HWS Events – Page 9 – Hampshire Writers' Society

Legend, Folklore and Taxidermy Kate Mosse

Report by Lisa Nightingale KateMosse2

‘If you are writing; you’re a Writer.’ International Best Selling Author Kate Mosse told us, ‘Say to yourself. I am a Writer.’

Kate writes women’s’ stories. Those that are not about finding a husband or having children – there are plenty of writers doing that. A writer can write in any genre; let the story choose its own genre.

It’s place that triggers her writing finger. Taxidermists-Daughter-mmp-217x327 She stands in her setting, whatever the weather, lets her spirit take her and immerses herself in its history, opening her imagination to hear and see the setting’s people.

Using the places that fascinate her in her day-to-day life has always been key to the success of Kate’s writing. ‘Hold the faith’ she says. Keep going until you hit that little spark, the oddment in your research that sets your story off and running.

‘Be kind to yourself.’ She instructs us. ‘Accommodate your real life in your writing.’

Bring it back to your story; find the trip that sets it apart and focus on this, especially when promoting your book.

The sad truth is that for many women in various countries reading and writing is prohibited. The highlighting of their situation is freeing their creativity and they are eternally grateful. The Prize for Fiction which celebrates and promote the very best of international fiction written by women puts their books in the hands of readers.

If you are writing history, you have the freedom to pick your story, but you mustn’t lie. Historical writers occupy two camps – Kate is firmly in the one that believes if you are going to take a historical incident as a setting for your story, then you owe it to those that died there to be true. As a playwright Kate feels the same and urges others to think seriously about their honesty to the facts – otherwise we end up letting in those who would exploit us. She uses the example of Donald Trump influencing the masses who have been led by the incidents and facts of film like The Hurt Locker, which aren’t true.

As for character, Kate knows her stuff – characters and plot are indistinguishable; one leads the other and vice-versa. Characterisation is more about what’s in their heart. This is what drives Kate’s characters. It’s not until much later in telling their story that they will actually appear in her imagination and she can say ‘ah, that was you!’

Kate places character 1 in the story and soon character 2 will present themselves. If, in your first draft, a character starts to take over – let them! See where they take themselves. Often, those that you thought would be minor characters turn out to be major players.

The time slip novels of the Languedoc trilogy allowed Kate to place a character overlooking her setting and gave her the opportunity to love and describe it. The other character, of course couldn’t do that – they lived there! But she doesn’t recommend time slip – it is time-consuming, research heavy (OK for Kate – she loves research) and requires many different drafts.

One genre that she wouldn’t write? ‘Science Fiction,’ she says. She couldn’t do spaceships. But then the setting and place is Kates inspiration and she like to ‘physically feel’ the place. Which of course, is difficult on the moon.

For a list of her books and she urges you to buy from your local, high street book store can be found at www.katemosse.co.uk

May 11, 2016

Poet and Creative Writing Lecturer at Winchester University Joan McGavin

Report by Lisa Nightingale

winchesterPoetryFestLogo The 2016 Winchester Poetry Festival of which Hampshire Poet of 2014 Joan McGavin is a trustee, includes discussions, reading and translations of poetry celebrating all things revolution.

Established successful voices read their poetry and in Journal Letters discuss the letters of Keats who, 100 years ago rebelled against his family’s wishes that he should become a doctor. He became a poet instead and thank goodness for that!

These events are TICKETED. Get in quick!

The festival also features many FREE EVENTS and showcases local and international new voices including a duel between two translators of German poetry!

Take part in the many workshops and the Literary Walking Tour of Winchester which features Keat’s Ode to Autumn inspired by his walk along the River Itchen.

This year sees a new competition: Young Poets Ballad Competition which is run in conjunction with P&G Wells. Head Judge is Richard Stillman, Head of English at Winchester University. Rules and guidelines for this competition can be found at www.bookwells.co.uk/images/WinPoetryBallad2.pdf

Winchester Poetry Festival is delighted to be collaborating with Test Valley Garden and Literary Festival bringing us Poets in the Garden. Readings by distinguished poets, Susan Wicks and Ruth Padel.

