Category Archives: Writing

My Writing Process Taryn Leigh

Posted on by

writerMy Writing Routine

I try to write whenever I can have moments alone, which are long enough for me to take my mind into the world of my characters.

Because writing currently isn’t my full time profession, this means that I cannot have a formal writing routine, but instead have to write when I get the chance.

My name is Taryn Leigh, and I’m a South African based Author, whose first book was published in the UK.

Although I write books that are considered to be romance or contemporary fiction novels, I try to ensure the reader can walk away with something of value after reading the book. Because of that, my books deal with real life struggles that women endure.

My first book was called Perfect Imperfections, and is available in Paperback, Audiobook and on Kindle.

My current book is called The Secret Letters and launched on 09 August in Paperback and Kindle.

What you are promoting now. 

My latest novel, The Secret Letters, which deal’s with real topics of gender based violence, and the mental battle that comes with that.

It’s also a story of love and hope, and how to overcome your worst nightmares, especially in the arms of someone who loves you.

A bit about your process of writing. 

I look out for stories that peak my interest, and then I let them mull over in my mind for a while, as I start to imagine the lives of the characters, as if they are real people. Only once I feel that they feel real to me do I start to put pen to paper and plan things more formally.

Do you plan or just write?

I have a very broad plan. Mostly the main characters and main events. I normally know how it should start, when the big reveal should be, and how it should end.

The rest, I just write and see how the characters develop over time, who they meet, and what additional relationships are formed.

What about word count?

I am conscious of it, but more towards the end of the book, because if I worry about it the whole time, I won’t get the story out.

I aim for 80,000 words or more, that can then be edited down during the editing process.

What do you find hard about writing?

Finding time to be alone, the rest, I absolutely look forward to.

The other part is editing and writing a blurb. It seems so hard to condense over 400 pages into a few lines.

What do you love about writing? 

Meeting my characters. Might sound strange, but they feel like real people to me. They make me laugh and cry as I write their stories. They take me on adventures, I just love it.

Advice for other writers

Find your own voice and be authentic. Don’t try to write for the mainstream. You need to believe in what you are writing and the story will just flow.

Also dont give up, even when you feel stuck in the book, just keep going, it will all come together eventually.

 

My Writing Process Rachel Billington

Posted on by

A bit about you. 

Place matters to me. In books and in life. I’m a hybrid: city and country, I need both. London, always London, apart from two years when I worked in New York and met my husband, Kevin, there.  In 1968 we bought a fourteenth century house in Dorset. We still have it. I’ve always written. I edited a magazine when I was eleven. I published my first novel in my twenties. I have to write every day. When I had four children in day school, I still wrote. I can’t imagine how people manage without writing. Now I have five grandchildren and my youngest wrote a book so I illustrated it. That was a surprise. From 1998-2001 I was President of PEN. I am Associate Editor of Inside Time, the National Newspaper for Prisoners. I write for every issue. I have always reviewed and written comment pieces for various newspapers.

What you have written, past and present.

I’ve published over thirty books. 23 novels, last 3 historical, Glory – The Story of Gallipoli and Maria and the Admiral. My favourites before that are A Woman’s Age, Bodily Harm and Lies and Loyalties. All very different subjects which publishers complain about. I have also written six novels for children, including Poppy’s Hero and Poppy’s Angel, about a girl whose Dad is in prison. Plus four religious books for children and a sequel to Jane Austen’s Emma.

What you are promoting now. 

Clouds of Love and War is about a Spitfire pilot in WW2 and a young isolated woman. It tells the story if their love affair against a background of war. Eddie wants to escape the world and reach the clouds. But he hadn’t counted on killing. Eva wants to paint and she wants Eddie. The war makes their coming together rare and remarkable. 

A bit about your process of writing.

Until my last book, I wrote longhand with a pen (black ink) and then paid a friend to put it on the computer. Once it was there I went through many drafts, editing down, particularly the opening chapters because I like to write forward without doing more than minor corrections until I’ve finished the whole book. This means I am over-writing early on and self-editing as I progress. 

Do you plan or just write?

