A short while ago I received an email from author Karen McCann inviting me to pass the torch for her in “The Next Big Thing".  Karen is the author of Dancing in the Fountain, a fun book about living in and loving Spain. An American, who moved to Spain with her husband in 2004, this is her story of how she fell in love with Seville.  The book is light, informative and very amusing.
“The Next Big Thing” is all about what writers / bloggers are working on, what will be their next big project. The idea is that each week an author passes the torch on to five others for the following week’s “The Next Big Thing."

So here goes :-

What is the working title of your book?

Santiago Tales

Where did the idea come from for the book?

Years ago I visited Santiago de Compostela and was fascinated by its history.  I was also intrigued by the idea of going on a pilgrimage.  In fact I never did do a pilgrimage but decided to send my characters on one instead.

What genre does your book fall under?

Women's contemporary fiction

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Kate Winslett would make a wonderful Beth

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Multilingual and multi-national they come to Santiago de Compostela, hoping to find an answer to their problems, even Beth, who does not believe in miracles.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

It's too soon to say.  I have a publisher, who seems to be interested but if that comes to nothing, then I will self-publish it.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your book?

About three to four months.  Since then there have been numerous revisions.

What other books would you compare this to within your genre?

It's difficult to say because the book has a number of short stories within a main story.

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

I fancied writing a book along the lines of The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, but wanted to put it in a modern setting.  The Camino de Santiago seemed an ideal place to set the action.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

It is a very human story about a women who is at a low point in her life and it shows how she manages to overcome her problems and emerge, stronger than ever.  She meets a number of interesting people on her pilgrimage and each one has a tale to tell.


That's all there is to the questions.  Now I list my five authors that have agreed to take up the torch from me.

They are:
JG HARLOND author of  the historical novels "The Chosen Man" and "The Magpie" .  Jane also writes English text books for the OUP, under the name Jane Arredondo.

ANN VICTORIA ROBERTS' latest book, "The Master's Tale", is the story of the ill-fated captain of the Titanic; she has also written a number of historical novels, including the best-seller, "Louisa Elliott".

ANGELA CLARENCE has been a travel writer for the last twenty years.  Lately she has been turning her hand to writing romantic novels.

RICHARD TORNE is a journalist and editor of the English language newspaper Costa Almeria News.  He is also the author of "A Dedicated Maniac", the story of film director David Lean's right hand man Eddie Fowlie.


RICHARD DONOVAN is the author of the exciting novel "Cape Torment".  Based on a true story about a horrific plane crash in Canada, this well researched book cleverly  reveals how a cold blooded killer was responsible for the death of crew and passengers of the Canadian Pacific Airlines DC-3 on


Many thanks to the wonderfully talented authors for taking part in this, please do go and visit their websites and read their books. (Click on their names to go directly to their websites.)

How do you find the time to write?  This is a question that I am often asked.  The answer is simple really: if you want to do something enough then you find the time.  Everyone has a different approach to writing but, whatever that is, you need to stick to it.  A set regime, be it strict or lax, is necessary, otherwise there are always things that will get in your way.  The worst thief of your time these days is the internet and in particular social networking.  I can be typing away merrily, involved in my new character, when 'ping', a message has arrived in my mailbox from Twitter or someone on Facebook wants to tell me about their day.  I could ignore it, and sometimes I do, but out of the corner of my eye I can see the number of unanswered emails incrementing steadily.  In the end I usually cave in and open my mailbox.  Then there is the temptation of a cup of coffee.  I have even been known, when things were not going well, to abandon my writing and do the ironing instead.

In order to minimise the distractions, I set myself specific times for writing.  As I am a morning person I like to write from ten until two, four hours a day minimum.  This leaves me a couple of hours beforehand to check emails, walk the dogs and get any other little jobs out of the way.  If things are going well, or sometimes if they are going badly, I also work for a couple of hours in the late afternoon; this is when I review what I have written, checking punctuation, grammar, context etc.  Sometimes I print out my morning's work so that I can see it on paper; it's easier to pick up the mistakes that way.  

