Northern Writer ~ Joy Pearson

I am delighted to bring to Jaffareadstoo this feature which showcases

 the work of authors who have based their work in the North of England

 ✨ Here's northern writer : Joy Pearson ✨

Hello Joy and welcome to Jaffareadstoo. Thank you for spending time with us today.

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED in my debut novel, Untangling The Webs, a cliffhanging mystery relationship thriller, concerning four women of varying ages and background. Their parallel lives deal with toxic behaviour, unexpected emotional shocks, treachery and grief. Having to show grit, and aided by the common thread of a close female `rock', each struggles to overcome huge obstacles assailing them, untangling strong threads of mystery, intent on achieving joy again.

Lost letters found four years after Trudie’s married lover, Laurie, disappears without trace, offer a few clues, but a serendipitous discovery in a Cornish church reveals vital information, if Trudie is brave enough to act upon it. Alison has to deal with repercussions from unearthing vicar Henry’s and police inspector Phil’s mendacious betrayals, before meeting lovely Stephen. Her discovery of Julia’s husband David’s deep secret, breaks the impasse of her friend’s stressful situation. Phoebe’s cossetted life appears idyllic, but her late husband’s previously out-of-bounds den holds a breathtaking shock, needing Alison’s help to solve the enigma. 

Set mainly in Cheshire, the novel dips into Worcestershire, Cornwall, Cumbria and Provence. It is available from myself, Amazon, Waterstone’s, independent bookshops. My details are on Facebook as Joy Pearson Author. 

Tell us a little about yourself and how you got started as an author? 

As an imaginative observant child, my confidence to write had been knocked by my adoptive mother, who threw my poems and short stories into the fire, informing me I was useless and so were they and I would never amount to anything From that time onwards, I wrote in secret, becoming a vigilant observer of both people and atmospheres.

I have had two life-threatening incidents in my life, the second of which made me so thankful to still be alive, that I resolved to make every day count after that. 

The incident was in Jerusalem, where a friend and self went to both a Shabat dinner with wealthy ex-pat Mancunian Jews and the previous day to an Israeli run camp with 1200 Palestinian people living. One doctor and limited time allowed out for school. We were with the social worker for the camp, who had been shot in the leg on four occasions by the soldiers in the watchtowers and in prison for nothing. After only half an hour drinking lemonade with him and his family, we heard gunfire, having to hide behind sofas. Having heard their point of view and promising to report their plight, we left. The problem began when we were seen from the watchtower, getting into our hire car which had Palestinian number plates. A prime target, our car was hit twice, thankfully not on the tyres, so with my friend zig zagging out of the open gates and myself ducking down into the passenger seat, we made our escape. 

Have I made every day count since then? Mostly, but life attacks us doesn’t it? Work, children, divorce, money worries, deaths, relationships, menopause, and general stress of our complex lives. However, having learnt the internet, stressful in itself without someone on hand to advise on its vagaries, I subsequently turned to Word. I clicked on it and began to write, delete, attempt to copy and paste, eventually successfully, so wrote my autobiography from aged three to 2008, with joys, sorrows, difficulties and triumphs recorded. A bonus in case I make old bones, but forget. In 2008, I began, with experience gained from this, to write my novel. 

I had a vague idea of who my characters might be, but no idea who they might morph into. I knew that I wanted to convey parallels in people’s lives, despite totally different backgrounds. Knowing how much the support of a close friend can bring to one’s life and vice versa, that was the theme, plus their male relationships, both good and awful reported. 

This seems a cliché, but ideas and words streamed out of me. I never had writer’s block. My soulmate, Pamela, always having faith in me, had encouraged for many years, urging me not to hide my talents, reminding me of so many friends I had lost to death and that I was still here, so in her words ‘digitus extractus’ 

I was born in London, but grew up in Redditch, Worcestershire, attending grammar school there, living alongside the lovely River Arrow and wildflower fields. My diverse career has included public relations, employment agent, interior design, voice-over artist, scriptwriter, antiques, Shelter for the homeless, animal charities, Esther Rantzen’s helplines for children and the elderly, counselling and stress therapies.

Interests include the arts, music, films, theatre, gardening, animals, British social history, concerts, literary festivals. I have acted in both serious and comedic plays.

Adopted as a baby, I voluntarily now help others to trace their roots. I have two sons, who live both in France and England. Now residing in Cheshire, I have written and published poetry, comic verse, and my autobiography. Untangling The Webs is my debut novel. When I am not promoting my book, I am working on the sequel to Untangling The Webs. 

Your books are written in Northern England. Have the people and the northern landscape shaped your stories in any way? 

From teenage years I have always loved Cumbria; some of my novel takes place there. I lived in Knutsford for some years, now Middlewich. More than half my book UNTANGLING THE WEBS, takes place in Cheshire. Villages are fictional names, Sandstone Village where a mystery is uncovered, is near Chester because of sandstone being local. 

