I Joined The People's Friend Team for an Hour!

An exciting thing happened last week. I was asked by The lovely people at The People's Friend magazine if I'd like to co-host their first ever live 'Author Q&A' as part of their Writing Hour on Twitter. 

Even though I've written over two hundred stories for this magazine, I was surprised to have been asked and very flattered. Of course I said a very quick yes. 

So what is this Writing Hour? Well, it's on a Tuesday and a Thursday morning at 11am and it's a place where readers and writers can chat about a variety of things to do with writing. Using the hashtag #PFWritingHour, the Friend team pose a series of questions which will elicit conversation amongst the hashtag readers. 

This time though, the questions would come from the readers and they would all be directed at me! (gulp).

Now, I'm not new to answering questions (I've been interviewed on people's blogs many times) but I've never done it live! It made me feel a little bit panicky. What if I was asked a difficult question and didn't know the answer? What if I sat there for an hour with no questions? What if I let myself and the lovely magazine I write for down? I certainly hoped I wouldn't.

Tuesday morning came and the first thing I did was advertise the event. I certainly didn't want to be 'Billy No Mates'. At eleven O'clock, armed with a large cup of coffee, I logged into the People's Friend Twitter account and introduced myself to the readers. I needn't have worried about no one asking me anything as immediately the questions came pouring in. I was very proud when the People's Friend profile picture came up every time I commented - I felt just like one of the team!  

The questions were from both new and established writers and all of them were great. Here are a few of them to give you a flavour:

What's the best way to deal with rejection?
Have you ever written a story that has upset someone?
How long does it take you to write a short story?
Do you have a favourite PF character of all time?

I could barely keep up with the questions and I'm ashamed to say I had to type the answers so quickly, there were one or two little typos - oops!

The whole experience was really enjoyable and, if you are on Twitter and would like to read my answers to these questions and many more, you can still catch them by typing #PFWritingHour into the search bar and scrolling down to last week's chat.

Much to my surprise, I've been asked if I'll take part in a Q&A again another week... I'd be delighted. In the meantime, here is a picture of my latest story in this week's People's Friend. It's called, 'Let Love Grow'.

Greece is the Word. Have you Heard?

Sorry I haven't posted for a while but I've been on holiday and, on my return, had to get stuck into a pile of line edits that my editor sent me just before I went away (I deliberately didn't look at them until I came home in case I went into panic mode). Now the edits are done, I can concentrate on carrying on with novel two. It's taking a while to get into the swing of it but it's slowly taking shape and, today, I reached the halfway mark which I'm happy about.

As always, our Greek holiday was fantastic. This year we tried a new island, Meganissi (sometimes spelt Meganisi) and it was exactly as we'd imagined it - small but perfectly formed. In fact, with its little harbour, hilltop villages, green slopes and pebble beaches (not to mention the flotillas that moored up each evening) it reminded us of our two previous Greek holidays in Ithaca and Paxos. Above, is a picture of the little house we stayed in. We had our own pool with a gorgeous view which we sadly shared with several wasps (Ian got stung between his toes on the last day) and some rather scary looking hornets (which luckily weren't interested in us at all).

So what does this writer do when she's on holiday? Write?

No. 

I read lots, ate delicious food, drank Mythos beer and swam - not necessarily in that order! One day, we hired a little boat. Mooring up in deserted bays and swimming in the crystal clear water was heavenly - until we ran aground and damaged our propeller. As if that wasn't bad enough, we then found, once we'd left the shelter of the harbour and were setting off home, that the wind had picked up and there were waves. I absolutely do not 'do' waves.

The only way I could cope with the journey back was by taking the wheel. It was better than being a passenger and awaiting my fate in the choppy water. "We'll be alright, won't we?" I was heard to say more than once to my husband. Needless to say (as you're reading this) we got back unscathed.

The harbour town of Vathi was the perfect place to have lunch and watch the sailing boats come and go. Each day, we'd choose something different to accompany our Greek salad. These are the delicious courgettes in tempura batter we had for one of our lunches. This year, we also discovered Portokalopita for the first time. It's a type of Greek orange drizzle cake and was absolutely delicious.

