Tag Archives: Ruby Fiction

#WritingWednesday with Chris Penhall: Writing Characters.

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My #WritingWednesday guest this week is fellow Ruby Fiction author Chris Penhall, talking about the benefit of writing characters as if they are in a film.

Over to you, Chris …

One of the best tips I ever had was to think about your characters and scenes as if they were in a film.  It may seem obvious, but it was a game-changer for me. I’d written my first novel, The House That Alice Built, and had some good feedback for it, but it wasn’t quite there, so I invested in a mentor who helped me get it to the finish line (i.e., it won the Choc-Lit Search for a Star Competition and was actually published).

And that was one of the things she told me to do.

I honestly think I thought that’s what I was doing. But once I really started closing my eyes and began to think about what my characters actually were doing when they were talking or where they were sitting when they were thinking, what they could hear, see and even smell,  I realised I’d been paying lip-service to it as I typed away.  (I do love the sound of a tap tap on the keyboard, especially if it’s fast, so can get carried away with volume rather than quality…)

I love watching films as much as I love reading books, so once I began to really picture each scene in my head, I enjoyed the process of writing even more.

What could Alice Matthews see when she was driven along The Avenida on the Lisbon coast in Ignacio’s yellow Rolls Royce for the very first time? As a heads up, the section of the film The Yellow Rolls Royce starring Shirley MacLaine and Alain Delon on the Italian Riviera is one of my favourite pieces of cinema – oh, the romance, the colours, the feel of it …. Alice had come from a rather grey London, and what she saw from the window of that car was full of colour and vibrancy. What was it like sitting in Ignacio’s yellow Rolls Royce at the beginning of the sequel New Beginnings at the Little House in the Sun? Another spoiler alert – there were many balloons. Why were they there?  That was easy – but also, what did they look like, what did they do, what did the car look like as it drove away?

It’s very easy to slip into writing banter when characters are having a conversation, and I have to discipline myself to slow down and think about what people do when they are talking to each other – smile, take a sip of a drink, glance out of a window – and, although I may not use all of that on the actual page, the fact I’m thinking of it as a film or television scene allows me to see it in 3D and somehow helps bring the characters to life in my mind.

Now I’m working on my sixth novel, I have already closed my eyes and plonked my main characters in the area where most of the action is set. I can see them walking around, exploring their new surroundings, having conversations and gazing out to sea (my characters always gaze somewhere…) I am seeing them in 3D, and that is what helps me to write. Even though I haven’t put any words on paper yet – my hands are poised above the keyboard so I can start next week – I am ready to move them around and start them on their new adventure.

Also – I’d love my novels to be made into films. Any producers out there? Just thought I’d ask…

Definitely worth an ask 😉 Thank you for sharing another great writing tip, Chris. xx

Books by Chris Penhall:

The House That Alice Built

Home is where the heart is … Alice Dorothy Matthews is sensible. Whilst her best friend Kathy is living it up in Portugal and her insufferable ex Adam is travelling the world, Alice is working hard to pay for the beloved London house she has put her heart and soul into renovating. But then a postcard from Buenos Aires turns Alice’s life upside down. One very unsensible decision later and she is in Cascais, Portugal, and so begins her lesson in ‘going with the flow’; a lesson that sees her cat-sitting, paddle boarding, dancing on top of bars and rediscovering her artistic talents. But perhaps the most important part of the lesson for Alice is that you don’t always need a house to be at home.

Discover more or purchase here.

New Beginnings at the Little House in the Sun

Follow your yellow brick road …. Alice Dorothy Matthews is on the road to paradise! She’s sold her house in London, got rid of her nasty ex and arranged her move to Portugal where friendship and romance awaits. All that’s left to do is find a place to call home. But Alice’s dreams are called into question when complications with friends, work and new relationships make her Portuguese paradise feel far too much like reality. Will Alice’s dream of a new home in the sun come true?

Discover more or purchase here.