As a writer based in the North, does this present any problems in terms of marketing and promoting your books and if so, how do you overcome them? 

None whatsoever because of internet and Facebook. Visiting various Litfests has helped – including Stratford, Cheltenham and Northwich. Visits to London for Damian Barr’s three writers events at The Savoy. 

If you were pitching the North as an ideal place to live, work and write – how would you sell it and what makes it so special? 

The motorway system going to all points is ideal. Houses are more reasonably priced than the south, although expensive in Knutsford, Alderley Edge, Bowdon, Hale. Still much countryside is unspoilt, flat Cheshire Plain and hills in Macclesfield, Congleton, Beeston Castle areas. Farmers markets everywhere, as Cheshire is a dairy county. Industry though is flourishing. 

Writing is a solitary business - how do you interact with other authors? 

I had to do it on my own, then met through Northwich Litfest, other writers briefly, attending their talks. Advised by one that my novel was double the size it should be. Worked to reduce it – took many months. Asked questions of one writer friend, as layout different from the older fiction books I have. I have recently joined Cheshire Book Connections, having secured a talk and signing event in Knutsford in November, then Cheshire Connections, a networking group of ladies with a variety of careers and talents.

How supportive are local communities to your writing, and are there ever any opportunities for book shops, local reading groups, or libraries to be involved in promoting your work? 

I sent e-mails with attachments to Waterstones in Cheshire, Worcestershire and Yorkshire. Some were very accepting, some not, some no replies. Independent bookshops have taken some books. Local reading groups disappointing as no replies to e-mails or phone calls. Library book groups, have not wanted to buy my book as it is already in their libraries. One U3A group locally and one in Worcestershire promised an hour but stopped me after half an hour as said they needed to discuss their own chosen book. Consequently I sold only two books. At other talks though people have been more attentive, loved my book and bought signed copies.

You can find Joy on her Facebook author page

Huge thanks to Joy for being my special guest on the blog today

Coming next time :  Drew Neary and Ceri Williams

Northern Writer ~ Sam McColl

I am delighted to bring to Jaffareadstoo this feature which showcases

 the work of authors who have based their work in the North 

 ✨ Here's Scottish writer : Sam McColl✨

©Sam McColl

Hi Sam and a warm welcome to Jaffareadstoo. Tell us a little about yourself and how you got started as an author?

I often wonder if the beginnings of Call Billy were conceived when I was locked into the misery of my own family as a child, or when during the course of my therapy, I realised I no longer needed the skills I’d acquired as a child, to stay safe? Who knows – we don’t live in a vacuum. I’m not sure Call Billy would have been possible without what went before. But living within a loving family certainly opened my eyes to the world around me, and exploring what it means to be human, in all its complexity, in one way or another, seemed an obvious path. 

Your books are written in Scotland – how have the people and its landscape shaped your stories?

Very little. If I’d been living in England, or Wales or anywhere else, I’d have used the landscape to bring colour and setting to the plot, but my work is character driven – plot, setting and everything else is the lens through which my characters reveal themselves.

As a writer based in the North, does this present any problems in terms of marketing and promoting your books and if so, how do you overcome them?

I don’t imagine so. My books are set in Scotland, one in Edinburgh, one in Oban, and my current one in India and Scotland. Marketing and promoting them here, is as good a place to start as anywhere else. I read books set anywhere in the world – if it’s a good book, it’ll fly … 

In your research for your books, do you visit any of the places you write about and which have made a lasting impression?

I do visit all the places I write about including spending a week in Jodhpur in Rajasthan, India, for my work in progress, Adam. In as much as it makes it easier to picture my characters living in these places, walking, picnicking, quarrelling, hiding or whatever, yes, they are with me. 

If you were pitching the North as an ideal place to live, work and write – how would you sell it and what makes it so special?

It’s a particular frame of mind, of commitment to perfecting the craft, a certain resilience, that makes an author. I couldn’t in all conscience recommend the North as more ideal than anywhere else. In fact when I lived in a city, without the temptations that a place of great beauty throw up, I found it easier to keep my head down. This morning for example, after a grey weekend, the sun blazed through the autumnal woodland and glittered on the sea. So instead of settling down to my list, I took the cat for a walk to the beach, photographed her climbing trees and posted them on social media… I love Scotland, I love living here, working here … but I might write better in a basement with no windows!  

©Sam McColl

Writing is a solitary business - how do you interact with other authors?

I don’t much. I meet authors at events, but authors are just people. My friends do all sorts of things – from IT to auctioneers. I do enjoy mulling over the artistic journey with friends, and some of those are writers, but the spark of conversation with like-minded people doesn’t depend on that. 