It depends on the book. Longer books need more planning, chapter by chapter, bit shorter books can be freer. Often I know everything except how the story will end. But sometimes the ending is what inspires me to write the book. Characters come first of all and continue their wayward path through the book. When their personalities change, I change their names. Sometimes I’ll run through three or four. I write to surprise myself.

What about word count?

Again it depends on the book – or rather on the subject, although my books were much shorter when I started writing, one was only about 60,000 words while Glory was well over the 200 hundred mark. Circular books tend to be shorter, books with a strong narrative flow longer. The book I’m working on at the moment, They Were Sisters, is about 120,000 words.

 

What do you find hard about writing?

I find it all difficult but absolutely enthralling.  I do find it really hard when my characters are suffering. I wrote a novel called ‘The Missing Boy and found the thirteen year old’s unhappiness horribly upsetting. I long to write books with happy endings but seldom achieve it. 

 

What do you love about writing? 

I love being totally in charge of interesting people and events, but totally on my own. I love the look of a blank page – or blank screen. I love the way I challenge myself to make my brain imagine and invent.  I love the excitement when an idea comes into my head; my heart beats as fast as if I was running. I love using words like an artist uses paint. I love the balance of certain sentences, like a musical phrase.  

 

Advice for other writers.

Write! If you’re not sure what to write, write a diary. Write every single day. When you do set off on a bit of work, finish it. This very important. Anyone can begin a piece of writing but not many can get to the end. Keep at least something about it secret. Great ideas can dissipate if shown too much light of day. Only show it for criticism when you have gone as far as you can. Never despair. Often the best writing comes out of the worst. Good luck!

 

SISTER SCRIBES: KITTY WILSON ON LETTING BOOKS BE BOOKS

Posted on by

My latest articles for Frost (with the exception of my last) have all been based around why I write and read romance. I’ve written about the universality of romance and about how I see the genre as one that gives hope. Today I’m going to talk about something a little more controversial, about why I think the romance genre can have a bad name.

When I was first published I had so much support but I also encountered a lot of bias from friends who were unable to understand why I chose to write romance, dismissive of the genre as pure trash (their words). It is not an uncommon view, even people who love the genre often refer to it as such with a self-deprecating laugh.

But why? I can’t help but think this bias harks back to the birth of the popular romance novel specifically written for women a couple of hundred years ago because delicate female minds couldn’t possibly expect to understand the intricacies of politics, economics, science. The world has moved on from such misogyny, yet despite us recognising today that skill in all sorts of arenas is not gender based, society is still struggling to shift the notion that romance books are somehow lesser, that their readers, and writers, lack erudition. We accept in life that you have to be remarkably skilled to make things look easy and somehow we still don’t apply this to books considered easy reads. I know so many people, women and men, who love to escape with a romance novel precisely because it’s an escape. If a book is effectively providing a haven, you are losing yourself in its world, then it is well-written.

When we look at the romance genre and remove this bias and examine what romance and its broad range of sub-genres really are, we see that it tends to be fiction that centres around friendship and family life with the thrill of romance and often a dash of good sex thrown in as well. They are books that usually put women at the fore (an exception being MM romances). We also know from what is (or certainly was) on the curriculum in schools that it’s largely male-centric books that society deems worthy of reading. If you examine the syllabi when I was growing up, you will see that predominantly books written by men for men about men were considered literature. This contributes to shaping society’s attitudes about what constitutes a good book. Whilst I genuinely believe this is changing now (hurrah!) and particularly within the last decade – women-centric books are now universally accepted as literature – it seems that easy-to-read books about women having fun or getting caught up in romance are still deemed less worthy.

Romance books frequently examine love and affection, how it’s human to crave it; they open up discussions about love, loneliness, sexuality and so forth which allows for conversations about these things to become normalised. They have done this for centuries, from women gossiping about the latest romance in Regency coffee houses to chatter over the water cooler about Christian Grey. And where there is discussion there is education, an increased awareness of others’ (and self) needs and preferences can only be a good thing. There are always lessons to be learned in life about understanding ourselves and others, improving communication and strengthening the relationships we have with people. If romance helps this and the bias against it harks back to attitudes we know are outdated then surely, regardless of personal taste, it’s time for romance novels to be accorded the respect they deserve.

