Tag Archives: WritingWednesday

#WritingWednesday with Chris Penhall: A Sense of Place.

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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 

#WritingWednesday with Carol Thomas: Character Juxtaposition.

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Character Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition is a great way to highlight differences between characters. Used appropriately, it can also invite comparisons – these comparisons allow the author to explore their characters more fully. Similarly, the reader is lead to consider the opposing characters more deeply as they observe not only their actions within the novel but also their interactions.

While authors often like to bring juxtaposing leads together (opposites attract and all that), I like to explore female friendships within my novels and often have them as the opposing characters to see what they bring out in each other.

Crazy Over You

In my novel Crazy Over You, Abby Turner has been married for fifteen years when she discovers her husband has had an affair. In contrast to Abby, her best friend, Melissa, is engaged and soon to be married. The pair are at different stages of life and facing different points of change in their relationships. Writing the scene where Abby attends Melissa’s wedding enabled me to explore Abby’s feelings about love and marriage in light of all she has been through. It makes for an honest, thought-provoking and engaging read that challenges the reader to consider their own feelings on Abby’s situation.

The Lisa Blake Series

In the Lisa Blake series, The Purrfect Pet Sitter and Maybe Baby, Lisa has been in a difficult relationship. After suffering a loss, she returns to her hometown, reuniting with her once best friend, Felicity, who is married with four children. Her life is busy and hectic. Felicity and her husband have their own problems to solve while Lisa is embarking upon a new relationship while dealing with issues from the past. I loved exploring Lisa and Flicks’ developing relationship. The juxtaposition works, especially as their differences mean they complete each other in ways only true friends can.

A Summer of Second Chances

In my latest novel, A Summer of Second Chances, the heroine, Ava Flynn, is running a charity shop to support her mum’s beloved charity, All Critters Great and Small. In contrast, her best friend Mary is a wildlife officer who appears to have life sorted. In juxtaposing these characters, I explored their strengths and vulnerabilities. In the village of Dapplebury, despite popular belief, things aren’t always what they seem. I enjoyed exploring the motivations and emotions of these characters through their support for each other.

(A Summer of Second Chances is out on April 27th 2021 and is now available for preorder.)

In summary …

Exploring the interplay and interactions between juxtaposing characters helps the author and, importantly, the reader understand those characters on a deeper level. It allows the character to experience and comment on situations they might otherwise not encounter. Drafting out juxtaposing characters or situations is also a good writing exercise!

Join my newsletter before the 1st May 2021 to enter to win a signed paperback of The Purrfect Pet Sitter.

 

#WritingWednesday with Helen Christmas: Character inspiration.

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How chatting to people helps character inspiration, by Helen Christmas.

My up-and-coming novel is a psychological suspense thriller set in Sussex. In the early days of drafting this story though, my enthusiasm dried up. I lost all focus. Had the plot sketched out, a climatic ending… but couldn’t seem to drive the story forward. Gradually it occurred to me that I hadn’t quite got into the minds of my characters. It took a while to coax them out of hiding and shape them into the amazing people they needed to be.

Talking to professionals really helped to get the inspirational juices flowing, starting with my main protagonist, Maisie, (a girl who is fostered and ends up working in a fostering department herself). So one approach was to contact WSCC and it paid off. I was put in touch with Rosemary Conroy-Smith, who not only advised me on processes and procedures, but invited me to one of their information events. This was a really enlightening evening and I could sense people’s enthusiasm; the valuable service they provide for families and children so fulfilling, I was able to reflect this through my own character.

But also interwoven into the story are Maisie’s memories of a children’s home she lived in, a hostile place where she befriended Joe. He too, is a complex character, a runaway who ends up in all sorts of trouble, before she finds him homeless on Bognor Beach. Writing Joe’s story was fun, but it took a chance meeting with a local man (with a similar background) to gain some insights into his character. I have author, Dan Jones, to thank for introducing me to his friend, Graham, and describing his work in children’s homes.

Furthermore there is a police investigation at the heart of this book, and when I started to lose momentum I spoke to two senior officers, (one from the Metropolitan police who handled similar cases to the one I was writing about). Two conversations later, I had all the inspiration I needed to finish this; from interviewing suspects to home searches and gathering evidence. Later down the line, as I was nearing the climatic finale of my story, I spoke to former Sussex Police Ops Controller, Andy Kille, who offered some great tips on procedures and helped me to visualise that all-important ending.

