Hampshire Writers' Society

Tag: author

  • June 10th: Writing and Patience

    June 10th: Writing and Patience

    For our June meeting, our main speaker is Toby Litt — Head of Creative Writing at the University of Southampton.

    Writing and Patience

    Is impatience holding you back from better writing? Toby Litt took 12 years to write his own novel, Patience – shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize. The talk will focus on helping you develop your story ideas and your ideas about stories more gradually but with greater confidence.

    Toby Litt is a writer, academic and environmental activist based in London. He grew up in Ampthill and went to Bedford Modern School. He has published novels, short story collections and poems. His most recent book is A Writer’s Diary (Galley Beggar, 2023) – and his diary continues to run on Substack. His novel Patience was shortlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize. He is a member of English PEN and editor of the Writers Rebel website. The recent Netflix series, Dead Boy Detectives, was based on Toby’s run on the Vertigo/DC comic of the same name.

    Our guest speaker is HWS member Sam Christie. Sam was longlisted for the Bridport Prize, Peggy Chapman-Andrews Award 2021, was second place in the Bloomsbury Writers’ and Artists’ Short Story Competition 2022 and was third place in the New Welsh Writers’ Awards 2023. He is prepared to wrestle a polar bear if that might lead to the publication of his novel.

    A Right Old Wild Ride

    Sam Christie tells the story of his navigation over the summits and into the cols of the writing dream, gives some thoughts on how he survives the tricky times, and encourages members to share their own tips on staying chipper when the going gets hard. His talk will take you from his triumph as Bridport novel longlister, sharing the Hay greenroom with Richard E. Grant and Catherine Zeta Jones, all the way down to his ignominious rejections by Modern Drunkard, Taco Bell Quarterly and sundry other niche publications (yes, they’re real magazines).

    The meeting will be Tuesday June 10th, at the Tower Arts Centre.

    Come along from 7pm. Talks start at 7:30pm. Members free, non-member tickets £10, students £2 (no advance booking, payment on entry).

  • May 13th: Portsmouth Authors

    May 13th: Portsmouth Authors

    For our May meeting, we’re joined by two Portsmouth authors. Our main speaker is author Matt Wingett, who writes non-fiction exploring the strange and interesting history of Portsmouth. He’s also a hypnotist, and has written for TV.

    The Southsea Stories and Beyond – How Conan Doyle created Sherlock Holmes in Portsmouth

    While working as a GP in Portsmouth’s seaside resort of Southsea between 1882 and 1890, young Arthur Conan Doyle produced short stories and novels at an astonishing rate. Many of his anonymously-published tales were forgotten, only to be rediscovered around a century later.

    His early writings included comedies, tragedies, horror, supernatural and earthbound mysteries, unlikely adventures from the outposts of Empire and much more besides. Discover how his life in the town affected his later writing, and how the ideas he first discovered in Southsea became part of his story-telling palette.

    While many associate Holmes with London, discover how the detective was conceived in Southsea – and find out why Portsmouth will forever be “Sherlock’s home”.

    Our guest speaker is author Loree Westron.

    After the Dream Comes True…

    What happens when your first novel gets published by a traditional publisher, but your local high street book shop won’t stock it? Learn how Loree Westron took matters into her own hands and created the Portsmouth Authors Collective to promote and sell local author books.

    American by birth, Loree now lives in Portsmouth where she writes literary and historical fiction. She has an MA and a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Chichester. Among other things, she has worked as a farm labourer, a bookseller, a bell ringer, and a university lecturer. When not writing, Loree can be found teaching bicycle mechanics, or walking and cycling in the South Downs. Her novella, Missing Words, is set in Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight.

    The meeting will be Tuesday May 13th, at the Tower Arts Centre.

    Come along from 7pm. Talks start at 7:30pm. Members free, non-member tickets £10, students £2 (no advance booking, payment on entry).

