailed chapter outline before I begin the
real writing. The idea for my latest novel, <i>Time
and Regret</i>, came while travelling in France with my husband Ian to visit
the battlefields, monuments, cemeteries, and museums dedicated to World War One.
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<span lang="EN-CA">On that trip, we went to Bailleul, Lille,
Amiens, Ypres, Mont St. Eloi and other towns and villages, and to memorials at
Vimy, Courcelette, Thiepval and Passchendaele. We visited the Mus</span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">é</span><span lang="EN-CA">e de la Grande Guerre in Peronne. We stayed at a charming hotel that
used to be a ch</span><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">â</span><span lang="EN-CA">teau and dined at its next-door restaurant. Those places and the
landscape of the region engaged every sense and, along with the hundreds of
pictures taken have fuelled descriptions of meadows, villages, windows, tastes,
gardens, restaurants, and other parts of <i>Time
and Regret</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">Of most significance to this novel is the
night we spent at a café in the small town of Honfleur across the mouth of the
Seine from Le Havre. Shortly after the waiter poured our first glass of red
wine, I wrote a few words in a small notebook.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">“What are you writing?” Ian said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">“An idea for a story,” I replied.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">Refusing to be put off by my cryptic
response, Ian persisted. “What’s the idea?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">“Nothing much. Just thought it might make a
good story to have a granddaughter follow the path her grandfather took during
World War One in order to find out more about him.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">Ian took on a pensive look and no doubt had
another sip of wine. “You could include a mystery,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">Now, you should know that mysteries are my
husband’s favourite genre. Indeed, I suspect mysteries represent at least
eighty percent of his reading. So I played along.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">“What kind of mystery?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">And that was the birth of <i>Time & Regret, </i>as ideas tumbled out
and the plot took shape. Needless to say, the bottle of wine was soon empty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">Tackling a mystery was new for me – my
first novels were a combination of war and romance. But a mystery, well, that’s
something different. Mysteries need clues artfully dropped in an unsuspecting
manner and more than one potential culprit. The plot needs to be full of
tension and drama and unexpected twists. And you have to wait until almost the
very end to reveal ‘who dunnit’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">To make the job more difficult, I decided
to write <i>Time and Regret</i> with two
time periods, one in early 1990s and the other in World War One, which meant
interleaving chapters in a way that was effective rather than confusing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQg9-L8RDvtigPdnxpZaW7c2mDY046okUufVNH7VnuOkaWk2WJU-O4BALcVFeIaJplSKjHKXf_2QV523xv_VsIALR7P3s7AZ0LS9S1cST2fxjhzGGAfEi0fqu6HvUhzqqY7ck_nacPoJg/s1600/IMG_8214.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQg9-L8RDvtigPdnxpZaW7c2mDY046okUufVNH7VnuOkaWk2WJU-O4BALcVFeIaJplSKjHKXf_2QV523xv_VsIALR7P3s7AZ0LS9S1cST2fxjhzGGAfEi0fqu6HvUhzqqY7ck_nacPoJg/s200/IMG_8214.jpeg" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Town Hall at Bailleul</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span lang="EN-CA">As with any historical novel, research was
critical. Beyond the trip to France, I spent ages investigating a particular
infantry unit of the Canadian army (my WWI protagonist is in the Canadian army
although after the war he moves to New York). For purposes of story and authenticity,
I needed to know his whereabouts and the battles in which he participated.
Fortunately, the Canadian government has stored battalion diaries online which
meant I could read about troop movements, casualties, weather conditions,
important visitors, training programs, skirmishes with the enemy, battles,
preparations for battle and other details the battalion commander chose to
record during every day of the war.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">Beyond that, I researched casualty clearing
stations, hospitals in London serving WWI officers, the effects of shell shock,
military weapons, the use of tanks. And for the more present day portion of the
story, I found things like information on French beers, French food, fashion
styles and major events of 1991, the world of museums and art galleries and
many more details.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">Writing is a labour of love. Passion and
serendipity keep me going.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span lang="EN-CA">Time and Regret</span></i></b><span lang="EN-CA">: A
cryptic letter. A family secret. A search for answers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">When Grace Hansen finds a box belonging to
her beloved grandfather, she has no idea it holds the key to his past—and to
long buried secrets. In the box are his World War I diaries and a cryptic note
addressed to her. Determined to solve her grandfather’s puzzle, Grace follows
his diary entries across towns and battle sites in northern France, where she
becomes increasingly drawn to a charming French man—and suddenly aware that
someone is following her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="OLE_LINK19"></a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="OLE_LINK18"><span lang="EN-CA">'Spiced with mystery and a
spark of romance, TIME AND REGRET is an immersive journey into one man’s brave
but terrifying slog through the killing fields of France and Flanders during
WWI. Tod’s prose brims with exquisite atmospheric detail, drawing the reader
into an unforgettable story.'<o:p></o:p></span></a></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">-- Juliet Grey: author of the
acclaimed <i>Marie Antoinette trilogy<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="OLE_LINK21"><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">M.K. Tod writes
historical fiction and blogs about all aspects of the genre at </span></i></a><a href="http://www.awriterofhistory.com/"><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #2d4ee5; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; text-decoration: none;">A Writer of History</span></i></a><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">.
Her latest novel, </span></i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Time-Regret-M-K-Tod/dp/1503938409/"><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">TIME
AND REGRET</span></i></a><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">
will be published by Lake Union on August 16, 2016. Mary’s other novels, LIES
TOLD IN SILENCE and UNRAVELLED are available from </span></i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lies-Told-Silence-M-K-Tod/dp/099196702X"><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Amazon</span></i></a><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">,
</span></i><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lies-told-in-silence-mk-tod/1120016293?ean=2940149639724"><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #2d4ee5; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Nook</span></i></a><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">, </span></i><a href="http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/lies-told-in-silence"><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #2d4ee5; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Kobo</span></i></a><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">, </span></i><a href="https://play.google.com/store/books/details/M_K_Tod_Lies_Told_In_Silence?id=qPgjBAAAQBAJ"><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #2d4ee5; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">Google Play</span></i></a><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"> and
</span></i><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/sk/book/lies-told-in-silence/id905042634?mt=11"><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">iTunes</span></i></a><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">.
She can be contacted on </span></i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/MKTodAuthor"><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #2d4ee5; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; text-decoration: none;">Facebook</span></i></a><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">,
</span></i><a href="https://twitter.com/MKTodAuthor"><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #2d4ee5; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; text-decoration: none;">Twitter</span></i></a><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">
and </span></i><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7181549.M_K_Tod"><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="color: #2d4ee5; font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; text-decoration: none;">Goodreads</span></i></a><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";"> or on her website </span></i><span lang="EN-CA"><a href="http://www.mktod.com/"><i><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">www.mktod.com</span></i></a></span><i><span lang="EN-CA" style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif";">.</span></i><span lang="EN-CA"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">Amazon US <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Time-Regret-M-K-Tod/dp/1503938409/">https://www.amazon.com/Time-Regret-M-K-Tod/dp/1503938409/</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">Amazon Canada <a href="https://www.amazon.ca/Time-Regret-M-K-Tod/dp/1503938409/">https://www.amazon.ca/Time-Regret-M-K-Tod/dp/1503938409/</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-CA">Amazon UK <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Time-Regret-M-K-Tod/dp/1503938409/">https://www.amazon.co.uk/Time-Regret-M-K-Tod/dp/1503938409/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Lorna Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10902741383469719107noreply@blogger.com1