How supportive are local communities to your writing, and are there ever any opportunities for book shops, local reading groups, or libraries to be involved in promoting your work?

Yes and no. I do have books for sale locally, but my local bookshop in Tarbert was not interested in stocking Call Billy, they said folk were not interested in literary fiction – despite have a book festival here in October. And although I have read in many libraries in Edinburgh, here in rural Argyll we have to rent library space – having said this, the local librarian was very encouraging and interested. My local book group have read it, and we discussed it – but I would say the opportunities in rural areas are very limited. 

Do you currently have a work-in-progress and if so what can you tell us about it?

Yes, I’m writing a book called Adam. It is about two boys who meet in the 1980’s in a boarding school and form an unlikely friendship. Adam has a secret to keep, and Batuk, an Indian boy, sent half way around the world by his father, to stop him asking so many questions, has a secret to find. It’s a very different kind of work from Call Billy 07899232007 and Call Abi (phone number). The story is told by Batuk, in collaboration with Adam’s sister, Bonnie and mother. As an educated man, he reveals this complex and touching journey between him and his friend Adam, through a potpourri of poignant reflection, correspondence over ten years and Adam’s final journal in which he kept a vivid account of that last transformative year of his short life.

Here's more about Sam..

For years I have resisted posting my biography. I should be writing novels, I’d say, when my friends and family brought it up – and besides, no one needs to know about the author – it’s the characters in my work that are significant. 

But pressure made me rethink and I’ve been surprised - I’ve found it satisfying and refreshing. So here I am, rummaging around in my murky past to find something to say about myself. 

It’s my take on it, of course. My sister will see things very differently. But this is my understanding of it - and out of it, I have become who I am. 

I'm the younger of two sisters. We were raised in a family hushed and stunted by the threat of violence. For many years I wished she'd stop challenging him – I thought we'd have peace if she did, for she and my father created a war zone which excluded my mother and I, as we watched uselessly from the side-lines. It took me many years to understand that the violence was his, not hers. She was a child looking for love, like we both were. 

Our parents were killed in a car accident on their way back from a party one Saturday night and we were woken on Sunday morning by two policemen at the front door. We neither went to their funeral nor discussed them again, in fact we began a new school less than forty-eight hours after the crash. (‘Whatever you do, don’t mention the parents,’ were the words spoken to a whole school assembly before we arrived. The year was 1964 and things were very different then.) I also learnt while flicking through a local newspaper, some months later, that the occupants of the other car were fined a few thousand pounds for drunk driving. 

We spent what remained of our childhood with our aunt's family and it didn't work out well. 

Children do what they can to be happy, and I kept a low profile. Keeping my sister on an even keel was all-consuming. One false step or wrong word and she would certainly bring my world to a stop. 

I both loved and feared my sister in equal measure, and I continued to both love and fear the people I grew close to, for many years. Eventually, with little sign of things calming down, I went into therapy and began to understand the vital part I played in the continuing soap opera that was my life. It wasnae me officer just didn't cut it. It was me, just as much as it was the people I chose (after all I was an adult wasn't I?) to surround myself with, and if I wanted a different life, it was me that had to change. 

I gave up cigarettes, my sister and my husband, cold turkey. It was the most painful thing I've ever done, like losing the reason to live. I could never have done it without intense professional support. 

Between us we built what in the trade is sometimes called a strong and nurturing inner-parent. Once that was done we asked her to draw up some strong boundaries for my so-called inner child. This took months. It's a bit like saying to a child, ‘I know you're thirsty, but coke will rot your teeth, how about a glass of spring water. You may even grow to like it and you definitely won't miss the toothache’. And I didn't. Don't. 

Finding myself with nothing to fear created a huge scary space in my life and very slowly I began to fill it with healthy options. And eventually I began to write. 

With little meaningful education, it took two decades to understand and learn the art of storytelling and the process has changed my life. 

I have completed two novels and am working on a new one. In case any of you are wondering, I've not written my own story. I find that if I come close to characters I've known, I lose my unbiased observation as a writer. But I do know what it's like to be too afraid to breathe, to straddle a wire fence, unable to decide which side to fall onto - broken glass or upturned nails, full to the brim with the futile hope that I won't be hurt this time. I know what it's like to watch someone you love beg to be battered. And these experiences have helped me, sometimes, find a truth for my characters and set fire to my writing. 

Over the years, I've supported vulnerable adults in a variety of ways within various charitable organisations. 

I have three grown-up children, and live between Tarbert and Edinburgh with my husband. 

Huge thanks to Sam for being my special guest on the blog today

Website

Coming next : Joy Pearson

Northern Writer ~ Kay Patrick

I am delighted to bring to Jaffareadstoo this feature which showcases

 the work of authors who have based their work in the North of England


 ✨ Here's northern writer : Kay Patrick ✨

Hello Kay and welcome to Jaffareadstoo. Thank you for spending time with us today.