Poets in the Garden Julia Bird and Mike Sims

Poets Julia Bird and Mike Sims bring the work of Keats to life and Stephan Buczaki chairs a gardener’s’ question time. ‘A wonderful combination of talent, creativity and good company in the glorious heart of England.’ as Alan Titchmarsh puts it.

Details of both festivals can be found at: www.winchesterpoetryfestival.org Follow the link to www.testvalleyfestival.co.uk

May 11, 2016

Kate Walker – Twelve-point Guide to Writing Romance.

‘Just because I’m too old to do it, doesn’t mean I don’t want to remember it.’

was a comment Kate Walker, author of 65 romances received from a 96 year old avid Mills & Boon reader.

Mr Mills and Mr Boon established their publishing company in London in 1908. They took on Kate Walker as one of their authors in 1984. M&B is now multi-national company selling 150,000 ebooks in addition to 130 million traditional tree-books. Owned now by Harper Collins, M&B retains the well-known Harlequin name. Listening to Kate; their stereotypes could not be further from the truth.

Category romances are where M&B have made their name. They focus solely on the couple. At only 55,000 words, there is no room for anyone else’s story.

Readers of romance are ‘real little sadists’ says Kate. They expect a ‘Black moment’ when it seems the couple have no hope. But, they also demand an emotionally satisfying (happy) ending. The heroine could be as shady as the hero. He must have a vulnerability. Both characters must be ‘real’. The reader wants to ‘become’ them. For darker conflict; Kate has used Post Natal Psychosis. The hero rudely taking the heroine’s parking space is not acceptable!

Kate knows that if a title sells well in the USA, all the international countries will buy it. In Japan books are also turned into Manga (as we all know the Japanese do not deny themselves the pleasure of comics just because they reach adulthood)

As well as lecturing, Kate is a reader for the Romantic Novelists New Writers’ Scheme. KateWalker12PointGuidetoWritingRomance She wrote her acclaimed Twelve-point Guide to Writing Romance in response to requests for advice and a desire to reach all those that were unable to attend her workshops.

The portrayal of the passion between the couple whether that is emotional or physical must hook the M&B reader. The writer must be in love with their hero and portray him so that the reader, despite themselves, falls in love with him too. If you can achieve this relationship, you are onto a winner.

Kate writes ‘what she wants to write.’

Report by Lisa Nightingale

April 14, 2016

Robin Mukherjee: The Art of Screenwriting

Report by Lisa Nightingale

Robin Mukherjee was pleased to speak to us on Tuesday night. Writers so often deal with their neuroticism’s alone, he says, Hampshire Writers’ Society provides a place to feel safely insane.

Robin is a modernist. He gave us a refreshing take on many of the issues that get writers down. Whatever your type and model.

For starters – structure. Look at it the way Robin showed us? Without structure, that chair you’re sitting on would collapse. Without structure (your skeleton) you would collapse.

Robin Mukherjee

Robin began in what is now the BBC Writers’ Room where he was given a mentor. A stereotypical screenwriter at the time (chain smoking and inflexible) he was afraid that by confining it in a ‘shape’ or ‘form’ his integrity and passion would be suffocated and he rebelled against structure. But much like your skeleton structure goes unnoticed. Until it doesn’t work properly. Your story needs its structure to work well or else it will not move forward naturally. It won’t be nimble.

So on to Dramatic Structure. Think of Drama as an Act (this is what the dictionary defines it as) An act (dictionary – a thing done) can be anything, from making a cup of tea to robbing a bank. It will have a beginning (get cup) a middle (make tea, drink tea) an end (wash up cup) return to start (put cup away)

To perform your act you need:

Time and space. Your story’s environment/world including the when, where, context and theme.
A protagonist (someone to do the act) They need a story of their own. Once they have this they become a character rather than a ‘device’. They have desire/assent.
Effort – immediately there is conflict. No matter how simple their idea, there will be something overlooked and this leads to:
Opposition –
Crisis –
Denouement – it’s over! The protagonist is free of all ‘acts’.

All this sounds like a lot of planning. Let your story have an organic life, Robin says, you have the gift for some bits. Others you will have to work at. There will always be a certain amount of planning. Find out what your project wants.

OK. You have done all this. What do you do with your manuscript then? Be there (there being the industry), have something. Think of the industry as a motorway – no one is going to stop to let you in. You have to get up to speed. Look like you belong there. It is all very well doing the postage thing, but you will stand a better chance if you can back this up with ‘Dear Joe, we met at ….’

