Doubting Abbey - Guest post Samantha Tonge

As Samantha was such a delightful guest on my blog in September (anyone who read my article 'Be My Guest' in Writing Magazine this month will know how important this is), that I decided that she deserved to be invited back to tell us about her new book Doubting Abbey which was published yesterday by Carina UK as an e-book.

Firstly, welcome back to my blog, Sam. You must be a sucker for punishment after the burnt flapjacks on your last visit. Thought I'd play safe and buy in this time... digestive?

Aw, I was looking forward to coming back and I feel at home with burnt fayre – reminds me of my own cooking!

That's very kind of you to say. Anyway, it's very exciting news that your novel Doubting Abbey was published yesterday (I love the title by the way). Can you tell me a little about it?

Thank you! Yes, the story revolves around pizza waitress Gemma, who must pass herself off as best mate, posh Abbey, for two weeks, in order to win a reality show and save run-down Applebridge Hall. It is a light read with heart, that also demonstrates the struggle aristocratic families face in maintaining their ancestral homes.

Gemma Goodwin is the heroine of your novel. How would you describe her in three words?

Impulsive, loyal, fun

I'm glad you didn't describe her as 'feisty', Sam - I think the term is becoming rather over used, don't you? I know you are a fan of Downton Abbey. What are the links between the drama and your novel?

It fascinated me how the public became obsessed with a series set in a time so different to ours, where people had to deal with their problems within very conservative restraints. Today we tend to wear our hearts on our sleeves and society is a lot more liberal. I asked myself how a thoroughly modern gal would cope in such an aristocratic setting.

Who do you think would be Gemma's favourite Downton character?

Ooh, good question, Wendy – I think Carson. If she could have got him on-side, he would be a marvellous confidante and father-figure. And I think she would loosen him up a bit and make him chuckle.

Whenever I like a character, they seem to kill them off, Sam! How long did it take to write?

Not long – about five to six months. But I did a large chunk of it in just 6 weeks - my own kind of Nanowrimo!

Wow! Impressive! I believe your novel is e-first. What made you decide to go with a digital deal?

I was just thrilled to be offered a deal by such a big romance publisher, e-first or not. Carina UK is part of the Harlequin house where, I feel, long-term – with luck on my side – there could be the potential to develop my career as a romance writer.

Good luck with that - I've no doubt you'll succeed. Do have a preference yourself for e-readers of paper books? I have to admit to being a paperback girl myself.

I’ve only had a Kindle for a few months and absolutely love it! Holding it in one hand and a coffee in the other, whilst reading, is perfect!

I know there is a reality show in the book. Do you like reality shows yourself and do you have any favourites?

I love the jungle one, ‘I’m a Celebrity’, particularly the eating challenge – which I would be awful at!

A witchetty bug or two never hurt anyone. What are you plans for the future now, Sam? Another novel or are you going to stick with the short stories?

I am thinking about a sequel to Doubting Abbey, but I hope to get back to writing short stories again, soon. Not only do I love writing for the People’s Friend, the reality is I still have to build myself as an author, and selling short stories is the – very enjoyable – way I earn my income.

Thanks for having me Wendy – and, um, sorry, I seem to have eaten all the digestives!


No problem. Thanks for popping over to my blog again, Sam, and good luck with the book.


Here is a little introduction to Doubting Abbey to whet your appetites.

Swapping downstairs for upstairs… How hard can it be!?

Look up the phrase ordinary girl and you’ll see a picture of me, Gemma Goodwin – I only look half-decent after applying the entire contents of my make-up bag, and my dating track-record includes a man who treated me to dinner…at a kebab shop. No joke! 

The only extraordinary thing about me is that I look EXACTLY like my BFF, Abbey Croxley. Oh, and that for reasons I can’t explain, I’ve agreed to swap identities and pretend be her to star in the TV show about her aristocratic family’s country estate, Million Dollar Mansion. 

