Dr Charles Lansley, who spoke to the Hampshire Writers about his father, Peter’s book ‘Pon my Puff’ mentioned that he found copies of seven letters to a Mrs Gwyn Edmunds among his father’s papers from John Masefield, who was Poet Laureate from 1930 until he died in 1967. Most people know one or more of his poems; Cargoes and Sea Fever are the best known. He also published long narrative poems, Reynard the Fox is most noted (https://archive.org/details/reynardfox00mase/page/n399/mode/2up).
The letters are undated but most likely written during Masefield’s later years. Gwyn Edmunds wrote poetry and was a member of Southampton Writers Circle during the 1960 -1980 period. Unfortunately, the letters she wrote are lost, but she sent poems to Masefield for comment.
From those letters, I have distilled some of his literary wisdom.
Poetry is a kindling matter and will spread light and gladness.
You say this in 50 words. When you say it in 10, it will be a poem.
Tell your tales by word of mouth to someone.
Set your songs to tunes of your own and sing them to everyone.
The immediate judgement of men and women who listen to your work will help you far more than any professional newspaper criticism.
Be sure your descriptions describe.
Try your plan of a tale almost all dialogue (sic). It will make you concentrate on character and what excites character.
You will learn where you succeed or fail, and the fun will make you try again.
In a short poem, one should have an end that is not a repetition of your beginning.
One must always seek for the magical adjective. Use no adjective except the one that is magical.
Consider even a door-mat; how many different adjectives can be applied to it. Which, of all these, best suits your purpose? Why?
Get into the way of reading aloud all that you write to people. The writer is always addressing minds and feelings. A writer’s audience gives an instant criticism of a living kind. Reading or speaking aloud will show you what to omit and will teach you (at once) how few adjectives will serve any page of narrative, lyric or drama.
Read your poems out loud to people. You will not hold them with adjectives.
“Elisha said, if you call me names, I’ll call a bear and he’ll eat you and they did and he did and it did.” No adjectives but real effect.
Take our lightest poet, Herrick, and our sternest poet, Milton, and note how they use adjectives, or avoid using them.
The three guides to literature are: Bold design. Constant practice and Frequent Mistakes.
…it is worth while to strive for a skill in any art. It will bring you joy and give you power, something jolly to share with others.
John Masefield berates us about adjectives as Stephen King does about adverbs. Both use these words but choose them ‘magically’ and with care. Masefield’s poem ‘Sea Fever’ (https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sea-fever/) has three very ordinary adjectives, quiet, sweet and long, in the final line. But that last line quells a stormy voyage into peaceful contentment.
Herrick, (died about 1648) and Milton (died 1674), to whom Masefield refers were near contemporaries. In these two poems the same subject is expressed differently.
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may… Robert Herrick.
How soon hath time, the subtle thief of youth… John Milton.
John Masefield – 1878-1967
1891 – Sent to sea
1897 – Returned to England
1903 – Married Constance de la Cherois Crommelin
1915 – Medical orderly
1917 – Lecture tour USA
1920 – Established poet. Encouraged performance of poetry
1930 – Succeeded Robert Bridges as Poet Laureate. Was active into his last year.
British Poet ”’John Masefield”’ (1878-1967) in 1912, by painter William Strong (1859-1921)
Claire Fuller: Rewriting, Revising and Editing HWS 28th September 2021
Claire is a MA graduate of Creative Writing at the University of Winchester and has written 4 novels. Her most recent novel Unsettled Ground was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Claire’s presentation was about the processes she goes through when writing – particularly with regards to revising, rewriting and editing. Claire began writing Unsettled Ground in June 2018, completing her first draft in May 2019. She is a writer who says she revises her first draft as she writes.
When she originally sent Unsettled Ground to her agent, she was invited to a rather posh lunch in London, where her agent talked about how much she enjoyed it … and then right at the end of the meal suggested that Claire change the setting from the 1950’s to contemporary!
Initially, Claire says she resisted this suggestion but “came around to it in the end.” As a result, she found herself having to re-write the whole thing. This created a challenge for Claire, who says that whilst this did not change the narrative of the story, lots of changes had to be made, such as the description of the hospital – its treatments and equipment, how people deal with death and how we live with and rely on technology in the 21st century.
Claire Fuller at the Hampshire Writers’ Society, University of Winchester
So how did Claire tackle this? Well, she essentially worked on Word, with two screens side-by-side and went through the novel line by line. Fortunately, she says, she “…dislikes writing but likes editing!”
Claire describes herself as a “rolling reviser” explaining that writing the first draft and then revising it, simply does not work for her. She also says she is “not a planner” and when she is writing, she often does not know what is going to happen next. This means, she explains, that she encounters many surprises along the way. Claire revises as she goes along as otherwise there is a danger of her not getting past the first chapter. She talks about the Young Adult author Patricia Wade’s notion of the “Back Brain” – the brain that is running in the background. Claire uses her back brain to change things which need to happen in order for her story to move forward. She gives the example of her protagonist, Jeanie, being illiterate, but only having this idea partway into the novel.
Claire warns that working as a rolling reviser can slow down the forward progression of a narrative. When Claire began writing, she would set herself a goal of 1000 words per day then going back and “tweaking” them. However, she now has a new goal which is to simply “write some new words.” This may only amount to one sentence, but working in this way enables her to be a rolling reviser, whilst still ensuring that the narrative moves forward. This also means that when Claire has finished, it is already beyond its first draft. She explains that the benefits for her of working this way are:
She can get back into the novel’s “time and space”
Re-drafting time is reduced at the end
She better understands the main characters’ motivations
The first draft is not too poor quality (she often thinks to herself “What if I die and someone reads my terrible first draft?”)
Claire gave some very useful tips as to how she edits her work. She describes how she relies heavily on the Word Navigation pane which shows headings, subheadings and word counts for each section. This enables Claire to easily go from one section of her work to another without the necessity for constant scrolling. It also means that she can easily move an entire chapter or section of the work without having to cut and paste. This is an excellent tool when focusing on structure. She also adds little notes such as “You need to write this bit”.