 Writing a thriller, it is essential to get police procedures right, so everything came together and by October 2020 I had completed the first draft. Deep in my heart, I knew I had a good story – but the people I interviewed were the driving force behind my characters and their motivation. I have written more in depth stuff about my characters on my blog, articles that not only discuss the story, but hope to raise awareness of some of the complex emotional issues that affect people today.

Lethal Ties will be published April 18th 2021 and is available to preorder on Amazon:

The Blurb:

A haunting vision. A spine-chilling nightmare. A missing boy.

When Joe, Maisie and Sam met in a residential children’s home, they pledged to look out for each other; three friends who were inseparable until the night Sam went missing…

Twenty years later, Maisie suffers flashbacks, unable to understand what lies at the root of her recurring nightmares. Shocked to find Joe, homeless on Bognor seafront, she helps him turn his life around, but it doesn’t seem long before their past comes back to haunt them.

 What really went on at Orchard Grange all those years ago?

Where did Sam go?

Only he can provide the answers but they need to find him.

Within weeks of Maisie and Joe being reunited, however, a series of eerie events rips the fabric of their world. A mysterious black car is tailing them. A campaign of online abuse makes Joe wonder if his enemies are still around. He has never forgotten Mr Mortimer from the children’s home, but a shocking attempt on his life launches a police investigation.

Lethal Ties is a tense psychological thriller, an untangling of secrets with an utterly chilling twist. Purchase here.

About the Author:

I am creative, ambitious, and enjoy working from home with my husband, running our web design business. I love where we live and with a passion for walking and photography, found inspiration to base my novel in West Sussex. I am also active on social media, I write a blog and like networking with other authors. In 2017 I completed a mystery thriller series (Same Face Different Place), but have many ideas for books in the psychological suspense genre. LETHAL TIES is my first psychological thriller, a standalone novel and there is even a little romance woven into the pages.

Discover more about Helen Christmas and her work here:  Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Website

#WritingWednesday with Angela Barton: Processing Emotions through Fiction.

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Processing Emotions through Fiction.

Writing, like reading, is a means of escape. I strongly believe that creative writing is a curative pathway, an instrument of healing. It’s a safe outlet for negative emotions such as grief, anger, jealousy or anxiety. It safely helps us to explore our emotions, the reasons behind them and hopefully, find a solution through role-play using the written word. By sharing negative emotions with my fictional characters, I’m distancing myself from my own heightened feelings. I was able to express anger through writing towards the end of You’ve Got My Number. I have a calm personality and very rarely get angry so I would have found it difficult in reality. I’d been deeply hurt by a loved one and my trust had been broken. I simply gave my problem to Tess, my protagonist in YGMN, and while I sought a solution and helped her to regulate her emotions, by default, I was doing the same for myself.

For me, writing helps to organize my thoughts and gives meaning to difficult experiences. In Magnolia House and Arlette’s Story, I expressed grief following the death of my father. Having a mild obsessive compulsion, writing helped me to process why I focus on the number three and why it makes me feel safe. So once again, I gave the same obsession to my hero, Daniel, in You’ve Got My Number. He and Tess spoke about the problem and in talking about it and facing it head on, Daniel began to manage his fears. I no longer have that mild obsession, although number three is my favourite number!

Creative writing helps to release anger in a healthy, productive way that utilises our mental capabilities, rather than draining us physically. Novel writing is a typically longer way of negotiating your emotions. I’ve found that filtering my emotions on to a page has been a positive experience for me. The efficacy of using the written word as a mode of coping with suffering is wholly dependent on how you prefer to process grief. Many subconsciously bottle up their emotions and release them in one explosion of anger and sadness when they reach the climax of a story, while others slowly uncover their emotions through using their characters to discuss them between themselves.

If you prefer to eradicate negative emotions as quickly as possible and don’t like to linger on the bad feelings associated with them, then choosing to write out your feelings over weeks or months may make you uncomfortable, in which case, a diary entry or journal may be a better option for you. On the other hand, if taking your emotions and implementing them in a long piece of work is more your style, then perhaps applying them to a narrative will be more cathartic for you.