 

 

My Writing Process Charles Freeman

Posted on by

charles freemanWhat you have written, past and present.

I am a historian with a keen interest in world history. For many years I taught history courses with the International Baccalaureate. My first book came out in the late 1970s when I was writing for schools on such issues as terrorism and human rights.
In 1990 I got a big writing contract to work on a world history project. They ran out of money after three years but I rewrote the first three volumes as one, Egypt, Greece and Rome, Civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean and it was taken by Oxford University Press. I have a longstanding interest in ancient history from my childhood and I loved working on this. It has sold well in the US and opened the doors to a lot of new contracts. The sort of lucky break all writers need.

What you are promoting now.

My new book, out on August 6th, is The Awakening, A History of the Western Mind AD 500—AD 1700, published by Head of Zeus. It is an ambitious book but it brings together of a lot of reading and travelling I have done over the past twenty years. So it deals with the survival of Greek and Roman culture into the Middle Ages, the ways in which Christianity developed over the centuries and the emergence of philosophy and science. It took four years to write.
Head of Zeus have illustrated it beautifully and so it is pricey at £40! I am encouraging my friends who can afford to buy the hardback to go to their local bookshop to help get them on their feet again.

A bit about your process of writing.

I am driven by interest in what I am writing. I pick subjects that I would enjoy learning more about and go from there. The trouble is that I am easily waylaid by exploring things that I cannot possibly fit into a book! (My middle name is serendipity –browsing around haphazardly to see what interests me.) I do not use time very efficiently but often I find what I need in odd places in books or on the tours I run in the Mediterranean.
On an actual text I rewrite continuously. A chapter might be rewritten twenty times, often with small changes but sometimes with a complete reordering of the material.
A good tip is to read aloud what you have written. You can then spot if the rhythm of a sentence is wrong and if you need to break up a sentence or insert or take away commas!
Zadie Smith once said that once you had finished a book you should lock it in a drawer for a year. I would not go so far but it is extraordinary what problems you can find if you reread what you have written three months later! Never try to rush a book. Let it mature. Once it is out you can’t change it and if it is not as good as it should be you might never get another contract.
It pays to have a set piece opening, something from anywhere in the book that draws the reader in and leaves them wanting to read more.
I look out for the best history writing on whatever topic in the hope that it will influence my own style. I always have a pile of well-reviewed books waiting to be read. However, you must find your own voice and that takes time. The reader likes to feel that there is a real person there even in a history textbook.
I was once described in a school report as a ‘harum-scarum character’ (those were the days when they told you it straight). I know what the teacher meant when I get back a book with a copy-editor’s corrections on it!

Do you plan or just write?

I need to have a clear idea in my head, an end point towards which the book will lead. I map out a book in advance so as to keep a balance between chapters. After I have done this I let myself be flexible.
Usually once you are into a subject you develop completely new ways of looking at it. Once I had to go cap in hand with my agent to a publisher to say that I had decided to write a completely different book from the one I had signed up for. One of my planned chapters needed to be the whole book! We did persuade him and the book, The Closing of the Western Mind, sold well.

What about word count?

My longest book, the third edition of my Egypt, Greece and Rome, is 345,000 words- it was more than we agreed but they did not notice and the printer had to diminish the script to fit it all in. I don’t work by daily word count, one good page is worth twenty rambling ones.

How do you do your structure?

For a historian much of this is set within a chronology so you need to fix a starting date and an end date. Then you have to find links between each chapter so that the reader has a feeling that it hangs together. Sadly you might then have to dump a chapter that does not work.

What do you find hard about writing?