Claire is also a fan of the square bracket! Inside these go words which need improving or researching but can then be located quickly at the end of her session without disrupting the flow of her writing. She also saves a first draft of her work but says that this rarely changes; it is more of a “security blanket.”
After Claire has finished her first draft, which she says is usually about 50,000 words. She then leaves the work for as long as she can (anytime from one week to a few months) and uses this time to focus on other writing and reading projects. She then returns to her draft and “reads it like a reader.” Ideally, she will print the manuscript so that she can make notes on it but is then not tempted to fiddle with the work as she would do if it were on a screen. She then makes notes on the following:
Character
Plot
Timeline
Opening and end
Reveals
Subplots
Voice
Foreshadowing
Claire claims that her biggest issue is “slow beginnings and fast endings” and so she might focus on that, as well as increasing the word count (50,000 words is not enough). Claire adds chapters that help to develop the smaller characters – for example Julian didn’t have his own voice in the first draft and so Claire wrote extra chapters so the reader could get to know him. She ensures that the readers can understand the bad characters better and that minor characters all have some sort of anecdote or subplot. Claire uses the example of Stu, who was horrible to the protagonist but had essentially “walk-on parts” only. During the re-reading process, she wrote a note “We need to talk about Stu.” She then asks questions about the character (“Stu, why are you so horrible to Jeanie?”).
It takes between six months and one year for Claire to edit her book, with the process focusing in more and more, until Claire is editing at sentence level. At this point, she will use the Search function on Word to follow a character or an object through the story to check for plot holes etc. She then checks each scene or chapter to ensure that they are driving the story forward. She makes a list of words which she feels are overused and again uses the Search facility to find them and change them – being careful, she says, not to create even more over-used words! She then does the same with adverbs, searching for “ly”. Another thing Claire does is she chooses a paragraph and copies and pastes this into a new, blank Word document. She then works on this, considering how she would feel if this was the only piece of the story she could read to others. Would she be happy with it? She explains how the act of removing this section from the rest of the text can help her to look at it with fresh eyes.
Claire talks about the importance of reading her work aloud and to an audience – although the audience may be a cat or dog, or a voice recorder. She will stand and read it and listen to the rhythm and musicality of her words. She will sometimes remove the speech tags so that she can better hear the conversations between the characters and whether she can tell the characters apart. She describes how by the end of the process, she has read her book about fifty times – mostly out loud.
During the editing process, Claire says she will open a page of her novel at random and see how many words need changing. If it is frequently two or more then further editing is required. If it is just one word, she feels her work is ready to show to other people (she claims there are never “no words” to change!).
Who does she show? Well, she may send her work to her editor, or to others in her writing group – a group of approximately ten other writers (largely from when she did the MA course). The writing group provides her with deadlines, motivation and the ability to critique the work of others. The importance of the writing group to Claire comes across very clearly; the opportunity to work with others who are known and trusted on her edited work. Claire says that she would not have been able to have four published novels without the writers’ group.
Claire will show some of her work to her family. They are readers and not writers and so are able to offer different perspectives. But, she says, she always holds some scenes back until the work has gone to the agent.
Claire is already writing her next novel (or should we say re-writing?) and we wish her every success. As a member of our audience said to Claire: “Thank you. Your writing is lovely.”
Unsettled Ground, by Claire Fuller, shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2021. Published by Penguin.
Martin White’s debut novel was published in September and is a book, he says, inspired by personal life events. What began as a series of short stories inspired by Grimm’s fairy-tales – read to Martin by his mother when he was young has developed into a “… marvellously gory, action packed, dystopian story for lovers of sci-fi horror.”
Initially, Martin began writing adapted fairy-tales, where Little Red Riding Hood was a “crack addict” and Humpty Dumpty “threw Molotov cocktails.” However, perhaps the most inspirational thing about M.J White is how he began writing.
Martin was born and grew up in the Thornhill area of Southampton (an area that has had its share of problems). He left school at 15 with no qualifications. He then worked in catering (a job where he felt he needed no qualifications). He also worked as a gardener and later as a drug counsellor.
Martin says that he “… always knew (he) wanted to write but didn’t know how to” and so he joined a creative writing class. Here, his tutor said, he liked his work but suggested that he maybe dyslexic – something that had previously been undiagnosed. The creative writing classes taught him about structure, grammar and punctuation; “I now know where to put a comma!” He relies on Word and Grammarly to enable him to write his stories.
He decided to re-enter the learning world and studied at Andover before being accepted at Winchester University as an Undergraduate in Creative Writing.
In 2018, as part of his Creative Writing course, Martin began joining his collection of short stories together. However, he felt that as a whole piece, it “just didn’t work.” At this point, Martin says he went back to his 120,000 words and “hit the delete button.” He then began world building and developing what is referred to in Faze as “The System.”
Martin White at the Hampshire Writers’ Society
Martin talks about how addiction is all around us and can affect anyone, something that his time as a drugs counsellor has taught him but that with the help of people around us, we can all get back from the brink of self-destruction. Addiction is an intrinsic part of “The System”. The people in Faze have all been given a drug to fight ‘flu. This drug is highly addictive with recipients requiring a top-up every 24 hours.
Martin’s Goldilocks short story was the strongest of his original short story collection, providing him with his protagonist, Adria, who is 16 years old and homeless. With setting and protagonist in place, he was now able to link his stories together.
Faze is “not for the faint hearted” Martin says, with his target reader being a horror fan over the age of 18 (“definitely not for children”), adding that any adult can read his book. His mum, he says, loves it!
When asked about his writing routine and discipline, he reveals his main aim is just to “get it out” (he calls this the “Stephen King method”) explaining he writes better in a crowd rather than on his own – favouring # Coffee 1 as his place to write. When writing Faze, he set himself a target of 2000 words per day – the final word count of Faze is approximately 80,000 words.
Martin hired a private editor before he submitted his work (something he advises all writers to do), editing and re-editing approximately 20 times before sending it to his publisher (by this point he had re-read his work 30-40 times and was getting “too picky” – this is how he knew it was time to submit his work).
