Readers often ask me about my books and writing and I thought I’d add a few of the most common questions here.
What was your inspiration for the Seaside Girls?
When I was 9, my parents took over the management of the Pier Hotel, which was directly opposite Cleethorpes pier. The beach was a hop, skip and a jump away. It was paradise for a child, although hard work for my parents. My two sisters and I were given a ‘golden ticket’ to see all the shows on the pier, and we saw many variety stars when they came to play there.
When I was sixteen, I started working backstage at the pier theatre, in the holidays and after school. I was fascinated by the way performers transformed once they were on the stage. I suppose it was the contrast between the ordinary and the extraordinary that appealed to me. There is a sense of magic about it, and to me there always will be. I wanted to write about what goes into bringing that magic to life.
Is Fishers Wharf a real place?
Fishers Wharf isn’t a real place as such, but the books are set on and around Grimsby Docks. Mariners Row is similar to the dwellings that existed off King Edward Street at the turn of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. They were demolished in the 1930s.
The other streets I mention do exist: Henderson Street, Freeman Street, Park Street, and so on. But homes and businesses – for instance, Saxon Hall and Parkers’ Chandlery are of my imagination, supported by the knowledge of similar buildings in the area. Locals would immediately identify Saxon Hall as Weelsby Hall. Changing the names allows me to design the interior of the buildings with freedom – and reduces the chance that I might libel a former resident!
Are the characters based on real people?
No, not one of them. I read a huge number of biographies and use some of the details blended with my own experience as a starting point for my characters, slowly building their personalities and traits as I work.
I select images from magazines or the internet to give me a sense of character, not necessarily what they look like, but a sense of their emotional make-up. For instance, I have a photo of Sean Bean as inspiration for Alec Hardy, but it’s only one image that holds the essence of him, the other photos of Sean Bean have nothing at all that resembles the way I think of Alec Hardy. Similarly, Sam Neil is my inspiration for Jack Holland, who owns the Empire Theatre in the Seaside Girls. He has a beard and is smiling towards the camera. His eyes are full of life and kindness, and that sums up Jack perfectly.
Where do you write?
I have a room of my own, but for many years I used to write in the spare room. I had a small table that was raised on house bricks to make it the right height to work at, and my books and papers were laid out on the single bed. If anyone came to stay, they had to be packed away. There was barely enough room to swing the proverbial cat, but I could close the door once my children were in bed and I had an hour or two to myself.
When the first book in the Dockyard Girls series was published (as The Women of Fishers Wharf), my husband surprised me with an antique French desk. It’s absolutely beautiful, lovely and wide with hidden drawers where I had my chocolate stash. It’s a five-star desk, but the one-star desk was perfectly adequate. If you really want to write, you can write anywhere.
How do you write? – by hand or on the computer
Both. I take notes by hand – I have a notepad by the bed. Then I tear off the pages and add them to the word document on the PC. Transcribing the words gets the motor running and before I know it, I’m adding to the story and another hour has passed.
Do you keep regular hours?
I try to keep regular morning hours when I’m working on a book. The rhythm is helpful and keeps me focused. Writing a book and holding all the characters and story threads in your head is quite a strain. If I take a week off, it’s difficult (but not impossible) to remember all that has gone before. So, once I’m committed, I try to write at the same time every day, roughly around 10am – 1pm.
If I have a deadline looming or the words are coming thick and fast, I might work for a few hours in the evening. It’s actually quite draining to work so intensely, and quite often I need a break from living inside my head for too long. Getting outside and doing a spot of gardening, or walking the dogs, gives my brain time to relax, and I often find that’s when the ideas start flowing again.
Did you always want to be a writer?
I always wanted to tell my grandmother’s stories, but I didn’t know where to begin. More than that, was the fact that I had little confidence in myself. There were many false starts, many dead ends.
I joined a writers group when my youngest child started nursery, and for three hours on a Friday, I began to seriously work at my writing. I gained such wonderful support from the other members.
Over time, I published a few articles and then joined another group, where Della Galton was the tutor. She’d had hundreds of short stories published in weekly magazines and was so very encouraging.
The turning point came when I attended a writing course tutored by the author Margaret Graham, who subsequently became my mentor. I owe her so much.
It wasn’t long before I had my first short story published in the People’s Friend, followed soon after by one in Women’s Weekly.
There were many, many rejections along the way, but I learned that it was nothing personal; I just hadn’t quite hit the mark. The more I wrote, the more successful my success rate became. Nothing is ever wasted. I learned an enormous amount writing short stories.
What advice would you give budding authors?
Write. Read. Connect with others who are on the same path and those who might be further ahead of where you want to be. To paraphrase Eric Morecambe, ‘Don’t be afraid of putting down all the wrong words in all the wrong order.’
Writing is messy; nothing comes out right the first time. You wouldn’t sit down at a piano and expect to play a concerto on your first lesson, would you? Writing is a craft. The more you write, the more you learn. It’s all very well having great ideas, but nothing will come of them if you don’t write them down.