IN MEMORY OF NOVELIST CATHERINE KING

It’s with great sadness that we have to announce the passing of the novelist Catherine King. Everybody who knew her, or attended her talks, said what a lovely lady she was. In remembrance of her, we have re-posted the interview she did on this blog with Viv Hampshire, early last year. 

Today we offer a warm welcome to popular novelist Catherine King as we chat to her about her writing life 

   

Catherine, how would you describe your novels and their settings? And are they based on ‘what you know’?

I write gritty romantic novels set in Victorian and Edwardian South Yorkshire where the coal and steel industries flourished. My most recent books have focused on the upstairs-downstairs lives of the wealthy and their servants. I grew up in the area I write about and my mother was in service to the owner of a Rotherham steelworks. Much of the domestic culture in my books is based on her memories and those of her mother.

How many have you written now, and how often do your publishers expect you to produce a new one?

I have written nine books in this series. My publishers expect and receive a new book every year. This keeps me busy!

Who is the one character from your own books that you have most enjoyed writing about, and why?

Before my most recently published book I would have selected one of my heroes as my favourite character. But I really like Meg, the heroine in A SISTER’S COURAGE which came out last year. I like her because, although she does what she thinks is right, she has a tough time of it. Nevertheless, she picks up the pieces of her life and carries on, showing great courage in the end.

Do any of your characters re-appear in later books, or is every book completely stand-alone?

Each book I write is stand-alone although a major character in one story may have a bit part in another book if the area and times overlap. When I changed from the Victorian to the Edwardian era I used a main character from THE LOST AND FOUND GIRL to kick-start the story for THE SECRET DAUGHTER.

Tell us a little about your latest published book

My latest title, A SISTER’S COURAGE, was published in paperback last November. It is about three women from very different backgrounds whose lives throw them together and they become suffragettes. I really enjoyed researching and writing this book although parts of it were harrowing as some suffragettes suffered greatly for their cause.

How did you first get started, and how long did it take to ‘break through’?

I was definitely not an overnight success! I began by writing short stories, and progressed to romance novels, under a different name. I wrote six and sold five of them. Therefore, when I tackled my first Catherine King book I had some experience to draw on. Also, I had made some good industry contacts in The Romantic Novelists’ Association. My first book was turned down by two publishers. I was ‘called in to talk’ by a third publisher who, eventually, offered me a two-book contract. I had to do a lot of work on that first book . . . and the second . . . and the third. But this was a learning process and I got better at it!

What are you working on now, and when will we get to read it?

Currently I am waiting for the edits to come back on the manuscript for my next novel. It is called HER MOTHER’S SECRET and will be out in August (the hardback library edition), with paperback publication in November 2014.

If you could give new authors just ONE tip, what would it be?

Whatever you write, write it from your heart.

Thank you so much, Catherine, for taking the time to talk to us.

Catherine was in conversation with Vivien Hampshire

All Catherine’s novels are available from bookshops and Amazon in print and e-versions. More details can be found on her website http://www.catherineking.info  where there are links to her Facebook page and Twitterfeed.

A Virtual Welcome to Author Jean Fullerton

Today we welcome award-winning author Jean Fullerton, whose latest novel Fetch Nurse Connie was published yesterday.

Hi, Thanks Elaine and Francesca for inviting me to be a guest on the WriteMindsWritePlace Blog.

For those of you who don’t know me I was born within the sound of Bow Bells in Whitechapel – Jack the Ripper country – and I absolutely adore my birth place of East London. My family has lived in the area since the 1820s. I use real East London locations and have my characters walking past actual shops and houses that once existed. I have also drawn on my family for many of my stories, such as the charity school, public houses and market.

I’m a qualified District Nurse and now teach nursing studies at a London University. I live with my hero of thirty-eight years just outside London in Epping Forest and have three grown-up daughters.

When did you know you wanted to write?

Unlike many of my fellow authors I am a relative latecomer to writing. In fact, I didn’t know I could write until I was sent on an NHS stress management course – yes, fact can be stranger than fiction.

I thought it was just a hobby until I got my first Romantic Novelist Association New Writers’ Scheme report back. It said I had what it took to be a published novelist because I wrote pacey stories with believable characters and sharp dialogue. Of course my reader also said I didn’t know the first thing about story structure, punctuation or presentation.

It was then I knew I had to write but it took 5 years of learning my craft before I finally got my big break.

