Category Archives: Writing

WRITERS ON THE ROAD: CAROLINE JAMES

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Meet Venus. My writing retreat on wheels.

“Come and write in me!” Venus whispered when I reluctantly went to view her. I’d never had any desire to be a caravaner. It suggested too much Hi-de-Hi! But from the day I met Venus last summer, it was love at first sight.

She’s a big twin-axle unit and, combined with the car, as long as an articulated lorry. Spacious with bedroom, bathroom, kitchen-diner and lounge.

Our first few forays into caravanning were in the UK as we took in the delights of Wales and Northumberland, with only minor mishaps with awnings and wrong turnings. I could write in the peace of the countryside or overlooking a beach. Venus has few demands. There’s minimum cleaning and washing and no gardening – no distractions to stop me from writing.

Now we felt prepared for an overseas adventure. Unlike a motorhome, travelling with a large caravan needs plenty of planning. Would we get stuck in the Eurotunnel? Would our ‘BipandGo’ get us through tolls in each country automatically? Would the pitches be big enough for Venus? The list of checks was long. But most significantly, would all the travelling distract from my writing?

Leaving in mid-December to head south through France, the adventure began, and I was too distracted to write as the days progressed. We enjoyed many stop-offs along the way, including Christmas shopping in Lyon and being frozen to the bone in Beziers during the coldest temperatures for years. But once over the border to Spain, the weather warmed up, and we eventually settled for several weeks on the coast, south of Alicante. Now Venus became our Spanish home, and she adapted beautifully. The awning was up, the canopy open, and wine poured. With a novel to finish and perfect, the peace and tranquillity of my writing environment was a writer’s dream, and the words flowed. Distractions from our European neighbours were pleasant. Bonjour! Guten Morgen! They called out and encouraged me to write.

Travelling around Spain sparked many plot ideas. I know that I will have future characters enjoying the mud baths at Lo Pagan on the Costa Blanca and visiting the eclectic rastro market in Calpe or taking in the rich history of Alicante. With so many festivals to enjoy too, I made prolific notes as I planned the outline of a novel.

Heading home, we took a different route. Driving across Spain via Madrid, I saw how beautiful and rich the country is as we encountered miles of orange groves and vineyards. Every town and village seemed to have a castle built precariously high on a hill, or a medieval church tucked around a corner. Approaching the Pyrenees, bathed in glorious sunshine, the view was magnificent, and I didn’t give the drive a second thought.

But now, I know how to write about fear.

Suddenly, the temperature dropped to sub-zero, and driving snow became a blinding blizzard as darkness fell. Venus is a heavy vehicle, and as we drove along the top of mountains with nowhere to shelter and a hundred miles to go, I thought I was going to die. Look out for a scene in a future novel when the terrified characters disappear into a wintery Spanish night – the story will write itself!

Our next trip will avoid the mountains in winter.

Happy travels everyone!

With love,

Caroline

 

Out now – THE CRUISE

 

PUBLICATION DAY SPECIAL: THE SECRET SHORE BY LIZ FENWICK

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I’ll say up front that for me, this is Liz Fenwick’s best book yet. It is just so very rich in everything; the sense of the era, the superbly described settings, the characters that refuse to leave your side.

The Secret Shore is also Liz’s first fully historical novel and her research is impeccable. Not only that, it is used so sparingly in both tiny period details and sweeping events, it whisks you back the Second World War in an entirely credible and unsentimental fashion that never gets in the way of the story.

The entire narrative is carried by the main character, Merry, an Oxford geography lecturer recruited to help the war effort. Merry is an expert in maps and they stretch into every corner of her world; her vital work, her hobbies, and even her personal life. If there is something she cannot map she is deeply uncomfortable. Liz uses the metaphor well and it never seems overdone.

War, however, throws up the unforeseen; the unmappable, the unfathomable, the tragic, the moments of laughter and intense joy. But it is also a time of transit, impermanence, the last time of all that career-minded Merry would want to listen to her heart.

Set mainly around Liz’s beloved Helford River, this book is a treat not to be missed.

When Liz told me in passing she had read forty books in the name of research, I had to ask more about how she set about that gargantuan task:

If I had known beforehand that it would require me to read forty books and multiple academic papers in order to write The Secret Shore, would I have done it? Yes. This story was one I had to write because I love the Helford River so much. The story of the secret flotillas in WW2 is part of the history of the river and I have wanted to write about them for ages. But I struggled to find a way until the character of Meredith Tremayne, a cartographer, came to me.