Finding Summer Happiness

You won’t find happiness without breaking a few eggs …Miriam Ryan was the MD of a successful events and catering company, but these days even the thought of chopping an onion sends her stress levels sky rocketing. A retreat to the Welsh village of her childhood holidays seems to offer the escape she’s craving – just peace, quiet, no people, a generous supply of ready meals … did she mention no people? Enter a cheery pub landlord, a lovesick letting agent, a grumpy astronomer with a fridge raiding habit – not to mention a surprise supper club that requires the chopping of many onions – and Miriam realises her escape has turned into exactly what she was trying to get away from, but could that be just the thing she needs to allow a little bit of summer happiness into her life?

Discover more or purchase here.

The House on the Hill – A Summer in the Algarve

Layla is calm, in control and is definitely not about to lose her serenity for the man next door!
Surely it can’t be hard to stay peaceful at one of the oldest yoga and mindfulness retreats in the Algarve, surrounded by sea, sun and serenity? Mostly, owner Layla Garcia manages it – with the help of meditation and plenty of camomile tea, of coursekeeping her grandparents’ legacy alive is stressful, and Layla has become so shackled to the work that, for her, The House on the Hill is fast becoming ‘The Fortress on the Hill’.
Then writer Luke Mackie moves to the villa next door, bringing with him a healthy dose of chaos to disrupt Layla’s plans, plus a painful reminder of a time when she was less-than-serene. But could his influence be just what Layla needs to ‘dance like no-one’s watching’ and have the fun she’s been missing?

Discover more or purchase here.

About the author:

Chris Penhall won the 2019 Choc-Lit Search for a Star competition, sponsored by Your Cat Magazine, for her debut novel, The House That Alice Built. The sequel, New Beginnings at the Little House in the Sun was published in August 2020. They are both part of her Portuguese Paradise series of novels.

Her third novel, Finding Summer Happiness, is set in Pembrokeshire in South-West Wales and her fourth – The House on the Hill – A Summer in the Algarve, is another in her Portuguese Paradise series.

All are available in e-book, audio and paperback.

Chris is a writer and freelance radio producer for BBC Local Radio. She also has her own occasional podcast – The Talking to My Friends About Book Podcast in which she chats to her friends about books. Good title!

A lover of books, music and cats, she is also an enthusiastic salsa dancer, a keen cook, and loves to travel. She is never happier than when she is gazing at the sea.

You can find out more about Chris and her work here: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook 

February, the month of love!

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With February being the month of love, I am delighted that Maybe Baby is currently included in the Choc Lit / Ruby Fiction 99p Valentine’s sale.

“A truly heart-warming story of love, romance and most importantly friendship,” Maybe Baby is the perfect read for a month that includes Galentine’s Day on 13th February and Valentine’s Day on 14th February.

Galentine’s Day is a time to celebrate your gal pals, that supportive network of friends and family who you know are there for you no matter what.

Whether virtual, real, or imagined in a novel – female friendships thrive where there is an element of support, appreciation and commitment. With many influential women in my life: my amazingly supportive late mum, three older sisters, three daughters and a granddaughter, as well as close female friends and colleagues, my writing frequently includes strong female relationships; Maybe Baby is no exception.

In writing the Lisa Blake novels (The Purrfect Pet Sitter and Maybe Baby), the story of Lisa and her first love, Nathan Baker, takes centre stage. However, the exploration of the reconnection between Lisa and her once-best friend Felicity plays an important part in the novels and was a joy to write.

The interaction between the two recently reunited friends reflects their past – the shared memories, the in-jokes, and the things only best friends would know about each other. Writing their characters and the moments they share was touching, as if I was privy to their lives and bond. I hope as people read the novel, they enjoy spending time in their company, as much as I did.

While we don’t see Lisa and Felicity celebrating Galentine’s in Maybe Baby, I am sure they would celebrate it in style. What we do see, however, is Lisa attempting to give her boyfriend, Nathan, a Valentine’s Day surprise he will never forget, but you’ll have to read the novel to find out if things go to plan.

No matter how you choose to spend the month of February, I hope it is in the company of those you love and a good book! xx

The blurb:

Just when you thought you had it all worked out …

Lisa Blake is back with her first love, she’s reunited with her best friend Felicity, and even her pet sitting skills are improving – everybody knows you can’t believe all you read in the local Gazette, don’t they?

Felicity is on the cusp of achieving her perfect wife-mum-life balance; Her husband, Pete, is being wonderfully attentive, and her four children are getting older and wiser (sometimes too much wiser) by the day.

