Paint it With Passion, Claire - Read My Story in Fiction Feast

Another in my 'Inspiration Behind the Story' series. My story, 'Paint it With Passion, Claire' is published it this month's Fiction Feast. As many of you will know, I am definitely not a planner: my stories arrive from a snippet of conversation, something I might have read or seen or, as in this case, a memory.

As a child, I was lucky to have many holidays in France. The journey was by ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe and I used to love it... the scudding clouds, the rumbling of the engine and the seagulls following in our wake. I had been thinking about how I hadn't been on a cross channel ferry for years and the sights and sound came flooding back. I knew I had to write a story around this.

When I started writing the story, I had no idea where it was going to go. I knew I wanted my story to be set in France (a change from my usual Greece) but had no idea of the plot. As usual, the story just took over as I wrote it.  My heroine is a potter and this comes from both my mum and dad having been amateur potters when I was growing up. I remember the kitchen table being covered with clay and the sound of my dad's potter's wheel in the garage.

I am sure that Helen Yendall is wanting me to say that 'the sexy Alain' (her words) is someone I know or have met but I am afraid to disappoint... he is purely a figment of my imagination!

My next published stories are in next week's People's Friend and This month's People's Friend Special.