Some writers calculate their output by time: Ann Victoria Roberts, author of The Master's Tale, writes from ten until six, a full day's work; J G Harlond, author of the historical novel, The Chosen Man, has this to say about how she tackles her work:
So it all comes down to the individual and what's comfortable for you.  Some people just write and write, regardless of punctuation and grammar, until they have the whole book in a draft form; then they edit it.  Others, like me, like to edit as they go along.  It is just a question of preference.  What matters is that it is done and that the finished book fulfils your objectives.  

The editing and reviewing process is very important, too important to be left to an editor.  The author must remain in control of the story because only they know where the story is leading.  A good editor, however, can help the writer to see the wood amongst a forest of trees, help them clarify their objectives.  Here are some of the questions that writers need to ask when editing their work:
'What is the book trying to achieve?'
'Who are your readers?'
'Is the genre of the book clear?  Does it sit comfortably in that genre?'
'Is the language appropriate for the designated reader?'
'Who is telling the story?'

Choose your preferred writing style and stick to it.  Plan your work and make yourself a writing schedule.  You will be amazed at what you can achieve.

Q:  Your latest novel, THE MASTER’S TALE, is a gripping account of the life of Captain Edward Smith, the Master of the TITANIC. What inspired you to write this particular story?
A:  In the summer of 2008, just as I was about to start work on a novel about the English Civil War, Captain Smith appeared in my life. As these things often are, it was a matter of chance. 
My husband Peter – a Master Mariner – came home after a routine visit to the Southampton Pilots’ Office with an extraordinary tale about Captain Smith and the Titanic. I was keen to see what he’d been looking at, so the office manager very kindly invited me down. Out of a metal filing cupboard, he brought out a great leather bound volume, the Dock Master’s Log Book for 1912. This official, handwritten document recorded the details of all ships entering and leaving the port of Southampton. 
He opened it to April, and there was Titanic’s name – with that of her Captain – Smith – departing at noon on April 10th.  Knowing what was to happen just five days later, I shivered. But then the pages were turned back to show two previous entries. And what they suggested changed my whole perception of the Titanic tragedy.
On March 30th, at 6 in the morning, just 11 days before Titanic set sail on her maiden voyage, the liner Olympic, with her Captain – Smith – was logged coming into Southampton from New York. 
I couldn’t have said exactly why at the time, but it seemed odd. I remember thinking he hadn’t had much time off before taking command of the new ship. But it was the next entry that set the hairs on my neck prickling.  Just after midnight on April 4th, less than 5 days after arriving from New York on Olympic, Captain Smith was again logged inwards by the Southampton Dock Master. This time the ship he brought in was Titanic – from Belfast.
We checked times and dates again. It didn’t seem feasible at first. But this was a legal document – and the facts were there before us. We worked it out. If Smith left the Olympic as soon as Customs and Immigration had cleared the ship, he could have taken the boat train up to London, the afternoon train to Liverpool and overnight ferry to Belfast, to arrive next morning, March 31st. 
I discovered later that the weather was bad, so the ship’s sea-trials did not take place until April 2nd. At 6 that evening Titanic was accepted on behalf of White Star. Captain Smith brought her back from Belfast, down the Irish Sea and up the Channel, to arrive in Southampton shortly after midnight on April 4th.  He would have been on the bridge for most of that time – some 36 hours, give or take the odd hour’s rest.  6 days later he was sailing again, for New York.
The pressure must have been phenomenal – and all this after a winter spent crossing the North Atlantic. 
 There are moments in every writer’s life when the urge to tell a story comes with a great flash of insight. In the early years of my marriage, I spent long months at sea with my husband, on voyages around the world. I know how bad the weather can be in the North Atlantic – and I know the kind of pressure that can be brought to bear on shipmasters by the companies they work for. So yes, I knew what those log book entries meant.
The evidence in that log book pointed to a man being pushed beyond the limits. And we must remember that at 62 years old, Captain Smith was not a young man. It was disturbing to say the least. Was he fit to take that ship to sea? Was the loss of Titanic his fault?
In any maritime disaster, the Captain must always carry the blame. His, after all, is the ultimate responsibility. But that’s not to say that Captain Smith was a fool.  This man was a professional, with some 45 years’ experience at sea – so there had to be more to it than that. What was going on beforehand? Where did this tragedy start?
I’ve never been a Titanic buff – married to a man who went to sea for a living I’ve preferred not to dwell on maritime disasters. What I knew was mostly based on films and hearsay. But the log book was direct evidence, evidence I could relate to in a very personal way.
I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I started checking – looking at accounts on the Internet to begin with, later borrowing books from friends. It struck me that the tragedy was constantly being viewed in isolation, while facts about Captain Smith were often vague or inaccurate.
After that first flash of understanding, I felt the need to take up the case for Captain Smith. To set his story – and that of the Titanic – in context. If I’d been a biographer, then I’d have written a biography – but as I’m a writer who can’t resist putting words in my characters’ mouths, it had to be a novel. 