  • April 8th: Your Book as a Product and creating an Author Brand

    April 8th: Your Book as a Product and creating an Author Brand

    Christine Hammacott was originally scheduled to speak at our December meeting, but had to cancel due to illness, so we’re delighted to have the opportunity to hear her speak at our April meeting.

    Christine is a graphic designer and book cover designer who runs the Art of Communication graphic design consultancy, and is herself an indie author, writing psychological suspense.

    She’ll be talking about book marketing: your book as a product and creating an author brand — a topic of increasing importance for both indie and traditionally published authors.

    Our guest speaker is Natasha Orme.

    Natasha is a freelance editor, travel blogger, and author of crime fiction. Her latest book is Travels with my Child — a non-fiction book about her experience of travel with a baby.

    She’ll be talking about audience — when writing non-fiction, it is essential to identify who we are writing for and why.

    The meeting will be Tuesday April 8th, at the Tower Arts Centre.

    Come along from 7pm. Talks start at 7:30pm. Members free, non-member tickets £10, students £2 (no advance booking, payment on entry).

  • Writing Crime, Reporting Crime; Story Telling Is Innate In All Of Us.

    “Being a writer is wonderful – it gives us carte blanche to get away with everything.” Simon Hall, seven times published novelist, former BBC News Correspondent of twenty years and tutor at the University of Cambridge, tells the gathered members and guests at Hampshire Writers’ Society’s Tuesday night meeting.

    Simon loves to ‘people watch’; often from a spot in the pub in his beloved Cambridge. It is characters that drive his writing. Adam Breen and Dan Groves, even Rutherford the dog, the characters that he created for his TV Detective novels work together, not only literally, but together they form a crucial ‘relationship’.

    Dan Groves, the TV reporter half of the duo appears to have everything. He also suffers with depression which he calls “the swamp”. Simon tells us that he has received many emails from men suffering the same affliction, saying thank you for giving the illness this coverage; it is good to know that they are not the only ones, the character of Dan is one that they can relate to.

    Story telling is innate in all of us, he says. There’s no secret to writing a story, there may even be a formulaic way to do it and plenty of stories start at the end – reverse chronology. Simon once killed off a character; something for which he, his editor and publisher received much criticism – in reality, the character would have survived. But Simon argued the necessity that she be “killed off” – Dan, having had three successes, was in danger of succumbing to delusions of grandeur; he had to be taught a valuable life lesson.

    So, here Simon imparts a piece of advice – “Let the story find you. Use your characters and your experiences.”

    Research is done on-the-job. Simon recognises that it is important and suggests a researcher try to get as close to the original source as possible, because there you’ll often find an interesting fact to support your research. For his new book which is out in September this year (as yet it has no name – The Editor is a popular choice – although, Simon likes to have at least three words in the titles of his novels) he spent much time researching the city of Cambridge, which of course he greatly enjoyed.

    “Writers are a species apart.” he says. It is a relationship, which is possible why everyone has their favourite authors – they can be relied on the to give ‘value for money’. As such, Simon follows four unbreakable rules which he calls the Four S’s

    1                 He steers clear of science. Except for on the peripherals – a crime novel will always need a little of science.

    2                 He skips on what he calls “slop”, we would understand slop as gore. The reason for this is that he feels he could not write anything worse than the reader can imagine. Most people will say that their favourite scene in Hitchcock’s Psycho is the shower scene. “You don’t actually see the murder.” Simon points out. The mind bridges the gap, your imagination does the rest.

    3                 He avoids swearing, using it only to keep the dialogue real.

    4                 He doesn’t do sex. His first attempt at writing a sex scene was laughed out of the draft by his editor.

    “Humour is ubiquitous in our society”. he says. Humour is what keeps us going, it forms a bond between us. It is therefore omnipresent in Simon’s writing. “Everyone seems to think that the past is terrible and that the future is scary,” he tells us. Horrible things do go on and, as a reporter for the BBC, he has seen some of the worst. But, he truly believes that the majority of people are good.

