Inspiration Behind the Story - The Beloved Sea

"You never blog about the inspiration behind your stories anymore," someone said to me recently and, when I looked back on my blog, I realised it was true. I think the reason I haven't is that on the weeks when I've had a story in a magazine, I've had other news to tell or a lovely guest has visited my blog for an interview. 

To rectify this, I'm going to talk today about the inspiration behind my story in this week's People's Friend Special, called The Beloved Sea (Yay, they didn't change the title!). 

The story was the result of a holiday in Cornwall my husband and I had last year. During our week there, we (and Bonnie of course) walked a lot of the South West Coastal Path and one walk took us to the picturesque village of Mousehole - full of windy cobbled streets and granite cottages bustling around a harbour of colourful fishing boats. Despite its loveliness, our walking book told us that there was a sad story linked to Mousehole for, over thirty five years earlier, a tragedy had befallen the village.

It was on Saturday 19th December that disaster struck. The MV Union Star had suffered engine failure and was being swept towards the rocky coastline. A distress call was put out and the Penlee lifeboat, 'Solomon Browne', was launched from the lifeboat station near Mousehole. Sadly, after four people had been rescued from the stricken ship, neither vessels survived the storm and all involved lost their lives.

Wanting to find out more, my husband and I went to visit the disused lifeboat station at Penlee Point which has been left as a memorial to the brave lifeboat crew of the Solomon Browne.

I found the story very moving, especially after finding out that, within a day of the disaster, enough people from the village had volunteered to form a new lifeboat crew.

As we walked back along the coastal path, watching the waves pound the rocks below, I decided that when I got back from my holiday, I would incorporate what I'd learnt into a story of my own. 

Using the village we'd walked around as my backdrop, I wrote a present day story looking at how a young wife coped with being married to a lifeboatman - one whose family has been touched by the tragedy of 1981. 

It was a story of bravery, family loyalty and, above all, love.

That story was The Beloved Sea.

Annie's Lovely Choir by the Sea - Guest Post Liz Eeles

I've said before how delighted I am to invite writing friends onto my blog to celebrate their successes and today is no exception. Author Liz Eeles lives very close to me on the South Coast and and we met through the RNA New Writers' Scheme. Last month Liz's debut romantic comedy, Annie's Lovely Choir by the Sea, was published by Bookouture and I thought it would be nice to find out more about Liz, her writing and her road to publication.

We’re in a lift. Sell me your novel before we reach the ground floor.

Romantic comedy Annie’s Lovely Choir by the Sea is Long Lost Family meets Poldark with a touch of Gareth Malone thrown in. City girl Annie struggles to adapt to life in a Cornish village with the great-aunt she’s only just met. Salt Bay is wet, windy and practically Wi-Fi-free and Annie is determined to escape – but then she learns of a local tragedy and resurrects the village choir in a bid to bring the community together.

Annie’s Lovely Choir by the Sea is set in Cornwall. Why this county?

I love Cornwall and it was the ideal location for Londoner Annie who feels like a fish out of water but gradually falls for the place and its people. I’m particularly fond of the Penzance area so that’s where I set the fictional village of Salt Bay. This necessitated a week-long holiday in Cornwall – for research purposes, obviously.

Do you base any of your characters on real people?

No, they’re all made-up though, in my head, handsome Cornish teacher Josh looks like a cross between Aidan Turner and Richard Armitage. A couple of people have said that Annie sometimes reminds them of me, which I’m taking as a compliment even though she’s rather sweary and has commitment issues.

How long did it take you to write the novel?

Not as long as my first novel, thank goodness, which took AGES because I kept faffing about with it. That book is now shut away in a drawer where it belongs. I was far more focused when it came to writing Annie’s Lovely Choir by the Sea and, in all, it took about a year from starting the first draft to having a completed version of the book that was published last month. 

Are you a pantster or do you plot?

Plot, definitely. Without a fairly tight framework, I write myself into a corner and end up banging my head on the desk. Having said that, there’s enough flexibility in my plot for storylines to develop unexpectedly as I write and sometimes head off at tangents. So maybe there’s a tad of pantsing mixed up in there.

Do you have a special time for writing? How is your day structured?

I probably should have a special time for writing each day but I’m horribly unstructured. My plan is to write in the morning but life gets in the way and I sometimes find myself notching up my word count at midnight. The only time I’m properly focused is when I’m on a tight deadline – then, I write all day until my eyes go blurry.

What did you find most difficult when writing your novel?

The most difficult thing was letting the novel go at the end, when it was written, edited and ready to be published. I always think it can be improved so doing a final read-through, accepting it was finished, and stepping back was painful. Even though I’m proud of the book and how well it’s doing, I can’t bear to read it now it’s published.

I know that you are in a choir yourself.  Can you tell me a little about it?