I’ll continue to write until they prise the keyboard out from under my cold dead hand.

How long does it take you to complete a manuscript?

My novels are somewhere around the 135,000 word mark so the first draft takes me 5 months to pull together then a month re-working it before it goes off to my agent. She has been in publishing for a long time. Firstly, she was an editor with HarperCollins, Heinemann and Penguin before moving into being an agent so she always gives me insightful comments. Having incorporated those, in another month or so I’m happy to send the manuscript off to my publisher. So all in all from typing ‘Chapter one’ until hitting the send button to Orion is about 9-10 months, after which I collapse in a heap on my desk.

Can you tell us something about your ‘road’ to publication?

I’m dyslexic and when I went to school (at about the time when the Beatles were tripping off to India) the condition wasn’t recognised so English was always tortuous.

As a teenager I consumed Historical fiction of all kinds and I’d thought over the years that one day I’d write a historical novel. To my utter amazement a story tumbled out and after three months I had a 90,000 word manuscript and another story screaming to be told.

The book Jean won the Harry Bowling prize with

After writing over a 1,000,000 words my eleventh book, No Cure for Love, won the Harry Bowling Prize in 2006. I signed with my lovely agent, Laura and was offered my first two-book contract with Orion Publishing.

My first four novels were set during the Victorian era but my latest series featuring Nurse Millie Sullivan and her friend Nurse Connie Byrne are set in post-war East London. They are nurses in the pre-NHS St Dustan and St George’s Nursing Association.

Although the Nurse Millie and Connie books are stand-alone novels they have some of the same characters. How do you ensure your story lines don’t contradict each other?

It’s not easy and sometimes I end up flipping through my own book to find an answer. I have a plot grid of all my books with a timeline and notes as you can see below and I have that to hand.

Scene		Events	date
1	VE day Millie delivers a baby as street prepares for a Victory party.	blancmange pilchards	8/5/45
2	Gets back & has to take over as the superintendent is drunk.
3	Argues with one of the nurses. Phone rings to say her father’s ill
4	At her father’s bedside with her mother as the peace is announced.	Churchill spoke at 3pm
5	Calls her Aunt Ruby.	King at 9pm?
6 Ch2	Goes back to work and meets her friend Connie

 

If you could give one piece of advice to budding authors what would it be?

Firstly, if it took me three years to become a nurse, another two to qualify as a district nurse and a further three to become a lecturer so why on earth would I think I could learn the craft of writing overnight? Very few first books are of a publishable standard. Mine wasn’t. Learn your craft!

Secondly, Write what you love. If you’re chasing a bandwagon by the time you’ve jumped on its left town.

And lastly persevere. Getting published is a long, hard road but you’ll never succeed unless you stick with it.

Thank you, Jean, it’s been lovely talking to you, as always.

 

Fetch Nurse Connie

Connie Byrne, a nurse in London’s East End working alongside Millie Sullivan from Call Nurse Millie, is planning her wedding to Charlie Ross, set to take place as soon as he returns from the war. But when she meets him off the train at London Bridge, she finds that his homecoming isn’t going to go according to plan.

Connie’s busy professional life, and the larger-than-life patients in the district, offer a welcome distraction, but for how long?

Available from Orion Fiction on Kindle, paperback and hardback on 4th June 2015.

Amazon link to buy Fetch Nurse Connie

 

Praise for Call Nurse Millie:

‘A delightful, well researched story that depicts nursing and the living conditions in the East End at the end of the war’ (Lesley Pearse)

‘…The writing shines off the page and begs for a sequel’ (Historical Novel Society)

‘…you will ride emotional highs and lows with each new birth and death. Beautifully written with some sharp dialogue.’ (THE LADY)

Jean’s website

Jean on Twitter

 

CHATTING TO NOVELIST VICTORIA LAMB

Today it’s my pleasure to chat with prolific author, Victoria Lamb, who also writes as Elizabeth Moss

   

Victoria, many of your books have been set in the Tudor period. Why did you pick this era in particular?

Some of my earliest reading in historical fiction as a teenager were books by Jean Plaidy/Victoria Holt, including some of her classic tales about Elizabeth I, Robert Dudley and Lettice Knollys. So when I was starting out as an historical writer, it made sense to turn first to periods I had enjoyed reading about when young. I also write Regencies as Elizabeth Moss, another favourite era inspired by reading the wonderful Georgette Heyer. Tudors are very popular right now, probably because we can relate to them rather more easily than to characters in the Middle Ages; they’re like us, but not us, and I think that’s very appealing to people who want a touch of historical texture in their fiction.