    Report by Lisa Nightingale

  • Erwin James at the Hampshire Writers’ Society Tuesday 13th June

    Report by Lisa Nightingale

    You’d be forgiven for comparing the early life of prize-winning  author and Guardian columnist, Erwin James, to that of Dickens’ Oliver, but there was nothing to sing about. Or Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre;  there was definitely no romance. Found guilty of stealing sweets at just ten, he became a victim of a neglectful, remorseless society and was thrown in a children’s home

    The reality of the fictional world that we writers choose to live in never ceases to amaze us; the truth behind the life of spies, the ferocity of competition between athletes, the harshness of war and the brutality of children’s homes in 1960’s Yorkshire where Erwin James lived. Despite the inadequacy of the carers, James’ life of petty crime was overturned by small kindnesses..

    James had only a basic education. At that time educational investigations had proven that 74 % of adult male prisoners had a reading age of less than that of an eight year old child. For Erwin James, being a writer was far from his own expectations.

    Sessions with the Prison Psychiatrist persuaded him to enlist in part time education. He completed a degree in History Degree, along with an interest in writing  Fifteen years into his life sentence, rehabilitation gave him the opportunity to  write for The Guardian..

    ‘I am a writer.’ he told the Prison Governor,  Monster Mansion, HM  Prison Wakefield.

    ‘Better get another hobby!’ was the reply.

    So, where do you go from there? Returning to his cell after that short but damning conversation, he stared despondently at the wall.

    ‘Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent …..’ Part of a speech made my Calvin Coolidge, the thirty- third President of the United States. James had copied these lines  though  ‘I had to look up “omnipotent” though,’ he admits.

    He escalated his cause, petitioned the Home Secretary and eventually was allowed to accept the offer from The Guardian. His deadlines, perhaps didn’t pose the same restraints that they do for many columnists, nor the motivation or  inspiration. ‘ Life is what happens on the outside; surely?’

    ‘…we just aren’t sure how rehabilitated the prison service wants the prisoners to be…’ the Governor commented.

    For four years, James wrote and submitted his weekly column.

    ‘You know you’re a writer when you want your readers to see and feel what it is that you see, ’he said.

    Instrumental in the setting up of reading/writing groups within the prison, James made the decision to be what he is, a writer. His psychiatrist believed that he could be a writer.

    ‘I never expected to ‘live’ again.’ he said, ‘Thank you for this opportunity.’

  • Allie Spencer and April Competition Results

    It was a pleasure to welcome Allie Spencer as our adjudicator for April. She is the author of Tug of Love, which won best debut novel, Romantic Novelists’ Association.

    It seems that many of you were too shy to write romance, the number of entries this month was only 18.

    Allie assured me that she enjoyed reading them all. Her comments are below with the winning entries but her choice of winners is:

     

    1st Place

    NIGHT AMBUSH by ANGELA CHADWICK

    2nd Place

    SECRETS by MARI THOMAS

    3rd Place

    STEAMPUNK LOVE by SUE SPIERS

    Highly Commended

    A STEAMY LOVE STORY by JOHN QUINN

    Next month’s competition is:

    Write the narrative of a viewpoint character in a historical novel solving a conflict. (300 words)

    The adjudicator will be Dr. Peter Middleton, Senior Lecturer, English, University of Southampton.

    Please remember that I have set up an automatic reply informing that your work has got through but I will come back to you ASAP if anything is wrong with your entry.

    Keep writing,

    Sharon

     

    1st Place

    NIGHT AMBUSH by ANGELA CHADWICK

    Allie Spencer: ‘This piece pushed the idea of a steamy love story to its limits! It was fast paced, exciting and full of peril. The final sentence both rounded the story off nicely and pointed forwards to a possible continuation. If I had my way, this would be expanded into a full-length piece – I’d love to read that and learn more about the characters and their backgrounds.’

    Lily opened her eyes to darkness. The explosion, when it came, rocked the campbed. The door of the cell crashed open and a guard grabbed her, hauling her upright.

