Find Out Friday: Kate Allan.

2/10/2012 9:26:56 AM

Hello and welcome to author, editor and rather appropriately, because it is the start of Valentine Week, Festival of Romance organiser, Kate Allan.

Now, Kate, you will be unaware of this fact, but your involvement in the FoR was the inspiration behind this feature. I was and still am fascinated about what went into producing such a successful event. At the time, I recall asking if I could interview you, and here we are.

One twelfth of the year is over, which makes us a month nearer to the second Festival of Romance. How are the plans proceeding?

The second Festival of Romance will be taking place about twenty miles up the road from where we held it last year in the county town ofBedford. The main venues which are at the Corn Exchange and Bedford Central Library are booked and at the moment we’re talking to publishers and authors about the events we will be running. We hope to have a full schedule by April, so if you have any ideas about what you would like to see at the Festival, now is the time to shout.

Last year’s was such a major success, how are you going to trump it?

Feedback from our first festival was fantastic but an author who attended thought it could be improved by being in a town centre and when I thought about it, I agreed. A town centre setting would provide easier access to the events. Our move toBedforduses a variety of venues, all within a minute or two’s walk of each other and we will also have the facility of the town’s central ticketing box office.

What was the thought process behind the event?

There are a number of conventions in theUSfor the romantic fiction genre, and here in theUKwe have crime festivals in Harrogate andBristol, and also SFF conventions. I thought that romantic fiction should have its own dedicated event on our shores.

Romantic Fiction Online spawned from the FoR – tell me about that. What are the aims and purpose of the site?

The site started as a social community to support the Festival but once it started to gather pace, it was clear that it should be a year-round website where readers and authors could talk about romantic fiction. Now we have four hundred members, a number of active sub groups and the forums and blogs are being well used to chat about all kinds of topics related to reading and also writing romantic fiction.

Many writers I have met and interviewed are multi-talented, with many strings to their bow. How many aliases do you possess and who are you the majority of the time?

This is a good question for me. The majority of the time I’m a mum and wife, and after that comes work. I’m a director of an independent publisher, Myrmidon Books, and also run a small literary agency. I am involved in organising the Festival of Writing that takes place inYork each year and is the biggest event of its kind for aspiring novelists. Add to that the organisation of the Festival of Romance and what does suffer is my own writing. It is a real challenge to find time for writing, but I seem to manage to do a little, not every day but more in fits and starts when I have a quiet few days in a row.

Which role provides you with the greatest satisfaction and why?

Being a mum wins hands down.

You are known for writing historical novels. What appeals to you about the Regency era?

It’s the era of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer and also the period when Lizzy Bennet could walk across a field unchaperoned. The Victorian age has its merits but I prefer the less fettered spirits of the Regency era. The 18^th century appeals too but I am not sure I could write a hero wearing an itchy wig and powdered hair.

You have moved to writing contemporary romance. Is there a need for diversification within the writing world?

I certainly needed a change from Regency but my move into contemporary happened really be accident rather than design. I had a story idea and started writing it and the result with Secrets at City Hospital. I’d been in a large city hospital myself for a month and so the setting was just there, all researched for me already. A gift!

You are a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association. When and how did you first become involved? Are you an active member?

I joined the New Writers Scheme of the RNA about ten years ago now and was in it for two years before I got my publishing deal. I just came across the organisation on the internet and it seemed like an excellent scheme as a proper novelist would read your efforts and critique them. Now I’m a full member I try and get to meetings but it’s been hard since having a baby.

I studied Rogue Male for English O’ Level. Having seen it as one of your recommended reads, I am wondering whether I should revisit it. As a fifteen year old, to me it was a book about a man hiding in a hole, attempting to assassinate a foreign dictator. Sell it to me, Kate.

Rogue Male is a classic and was one of those first teenage reads that set my pulse racing (with suspense and fear). I recommend you give it another try and see what Geoffrey Household is doing as a writer to give you that thrill of the chase.

Are there books you revisit as an adult and if so, what is it about them that makes them special, or is one read enough?