So now it’s not just my tan I’m faking – it’s Kate Middleton style demure hemlines and lady-like manners too. And amongst the hundreds of fusty etiquette rules I’m trying to cram into my head, there are two I really must remember; 1) No-one can ever find out that I’m just Gemma, who’d be more at home in the servants quarters. And 2) There can be absolutely no flirting with Abbey’s dishy but buttoned-up cousin, Lord Edward.

Aaargh, this is going to be harder than I thought…

You can buy Doubting Abbey here
Samantha's lovely blog can be found here

Rockabilly Me - Like the Dress?

I've just been reading Julia Douglas' (Douglas McPherson's) vintage clothes romance, Polka Dot Dreams, in which Natty Smalls, the heroine of the novel, has a vintage or reproduction outfit for every day of the week. I love this era and its clothing.

Many of you will know that I am a keen dancer (ballroom, Latin, salsa, Argentine tango and modern jive).

Last night my husband, the famous timeline creator, and I went to a jive dance and I kept thinking how much better I would dance if I had a dress like Natty's. So today I spent a long time on the Internet and came up with the dress above. I've never bought a dress on-line before so am rather apprehensive as to whether it will fit. Hopefully it will.

I shall buy a net underskirt to give it an authentic 50's look and then I shall be ready for all the dances I have lined up for Christmas.

 I may not look quite like Natty, but I will certainly feel like her... can't wait!

Apologies to those reading this on I-pads or I-phones who can't see the above vintage video clip - I'll keep it in for those viewing on PCs.

My story in this month's People's Friend Special (out Wednesday) is nothing about dancing but I hope you'll enjoy it anyway.

Writers Helping Writers

I'm really excited today as my favourite book writing-duo, Becca Puglisi and Angela Ackerman, have produced another two books in their writing series: The Positive Trait Thesaurus and The Negative Trait Thesaurus.These books are out today and I for one can't wait to add them to my collection.

As many of you will know from her guest post here, Becca and her co-writer Angela are the co-creators of The Bookshelf Muse, an award winning on-line resource for writers. They now have a new website Writers Helping Writers and a visit is a must if you haven't already been there.

Here's what the girls have to say about The Positive Trait Thesaurus:

It’s a writer’s job to create compelling characters who can withstand life’s fallout without giving up. But building authentic, memorable heroes is no easy task. To forge realistic characters, we must hobble them with flaws that set them back while giving them positive attributes to help them achieve their goals. So how do writers choose the right blend of strengths for their characters–attributes that will render them admirable and worth rooting for–without making it too easy for them to succeed?
 Character creation can be hard, but it’s about to get a lot easier.

Inside The Positive Trait Thesaurus, you’ll find:

* A large selection of attributes to choose from when building a personality profile. Each entry lists possible causes for why a trait might emerge, along with associated attitudes, behaviours, thoughts, and emotions
* Real character examples from literature, film, or television to show how an attribute drives actions and decisions, influences goals, and steers relationships
* Advice on using positive traits to immediately hook readers while avoiding common personality pitfalls
* Insight on human needs and morality, and how each determines the strengths that emerge in heroes and villains alike
* Information on the key role positive attributes play within the character arc, and how they’re vital to overcoming fatal flaws and achieving success
* Downloadable tools for organizing a character’s attributes and providing a deeper understanding of his past, his needs, and the emotional wounds he must overcome

If you find character creation difficult or worry that your cast members all seem the same, The Positive Trait Thesaurus is brimming with ideas to help you develop one-of-a-kind, dynamic characters that readers will love. Extensively indexed, with entries written in a user-friendly list format, this brainstorming resource is perfect for any character creation project.

If their first book, The Emotion Thesaurus is anything to go by, these two books will find a home on a lot of writers' bookshelves and if anyone thinks Becca and Angela are now resting on their laurels, they'd be wrong - a visit to their website shows that they are busy working on a new project: a talents and skills thesaurus... go girls!

All three books can be bought from Amazon here.