The problem of selling a proposal and making any money from it is one that makes life hard for most writers. I have spent a lot of time on proposals that no one wanted -I even have a complete book that my agent has put through twenty publishers without success.
Personally I would find it difficult to be a full time writer. It can cut you off from people and the real world too much, so I organise study trips to the Mediterranean in the spring and autumn and then write largely over the winter. It helps to have a break from a text. See Zadie Smith’s recommendation above.
It is also important to have some other way of making some cash if you want to be a writer! So I do lectures, tours and act as consultant for the Blue Guides, cultural travel guides. And now at last I have my pension to help keep me going!
On a day to day basis the hardest is to ditch a piece of writing which might have taken some weeks of research but which just does not fit into the narrative.
When I am stuck I go for a long walk. I have a theory that the human brain works at its best when it is travelling horizontally at 2 ¾ miles an hour (even better when it is pulled along by a lively border terrier). It is amazing what gets untangled on a walk.

What do you love about writing?

It’s a peaceful and satisfying way of living and you can fit other things in around it. As a historian I am always finding out new ideas and authors that I would not come across otherwise so I feel that, even in my seventies, my mind is still developing. I often find that the research for a new book leads to all sorts of new interests.
Don’t write for money, write for the pleasure it gives you. Writing is in itself therapeutic. Don’t expect too much. I have seen too many friends assume that once their first book is out everyone will notice and applaud it and the money will come pouring in. Then it gets a couple of nice reviews and that’s it. Within six months it is way down on the Amazon bestsellers list along with thousands of others. It is a jungle out there and it is a long haul to get noticed, let alone make any money. (Only two of my twenty published books have made me more than the basic hourly wage.)
Publicity. I decided, with powerful support from my wife, that it might not be a good idea to pose naked behind a pile of my books as one female historian did- but her subject was a naughty eighteenth century duchess so perhaps it worked for her.
I don’t have a website. A good history book spreads by word of mouth. If you want to know more about me, then ‘Charles Freeman, Yale University Press’ has all the details and links to reviews of two of my books with them.
I worry that many good and committed writers get missed by publishers but there are other books so badly written that one wonders why they ever got published. The same as with artists. Standards of editing have gone down a great deal since I started writing.
Don’t try and copy a genre or theme. By the time you have finished the reading world will have moved on. It’s an original voice that matters, especially in fiction.
Keep at it. It’s about the fifth book that you write that you begin to get the hang of it! I think hopeful writers still underestimate how difficult it is to write well- it is a craft and needs thought and time. No easier than being an artist.
I have never done a creative writing course and I am sure they will help but there is no substitute for reading widely (the thriller writer Lee Child says that the only way to learn how to write is to read for forty years), experiencing the world and just getting down to actually doing it!
Support your local bookshop if you can. At the least they might give you a launch and put your book in the window!

Further details about Charles Freeman can be found at Charles Freeman.
Yale University Press.

The Awakening will be published by Head of Zeus on 6 August

SISTER SCRIBES: KIRSTEN HESKETH ON REALISING YOU’RE A REAL WRITER

Posted on by

Much is written about imposter syndrome. When someone asks me what I do, I sometimes stumble over the word ‘writer’ and often followed it with a little self-deprecating giggle or downplay it by saying ‘I’ve only had one book published though.’ And I know I’m not alone.  Most writers I know seem to suffer from it – there are countless Facebook and twitter threads devoted not feeling like a ‘proper writer’ and many times I’ve been at lunch or away with lovely writer friends realise we are all self-deprecating for Britain.

Well, this week something happened which made me realise that nowadays I am very much a ‘proper writer’.

The first blog post I ever wrote was for my lovely friend and fellow Sister Scribe Susanna Bavin’s wonderful blog. This was when I was very much in the querying trenches and getting an agent, let alone a publishing deal, was just a twinkle in my eye and Susanna was kind enough host me for a series of musings on my embryonic writing life. I can remember the gist – if not the words – of the first post I wrote as if it was yesterday. My then-teenage son was having some problems and I explained how difficult, how wrong, how self-indulgent it felt to be ploughing on with polishing my turd of a draft when he was struggling. And, even if I did decide to press on, my creative juices and my writing mojo had totally deserted me, so there was little point in showing up the keyboard anyway.

I didn’t write anything for week. Maybe even months. And it was only when my son was back on an even keel that I could finish editing Another Us and start submitting it to agents.

Fast forward four years and everything is different.

I have an agent. I have two publishing deals. Another Us was published in ebook in May and the paperback is out on 20th August (do all rush!!) Reader, my writing dreams came true!