I’ve loved singing since joining my school choir and singing in Gloucester Cathedral – I went to an all-girls school and we got to sing with a local boys’ school which might explain my initial enthusiasm. Now I belong to a choir in my home town near Brighton and we sing everything from Mozart to Les Miserables. Choirs can bring communities together, as well as being great fun, and I wanted to get that across in my novel.

You secured a publishing deal with Bookouture without having an agent -  do you think that the role of a literary agent is as important as it once was?

As a debut author, I don’t feel I can answer that with any authority. All I know is that I’m doing ok without an agent, though I wouldn’t rule out trying to nab one in the future.

What next for Liz Eeles?

I’m very happy with Bookouture and have signed with them to write three books in the Salt Bay series. Right now, I’m working on a Christmas sequel to Annie’s Lovely Choir by the Sea which is due for publication around October time, with book three out next Spring. After that, who knows? Lots more books, I hope.

You can buy Annie's Lovely Choir by the sea here

You can follow Liz on Facebook here

or on Twitter here: @lizeelesauthor

Liz began her writing career as a journalist for newspapers and magazines before moving into the health sector as a communications manager and press officer. The low point of her career was abandoning an interview with Cliff Richard after two questions because she was about to faint – her excuse is that she was newly pregnant at the time.

Liz is from Gloucestershire but now lives by the sea in West Sussex with her husband and grown-up daughter. She spends a lot of time meaning to meditate, avoiding exercise, and missing her son who lives in London.

Cornwall - that's all there is to say!

I am shamelessly starting my blog post this week with a picture of a Cornish cream tea because, in the space of seven days, I ate three... yes, three!

I have no excuse except that I was on holiday and, when on holiday, any ideas of eating sensibly go out of the window. Isn't that what holidays are all about?

I call it research. In the visitors' book, at the end of the stay, it's my duty to let future holidaymakers know which establishment has the fluffiest scones, the fruitiest jam and the stickiest clotted cream. It would be rude not to, wouldn't it?

How I can get away with the two pasties, the clotted cream ice cream and the packet of Cornish fudge, which I also ate during the course of my visit, I've yet to work out.

Seriously though, my holiday in the fishing village of Cadgwith Cove was a triumph. We stayed in a house on a hill looking over the bay and every morning we woke up to this view.

I could quite happily have stayed in bed and just looked out at the sea, or read a book, or written a story... but then I would have missed out on so much: the clifftop walks, the fishing villages, the gardens... the chance of bumping into Poldark.

Every day, we went on a long walk with Bonnie. Most of these walks were along the glorious South West Coastal path.

The weather was perfect and we were amazed by the profusion of wildflowers that were growing on the cliff top and in the hedgerows. May is definitely the time to visit this beautiful county.

It wasn't all about the walking though. Having not had a holiday in Cornwall since I was a child, and inspired by Poldark, I wanted to see as much of the area as possible. Cadgwith is on The Lizard and it was the perfect position to visit the many picturesque villages in the area: Mevagissey, Coverack, Lamorna. This is Mousehole. Pretty isn't it?

It wasn't just the seaside villages we visited, we also had a relaxing walk around the creeks of Helford. This is another area I can imagine coming back to. If it was good enough for Daphne Du Maurier...

During our week, we also visited two gardens: The Lost Gardens of Heligan and Trebah. It was difficult to choose our favourite.

Because we had Bonnie, we couldn't visit the Eden Project but no visit to the west of Cornwall would be complete without going to the Minack theatre. What a place! It's astonishing how one woman could have created something so outstanding... and how can sea in England be that colour! We felt as though we were back on one of our Greek islands.

We were very sad to leave at the end of the week. I'd like to say I got lots of writing done but I didn't. I didn't take a computer or even a notebook. I wanted to just soak up everything and enjoy it without having to think about how it could be translated into a story.

Having said that, on my way home, unbidden, an idea popped into my head.

Okay... it looks as though it's back to work for me.

Inspiration from a Lost Garden - Guest Post Merryn Allingham

There is nothing I like better than inviting good friends back onto Wendy's Writing Now - especially when they have a super new book out! Today, that person is the writer, Merryn Allingham. I first met Merryn at a gathering of local RNA members and she soon became a friend whose advice I value. She is a super writer and if you haven't read any of her books, you are definitely missing out.

Today, Merryn is answering my questions about The Buttonmaker's Daughter which is set in Sussex in 1914.

Can you remember where you were or what you were doing when the idea for The

Buttonmaker’s Daughter first came to you? 

I was on a visit to the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall. Our guide had a fund of anecdotes and one he told was particularly poignant. It concerned the ordinary working men whose labour had created these beautiful gardens - a single image really, that lodged in my mind and set me writing.