The starting point for my research was the book The Secret Flotillas by Brooks Richards. In the course of writing The Secret Shore, I reread his book three times just to keep straight the different operations running the routes from Devon and Cornwall to Brittany. After learning of the teams’ immense bravery, I made the decision to use the names of the real people in my novel and this led to more books to research… from general history, to biography, to memoirs, and finally to obscure titles to find the small details. Some I had also read previously while researching for The Returning Tide, such as the personal memoir of the woman who managed the Ferryboat Inn during the war.

In all this fascinating background work the key thing for me was to digest the information and then to step away. It’s far too easy to want to squeeze in all the riveting facts, but that would have dragged the story down. By the end of my research, I may have done the equivalent of a Geography A level, but more akin to the study of geography as taught in the 1930s.

For The Secret Shore I stuck to my tried and tested method of doing my research in chunks. To begin with, only enough to write the first draft, then as the story develops I commence the deep dive for the right information. I can if I’m not careful become easily led astray down the many rabbit holes of research. Through the ensuing drafts I keep seeing the need for further information and will keep reading more to add subtle layers, without overloading it, hopefully bringing the story alive for my readers.

Now the big question is where to put all the books?

 

 

 

ANGELA PETCH ON THE WEIGHT OF RESPONSIBILITY OF RESEARCH

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I felt a weight of responsibility to get my research right for The Girl who Escaped. A main male protagonist is based on my Italian grandfather-in-law and I wanted to respect Luigi’s courage, as well as accurately represent the plight of Jews in Italy.

The first book I consulted was: It happened in Italy, written by an Italo-American lady. Elizabeth Bettina wrote of an internment camp for Jews near her grandparents’ village of Campagna. They’d been treated with kindness and respect. This was a revelation. I had only come across stories of gruesome concentration camps. Did camps like Campagna exist in Tuscany?

I found a camp called Villa Oliveto where archives for internment camps were stored. Brilliant! The hunt was on! I found accounts and photos of this place in the 1940s.

We travelled to the picturesque location set in olive groves near Civitella in Val di Chiana, but the villa, a former orphanage, was closed and archives no longer stored there.

All was not lost, however. I wandered around the building, taking photographs and notes. Then, I came across a puzzling, fading plaque, which told me the villa had once housed British Jews. Extremely puzzled, I asked a local woman who was walking past. But she had no idea. I speak fluent Italian and this helps when researching.

I enjoy a research puzzle and when I discovered the explanation later, it inspired a new character. Bear with me…

A young woman called Shira is a Cyreneican Jew from eastern Libya. (A former Italian colony). After Italy joined the Germans in 1940, many Libyan Jews were sent to concentration camps where they were treated abominably.  Jews lost trust in the Italian government, and began to support the British. The British had first conquered Cyrenaica in December 1940 and abolished Mussolini’s racial laws. Many Jewish men joined the British army and were granted British citizenship. Here was the link I needed.

On April 3rd 1941, Italian and German forces pushed British forces from Benghazi. Jews were arrested by the Italians, especially those who had allied themselves with the enemy, and were sent to the notorious Giado camp. Some Libyan Jews, however, were sent back to Italian camps. I’ve never found the exact reason, but have allowed myself artistic license through detective work. In a brilliant Italian book covering the persecution of Jews in Italy I found possible explanations of why Shira and other Libyan Jews might have landed in Italy, instead of elsewhere.

The Italian government knew about extermination of Jews already by the second half of 1942 – when they’d heard of massacres of Jews in Russia, from word sent home by Italian officers operating on the Eastern front. And foreign Jews who had arrived in Italy, including Hersz Kawa from Siedlce, Poland, had also talked of atrocious treatment too. He and two others had managed to escape in an empty wagon of a train bound for Italy. They spoke to Italian guards who made sure they were sent to an Italian camp, rather than German.  Similar events happened in Vichy France, when French Jews escaped to Italy because they felt they would be better treated.

I’m hoping that the same thing might have happened to those British Libyan Jews mentioned on the plaque. Saved by Italian soldiers acting with conscience.