I was born and brought up in Yorkshire but won a scholarship to RADA when I was sixteen. I acted in Repertory and Television – among television roles were two appearances in the early Dr. Who. One as Nero’s wife in Dr. Who and the Romans – the other as Flower in Dr. Who and the Savages – both with William Hartnell as the Dr. However, I gradually became more interested in working with and developing writers and gave up acting. I joined BBC radio drama script department in London – eventually directing the scripts I worked on. After some years I devolved my job to Manchester – feeling that there was a sub text to northern writing that I understood. I couldn’t explain what it was – I still can’t. I eventually also began directing in theatre and television. Coronation Street was the programme I directed most regularly.

There’s something in the northern landscapes that really appeals to me. There’s a grittiness, a toughness as well as great beauty.

 My novel The Trial of Marie Montrecourt is set in Harrogate, Leeds and Ilkley in the early 1900s. It’s loosely based on a Victorian crime I discovered some years ago while researching for a potential television drama series. That particular story was never used – but it stayed with me. The woman who perpetrated the crime I disliked but there were fascinating coincidences and an unusual end and I wanted to create my own world where the reader would understand why my character could have been driven to take the action she did. I also loved weaving a story that the reader wouldn’t want to put down. I moved it to Yorkshire because by now I was in the north and that middle-class society contrasted strongly with the London world inhabited by my other central character. It would seem that whatever sub text affected me when I was script editing must still be working.

Matador
2016

Although writing can be a solitary business - luckily many of my friends are authors and most of them northern so we can have a good moan. For further support, I think organisations like Promoting Yorkshire Authors are excellent and important and helpful – otherwise you can feel you’re working in a vacuum. As I am not very good at promoting my own work they can make suggestions for outlets and point out events such as literary festivals and they aim to give a higher profile to the writing talent that is happening in the north. in the north too there are still some independent bookshops which are very encouraging to local authors. One can only hope they continue to survive.

Website

Twitter @KpatrickAuthor

Amazon UK

Huge thanks to Kay for being my special guest on the blog today

Coming next : Sam McColl

Northern Writer ~ Alex Marchant

I am delighted to bring to Jaffareadstoo this feature which showcases

 the work of authors who have based their work in the North of England

✴ Here's Northern writer : Alex Marchant ✴

Hi, Alex, a very warm welcome to Jaffareadstoo. Tell us a little about yourself and how you got started as an author. 

I’ve written fiction for as long as I can remember, since I was a child in Surrey, on the very edge of the London suburbs. Any time when not at school was spent either with my nose in a book, oblivious to all around me, or scribbling in old exercise books about fantasy worlds, animal stories or whatever period of history had most recently grabbed my attention. 

I rarely finished anything longer than a short story and didn’t settle to a style or genre until, in my early twenties, I realized I wanted to write for children. But by then life was getting in the way – university, careers in archaeology then publishing, partner, house renovation, kids… It took a big birthday to remind me what I’d always planned to do when I grew up – and then I finally embarked on and finished my first children’s novel – a timeslip story titled Time out of Time. Since then I’ve completed two more – The Order of the White Boar and The King’s Man – both published in the past year, and finally I’ve come to think of myself as an author.

 

Your historical fiction is written in northern England. How have the people and the northern landscape shaped your stories? 

I moved to Yorkshire to be with my partner some years ago, and I realized only recently that I’ve now lived more of my life in the north than the south. One of my favourite authors, Susan Cooper, whose The Dark is Rising sequence of children’s books have a very strong sense of place – in Cornwall, Wales, Buckinghamshire – said that she found it much easier to write about places when she no longer lived there, having moved to the USA before she began her novels. I initially thought much the same – with Time out of Time rooted firmly in my childhood in Surrey. 

But then came the inspiration for The Order of the White Boar – the rediscovery of the grave of King Richard III in 2012, and my subsequent decision to write a book for children telling the story of the real man rather than the grotesque Shakespearian villain. Before he became king, Richard spent most of his adult life ruling the north of England on behalf of his brother Edward IV, so it was obvious that my novel would have to be set here – at Middleham Castle in Wensleydale where Richard’s wife had her household, where their son was born and lived most of his short life, and Richard himself was largely based. 

Middleham Castle

While the dale itself is a relatively gentle pastoral landscape, it’s surrounded by moorland not unlike the moors of so-called Bronte country where I live. So it’s easy enough for me, out on my daily dog walk, to imagine myself back in the fifteenth-century landscape where my characters lived, rode, hawked and hunted – among the bracken and bogs, curlews and hawthorn, bilberry and larks, and hearing the unearthly whooping of the oystercatchers wheeling overhead. 

