Oh yes, any trip to IKEA should be rewarded with a bite of lunch. Fortunately, the Croydon store wasn’t too busy when I visited last week and I came away with all the purchases on my list… and not much more. (The marketplace is fatal for picking up just another bargain.) I was interested to note there’s a scene set in IKEA in You by Caroline Kepnes, where the protagonist helps his muse to buy a bed. I am late to this novel (it’s now available on Netflix) but I did find it a compelling story and it made me realise how few books I’ve read recently where the main viewpoint character is male.
On this occasion it’s David and our friend Martin at the helm of a GoBoat. This electric-powered boat took us on a jaunt along the River Thames from Kingston and the table provided an excellent way to share a picnic. I’ve been madly searching Google to find the name of the romantic novel which I think was set in Copenhagen and features GoBoats. Instead, I’ve come up with an AI overview of how I can write a novel based on my search:
The protagonist, a travel writer, is tasked with documenting the “hidden gems” of Copenhagen. She meets a local guide while exploring the city’s canals, and they decide to take a GoBoat tour…
Although I find plot the hardest thing to nail as a writer, but I won’t be resorting to AI any time soon.
I am a member of the Women’s Institute (WI) and was delighted to join the Kingston branch to talk about my journey to becoming a published author. Here I am with the audience waiting for my session to be introduced.
Although I planned the talk carefully and rehearsed it twice, I was still nervous. Thankfully, the audience were very kind and receptive… and it turned out to be a lot of fun. There were many questions at the end of my thirty-five minutes of delivery and I was pleased to share my inspiration and approaches to writing with such an interested and responsive group.
The KWI book group will be discussing The Secret Life of Carolyn Russellin August and asked me to devise a few questions. I thought followers of this blog might also be interested so I’ve pasted them below:
I was invited to review Amanda Huggins‘ latest publication titled Each of Us a Petal which is a stunning collection of stories of and from Japan.
Here’s the blurb:
This collection of short fiction from award-winning author Amanda Huggins takes us on a journey through Japan, from the hustle of city bars to the silence of snow country. The people, culture and complex social mores of this beguiling country have inspired Huggins’ writing ever since she first visited Japan almost twenty years ago.
Whether they are Japanese nationals or foreign tourists, temporary residents or those recalling their time in Japan from a distance, the men and women in these stories are often adrift and searching for a connection. Many are estranged from their normal lives, navigating the unfamiliar while trying to make sense of the human condition, or find themselves restrained by the formalities of traditional culture as they struggle to forge new relationships outside those boundaries. Others are forced to question their perceptions when they find themselves drawn into an unsettling world of shapeshifting deities and the ghosts of the past.
What impresses me most about this collection is Huggins’ ability to enter a very different culture and focus on the similarities that bring us all together. She taps into themes of yearning, loneliness and being on the outside to show these as universal experiences, as well as celebrating love and personal connections. It made me reflect on a family visit to Tokyo in 2010 while on a stopover to Australia. My tall and blonde teenage son was head and shoulders above the crowds at the Shibuya Crossing, the world’s busiest pedestrian crossing yet we still melded into the city’s backdrop of quiet gardens.
The collection also reminded me of the 2003 film Lost in Translation where Scarlett Johannson and Bill Murray play characters drawn together amidst the strange and sometimes unsettling experience of high-rise living in Tokyo.
Huggins has a keen eye and focuses on small things in her stories such as a knife or a key or a sparrow’s footprints which all bring a wider meaning to the reader. It is a delightful collection which I highly recommend. Although the book was released by Victorina Press, the publisher has since closed and your only option to purchase a copy is through the author’s blog. Do pop over and grab a copy before they’re all gone!
Incidentally, if your’e interested in purchasing copies of my Victorina Press publications they’re now available from the online shop at bargain prices. Get my coming-of-age debut, The String Gamesfor only £3 or Pandemonium a delightful children’s picture book for only £2.
When friends who lived in Japan visit next week, I’m looking forward to recommending Each of Us a Petal to them.
It’s less than a week until I’ll be running a workshop at the Bournemouth Writing Festival. I’ll be sharing my experience of winning a publication contract with Bloodhound Books after entering a pitch competition for The Secret Life of Carolyn Russell. The workshop will include tips and hints for anyone wishing to develop skills in online pitching of a manuscript. The event is a new one on the Dorset writing scene and the programme has grown considerable since the inaugural year in 2023. I’m pleased to be delivering on Sunday 28 April 2024 alongside writing friends Paula Harmon and Alice Fowler. Do check out the full programme!