Q:  You have obviously had to do a tremendous amount of research for this book. Was the information easy to come by?

A:  Information about the Titanic was easy to find. There have been books without number concerning the ship, the fanfare, the luxury aboard, the experiences of the survivors, and the poignant details of those who lost their lives. But reliable facts about Captain Smith were difficult to come by. He had but one daughter, and she survived her children – so there were no descendants to tell his side of the story. Eventually in Southampton library I discovered a slim biography first written in the late 1990s by an historian from Stoke-on-Trent, Captain Smith’s birthplace. The author had done the Smith family history, and researched Smith’s professional career – details of ships and dates which gave me a short-cut to the facts. 
The author, Gary Cooper, has said since that his motive in writing was similar to mine – to set the record straight. But his knowledge of professional seafaring – like so many of the Titanic historians – was lacking. With the approach of the centenary, the History Press commissioned him to re-write Smith’s biography, and it was published late last year. Mr Cooper and I were in touch with each other while working on our respective books, and in return for his excellent factual information, I was able to correct some nautical errors and give him an insight into Captain Smith’s profession. Both books have benefited, I believe, from this collaboration.
The most vital information I obtained, concerned the court case following the collision between White Star’s Olympic and HMS Hawke. Since time was short, I engaged a professional researcher specialising in maritime history, to obtain transcripts of the trial in which Captain Smith was a key witness. To my mind, that collision, and the subsequent court-case, is where the Titanic tragedy began.

Q:  Your husband is a Master Mariner, I believe. Did he help with some of the technical details?

A:  Yes, he did. Particularly with regard to navigation. But we both sweated blood trying to work out the visual reality of the collision between Olympic and HMS Hawke!

Q:  You have been writing now for quite a few years and successfully published a number of books: LOUISA ELLIOTT, LIAM’S STORY, DAGGER LANE, and MOON RISING, all historical novels. What is it that attracts you to the genre of the historical novel?

A:  I’ve always been fascinated by historical events as well as the history of places – and by the effects of the past upon the present. One of the reasons I felt so passionately about Captain Smith’s story, was because he was gaining his expertise at a time when maritime trade was everything. We imported raw materials from all over the world – and exported manufactured goods. Everything came and went by sea. Victoria’s empire was still building, and seafarers like Captain Smith were the men who put the great in Great Britain. 
On a different level, I was brought up with classic novels, and I guess my style of writing lends itself to the historical genre. Two of my novels, LIAM’S STORY and DAGGER LANE, are set in the present as well as the past, and to be honest I found the present-day sections very much harder to write. Somehow, having done my research, I can imagine myself in the past quite easily. I see the surroundings as they probably were at the time, and write from that perspective.
By the way, there’s an added plus to historical fiction: you don’t have to worry about being politically correct!

Q:  As a wife and mother you must lead a busy life. How do you find time to write? Do you work to a timetable or just write when you feel like it?

A:  When I started writing, my two children were at school and my husband was at sea on long voyages. Six months away with maybe two or three months at home between times. So writing was something which kept me occupied on a daily basis – it was another world, if you like, into which I could comfortably escape when reality got tough!  The children eventually grew up and left home, and in 2000 my husband came ashore to work, which entailed a move from York to Southampton. 
After that, writing fiction took a back seat for several years. I started painting again – enjoying the challenge and the quicker results. But once a writer, always a writer, and about 4 years ago I dug out some old research notes and started thinking about a new novel. I joined a local writers’ group, and have enjoyed the fun and the encouragement ever since.

