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But first, here is a little bit about the book.
The Blurb
A tragic accident… A bitter betrayal… A baffling mystery.
When an attractive young woman seeks refuge in his home during a blizzard, Tom Smallwood is convinced they have met before. As their friendship develops, her persistent denial of their previous connection threatens to shake the bedrock of Tom’s ‘life code’.
A tragic accident robs Tom of his beloved brother, leaving him devastated.
His world implodes further when he is arrested…
HIS ONLY CRIME WAS TO FALL IN LOVE.
Can Tom’s strong pillars of truth and integrity hold fast and enable him to win the heart of the woman he adores?
ISBN: 978 1916572720
Publisher: UK Book Publishing
Formats: e-book and paperback (currently available on Kindle Unlimited)
No. of Pages: 365 (paperback)
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Q What inspired you to begin writing?
A I think I always wanted to write. As a child, I made up stories in my head on long car journeys. I grew up in northeast England, and the house I lived in was built in the style of a Spanish hacienda. It was a magical place, with a large garden, summerhouse and stream. I felt there was a story behind this setting, but it was sixty years before I put pen to paper. When the global pandemic struck, I decided to write my debut novel based fictitiously around my childhood home. Once started, I haven’t stopped – I’m currently editing my seventh book. It has been a’ late onset career’, but I am enjoying it!
Q Do you write using pen and paper or on a computer?
A I begin with an A5 notebook and pen and write scenes – some I use, others I discard. Then I use A4 paper and a pen and start to join the dots. I get a ‘feel’ for a suitable chapter length - usually five doubled sided sheets which I staple together...these form my longhand chapters. Then it’s typed up onto the computer. After that it’s edit, edit, edit and edit!
Q Who are your favourite writers - and are you influenced by them?
A As a child it was Enid Blyton, and I loved the book ‘Heidi ‘by a Swiss author Johanna Spyri. As a teenager I was hooked on Agatha Christie books. In later years I’ve been a fan of Josephine Cox, Lucinda Riley, Nicholas Sparks, Victoria Hislop and more recently Jojo Moyes and Lorna Cook. I love Twentieth Century Historical Fiction, mystery and romance – so yes, they have influenced me.
Q How do you do your research? Did you enjoy it?
A Mostly internet, sometimes Travel Guides, often my local cemetery. I use old photographs particularly those from the area where I live and set my books - I write in the 1920’s era. Sometimes I draw on memories of places I have visited and conversations with elderly relatives. I do a little research before a novel, but try not to do too much initially, as it affects my ‘flow’. After that I do it as I go.
Q Do you enjoy editing?
A I regard editing as literary housework. I iron it - to wrinkle out the creases so it flows smoothly; I dust it - to find the typos and grammar mistakes; I polish it – adding descriptions to make it sparkle. I vacuum it to suck up the fluff (padding). Sometimes I put it through the literary washing machine - to spruce it up (on the wash cycle); tighten it up (on the spin cycle) and occasionally I take the literary scissors, needle and thread – cut bits out and stitch it up again! I’m not a lover of housework!
Susan, I love your likening of editing to house work. Thank you so much for being on the blog today. I have really enjoyed hearing about your approach to writing and research.
About the Author:
(media courtesy of Rachel's Random Resources)
(all opinions are my own)
As long as I can remember, art and art history have been my passions. I grew up with a father who brought a drawing pad to every outing and painted oil paintings to sell, give away as gifts, and to hang on the wall of our home. Our living room looked like an art museum, packed with paintings of mountains, fiords, and forest interiors. In fact, when he and my mother prepared for their wedding in Oslo in 1944, my father painted during the night to trade his art for meat for the wedding dinner.
I loved art, as well, and chose to study Art & Design at Brigham Young University. I adored my art history lectures. It’s hard to explain how my heart still leaps when I learn about master painters of old, visit ancient churches and castles, or stand in front of original artwork by my favorite artists throughout the centuries.
My passion for the written word has taken me on a path where I get to combine my love for art, history, and historical fiction. I get to make up stories about brave women who give their all to fight for truth and fairness. I get to dress them up in the fun clothes of their time (yes, I studied clothing history, too), and I can put them in situations where they struggle to meet their goal and solve the mystery. They stumble, get back on their feet again, and sometimes they fall in love…all in a backdrop of the times they lived in.
To write such historical fiction, I do oodles of research. Did they eat potatoes in 1661? Did they have curtains? What kind of hats and cravats did the men wear? When did chocolate digestives come on the market? What did British police cars look like in 1973? You get the point. But this research makes writing historical fiction fun. There’s so much to learn, and all these details add to the story and make it believable.
Think about this as an example: you enter the world of Charles Dickens and ride in a horse-drawn covered wagon through the streets of London. What do you hear? What do you see out the window? What do you smell? What do you feel when the roads are uneven and sitting still is impossible? What do you taste when you open the napkin on your lap and take a bite of your travel food? Are your feet cold? Every detail needs thorough research.
When writing The London Forgery, I had two different time periods to consider. The main story is situated in London, and the year is 1973. I was a young teenager in 1973 and still remember much from that time. Still, there were aspects I had to research, and I had a blast doing so. The second story goes back to Thomas Gainsborough when he painted his masterpiece Mr. and Mrs. Andrews in 1750. Now, those chapters needed much more research, and I loved every minute of it.
I hope you’ll enjoy going back in time—first to London in 1973, and then to Suffolk in 1750—and spend time with the characters in their own setting. I certainly did.
Happy Reading!
Thank you Heidi. It has been a pleasure to have you on the blog.
Yet one day it must have suddenly dawned on an enlightened individual that there had to be better ways to communicate than the traditional method of relying upon physical force to get one's point across. This individual was called Norman...
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Norman was born to write, but doesn't know his destiny is written in his DNA, inherited from generations of earlier Normans who yearned to put pen to paper - once those items had been invented! Yet with nothing to show for all his literary endeavours and struggling to pay the rent, he tells himself there must be easier ways of making a living. It's only when
Norman discovers his descent from a long line of wordsmiths who'd experienced many of the same setbacks as himself yet had found the resolve to keep on going, that he wants to know:
'What was their secret?'
The Writer's Guide to Obscurity is an illustrated record of Norman's research into his vast family tree, sharing with us his predecessors' trials, triumphs and absolute catastrophes through the centuries, before bringing us back to Norman today - and the twist in his own tale.
***
This short book was a humourous look at the life and frustrations of a writer. Told from the perspective of a man called Norman, it covers the period of Ancient Norman from 4500 BCE right through to Modern Day Norman which covers the period from 1900 until the present day.
I liked the quirky illustrations of the time line at the beginning of the book, taking us through eight generations of Norman. In fact, Fiona Wilson has done a great job with illustrating this book, and they really add something to this short volume.
It is both witty and original, and I do not think I have ever read anything quite like it before.
ISBN: 978 1914083747
Publisher: 2QT Ltd
Formats: Paperback
No. of Pages: 44
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