    “Vite! Vite!” he screamed dragging her along. She staggered into an inferno of gunfire. A thud, a gasp and the guard was gone. Lily dropped and lay still. Quiet came, someone moving close.

    A voice like honey said, “Who the fuck are you?”

    “Lily.”

    “English?”

    “Yes.”

    “Stay here!”

    Three lifetimes passed until he returned.

    “You hurt?”

    “No.”

    “Good. Let’s go.”

    “Where?”

    “Anywhere but here, love. It’s wired to blow. Walk where I walk. Keep up.”

    Lily crashed along, desperate not to be left. Hour upon hour, ache upon ache.

    He halted.

    “We wait here,” he commanded. “Chopper will be here before dawn.”

    She was shaking, exhausted body and soul.

    “Eat this,” he said. The chocolate helped, his arms held her, the shaking eased. She could smell him, feel the strength of his body.

    “Are they gone?” she asked.

    “They’re all dead. We came for the comms link,” his voice caught, “We weren’t expecting you and your guards.”

    She reached her hands up to his face, kissed him. She felt him respond. She moved on top of him and there on the jungle floor they gave each other what comfort they could. Later she held him, as he had held her.

    The helicopter crew asked, “Who the fuck is this?”

    “Lily Johnson, the missing aid worker,” he answered, as he handed her in.

    Lily opened her eyes to light. She prayed for her SAS saviour, just like every morning. Then she turned her head to the picture of Paul, grinning in his scrubs, and last night’s engagement ring.

    Her mobile rang. A voice like honey said, “Hello, Lily.”

    2nd Place

    SECRETS by MARI THOMAS

    Allie Spencer: ‘I’ve chosen this primarily for its incredibly tight structure. The running refrain of ‘a secret’ punctuates the piece, making it hang together and pushing it forward at the same time. The effect of such a powerful device in such a short piece of writing is to turn the prose into a kind of poetry. Superbly written.’

    “Hey, Adam. Tell me a secret.”

    “No.”

    “What? C’mon, I told you one of mine.”

    “The fact that you suck at hockey isn’t a secret, dumbass.”

    “That’s not what I—”

    Adam says, “Evan.”

    Evan stops.

    “Shut up.” And he reaches across to crush their lips together.

     

    “Hey, Adam,” Evan gasps out between moans. “Tell me a secret.”

    “Do you ever shut up?” Adam growls into his neck, teeth catching on flesh.

    Evan huffs a laugh as they break apart, pulling off his shirt. “Never.”

     

    Adam is hiding. Evan finds him anyway.

    “Hey, Adam,” Evan greets with a grin. He throws a cooled bottle of water at Adam’s head. “Tell me a secret.”

    Adam snatches the bottle out of the air. “This place,” he snarls, “was supposed to be one.”

    But Evan just smiles.

    

    Evan holds Adam close, fingers drumming Für Elise into the bare skin of his chest. “Hey, Adam,” he says quietly. “Tell me a secret.”
    

    “You’re an idiot.”
    

    “That’s not a secret.”
    

    “I’m an idiot.”
    

    “Neither,” Evan says, a touch gentler, and Für Elise merges into Minuet in G, “is that.”
    

     
    

    “Hey, Adam. Tell me a secret.”
    

    He kisses him instead.
    

    “Hey, Adam. Tell—”
    

    He sticks his hand down the front of Evan’s trousers.
    

     
    

    “Hey, Adam—”
    

    Adam doesn’t look up from his hunt for his shirt. “Fuck off.”
    

    Evan’s grin is savage. “Unfortunately, we already did that—”
    

    Adam can’t take it anymore. “Why won’t you leave me alone?” he demands. “Why are you—you’re always here, always asking that stupid question—it’s nothing, Evan.” His voice cracks. “It means nothing.”
    

    Walk away, Evan.
    

    Evan doesn’t. “Hey, Adam,” he says and his voice lilts in that way that makes Adam want to punch something. “Want me to tell you a secret?”
    