Having lived in both the north and the south now, I’m acutely aware of the north–south divide – and also that it’s existed for centuries. Richard was effectively sent to ‘tame’ the unruly north and, having lived so long there, when he moved back to the capital in 1483 he and his loyal followers were viewed with some suspicion by southerners. He is still seen as England’s only ‘northern king’. My lead character, his 12-year-old page Matthew Wansford, himself a merchant’s son from York, also becomes aware of the divide as he accompanies Richard to London and is told by a companion, ‘Close your mouth, boy, don’t gawp. You mustn’t let these Londoners think we northern folk are overawed by their paltry town.’ And after he sings for King Edward IV, the royal choir master says, rather patronizingly, ‘That was well sung, boy, though your pronunciation could bear some correction. I’m told that you accompanied my lord of Gloucester down from the north country. I think it would be possible to train that out of you if you were to join my choir.’ Several readers have commented that little has changed over the years. 

In your research for your books, did you visit any of the places you write about and which have made a lasting impression? 

I’ve always made a point of spending time in locations where my characters live or where scenes play out, even though many may have changed a great deal over the centuries. Having been a Ricardian for many years (someone who believes the king was maligned after his death), I had already visited most of the main places in the story of Richard’s life – particularly those in the crucial last two years – from his birthplace at Fotheringhay in Northamptonshire, to Middleham and York, to the place of his death at Bosworth and burial in nearby Leicester. Middleham has long been a favourite – and probably the place with most associations for Ricardians, as it was central to so much of his life – along with York, which he referred to as ‘home’ in letters. I visit both fairly often as neither is far away. 

Less obvious as part of his story (and also less northern!) are two places in Suffolk that are important locations in The King’s Man. One, Gipping, is now no more than a farm and a beautiful tiny church. The other I decided might be the town where the climactic scene occurs, and when I visited – although hardly any medieval parts remain – I was amazed at the strong reaction I had in one particular place. Not quite the feeling Philippa Langley had when she stood on the R in the carpark that proved to be exactly where King Richard’s grave was located! – but a vivid impression that this was the place where my characters met their final challenge… 

In a couple of weeks’ time I’m heading off to Belgium for some more research for the third book in the sequence, and then to an undisclosed location on the north-west coast of England ... 

If you were pitching the North as an ideal place to live, work and write – how would you sell it and what makes it so special? 

I can only really comment on my own experience in a semi-rural area of West Yorkshire – which has proved an energizing, inspirational place for my writing in recent years. I love the isolation of the windswept moors for walks with (or sadly, more recently without) my dog, where I can escape from day-to-day life and chores, blow away the cobwebs, and immerse myself in the fifteenth-century lives of my characters. And yet, for all the ‘Wuthering Heights’ atmosphere of the local area, I’m also only a short hop from major cities such as Bradford, Leeds and Manchester, with all the amenities and (multi)cultural attractions they provide. 

A view across Wensleydale 

As a writer based in the North, does this present any problems in terms of marketing and promoting your books, and if so, how do you overcome them? 

I think with technology as it is nowadays, there are probably fewer problems than there might once have been. Traditionally UK publishing has been largely based in London, but small presses have sprung up all over the country. I’m self-published, so have to do all the marketing and promotion myself – resources on the internet and on-demand publishing of paperbacks mean my reach is effectively worldwide. 

Writing is a solitary business – how do you interact with other authors? 

Social media has been both a blessing and a curse! I’m sure I’m not alone in often wondering where my time has gone after a visit to Facebook or Twitter, but I have also ‘met’ so many other fabulous authors through these sites who can be very generous with their time and advice, and are happy to share promotions, etc. – and of course offer guest blog spots! (Thank you, Jo!) 

There’s also a perhaps surprising number of Ricardian authors around. We have our own Facebook group, and we are also very active on general Ricardian groups on the web. Not only have many of us met face to face and shared stalls at various medieval festivals, we also sell each other’s books at other events too. And in just the past few weeks I’ve been delighted that a dozen have generously contributed pieces of short fiction inspired by King Richard to an anthology I’m editing to be sold in support of Scoliosis Association UK (SAUK) – a charity chosen because Richard himself suffered from scoliosis, as discovered when his skeleton was examined. 

The title of the anthology is Grant Me the Carving of My Name – a line taken with her permission from the poem ‘Richard’ by poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy and read at Richard’s reburial by Benedict Cumberbatch. And I’ve just received today a Foreword kindly written for us by Philippa Gregory, author of The White Queen. It’s been a great thrill that such well-loved authors have been so generous. 

Cover Image Grant Me the Carving of my Name
Courtesy of Riikka Katajisto

How supportive are local communities to your writing, and are there ever opportunities for book shops, local reading groups or libraries to be involved in promoting your work? 