And, this week, the Hesketh household is once again in turmoil. My daughter needs an operation in the middle of the global pandemic and the whole family needs to shield beforehand. (Sad that we need to shield during my son’s 21st and miss our first break away in months, but needs must.) At the moment, it’s all hands on deck sorting out food deliveries and prescription pick-ups and everything else that needs to be done before we hunker down.

This time it is different though. My edits for Book Two are due back with the publisher at the beginning of August which, as I write, is – gulp! – three days away. But this time there is no deciding my writing mojo has deserted me or that my creative juices have decided to go on holiday instead of me. There’s no deciding to do nothing for a couple of months. The edits have to be done. I can – I have to – work fast and efficiently so that I can get them done to the best of my ability – and still be there for my family.

It all feels totally different.

To be fair, I’m sure my lovely editor would be absolutely fine if I was to ask for another week or two to finish the edits. A lot of the pressure to meet the deadline is coming from myself.

But the different to four years ago is stark.

And, in some ways, it reminds me how far I’ve come.

I’m a writer.

 

How Women Live with Fear and ‘Don’t Turn Around’ by Jessica Barry

Posted on by

 

Melissa Pimentel - Random House, author, writer, How Women live with fear and ‘Don’t Turn Around’ by ,Jessica BarryHow Women live with fear and ‘Don’t Turn Around’ by Jessica Barry – published by Harvill Secker at £12.99

I wanted to explore the female-specific relationship to fear in my new novel, Don’t Turn Around. The novel opens with Cait and Rebecca driving through the night on a deserted road. Their destination is unknown. Out of the darkness, a pair of headlights appear, intent on destruction. The two women – who, up until that night, were strangers to each other – are forced to dig into their pasts to understand who might want to kill them. 

The answer, as most women know, is not straightforward.

Is it someone from their past? Their present? Is it a complete stranger with a thirst for blood? 

Cait has experienced the full terror of online abuse first-hand. An article she wrote about a bad date was met with vitriol, and she became a figure of hate on ‘men’s rights’ chatrooms. She receives death threats from total strangers. Worse still, her home address was published on the internet without her consent, so anyone who wanted to make good on those threats can find her. Is it possible that an online troll has finally tracked her down in the flesh?

Rebecca is the wife of a prominent politician in conservative Texas. She’s spent years playing the happy campaign life, but now she finds herself in a desperate situation. Her husband has turned against her, and there’s no one she can trust to get her across the Texas state line. She has to rely on a stranger – Cait – to shepherd her to safety. But there’s no guarantee that her husband hasn’t had her followed.

What about the man at the diner who stared at them so openly? Or that strange man at the gas station? Danger lurks around every corner. The world bristles with possible menace. 

Every day, women live with fear. It’s a low-level constant, familiar as breath. We mitigate it, negotiate with it, rationalize it. We make thousands of tiny calculations and calibrations on its behalf. Is that man following me? Should I turn around and face him, or should I run? Will my shoes let me run fast enough, or should I take them off? If I scream, will it scare him? Or will it just make him angry? Is there anyone around who would hear me?

For women, the potential for danger is everywhere. Walking through an empty parking lot at night. Going for a run. Sitting alone at a bar, or in a park, and a stranger approaching you. A guy standing a little too close behind you in line at the grocery story. The car that followed you ten blocks, horn blaring, because the driver thought you cut him off.  The moment you post on social media expressing a political preference, or a divisive idea, or critique. The sickening drop a few minutes later, when the first commentator calls you a bitch.

The statistics speak for themselves. Over half of women in the US have experienced physical violence. A quarter have experienced physical or sexual assault at the hands of an intimate partner. One in five women are raped in their lifetime. One in six women are stalked. 

Things aren’t much rosier in the digital world. One study found that seventy-two percent of online harassment victims are women. Individuals using female-skewing usernames are sent threatening or explicit content twenty-five times more often than those with male-skewing or ambiguous usernames. Close to two-thirds of female journalists have been threatened, intimidated, harassed or been subject to sexist abuse online. 