But when Lisa walks in on a half-naked woman in her boyfriend’s flat and Felicity is left reeling from a shocking discovery, it seems life is nothing but full of surprises. Can love, laughter, and learning to compromise, help them achieve their dreams?

Maybe Baby is available in audio, ebook, paperback and in large print, buying links: Amazon | Kobo | Ruby Fiction 

Maybe Baby is the second book in the Lisa Blake series. While the story follows on from The Purrfect Pet Sitter (Lisa Blake book #1), it can also be read as a standalone novel.

Discover more here: Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram |  

Escape to Normandy with Jan Baynham.

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This week, I am delighted to escape to Normandy, with my guest Jan Baynham, as she talks about her novel, Her Nanny’s Secret.

Thank you for having me on your blog, Carol. As with all my novels, Her Nanny’s Secret is set in both beautiful rural mid-Wales where I grew up and in a foreign location. In this case, the contrasting setting is Normandy in Northern France. When writing the parts set in France, I was able to escape to a country I love and reminisce about the numerous visits we’ve made there on family holidays.

Although the town of Ville de Roi and the surrounding villages of Collinac and Sainte Marie-Hélène are fictional, I’ve based them on the area around southern Normandy. The Norman town of Avranches is steeped in history and there is plenty to see and do there. One of my favourite places is the peaceful botanic garden, Jardin des Plantes, with its view of a famous landmark in the distance out in the bay. In the novel, we accompany my main character, Annie, on a visit to Mont St Michel as she enjoyed walking through the narrow streets and winding her way up to the Gothic abbey perched on top.

The view from the very top was spectacular and worth the effort. They wandered around the arched cloisters that edged formal gardens.

In summer months, wherever you look in the area there’s an abundance of flowers in towns and villages as they compete in an annual contest started in 1959 after the devastation caused by the war. It was felt that the planting of flowers helped renew and repair communities.

A yellow road sign with three flower symbols proudly welcomed the visitor to a Village Fleuri… Everywhere they looked were tubs of flowers in vibrant colours, edging the cobbled pavements, in front of each shop window…

What’s great about visiting France is being able to sit at the numerous pavement cafés and sample French foods and drinks. This was new for Annie and when she visited La Belle Époque, she was overwhelmed by the wide choice on the menu.

Annie couldn’t decide from the images between a savoury galette filled with ham and cheese, topped with a fried egg, or, to satisfy her sweet tooth, a crêpe, oozing with cooked local apples and whipped cream. Pancakes were only ever eaten on Shrove Tuesday at home and then always with sugar and lemon juice.

The area is full of pretty villages all with their own mairies and central squares. At one, Annie is fascinated by a group of elderly men playing a game she hadn’t seen before.

‘Pétanque,’ said Clara. ‘It’s very popular in this part of France.’

… In turn, each player threw a larger silver-coloured ball, a boule, as close to the jack as they could. The men became more animated as the game went on, especially when someone’s boule knocked another’s further away from the jack.

Annie would never forget her first escape to Normandy, the landscape she travelled through, the pretty villages, the language she heard spoken and the warmth of the people she met.

Buying Links for Her Nanny’s Secret, OUT NOW:

Amazon | Kobo | Barnes and Noble

About the author:

After retiring from a career in teaching and advisory education, Jan Baynham joined a small writing group in a local library where she wrote her first piece of fiction.  From then on, she was hooked! She soon went on to take a writing class at the local university and began to submit short stories for publication to a wider audience. Her stories and flash fiction pieces have been longlisted and shortlisted in competitions and several appear in anthologies both online and in print. In October 2019, her first collection of stories was published. Her stories started getting longer and longer so that, following a novel writing course, she began to write her first full-length novel. She loves being able to explore her characters in further depth and delve into their stories.

Originally from mid-Wales, Jan lives in Cardiff with her husband. Having joined the Romantic Novelists Association in 2016, she values the friendship and support from other members and regularly attends conferences, workshops, talks and get togethers. She is co-organiser of her local RNA Chapter and a member of the Society of Authors.

Find out more about Jan Baynham and her novels here: Website/Blog | Twitter | Facebook |

Thank you for the great post, Jan, and for stopping by my blog. xx

 

#WritingWednesday with Chris Penhall: A Sense of Place.