I recently reread The Mask of Dimitrios by Eric Ambler actually and thought it might have faded with the passage of time, but it hasn’t. Truly wonderful books stay wonderful I think. Or I wouldn’t still be finding new delights every time I reread Pride and Prejudice.

What are you working on at the moment and what can we expect next from Kate Allan?

I’m currently writing another medical drama romance, this one involving an animal hospital, and hoping to have it finished before the summer.

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions, Kate and thank you for bringing the Festival of Romance into my life.

Snowbound on the Island is now available at Amazon.

Keep up to date with Kate on her website, follow her on Twitter or pop across to Kate’s Facebook page.

Find Out Friday: Sue Moorcroft

1/27/2012 9:28:33 AM

As we cheer at the imminent arrival of February, I am exceedingly (adverb) happy to welcome award winning author for Choc Lit, creative writer tutor and competition judge, Sue Moorcroft.

Good Friday morning, Sue. What have you put aside to answer these questions?

Finishing my WIP, Dream a Little Dream! (Don’t tell anyone on the Choc Lit team …) It’s due in on the 31^st and I’m putting the last loving polish on it. Of course, that’s prior to the editing process. Dream a Little Dream is a Middledip book, like Starting Over and All That Mullarkey.

You are one of the busiest people I know. How many ‘hats’ do you wear and how do you divide your time between your roles?

I almost don’t know where to begin this answer. But here are some of the things I do:

- write novels for Choc Lit

- two columns a month for Writers’ Forum

- judge and critiquing for Writers’ Forum

- judge for Writers’ News

- judge various other competitions as people offer the work

- write serials for magazines

- write short stories for magazines (has taken a back seat, lately, I’m afraid)

- carry out some tasks for the Romantic Novelists Association, following my eight-year term as a committee member

- a few things for National Short Story Week, as I’m on the steering committee

- tutor for the London School of Journalism

- workshops for various libraries or writing groups, as opportunities arise

- review books for various organisations on an occasional basis

- write a Formula 1 column for Girlracer.co.uk after each F1 race

- do the admin etc that arises from being one’s own boss

- and all the promo that arises from being a writer and wishing books to sell

- and all the social media that helps with promo/research/human interaction

- and all the research that my novelist’s nosy little heart demands

I suppose I apportion time according to deadlines. But if I can’t get on with my novels, I get grumpy, grumpy, GRUMPY! So I end up working a lot of weekends etc, especially if I’m behind with competition entries or student assignments. I used to deal with students and comp entries in the morning and write in the afternoon but I’ve changed things around a bit and tend to have whole days on one or the other.

As a child, what were your favourite books? What made them special?

I loved Enid Blyton books, particularly the Famous Five and the Secret Seven. I just devoured them. Also books about dancing, ponies and circuses. And dogs, but they sometimes made me cry. I began on adult novels (Nevil Shute, Alistair McLean) quite early in life – aged about eight or nine, I think. My dad used to vet what I was reading. (‘Lolita? Not that one, darling …’)

Who inspired you to write?

Did anyone? I don’t know. I feel it’s a compulsion rather than an inspiration. A voracious reader and a daydreamer, I suppose the natural thing was to write down stories that wandered around in my head.

Also, I had an absolutely horrible teacher in my last year of primary school, the kind who held the whole class terrified whilst he indulged in Tazmanian Devil type tantrums. But he told me I could write and said that one day there would be novels on the shelf with ‘Sue Moorcroft’ on the spine. He’s long gone, now, otherwise I could tell him that he was right. And that he was a nasty little worm who shouldn’t have been allowed near children.

At what point and how did you become involved with the Romantic Novelists Association?

I believe it was around 1999. I was with the short story agency, Midland Exposure, and at one of their parties I met an RNA member who told me all about the association and this marvellous-sounding thing called the New Writers’ Scheme. Within weeks, I saw that Marina Oliver, the then chairman, I think, was speaking at a local library. I went to the event and my mobile phone went off asMarina was speaking, so I had the ideal excuse to go up at the end and apologise for being so rude. She’s a lovely person, so put me at me ease, and I asked her all about the RNA. I don’t remember where I got the application form from, but I joined straight away and my membership has never lapsed.