 

The Girl Who Escaped:  https://geni.us/B0BYC1V9NHcover

 

 

 

 

WRITERS ON THE ROAD: ALISON MORTON

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A small child, curls bobbing on a head she’s forgotten to cover with the sunhat her mother insists on, crouched down on a Roman mosaic floor in north-east Spain. Mesmerised by the purity of the pattern, and the tiny marble squares, she almost didn’t hear her father calling her to the next one.

Jumping up, she eagerly ran to him, babbling questions like many eleven-year-olds do: who were the people who lived here, what were they called, what did they do, where did they come from, where have they gone?

The father, a numismatist and senior ‘Roman nut’, told her about the Greek town founded 575 BC which became Roman Emporiæ in 218 BC, where traders sailed in and out with their cargoes of olive oil, wine, textiles, glass and metals; where people lived in higgledy-piggledy houses, traded from little shops; where the Roman army based its operations; where money was minted. And the people came from every corner of the Roman Empire to live and work. Boys went to schools and girls learnt to be good wives and mothers.

The little girl listened carefully to every word, sifting the information. Her hand in his, she turned as they left, looked back at the mosaics and asked her father:.

“What would it be like if Roman women were in charge, instead of the men?”
Clever man, my father replied:
“What do you think it would be like?”

I thought about it for nearly five decades, then poured it all into my first book.

Since that first Roman road trip in Spain, I’ve clambered over bridges, explored former bathhouses, barracks and forts and wondered at theatres and amphitheatres in different parts of France, Germany, Britain, Italy, even former Yugoslavia. And I’ve walked on Roman roads connecting these sites and settlements across Europe.

The via Domitia running along the coast from Spain to Italy provided a fast and sure link between the key province of Hispania and the imperial centre in Rome. Built in 118 BC, it’s still with us, wheel ruts included, over 2,000 years later. At Ambrussum in southern France, it formed a junction with the route northwards up the Rhone Valley into central Gaul. I stood on those slabs, where those three roads met, closed my eyes and ‘saw’ thousands of people, carts, mules, legionaries and the odd imperial courier, many of them shouting at me to get out of their way. The Romans were busy people, much like us today.

When writing my latest story set in AD 370 – itself a Roman ‘road trip’– I discovered how common it was for current routes to bear the names given to them two thousand years ago. The strada stalale 3 entering Rome from the north is still called the Via Flaminia; from the northwest, the Via Cassia (strada regionale 2) enters Rome heading for the Milvian Bridge as it did in Augustus’s day.  And you can still walk (or in some parts) even ride in your car along the via Appia.

The persistence of these road names seems romantic, but the Romans were hard-headed military engineers. For them, it was a question of reaching B from A in the fastest, most efficient and logical way. Small wonder than very many countries in Europe built their road networks following the same routes.

Travel on the ground is exciting, eye-opening and educational, but seeing and touching the roads, floors and walls and looking at their glassware, pottery, household equipment and thus imagining the people who walked, lived, and worked in those places takes us on a very different journey – the one into time.

 

If you’d like to learn more about my alternative Roman novels, Roman life and a journey through time, please come and visit me at alison-morton.com.

 

 

 

Spotlight on Priest and Poet Ian Tattum

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I have long been a fan of writer Ian Tattum. Ian is incredibly intelligent and a keen observer. Ian’s poems have been published in a number of magazines and it’s easy to see why. Ian’s talent is outstanding and his poems stay with you for a long time after you have read them. I cannot recommend his poems enough, nor insist enough that you keep an eye out for what he does in the future.

It was hard to find just three poems to publish here. I loved them all. One such line ‘for a bruised heart will kill first what others love’ had a huge impact on me. Ian’s poems are full of truth and beauty. He is a fantastic nature writer and a wonderful person. May we may have more like him. Now. Thank you.

Ian Tattum, poet, priest, nature, writer

Nativity

I didn’t croak, I cried.
Long armed and long legged,
and long breathed.
It was not an amphibious belch,
but a human yell
as I left my pond for the world.
And my arrival wasn’t
a leap but a tumble.
I was not smooth and green,
but red and wrinkled.
My mother objected when my father said, ‘he looks like a frog’, but looking closer she saw his point, and kept her silence.