How do I write? Well, nowadays, once I’ve begun writing, I like to work every day whenever possible, starting about 10 am and finishing about 6, with a short break for lunch. I try not to work at weekends, but if I’m on a roll I just want to keep going. A longish break of a couple of weeks or more can make it hard to pick up the thread, so I have to go back and revise just to get back into it.

Q:  As an experienced author, do you have any advice to give to new writers of historical fiction?

A:  My first completed novel was written in my early twenties – a slice of contemporary fiction that was rejected by at least a dozen publishers and literary agents. I was convinced I wasn’t meant to be a writer. The novel I longed to write (which eventually became LIAM’S STORY) was in my head for years, but all the advice I’d ever read treated history like some kind of quagmire. ‘Write what you know,’ the experts said. ‘Don’t be lured into historical fiction, which requires tons of research and has enormous pitfalls for the inexperienced novelist…’
Quite right. Except if history turns you on, and you’re willing to do the research because it fascinates you, then go for it. It’s what I did – felt the fear (to coin a phrase) and did it anyway. The research was a joy, and led me down paths I would never have trodden otherwise. Research made LOUISA ELLIOTT a big rich book in which 19th century York was almost one of the characters. But the reason for the novel’s success (or so I’ve been told) was that the themes were contemporary. In other words, I was writing about problems which are as relevant today as they were then.
So that is probably the key to grabbing your average reader. Historical fiction is rarely fashionable – but in the end it’s the characters that make a book, and your depiction of those characters must light a reader’s bonfire. 
Another bit of advice from a writer friend of mine, sadly no longer with us: ‘History must be part of the action, part of the characters’ lives. Not a backdrop against which the actors speak their lines…’
Another comment I’ve never forgotten came from a professional while I was still trying to gather courage after that first series of rejections. ‘Like all creative people,’ he said, ‘writers must be driven from within, by an idea that absolutely refuses to go away…’ 
So true. After all, nobody sensible would lock themselves away for months on end, scribbling away at a story that might never see the light of day. 
The satisfaction is in the creating of that other world – publication is just the icing on the cake. Reviews – if you are lucky – are the cherries. But the glowing candles are the letters from real readers, those wonderful people who have read your book, lived in your world for a while, and felt moved to write their words of appreciation. 
Even one such letter makes all the hard work worthwhile.

Punctuation 
Changes in fashion affect all aspects of our lives, even grammar, but when it comes to punctuation there is little that can be modernised without distortion.  The trend in recent years has been to under-punctuate but too little punctuation can be confusing for the reader.  

Some famous writers have experimented with using no or very little punctuation in their work, such as James Joyce in ‘Ulysses’.  The results can be dramatic but require a clarity of purpose and consistency of approach to be successful.  The average writer follows the general rules of punctuation for one very good reason: he wants his work to be read and understood by as many people as possible.

Good grammar is a mixture of common sense and custom, so a few simple rules can make all the difference to the quality of your book.  Don’t leave it up to your editor.  Make sure your book is punctuated the way you want it to be.

The full stop.
This is the easiest rule to follow.  A full stop marks the end of a sentence and is followed by a capital letter.  It is also used after an abbreviation or initials.

He saw the Revd. Smith enter the church.

The comma,
The use of commas varies according to taste and the meaning you wish to convey.  It is not used to separate sentences, only phrases, clauses and individual words.  It is, in essence, a pause rather than a stop.

The child, sitting by herself on the bench, pointed at him in horror.
She was a quiet girl, soft spoken and gentle.

A comma is unnecessary before ‘and’ unless it is required for extra emphasis.
It is also used to clarify meaning and avoid ambiguity.  Consider the following two sentences:

For the girl Mary Ellen was like a mother.
For the girl Mary, Ellen was like a mother.

The colon:
The colon is not as strong as a full stop, but is stronger than a comma or a semi-colon.  It is mainly used before a list of objects or to amplify what has gone before.

She emptied her shopping basket onto the table: potatoes, onions, tomatoes, beans and carrots tumbled out.
The average writer follows the general rules of punctuation for one very good reason: they want their work to be read and understood by as many people as possible.