Last year saw you take on the role of New Writers’ Scheme Agony Aunt. How did this come about and how is it going?

I pinched the idea from the Romance Writers of Australia, frankly! They have an agony aunt in their in-house mag, and I thought it would be a good idea, so offered. Anyone in the RNA can send me questions, not just NWS members. I’m kind of hosting the page, rather than setting myself up as the World Authority on Everything, and am procuring replies from other writers or industry professionals, where required.

Tell me about your role as a reader for the RNA.

I feel that the RNA NWS helped me so much (the wonderful Margaret James was the NWS Co-ordinator, then, and was an enormous help and support to me. And still is!) that it’s only right I put something back. From my judging/tutoring work, it seems that I have the facility to be objective about a manuscript and feed back in such a way that the writer can improve. So I do.

You are also a competition judge. What criteria do you follow when judging?

It depends what I’m judging and for whom. The organisation in question may well tell me what they’re looking for. I have to be objective and not reject, say, a sci fi story because I don’t care for sci fi, personally, of course. Though I can only use my judgement, I try to be fair. The bulk of my judging comes through Writers’ Forum and the editor and I have a view in common—the story is important. So beautiful pieces of writing with no plot do not fare well.

Do you use the same criteria as a reader for the RNA?

Not really. The function isn’t the same. For the RNA I’m trying to feed back to the writer areas in which I feel improvement can be made, and perhaps how. I’m not taking a hundred stories, making up a shortlist then choosing first, second and third. As an RNA reader I try and be realistic but encouraging—it has more in common with being a tutor than a judge. I have been in the New Writer’s shoes (and still am, every time I’m edited) and so I try and make truths palatable. I acknowledge that the writer might hate me for saying something, but I say it, and tell them why. I have twin strands of thought: publishing is a hard, competitive business, so you’re going to have to learn to take feedback; but if I can work hard and persist until my books are on the shelves, so can you. Those thoughts are behind every critique I write.

What is it that makes you want to teach the craft of writing?

Money.

OK, not just money. But, in a career as up and down as writing, it does help to have a bit of money you can rely on each month (to pay your son’s rent at uni …). As someone who didn’t like school or being taught, I’m kind of surprised that I do like being a tutor. I think it comes down to that thing about having a facility to feed back to people. Some people call this being opinionated! 

2011 was the year when I moved into the writing world, having lived on the outskirts for a while. I have found the residents to be friendly, supportive and nurturing. There is no jealousy. I think about this a lot – too much probably – but in other competitive markets, someone is always ready to gossip about you or put you down. What is it that makes the people in the writing world different?

Gosh. No idea. It may just be the RNA that’s mega-supportive and foster a ‘can do’ attitude? I certainly hear/read mean and bitchy remarks from writers in other areas, once in a while. But I, too, have met mainly with nurturing and encouragement from those who seem genuinely to want me to succeed. Maybe there’s some nice people and some not-so-nice in every creative industry?

What was the most important piece of advice you have been given, writerly or otherwise?

Don’t make enemies.

What is your favourite film and why? (It doesn’t have to be a romance.)

About thirty have just flipped through my head! I’ll say National Lampoon’s Animal House, with the late, great John Belushi, simply because I associate it with a happy, fun time in my life, and because it contains one of the funniest lines I ever heard.

And what sort of music do you enjoy?

A wide variety. I love music with excellent lyrics, such as written by Newton Faulkner, Frank Turner and Regina Spektor. It can distract me from my own writing, though, as I listen and realise that their words are better than mine. Here are a few more of my most adored artists, throughout my life: David Bowie, Elton John, Gnidrolog, Dory Previn, Ian Dury, Leonard Cohen, Damien Rice, James Taylor, Neil Young, Andy Fairweather Low, the Beatles (both as a group and individual members), Queen, Sting, Beautiful South. There are loads more. I sometimes have classical music playing when I write. If I can’t tell you what I’ve been listening to, I’m pleased. It means I’ve been ‘in the zone’ and submerged in my story.

If you have any spare time, what is it you like to do?