The gardens’ heyday was in the late Victorian/Edwardian eras, several owners spending large amounts of time, money and effort in creating a veritable paradise. But in 1914, war came to England and everything changed. One day in the summer of that year, every gardener on the estate downed tools together and walked to Redruth to enlist at the local recruiting centre. Most of the men never returned, perishing in the mud of Flanders. The Day Book that would normally list jobs completed, that day carried only the date, and was never used again.

It was the image of those men, honourable and courageous, walking together to enlist in what they saw as a just cause, that stayed in my mind, and I knew I had to record that moment in a novel.

Can you describe your novel in one sentence?

As war and family conflict threaten the Summerhayes estate, Elizabeth Summer must decide how best to save her family from danger, yet stay with the man she loves.

  

How long did it take to write The Buttonmaker’s Daughter?

I did several months’ research in addition to what I already knew of the period, reading up on the social history of the country house, for instance, the timeline of the First World War, emigration to Canada and so on. Then three to four months writing a first draft, and another three months or so after that redrafting and hopefully refining. Around nine months in all, which is about average for me for a 90,000 word novel. But, of course, I wasn’t finished with the book then. There were agent’s suggestions to consider – whether to adopt or adapt or reject them. Then the editor’s revisions, the copy edits and finally the author alterations which was my very last chance to modify the ms. Giving birth to a book is a lengthy process!

What was your favourite chapter to write?

It’s difficult to choose a particular chapter but if I had to, I’d say the one in which Elizabeth finally takes the action she must, to save her lover and her family. That chapter also sets her on the path to a new future. (I’m saying no more – I don’t want to give the plot away!)

Is the Summerhayes mansion based on a real place?

The gardens of Heligan gave me the inspiration for the novel but the Summerhayes estate is my invention – I actually drew a detailed plan of its various parts. As for the house, Heligan’s mansion was long ago transformed into private apartments and I’ve no idea what the house looks like. In any case, Summerhayes had to be a ‘modern’ mansion because Joshua Summer, a Birmingham manufacturer, is ahead of his time and loves new inventions. And a modern mansion in the early 1900s was an Arts and Crafts house. I’ve put some of the pictures that were important to me on Pinterest.  https://uk.pinterest.com/merrynallingam/the-buttonmakers-daughter/

What attracted you to this period in history?

1914 was a cataclysmic moment for this country and I feel a deep attachment to the world that was lost then. The First World War affected millions of lives across every class and community, with so few understanding the reality of a war they were called to join. A veneer of innocence was lost and Britain was thrown into a century of total change. It could be argued as the most significant moment in our history. Philip Larkin's poem MCMXIV says it all:

Never such innocence,

Never before or since,

As changed itself to past

Without a word

Do you see anything of yourself in any of your characters?

I always seem to write feisty heroines, usually young women fighting to gain their independence and the chance to live their lives as they decide. So maybe!

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?

I see a lot of my family, go out with friends for lunch or a film or the theatre. I’m a member of a book club and I enjoy being part of two different writing groups. I go to several dance exercise classes every week. Oh, and I’m learning Russian!

What does your family think of your writing?

My husband is hugely supportive, diligently reading every novel as it’s published and telling me how good it is. My son is proud of me, but doesn’t have time to read books, or so he says, and prefers his entertainment to be visual. My daughter-in-law tries to read them but she is Russian and the language is sometimes a struggle for her. And my daughter likes to hear what’s happening to me writing-wise but tells me she’ll only read my books once I’m no longer here. I’ve never been sure what to make of that!

What suggestions do you have to help a writer write better?

• Don’t constantly self-censor. Relax and let the words flow. Some of what you write you’ll want to delete, but the rest will be worth keeping. A few sentences will be pure gold.
• Read as much as you write. And read widely, not just in your genre.
• Writing can be a lonely business, never more so when rejections start to flow, so you need to keep believing in yourself. If you look at the biographies of many of today’s most popular novelists, they’ve often been writing for years. Wasn’t it Lee Child who said, ‘It took me ten years to be an overnight success.' 

Bio:

Merryn Allingham worked for many years as a university lecturer and between job, family and pets, there was little time to do more than dabble in writing. But when the pressures eased, she grabbed the chance to do something she’d always promised herself – to write a novel. Under the name of Isabelle Goddard, she published six Regency romances, but in 2013 adopted a new writing name and a new genre. The Daisy’s War trilogy, set in India and London during the 1930s and 40s, was the result.

Her latest books explore two pivotal moments in the history of Britain. The Buttonmaker’s Daughter is set in Sussex in the summer of 1914 as the First World War looms ever nearer and its sequel, The Secret of Summerhayes, forty years later in the summer of 1944 when D Day led to eventual victory in the Second World War.

If you would like to keep in touch with Merryn, sign up for her newsletter at www.merrynallingham.com

Links:

Amazon UK

Amazon.com