The semi-colon;
The semi-colon is not as strong as the full-stop but it is used to break up long sentences.  It can be used to link together short sentences that have a close meaning.

She is in Spain and she is on her own; for the first time in her life she is travelling alone.
She is a seasoned walker she tells herself; she has walked many miles in these boots, not hard walks, but she has put in the distance.

The question mark?
The question mark is only used when you are asking a direct question.

What time is it?
I wonder what the time is.
I asked if she had the time.

The exclamation mark!
The exclamation is used to denote surprise or as emphasis but should be used sparingly, otherwise your text will read like a child’s comic.

Good God!  I can’t believe it!

The dash-
The dash can be used instead of a comma or brackets, when you want to add some background information to your sentence.

She approached the man warily - they had met once before, when she was visiting the prison- and handed him the packet.

The dash can also be used after the colon to introduce a list.

He packed for the journey:-  three shirts, spare shoes, a second pair of trousers and some underwear.

It can also be used at the end of an unfinished sentence

‘I don’t think I can carry on.  It’s just too -’
She paused.

Many years ago a professor of mine accused me of using too many dashes.  ‘Your essay reads like a Victorian novel,’ was his comment.  I have never used a dash since without considering if it is appropriate.

'Quotation marks or Inverted commas'
Single quotation marks are used for direct speech.

‘Hi, hope I didn’t disturb you,’ he says with a lazy smile.  ‘I want to get off early, before the hordes.’

Single quotation marks are also used for book titles, films, plays etc.

‘Wuthering Heights’ is an excellent novel.

If you use a title within direct speech then double quotation marks are used.

‘Have you read “Wuthering Heights” yet?’ she asked.

The apostrophe'
The apostrophe is often misused or omitted.  It is required when a letter is left out from a word or to denote possession.

‘Don’t touch that dish; it’s hot.’
That’s Mary’s bag.
The pilgrims’ robes were dirty and stained.

Note that ‘its’, when it is used in the possessive sense, does not have an apostrophe.

Its cover was badly torn.
It’s sad that he does not take care of his books.

At the end of last year I received a phone call from a distraught mother who wanted me to ghost write a book for her about her missing daughter.  Amy Fitzpatrick had disappeared on her way home from a friend's house on New Year's Day 2008.  There has been no trace of her since.  Ghost writing is not my usual occupation and I was reluctant to start but it was obvious that she needed to get something written, so I agreed and spent the next few months talking to the mother Audrey and her boyfriend Dave about the ordeal they had been going through.  I would drive along the coast to where they were living in Calahonda and tape our interviews, then return home to write them up.  Email was a boon and I could email them chapters for their approval as we went along.  I tried to remain detached from their distress but it was not easy.  It was a very emotional experience.  Relating what had happened was terribly hard for them and more than once one or the other had to break off and leave the room, tears beginning to flow.  I would arrive home emotionally drained.
Being a mother it was all to easy for me to relate to their suffering.  What could be worse I asked myself, over and over again, than to lose a child and not know if they were alive or dead.
In the end the book I wrote was never published.  The family returned to Ireland and were approached by a national newspaper who wanted to publish their story but insisted on using their own writer.  This week the new version of the book is on sale.  It is entitled Please Find My Amy.  I hope lots of people buy it and that one of them remembers something, some small detail that will help the police find out what happened to Amy Fitzpatrick that night in 2008.

Last Saturday's showcase for local talent on the Costa del Sol was, in itself, an inspiration but sadly poorly attended.  It proved an excellent forum for networking and talking to like-minded people about their work but unfortunately members of the public were notable by their absence.  The authors who read extracts from their books were varied in their subject matter but of an equally high standard in the quality of their prose.  Jean Gilhead's novella "Living in Bright Shadows" was both an evocative and touching portrayal of families.   There was an emotional extract from Patrick Stokes' first novel "The Harvest of Inadequate Lives", the story of a homosexual serial killer and JG Harlond read a scene from her newly published novel "The Chosen Man" which had listeners begging to hear more.  A talk by Alison Proctor on introvert and extrovert personalities generated lots of discussion and was particularly relevant to the authors and artists in her audience.  Most people of an artistic leaning have an introvert personality; they like to internalise their thoughts and work through things alone before committing themselves.  Today however, that is not enough, artists and authors have to reach deep inside themselves and find an extrovert side to their nature in order to market and publicise their work.  No wonder we find that part so hard.  It goes against our natures, literally. 