Read. Watch Formula 1 (I am a self-confessed Formula 1 bore). Walk. Zumba. Yoga. Hang out with my friends. Read some more. Travel.

All right or alright?

All right. Alright seems alwrong, to me.

What do you have lined up for 2012?

Dream a Little Dream is scheduled for November publication. My backlist Choc Lit books come out in theUS in May. The new Formula 1 season begins in March. And I’ll just keep on doing everything I did in 2011, I suspect!

Sue Moorcroft writes romantic novels of dauntless heroines and irresistible heroes for Choc Lit. Combining that success with her experience as a creative writing tutor, she’s written a ‘how to’ book, Love Writing – How to Make Money From Writing Romantic and Erotic Fiction (Accent Press). Sue also writes short stories, serials, articles and courses and is the head judge for Writers’ Forum. Her latest book, Love & Freedom, won the Best Romantic Read Award 2011 at the Festival of Romance. She’s a Katie Fforde Bursary Award winner.

Check out her website www.suemoorcroft.com and her blog at http://suemoorcroft.wordpress.com/ for news and writing tips. You’re welcome to befriend Sue on Facebook or Follow Sue on Twitter.

All of Sue’s Choc Lit novels and Love Writing are available as paperbacks and eBooks. Her early stuff is available in eBook format.

Sue – thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions – they are not the first and they will not be the last, I’m sure.

The next FoF is on February 10^th with another multi-tasking, ultra-busy author, Kate Allan.

Comments:

Sue Moorcroft:

1/28/2012 8:20:05 AM

Animal House.

For everyone who’s curious about the funny line in Animal House, it’s not X-rated, and I’ve already told Henri, back channel:

One of the Barbie doll girls says, of John Belushi, ‘That boy is a P-I-G pig.’ John Belushi says, ‘What am I now?’ Scarfs up an entire meringue, chews it up, blows out his cheeks and slaps them so the meringue erupts all over everyone and explains, ‘I’m a zit.’

x

Susan Bergen:

1/27/2012 9:44:09 PM

Sue Moorcroft.

I laughed out loud when Laura asked Sue what she did in her spare time.

That list of commitments made my jaw drop… Uber Multi-Tasker!

Eleanor James:

1/27/2012 7:47:43 PM

Interview.

I loved the simple questions with the simple answers! I found it really interesting and unique.

I aspire to be like my mum, or at least one book, so this has really helped.

Thank you Sue and Mum.

Laura E. James:

1/27/2012 6:57:53 PM

Sue Moorcroft Interview.

You’re all very kind and thank you for your lovely compliments about my questions. They stem from a basic nosiness. Sue – like Henri, I am wondering what the funny line from Animal House is. I’ve tried to Google it, but it throws up many lines I should know through osmosis, as my brother watched it many times in our youth, although I don’t think I’ve ever seen it in the right order. Ahh – the wonders of rewind on the old VCR’s.

Sarah Tranter:

1/27/2012 6:44:27 PM

Sue Moorcroft.

Great questions Laura and really enjoyable answers from Sue. What more can I say? Fab!

Sue Moorcroft:

1/27/2012 5:33:56 PM

Find Out Friday.

Thank you, everyone, for your kind comments. I really enjoyed doing Laura’s interview, because she found some questions to ask that were interesting and fresh. Oh! Just realised! I left ‘doing interviews’ off my list! Have a happy weekend, everyone.

Anita Chapman:

1/27/2012 5:15:20 PM

Interview with Sue Moorcroft.

Hello,

Laura -I really enjoyed reading this-great questions!

Sue – it’s interesting to find out more about your work (how do you do it all by the way?!) and everything you do for the RNA. Best of luck with finishing your WIP.

Anita.

Henriette Gyland:

1/27/2012 4:01:30 PM

The funniest line.

Lovely interview, Sue, and I honestly didn’t know you had that many hats. A few, yes, but not THAT many! I’m also a great fan of the film “Animal House”, and can watch it again and again, but that funniest line, please tell me what it is as I don’t remember it word for word. Or if it’s not suitable to mention in public (very likely where “Animal House” is concerned), please email me privately. Hx

Laura E. James:

1/27/2012 3:10:08 PM

Sue Moorcroft.