To counteract all this lovely food we were eating, we made sure we went to a beach for a swim at some point every day. The beaches in Meganissi are all pebble (ranging from shingle to large white stones) but that is how we like it as it makes the sea even clearer and turns it the most beautiful shade of blue/green. Usually, we'd stroll down at around six in the evening, when the weather was cooler, and have the beach to ourselves but, on a couple of days, we treated ourselves to a whole day at one of the two 'organised' beaches. This meant a sunbed and shade and a beach taverna.

The photo above was Fanari beach with its great taverna playing reggae music (sounds strange but it works). As you can see from the photograph at the top of this post, it looks very Caribbean! The other organised beach we went to was at Spilia. A storm was brewing, which made for a great photo, and we huddled under the sunshades as lightning forked the sky and the heavens opened. It lasted about half an hour and was quite exciting!

So now I'm home again and have been chuffed to find that I've had five stories published over the last two weeks in three different magazines. It doesn't always happen like this I can tell you. I've made a little montage of them because it makes me happy... but maybe not as happy as going to Greece!

Moving On (a bit)

Six years ago, I started writing for the women's magazine market (womags). I've been very lucky and have had a lot of success over that time, with around three hundred stories published. In fact, apart from marriage and having children, the day I made my first short story sale was one of my best ever. This's why I felt very sad this week when I had to tell my favourite magazine, The People's Friend, that I will no longer be able to write as many stories for them.

The reason for this is I really need to concentrate on the novel I'm writing. Most of you will know that I've already written two novels (one of them won the Flash 500 Novel Opening and Synopsis competition and the other recently made the top five of the Simon and Schuster/Darley Anderson novel competition) and I feel that novel writing is the natural next stage of my writing career.

And herein lies the problem. When I wrote my first novels, I continued to write short stories alongside them but I constantly felt guilty. When I was writing my novel, I felt I should be writing a short story and, when I was writing a short story, I felt I should be writing my novel. 

The other problem was whenever I had a break and spent time with a cast of new  characters, a new story plot and, quite likely, a totally different genre to my novels (last week I had stories published in the genres of contemporary romance, rom-com and a swashbuckling period romance)

I found it hard to switch back into my novel characters' heads and write in the style of my genre (suspense).

That's why, now I've started writing novel three, and after much soul searching, I've decided I really need to concentrate on getting this one as good as it can be without distraction. My editor at The Friend is super-lovely and, when I wrote to him last week, he understood why I'd made this decision. He's always championed me and my writing and I owe him a lot. I did reassure him that it was not goodbye it was just au revoir for a little while and I would write him another story just as soon as I can.

Have you ever had to make a hard decision?

Sorry - Am I Boring You?

Have you ever been caught by one of those people who insist on shoving an album of their holiday photos in front of your nose and then rambling on for the next hour about how wonderful their trip was?

Well, I might be in danger of becoming one of those very people. I can't help it - I just can't! When I discover somewhere I love, I want to tell everyone about it, share my photos and say, "But why haven't you been there?"

In the interest of keeping the readers of this blog happy, I shall try to keep it short but there might just be a touch of over-enthusiasm from time to time. Sorry!

So where am I? Yes, you've guessed it. I'm back in my beloved Lake District - the setting of many of my People's Friend stories and also the setting of my second novel. One day, I hope you will get to read it. Actually, you will definitely get to read it as, come hell or high water, and whether it be through a traditional publisher or self-published, I will get this novel out into the wide world.

Whenever we stay in The Lakes, we take our dog, Bonnie, with us. Apart from one year, we've always stayed in one of the little miner's cottages in the village of Chapel Stile (this is where the family in my novel live too). This year, we were a bit concerned that Bonnie (who is twelve and a little arthritic) might not be able to manage the 8 or 9 miles of walking we were planning to do each day. We needn't have worried though as she appeared completely rejuvenated by the Lakeland air. Always in the lead, she splashed in rivers, scrambled over boulders and probably would have herded up the sheep if we hadn't stopped her! Cue cute photo of lambs.

We have a list of our favourite walks, and every time we holiday in the Lake District, we like to revisit four of these and then add on two new ones. We don't do high level walks but beautiful low or medium level ones with stunning views such as this one at Buttermere. I must admit, I'm pretty proud of this photo.

One place I've been wanting to visit for ages is Cathedral Quarry. It features a lot in the novel but I've never actually been there - just researched it online. Once inside, it made me realise that nothing can ever beat seeing the real thing. The quarry is reached through a tunnel which opens up into a forty foot chamber called 'the Cathedral'. Those more adventurous than me can take a torch and explore the other tunnels... but I prefer to see a bit of daylight.