Guest interview with the novelist JG Harlond:

In your latest book, "The Chosen Man", you have an array of interesting and vivid characters.  How did you come up with them?  I particularly like the incidental characters, such as the mother-in-law and McNab.  What inspired them?

My new novel was something of an accident. I was working on the sequel to The Magpie, to cover the years 1940 – 1950, and went back to Cornwall to do some research. The house manager of Cotehele, which is the Tudor house in Cornwall that is the model for my fictional Crimphele, took me on a private tour, starting in the old Great Hall. As I walked in out of the watery English summer sun, I saw a tall, sinister figure step out of the shadows near the fireplace and disappear. His name was McNab. I knew that immediately.

Ludo, for instance, why did you choose such a squash-buckling rogue for your main character?  

After the Great Hall we wandered through the interconnecting bed chambers, examining Belgian tapestries and chatting about trade between Britain and the Low Countries then we onto the flat roof of the original 15th century fortress. I looked over the wall at a familiar scene, I used to live in the area and I know the River Tamar well. But this wasn’t now and it wasn’t 1940 - I looked down on the river and saw an inland barge bringing the charming rogue hero from The Magpie (set early C20th) upriver in the mid-17th century! After that we went over to look down at the interior Retainer's courtyard. And there was that nasty McNab again crossing to the stables, pretending he wasn’t watching me. But he was - I could feel it. Thinking back it's rather spooky, but to be honest, at the time it felt totally real. The man coming up river on the barge was Leo's ancestor Ludovico - Ludo because life’s all a game for him! Another charming rotter.  

And Alina?  She is an intriguing young woman, we are never sure, until the very end of the book, what she will do.  

Alina, who is the heroine, arrived that day as well, and virtually wrote the first half of the novel herself! The sequel to The Magpie was set aside and she started to dictate her life to me through colours - the colours of her tapestry wool. 

However, before I could let Alina take us much further I had to stop and do an awful lot of research. I hadn't planned to write about the tulip scandal in Holland in 1636, although I did know a little about it - fortunately. I had to read a good deal about the Hispano/Vatican conspiracy, starting with Eric Frattini's work 'The Entity'.

And the other characters, such as the mother-in-law?  She has a particularly strong personality.

 About the secondary and minor characters - well, that creep McNab in the shadows - all I can say is that he was there. Lady Marjorie, the mother-in-law? In the end I felt rather sorry for her. Very few people are wholly bad, like McNab: Lady Marjorie felt threatened and believed she had a lot to lose. 

I have to say I'm particularly fond of the witch/cook Crook-back Aggie. Years ago when I was a student, I had a menial job in a local hotel - there was a Crook-back Aggie there, but nowhere near as interesting.

Thank you Jane, I look forward to reading your next historical novel.

Why is it that some successful writers want to be considered as literary?  What is a book of literary fiction anyway?  Literary, according to the Concise Oxford Dictionary is: Of, constituting, occupied with, literature, polite learning, or books and written composition (especially the kind valued for form).  So, there you have it.  But where has the idea come from that some books can be categorized as literature and others not? Who do we consider to be the authors of literature?  Is there a list?  Why do we consider the books of Tolstoy and George Elliot  to be literature and not, say Ian McEwan or Graham Greene?  Or maybe I have it wrong.  Maybe the net of literary writing is much wider, maybe it includes the aforementioned and even Brenda Bainbridge and Margaret Attwood.  And, more to the point, why do we all want it so badly?

The publishers of one of my favourite authors, William Boyd, who has made a good living I imagine over the years with his excellent books, many of which have won prizes and been made into films, have taken to adding the word ‘literary’ to the blurb on their covers.   “A combination of suspense and literature” is attributed to one, while another sports the legend: “the art of the literary page-turner.”  Mr Boyd does not need this.  His work stands on its own merit.  His stories are readable, entertaining and well-written.  What more can we want?  Maybe, in a world where so many below-standard books are published, his publishers feel the need to point out that his work is written composition, especially the kind valued for form.