Two YA books about the paranormal on offer

 

 

Devils, demons, werewolves and other creatures of the night don’t have to be scary. In fact, at times they can be downright funny. They have their fair share of the type of problems we humans have – pesky monthly cycles, others out to get them, a lack of what they need and a surfeit of what they don’t want. They’re not immune to recessions either.

But we wouldn’t want to disappoint you. There are plenty of moments in this little collection that make you hold your breath, make you want to lock the door and turn the lights up and make you wish you hadn’t stayed home alone.

Laugh, cry and prepare to be scared… 

 

Tom crashes his car and he wakes up in an unfamiliar place. He is unable to reach Amanda. They argued just before the crash. He meets cheeky but friendly Marcus, who, though younger than Tom, has more experience in the areas that now matter. But Marcus has his own concerns and eventually has to leave Tom to deal with his problems on his own. How can Tom let Amanda know how much he loves her? Does she feel the same way? Will they ever be able to move forward?

£15.00 

 

 

Questions for Schools on Spooking

1. How did you find reading the book? Did you get into it straight away or did it take you a while to "get into it"? How did you feel reading it—amused, sad, disturbed, confused, bored...?

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2. Describe the main characters—personality traits, motivations, and inner qualities.
• Why do characters do what they do?
• Are their actions justified?
• Describe the relationships in the novel e.g. Tom and Amanda.  Amanda and her friends. Tom and Marcus.     
• How has the past shaped their lives?
• Do you admire or disapprove of them?
• Do they remind you of people you know?

·         Do you have a favourite character?  

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3. Are the main characters dynamic—changing or maturing by the end of the book? Do they learn about themselves, how the world works and their role in it?

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4. Discuss the plot:
• Do you find the story interesting?
• Is this a plot-driven book—a fast-paced page-turner?
• Can you outline the plot in six stages?
• Were you surprised by complications, twists & turns?

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5. Talk about the book's structure.
• Is it a continuous story...or interlocking short stories?
• Does the time-line move forward chronologically?
• Is there a single viewpoint or shifting viewpoints?
• Why might the author have chosen to tell the story
   the way he or she did?
• What difference does the structure make in the way
   you read or understand the book?

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6. What main ideas—themes—does the author explore? (Consider the title, often a clue to a theme.) Does the author use symbols to reinforce the main ideas?

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7. Which passages did you enjoy most?

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8. Is the ending satisfying? If so, why? If not, why not...and how would you change it?

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9. If you could ask the author a question, what would you ask? Have you read other books by the same author? If so how does this book compare. If not, does this book inspire you to read others?

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10. Has this novel changed you—broadened your perspective? Have you learned something new? What do you think of the Inbetween Place?  

Interviewing myself about Spooking

This went out of print last month. I’ve reedited it and I’m now going to self-publish it, both as a Kindle edition and a hard copy.

Here I interview myself about the novel.

1)      What is Spooking about?

It might be described as a paranormal romance. In fact, it has been described as such. However, there isn’t a vampire to be seen. The supernatural elements are quite gentle. Arguably it also a story about grief and mourning. It does have a reasonably upbeat ending, however.      

2)      Did you start with the story or with the characters?

In some senses one always starts with the characters. Story always comes from the tension between the players. Having said that, I normally have a two-line version of the whole story in my head. I then flesh that out into a full story arc and eventually produce a chapter break down. As I write, however, I find I need additional or different chapters and the characters start to take on a life of their own. Spooking was no different.   

    
3) What led you to write it?

The idea came, as they do, out of the blue. I always have two or three ideas for other novels whilst I’m working on the current one. I dread the day I run out of ideas. So far so good.  

4)      What real-life events or people inspired events or characters in this book?

The novel is set in two real places – the south coast in Hampshire and Bangor in north Wales. We used to live in Hampshire and I studied for my PhD in Bangor. The little blue car that crashes into the river is based on the car that my son and daughter used to drive.  It was a blue Ford Fiesta. It was a super little car. It too was called Binky. I now own another Ford Fiesta – a bright red modern one. Both of them have been very nice to drive and very reliable.

The actual story is completely fictitious.

     
5) What authors or stories inspire you as a writer? (i.e., who are the authors or stories that, if I like their stories, I will probably also like your stories?)

There are so many. Here are a few:

Michael Morpurgo

Philip Pulllman

Maeve Binchy

Neil Gaiman

Aiden Chambers

Charles Dickens

Monika Feth

Kate Atkinson

Gustave Flaubert

Emile Zola

Heinrich Böll

If you asked me again tomorrow I’d probably come up with a slightly different list.    