Whatever way you choose as a coping strategy when things go wrong, please don’t choose to bottle up your emotions and pretend they don’t exist. Like the genie in the bottle, they have a way of sneaking up on you later. Talk, write, compose, paint… but let it out. X

Books by Angela Barton:

Click below to find out more:

You’ve Got My Number | Arlette’s Story | Magnolia House 

Author bio:

Angela Barton was born in London and grew up in Nottingham. She has three grown up children and adorable six-year-old twin granddaughters. Angela is passionate about writing both contemporary and historical fiction and loves time spent researching for her novels. In 2018 Angela signed publishing contracts for three of her completed novels with Choc Lit’s new imprint, Ruby Fiction.

In addition to writing, Angela also relaxes by making landscapes using free motion sewing on a machine. She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and a reader for their New Writers’ Scheme. Angela is also a member of Nottingham Writers’ Studio, the Society of Authors and Ellipses and Ampersands’ fiction critique group.

Discover more about Angela Barton and her novels here: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Blog | Pinterest | Amazon | Angela is also a member of Apricot Plots.

#WritingWednesday with Claire Sheldon: Selecting a Writing Course.

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I am delighted to announce the return of #WritingWednesday, with a post from fellow Ruby Fiction author, Claire Sheldon, who shares her experience of selecting a writing course.

Over to you, Claire …

With so many ‘how to’ courses and books out there, it can be difficult to decide where to seek advice when it comes to writing. I bookmarked many websites, downloaded every bit of software that promised to help, and joined multiple forums hoping to find that magic formula that would kick start my journey to publication.

While bigger, well-known courses offered the advantage of making contacts, they charged hundreds of pounds, with no guarantee of a book deal at the end.

Authors run many courses. For example, in my genre, there are good courses run by Roz Watkins (DI Meg Dalton series) and Alex Davis (Derby Quad), to name two. During lockdown, Alex even ran courses allowing attendees to pay what they could afford. But with so many options to choose from, it can be hard to know what to do and which to attend.

There are promises of help everywhere, but ultimately it is down to you to find what works for you and then to work hard it!

For me, attending an adult education course run by my local council’s education department provided the help, support and encouragement I needed. The course wasn’t rigid in its structure, and I enjoyed being joined by other adults, some of whom had come from book groups, while others, like me, were just keen writers.

On the course, I met John Gibson, my tutor, who, after working together for over a year, I credited in my debut novel, Perfect Lie – thanking him for his time and inspiration. This novel was published in 2020 by Ruby Fiction. Achieving my goal of being published proved that the right course, hard work and dedication can pay off.

Here are some of the benefits I found, taking an adult education class:

  • Run in termly “blocks”, there was no upfront year-long financial commitment. If I wanted to continue when I reached the end of each term, I could.
  • There was no homework – though this may not be true of every course.
  • I was given access to a variety of different tasks to inspire and encourage my writing style.
  • Reading my work aloud became easier as confidence in my ability and trust in my classmates grew.
  • Working hard led to a writing deal!

My experience proves that you don’t need to go on an expensive course as viable alternatives are available.

Finally, while sharing writing tips, I would also recommend being active on social media:

  • Make contact with authors you aspire to.
  • Follow agents and publishers you wish to submit to.
  • And take chances!

If you want it badly enough and are willing to work for it, that publishing deal will happen. Just beware that the journey can take years, not months.

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog and sharing your experience and tips.

Claire writes gripping crime thrillers with twists you won’t see coming and is currently celebrating the release of her second novel with Ruby Fiction – out this week. 

The blurb:

The streets are no place for a child …

After a traumatic event that almost ripped Jen Garner’s family apart, life is finally starting to get back to normal.

Then a woman’s body is found in the river. Shortly afterwards, a young boy is discovered wandering the streets. He refuses to speak to anyone, just repeats one name over and over, to the confusion of most of the local authorities –but Jen knows exactly who he’s asking for, and it’s enough to make her blood run cold …

Available in ebook and paperback: Amazon UK | Kobo |

About the author:

Claire lives in Nottingham with her family, a cat called Whiskers and a dog called Podrick.
She suffers from Multiple Sclerosis and as a result of the disease had to reduce her hours working in insurance for an Insolvency Insurer. This spare time enabled her to study a creative writing course which inspired her to write her debut, Perfect Lie.

When Claire isn’t working she enjoys reading crime novels and listening to music – the band Jimmy Eat World is her biggest muse! Claire is also an avid reader and book blogger. The inspiration for her novels comes from the hours spent watching The Bill with her grandparents and auntie; then later, Spooks and other detective programmes like Morse, A Touch of Frost and Midsummer Murders.

 Discover more about Claire Sheldon here: Twitter | Facebook