Some Little Hints

When I was at school (rather a long time ago now) we had to write book reviews. I'll be honest - it was my least favourite activity. If I knew I had to review or pick apart a book, my enjoyment of it would decrease in line with the amount of thinking I was doing regarding the task that had been set. Some love it - I don't!

This puts me in a bit of a quandary. Many of my writing friends have brought out books in one form or another recently - there are some great fiction and non-fiction books around and of course I'd love to give a full review of everything I have bought/downloaded/been emailed but as soon as I try to analyse the book I'm right back in that classroom sucking my pencil and wishing for break time.

So what I've decided to do is to tell you lovely readers that if I have posted about a book on my blog, it is a given that I have read and liked/enjoyed/been amused by or been informed by it.

So... now that's out the way, I'd like to introduce Lynne Hackles' new writing 'how to' called Handy Hints for Writers which can be bought from Amazon at a snip for just 99p.

I was lucky enough to win Lynne's book in a competition and read it on holiday on the canal boat (maybe that's why I missed the heron!)  -  how better to introduce it than by listing my ten personal favourite handy hints from her book.

Thanks for these, Lynne.


1.  Train yourself:

Train yourself to look for ideas and to ask what if? Every person you meet is a potential character. Every place you visit is a potential location. Every problem you hear is a potential plot.


2. Too busy:

Never think you are too busy to write. Learn to delegate jobs, gardening, shopping housework. If you really want to write, make time. Real writers do.


3 Believe in yourself:

Ignore the voice in your head telling you that you are not good enough. Tell yourself you can do it and then get on with it.


4. Our unique voice:

Admire other writers, admire their styles but be yourself.


5. Write it down:

Keep notebooks and pens with you at all times. We all tell ourselves we'll remember that incredible idea for a story or article but wonderful ideas can pop into the mind as easily as they can pop in.


6. No clocking off

Writers never clock off. They work wherever they are. They meet people, see places, get ideas and inspiration.


7. Rewards:

Successes should be celebrated, however big or small.


8. Hup two three:

Physical exercise can help if the mind seizes up. Do anything active. It'll get the circulation going and stimulate those little grey cells.


9. What to take note of:

If yours is not the normal printed rejection but, instead, has something personal in it, then please take note. They do mean it.


10.  Be gripped by your story line:

If you aren't, why should anyone else be?



If you want to read loads more handy hints, Lynne's great book can her bought here.
and here is Lynne's blog.

Guest Post - Della Galton

Today, I would like to welcome the lovely Della Galton to my blog. Mention the name and it is impossible not to think of her wonderful magazine stories but Della is also a novelist,  and a  journalist; not to mention the agony aunt for Writers’ Forum. She has been writing and getting published for over twenty-five years (so I guess she must have started when she was five!) When she is not writing she enjoys walking her dogs in the beautiful Dorset countryside where she lives. Her hobby is repairing old cottages, which is lucky as hers is falling down.

Della is talking to us today about her transition from short story writing to novels but before she gives us her words of wisdom, I couldn't resist asking her a few sneaky questions.

Wendy: What is the biggest writing mistake you have made?

Della:  My biggest writing mistake was not keeping a copy of the very first story I ever sold - not even a copy on the computer :(

Wendy: What is your top tip for a new writer?

Della:  If you want to sell, especially digitally, get into social media: blog, Facebook, Twitter and anything else you can think of and have a marketing plan - it really does work. (If you're really, really new and you haven't got as far as being published, then just write what you love, write with passion and write from the heart.) Oh and join a writing class with a good tutor who knows what is being published now.

Wendy: Finally, Della - as a writer, is there anything that you would have done differently?

Della:  What I'd have done differently is I'd never have shown agents or publishers work that wasn't complete - because as a consequence of doing this I have two half finished novels - I was put off writing them - and a half finished novel is useless. At least you can edit and rewrite a finished one.

Brilliant. Now for the proper writerly stuff - over to you!

