 The minute I announced on Twitter that today I was going to make
The Christmas Cake, memories of cinnamon, oranges, brandy and cake mix poured into my head.
I saw myself aged six or seven standing by my mother at the kitchen table. It was half-term and my mother, a teacher, had that precious week at home. I reached up to take the wooden spoon she offered and stirred the mixture in the caramel-coloured white-lined earthenware bowl. I closed my eyes and made a wish.
Many years later, my own six year old son standing on tip-toe, eyes shiny, cheeky grin, finger poised to pinch some of the cake mixture, was initiated into the Christmas cake stirring and wishing ritual.
These memories open the door to what we are, what we aspire to be and what we hope our legacy will be.
Ditto our characters. What did they do at six or seven? You don’t need to tell your readers, but you do need to know.
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 I’m delighted to welcome author Lesley Cookman to my blog today. Born in Guildford, Surrey, Lesley spent her early life in south London, before marrying and moving all over the south-east of England. Lesley fell into feature writing by accident, then went on to reviewing for both magazines and radio. She writes for the stage, she has written short fiction for women’s weekly magazines and is a former editor of The Call Boy, the British Music Hall Society journal. Her first Libby Sarjeant novel, Murder In Steeple Martin, was published to much acclaim in 2006.
How did you get started? I began by writing interminable pony stories in Woolworth’s exersise books as a child. Like many writers, I have written all my life, but again, like most novelists, I never considered I could do it for a living!
What draws you to your particular genre? My parents let me loose on their books when, at the age of about nine, I ran out of books of my own to read. (Between visits to the library.) So I began on Ngaio Marsh, John Dickson Carr and Rex Stout, all crime writers, and that was it. Mind you, they also let me read Thorne Smith who, at the time, was very racy. I think they assumed the naughty bits would go over my head.
How was Libby Sarjeant born? Was she a character running round in your head that you always wanted to write about? No, she just appeared in my head fully formed. Funnily enough, the particular setting changed when I began to write the first book, so obviously that first one wasn’t where she really lived.
What makes such a heroine e.g. sleuth, police detective, so attractive to readers? The writer makes the character attractive, and if she/he doesn’t, then there’s no chance for the series – because that’s what readers are interested in – the series. Readers tell me reading my books is like relaxing with old friends, and that’s exactly how I felt when I first began reading crime. I couldn’t wait until a new book by one of my favourite authors came out because I liked the regular characters. The difficulty is maintaining the interest with new plots, which, for an amateur sleuth, is just a tad awkward…
To plot or not to plot? Are you a planner or do you just dive in? Dive in. I know a rough idea, but rarely do I know the murderer, the murderee, how it’s done or anything else about it. Then the pictures start to form and I plough ahead. This frequently lands me in hot water, like the time my editor told me I had to find a new murderer because the current one was far too sympathetic. Or in my current one, where, a few chapters in, I’ve discovered my murder method, on which the whole story hangs, is impossible. Cue complete rewrite, putting me somewhat behind!
What is the hardest part of the writing process for you? Keeping it going. And keeping myself motivated to sit at my desk day after day.
Do you enjoy research, and how do you set about it? I do most of my research on the internet, usually as I come across a problem in the story. I also use social networking sites to ask questions, and usually there’s someone out there who can help.
How do you develop your characters? I don’t, I’m afraid! They all appear fully formed, just as Libby did. I occasionally have to find out back story for them, but they’ll usually tell me. I know what they all look like, sound like and think like. I was delighted when at a recent library event the audience started telling me what my characters would and wouldn’t do – and what I could and couldn’t do with them!
How do you relax? What interests do you have other than writing? Writing’s the day job rather than an interest. I read mostly, watch documentaries, nature and history programmes on television and occasionally perform at my local theatre. I also go to as many gigs played by my children as I can.
Are you into social networking, and in what way do you feel it helps your career? I was pushed into it by my publishers, but now love it. I use Facebook for keeping up with the family and non-writer friends and Twitter for the writerly stuff. I’ve found new readers, been stocked by new bookshops, had events organised for me and made new friends through Twitter.
 What is your latest book? Murder At The Manor, the ninth Libby Sarjeant adventure, out on November 7th in paperback and ebook.
Can you tell us something of your work in progress? Murder By Magic, the tenth Libby and Fran adventure, to which I’ve already referred. This is the one where I’m have to completely rewrite what I’ve done so far – not good when it’s due out on June 7th 2012!
And finally, what advice would you give a new writer? Read, read, read. Make sure you know what’s being published in your preferred genre. Established writers may be allowed to take risks, new writers rarely so. And don’t make the mistake of self-publishing your first finished novel, even if the stories of self e-pubbing tempt you. Serve your apprenticeship first. Oh – and read.
Thank you, Lesley, for being such a great guest and for your insights about writing. Good luck with Murder at the Manor.
Find out more from Lesley’s website
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 Several people have commented on the new look of this blog (which is lovely of them) and asked me about the background.
Of course, it’s a Roman road and in particular it’s the Via Domitia at Ambrussum, near Nimes in southern France. The Via Domitia provided a fast and sure link from Spain to Italy. constructed in 118BC by the proconsul Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus.