Publishers exhibit a fear of change. It is a shame that the genre question now comes first. If you stay true (details remember) to your subject. In the film, Lore which Robin wrote for, some children are throwing stones at a group of Russian soldiers. The soldiers fire at them and they run away. A viewer might say that the soldiers would give chase. But the truth of the matter is that they probably wouldn’t (they are hungry, tired and if their commanding officer is not looking, then they will ignore the children) Portray your truth well and you might not have to follow the troupe. Settling on your genre might be helped by returning to your Time and Space. What happens in your environment? A crime? A meeting? Or perhaps the discovery of a portal to mystical lands.

Special Guest Glenn Fosbraey

Programme Leader for the in Creative Writing Degree at University of Winchester.

When offered the spot of January special guest and adjudicator, Glenn jumped at it. The Creative Writing Degree at Winchester University includes a module in which the students use a Gothic novel (Dracula, Jeckyll and Hyde) and manipulate it as though it were elastic. Taking text and playing around with it is an excellent exercise in creative writing, he tells us.
Glenn is passionate about lyrics. For too long, song lyrics have been the poor relation to poetry. Writers like Paul Simon are regarded as Poets rather than song writers. A song, however contemporary can hold much more information than immediately meets the eye – a social system, the fight against oppression, the plight of a gender. Song and music are ‘absorbed through osmosis’ and whether we like it or not, a soundtrack to our lives is formed.
So, Glenn has designed a new degree, one which he hopes to incorporate into the Creative Writing department next year – Popular Music.

January 18, 2016

Q & A with High Fantasy Author James Barclay

Q. I notice from a review on your website of Elves Once Walked with Gods that you wrote and then abandoned the first sixty thousand words and began all over again. It was also a point that you made when you came to talk to us that a writer shouldn’t be afraid to make cuts and re-writes. How long does it take you to write a first complete draft? And then how long to edit it? (more…)

December 19, 2015

Steve Voake – Writing for the Young Adult

Hampshire Writers’ Society 8th December 2015

Report Lisa Nightingale

A special festive celebration with members of the committee dressed as characters from children’s books and energetic entertainment from the Winchester Morris Men.

Steve Voake, children’s author

Writing for the Young Adult

‘What if…..’ ‘Once upon a time ….’

Stories always push at Steve Voake’s mind. While out for a walk one day he began looking at insects as military vehicles – wasps became fighter planes, ants became tanks.

He began writing what was to be The Dreamwalker’s Child. 30,000 words later, he hated it. He couldn’t leave it alone now, not after investing so much time and effort in it. So, guess what? He went for a walk and thought ‘You know what? When writing gets really hard – it is not that you can’t do it. It’s just got really hard.’

Steve Voake picture

Steve, a busy Head Teacher and father of young children, concocted a work schedule. He settled on a goal, his most productive writing place and time and the novel was finished.

He submitted to various agents, including Colville and Walsh who said, wait 3 months. Then they told him to wait a little longer. Eventually they decided to ‘work with it.’ The deal was done and book 2 was due in only 9 months. Work schedule or not, Steve admits it ‘nearly killed him.’

When the next deal offered was for 3 books. He loved his teaching job, but it was time for change.

Using the ‘What if…’ question followed by the 3 rules of writing –

Conflict
Conflict
Conflict

The high-octane Starlight Conspiracy was written. Using the same mantra, Blood Hunters followed. Steve always steers clear of grotesque and swearing. Some children do like to be frightened. More like to read their character living through those fears. Hope is at the core of his characters’ stories.

Steve Voake It was then that an opportunity not to be missed came his way – the chance to work with his cousin. The Insect Detective, a non-fiction children’s book was produced.

Daisy Dawson, a girl who can communicate with animals and Hooey Higgins, a boy getting up to mischief with memorable friends provided Steve with a lot of fun.

Writing can be a solitary life and he began to miss the hubbub of school life. He began giving paid-by-the-hour lectures at the University of Bath. This grew into a regular slot on their Creative Writing course. He agrees with the notion – ‘Make progress. Get it written. Then review the wreckage.’