 

Find your copy of the book here  

 

Newsletter July 2015

We spent a couple of weeks in Lanzarote and we were without the internet for much of that time. We were supposed to have free WiFi and we did – it’s just that it was rarely connected to the net and when it was, it wasn’t really strong enough to upload and download.  Even the email gave up after a short while. This was all actually rather liberating. One can live without being online all the time – for a short while at least.
As usual, whilst on holiday I did a lot of reading and some writing. I also acquired lots of ideas for new stories.
We visited the house and library of José Saramago. I envied him the house and the library and his daily routine. He would write in his study or in the library, then swim in his pool, finally sitting for a while on his special chair in the garden, looking down to the sea. I want that house. I want that life-style.

The study

The library

People would often call at the house and because the intercom to the door didn’t work properly, he’d invite them into his kitchen where he would make them Portuguese coffee. We were offered this too and were able to sit on his beautiful terrace to enjoy it and the view.
I’ve not yet read any of his work but I intend to soon. It’s just my type of thing and not too dissimilar from my shorts about the near future.
He went on to be a Nobel Prize winner. Hmm. Thinks.

The terrace

 

Books and short stories  

I’ve now completed the sixth edit Girl in a Smart Uniform and am about to start the seventh, where I’ll look at the conflict and tension balance. Yes, there must be tension but I must also allow my readers to relax a little sometimes. The novel is coming along. I’m toying with putting all of the bits about her older brother in one section, as a flash back. I’m not sure, though. I may run this past my critique group and eventual beta readers.       
My second chapter for my non-fiction book proposal is now finished. I’m about to start a third on war in children’s literature. I’m quite looking forward to getting my teeth into this. I’ll be including some classics and looking at the latest offerings.  
I’m continuing to write short stories and flash fiction. I’m not really getting them out there enough but I am a little. I keep a “traffic light” spread sheet of where I’ve submitted.  Green means it’s been accepted. Amber means it can be submitted. Red means it’s out somewhere and we’re waiting. I’m quite pleased to report that half of my works are green and the rest are half red and half amber. Obviously, we really want all green but at least it’s mainly older works (perhaps ones that won’t ever make it?) that are amber. One shouldn’t really have any ambers.  Everything should either be accepted or awaiting approval, so green or amber. I do reedit in between rejections, so I guess there’s always hope.
I’m rather intrigued that I’m getting a lot of visits to my Spooking Facebook page. I wonder why. Will it lead to more sales?        
   

Bridge House

We’re now into editing the stories for the Snowflakes anthology. All of the EDIT 1’s have gone out and handful of people have returned them. I’ve already four stories in FINAL, so I’m feeling quite pleased.
Don’t forget we’re already planning the celebration in London. Note for your diary: 5 December. Those writers in the anthology will be given first refusal on tickets. The CafeLit4 people will follow, then other Bridge House and CafeLit writers and finally anyone. We’re hoping to get between 50 and 100 people there.  
 

CafeLit

Remember, we’re always open to submissions. Find out how here.

 

Creative Café

We’re always looking for new cafés. I’ve now added some resources for café owners.
 

School Visits

I’m actually calling a halt to these for the moment, for reasons that I won’t go into here. I’m hoping to work with schools in a different way shortly. All will become apparent in a few months’ time.
The one exception is The House on Schellberg Street project. I’m still offering visits on this for a donation towards the project. I’ve devised a whole interactive workshop for this. It would be a real asset for any school teaching the Holocaust at Key Stage 3. Even if a school can’t afford a donation, I’d be happy to run the project.
Here’s some further news about the Schellberg project.
Query for a school visit via the contact form on the web site.

 

The Red Telephone

I’ve just finished the edits on Kathy Dunn’s The Demon Magician.
There will be a new call for submissions once this has gone to print which shouldn’t be too long now.

I’d like to remind you of our new enterprise -  something between a mentoring system and an online course. Though publication is not guaranteed, we will at least look at your full book if you’ve attended one of the courses. We’re offering it for free to a few people at first. We’ll refine as we go along based on feedback from our clients. We’ll then continue to offer it at a discount for a while before going to full price when we’re completely happy with it. We’re not sure what full price will be. Again, we’ll be guided by our current clients. Find out more here.      
 