Of course, men are also the victims of violence and harassment: I’m not pretending otherwise. But I think that that women view the world through a specific lens coloured by the constant potential for danger. 

Ask a man what precautions he takes before going out for a run in the morning and you’ll likely be met with a confused look. Ask a woman and she’ll tell you about pre-planned routes and high-traffic areas and the importance of keeping your headphones at a low volume so you can hear someone coming up behind you. These seemingly-minor decisions shape how we move through the world. 

To live as a woman in this world, the question isn’t so much ‘What if something happens’ but ‘When? Where? How? Who?’ And the answers are ‘Anytime. Anywhere. Anyway. Anyone.’ 

Anyone could be behind that pair of headlights. Anyone could be waiting for us around a darkened corner, waiting to strike.

So far, so dark: I know. But there’s a silver lining in all this, and that’s the way that this fear bonds women together and, in a way, it’s what makes us who we are. You know that old cliché, ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’? That’s a way of life for us. Those mental calculations make us sharper. Those keys clutched between fingers make us tougher. Those close calls and rough scrapes and stories of survival make us stronger.

In order to survive their night on the road and make it to safety, Cait and Rebecca will have to work together. They’ll have to draw deeply from their experiences and from their personal strengths, and above all, they’ll have to learn to trust each other. 

Lucky for them, they’ve had a lot of practice at the art of survival. 

JEAN FULLERTON ON THE RNA’S CHAPTER AND VERSE

Posted on by

I joined the Romantic Novelists’ Association way back in 2003 as part of the New Writers’ Scheme. I was so grateful for all the help, support and friendship I received from RNA members over the past seventeen years, I promised myself that when I no longer had a day-job, I would join the committee.

That opportunity came five years ago when I was able to wave goodbye to my job as a University lecturer and become a full-time writer.

When the committee was restructured last year, I took on the role of Educational Officer, and one area which I’m very hands-on with is the RNA chapters.

When I joined the Romantic Novelists’ Association over a decade ago, some of the first real writers I met were members of the London and South East Chapter.  I was a burbling newbie, but everyone welcomed me. They walked the stony path to publication alongside me and I now count them as close friends.

Although the RNA can appear to be all champagne, high heels and glitzy London parties the organisation’s bedrock is the 20+ chapters up and down the country. It is there that new and not so new writers can find support, encouragement, and friendships.

I felt so strongly about this that ten years ago I took on the role of Chapter liaison. Well, when I say took on the role, what I actually mean is I muscled my way into the then committee and said I  thought there needed to be someone to link with the chapters and I was willing to take on the role.

I liaise with chapters about events or workshops they might be planning, and the allocation of the Committee Annual Educational grant. I also introduce new members to their local chapter and assist anyone wanting to set up a new chapter; be that a physical, online or special interest chapters such as the Rainbow Chapter for writers who write or who are interested in LBGTQIA+ romance. I also, in conjunction with Liam, the RNA’s Diversity and Inclusion Officer, developed the chapter guidelines.

When I became chapter liaison I lived in East London so as I was just a hop, skip and a jump from most of the mainline stations in London, I set about visiting as many chapters as I could. If I made an early start, I could reach most of them in a day even the North West Chapter who meet in Southport.

Sadly, as I now live an hour outside London that is no longer possible, but I keep in regular touch with the chapters via email. And since all chapter meetings have been cancelled due to the Covid lock down, increasingly via Zoom.

Being a writer is a lonely profession, just you, your head and the computer most of the time but we need other writers. Unlike non-writing friends and loved ones when you explain to a fellow writer the problem you’re having with your heroine or plot line their eyes don’t glaze over.

In conclusion, although under the RNA umbrella, our chapters are open to RNA members and non-members alike. Therefore if any writers out there would like to find out more about an RNA Chapter near you then please email me on jeanfullerton@romanticnovelistassociation.org and I’ll point you in the right direction.  For more information about the RNA please visit www.romanticnovelistsassociation.org

Bio: Jean was born and bred in East London where her fifteen novels are set. She is a retired nurse and university lecturer. Jean is currently writing the final book in her Ration Book Series.  In addition, she leads writing workshop and is a regular speaker at WIs, U3As and cruise ships.

www.jeanfullerton.com

RNA announces contenders for 2020 Joan Hessayon Award

Posted on by

The Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA) has announced the 2020 line-up for its prestigious Joan Hessayon Award for new writers.