He has no agent. Instead, he contacted publishers directly as he initially had dozens of rejections. But Martin’s hard work has paid off. Faze was published this year and claims sales are doing “pretty well” – both as a paperback and on Amazon. He is now working on the sequel: Faze, Journey to the Core and states that he is finding writing this book much easier.
Martin’s inspirational talk ended with the following words: “If you believe in your work, truly, then someone else will too.”
Faze, The City of Addicts is published by Jillion Realms Publishing. The book was released on 27th August and is available on Amazon in paperback, ebook and kindle.
A flash back to the inaugural meeting of Hampshire Writers’ Society on 13th September 2011 with Barry Cunningham OBE.
Report of the inaugural meeting written by Barbara Large MBE who was the Founder and Chairman of the Hampshire Writers’ Society.
‘Take Risks with your Writing’ advised Barry Cunningham at the launch of Hampshire Writers’ Society. Barry Cunningham OBE, famed as the ‘discoverer of JK Rowling’, launched the Hampshire Writers’ Society on Tuesday evening, September 13 at the University of Winchester, with his talk, What Makes a Good Children’s Book.
Barry Cunningham OBE
A packed room of more than 80 aspiring and published writers listened intently as he talked about meeting JK Rowling, who had the necessary passion to write the incredible Harry Potter story even if it were never to be published. He stressed the difference between writing for the excitement of creating a great story and writing only with the goal of publication.’ These are separate ambitions. The former is the goal of the true writer. Being published is a random act’.
He continued, ‘The key to writing a good children’s book is the ability to use your imagination to meet the imagination of the child. Have a good grasp of the characters and their dialogue. A hole in the plot is always fixable. Use humour. This is what made Harry acceptable to so many readers’
He commented that ‘the blend of English humour…laughing at adversity, builds tension, diffuses anxiety and deepens and extends the emotion that we have for the main characters’.
He spoke of the successes of Cornelia Funke and Roald Dahl, who were the secret friends of children, holding their hands through their books yet encouraging readers to stand up for themselves. He encouraged writers to include food in their stories. ‘Children love to know what’s for tea. It anchors the story’. And, he said,’ believe in valour’.
He confessed that he was in awe of people who finished a book. But his offer ‘to help you achieve your goal, won a standing ovation.
Dr Joy Carter, Vice Chancellor of the University of Winchester, commented ‘Hampshire is a county with huge resources of creativity and the launch of the Hampshire Writers’ Society will allow much of that creativity to flourish in a new and expressive way’.
The Hampshire Writers’ Society, a fledgling of the Winchester Writers’ Conference, which is held annually at the University of Winchester, has launched a hugely successful season of talks by professional authors, poets, playwrights, literary agents and commissioning editors. These include Jack Sheffield, author of seven books in the Teacher, Teacher series, published by Transworld; poets, Tom Master, Mark Rutter and Peter Dixon; crime fiction author, Lindsay Ashford; Beverley Birch, Senior Commissioning Editor, Hodder Children’s Books; Rebecca Shaw, author of the Turnham Malpas/Barleybridge Village series; Sophie King, both fiction and non-fiction author; Ali Sparkes, author; Professor Patricia Duncker, on the subject of Choosing English; and concluding next June with an Evening Party and tour of the Chawton House Study Centre followed by a talk on crime fiction.
Dynamic’, ‘welcoming’, ‘a definite asset to struggling writers’, ‘eager for the next meeting’, re-doubling my writing effort’ were the conclusions of attendees.
Barbara Large
PS. Follow the link to read HWS member, KM Lockwood’s recent post, ‘I’m just wild about Barry…’ on her website.
crime writer and BBC TV and Radio News Correspondent
Writing Crime, Reporting Crime
with special guest, Professor Joy Carter, DL, Vice Chancellor, University of Winchester
Programme finishes at approximately 9.30pm
The Stripe Building, University of Winchester, Sparkford Road, Winchester
Come along and meet the authors who are all members of the Hampshire Writers’ Society. Talk to them about their path to publication. Some will have their books available for sale and signing on the night.
Meet the Authors!
ROSIE TRAVERS
Rosie Travers grew up in Southampton and after juggling a career in local government with raising her family, she moved to Southern California with her husband in 2009. She began a blog about her life as an ex-pat wife which re-kindled a teenage desire to become a writer. Her first novel The Theatre of Dreams was published by Crooked Cat Books in August 2018 and her second Your Secret’s Safe With Me in February 2019. Rosie takes inspiration from her local surroundings for her writing and both books are set in fictional locations along the south coast. She is a member of the Romantic Novelist’s Association and enjoys entertaining her readers with stories populated by colourful characters, intrigue, romance and good dose of humour.
Musical theatre actress Tara is down on her luck and in need of a job. When terminally ill octogenarian Kitty invites her to take over the running of her former dance academy in the old fashioned resort of Hookes Bay, Tara thinks she’s found her guardian angel. But it soon becomes very clear Kitty is being far from benevolent.
Too late Tara realises helping Kitty will signal the end of an already tarnished carer, unless she can pull of the performance of a lifetime.
The book is published by Crooked Cat Books and is available to order now on Amazon.co.uk.
Your Secret’s Safe With Me
Romantic Novelist Pearl makes a surprise announcement and sends daughter Becca’s organised life reeling into chaos. The pair quit their London home and move to a tight-knit sailing community on the south coast. As Pearl embraces her new life amongst local sailing fraternity, Becca receives a grim warning that if she wants to keep her family safe, she should keep them away. But why should Becca trust the man who has betrayed her before, the man who broke her heart, the man who thinks he knows all her secrets?
Rosie can be contacted via her website www.rosietravers.com
and Twitter @RosieTravers
LISA NIGHTINGALE
Lisa Nightingale has been a member of the Hampshire Writers’ Society for over six years, an active committee member for more than three of those. Taking a back seat to concentrate on the writing of her book, she will publish her first novel, A Bite of the Past, on Thursday 6th June. In her spare time, and when not exploring the countryside and coastline with her family, she can be found writing the monthly Tuesday night report, chasing speakers for guest posts and updating the blog. Lisa lives in Fareham with her husband and three children who, thankfully, she says, are not just willing, but enthusiastic to join her in an assortment of “active research”. ‘I love writing, it wraps me in the company of countless varied, wonderful and inspirational characters, not to mention enigmatic settings and stirring history – both real and fictional!” Lisa says.