As usual, when we weren't exploring, we were eating. We discovered a wonderful vegetarian restaurant in Ambleside, called Fellinis, whose dishes looked as if they should grace an art book. It was linked to the local cinema so we took advantage of their combined meal and cinema offer and followed our delicious meal with a viewing of the film The Literary Potato Peel Pie Society. I'd been interested in seeing is at my People's Friend serial, Charlotte's War was also set during WW2 in Guernsey. I'm ashamed to say our long walk that day, a big meal and a glass of wine got the better of me and I might just have closed my eyes once or twice.

We also liked to stop off somewhere on our walk for afternoon tea. Well, it would be rude not to wouldn't it. This might be the reason we always come back the same weight as we leave, despite all the exercise!

My husband and I hated saying goodbye to The Lakes at the end of our holiday but I know it won't be long until we return. In the meantime, I have already written and submitted my latest Lake District inspired story to my editor at the People's Friend and hope he enjoys reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Which leads me onto writing news. Since I last posted, my stories have been published in these three magazines.

Also, I am The People's Friends 'Writer of the Week' and have been interviewed for their website. If you'd like to read it, you can find it here.

What's Happening With Your Novel? Who knows?

"What's happening with your novel?" 

That's the question I've been asked a lot recently, by family, friends and also by some of the lovely people who have been following my writing journey on this blog.

The honest answer is I'm not really sure. In many ways, I've been extremely fortunate, my novel has won a competition, and several agents have asked to see the full manuscript, but it's just the first step in a very long process. I'm trying to be patient and optimistic but it's surprising how quickly the initial euphoria at sending that manuscript off can change to nail-biting self-doubt as soon as the waiting begins again.

With no news you start to second guess, deciding the reason you've heard nothing from an agent is because:

a) They haven't had time to read it.
b) They have had time to read it but have been too busy to email you.
c) They've read it and loved it but want a second opinion.
d) They've read it and didn't like it but didn't know how to tell you.
e) They've read it and didn't like it but forgot to tell you.
f) The email with the attached manuscript went astray and they never received it.
g) The email offering a contract went astray.
h) The email rejecting your novel went astray.

... and so on.

In the meantime, I've been trying to put it out of my mind by busying myself with writing more stories for the magazines. This week has seen three of them published (one in the People's Friend magazine and two in Woman's Weekly Fiction special). I'll leave you with some pictures of them and promise that if I hear any good news regarding my novel, you will be the first to know... after my husband, children, mother, brother, sister and writing chum Tracy Fells :)

Playing the Waiting Game

I'm playing the waiting game at the moment... and I've realised I'm not very good at it. As my husband always says, when I want something, I want it straight away.

You see, my second novel is out there. The first three chapters are with a few agents and the complete manuscript is with two more, as well as a couple of publishers (two of whom are also reading my first novel as well). I know I should chill... take up crochet... meditate. Anything to take my mind off the wait - but it's hard.

Every time the phone rings, I jump.

Every time the email pings, I jump.

Every time a Twitter message comes through, I jump.

I'd make a good kangaroo.

You'd think I'd be good at waiting - after all, I've had five years experience in waiting for magazine editors to buy or reject my short stories - but, somehow, the wait to hear about the novels is worse. 

I brought up this topic in a Facebook post last week and author, Emma Darwin, came to my rescue. She'd recently written a blog post on this very subject and thought I might like to read it. It's actually aimed at writers with agents who have sent their manuscripts out to publishers but is equally relevant for those of us waiting to hear from agents. You can read it here.

Is Your novel Out on Submission - Welcome to Hell 


On the good news front (after a bit of waiting) I have, in the last month, sold eight stories - which I'm really chuffed about. The three hundred mark is moving ever closer!

If you're interested in reading one of my stories, The Beloved Sea will be published in The People's Friend Special this week.

Back to the submissions. My favourite piece of advice from Emma is, 'Find companions in misery'. So... are any of you waiting to hear about something too?

Just So Stories - editing out those banned words

Having recently published Silent Night, my new collection of short stories (you can read my post here) and spent time coming up with ways to market it (Book Marketing for Dummies) I've embarked on a new project - or rather gone back to an old one.