Roman roads were built to link public administration , especially the postal service, but first and foremost to provide a cross-continental system for the rapid movement of troops. But trade followed and many Roman roads were used into the medieval period which explains the well-worn chariot (or more likely the more mundane cart) tracks.
A non-typical Roman…
But you can see the scale of the road; it easily accommodated two-way traffic if need be.
A stack of detail about how they were built is at
Building Roman Roads – The Roman Surveyors
And here’s a typical cross-section.
Courtesy of britannica.com
Alison Morton is the author of Roma Nova thrillers, INCEPTIO, and PERFIDITAS. Third in series, SUCCESSIO, is now out.
Find out about Roma Nova news, writing tips and info by signing up for my free monthly email newsletter.
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 No, I haven’t killed off my second book. My self-edits are over and the typescript has gone to a beta reader. So what did the process involve?
First of all, I check my event grid. This is my table of contents, a brief summary of events in each chapter; who says what to whom, what is discovered, what is hidden, the next problem, the bad news, action taken.
Sometimes when writing a scene in a sub-plot or sub-sub-plot, I forget if one person knows what another is up to, how long it takes to get from A to B or if someone’s had enough time to heal from a gunshot wound. It helps to prevent snowstorms in summer and eleven month pregnancies.
Next, I sit around looking enigmatic. What I’m really doing is thinking, especially about each character’s time line. Does each person’s story hang together logically? Of course, it’s the main character’s story, but each of the secondary characters needs to have a logical progression. I write my protagonist in the first person, so I play a game of writing from each of the secondaries’ point of view in the first person. It’s good fun as well!
Then I whip out the red pen and hunt out padding and fluff line-by-line. (I typed fliff instead of fluff at first and changed it back, but fliff describes it so much better). This is where I try to remember all those mini-maxims I’ve learnt over the past 18 months.
But “rules” is not always rules.
SDT (Show dont’t tell), i.e. standing in the room with the character as the action as it happens. Sometimes, to compress a load of boring stuff or time between events, telling is the most compact way, but not to describe the crisis point in the story.
LIM (Less is more), but not to the extent of making the writing cold and sterile. I test out deletions by cutting (Ctrl C) rather than deleting the word/phrase/sentence. Easy to put back if the narrative or dialogue really, really doesn’t work without the cut text.
RUE (Resist the urge to explain), also known as The reader WILL get it. This is so difficult, but readers are pretty intelligent and will get irritated if you harp on about the obvious or say the same thing twice in different words to make sure you’ve got the point across. Basic guideline – don’t do it.
Kill adverbs. Well, not every one, but check you are not overdoing them and scrutinise their function in each sentence. Delete rather, quite, very and so by default and make them earn their place back.
Star-chamber all adjectives (That expression’s mine – more on the real Star Chamber here). Unless it’s necessary to the plot, does it matter what colour a car is? You need adjectives to describe your characters, but keep them to an absolute minimum. Readers like to imagine the details themselves.
Replace felt, was, had, thought, wonder and suddenly where you can, but don’t have hysterics if you need to use them in their proper place.
Use strong verbs: trudge, stride, shuffle, totter, march, saunter instead of walk.
And lastly, get the throat sweets ready, clear your schedule and read the whole blessed thing aloud in one go.
I love this stage where I can bring dull bits to life, extend tension to an unbearable point, cut the crap and polish each word to ultimate beauty.
How do you see edits?
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 Write 300-500 words about your favourite filofax memory and you could win a brand new oganiser. Now enjoying a strong revival, filofax is regaining the worldwide popularity seen in the 1980s.
This October, filofax and Philofaxy would like to invite you to share your favourite filofaxmemory. Whether it’s a tale about your first filofax, the story of your first visit to the filofax store or even a moment when a filofax played an important part in your life, we want to hear from you!
Over the next two weeks, you will be able submit your cherished filofax memories by 26th October at 23:59 (UK time) to philofaxy at gmail dot com This can be beautifully handwritten, typed or even drawn onto the special filofax diary page template which you can download from the link below.
Philofaxy will then choose the top 10 memories to be uploaded onto the official filofax Facebook page for fans all over the world to read and ‘like’.
On the 4th November, the three memories which have the most ‘likes’ from the Philofaxy will receive brand new filofax organisers as a very special thank you for participating in the challenge.
Interested in sharing your filofaxmemories? Here’s how to take part:
- Download the filofax diary page template from this link PPT format PDF Format
- Write, draw or type your 300-500 word memory onto the filofax diary page template
- Send your memory back by 26th October at 23:59 (UK time) to philofaxy at gmail dot com who will then select their top 10 stories to be uploaded onto the filofax Facebook page. Maximum of 3 entries per person. Competition open to all filofax users worldwide.
- filofax fans will then be encouraged to ‘like’ their favourite memories
- The three memories that receive the most ‘likes’ from the Philofaxy album will receive brand new filofax organisers!
FAQs about the competition here
Visit Philofaxy.com, the worldwide filofax community.
Good luck!
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The minute I announced on Twitter that today I was going to make