    3rd Place
    

    STEAMPUNK LOVE by SUE SPIERS 
    

    Allie Spencer: ‘I chose this because it is genuinely memorable: it hung round in my brain for days after I’d read it. The images it creates are both intriguing and powerful. They have a strong visual resonance. The hypnotic, half-poetic style of the writing both complements the other-worldliness of the setting and helps to invoke it. A fabulous exercise of the imagination.’
    

    She was beautiful, hidden by her clockwork mask
    

    Its lenses magnifying her hazel eyes, always wary,
    

    Like an airship butterfly taking wing at any slight air.
    

     
    

    She saw him step from the Galveston Torpedo
    

    as a burst of steam engulfed him from the city’s engine,
    

    his great-coat flapping wildly in the jet, top-hat tipsy.
    

     
    

    Her Uncle’s handshake marked him for the company,
    

    soon uniformed in the Shackledoom livery, him unique:
    

    un-automated, whole animal, fascinatingly full-human.
    

     
    

    She spied him from her window, visiting her Uncle,
    

    risked half undress while her gramophone played,
    

    her golden corsets concealing barely breathing ribs.
    

     
    

    Their eyes met, she sensed a stillness; time-halt
    

    when all relationships are possible in that instant,
    

    when only movement is impossible in that moment.
    

     
    

    He brought flowers and her Uncle sent him gone.
    

    He brought a tiny hare of brass and taxidermy fur.
    

    Her Uncle told him, ‘stay absent’, threatened harm.
    

     
    

    Tears rusted the workings of her mouth, she oiled
    

    the hinges of her lips, but her human heart failed
    

    or seemed to stop its beating until she willed it on.
    

     
    

    In secret they met, too-brief hours when friends
    

    left them talking, falling, stroking, making sparks
    

    ‘til alarm calls sent them bolting to opposite exits.
    

     
    

    Of course the Uncle, suspicious, discovered them,
    

    furious ructions and the powerful man sent ruffians
    

    after the flesh-bound gallant, crushed by steel.
    

     
    

    She stole away his pulped body to a blacksmith,
    

    ordered the finest bronze-nickel to mend his limbs,
    

    delicate automation of more intimate conditions.
    

     
    

    In the lovers’ like-built bodies the Uncle’s objections
    

    faded like the hiss of the Galveston Torpedo’s whistle.
    

    Their human hearts were left to weld a life together.
    

     
    

    Highly Commended:
    

    A STEAMY LOVE STORY – JOHN QUINN 
    

    Allie Spencer: ‘This piece was chosen because it works on so many levels: it is warm, funny, human, poignant, sad and also strangely hopeful. It had very strong echoes of Alan Bennett’s work and the attention to detail, like Bennett’s writing, was beautiful – even down to the way Thelma uses the eiderdown (of which her husband would have approved) rather than a duvet (which he would not) to assist in her suicide attempt. Again, this is a piece of writing which could be extended to full length and would undoubtedly produce a very strong and moving story.’
    

    If asked Thelma would deny it.
    

    But, like many widows and widowers, she takes solace in talking to her husband, despite him being underground for nigh on 20 years. ‘Oh, that damn electric kettle, why I let David get me one I’ll never know. You never would’ve, Harry.’
    

    Thelma opens the cupboard under the sink, roots around for a while and pulls out an old, slightly battered kettle. She half fills it from the cold tap, pushes on the whistling lid and places the kettle on the stove with a welcoming clatter. The gas ignites with a whoosh.
    

    She pulls her old, thick, pink, cotton dressing gown more closely around her. ‘But that’s sons for you. Always doing what’s best, even when it isn’t.’
    

    Thelma picks up the tea cloth, likes she does every morning while the kettle boils, and absentmindedly wipes the copper frame holding the photo of Harry wearing his ill-fitting, double-breasted, demob suit and a smile almost as wide.
    

    The warm, furry slippers shuffle back into the bedroom of the tired bungalow. Thelma pulls the eiderdown from the bed. ‘You never would have one of those continental quilts would you, Harry? “Nothing foreign in this house,” you said, knowing full well they’re made in Huddersfield. You did make me laugh!’
    