Steve Voake, ex-headteacher and critically acclaimed author of novels for the young adult, including The Dreamwalker’s Child, The Web of Fire, The Starlight Conspiracy, Dark Woods, Bloodhunters.

To find out more about Steve Voake’s books go to his publisher’s website: http://www.faber.co.uk/author/steve-voake/

Special Guest: Dr Vanessa Harbour

‘I have the best job in the world!’ says Dr Vanessa Harbour of the Faculty of Arts at Winchester University.

As an English student at Winchester University, she had no intention of writing for children. However, she gave it a go and found her ‘voice’.

Since then creative writing has found its voice at Winchester University too. Outward module are core to the course equipping student with the tools to make writing a viable career choice.

Dr Vanessa also works with Imogen Cooper, instigator of the Golden Egg Academy. The ‘Eggs’ are the Academy students. The Academy nurtures their eggs until their craft is perfectly honed. Congratulations Golden Egg Academy – their 13th egg has just been awarded a publishing contract. And that is just in 3 years!

Dr Vanessa is still writing. She is currently mid-way through a middle-grade story based on the harsh facts of war.

https://www.goldeneggacademy.co.uk/

December 9, 2015

Della Galton speaks to Hampshire Writers’ Society

HWS November Meeting Report by Lisa Nightingale

Special Guest: Mayoress – Angela Clear

Councillor Angela Clear, Mayor of Winchester and District, also known locally as ‘Miss Marple’ with her basket and beady eyes has two literary heroes – Agatha Christie and Jane Austin. A romantic detective – there’s a refreshing change.

Her self-administered reward at the end of a busy run is a little time away following in the footsteps of the great Poirot on Burgh Island, just off the coast of Devon where Agatha Christie wrote many of her novels.

While at home curled up on the settee on a winter’s evening, she thrives on the heartache of the heroine caught up on the ‘social perception of Jane Austin’s time’ listening to their head and not their heart. For her they are the perfect mix of romance and historical statements before being quite willingly whisked away to Pemberley.

Being Mayor is a busy role with up to four engagements a day, but she loves it and says that perhaps one day will come to Barbara Large for instruction and put pen to paper.

The audience was treated to a performance by Chris Mann, prominent South African poet, playwright and song-writer who demonstated the creative effect of combining songs with guitar accompaniment. Chris Mann is Professor Emeritus of Poetry, Rhodes University in Grahamston and is currently visiting the University of Winchester.

Della Galton – short story writer and novelist

‘Never forget! We are in the entertainment industry.’ Della Galton told us and she doesn’t believe in Writer’s Block either.

Della draws much of her story-writing inspiration from songs or poems. It is emotion that drives her fingers. Writing Groups are invaluable and Della began attending one back in 1987. 1500 short stories later, she still goes to it.

Della Galton and Barbara Since she started writing, the magazine short story market has shrunk. Now there are only 7 magazines that can be submitted to, with some on-line. Successes feel great but they can be sporadic. As can the income.

1000 word stories are the biggest payers. Your readers must care about your characters. Give them a problem that is not of their own making. Make them solve it in an unusual way, but get the reader to care about them – from the first line.

Cosy crime is a big seller.

And men – do not switch off – men can write stories for the likes of Woman’s Weekly. The editors are looking for diversity, the writer’s own voice and they buy on the strength of the story not that of the writer.

Ask yourself, if you are moved by your story. Then the reader will be moved as well. And try to make the editor laugh. Della admits that this is not always easy in 1000 words. But, don’t be predictable. Or preachy. Although a twist in the tale is still a winner.

Your story needs to provide escapism for the reader. It must also be believable – draw from your own experiences.

Persistance and patience pay off. Poor Della once had thirteen rejections in the same day! So she cried and carried on. What’s your motivation?

Don’t write what is trending! If a tsunami has recently ravished the coastline then don’t submit stories about it – the editor will receive thousands the same. And here she left us a tip – write a list of your ideas. Then cross out the top ten – everybody thinks the same way.

Della could not stress enough how important it is for a writer to carry out their market research. Magazine submission guidelines will state their taboo subjects, word count can be very strict and check the genres that they prefer to print. Your information must be current.

Della confessed to being a NaNoRebel – she uses the National Novel Writing Month as a challenge to write a collection of short stories. And she highly recommends it. In the race to keep writing, your inner editor is subdued.