For my mother
JOAN TATTUM

Landlocked at Olney

The Ouse lives up to its name,
slowly winding through a gentle valley.
Overlooked by the modest high point of Clifton Reynes,
and windmills that march without moving.
It floods less now, hardly a boot covering but
wild swimming still provides the odd drowning.
A snaking mirror of the sky and trees,
of barely rippled blues, greys and greens.
Where a damselfly’s stained-glass wing or a sudden kingfisher
can arrest your attention without troubling it.
A place for a closer walk with God,
where the breeze curtains out the traffic
as it did for Cowper the noise of industry and cart.
But the river leads to the sea,
one hundred and forty-three miles east.
To a place where the water and the sands move,
footing is unsure, and the tides are wilful.

Attic Verses. Cowboys and Indians

I rarely felt the cold in those days before central heating,
when the coal fireplace in the front room was only lit
for necessity and the kitchen harboured the hypnotic
skin-searing paraffin stove.
When my bedroom was icy my mind was warmed by travel.
I knelt on the carpet moving my soldiers across prairies,
and over rivers and hiding them in clefts in the rock.
Some would take refuge in a cardboard stockade,
while others whooped from plastic horses,
in circling menace.
In TV Western Land even when it snowed
it was always temperate.
There were countless deaths, but no one ever died.
Until my brother, proving how wrong Wilde was,
instituted an irreparable massacre by beheading;
for a bruised heart will kill first what others love.

Ian Tattum is a priest in the Church of England, who writes mainly about nature, local history literature- including a recent essay for Little Toller’s ‘The Clearing’. His poetry has previously been published by Spelt Magazine , The Pilgrim and Black Bough Poetry. He is a Fellow of the Linnaean Society. https://stbarnabas-southfields.org.uk/essays-and-
reviews/
Follow Ian on Twitter at @ITattum.

JANE CABLE ON THE BENEFITS OF A WRITING ESCAPE TO THE SUN

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I have just returned from a third fabulous week of writing led by one of my favourite authors, Rosanna Ley, in one of my favourite places, Finca el Cerrillo in the mountains north of Malaga. My first was in February 2020 then, courtesy of Covid there was a gap before I returned in March 2022 and again this year.

So why do I keep going back? And if you are looking for a writing retreat, or writing holiday, as Rosanna calls them, what might help you to decide which one to choose?

The first year I went my objectives were quite broad; I had a contract with a small publisher but was desperate to break into the mainstream, so I wanted to hone my skills, find inspiration for ‘the book with the hook’, and pick Rosanna’s brains about where my writing career might take me.

On every level, the retreat worked for me. Every morning, after a hearty breakfast and an optional walk through the finca’s olive grove, we met in the light and airy classroom for a themed session aimed to both inspire us and improve our skills. There were people at every stage of their career and Rosanna managed the sessions cleverly so we all got something out of it. Topics ranged from beginnings and endings, to writing dialogue, and short stories so there is plenty to get your teeth into, whether you are writing a novel or not.

After that, the day is your own to write, relax, or chat to other participants. One-to-one sessions with Rosanna are offered, including feedback on your writing, which is always detailed and incredibly valuable. Everyone meets in the dining room or on the terrace for lunch, and part of the whole joy of the week is making connections with other writers. In fact, simply having time to be a writer, with no distractions, was a revelation in itself.

Towards the end of the afternoon is a feedback session where we could read a piece of our work for comment by the group. I had never done this before but soon lost my fear as the other participants were so constructive and helpful.

A couple of evenings we had dinner at a local village, but otherwise ate at the finca, where the food is excellent. There is always some sort of entertainment; a quiz night, group singing, dancing, party games… and on the last night the finca tradition of desert island discs, where we have to guess who from the group chose a particular song.

All of this goes to form strong bonds, and after my first retreat, when we were plunged into lockdown so soon afterwards, we kept in touch via Zoom. This year we have a WhatsApp group instead. Time marches on.

Rosanna is very flexible in her approach, and this year arranged things so that those of us who wanted to focus on a particular project could leave the morning sessions early, and as a result my wordcount went through the roof. I was bashing out the first draft of my summer 2024 Eva Glyn novel and when I wasn’t at my laptop took invigorating and mentally stimulating walks around the olive grove between scenes, or when I needed to unknot a thorny problem.