    Easing slowly down onto the kitchen floor, so not to startle the arthritis in her knees, Thelma sits, likes she’s about to pray, in front of the old oven. She pulls open the oven door and slides out the trays.
    

    She turns the gas on but does not push the ignition button. Instead her head enters the oven and she awkwardly pulls the eiderdown around her shoulders to form a plug. ‘Soon be with you Harry, my love.’
    

    The kettle starts to whistle.
    

    
			
    
		
    
		
	
  • 
		
		
    
			
			
    Its Not Who You Know  by Claire Fuller
    
			
    For the next couple of weeks, Hampshire Writers’ Society has gone all Publishy. Here, Claire Fuller tells us about finding her Agent.
    

    Claire Fuller at HWS Book Fair
    Claire Fuller at HWS Book Fair
    

    It’s Not Who You Know
    

    A few years ago when I was in the middle of writing my first novel, without any idea about what would happen to it, I went to a talk by a writer who told us how her book came to be published. ‘I went to a party in London,’ she said. ‘And I met a girl there who was the receptionist at a London literary agency. A few days later I sent her my manuscript; she showed it to her boss; and he offered to represent me. You’ve got to know someone in the industry.’ 
    

    All of us came out of that talk feeling dejected – getting published was about who you know, and I didn’t know anyone, and I certainly didn’t get invited to any London parties. 
    

    But, I’m pleased to say that she was wrong. My novel got picked up from the ‘slush pile’, and I now know that so do many more. It’s not about who you know, but it is about following the rules. 
    

    Of course you still have to write a novel that an agent will be interested in. You need to be passionate about it, and that passion needs to come across in the writing. And it goes without saying that it must be well written and brilliantly edited. 
    

    After that you only need to regard your submission like a job application. I used Agent Hunter (www.agenthunter.co.uk) to select twelve agents who had open lists, were looking for my genre, and were interested in debut authors. I went onto each of their websites and I sent them a submission that followed their guidelines exactly and professionally. No funny coloured font, no gifts enclosed, no begging letters (and agents do receive all of these). 
    

    There is still some luck involved – will your submission hit the right desk at the right time? But get the basics right, and your novel, like mine, can be selected without knowing anyone in the industry or getting invited to any parties in London.
    

     
    

    Claire Fuller, a member of the Hampshire Writers Society, is the author of Our Endless Numbered Days, published by Penguin.Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller It won the 2015 Desmond Elliott Prize and is a Richard & Judy, and Waterstones Book Club book. 
    

    www.clairefuller.co.uk
    

    @ClaireFuller2
    

     
    

     
    

    
			
    
		
    
		
	
  • 
		
		
    
			
			
    February Meeting Report – Jude Evans
    
			
    JudeEvansFeb2016
    

    Happy 30th Birthday, Little Tiger Press! 
    

    ‘Publishing is exciting and challenging,’  says Jude Evans ‘It’s a good time to be writing.’
    

    The range of reading products for children is rich and diverse with YA, a huge crossover.
    

    Jude could not stress enough: ‘know your market.’
    

    Know your audience.
    

    Get to know the interests of your chosen age range and remain reflective of a broader society.
    

    At Little Tiger Press, the character is the key.
    

    Put yourself in the reader’s shoes. Think; what is my book (super commercial, literate, contemporary) therefore, what is its ‘tone’? It is essential that the opening hook them in.
    

    It is our aim that children WANT to read. We are introducing them to the ‘magic’ of words.
    

    You should consider the ‘travel’ of your story – how will it translate into other cultures?
    

    When you’ve finished your manuscript. Put it away for a while – when you return to it, you’ll be able to remain objective. Also ask for the opinions of it from those most valuable to your progress.
    

    Then, think like a Publisher. An agent will already have a familiar relationship with publishers and will negotiate on your behalf.
    

    Your covering letter should be brief and pertinent.
    