It’s only been a year since The Order was published and I’ve been amazed at just how much support I’ve received, even as a newbie indie author who hasn’t much idea about marketing and promotion. I was fortunate early on to discover the Promoting Yorkshire Authors group on Facebook, which sets out to do exactly what its name says. It’s grown since I joined, from a couple of dozen, mainly indie, authors who were either born or currently live in the county, to more than a hundred, including traditionally published writers, who are working together to explore as many promotional opportunities as possible. So far my involvement has included a book sale in York, an interview with a fellow author for a podcast in front of a library audience, various library events and an upcoming book sale at the Todmorden literary festival. One of the founding members also reads from members’ books on his ‘Grandpa Joe’ YouTube channel. I’d encourage any writers with links to the county to check the group out. [http://www.promotingyorkshireauthors.com/] 

I’ve also been lucky enough to tap into King Richard’s great popularity across the north, with two particularly exciting events in the past few months. I was invited to cut Richard’s birthday cake on his behalf when Middleham Castle celebrated his recent 566th birthday with a party.

Alex cutting King Richard’s cake at Middleham Castle, October 2018 

In July I was asked to speak at primary schools in Barnard Castle when a local community group, the Northern Dales Richard III Group, generously donated copies of The Order of the White Boar to every Year 6 primary school leaver to celebrate the king’s links with their town. I’m hoping to be able to expand that to visits to schools and libraries in other areas with Ricardian connections. All I need now is a local costume-maker to create my very own authentic page’s outfit for such events! 

Barnard Castle schools visit, Teesdale Mercury, July 2018 

You can discover more about Alex and her writing by following the links below:

Blog 

Facebook

Twitter @AlexMarchant84

Amazon

Huge thanks to Alex for being my special guest on the blog today

Coming next : Kay Patrick

Northern Writer ~ Celia Micklefield

I am delighted to bring to Jaffareadstoo this feature which showcases

 the work of authors who have based their work in the North of England

✴ Here's Northern writer : Celia Micklefield ✴

Hello to all you lovers of books. And a big thank you to Jo for giving me this opportunity to reach more of you through her website. 

Celia Micklefield is my maiden name. I thought it was a good idea to use it as my pen name. You know, it’s different. Maybe it would be a bit more memorable than Smith. I didn’t realise what a pain it would be fitting it on the front cover of my novels! 

I come from West Yorkshire. Keighley was an industrial town full of textile mills and factories, good butchers who made irresistible pies and pasties, enough pubs to sink a fleet and a population replete with memorable characters. Some of those characters find their way into my novels and short stories and in my first novel, Patterns of Our Lives , I used a mix of Keighley and its neighbour, Bingley in my creation of Kingsley, a northern town at the outbreak of World War Two.

All my work is character-led. Whether I’m writing a family saga or a darkly satirical short story I have to know my characters inside out and upside down. How else would I be able to give them authentic dialogue? I prefer to know my settings well, too. My work in progress, A Measured Man is set in Norfolk where I live now. It’s a battle-of-the-sexes comedy aimed at the older reader. I've long felt a need for more choice in novels with protagonists in my own age group. I was so irritated by the dearth in this sub-genre I posted about it on my website. 

Here’s a link: 

I’ve never liked having to classify my work into a genre. I understand the reasons for the need but I don’t want to limit myself into formal literary boundaries. I like variety in what I choose to read and in the stories I write. But in my books you can always expect ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances with complicated problems to face. 

I lived abroad for nine years and set my second novel, Trobairitz - the Storyteller in the part of France I’d come to love. Trobairitz were female troubadours who brought news and sang songs about current affairs, romantic love and the role of women in society. I made my own lady troubadour a contemporary female truck driver whose problems echo those of her medieval sisters. I struggled describing the genre of this book, too. I think the recent ‘up-lit’ classification would suit it quite well.

You can read a sample of Trobairitz here

I began my writing career by selling short stories to women’s magazines. The first agent I approached with Trobairitz offered me a contract but it didn’t work out so I published myself as I had with Patterns of Our Lives. I’ve been on my own ever since. 

During my time in France I was on my way home to Yorkshire to visit family when a story idea hit me in the guts, as they do from time to time, while I was in the departure lounge at Montpellier airport waiting to board my flight to Leeds/Bradford. I knew I was grinning at the sound of a whole departure gate-load of Yorkshire accents. How wonderful to be surrounded by people who all sounded like me. I felt I was really going home. 

Then I spotted my characters: a father and his little daughter. She, administering tender, maternal care to the doll she had, her pouty expression alternatively cross and kind, was the epitome of miniature French coquettishness. She wore her hair in a tight top-knot and her tights were hooped in the height of fashion. Her French vowels were rounded and soft unlike the harder intonation of Occitanie. I wondered why this little minx was travelling to Leeds/Bradford. When her father spoke in English I was astounded. He was a Yorkshireman! 