Thank you everyone, for your lovely comments. Sue is a great interviewee and she never fails to bring a smile to my face. Glad you enjoyed the piece.

I think we could all use a cup of coffee now!

Jess:

1/27/2012 3:07:08 PM

Interview.

And I thought you were the busy one Laura!

Jan Brigden:

1/27/2012 1:46:29 PM

Interview with Sue.

Another fab interview, Laura. I can’t believe how many different hats Sue wears. What an exhaustive list! Thanks for giving us such an interesting & inspiring insight into your life, Sue. A fascinating read x

Celia Anderson:

1/27/2012 12:56:39 PM

Dynamo.

I’m also exhausted reading about Sue’s action-packed timetable. Wow – won’t moan about being busy any more, honest.

Interesting questions, Laura. Loved ‘All That Mullarky’ but I haven’t read ‘Starting Over’ yet, will Kindle it soon as I’ve finished the new P.D James.

Lucie Wheeler:

1/27/2012 11:32:52 AM

Interview.

What a fantastic insight to an extremely busy and successful author. It tires me out just reading what you do, Sue! Do you know what sleep is? You must try it sometime

Seriously, though, a lovely overview of what it takes to be successful. And very heartwarming to hear that you give back so much.

Oh, and some fantastic questions posed, Laura! A great read.

X

Find Out Friday: Charlie Cochrane

1/13/2012 9:51:30 AM

Welcome to the first Find Out Friday of 2012.
Today, I am very happy to welcome author, Charlie Cochrane. Happy New Year, Charlie. How was your Christmas? Did you catch any rugby?

Plenty, but only on the telly. And the iplayer. And maybe the radio. And my hero Nigel Owens was reffing some of them so things were great. As for Christmas, it was exemplary; just the Cochranes, plus eldest daughter’s boyfriend. Lots of games, quizzes, food, drink and laughter – what more could one ask for?

Do you make a point of switching off over holiday periods or do they provide you with an uninterrupted amount of time in which to write?

Hm. Depends. Less writing time when the big girls are back from Uni and the youngest off school, certainly, but I do try to get 500 words down every day. (That may not seem a lot, but it’s my standard writing amount even on a good day! I try to make it 500 really good words.)

How do you divide your day between family, writing and your job as a training provider for new, school parent-governors?

I juggle well. I have lots of lists. I have lists of lists. Seriously, it’s all about being ultra organised. Luckily my training is done freelance so I can pick and choose dates and it only averages out at maybe four evenings a month, plus some admin stuff. I regard my writing as being a ‘proper’ job too, so I make time (on a normal day) for writing, promo, etc. The only time I rarely write a thing is when we’re away from home, on holiday or a short break.

Were you a keen reader as a child and to which books did you return?

Yes. I read and reread Tolkien, James Thurber and an odd book called On the Track of Unknown Animals!

At what point in your life did you realise you wanted to write?

I’ve always made up stories in my head – or to amuse the girls when they were younger – but it was only when I discovered the Hornblower fandom (and the wonder of fanfic) that I started to get the ideas out of my head and onto ‘paper’.

Which authors inspired you and why?

Patrick O’Brian, because he’s the king of characterisation and Mary Renault because she can say more in one sentence than most authors can in an entire page.

You write historical gay romance – what in particular drew you to this genre?

The simple answer is that I think it chose me, rather than vice versa. Those are the stories that come in to my head. If I think a bit deeper, I guess that I’ve always loved period fiction, whether it’s O’Brian’s Age of Sail stories or golden age mysteries (Sayers, Christie and the like). I also love books from the late 19^th/early 20^th centuries. Conan Doyle, Jerome K Jerome – bring them on!

Tell me about the Cambridge Fellow Mysteries?

I’m a great fan of classic mysteries and one of my favourites is “Death at the President’s Lodging”. Great murder mystery (I defy anyone to solve it) and it has a couple of really ‘slashy’ scenes. I was reading them and thought, “Isn’t it a shame there aren’t classic age mysteries with gay detectives?” So I started to write one.