Looking Forward

At the end of this month I’ve booked on to a writing retreat with colleagues Judy Kendall and Ursula Hurley, Ursula’s mum and my good friend and business partner Debz Hobbs-Wyatt. We’re looking forward to being pampered.   
I’ve now booked for the NAWE conference in November, where I’ll be delivering a session on Build a Book in An Hour and a Quarter. This is based on the school workshop that I do on Build a Book in a Day. The emphasis here though will be on kick-starting inspiration for adult writers, coupled with a knowledge that the work will get out there.
Then the following week I’m off the SCBWI –BI conference in Winchester. This will be a little like going home. I did my MA in Writing for Children there. At this conference I’ll just sit back and listen though I shall be looking for copy for Network News in Words and Pictures.         
There’s another conference in November as well. Three weekends running ….! Gulp. Booking hotels and trains is actually quite stressful at times but I’m more and more reluctant to drive these days. I find train journeys good for getting work done.
SCBWI North West has plenty of activity, too.
Who said being a writer meant being lonely?
 

Great news for teachers
If you're a teacher in the Greater Manchester area, or not too far away from Salford, I may be able to offer you a free school visit. This would be about 90 minutes long, and would include a reading form the book, a question and answer session, a creative writing exercise with your class and a chance for your students to buy a signed copy.  Email me here for availability and to discuss details.
For schools further afield, I can offer a question and answer session. Just buy two signed copies of the book and I'll answer 20 questions form your students. Use the Add to Cart button below:      
         










       

An Excerpt form Spooking

Now for an excerpt from Spooking  
This is one of my favourite pieces. At a reading recently I actually sang part of this.

It was night-time. Tom could hear gentle snoring. His eyes got used to the dark and he realised he was in a student room. Kevin’s. Marcus was sitting up on top of the bookshelf, flicking through some of the books. 

“Twenty heavy text books, lined up by the wall,” he sang. “And if one heavy text book, should accidentally fall. -” He took one of the books and threw it to the floor.  “- There'd  be nineteen heavy text books lined up by the wall.”

One by one, Marcus tipped the books on to the floor. Then he wrenched the shelf away from the wall, so that it looked as if the shelf had given way under the weight of the books.

“Blimey, ‘e’s a good sleeper,” said Marcus, “We’d better do summat about that.” He floated over and took his mouth organ out of his pocket. He played a bell chime over and over again, getting louder each time. “Wake up Kev-in. Kev-in wake up,” he sang finally.

Kevin woke up startled. “Who’s there?” he called. “What’s that?” He snapped his bedside light on. “Oh Christ,” he said, as he saw all the books on the floor.

“Do not take the name of the Son of God in vain,” said Marcus in a very solemn voice.

“Can he hear you?” asked Tom.

“Just about,” said Marcus. “Not loud and clear like you can. Quiet enough that he might think he’s imagining it. ” He put his finger to his lips.

“Is there somebody there?” asked Kevin, his voice a bit wobbly.

Marcus stretched his arms out in front of him and went “Oooh” Oooh!”

Tom had to bite his fist to stop himself laughing.

“Can he see you?” asked Tom.

“He might be able to. If he’s sensitive enough,” said Marcus. “But by the morning or even as soon as we’ve gone, he’ll probably think he imagined it or dreamt it.”

“What about the books, though?” asked Tom.

“Well, he’ll just use those as the explanation about what give him the nightmare.”

Kevin was looking a little less startled. He got out of bed and started straightening up the books.

“Oooh! Ooh!” went Marcus again.

“Who the Hell’s there? What do you want?” shouted Kevin.

Marcus shuddered. “Do not mention the name of the Bad Place in vain.” Hhe spread his arms out in front of him again in classic ghost fashion.

“What?” cried Kevin. “What do you want?”

“He can see me all right,” said Marcus winking at Tom. 

Tom really had to bite his fingers hard now to stop himself laughing. 

“You can’t be for real,” said Kevin with a sneer. “Who the Hell are you?”

“Do not mention that dread place,” quivered Marcus.

Tom couldn’t help tittering. 

“Who’s there? What do you want? What’s so funny?” cried Kevin. His face was white.

“I have told you,” droned Marcus. He blew Kevin a kiss.

Kevin shivered. “Yes, all right,” said Kevin, pulling his dressing-gown on. “Now leave me alone.”

As Kevin opened the door to his room, Marcus blew at a stack of papers on the table. They too ended up on the floor. Then he slammed the door. 

(I have taken a couple of spoilers out of this!) 

Question and Answer Session from Spooking paperback launch party

What was your inspiration? 

I actually can't remember. But the car in it, Binky, a blue Ford Fiesta, belonged to my son and then I bought it off him and allowed my daughter to use it. Some of the story takes place near Southampton, where I used to live, and some of it takes place at the University of Bangor, where I got my PhD.    