For more information about Della Galton visit her website and blog.

November 12, 2015

James Barclay, High Fantasy Author

Report for HWS 13th October 2015

by Lisa Nightingale

Michael Byrne, debut author of the Lottery Boy

Don’t give up writing. Do whatever helps keep you going!

After painstakingly picking over the first paragraph of multi-selling Lottery Boy which took him 3 hours plus, Michael Byrne got brazen. He threw it away with his doubts and questions. Then ‘just wrote it’.

But caution snuck back in. Rejections wrecked the flow of his energy. Lottery Boy got thrown in a drawer.

Ironically, he won a Tesco competition that he wasn’t even unaware he had entered. This persuaded him to try Lottery Boy in the Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction competition. He didn’t win. ‘If Barry Cunningham didn’t want me,’ he says, ‘all was lost’.

Perhaps his apathy had turned super productive though. An agent seized Lottery Boy.

‘Increasingly,’ he says, ‘agents will work as editors with their authors. They are like terriers.’ His agent would not let it go.

Publishers’ showed interest in Lottery Boy, and where Michael might have (in typical, dreamy, star-struck writer style) accepted their offer, his agent remained dispassionate and hung on for a better deal sticking with the book and Michael.

Michael continually pointed out that ‘an agent is invaluable.’

It was Walker Books who bought him and Lottery Boy. ‘Who?’ said Michael. Again his agent was strong and when Lottery Boy sold internationally, he finally called himself a writer.

‘It’s the voice.’ He says. Agents look for a ‘spark. And that is your voice’.

James Barclay, High Fantasy Author

Oct 15 James Barclay Barbara Large 2 _0236 (2) [371321] The high fantasy genre certainly is another world. Be realistic seems to be James Barclay’s mantra. Really?

Author of twelve high fantasy novels to date (the thirteenth comes out next March) James was first published in 1999. He hordes all his research and all his notes. And it shows.

When building a world, James uses our world as a yardstick. ‘Think of what war or religion has done to us.’

Know your geography: you need to know how tectonic plates work.
Where would your population live: People will live where they will survive. Our earth is a good fact-file – ports will always be well populated due to the abundance of trade to be done.
Your economy must work. Create a balance. Or your world will collapse. Remember our world – finance is a reliable source of disagreements.
What is your ruling system? A monarchy’s rule is different to that of an elected government. Look at our own world – monarchies can produce tyrants.
Religion – ‘nuff said!

Harness all of the above and then ‘Stick it on the wall in your shed’. Use it only for reference.

Your world must ‘hang’ together. Readers know how our world works, but they don’t know yours.

‘No battle plan has no contact with the enemy.’ Help!

Fight scenes, if you are going to use them, must have a purpose within your plot.

Know who is going into the fight. Know who is going to come out. Know their weapons – how big are they, how are they designed to damage?

Fights are noisy, smelly, uncomfortable and gory and fighters are disciplined. ‘Either I kill you or you kill me.’

With big battle scenes, James brakes the rules. Use a second point-of-view. One from high above the battle field that can give you an overview, the second from the middle of the mayhem. Short sentences shift between them or use paragraph breaks.

Try not to make your fight scene too ‘Errol Flynn’. If it does end up that way – use something genuine – a weapon failure or a stumble over a dead body to retain reality. Stay in your characters point-of-view and let them guide you.

Keep it credible – a peasant is most unlikely to defeat an experienced fighter.

Keep the magic credible too. Credible magic?

It is possible to have fantasy stories without magic. Lewis Carrol does it well. But James likes playing with magic.

If your magic system is all-powerful, then the magicians will be in charge. How does this fit with the economy of your lovingly built world? Give your system a flaw

‘No one person should say more than a short paragraph’ James says.

Imagine that you are overhearing the conversation.

And don’t be in a rush to get all your information over in one go. You don’t need to write in all the characters’ umms and errs. We all do it. Give the reader some credit – they can imagine it for themselves.

But dialogue can be a tool. It can give your reader snippets about the characters’ world; the landscape, the geography. It can inform the reader of characters’ traits, flaws or emotional state.

You don’t need to tag every speech either.