It had to be set in Cambridge because that’s my old University, it had to be Edwardian because that’s one of my favourite eras from which to read books and it had to feature two gorgeous blokes…because it had to.

The books are both mysteries and romances, and cover the developments in Jonty and Orlando’s relationship against a background of murder, mayhem and dotty secondary characters.

Did you set out to write a series?

Nope. It just happened. (That’s a pretty common experience for me.)

How do you go about researching crimes?

I don’t. Not actively, anyway. Let me explain – much of my research has come almost by osmosis. I have a magpie mind, which accumulates things from books, films, pictures, newspapers, etc, so I have a hoard of information for the era I’m writing in and – because I’ve read so many crime books – I have a bank of crime info to draw on as well. I do check facts as I go along, but the broad brush things are in place.

From where did the characters Jonty and Orlando appear?

I want to say that they sprang fully formed from my noddle, but that’s only partly true. Jonty was inspired by the wonderful actor Jamie Bamber, who seems to specialise in characters who suffer nobly (and beautifully), and then get shot. Both his looks and some of the situations I’d seen him in helped to form Jonty, although his sense of mischief is all mine.

Orlando? Hm, he’s drawn from those sort of ultra clever, slightly odd heroes of mine (Alan Turing ) and Sherlock Holmes spring to mind). I wanted him to be a complete contrast to Jonty and to fall helplessly in love with him, without realising what was going on.

What other projects do you have lined up?

In February I have a short story coming out from Carina. “Dreams of a Hero” is inspired by the Matt Alber song “Boeotia” and shows what can happen to even the most mild mannered person when they start having strange dreams. I also have a Paralympic themed short out form MLR in 2012.

And there’s about half a dozen half written stories to finish and submit over the next year. Surprising how far 500 words a day can go!

Which books are in your To Be Read pile and which books would you personally recommend?

Does it sound odd to say that my TBR pile is an unknown? I need to find a series which inspires me to read it through avidly, in the same way that the Ladies No 1 Detective Agency or the Bryant and May books did. Any recommendations?

As for my recces, I’ll go with my genre. “Whistling in the Dark” by Tamara Allen is a great gay historical. And “The Charioteer” by Mary Renault is a must read for any prospective author as well as being a cracking story. And I recently very much enjoyed “A Hundred Little Lies” by Jon Wilson.

In my head, because you write Historicals, I am imagining you sitting at an old, captain’s desk, quill in hand and fingers stained with ink, scratching out your manuscript. Normally at this point, I ask my guest if they are a pen and paper person or a straight to pc writer, but I am enjoying the quill and ink pot image, so I think I will leave it there.

If I had a quill and pot I’d be covered from head to toe in ink within seven and a half minutes. I really am ridiculously clumsy and messy.

Thank you so much for being my guest, Charlie. Enjoy 2012. I hear there’s some sport thing happening in the summer….

You can follow Charlie on Twitter, on her website through Facebook and via her blog.

Comments:

Charlie Cochrane:

1/14/2012 10:49:30 AM

Thanks, Gaycrow.

Gaycrow

I didn’t realise that book had been written on the way toAustralia. Life’s coincidences – don’t you love them? Will answer re series at LJ.

Laura E. James:

1/13/2012 10:57:10 PM

Thanks.

Gaycrow – thank you for your comment. I’m glad you enjoyed the interview all the way over inSouth Australia!

Charlie – it’s a pleasure having you here and you’re welcome any time.

Gaycrow:

1/13/2012 8:24:58 PM

Charlie’s interview.

(Here via Charlie’s LJ.) I really enjoyed this interview. I hadn’t heard of “Death at the President’s Lodging”, and managed to find a copy at my local library. It was interesting to find out that the author wrote it on the way toSouth Australia, which is where I live. I’m looking forward to reading the book very much.

 I have a couple of series to recommend … I’ll do that at LJ.

Charlie Cochrane:

1/13/2012 4:40:37 PM

Thank you!

Thank you for hosting me. I had great fun with these answers.