A Bite of the Past
“Teddy, mein Schatzi, this the Wild West, isn’t it? Murder is what people do to each other here … no one will notice.”
Over one hundred years later, Teddy lives in a manor house on the south coast of England, knowing nothing but the senses, emotions and memories allowed to him by his only friend, László. Because László knows best…
A misplaced stumble into the empty stable sparks a memory that is fresh, fortuitous and precious; Teddy is hooked. He determines to escape László and recapture his place in time, his inheritance and his family. But love and his internal demon have plans of their own for him. The question is: can he control them?
Does he want to take another BITE OF THE PAST?
ANTHONY RIDGWAY
Wizzy and the Seaside Adventure
Anthony’s first book Wizzy the Animal Whisperer is out now as an audio book read by Sheila and David Suchet.
B.RANDOM
A passion for sci-fi/ fantasy as a teenager led toB. Random writing a first book aged fourteen. After a family and a career in law and medicine, came a chance to return to her first love for writing. Her inspirations come from science, wildlife and nature, especially the sea. She has been a member of the Hampshire Writers’ Society since its inception.
The appeal of living in another world, escaping from the mundane, endures. Delighting in the weird and wonderful, sharing glorious flights of imagination, she draws you into fantasy lands and darkest emotion. The style will take your breath away and make you smile. Expect a vivid roller-coaster of action, emotion and the unexpected. For her, the writer’s reward is to take other people into that brand new world and show them its magic.
Alienship– An action packed adventure spanning galaxies, set after Ky’s alien father leaves for his home planet Mrax, bringing to life a model made from junk for his son; his comic sidekick.
Survivorship – An adventure between worlds. The race is on to save Earth. On planet Mrax to learn about his father’s world, Ky finds a powerful enemy among the Elders, who wants to rid his pristine planet of a ‘worthless half-breed’. As he struggles to fit in, a baby Mrug adopts him and becomes another challenge for Ky.
Secret Lives of Chandler’s Ford features short stories that are contemporary,historical and futuristic. The writers live and work locally. Each of the writers has their own individual style. However they wanted a theme to unify the collection. As they all love Chandler’s Ford it became apparent that there could be no better backdrop to their stories.
More Secret Lives of Chandlers Ford: A Second Collection of Short Stories: Volume 2
DAMON L. WAKES
Damon L. Wakes holds an MA in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of Winchester, and Ten Little Astronauts—the novella he submitted as the final project for that course—has since been accepted for publication by Unbound. It is due to be released sometime in 2018. He writes everything from humour to horror, and produces a brand new work of flash fiction every day during July each year. Damon also writes interactive fiction and games, and provided the story and dialogue for Game of the Year nominated virtual reality title Craft Keep VR.
Ten Little Astronauts is currently available through retailers such as Amazon and Waterstones . I’ll have some for sale at the book fair even though strictly speaking that’ll still be a couple of days before the trade publication date.
The U.N. Owen is adrift in interstellar space. With no lights, no life support, no help for ten trillion miles, it seems as though things can’t get any worse. Then, they find a body.
Ten astronauts are woken from suspended animation to deal with a crisis on board their ship.
Selected from a crew of thousands, none of them knows any of the others: all they know is that one of their number is a murderer.
And until they work out who it is, none of them can go back to sleep.
“Written in a gorgeous, lyrical style reminiscent of the best of oral storytelling tradition, Face of Glass digs deep into an expertly-constructed world an anthropologist could not fault. (I am an anthropologist, and I cannot fault it.) Wakes hits a mark somewhere between fantasy and myth, exploring identity and power and arrogance in the vein of the great heroic cycles.” ~MR Graham
Eve has always written – from teenage angst-laden poetry to full length novels, but due to Dyslexia appeared unable to produce any kind of readable M/S until late (very late) in life, when she acquired a computer and with the wonderful aid of Spellcheck finally made it to print in 1999 with ‘A YEAR OUT OF TIME’, an account of her life as a twelve year old evacuee in WW2.
1998 she attended her first of many Winchester Writer’s Conference and had a ‘One to One’ with the late, great, Michael Legat. His interest in her storyline and following encouragement and support over many months resulted in her first novel, ‘AND ALL SHALL BE WELL’: the journey through life of a young boy, from an idyllic life on the Cornish coast, through WW2 and the aftermath of the Holocaust. Failing to find a UK Publisher this was first published in 2003 in the USA and was runner-up for the Society of Author’s Sagittarius Prize in the same year.
Committed to combining creative fiction with strong factual backgrounds, from WW2 to the present day, Eve has to date produced 10 books and is currently working on number 11.
She took the long hard road (and in 2003 it was a long hard road) to self-publishing with increasing success, now her books are sold world-wide on Amazon Kindle and Published in paperback by Amazon CreateSpace.
She enjoys giving talks, especially to schools, hosting workshops and writing Book Reviews for the Society of Women Writers & Journalists Magazine, ‘Woman Writer’.
With luck and a following wind Eve aims to beat Mary Wesley’s record of still writing at ninety. She can be found lurking around Literary Festivals and on her website: http://www.EvePhillipsFineWW2Books.com
BOOKS:
A YEAR OUT OF TIME – Experiences of evacuation to a remote Worcestershire hamlet in WW2
AND ALL SHALL BE WELL – Book 1 OF A CORNISH WW2 SAGA. Francis Lindsey’s story is of friendships in war and peace; of courage and weakness, guilt and reparation, to the ultimate replenishment of his humanity in the aftermath of the holocaust spans 50 years.
MATHEW’S DAUGHTER – Book 2. Returning to her father’s Cornish Flower Farm from her wartime service in the WRAF, the fiery and uncompromising Caroline finds a number of problems standing in the way of her love for an enigmatic Frenchman.