Guest Post, Writing Wednesday, , , , , , , ,

This #WritingWednesday, fellow Ruby Fiction author, Chris Penhall, shares her brilliant tips for writing a sense of place.

I read all types of fiction, from romance to crime to historical and everything in between. When I write, however, what comes out of my imagination are contemporary romances set in beautiful places.

Once I started writing my first novel, The House That Alice Built, I knew the physical setting was very important because of the way it affected the main character. That’s why I decided to place her firmly in Cascais near Lisbon because I know that part of Portugal very well as I used to live there, and now I spend a lot of time in the Algarve in the south of the country. If I want to meditate and take myself off to a beach in my mind’s eye to help me do it, it’ll be a Portuguese beach. If I pop into town and smell a barbecue, I’ll be in the square in Cascais in an instant. It feels so real to me that once I started Alice’s quite literal journey, I found it surprisingly easy to take her there.

The sequel, New Beginnings at the Little House in the Sun is located in the same place, but she visits Lisbon more often and also south of the river Tejo. I went on a long weekend break to the city just after I started writing the book and the colours and sounds (and food!) were all very vivid to me when I got home and got to work on it again.

My latest novel Finding Summer Happiness, is based in south west Wales. This time it’s not set in a specific place; I have created an imaginary village by the sea inspired by many visits to Pembrokeshire over the years – most recently when I spent some days walking parts of the glorious coastal path with friends. I was born in Neath in West Glamorgan, so the coast of that part of Wales is somewhere I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy since I was born. My memories of childhood days on the beach can be conjured up in an instant for me because I do the coast!

So, now I’ve written three novels with a real sense of place, I’ve finally worked out how and why I do it.

In all three stories the places my main characters find themselves in are part of the catalyst that makes them want to change, and so in a way the locations are characters in the novels. That is why I feel it’s important to describe them in the way I do.

I write about the locations when I feel it’s crucial to the story. In my first two novels my main character, Alice, is rediscovering her artistic talents and is inspired by what is around her. That’s why the colours and the landscape are so clear to her and help her to find a new way to express herself, which in turn, enables her to move on.

Miriam, the main character in Finding Summer Happiness is looking for her childhood past in a little village on the coast in south west Wales, and her walks along the beaches and the cliffs on the coastal path help her to do that. She is also trying to get some peace away from other people and her busy mind, and there are parts of the path that are very quiet and so provide a contrast to the hubbub she left behind in London.

So, the lessons I have learned whilst writing these three books and my two short stories are:

I love films, and when I’m working on scenes I picture them as if I am watching the characters physically move around in them. I put myself in their shoes in my mind and think about what they are seeing and hearing, whether anyone else is around, even what they can smell – food and flowers and the sea are ever present in my books!

I use things I’ve seen and heard which I have somehow filed away in my memory without realising it. For instance, in The House That Alice Built there is a section in which Alice and Luis watch a ship sail out to sea in the darkness, illuminated by its own lights and the stars above it, so it seemed to be floating in the air. I remember looking out of the aircraft window flying into Lanzarote many years ago, and seeing the lights of a liner down below, near to the island. Our hotel was very close to the airport and when we walked in, the reception opened up to the sea, and I saw the same huge ship almost floating past in the darkness. It was absolutely beautiful and felt incredibly magical and that’s what I describe in the novel as it reflected what the two main characters were feeling having got together for the first time.

When I’m writing the story, although I have it loosely planned ahead, sometimes where the characters physically travel through to affects the action and changes the flow of it. So, when it feels appropriate, that’s what I write.  However, I can also get stuck in a dead end too, so I’ll jump ahead to a particularly vivid scene – which I love writing and therefore motivates me to carry on – and go back and bridge the gap another time.

So, in conclusion, I feel that when writing descriptions of where a novel is located, it’s important to think about whether it’s crucial to the action and to move a story on, or if it’s to scene set. Is it a reflection of how the characters are feeling, and is it affecting them? And also how you do it depends on whether you are writing in the first or third person, and whether the novel is from one character’s viewpoint, or more.

And most of all, once you’ve decided how to write it, just enjoy it!