Anyone remember the romantic mystery novel I was working on a while ago that was set in Greece? This novel has been on a long and eventful journey with me (it even got me an agent for a while) and I now have two completely different versions of it - one in a single viewpoint and one with a dual narrative. For ages, I've been itching to go back to the original dual-narrative version and add in some of the better parts of the second version but, with the new novel I've been writing taking up most of my time, I've not been able to.

Now that novel two has been submitted to agents, I've been able to go back to reworking my special first book and I'm pleased to say that it's almost finished. Version three is, in my opinion, the best yet and I'm super excited to soon have two novels to offer agents and publishers (or to publish myself, if I go down that route).

It was only on reading through the manuscript again that I picked up on the fact that I'd used the phrase for a moment rather frequently (on checking, it was 28 times!) I could hardly believe it. With this in mind, I turned to Facebook to ask what words other authors knew they overused. I'm happy that people were not shy in coming forward with the words they knew were for the chop.

This is the list I came up with using their answers (most common first). See how clever I was with the title of this post!

just (mentioned by the majority)
so
that
seems
then
now
really
quite
but
a little
had
very
as
little
all at once
kindly
well
cold
dark
blood (an interesting one!)
actually
eyes
not for the first time
up
down 

That's quite a list and I'm going to be busy checking out all these sneaky little words that creep in when our backs are turned... I may be gone some time!

Have you got any favourites you can add to the list?

In the meantime, I'll leave you with a picture my latest story in The People's Friend called, Next to Me.

RNA Conference 2017 - and how I survived the door of doom.

Why the big smile? Well, it could have been because I had just arrived at the Romantic Novelist Association (RNA) Conference (at Harper Adams University in Telford) or that I'd just found out that the other writers in my university accommodation didn't drink Prosecco - only gin and tonic. You decide which.

Actually, I don't want to give you the wrong impression from this photograph. The weekend was more than just kitchen parties and bubbly. It was about attending talks and workshops to improve your writing and about meeting like-minded people. I went along with three of my writing friends, Liz Eeles, Sue Griffin and Merryn Allingham and we had a great time. Here we all are, complete with the obligatory name badges.

I could tell stories of trying to open the door to our flat by swiping the small plastic key fob against random articles instead of using the key, trying to grasp the mechanics of a second automatic door (nicknamed the door of doom) which kept shutting two of our party out into a darkened lobby and the underhand tactics we used to ensure we got a table at breakfast... but I'd better not.

Now, enough of the shenanigans and onto the serious stuff. The weekend consisted of a series of talks and workshops. Among others, there were sessions on writing dialogue, creating believable characters, using social media, timeslips and time travel, and how to not panic when you receive your novel revisions from the editor. There was even one on how to write unforgettable sex scenes (no, I didn't go to that one). 

It would take too long to list all the wonderful conference sessions so I'll just tell you about my favourite. It was a talk by Alison May and Bella Osborne called Plotter Vs Pantster and what a delightful double act they were! Strangely, I'd always considered myself to be a pantster, as my short stories have no plan, but after answering a few simple questions, I realised that, when it comes to my novel, I'm not. I came out as a rather smug 'inbetweener' veering slightly towards the plotter end of the scale. Surprised? I certainly was. Here's a picture of Alison in full flow.

I've been to an RNA conference once before (two years ago) and took advantage of the one-to-one sessions with an industry professional. This time, I attended the conference in the rather nice position of already having an agent and so was able to just relax and enjoy the talks without the worry of having to pitch anything.

The best thing for me, this year, was meeting writing friends I've made via social media in 'real life' and finding them just as lovely as I'd imagined them to be. Susanna Bavin, Kirsten Hesketh, Elaina James and Ellie Henshaw come to mind.  I also met two fellow People's Friend writers, Kate Blackadder and Ann Peck. It was so nice to be able to chat with other's who were part of the Friend family.

Speaking of which, I'm rather chuffed to have two stories in the last issue of The People's Friend. Here they are. 

Not only that, but before I went away, I received an email from a People's Friend reader who wanted to let me know how much she enjoyed my stories.. isn't that just lovely. Overall, a very good weekend.

Like buses...

I was thinking the other day how good news in our writing world comes like buses. One day, there is no bus in sight (and you begin to imagine you'll be standing at that stop waiting for forever) and then the next minute two of more come along.