How do you go about your research? Do you start writing, then research when you need to, or read around the era and subject beforehand?

I check my basic facts, draw up a timeline, and then start writing pretty much as soon as possible. I’m quite impatient and restless as a person, and writing is no different. If I had to make notes for weeks and think deeply about my stories, I would just get bored and never write them. But I can’t start a story without having a feel for the narrative voice – or voices – it will be written in. That can take a few false starts. But if my preliminary research is in place when I start, then I already have a fairly good idea how the voice will sound, because it will have been building up in my mind while I did that research.

As I move further into a book, I tend to trip over situations where I need to do more research – unknown dates and places, or historical know-how like how many days a particular journey would take on horseback in Tudor England or what kind of rules and rituals governed women in childbirth. That’s the point at which I will down tools, pick up my books, Google a date or ask an academic friend, and pin down that fact. Once sorted, I move on. Until the next unknown fact crops up. Some people may prefer to do all that research before writing, but I don’t find it interrupts my flow to research on the hoof, and it certainly means I can write my books more quickly.

Weaving fictional characters and plots into historical fact as you do, how do you keep on top of all the information?

I am addicted to Post-It notes. I stick them on the wall next to my desk, or dangle them from my bookshelves, or even plaster them across my desk. When I start a book, I note down physical characteristics – eyes, hair, height etc – for quick reference and can then check them as I go along. Since I’m almost always working on two books at once, losing track of the colour of someone’s eyes is actually not that difficult! I also keep names, facts and timelines on hand, often on several whiteboards that lean against the wall next to my desk. There’s a wonderfully cleansing and cathartic moment at the end of every book – usually around proof stage – where I tear down the old Post-Its, wipe off my whiteboards, and start again.

Tell us about your latest releases.

As Victoria Lamb, I have the second book in my Tudor Witch Trilogy for young adults out in the States this week – WITCHFALL – with the third and final book, Witchrise, due out in the UK this July. The third book in my Lucy Morgan series, HER LAST ASSASSIN, a Tudor spy thriller with romantic elements set at Elizabeth I’s court, is also just out in hardback. Paperback to follow in the autumn. As Elizabeth Moss, writing Tudor romance, I have REBEL BRIDE out this week, the sequel to Wolf Bride. Rather a lot of publishing activity in 2014, as you can see!

 

Thank you, Victoria, for taking time out of your busy writing life to talk to us. Good luck with your new books.

Victoria Lamb lives in a farmhouse on the wild fringes of Bodmin Moor in Cornwall, England, with her husband, five children and an energetic Irish Red Setter. She writes poetry and fiction as her day job, and is addicted to social media. On dark nights she has been known to sneak out onto the moors and howl at the moon . Visit her website www.victorialambbooks.com  or chat with her on Twitter, where she answers to @VictoriaLamb1. 

 

Victoria was in conversation with Francesca Burgess

 

CHATTING TO NOVELIST CATHERINE KING

  Today we offer a warm welcome to popular novelist Catherine King as we chat to her about her writing life 

   

Catherine, how would you describe your novels and their settings? And are they based on ‘what you know’?

I write gritty romantic novels set in Victorian and Edwardian South Yorkshire where the coal and steel industries flourished. My most recent books have focused on the upstairs-downstairs lives of the wealthy and their servants. I grew up in the area I write about and my mother was in service to the owner of a Rotherham steelworks. Much of the domestic culture in my books is based on her memories and those of her mother.

How many have you written now, and how often do your publishers expect you to produce a new one?

I have written nine books in this series. My publishers expect and receive a new book every year. This keeps me busy!

Who is the one character from your own books that you have most enjoyed writing about, and why?

Before my most recently published book I would have selected one of my heroes as my favourite character. But I really like Meg, the heroine in A SISTER’S COURAGE which came out last year. I like her because, although she does what she thinks is right, she has a tough time of it. Nevertheless, she picks up the pieces of her life and carries on, showing great courage in the end.

Do any of your characters re-appear in later books, or is every book completely stand-alone?

Each book I write is stand-alone although a major character in one story may have a bit part in another book if the area and times overlap. When I changed from the Victorian to the Edwardian era I used a main character from THE LOST AND FOUND GIRL to kick-start the story for THE SECRET DAUGHTER.