THE CHANGING DAY – Book 3. A wartime romance between a shore-bound, single WREN and a married, sea-going Lieutenant seems unlikely to stand the test of time, while his estranged father and her rather flighty mother serve only to complicate matters.
A VERY PRIVATE ARRANGEMENT – WW2. Relationships and romance with a difference set in London, Paris, Rome and Berlin.
RETURN TO FALCON FIELD – From the US to the UK. An intertwining of two love stories told in flashbacks from the 1960’s to the 1940’s.
ALL IN THE END IS HARVEST – A sequel to Return to Falcon Field. One young woman’s search for her past leads her to an abandoned airfield, a wartime affair and its legacy of love.
A VERY ARTISTIC AFFAIR – The eternal triangle: 1960’s Infidelity in the Home Counties, Resolution in Devonshire and Retribution in New England.
THE TURNING POINT – The need to leave her beloved Cornish home and an unrequited love sends naïve twenty year old Cassandra in panic stricken flight into the unknown world of Millennium London.
FEET ON THE GROUND – Cornwall in Winter. A beautiful but neglected old house, an ex-soldier, a teenage son, a sinister man-servant, a recently jilted ex-PA, a large hairydog with few social graces…put them together and what do you have?
DAI HENLEY
Dai retired in 2004 following the sale of his local businesses in Southampton and Winchester. He joined a Creative Writing class which he still attends weekly. He is also a regular visitor to the Hampshire Writers’ Society and the annual Winchester Writers’ Festival
He writes crime dramas with the themes of obsession, revenge and justice. He’s attended many murder trials at the Old Bailey. The capacity of ‘ordinary’ people who become motivated to carry out extraordinary acts never ceases to amaze him.
He received wonderful reviews and won several awards for his debut novel, Blazing Obsession: a silver medal from The Wishing Shelf and a Top Ten place in Bookbag’s self-published novels in 2014.
Reckless Obsession (a sequel but can also be read as a stand-alone novel) was published in March 2018.
RECKLESS OBSESSION
When DCI Flood’s wife is murdered in a hit-and-run attack by a vengeful gang, his life is torn apart. The police fail to discover the perpetrators. Two years later, the investigation is relegated to a cold case. Flood becomes obsessed, spending all his spare time hunting his wife’s killers, alienating friends and family. After witnessing another shocking murder, he is plunged into the menacing world of organised crime. His investigations unearth startling similarities to the cold case which puts his life in danger.
There is a direct link from there to Amazon,Waterstones Winchester and the publisher, New Generation Publishing.
JUSTIN STRAIN
Justin’s book The Secret of the Scarlet Ribbon was among the shortlist of five manuscripts in the Times Children’s Fiction Competition 2018
The Secret of the Scarlet Ribbon: The year is 1832. Portsmouth is a hotbed of crime and villainy. Kitty Hawkins and her friend, Charlie Miller are led by a mysterious stranger, Samuel Peabody, into a murky web of intrigue. As the mystery unfolds, they realise the danger that they are in, and before long they are fighting for their lives.
‘The Secret of the Scarlet Ribbon’ is Justin’s first novel. It is a fast-paced historical adventure story, aimed at 11-14 year-olds, full of dark secrets and conspiracy.
Justin grew up in Portsmouth and, after studying Law and Theology at Queens’ College, Cambridge, he returned to his home town while serving in the Royal Navy. He left the navy in 2001 to retrain as a physiotherapist, and continues to work in this role, alongside writing his books. After leaving the navy, Justin served as a volunteer with the Portsmouth Lifeboat between 2006 and 2017. Justin still lives in Portsmouth with his wife, Emma, and two children. When he is not working or writing he enjoys messing around on boats and playing the violin.
‘The Secret of the Scarlet Ribbon’ Volume 1 (The Kitty Hawkins Adventures): is available from P&G Wells Booksellers, Winchester as well as on Amazon: Secret of the Scarlet Ribbon
Buy The Secret of the Scarlet Ribbon: Volume 1 (The Kitty Hawkins Adventures) by Mr Justin D R Strain (ISBN: 9780993280931) from Amazon’s Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.
KAREN HAMILTON
The Perfect Girlfriend was published in March 2018 (in e-book, hardback and audio narrated by Anna Friel, the paperback due in January 2019) and is published by Wildfire at Headline.
It’s a psychological thriller about a woman named Juliette who is very much in love with an airline pilot named Nate. She wants to marry him and has their whole future mapped out. There is a snag, however, which is that Nate dumped her six months ago. However, Juliette is a determined, damaged character and has a plan to win him back which involves…
Getting a job as a flight attendant for the same airline as him.
Using her old key and letting herself into his flat when he’s away.
Spying on him using social media and installing a spy app on his phone.
And this is the just the beginning…
What I did with the character was I experimented to see how far someone would go when they operated outside normal social boundaries.
I worked as a flight attendant for many years before concentrating on my writing. I studied creative writing classes online, locally and in London. I’ve been a member of the Hampshire Writers Society for a few years now and I love the way it brings people together who are passionate about writing.
The Perfect Girlfriend is already out in France and Germany and will soon be released in Italy. It will be published in the States and Canada early next year. It will continue to be published throughout this year in several more countries around the world.
Anne began writing six years ago when her middle son became ill. As he convalesced she helped him transform an idea that he had, into a book. This ignited her enthusiasm for writing stories for children. She started writing picture books as a hobby and went on to study creative writing with Barbara Large. Anne is passionate about inspiring children as readers and writers. She enjoys giving talks, craft and storytelling sessions in schools, libraries, and Brownie groups.
Having completed the Snow Globe trilogy, I am excited to announce the release of my debut picture book Manners Fit for the Queen. In this humorous story, Hector causes chaos with his terrible table manners. His sister, Isobel, has found her own way to cope with the mess. But how will she cope when they are both invited to a tea party with the Queen?