I loved those great tips, Chris, thank you for sharing. xx

About Chris Penhall’s latest release, Finding Summer Happiness:

You won’t find happiness without breaking a few eggs …

Miriam Ryan was the MD of a successful events and catering company, but these days even the thought of chopping an onion sends her stress levels sky rocketing. A retreat to the Welsh village of her childhood holidays seems to offer the escape she’s craving – just peace, quiet, no people, a generous supply of ready meals … did she mention no people?
Enter a cheery pub landlord, a lovesick letting agent, a grumpy astronomer with a fridge raiding habit – not to mention a surprise supper club that requires the chopping of many onions – and Miriam realises her escape has turned into exactly what she was trying to get away from, but could that be just the thing she needs to allow a little bit of summer happiness into her life?

Publisher: Ruby Fiction
Genre: Contemporary romance.
Purchase here.

About the author:

Chris Penhall won the 2019 Choc-Lit Search for a Star competition, sponsored by Your Cat Magazine, for her debut novel, The House That Alice Built. The sequel, New Beginnings at the Little House in the Sun is published on 25th August 2020.

Chris is an author and freelance radio producer for BBC Local Radio.

Born in Neath in South Wales, she has also lived in London and in Portugal, which is where her two novels are set. It was whilst living in Cascais near Lisbon that she began to dabble in writing fiction, but it was many years later that she was confident enough to start writing her first novel, and many years after that she finally finished it!

A lover of books, music and cats, she is also an enthusiastic salsa dancer, a keen cook, and loves to travel. She is never happier than when she is gazing at the sea.

You can find out more about Chris and her work here: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook 

Feel Good Friday with A Summer of Second Chances.

Feel Good Friday, Writing & Reading, , , , , , , , , ,

What a week! A Summer of Second Chances is out in the world, as an ebook, and early reviews are making me smile.


Publication day was a lot of fun, with support from my family and writing friends as well as my work colleagues. I was thoroughly spoilt and LOVED my book cover cake, gorgeous flowers and other (mostly edible) goodies!

It is always nerve-wracking waiting for reviews to begin to appear, but I can confirm, A Summer of Second Chances has ten lovely reviews, at the time of writing, on Amazon UK. Reading them has left me with a big smile. Here’s a little taster; you can check out more here: Amazon reviews.

I am so pleased that readers are enjoying my characters and the beautiful setting of Dapplebury – based on Arundel, for those who know or have visited the historic town in the South of England.

I have a blog tour coming up soon so no doubt I’ll be nervous again then too, as my book will be reviewed by thirty wonderful book bloggers via Rachel’s Random Resources. I’ll be sure to share what they have to say.

And if you have some how missed me shouting about A Summer of Second Chances this week, here’s the blurb:

Does first love deserve a second chance?
Ava Flynn sometimes feels like the clothes donated to her charity shop have seen more life than her, but ‘maximum dedication for a minimal wage’ is what it takes to keep her mother’s beloved wildlife charity, All Critters Great and Small, running – especially in the village of Dapplebury, where business is certainly not booming.

But when Ava’s first love, Henry Bramlington, returns to the village, suddenly life becomes a little too eventful. Henry escaped Dapplebury many years before, but now he has the power to make or break the village he left behind – All Critters Great and Small included. Can Ava trust the boy who ran away to give both her and her charity a second chance?

Publisher: Choc Lit
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Available as an ebook: Amazon | Kobo | iBooks | GooglePlay | Nook |
Coming soon in paperback and audio (sorry I don’t have exact dates for this yet, but await news from my publisher).

If you read A Summer of Second Chances, I would love to know what you think. Reviews, on the site from which you purchase the book, mean an awful lot to authors and help them and their work get noticed.

In other book news, the paperback of Maybe Baby is currently in The Works. It has been spotted and purchased from various stores, including Rustington, Littlehampton, Bognor Regis, Bournemouth and in Wales (sorry, I am not quite sure which town that was in). It is so lovely to hear from readers who have seen it on the high street. It is not currently on their website, but if it is not in your local store, they should be able to order it in for you.

Finally, don’t forget to join my newsletter for more book news, competitions, giveaways and more. Sign up before May 1st for a chance to win a copy of The Purrfect Pet Sitter. The first newsletter will be landing in inboxes this week!