But, James avoids giving characters accents. If you are clever, it can work, but it can also be tiring for the reader.

Although the writer can give their characters new traits, – original fairy elves did not have pointy ears; Tolkien gave them to them. Be wary not to regenerate them completely and confuse the reader.

James is not above ripping it all up and starting again. His characters lead him and unlikely heroes begin to emerge. ‘You can’t afford to be proud.’ he says, ‘your first draft will be flabby and too much detail can be dull. Take out anything that states the obvious, unless of course it is integral to the plot’.

Read extensively. He says, ‘It goes in.’

October 17, 2015

M.J.Arlidge, James Marrison and John Hayes speak at HWS 8th September

A Night of Crime and Darkness…

Two purveyors of crime and mystery talked about how they weave dark and compelling tales.

Report by Lisa Nightingale

Special Guest – John Hayes

Sep 15 John Hayes_0234 John Hayes is Smug! Winchester’s first satirical magazine Remember Viz, Mad and Punch? Well, it’s a bit like those. Smug is a mix of humour and investigative journalism backed up by in-depth research – people watching!

Hoping to launch in December 2015, Smug needs input. Spoof news stories, reports, short-stories, anything relevant to the prevention of Winchester disappearing up its own bottom! The deadline is ASAP. Even if it’s just a crazy idea, let John know at john@wfa.uk.com You should be able to find Smug in the Art Café on Jury Street – John owns it!

Also the very first announcement of the Winchester Short Film festival 2015. John is keen to pair up screenplay writers with directors so if you have an idea for a film of under 15 minutes contact him through the Winchester Short Film festival website http://www.winchestershortfilmfestival.com/submit by 15 October 2015.

In 2016 Winchester Short Film festival is going international! Next year films will can be up to but no longer than double the length of this years. There is also a new category for 2016 – Write a Short Script for any Genre. Entries need to be submitted by December 2015

Speaker: Crime Writer, M.J. Arlidge

‘I am not a woman,’ says Matt Arlidge. One and a half years ago, it was his agent’s idea to submit the plan for DI Helen Grace as gender neutral. Four books later, the name has stuck. Unfortunately for Matt, it is common misconception among his readers that as the main protagonist is a woman then so must the writer be.

It has become apparent to Matt that women are infinitely more interesting than men and that life for a woman is fraught with difficulty. He fully accepts that this is tragic for women. But, not so at all for fiction writers. Plus, it seems to be the time of the female crime solver. So, a female DI with a fetish for leather and motorbikes cannot fail to sell.

Matt admits to finding a story’s baddy more intriguing and so the characters of his serial killers come fairly easily. In a crime novel the denouement is the most important element. So Matt works backwards, meticulously planning and reworking the chapters as he goes. Then the fun part – playing with the characters.

Matt started out a junior story-liner working at the BBC on East Enders before moving onto many happy years writing for Monarch of the Glen, he then moved into writing crime for independent television. This is when Eeny Meeny was born into a society controlled by reality TV. What if a serial killer was to ask the question – who should be evicted next?

MJ Arlidge is a writer of thrillers not police procedure, so he does not have deep contact with the police, in fact he confessed to making some of it up! The come-down after the action of the denouement is important to the reader – they need to ‘come back up for air’. It can also be used to lead into the next instalment.

It is important to remember that writing might be a craft, but publishing is a business. A publishing house is almost guaranteed to like a genre. They will also want to ensnare those readers for a long time, so a series is much more likely to grab their attention. ‘Don’t be shy.’ he says, ‘Think Big.’

A secret – Little Boy Blue, the prequel to DI Helen Grace, will be launched over the twelve days of Christmas in chunks. It will only be available in e-book and on Kindle.

Liar Liar by MJ Alridge was published on 10th September 2015 by Penguin.

Speaker: Crime Writer, James Marrison

Scary music, downloaded photographs, banging a tennis ball on the wall and strict routine all go into James Marrison’s writing day at his home in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

He sets himself targets as most writers do. But, not word-count. He uses time. Rigidly! Have a break or a time when you ‘call it a day.’ And switch off; it is so important.

Plotting is James’ nemesis. He does it in his head which can mean that sometimes, he has precious little in the way of tangible evidence of work. But plotting is work and he has to remind himself that he has actually done a lot today. Agatha Christie, one of his favourite authors was a plotter. And she often hid her killer in the open – a friend or a colleague.