I had that feeling recently. I'd been working on my novel and had been subbing less magazine stories than usual during the previous months. Because of this, I hadn't had a sale for a while and my stories hadn't been appearing so frequently in the magazines. It was only to be expected but it made me sad nonetheless.

Had my stop become obsolete?

Were the buses favouring the stop round the corner with the new bus shelter and the shiny stop sign?

Then... just like those buses... good news came around the corner and pulled up at my bus stop. The driver waved two story sales at me and, just as I was preparing to leave that bus stop the following day, he waved two more!

"Oh, and you have two stories out this week," he said before pulling away.

And I did!

Yippee!

I'll try not to complain about having to wait for a bus again.

My story, 'On the Shore' and 'The Gift of Hope' can be found in this week's The People's Friend and The People's Friend Special.

Writing Pocket Novels - Guest Post Margaret Mounsdon

Have you ever fancied writing a pocket novel? Well, if you have, this week's lovely guest, Margaret Mounsdon will help you on your way. Over to you, Margaret.

My Weekly and People’s Friend Pocket Novels are a wonderful way to get published. You do not need an agent and the staff at D C Thomson are incredibly helpful and will suggest changes if they like your story so I would tell anyone to give them a go.

They require a synopsis and the first three chapters to get a feel of the story then if they like it, they will ask to see the rest. All details of where to send them are on the website. They are published fortnightly.

I have been writing pocket novels since I gave up my ‘proper’ job and I have to say I now have what I consider to be one of the best jobs in the world. It takes me about three months to complete a pocket novel but I often put them to one side then tweak them a week or so later. When you look at them with a fresh eye it’s amazing what you can do to improve your work.

My pocket novels are contemporary and modern. I like strong females with professional careers. I also love eccentric characters. I usually include a wide range of ages and different social backgrounds as I feel they reflect modern life.

You cannot waste words in a pocket novel. You must keep the action moving. You need a strong story with a theme e.g. ambition; dedication; family loyalty and a problem that has to be resolved in 42,000 words approx for People’s Friend and 50,000 My Weekly. The requirements do change from time to time so it is important to check before you send your manuscript off.

I have had divorced heroes, a heroine’s father who was a gambler, another father who was involved in a financial scandal. I had a heroine’s mother who had a nervous breakdown and another was wheelchair bound. I have confronted modern issues of bullying, shoplifting and some of my eccentric characters have led ‘artistic’ lives.

I get ideas for my novels from life. It helps if you’re a bit nosy like me as I do eavesdrop on conversations on buses and trains and the shops - anywhere there are people. I look at the Sunday supplements and cut out pictures that appeal me to me. I write character sketches and give them a star sign and generally build them a life. I am not very good at writing a synopsis because I don’t seem to stick to it. The story evolves once my fingers start hitting the keyboard. I have a general idea where I’m going but how I get there is generally a bit of a mystery. I know that’s not very helpful advice but it’s the way I do it. I’m not suggesting you adopt my methods because everyone makes their own rules.

My advice is to study the current market by reading as many pocket novels as you can then have a go at one yourself. The stories must reflect the ethos of the magazines something you will get a feel of if you do your market research.

On a personal level I had a varied professional career before I took up writing. I worked for a barrister in London, then as a bi-lingual secretary in Switzerland, France and Belgium. I then worked as a customer relations officer at Gatwick Airport, a marvelous breeding ground for human stories. Then I wound up in a nursing home for the elderly (on the front desk I hasten to add). Everyone bends the receptionist’s ear from staff, to visitors, residents and their relations. We even had a ghost. The house was built in the 1890’s and was also full of mystery so by the time I gave up the day job, my mind was teeming with ideas.

Everybody has led an interesting and varied life so if you get stuck for ideas I suggest you think about your own life. It may seem dull to you but things happen to all of us and if you draw on your own personal reserves it’s surprising what you can come up with. When you go on holiday take pictures, listen to the chatter over the dinner table, take in what the guides are saying. It is all excellent resource material – and free.

Once D C Thomson have published your pocket novels you are free to sell other rights – large print, ebook etc, but I would suggest you check the situation with them first. I always do in case anything has changed.

The large print books go into the library and once they get an ISBN number you can apply for Public Lending Rights, so over the years they can be a source of regular income.