Oh, the synapses fired up and by the time we’d landed I had the whole outline plotted. I sold that story and one evening as I was messing about on Twitter, I saw that the editor of The Dalesman was currently online. I don’t know where I got the nerve from but I pitched him right there and then, live on Twitter about the story I’d just sold and how the inspiration for it had come from a flight home to Yorkshire. So, I achieved a teenage ambition in writing You Can Take Grandma Out Of Yorkshire, for The Dalesman even if it was fifty years late. Copyright for that short story, Airport Departures has reverted to me and is now part of my second collection of short stories, Queer as Folk. 

My website is www.celiamicklefield.com and I have a Facebook author page. I’m also on Twitter @cmicklefield 

Do, please pop in and take a look, or better yet, Like my page. That way you’ll see when I run promotions and freebies on my books which are all available on my Amazon Celia Micklefield author page. 

When I’ve finished with A Measured Man my next book in the pipeline is set once again in the north. The God of Putting Things Right is the book I attempted to write for NaNoWriMo but without success. I can’t do anything in a rush. I have a chronic pain condition called CRPS which not many people have heard of, including many in the medical profession. On bad days I don’t attempt too much. On better days I write. I’d like to be more involved with writers’ groups and have more energy for marketing my work but I have to accept it’s just not possible. I stick to my own, slow pace and do what I enjoy most: my writing. I hope you enjoy it too. 

All best wishes, 

Celia  

Huge thanks to Celia for being my special guest on the blog today

Coming next : Alex Marchant

Northern Writer ~ A D Rogers

I am delighted to bring this feature to Jaffareadstoo which showcases

the work of authors who live and write in the North

✧ Here's Northern writer : Alan Rogers ✧

Photograph from author's website
By kind permission

Hi Alan, a very warm welcome to Jaffareadstoo. Tell us a little about yourself and how you got started as a writer? 

Purely by accident! I had taken early retirement from my job as an IT Manager and suddenly my hands began to cause problems – I was in a lot of pain. After some hospital investigation it seemed that after many years of keyboard use every day, my hands simply needed some exercise. Nothing seemed to work so I began to use my laptop again. I started to write short stories – I had something published in Lancashire Life and a few other magazines and it really just went on from there. 

Your books are written in North West England – how have the people and its landscape shaped your stories? 

The North West has played a big part in all my work so far. I was always taught to write about things I know about – rather than talk about things or places I hadn’t experienced. I based my books in a fictional Lancashire town called Wishton – which is made up from WIgan, Saint Helens and BoltON. Mining plays a big part in all the stories – my grandfathers were both miners and I worked for a Mining Machinery Manufacturer for nearly 40 years. 

As a writer based in the North West, does this present any problems in terms of marketing and promoting your books and if so, how do you overcome them? 

Not really. I worked in IT for nearly 40 years so was quite comfortable with using social media and I set up my own website. I’ve had feedback from people in Australia, India and the US. I also was lucky enough to be featured in a few magazines and had interviews on local radio. The only problem I had with marketing is that I didn’t really work hard enough! I think my publishers were a bit frustrated with me. 

Troubador
2015

In your research for your books, do you visit any of the places you write about and which have made a lasting impression? 

I try to visit every place I write about – going back to my earlier point about experiencing things and places first hand rather than making them up. Hopefully it sounds more realistic. I have been lucky enough to travel all over the world during my career and I have tried to incorporate some of those travels in my work. For example, although my second book is based mainly in the North West, a lot of the action takes place in Russia. I worked in Moscow and Siberia and the opening chapter of my second book describes a mugging in Red Square – something similar actually happened to me and a colleague one day! 

Troubador
2015

If you were pitching the North West as an ideal place to live, work and write – how would you sell it and what makes it so special?

I think it’s the people that make it special. As I have said earlier, a lot of the people in my books are miners or members of the mining community. This way of life has obviously disappeared now but the legacy sort of still remains. Apart from that, it is getting harder to “sell” the North West as a place to live. We have fabulous scenery and great people – but the region continues to be treated badly by central government. I’m quite passionate about still putting Lancashire on my letters – I don’t think the whole “Greater Manchester” change has helped any part of the region outside central Manchester. Flipping eck – that all sounds a bit gloomy doesn’t it! 

Writing is a solitary business - how do you interact with other authors? 

I don’t really interact with anyone! A big part of my job involved a lot of travel – usually by myself. So I became quite comfortable with my own company and this seems to have followed me into writing! 

How supportive are local communities to your writing and are there ever any opportunities for book shops, local reading groups, or libraries to be involved in promoting your work? 