The contenders for this award are all authors whose debut novels have been accepted for publication after passing through the Romantic Novelists’ Association New Writers’ Scheme. Each year 300 places are offered to unpublished writers in the romantic fiction genre. As part of the scheme, they can submit a complete manuscript for critique by one of the Association’s published authors as well as attend RNA events which offer opportunities to meet and network with publishers, agents and other published authors.

This year’s debuts show the wide range of stories encompassed by the romance genre, from the ever-popular romantic comedies, to fairy tale romance, romantic suspense, historical stories and paranormal thrills. From the house just down the street to the sun-soaked beaches of Italy and that different world that is the past, these books deal with themes we all recognise and hold close to our hearts.

Commenting on the contenders for 2020, Alison May, RNA Chair, said, ‘The New Writers’ Scheme is at the heart of the RNA’s commitment to nurturing romantic authorship and the celebration of the Joan Hessayon shortlist is a highlight in the Association’s year. This year has been different for so many reasons, but we’re still delighted for all these debut novelists and excited to announce our Diamond Joan Hessayon Award winner in this, our 60th Anniversary year.’

Imogen Howson, RNA Vice Chair, who previously co-ordinated the New Writers’ Scheme, commented, ‘In the midst of uncertain times, it’s immensely encouraging to see a record number of contenders this year for the Joan Hessayon Award. It speaks so well, not only of the hard work and talent of the authors themselves, but of the continuing health of the publishing industry.’

The Award will be announced on 5th September 2020 in an online presentation.

The Joan Hessayon Award is generously sponsored by gardening expert Dr. David Hessayon OBE, in honour of his late wife, Joan, who was a longstanding member of the RNA and a great supporter of its New Writers’ Scheme.

The full list of contenders for 2020 is:

Zoe Allison, Impervious, Totally Bound

Jan Baynham, Her Mother’s Secret, Ruby Fiction

Laura Bambrey, The Beginner’s Guide to Loneliness, Simon & Schuster

Victoria Garland, Finding Prince Charming, DC Thompson

Rosemary Goodacre, Until We Meet Again, Hera

Annette Hannah, Wedding Bells at the Signal Box Cafe, Orion Dash

Stephanie Harte, Risking It All, Aria

Stefania Hartley, Sun, Stars and Limoncello, Totally Bound

Kirsten Hesketh, Another Us, Canelo

Sharon Ibbotson, The Marked Lord, Choc Lit

Emma Jackson, A Mistletoe Miracle, Orion Dash

Lynn Johnson, The Girl from the Workhouse, Hera

Nina Kaye, The Gin Lover’s Guide to Dating, Orion Dash

Lucy Keeling, Make it up to you, Choc Lit

Ruth Kvarnström-Jones, Halleholm – Lovisas Choice, Printz Publishing

Mairibeth MacMillan, The Viking’s Cursed Bride, Tirgearr

Melissa Oliver, The Rebel Heiress and the Knight, Mills and Boon Historical

Maggie Richell-Davies, The Servant, Sharpe Books

Jacqueline Rohen, How to Marry Your Husband, Arrow

Kathleen Whyman, Wife Support System, Hera

Fiona Woodifield, The Jane Austen Dating Agency, Bloodhound Books

The New Writers’ Scheme has been run by the RNA since 1962 and is unique among professional writing associations. It aims to encourage fresh talent in the writing of romantic novels that reflect all aspects of love and life, contemporary or historical.

Manuscripts submitted under the scheme are from unpublished authors and are read by an experienced writer or editor who provides invaluable feedback. Any manuscript that is subsequently published as a debut novel is eligible for the Joan Hessayon Award. All eligible books are judged by a panel of experienced RNA members who are already published authors, and this year the final round judges are Rhoda Baxter, Author and Chair of Authors North, and Thorne Ryan from Hodder and Stoughton.