Writing pocket novels has given me confidence as a writer, when people ask me how many books I have had published, it always gives me a thrill when I say thirty.

Good luck.

Details of my books are on my blog margaretsromanceworld.blogspot.com and I can be found on twitter @SwwjMargaret

Hungry For Love is available on amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XWMNFCJ 

  

Festival Fever is out in large print on 1 April.

Podcast interview with People's Friend Fiction Editor, Shirley Blair

I started writing for The People's Friend at the end of 2012 and, although it wasn't the first magazine I sold to, it was the one I had the quickest success with. Since then, with my wonderful editor, Alan, by my side making my writing better, I've sold around 140 stories to them.

You can read the post I wrote at the beginning of my People's Friend  journey here.

When I wrote that post, I could never have imagined that four and a half years later, I would hear commissioning editor Shirley Blair say in an interview, 'We buy stories from regular writers... names that our readers will recognise such as Pamela Kavanagh, Wendy Clarke, Alison Carter and Lydia Jones.' 

To have readers recognise my name is an absolute dream come true.

BUT it's not just regular writers Shirley buys from. In her podcast interview on the People's Friend Website, she says they also like to introduce new writers to the readers and bring these new writers on. That's exactly what the magazine did for me four years ago and I'm really pleased they're giving new writers a chance. 

Shirley's podcast is a must for anyone wondering what goes on behind the scenes at the magazine and wanting an idea of what types of story the fiction team do and don't want.

The full podcast interview with Shirley can be found here.

On that note, I have a story in the next People's Friend Special so I'll be keeping a look out for that.

20 Things I Love Best in the World

We're almost at Valentine's Day and, in honour of this time of year, I thought I'd write a post on the twenty things that I love the most. Some of them won't surprise you, but a few might!

1. My family

2. My dog, Bonnie, and my cat, Bob

3. Opening a magazine and seeing a story of mine in there

4. Dancing

5. Singing in my choir

6. People who hold doors open for me (sorry but I'm old-fashioned)

7. Any Greek Island

8. The Lake District

9. Cream cheese and banana sandwiches

10. Red wine

11. Walking by the river

12. Les Miserables

13. Australian Masterchef

14. My electric blanket in winter

15. Jeans

16. Teacakes

17. My friends

18. Books

19. Roses

20. My blog readers for continuing to support me!

And while we're talking of love, I have two valentine stories in this week's People's Friend. It's unusual for this magazine to publish more than one story from a writer, so I'm very honoured. I actually wrote and sent them last year but missed the Valentine boat, so I had to read them again to remember what they were about!

And finally, if you're in the mood for romance, you can find twelve of my published favourites in my short story collection, Room in Your Heart, which (for the price of a small coffee) can be bought here.

November Catch Up

Just a short post this week in the lull between guests. November has been an interesting month. I'd been going through a bit of an, 'I'll never be able to write anything again' stage but perked up no end when, as well as sales to The People's Friend, I sold two to Take a Break Fiction Feast and two to Woman's Weekly (the only two I've sent in over a year).

There have also been a flurry of publications - they've been a bit like buses. This week, I have one in The People's Friend Weekly and three in The People's Friend Fiction Special... I'm certainly not complaining though.

Also, I was very excited to find out that The Friend had made an audio recording of my story The Artist's Apprentice which you can listen to here. 

In other news, I went to the Romantic Novelists' Association Winter Party last week. For someone who doesn't like big gatherings, I had a lovely time. I spoke to as many people as I could and made an effort to talk to some writers I'd never met before. Everyone was unbelievable friendly but the noise was unbelievable!

And that's all for now... I'm off on a mini-break in the New Forest but I'll see you next week when I'll have a new guest taking the spotlight. Hope you'll join us.

Writing a Winning Ghost Story

In just over a week's time it will be Halloween. To be honest, I've never been a huge fan of this celebration and even when my children were young, we were never ones for Halloween parties or trick-or-treating.

What I do like, though, is writing and reading ghost stories and this week I've been getting in the mood for all things ghostly, having just judged the Rosemary Robb Ghost Story Competition for the Nottingham Writers Club. I was asked to be adjudicator after the organiser had read one of my blog posts in which I explained how I'd crafted the ghost story that had just been published in Take a Break Fiction feast.

If you'd like to read the post, it's called, Ghost stories don't need to be scary.