I purchased a Book Spa as a birthday gift for my daughter in 2023. It’s been a long time coming (I reserved a place for myself too) and we finally made the trip to Mr B’s in Bath this week. The Book Spa involves chatting with a member of the bookselling team over tea and cake to gain an idea of our interests. Nethmi then collected a tower of books for us to browse. (The Reading Spa includes £60 to spend on books, plus a Mr B’s mug and cloth bag and a £10 gift card for future purchases.) Here is the stash of books I chose.
I went with a broad range of requests (and likewise my daughter) but these are the books I took away with me:
A novel written in second person: How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Hamid. A riveting tale of one man’s journey from impoverished rural boy to corporate tycoon.
The manuscript of my latest novel is almost ready for submitting to agents and publishers. I was in the same position two years ago and it took ten months to secure a deal. I’m going to use the same approach as before. I’ve compiled a list of where to send the manuscript and will work through it by sending out submissions in batches. In the last few weeks, I’ve been polishing the opening chapters and was keen to look back to see how the first paragraph had changed during the latest revisions. The essence remains the same but little tweaks have meant the writing is tighter. Here are the paragraphs for you to compare:
July 2023, Slingback Resort
Moonlight slid through the full-length windows and illuminated the trail of their abandoned clothes across the hotel bedroom floor. Night came early in the southern hemisphere and Ashley anticipated the rest of their evening. She wanted to enjoy drinks on the terrace but it wasn’t the right time to suggest the idea. Instead, she straightened the pillow in its white cotton case and rested against it. The air conditioning pumped cool waves across their naked bodies and she longed to share the warmth emanating from James’s skin. Inhaling the briny smell of sex and sweat, Ashley moved closer and placed her head into the nook between his chin and shoulder. A sigh made her slump closer.
November 2023, Three Couples
Moonlight slunk into the hotel room and Ashley noticed how it illuminated the trail of abandoned clothes across the marble floor. James had cracked her open like a nut. She stretched on top of rucked cotton sheets until a tap on her shoulder registered. His index finger commanded that she tuck her head into the nook between his shoulder and chin. She settled into place there, and found the musky smell of him soothing. James sighed as the tension he carried evaporated. It was the same for her. She enjoyed a momentary sense of relaxation but then heat from his body pulsed and she was glad of cool bursts from the air conditioning unit.
Apologies for the extended gap between posts. Behind the scenes I’ve been busy working on my latest novel – and also a couple of pitches which I submitted as part of Bookouture’s annual pitch party on 5 December. Here are two pitches I submitted for a novel which has the working title The Upgrade.
MORIARTY x CLARK-PLATTS
During a holiday on a remote tropical island, a woman gets caught up in tensions between the local population and rich tourists. The husband she should be able to trust is the reason she’s a target. Can she escape the ensuing danger?
FOLEY x THE WHITE LOTUS
Three mismatched couples form a competitive friendship while on holiday. Amongst the flirt, the bully and the show-off is somebody with a secret. Temperatures rise and storms threaten. Who’s to blame when one of the group goes missing?
If you’d like to help me out with a little market research, please let me know in the comments which pitch you prefer. There’s another opportunity coming up with Kate Nash Literary Agency for their 2024 Bootcamp Mentorship and I’d like to get my ducks in a row.
Yesterday I was invited to join Sampford Courtenay Novel Writers to talk about The Secret Life of Carolyn Russell. It was a really fun morning where I got to share lots of tips and tricks for completing a novel. If you’d like me to attend your writing or book group (so long as it’s accessible from Dorset or London), please let me know.
One of the joys of social media is the chance to meet other writers online. In response to a tweet/X where I offered an interview on The Writer is a Lonely Hunter, I was delighted to be contacted by Lucy S Johnson. I found the title of her most recent work The Sizewell Murders intriguing and I was pleased to read an excerpt. Here’s a little more information about Lucy and her work.
About Lucy
Lucy S Johnson writes crime fiction under the name of Ellis Johnson. This includes the Mary Slacker novelette duology (featuring an ensemble cast of chattering class wannabes) and her forthcoming D C I Doggett series – kicking off with ‘The Sizewell Murders’ (where a rotating cast of criminals, set in sleepy Suffolk, confront murder most foul against the backdrop of the construction of a new nuclear power facility in the area).