Secrets of the Snow Globe – Menacing Magicis the finale to my ‘Secrets in the Snow Globe’ series. Chaos rages in the world inside the snow globe following the theft of seven, magical, diamond snowflakes. In a race against time, Louisa and her brother, Jack, shrink into the globe and embark on a perilous journey to catch the thief. Can they retrieve thenowflakes before the snow globe world is destroyed?
Secrets of the Snow Globe – Vanishing Voices
Can they succeed in their quest to help their new friends, and find a way back to Grandma’s house? A captivating adventure story of courage and friendship for 7-9 yrs. In a land of magic, snow, and secrets Louisa and her brother, Jack, are flung into a dangerous mountain adventure when they shrink into their Grandma’s snow globe.
Secrets of the Snow Globe – Shooting Star
How much does Grandma know about the snow globe’s magic? Louisa and her brother, Jack, are determined to discover the truth. In this sequel to, Secrets of the Snow Globe – Vanishing Voices, Grandma’s story is revealed. But how much should she tell? After all, some secrets are best left untold…
Jottings from the Trans-Siberian Railway, 290pp, 220 photos, 3 maps. Hardback. £14.95
Read the Allison Symes’ interview with Martin Kyrle about the writing of this book and of his adventures on the Trans-Siberian Railway in the Chandlers Ford Today blog.
Recently published: Jottings from Russia and the Baltic States. Part 1: Russia and Estonia. 160pp 120 photos, 2 maps. Paperback. £9.95
DAVID BRUCE
Aviation novels by David Bruce available on Amazon Kindle
Finishing School
Night of the Whirlwind
Falcon
Scorpion Force
The Prototypes
JUDE HAYLAND
JUDE HAYLAND is a teacher and writer who spent over 25 years writing commercial short stories for women’s magazines (under the name Judith Wilson) both in the UK and internationally. She has been a runner-up in the Bridport Short Story competition.
Graduating from Winchester University’s CRITICAL AND CREATIVE WRITING M.A. course with DISTINCTION ten years ago, she has spent the past decade teaching creative writing, running workshops and tutoring English and Drama in addition to writing. Born and brought up in London, she has lived in Winchester for 25 years, but also spends a great deal of time at a family house in North West Crete.
WRITING:
My novel, COUNTING THE WAYS, published by Matador in 2017, is set in the 1980s and spans several locations including London, Oxford, remote Wales and a fictitious Greek island. Literary/commercial crossover/book group fiction, it explores the complexities of family relationships, separation, loss and love over two generations. My next novel, THE LEGACY OF MR JARVIS, is due for publication in autumn 2019. A dual timeline, the story is set in both late 1960s/early 70s as well as in the early 2000s. I am currently working on my third novel.
I have been writing for nearly thirty years even though I was discouraged at school because I was dyslexic, although in the sixties no one had heard of Dyslexia!
Twenty years later I was told by my spirit guides that I should write the story that I had been thinking about but at first I dismissed this as impossible but they kept nagging me until I started writing and I haven’t stop since.
I currently have 3 published novels; A day trip to Heaven (which came second in the Kindred Spirit writers competition) Karma Neural and the latest novel is A Skylark Sings. All of them have a spiritual theme such as past lives or healing.
I have also written children’s books, a SF novel for teens, SF space series and many short stories which I enter into competitions. My SF series is with Angry Robot now and I am hoping it will get accepted by them.
I live in North Hampshire and am self employed which gives me time to write but no sick pay or holiday pay. I love to travel and will be off to Croatia soon. I have ridden horses all my life but at the moment I ride friends as I cannot afford to own one right now. I love all animals and wildlife which I combine with a love of photography. I do many different crafts such as beading, stained glass windows and walking stick making and want to do some watercolour art classes soon. I also teach and practise Tai-Chi and go ballroom dancing every week.
My hope is to one day making my living from my writing so I continue to write and hopefully improve all the time. I am currently writing the tenth novel of my Solar Star SF series and more short stories for competitions.
A saboteur is loose on the film set of the WW1 BBC production of the book “A Skylark Sings.” The motive is obvious from the start but the perpetrator is not so easily identified and the saboteur baits the police before ramping up the number and severity of incidents putting life’s at risk.
After actor Alex Ward and his girlfriend Elisabeth Ireland saves the live of the executive producer from his car after his break’s are cut, they become the targets for the saboteur fury.
Lives lived in 1916 are now brought back together for good or ill as the past catches up with the present but who will survive the encounter this time around.
Day Trips to Heaven
What is Heaven really like? This novel will help you find out! Ethan is learning the ropes as a spiritual guide and not finding it at all easy, despite the help of his lovely mentor Danielle and the Archangel Haniel. He is allowed to bring a few deserving souls from Earth to Heaven for a preview of the afterlife and it changes them all. This is a charming book full of gentle humour and spiritual wisdom. It is a compassionate account of the lessons each one of us needs to learn during our earthly journeys; letting go of pain, discovering our life’s purpose and caring for the planet.
Karma Neutral
This is T. J. Hobbs second novel and concerns a successful business man, James Wiley, who is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour.
He has to reassess his life so far and after talking with his reflexologist he decided to try to becoming Karma Neutral before he dies. In the process he learns a lot about himself and Karma from Tara, a Karma therapist. James realizes he should have taken another path in this life time but like many of us circumstances pushed him away from it but now he has the chance to find his true calling. On the way to Karma Neutrality he finds love and many other surprise.
It is a inspiring and heart-warming novel with two great surprises near the end that take the breathe away. A novel that deserves to be widely read and enjoyed as a spiritual masterpiece.
MARION DANTE
Searching for Love reveals convent life during the 1970s as seen through the eyes of Frankie, an innocent young postulant and her friend, Margaret, who form a close relationship, which is discouraged by the nuns. Readers are offered glimpses of harsh practices, contrasted with comic interludes, that trace Frankie’s gradual disillusionment as she struggles with her dilemma: love, or the church?
’Followers of the television series, Call the Midwife, will enjoy this compelling and unusual story’
Barbara Large MBE
A Love as Strong is a tender sequel to Searching for Love that reveals Frankie’s new life as a teacher after she left the convent. Readers will enjoy reading her naive encounters as she searches for a loving partner. This exceptional book traces the transition of the Frankie, as she explores her new life and her encounters with potential suitors. Readers will revel in the final chapters as she forms a cherished relationship with the man of her dreams.