    Your synopsis; no more than two sides. Don’t bombard agents/publishers.
    

    DON’T GIVE UP. It can take weeks before you receive a reply.
    

    Investing in business cards might be opportune. Use them in conjunction with your manuscript or a conversation – don’t just drop them willy-nilly at book fairs.
    

    Jude signing books
    Jude signing books in the Stripe foyer
    

    Finally, Jude issued an invitation to all of us present!
    

    For full report –  see the members’ Newsletter. Not a member? Join us for only £20.
    

    
			
    
		
    
		
	
  • 
		
		
    
			
			
    Q & A with High Fantasy Author James Barclay
    
			
    

    th_ebf486218337267c1b432845a3df25be_1302558799_magicfields_cover_artwork_1_1[1]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…)
    

    
			
    
		
    
		
	
  • 
		
		
    
			
			
    Jane Wenham-Jones speaks to Hampshire Writers’ Society
    
			
    Report by Carole Hastings
    

    Barbara Large opened the evening by inviting Local writing group, Pencils and What-not, to promote their new self-published book, Journeys and What-not. It’s a miscellany of sixty pieces of fiction, travel tales, poems and assorted writing. £1 per book will go to the charity First Story that supports creative writing in schools where at least 50% of the children are deprived. The book is available from P & G Wells in Winchester, The Winchester Discovery Centre and from their website.
    

    Then we heard from special guest Jenny Knowles who runs a small publishing company in the New Forest, called Little Knoll Press.
    

    Her mother wrote stories of her life in China and India and sent them to Jenny at boarding school rather than ordinary letters and these inspired Jenny to get into publishing. She has published some of her family’s stories and as well as a few others. She will soon be publishing a book of postcards accompanied by stories produced by a local artist. She thinks that people considering self-publishing use an external editor to get their work to a publishable standard. She recommended that people interested in travel writing join the Itinerant Writers Club via their website: http://www.lizcleere.com. It’s run by a woman called Liz Cleere from a boat near Cochin in India and provides a good support network.Jane Wenham-Jones (1)
    
The main act was Jane Wenham-Jones and was pure entertainment. She recounted saying to one audience that it was easier to rob a bank that make money from writing. The audience were guests at HMP Send! This set the tone for the evening.
    

    She sees herself as a jobbing writer – novelist, short story writer, columnist, features writer, agony aunt, speaker. She’s feisty and tenacious and deals with her rejections by sending out another script the same day – often reworking a piece depending on the comments she may have had back. Her record for sending out the same piece was11 times across a period of two years. Her advice was to do something positive when you get a rejection – it’s normal to get plenty and few people really get their first novel published.
    

    She believes in writing what you know and her first novel Raising the Roofwas based on her experiences in the buy to let market where one of her tenants actually stole the boiler and another filled the place with stolen goods and replica guns. She tends to keep research to a minimum – mostly Google and asking people to tell what she needs to know. She’s a firm believer in not trying to sell your book until you’ve written it – the first three chapters are not enough. Keep your focus in what you want to write as you can easily pick up so much contradictory advice – bigger plot/bigger characterisation etc.
    

    IMG_1253Jane never wastes her life experiences – they all provide her with material for books and features -domestics even find their way into her column… Woman’s Weekly Fiction Specials are a great outlet for short stories.
    

    In the name of research Jane has been botoxed, [better performed by the dermatologist than the dentist apparently], been painted naked [her laptop strategically placed] and had a go at stand-up comedy. The audience found her funnier in real life than when she was trying to tell jokes.
    

    Her second book Perfect Alibis was based on research from a friend on how to have an affair which led her on to work on The Sun and an appearance on Kilroy. Her most recent novel,Prime Time, based on her experiences in day time TV was nominated for The Romantic Comedy of the Year Award.
    

    She currently has a 15,000 word book on Kindle called 100 ways to Fight the Flab and this will be out in paperback as a 60,000 word book by Christmas. She is running a “How to Lose Weight” competition for a week’s writing course in France.