Moving On – Short Story to Novel

I began my writing career with short stories, as many writers do. I remember being told by my tutor at the time that short stories were a good place to start. I could learn the skills and techniques of creative writing, and, if ever I wanted to write something longer, having a background of short story writing would stand me in good stead.

            I think she was right. It’s as true today as it ever was that whatever writing you do, whether it’s writing letters, non-fiction, a blog, or even writing a personal diary, the act of putting words on paper will help you to hone and develop your skills.

            However, writing a novel was not just about, as I had once thought, producing more words! Although that is, of course, one of the things you have to do. There are several other differences.

Pace was the thing I found hardest to get right when I began to write longer fiction.

So how does pace differ in short and long fiction?

A short story unfolds faster than a novel does – right? Well, yes, but it’s not quite as simple as that. There are some very fast-paced novels out there and there are some very leisurely paced short stories. Maybe the easiest way to show pace is via some examples. And where better to start than the first page?

The first page

Here is a direct comparison between the first page (approx 300 words) of a short story and the first page (approx 300 words of a novel)

The first page of a short story

On One Knee (published in Woman’s Weekly)

“The thing is, Kay, you see – er – the thing is…”

       She’d never seen him so nervous. “Spit it out, George.” She grinned encouragingly, but it didn’t seem to help.

       He shifted his chair back, but it caught on the carpet and juddered so that he jolted the white-clothed table between them and she had to grab her glass of wine to stop it toppling over

       “Well, you know I really like you.”

       “Yes.” What was he doing? She’d thought he was going to excuse himself, but instead he seemed to be disappearing under the table.

       “And I think you like me too.”

       His voice was strangely muffled. She peered across at the space he’d vacated. He seemed to be grappling for something on the floor. Had he dropped his fork?

       Suddenly he surfaced, his glasses were askew, but he’d obviously found what he was looking for.

       “We rub along pretty well together,” he went on, “And we’ve been going out for quite a while now.”

       Three months wasn’t quite a while. Not in her book it wasn’t. She’d actually been trying to cool things down a bit – he was a nice guy, but they didn’t have quite as much in common as she’d thought.

       Oh no. She had a sudden flash of foreboding. Surely he wasn’t about to… He couldn’t be… Now he was edging along the carpet on his knees towards her. His trousers made a shuffling sound, but it was probably exaggerated because the rest of the restaurant had gone so quiet.

       “I’d like you to be my wife. I want to marry you, Kay. I think we’re good together…”

       The restaurant drew in its collective breath. He had heat in his cheeks. His ineptness made him seem extra vulnerable, extra gawky.

This story begins in dialogue, in the middle of a conversation, in fact. It’s clear from the outset what’s happening. The title is a bit of a clue! The setting is a restaurant although it doesn’t matter where. George is proposing to a less than keen Kay. The style is gentle humour.

       The story bounds along in dialogue. The main hook being is she going to say yes or no? I think we know the answer to that already. Although this could be the beginning of a novel, it’s not so likely to be a novel; it’s a little too brief, a little too linear, a little too lightweight.

The first page of a novel

Ice and a Slice - Chapter One

The first thing she noticed was the tinny metallic taste in her mouth. And then came the thirst. The thirst was so bad it had got into her dreams and forced her awake. No, not awake, aware – a slowly growing awareness which was coming, sense by sense.

Like sound. She could hear an echoey blur of footsteps and voices, which rolled in and out of her head. Closer by, something electronic beeped. Beep, beep, beep – steady and rhythmic – beep, beep beep.

Where was she? She opened her eyes and was hit by a wall of light. She shut them swiftly. She felt as though she was made of crystal, cool and brittle. She was a thin glass person who could be shattered by the slightest touch.

After a while she tried opening her eyes again. This time the room swam in various shades of light, but she managed to squint long enough to focus. To her left was a tall metal stand with a clear bag of fluid clipped to the top. To her right was some kind of machine, which seemed to be the source of the beeping. Close to her cheek was the edge of a thin blue woven sheet, but it felt more like a tablecloth than a sheet. She shifted a little to get away from its roughness and her head spun.