Characters definitely do lead the plot. He fell back on his own emotional experiences of living away from his home for the answers to his main protagonist DCI Guillermo Downes. Once Downes had been given a backstory, he burst into life.

James agrees, it is the unveiling of the killer that is the reader’s reason for choosing crime. But, the day-to-day frustrations of police investigations are pivotal to the plot. Essential information dumps must be handled with care. So, James weaves in the character’s traits, keeping the text interesting. He also has no continual contact with the police but their procedures are not difficult to discover – the internet can give you all the information you need.

In crime writing, pace is imperative. Steer clear of over-describing. Sweep everything along for the ride. Keep working up to that key action scene.

It wasn’t until he started doing it that he actually realised that writing was what he wanted to do. He became a journalist. He collected details of strange and grisly murders carried out by the most demented serial killers and published his findings.

Writing is a lonely job, but James is keen to stress that at times it is also crowded. His agent and editor are vocal and blunt, and he is able to rely on them. Doubt, however can be a destroyer if it is allowed to creep in. Until your work is finished – put publishing out of your mind.

The Drowning Ground by James Marrison was published on 27th August 2015 by Penguin.

September 10, 2015

Gala Evening – Lady Antonia Fraser in conversation with John Miller

Report by Lisa Nightingale.

The Hampshire Writers’ Society and friends celebrated summer with strawberries, a Book Fair and conversation with Lady Antonia Fraser.

With VIP guests such as versatile and respected author, John Miller; scriptwriter for TV, film, theatre and children’s drama, Robin Mukherjee and the evening was opened by Joy Carter, Patron of the Society.

The foyer of the Stripe Lecture Theatre at the University of Winchester where the society meets each month, thronged with writers: published and aspiring.

Displaying their books at the Book Fair, were published members, including Claire Fuller, who has been shortlisted for the Desmond Elliot prize and bestselling author, Cathy Woodman. They were accompanied by Celia Leofsy, Richard V Frankland, Sharon Garrett and Dai Henley. Two poets, Sue Spiers and Di Castle joined them along with e-book writers, Damon L Wakes and Natasha Orme.

Lady Antonia Fraser in conversation with John Miller

Lady Antonia Fraser considers herself to have had only two privileges in her life:

Parents who loved each other for life
A mother who was adamant that girls should be educated

Lady Antonia Fraser Neither of these privileges are material. ‘People go on too much about class.’ She says and she points out, she had to earn a crust. She worked hard at her job in publishing, but when you are in the midst of your desired surrounding, hard work is not difficult. Her main memory? Publishers are not scary at all, they are just human.

As a child in a house of Classical and political books, she drew on her surroundings, imagining herself to be Queen Matilda, escaping from Oxford Castle across the ice. And in the stubborn way of a child, she decided that writing and history was what she was going to do.

Her first foray into historical novel writing came when she unwittingly volunteered to re-write the classical story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table for Marks & Spencer’s range of children’s books.

Four children later, Lady Antonia Fraser believes that ‘Writers’ block is a luxury for those who have time.’ Her writing day consisted of just three hours a day, her early books were up to five years in the making. She is a meticulous planner, pays attention to detail and has notebooks, index card boxes and green files full of research.

Jun 15 GALA_0061 (2) Coining the phrase – ‘Optical Research’, she explains that the writer’s job is to make it ‘real’ for the reader. By actually visiting the site of her story, e.g. a priest’s hidey hole, she gains a wealth realism. She uncovers little tit-bits guaranteed to invoke the reader’s sense of belonging in her novel’s setting and a relation to its characters.

Identification with her protagonist is key. She needs to feel a sympathy for them. Her memoir states, ‘a writer is like a barrister’. Writers make the case for their characters, much like a barrister does for their client. Research is seen as preparation for this case.

She did give us an exclusive – her next book will explore the emancipation of Catholicism in 19^th century Britain.

The Hampshire Writers’ Society Anthology Winner entries from competitions 2011-2014 is now available to purchase for £7.95. Please contact: Celia Livesey by email competitions.hws (AT) hotmail.com

Gala Evening Photo Gallery HWS Members’ Book Fair