Tell us a little about your latest published book

My latest title, A SISTER’S COURAGE, was published in paperback last November. It is about three women from very different backgrounds whose lives throw them together and they become suffragettes. I really enjoyed researching and writing this book although parts of it were harrowing as some suffragettes suffered greatly for their cause.

How did you first get started, and how long did it take to ‘break through’?

I was definitely not an overnight success! I began by writing short stories, and progressed to romance novels, under a different name. I wrote six and sold five of them. Therefore, when I tackled my first Catherine King book I had some experience to draw on. Also, I had made some good industry contacts in The Romantic Novelists’ Association. My first book was turned down by two publishers. I was ‘called in to talk’ by a third publisher who, eventually, offered me a two-book contract. I had to do a lot of work on that first book . . . and the second . . . and the third. But this was a learning process and I got better at it!

What are you working on now, and when will we get to read it?

Currently I am waiting for the edits to come back on the manuscript for my next novel. It is called HER MOTHER’S SECRET and will be out in August (the hardback library edition), with paperback publication in November 2014.

If you could give new authors just ONE tip, what would it be?

Whatever you write, write it from your heart.

Thank you so much, Catherine, for taking the time to talk to us.

Catherine was in conversation with Vivien Hampshire

All Catherine’s novels are available from bookshops and Amazon in print and e-versions. More details can be found on her website http://www.catherineking.info  where there are links to her Facebook page and Twitterfeed.

CHATTING TO HISTORICAL NOVELIST, JEAN FULLERTON

I’m delighted to be able to chat to well-known author, Jean Fullerton.

I confess to using Jean as an example to students of how a writer can have a busy job, family life and find time to write successful historical novels.

Welcome to WMWP, Jean.

I always try to encourage writers to enter competitions. I understand you won a major novel writing competition. Why did you choose to enter this comp and how did the outcome influence your writing life?

I entered the Harry Bowling Prize in 2006 because some lovely people in the Romantic Novelists’ Association thought the book I was writing at the time, No Cure for Love, would be perfect.

I would have been happy just being short-listed. Winning didn’t only influence my writing life it made it.

Winning the Harry Bowling Prize was the breakthrough I needed. It got me my lovely agent Laura Longrigg and my first two book deal with Orion. I now have six novels published and am just finishing my seventh, which will be out Feb 2015.

I would encourage anyone who is serious about getting published to enter competitions. At the very least, if you’re short-listed or highly-commended, you can add that to you writing credentials and if you win, who knows, it could be your lucky break, too.

New writers seem to feel they have two options. To submit straight to publishers or to try to obtain representation by an agent. What would you advise?

I know how desperate people are to get published but as in any industry there are sharks out there. Anyone can set up as a publisher and I’ve seen authors snatch at the first deal they are offered without really investigating what they are signing away in the contract.

I understand unpublished authors’ frustration but I really do believe that you should think big as far as securing a publisher goes. In today’s world that means getting an agent. Without one you’ll never be able to access the big publishers like Random House, Little Brown and Orion.

Agents are on your side and only make money if you do. They are your insider in the industry and can network for you at events and conferences. They are also the tough guy when it comes to negotiating a contract and if things go wrong. I’ve heard people say agents are a dying breed and authors don’t need them to be a success. You’ll have to judge for yourself what is right for you but I wouldn’t be without my wonderfully supportive agent, Laura.

Your novels are all historicals. Have you ever considered tackling a different genre?

I enjoy political thrillers so I might consider tackling a story of governmental corruption and subsequent cover up like House of Cards. In truth though I feel I’d have to stay faithful to my first love so I can’t really see me ever writing anything other than historical fiction. But to be fair that does give me 3000 years to play with.

Please tell us about your latest book.

We meet up with Millie on 5^th July 1948, the day the NHS started. She is now Nurse Millie Smith, having married aspiring MP Jim Smith. The war has ended and the NHS has just come into action, so the nurses are busier than ever as the community realise that they no longer have to pay for the services.

Minor ailments need attention, babies need to be helped into the world and some of the larger-than-life characters need keeping in line so Millie has enough drama to deal with without having to deal with more from home…and Alex Nolan, her ex-fiancé, is back in town.

All Change for Nurse Millie is available on Kindle for £2.62 at:

All change for Nurse Millie

 

 

Thank you, Jean. It’s been a delight to talk to you.

Elaine