“So you’re awake then?” A blurred face leaned over her. She made out red lipstick, a thin line of a nose, kind eyes.

“Drink?” she gasped.

This is very different. It is not immediately clear where our main character is – we are deeply in her viewpoint and she doesn’t know where she is, so the reader learns of her surroundings slowly, as she becomes aware of them herself. By the end of the first page we can work out that she’s in intensive care in hospital, but this only brings up more questions. Who is she? Why is she there? What is the matter with her?

            This is how it should be with a novel. Each question you answer should raise further questions.

If you would like to find out what happens to SJ, my main character, and how this story develops, Ice and a Slice is available on Amazon for kindle enabled devices. Price: £1.94, Click here for further details.

If you’re interested in learning more about the difference between short stories and novels please check out my full length book on the subject, Moving On – Short Story to Novel – a Step by Step Guide, Price £1.97. Click here for further details. (Also available in paperback). Click here for details.

www.dellagalton.co.uk

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Thank you for reading.

Thanks Della for taking time out of your busy schedule to guest on my blog. If you haven't read 'Ice and a Slice' yet please do - it's a really good read (although it might make you think twice before opening that bottle of wine!)

Books to Help You With Your Writing

 

I thought that it would be useful to new writers if we could share some of our favourite writing resource books - you know, the ones that you have found really useful (not the ones that sit on your shelf gathering dust!)

 

Let me start you off with mine.

 

 

The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi is a must if you are stuck with how to 'show' a character's emotion. Alphabetically ordered, the emotions looked at range from 'adoration' through to 'worry'.The book covers: physical signs, mental responses and internal sensations.      

 

 

NEWS FLASH!

 

I am thrilled to tell you that Becca has kindly agreed to pop over to my blog on Monday and Wednesday of next week for a guest spot. She will be talking about 'Showing Not Telling'. Thanks, Becca - I can't wait. This will truly be words of wisdom from the expert! 

My second choice is one I have mentioned on my blog before.

The Writer's Treasury of Ideas by Linda Lewis was the first writing book I bought. I think it is great for anyone starting out on their short story journey. If you read this, you will never be stuck for ideas again.

 

 



 

 

Next comes this great little book by the prolific short story writer, Della Galton. She certainly knows her stuff and it is a 'straight to the point guide to writing and selling short fiction'. I would say this is another must for new writers wanting to break into the magazine market.

 

 



 

 

 

Finally, my latest buy (also by Della Galton). This wonderful book helps you make the transition from short story to novel. I am hoping that if I read it now, it might spur me on to making a start on something longer. Watch this space.

 

 

Now it's your turn. Any great books you can share?



The Blue Suitcase

This is what I had planned for today: visit my daughter and granddaughter, decide on the paint for the downstairs cloakroom, sort out the mountain of paperwork that needs filing, do the weekly shop, babyproof the house before the youngest two grandchildren descend on us at the weekend and of course...write a story!

BUT... that was before I started reading The Blue Suitcase by Marianne Wheelaghan.

If I'm honest, I decided to read it because Marianne ran the excellent writing classes.co.uk which inspired me to start writing for magazines and because she has been very encouraging to me on her blog but the story is so readable that I haven't been able to put it down...hence my lack of productivity today!

The story is set in Germany and follows the life of Antonia, through her diary, from the age of twelve into young adulthood. The story begins in 1932 when political unrest has yet to begin its inevitable march towards war and the young Antonia is interested in the political upheaval, only in so much as it is dividing her family and spoiling her birthday.

As the story, and the war, progresses we come to see how ordinary German citizens and Antonia herself, move from being supporters to becoming victims of Hitler's reign.

Harrowing at times, Antonia's often pragmatic diary entries make you want to carry on reading to the end to establish the fate of the young woman and her family.
 
Marianne's second book Food of Ghosts, a crime novel with an exotic twist, will be out in November so I had better expect a few less stories to be written next month!

I shall review Marianne's new book in a later post.