Did it take long to write? 

About nine months, including all of the editing I did before I sent it off. I try to write 2000 words a day.  Or deep edit 6000, or read through 10,000 or any combination of these. I usually work on more than one project at a time.    

Was there a particular reason to write it?

I wanted to start a new project whilst I was on Tenerife. The story had been flapping around at the back of my mind for some weeks. It also acted as a break between two volumes of my Peace Child trilogy.


When you were a student yourself did you ever imagine that one day you would be a published author and a lecturer?  
I always wanted to write but kept not getting round to it. My first degree was in modern languages, and I became a language teacher. I did everything I could in that profession. Then it was time to move on. So, I started writing - children's books and educational materials. I still like reading in other languages however. I kept the dream going even though at first I wasn't successful. I then had a chance to do a masters in Writing for Children.  The dream widened. I now wanted to be published and talk with authority about writing to university students. I wanted to be asked to do readings. Then I was published and started getting invited to talk to groups. I started a Ph D in Creative and Critical Writing. I was asked to teach some undergraduates. Then I got the Ph D and the post at the University of Salford.
It was always important to keep the vision alive.  Which is why I say IF you  really want to do it you can. But it is a big IF isn't it?  

Did you have a "What if?" question in your head when you wrote "Spooking?" and what was it? 
I guess I did. What would happen if.... a young man died in a car crash before he had really sorted things out with his girlfriend? So yes, the "what if" question is important. But some other things go on as well ...  

How do you determine how to end the story? Do you pretty much know the direction you'll take before you begin writing? 
I think I always know the beginning and the end of the story. But it can meander a little between those two points. Yes, and that beginning and end usually makes up the first statement of the query letter.
With Spooking also both the opening scene and the closing scene were pretty clear in my head ... and kind of similar!      

Do you plan all your story lines up front, or do you see where it takes you and add sub plots as you go? OR a mixture of the above?
Really a mixture, I guess. I do quite a bit of planning. Opening, complexities, crisis, climax, resolution. Then think about sub-plots. I also spend quite a bit of time on the characters and setting before I start. Often, though, mainly in my head - while I'm driving, cooking or walking. Many ideas actually come as I write.       
 

  
I'm interested that you were a language teacher. So was I. What age groups did you teach and how did this input on your book?
I taught mainly 11-16 though I have taught younger and older, and adults as well. I don't think languages come into this one that much BUT I wrote most of it on Tenerife and was speaking a lot of Spanish at the time. And yes, I have another ide for a book from that time there - it's in a queue behind two others. Some of the scenes in Spooking take place very close to a school where I used to teach. It's possible that both Tom and Amanda went to that school. Tom's French teacher's a bit useless and absolutley not based on anyone I know, though she does say something to her students that is similar to what one of our teachers used to say to some of us ....
BTW J K Rowling an I share a chemistry teacher ... who was the model for Snape.
People need to be careful around writers. We might put them in books!  Actually, though, I'd say that that can be quite dangerous.
Going back to languages: maybe my trademark is that I'll often sprinkle a few foreign words into what I'm writing.  Sometimes they're form a real language and sometimes they're made up.     
 
 

A reading from Spooking

Accident

The lump was in his throat again.

The first drops of the rain they’d been promising all day fell on the windscreen.

He turned on the wipers.   

By the time he got to the motorway, it was raining heavily. As he filtered into the traffic there were flashes of lightening and claps of thunder. He turned on the radio to try and drain out the noise. He pushed his right foot down to the floor, bringing Binky up to her top speed. The music matched his mood. Rousing rock. He was going to fight this and he was going to win.

He steered Binky into the middle lane. The rain was now pouring over the windscreen like a waterfall. The wipers were going full speed, but he still couldn’t see all that well.  He was buffeted from the side wind as he drove out of the shelter of the lorries and cars he overtook. Their spray made it impossible for him to see.

He would have to be careful as he crossed the Hamble Bridge. Binky was quite light and could easily be blown off course. He lifted his foot slightly off the accelerator. Best not to go too fast in this.

He noticed the grey car first of all in his side-view mirror. A Saab, he thought. What was the idiot doing? He was going to hit him. He quickly looked in his rear-view mirror. No, he couldn’t get into the third lane. Chances were, even if he did, the Saab would still smash into him.

It was going to happen. There was nothing he could do.

Don’t try to straighten up if he makes you skid, he thought to himself. Steer into the skid.

He tried to relax his grip on the steering wheel. But not altogether – at least it was something to hang on to.

There was a thud.