Writing Career: Lucy began writing seriously at about thirteen. In 1995, she started the first draft of a story about crazy film students, which would become her first novel, a retelling of Michael Powell’s ‘Peeping Tom’, featuring an array of officers, detectives, and a hapless web designer facing the bewildering prospect of online dating with catastrophic and deadly results.
Suffolk is also the setting for Lucy’s upcoming series of D C I Woolley mysteries. Novels such as her forthcoming ‘Ghost Car’ are set in or near to Beccles, while other books include a variety of different settings, in particular North London.
Lucy currently resides in Bungay, Suffolk, on her own without so much as a cat. She is a boat owner, reader, movie lover, and can actually play the guitar!
About The Sizewell Murders
In ‘The Sizewell Murders’, indie writer Lucy S Johnson redefines the crime genre for the 21st century. She takes all the well-worn but much-loved tropes fans will recognise and gives them a new spin that update the time-honoured staples of the genre. A grizzled old copper (DCI Doggett) is tempted out of retirement to investigate the disappearance of a beautiful young girl (Cora – the chief nimby’s cleaner). As Simon tries to clinch the deal his problems seem to multiply – are his spoilt, rich daughters involved or implicated, can his marriage survive the strain?! In doing so she meets the high standards that all crime fans will expect – the cherry on the cake is that her writing is hilarious and she is having the time of her life as an author.
Join Lucy on her writer’s journey.
And now, onto the Q & A:
GA: What got you started as a writer?
I started a few years back – I found out that it was possible to publish your own work and promote it via Amazon in conjunction with social media channels. I just got on with it.
Much of August was taken up with a rather wonderful cruise around the Norwegian fjords. We went because I’d bought a lavish evening dress in 2022 and hadn’t had a chance to wear it. There was also the small matter of a 32nd wedding anniversary to celebrate. (Our 30th was a damp squib thanks to Covid.) I wasn’t entirely confident cruising was going to be our thing and I couldn’t imagine what it would be like on the ship – my nearest comparison was a shopping centre! I’m pleased to report P&O’s Aurora was a delightful place to spend time. Here are my top three highlights of the holiday:
Skjolden
After two days at sea looking out on nothing more than (thankfully) flat, grey water and the occasional cargo ship or off-shore wind farm, we woke up in Skjolden (otherwise known as the king of fjords). We went for a walk around a lake and admired the reflections in the water and strolled past a couple of dramatic waterfalls.
Visits to Norwegian towns
We docked at eight different places. Usually we could walk straight off the ship but on one occasion had to catch a tender. Most of the towns boasted churches, museums and riverside walks. I can’t say these brief visits really provided a sense of place but the beauty of the fjords in which they were nestled was undeniable.
Onboard activities
Each evening we were provided with a programme of events for the following day. During the cruise, I enjoyed lectures on art and Norwegian history, I joined line dancing and dance fit classes as well as regular sessions at the gym. I even attended a vocal workshop. We were allocated a dinner table in the restaurant at 8:30pm and found our travelling companions to be great fun. And, of course, there were two occasions when I got to wear the lavish green evening dress on formal nights. Thanks to plenty of exercise and portion control on restaurant servings, I avoided putting on any weight.
You may notice the lavish green dress matches the cover of The Secret Life of Carolyn Russell perfectly. From today for the whole month of September, you can buy a kindle copy for only 99p. Do check out the other suspense titles from Bloodhound Books, too.
It’s my pleasure to welcome Deborah Klée to The Writer is a Lonely Hunter on the publication day of her fourth novel The Last Act. I first met Deborah as a host and founder of #FriSalon, a weekly tweetchat held on Fridays at 4pm BST where writers come together to discuss a writing topic, share tips and resources. Since then, I’ve been a guest on her podcast The Mindful Writer where we explored the psychological and emotion journey to becoming a writer. These activities demonstrate how committed Deborah is to supporting the writing community and it’s a laudable endeavour. However, the purpose of this interview is to discover the inside story to her latest novel, The Last Act. Here’s the blurb to whet your appetite:
The Last Act
It is 1980 and Jojo Evans is living the dream. Perfect job, perfect man, perfect life – but is it all an illusion?