‘Enjoyable, well written and entertaining’, Poolbeg Press.
CHERYL BUTLER
Cheryl Butler has a PhD in history and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, her writing career spans academic publications for the Southampton Records Series and Hampshire Papers, to history publications on the Tudor and Spa periods as well as being writer-director of the Sarah Siddons Fan Club Theatre Company. Her first novel was inspired by her PhD research which focused on 16th century documents in the Southampton Archives. It made her think about what it would have been like to live during the turbulent events of the later years of Elizabeth I.
JANE AUSTEN & SOUTHAMPTON SPA
This publication looks afresh at Jane Austen’s time in Southampton. Using themes from Jane’s novels and her experiences in Southampton recorded in her letters, this book considers the town’s history as a bathing resort and spa. Balls, the Militia, Gothic Romanticism, Scandal, Friends, Acquaintances & The Southampton Austens all appear in this lavishly illustrated publication.
Rrp£8
THEATRE OF THE WORLD
Drawn from original source material The Theatre of the World is an epic historical novel woven around real events, places and people and is inspired by the author’s research into the Spanish Armada and the impact on the lives of the people of Southampton. In 1588: England has never seen such peril – as sea, the formidable Spanish fleet prepares to invade and on land rumours, mistrust and fear are rife. For Richard Mudford, sometime privateer, artillery man and town sergeant, these are momentous times when a clever man without too many scruples can make a name and a fortune. Mudford begins his journey as an ally of the ruthless merchant John Crooke, but others are relentless in trying to bring him to disaster. In an attempt to boost his burgeoning career he rejects the woman he truly loves,and instead makes an alliance with the French Sohier family. His marriage almost costs him his life and he has no choice but to ally himself to Francis Drake and the ambitious young Earl of Essex, to thread his way through the murky politics of Queen Elizabeth’s sunset days.
Hampshire Writers’ Society Published Members’ Book Fair
11th December 2018 from 6pm – 7.30pm
Di Henley
followed by a talk at 7.30pm from
historical novelist
Penny Ingram
Researching, Writing and Publishing Historical Fiction
with special guest author,
Rosie Travers
Programme finishes at approximately 9.30pm
The Stripe Building, University of Winchester, Sparkford Road, Winchester
Come along and meet the authors who are all members of the Hampshire Writers’ Society. Talk to them about their path to publication. Some will have their books available for sale and signing on the night.
Rosie Travers
Anthony Ridgway
B.Random
The Chandlers Ford Writers: Maggie Farran, Sally Howard, Karen Stephen and Catherine Griffin
HWS November 2018 Meeting Report by Lisa Nightingale
Heather Holden Brown of HHB Literary Agency
“It is interesting how very, very hard writers work to get their book written,” Heather Holden Brown told the attendees of the Hampshire Writers’ Society meeting this Tuesday night, “People on the ‘outside’ think it is easy.”
Heather founded HHB Agency in 2005 on the back of over twenty years’ experience in the publishing industry. She went on to say that if ever she meets someone who says, ‘Everyone has a book in them,’ she runs away — very fast. Because, despite that old adage; writing a book is very hard work.
Drawing on the work of some of the many and varied authors that HHB represents, Heather imparted invaluable advice on the ‘writing’ of books, what draws HHB to and keeps them with an author. And, most importantly, how that helps to pin down publishers.
Number one, of course, is the writing – fabulous, evocative, perhaps with well-timed touch of humour.
Series, Heather muses are growing in trend. So, as it seems, are sunny, by-the-sea settings. Cornwall perhaps.
Be warned however – genre is constantly changing. Remember that, what is en-vogue when your agent secures a publisher, may have gone out of fashion by the time publication comes to fruition! The same with a TV series. Or a film. Some agents may be able to ‘see’ such a promise of the manuscript that they are reading. But then a studio must be sourced and a drama producer. So, it is of little possibility that this vision will be a decider for them taking on your book.
Heather makes the point that biographies, especially if the subject that you have chosen is still alive, are tricky – liabilities that may cost the publishers in turn cost the agents. If you have a biography in mind seek advice and keep passionately tenacious about it! Of course, if your story is autobiographical – don’t try to hide it. Staying true to your story, will make it more saleable.
Meticulous planning, particularly with anything historical and with a down-turned mumble, Heather sheepishly admits that she is not at all enamoured with spreadsheets. But, the planning of dates, research and word-count cannot fail to make that book a winner.
Self-marketing – memberships in many notable organisations, twitter accounts and appearances in publishing journals. All this contributes towards the novel’s success. It also assists the agents.
The cover, this is a debate that as agent, HHB will take on for their author. If the cover is not right, the future sales of that author may fall.
Titles (and to a certain extent historical novels) although it seems that these often wind up being changed. What might make perfect sense to us, here in England, may well be all-to-pieces, mumbo jumbo, balderdash hooey in America; for example, the name Clementine Churchill does not have the same familiarity as Mrs Winston Churchill in a country with a totally different political system to ours. Not to worry though – this is a rough-spot that HHB as agent would iron out.
When it comes to submitting your own novel; “Just send it.” is Heather’s advice. Check out the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook (the current one), find your most suitable agent and with a short pitch, comparisons of reading preferences for example; “if you like reading Lisa Jewell, you’ll like reading …” and the first three chapters or whatever the agent’s website asks for, just send it.
Don’t muddle up agents and small publishers – the agencies will not like that.
Incidentally, Heather did mention the dreaded ‘slush pile’ – she hates the term, it makes her grimace!
The logos of Simon and Schuster and Orion Publishing Group shone from the huge screen that formed the backdrop for November’s gathering of the Hampshire Writers’ Society. The auditorium was packed in anticipation of keynote speaker and Commissioning Editor, Clare Hey, one of publishing’s most experienced professionals.