I’ve been interviewed twice on local radio and appeared in a couple of local magazines. I got my “big break” when a local radio presenter offered to put my first book forward to his publisher. Apart from that – I’m sure that local groups would be more than willing to help me promote my work but sadly I’m just too lazy to chase them up! I’m lucky enough to be able to treat writing as a hobby. I’m quite professional in my approach to writing – to research and editing but once the book is finished and ready to be published – I tend to lose interest a bit. I don’t really like chasing publicity so I tend to concentrate on my next book. Must drive my publisher mad! 

Can you tell us anything about your current work? 

The last book I did was for a local charity – “Joseph’s Goal” and although I really enjoyed writing it, I put quite a lot of effort into the whole process and to be honest it sort of put me off writing for a short while. But I knew it wouldn’t last! I’ve done most of the research work for my next book and I’m sort of getting ready to write the first line. I’m quite excited about it because it’s a complete departure from anything I’ve done before. It will be mainly set on a small Scottish island and hopefully will cover topics as diverse as the IRA and pop music!

Troubador
2017

Huge thanks to Alan for being my guest on the blog today

 You can find out more about his writing:

Website

Twitter @gomonline

Troubador @matadorbooks

Amazon UK

Northern Writer ~ Andrew John Rainnie

I am delighted to bring a new feature to Jaffareadstoo which showcases

 the work of authors who live and write in the North

✨ Here's Scottish writer and filmmaker : Andrew John Rainnie ✨

Hi Andrew, and welcome to Jaffareadstoo. 

Tell us a little about yourself and how you got started as an author

My name is Andrew, and I'm a writer and filmmaker from Glasgow.  I have lots of fingers in lots of pies; I write short and feature films, and occasionally direct them. I also produce music videos and other film projects through my company, Rain Fire Films, and run a website helping people explore Glasgow, www.discoverglasgow.org. I also write for an American gaming website, Warp Zoned.

In short, I’m a workaholic!

I started as an author at a very young age writing short stories, although they were not very short and the bane of my school teacher's lives, who had to read them and mark them. As I grew older, I drifted towards screenwriting through a love of film. I studied English Lit and Film at the University of Glasgow, then completed a Masters in Screenwriting at Bournemouth University. It was while I was there that I started penning the Spirits of Vengeance series, but one of my lecturers, Rosie Cullen, suggested that it was too dense and long for a screenplay and that it may be better material for a book.

Would you say that your novels are influenced by your northern background and how have the people and its landscape shaped your stories?

It's funny you ask that, because I actually finished the very first draft on a year out travelling the world. I remember I was in an Australian hostel, and it was raining, so I spent a few hours doing the last chapter and celebrated with a stubby!

Up until then, I would say the Scottish landscape had certainly inspired the fictional world of Enara. There are parts where its lakes and grasslands and mount ranges that all come from my love of the Highlands. As it's a fantasy book, it takes place in a wide range of climates and places, so I feel that it's more a reflection of Earth as a whole. I remember travelling through Bolivia and being so inspired by the topography and mountain ranges. Different cities or regions in the book are inspired by different parts of the world. In the upcoming second book, The Assassin of Araneque, we see more of the land of Heroshin, which is a fusion of Scottish and Nordic in terms of architecture and culture.

As a writer based in the North, does this present any problems in terms of marketing and promoting your books and if so, how do you overcome them?

When the first book launched, it was a self-published endeavour, and a lot of the marketing was through social media and book blogs. I did a small book launch party and had badges and bookmarks made up which was great and people really got behind it. 

Since then, the series has been signed up by a publisher, Black Wolf, who organise book signings which is certainly a useful event to be able to do.

But I think in Glasgow there are several opportunities if you look for them. There are lots of independent book shops, and I am hoping to see if I can get my books in them rather than just the bigger online stores. I'm also going to inquire for more interviews like this in local publications, as I ignored written press the first time around.

Writing is a solitary business - how do you interact with other authors?

It's rare that I do, to be honest. I lived in London for six years, and I had a screenwriters group there, but I rarely have time to meet people these days. I am friends with several authors, but our friendship was not formed because we write.

I follow many authors on social media, especially Twitter, but writing is one of many parts of my life, and I don't mind the solitude of it. In fact, I relish the time I get to spend alone with my characters!

How supportive are local communities to your writing, and are there ever any opportunities for book shops, local reading groups, or libraries to be involved in promoting your work?

Again, now that there is a publisher involved, I am hoping there will be more opportunities for me to take the book into book shops and libraries. I think my problem is that I see my role on Spirits of Vengeance as the writer, not the salesman, when I am in fact both. It's a strange revelation and for me it requires adopting a different persona. Once the second book is done, I'll be liaising with the publisher to see what we can do to promote it, and what I can do personally to meet new people.

Black Wolf Edition and Publishing
April 2018

Website

Twitter @AndrewRainnie

Amazon UK

Huge thanks to Andrew for being my special guest on the blog today

Coming next : Amy Lord