Jojo doesn’t think so – she cannot believe her good fortune, working as magician’s assistant to her charismatic boyfriend, The Incredible Nico, and sharing his luxurious flat is a far cry from her life in a squat working as a street performer.
Best friend, Annie Daley, isn’t so sure. Jojo seems bewitched by this new boyfriend, and Annie doesn’t trust him.
When Jojo receives an anonymous note warning her to keep away from Nico, the friends suspect it’s from a jealous fan. But the threats that follow cannot be so easily dismissed, and Jojo fears for her life. Annie volunteers to investigate, and enters the world of the Golden Globe Theatre, where nothing is as it seems.
As tensions mount to a career-making show finale, things spiral out of control. Will Jojo and Annie see through the smoke and mirrors in time to save their lives, or is this to be their last act?
With a story based in 1980 and an unusual setting, what was the inspiration behind this novel?
The inspiration was a writing prompt in a creative writing class fifteen years ago. The prompt was one word. Mirrors. We were asked to write 5k words and share 1k each time we met as a group. When I shared the 5k story, my tutor suggested it was the outline of a novel. It was the premise of this story that led me to write novels. I wrote several more novels and had three published before returning to this story. I kept the premise, characters and setting but changed the plot and set it in 1980.
1980 was a time of change. Woman were experiencing power in the workplace for the first time. The entertainment industry was being transformed with new-wave acts: Monty Python’s Flying Circus, Punk Rock. I experienced the 1980s in my teens and so it was fun to recollect those years.
JoJo and Annie are great characters. Did you set out to make female friendship significant in the story?
I don’t think I set out to write about female friendship, but it is important to me and therefore finds a way into most of my novels. Jojo and Annie’s friendship is challenged when their lives take different directions. The feelings of being left behind, envy, and bereavement are ones I’ve experienced at different stages of my life with close friendships. I wanted to explore that.
How do you decide on names and nicknames for your characters?
Sometimes I use a name generator on Google for suggestions. In The Last Act I chose the names early on, thinking I could change them later, but once I knew my characters I couldn’t – they are their names! Annie Apple-cheeks, Annabelle’s nickname, just came to me, as Jojo exclaimed it in my head. I imagine Annie with a pretty, round, and open face.
A girl I knew at college had a boyfriend called Nick and, wanting to sound Italian, he changed it to Nico. So, I borrowed from him.
The novel is written with two viewpoint characters (JoJo and Annie). Did you organise the changes of viewpoint at the planning stage?
I did. I grappled for a short while with whose story it was – Jojo’s or Annie’s. I decided it was about their friendship and they were equally important to the story. So, I gave them equal space. I love them both, Jojo for her energy and imagination, Annie for her loyalty and kindness.
Your prologue is particularly interesting as it includes interview quotes with staff from the Golden Globe following a fire at the Victorian theatre. Why did you decide on this format?
I start and finish with news reports. The Last Act is about performers at The Golden Globe Theatre competing for media attention in the hope it will launch them to stardom. Little Fires Everywhere and Big Little Lies use a similar technique in reporting an incident in the prologue. I wanted to create intrigue and focus the reader on the theatre’s big night when the last act would offer up the next big star in the world of magic.
Danger in the novel comes in many forms. Romantic relationships are complicated and add to the jeopardy. Was this your intention when you set out to write the book?
I started with the premise of the note: If you value your life, keep away from him. I realised that this could have two meanings. The threat could come from within the relationship or from outside of it.
What’s next for you Deborah?
I have just finished writing a dual timeline novel set in WWII and 1960s, The Evacuee’s Secret. A North Yorkshire village flooded in 1966 to create a reservoir inspired this novel. I would like to write more dual timeline stories and have a couple more in my head waiting to be written.
Thank you for joining me on The Writer is a Lonely Hunter, Deborah. It’s been great to find out more about you and your novel The Last Act.
About Deborah Klée
Deborah Klée is an award-winning author of page-turning, uplifting stories about friendship, community, and emotional courage. After a career in health and social care: an occupational therapist, health service manager, freelance journalist, and management consultant, she now enjoys writing happy endings for her protagonists.
Deborah lives on the Essex coast, where she loves to walk by the sea or the surrounding countryside filling her pockets with shells, and acorns, and her head with stories.
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