Stop Press: Publishers are human beings! But more on that later…
First Speaker: Joanna Lane
The first of the evening’s speakers was novelist and Hampshire Writers’ Society member, Joanna Lane. Joanna’s debut non-fiction book, Mother of a Suicide is an incredibly affecting account of trying to understand and come to terms with the terrible tragedy of the suicide of her son, Christopher.
Joanna’s honesty and bravery shone throughout her talk and these two qualities also underpin her incredible book. It can’t have been easy to stand up and talk to such a large audience about the circumstances that led her to write such a powerful account of such challenging personal circumstances. Joanna managed with understated dignity and composure and in doing so she was really able to make a connection with her listeners. She discovered that writing the book was something positive to do as she tried to come to terms with her son’s death and she began to recognise the value of writing as therapy. It became obvious that Joanna was determined that something positive should come from such awful circumstances. By raising awareness of the ramifications of serious head trauma during childhood and its potential to cause chronic and debilitating depression in adulthood, Joanna was determined that other parents need not have to go through what she and her family had to face.
Of course, as well as dealing with the acutely personal nature of her task, Joanna also faced the same challenges that all serious novelists face. She explained in detail how she developed a system of notation and filing in order to keep track of the work’s progress and she had some good advice for those struggling in the midst of their work – taking regular physical exercise and staying active during the writing process helps keep ideas fresh and enhances motivation.
Taking the advice of writing friends, Joanna organised a one-to-one meeting with Bob Cushion of Accent Press at the Winchester Writers’ Festival. Subsequently she was delighted to be asked to provide a further sample of her work. There were hiatuses, false starts and the inevitable setbacks and frustrations to negotiate but finally, after super-human determination, Joanna’s book made it into print with an initial run of 3k copies.
Mother of a Suicide: Fighting for the Truth by Joanna Lane. Accent Press.
Second Speaker: Damon L Wakes
A recent graduate of Winchester University’s MA in Creative Writing, Damon gave us all a fascinating insight into the process of crowd funding and how it is establishing itself as a mainstream route into print. His book, Ten Little Astronauts (the title a delightful play on Agatha Christie’s [1939] work) is set on a decaying spaceship – an environment in itself guaranteed to enhance the tension of any narrative. A murder mystery set in outer space but who, if anyone will survive? Damon’s promo video explained that pledges, starting at an entry level of £5, can be made in the usual way via Unbound’s website.
Clare started her publishing career 14 years ago with Harper Collins and during that time she has seen many, some might say revolutionary changes. Digitisation, print on demand, the birth of E-books and self-publishing are just some of the developments that have conspired to change the topography of the publishing world. Clare, however provided a steadying voice, quick to recognise that one fundamental thing would never change – the need for great writing to be put in the hands of appreciative and discerning readers. That need she told us, is what a commissioning publisher is there to meet. Whilst she accepts that subjectivity inevitably plays a part in what any agent will want to read (Clare is not a huge fan of Science Fiction for example) some fundamental elements of pitching are generic across genres and publishing houses.
She advised that authors should write a perfect covering letter. That means the letter should be concise, it should intrigue and it should make the agent think ‘I simply have no choice but to look at the synopsis and manuscript’. The letter should achieve the same thing a good back-cover blurb – it should make the agent want to read the book. Clare, similarly to most agents we were told, wants to read a ‘strong story set in a believable world’ therefore the accompanying synopsis should show that the writing has those very qualities. Finally, if the all-important moment arrives and the agent actually starts to read the manuscript the writing must be flawless, fresh and original.
Clare concluded by providing some examples of writers with whom she has worked successfully over the years and she left her audience with the very encouraging belief that that there will always be room on the shelf for books by writers who are prepared to perfect their craft and write convincing, engaging stories set within exciting and believable worlds. It’s that simple.
With great excitement, last week, we saw the launch of the children’s book Wizzy the Animal Whisperer by HWS Member, Anthony Ridgway (author) and Suzan Houching (Illustrator) at the Point in Eastleigh. The launch was attended by the actor David Suchet who read an extract from the book. You can view the BBC South Today news coverage of Anthony’s book launch on this link: httpdpress.co.uk/wizzy-animal-whisperer
Anthony’s book will be on sale at the HWS meeting on 8th November at The Stripe, University of Winchester from 7pm, when Clare Hey, literary agent will be giving a talk.
The performance of Zones of Avoidance planned for Saturday, 29 October, 2016 7:30 pm in the Performing Arts Studio, University of Winchester has been postponed to a future date to be announced later. We will refund your tickets or you may chose to save them to use at the new date to be announced soon.
We apologise for any inconvenience that this postponement has caused.
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Lisa Nightingale has been a member of the Hampshire Writers’ Society for over six years, an active committee member for more than three of those. Taking a back seat to concentrate on the writing of her book, she will publish her first novel, A Bite of the Past, on Thursday 6th June. In her spare time, and when not exploring the countryside and coastline with her family, she can be found writing the monthly Tuesday night report, chasing speakers for guest posts and updating the blog. Lisa lives in Fareham with her husband and three children who, thankfully, she says, are not just willing, but enthusiastic to join her in an assortment of “active research”. ‘I love writing, it wraps me in the company of countless varied, wonderful and inspirational characters, not to mention enigmatic settings and stirring history – both real and fictional!” Lisa says.
A Bite of the Past
Ten Little Astronauts is currently available through retailers such as 
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Secrets of the Snow Globe – Vanishing Voices
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I have been writing for nearly thirty years even though I was discouraged at school because I was dyslexic, although in the sixties no one had heard of Dyslexia!![A Skylark Sings[2589]](https://i0.wp.com/hampshirewriterssociety.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/a-skylark-sings2589.jpg?resize=211%2C300&ssl=1)
A Skylark Sings
Day Trips to Heaven 
Karma Neutral 
Searching for Love reveals convent life during the 1970s as seen through the eyes of Frankie, an innocent young postulant and her friend, Margaret, who form a close relationship, which is discouraged by the nuns. Readers are offered glimpses of harsh practices, contrasted with comic interludes, that trace Frankie’s gradual disillusionment as she struggles with her dilemma: love, or the church?