There's been some talk on Facebook recently about the importance of selecting the right judge for a particular competition. I agree that matching a judge to the genre is crucial. If I was asked to read a selection of play-scripts or crime novels, I might know which one I liked best but I would find it hard to explain why I thought the entry worthy of being the winner. Why? Because I wouldn't know the craft of that particular type of writing. Equally, I would be in no position to explain why the entries that had not won, had fallen short of their mark. 

On the other hand, short stories in general, romances and magazine stories are things I know about and have had success with. This is why I have been happy to adjudicate stories in these areas - thank you to the Chiltern Writers' Group and the SWWJ for asking me. If you haven't already read my post on being invited to hand out the prizes at the the SWWJ Christmas tea alongside Sir Tim Rice, you can read it here.

So why did I say yes to judging the ghost story competition? It was because, as I said earlier, I love reading a good ghost story but more importantly because I have had success writing them myself otherwise I wouldn't have agreed. I've written eight to date - one that was long-listed for the BBC Opening Lines Competition and the others published in magazines (I even had the honour of writing The People's Friend Magazine's first ghost story).

And that's what I want to talk about today... writing a winning ghost story.

Of course, as with any competition or magazine submission, the judging is subjective to a great extent. Every adjudicator or editor will have a different idea of what they like in a ghost story. Some may like them to be chilling, others might prefer them to to be heartwarming, romantic or humorous. Whatever the judges preference, they will be looking for a well-crafted story that pleases.

Ghost stories fall into three categories:

• One where the narrator of the story is the ghost. 
• One where the narrator of the story is being haunted. 
• One where there is no ghost at all (there is a rational explanation for any ghostly happenings). 

For my own part, apart from the competition listing, all my stories have had a ghost that's been a subtle presence rather than an 'in your face' apparition. More often than not, the ghostly character hasn't been revealed to the reader (or the main character) until the end of the story. See my ghost story breakdown here. That is how I like my ghost stories but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy one that is crafted a different way.

Whatever type of ghost story you decide to write, there is one rule that needs to be followed to make it work. THERE MUST BE A REASON WHY THE GHOST IS HAUNTING. Sorry to shout that but it's really important.

• The ghost might have had a problem in his/her past life that needs to be resolved (which can usually only be done through the main character).

or

• The person being haunted has a problem which the ghost can help with. 

Whichever you decide on, the reader must believe the problem is important enough for the ghost to be there otherwise the story will seem unbelievable and the judge won't want to turn to the next page.

The next thing to think about is the setting. What first comes to mind might be churchyards... old houses... a dark wood at night. Of course, these can lend atmosphere to a ghost story but your setting doesn't have to be dark and Gothic; an ordinary setting can work just as well. Why? Because the reader is more likely to be taken in by it. Settings of my own ghost stories have included: a sailing boat, an underground station, a school, a beach and a street like the one you might live in. Think of an ordinary setting and see how you could make it work.

What about the ghost itself? They can be sinister or benign. Both work. I've even read a story where the ghost had been an animal or an inanimate object. Whoever, or whatever, your ghost is, remember to flesh them out (if that's possible with an apparition!) as you would any other character. Give your ghost personality, and emotions that can be recognised, and help the reader to picture them. Whether the ghost appears to be human or is just a shadowy spirit the reader will want to know if they are angry, sad, lonely or amused? These are all things to think about.

The final thing I want to talk about regarding ghost stories is tension. If your story is a spine-tingler, be sure to build up the tension gradually. Don't tell the reader what is happening straight away - let them fill in the details. Drop in hints that all is not what it seems along the way. If you don't, you will lesson the impact at the end of your story. There will be no surprises and the judge/editor will say, "Okay, but I knew that anyway." Do you have any fears? If so, use them. I'll guarantee they'll be more believable than ones you've made up.

You've thought about all these things and have written a fabulous wining ghost story. Right? Well, not necessarily. At the end of the day, your ghost story is just that... a short story. You mustn't forget the fundamentals of any story. Pace, story arc, a clear beginning middle and end, technicalities such as grammar, punctuation and dialogue and thoughtful word choices are all very important, as is a professionally presented manuscript.

You can read what I look for as a competition judge here.

So there you have it. If you're thinking of having a go at writing a ghost story, I highly recommend this book by Kath McGurl. It's called Ghost Stories and How to Write them. 

Go on, have a go... whooooo!