Because of the way the week is structured it is quite genuinely suitable for everyone from absolute novice writers to published authors. And Finca el Cerrillo is a little piece of heaven on earth. At the time of writing Rosanna has a place or two left on this June’s retreat, and is taking expressions of interest for next year. I hope to see you there!

For more information, visit Rosanna’s website: https://rosannaley.com/writing-retreats-events

Spotlight | Author and Podcaster Georgina Scull

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I’m very excited to introduce a new series to Frost. Spotlight does just that, it finds people, or things, that deserve to have a light on them. Launching this is Georgina Scull who I’m a huge fan of. Her book, Regret’s of the Dying, is a wonderful, life-affirming book. Georgina is such a talented person, and also a thoroughly decent human being. Grab a copy of her book now. You won’t be disappointed.

Georgina Scull

Tell us a bit about you.

I’m originally from Central London, but live in Cambridge now. My family is small; English on my mum’s side and Romani Gypsy and Norwegian on my dad’s. I have one daughter and I’m happily separated.

You work in different mediums. Which one is your favourite?

That’s like asking someone who their favourite child is! Honestly, they’re all great. I work in podcasts, radio, and books, and am forging into film. Really the story dictates where it should be told. Sometimes you get an idea that you can hear and is more dialogue-based, so it’s natural home might be audio. It’s just different ways of storytelling and they’re all brilliant.

Have you always wanted to tell stories?

No. I’ve always loved stories, and always loved English at school, but to be honest it never occurred to me that someone might get paid to write, or that it might actually be a job you could choose, but I knew I wanted to do something creative. I started when I was 19 – and had no idea it would take me this long!

How do you come up with ideas?

I think I’m pretty lucky, because I always have more ideas than I can work on. Where do they come from? Just living, and listening to people, and connecting the dots. Lots of the time it might come from one central question you want to answer – with Regrets it was ‘if you only had one year to live, what would you do with it?’. Sometimes it’s an image you imagine or something you see in real life. And then it becomes – what if that couple who look like they’re in an embrace are actually arguing, and vice versa. I think it’s about finding a question or moment you want to explore; and I’d say that’s true of both fiction and non-fiction.

You started Regrets of the Dying as a podcast. How difficult was it turning the idea into a book?

It wasn’t hard, because most of the people that feature in the book weren’t on the podcast so it felt very new. The most difficult thing was finding people who wanted to talk, and being worried about upsetting them when we did sit down together. That, obviously, would never be my aim. Luckily, from what the interviewees told me afterwards, the experience seemed to be a cathartic one.

What’s your favourite thing about becoming a published author?

Probably receiving messages from readers, telling me that my book helped them. That, to me, is really amazing. I’m not sure if this’ll make any sense, but when the hardback came out last year I was 48. I’d been plugging away for so many years, mainly writing fiction, but really didn’t have much to show for it. I’d made a podcast series, and created a radio play which was well received, but really hadn’t achieved much for the amount of years I’d been working. I felt completely invisible. So to write a book that may have helped others was a very special thing, and something I am really proud of.

Tell us about your creative process.

When I start a new project I always buy a new pad, always A4 and always lined. I usually come up with the title very quickly and then do a bit of a one-two sentence blurb just to keep me focused on the main story and my reason for wanting to tell it. If I can’t come up with that blurb quickly, chances are the idea isn’t ready yet. Then, if it’s a podcast or a book, I’ll sketch out the cover art. This is purely for me: it helps to see it as a finished thing. Then I brainstorm the characters, the basic beats of the story and then make a schedule to write it. I then try and write most days but don’t really do set hours. It always takes me longer than I hope. Always. But if I try to do too much each day I end up doing nothing. I have a small office, but I tend to write in bed, or in cafes. And if I get stuck I go walking. It’s strange how a plot point or problem can seem impossible, then you go walking, listen to a podcast about a completely different subject, and by the time you sit down for a cup of tea that impossible thing seems weirdly obvious.

What is the highlight of your career so far?

Probably going on Woman’s Hour, mainly because I remember my mum listening to it on the radio when I was growing up.

What advice do you have for people who want to have a career like yours?

It’s important to be practical: to have another stream of income because making a liveable income from writing is incredibly hard; to not wait for some magic moment to write, and to crack on in the little pockets of time you do have; to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve; and to send your work out – if you’ve written something it serves no purpose sitting in a bottom drawer. You have to remember, like finding love, it’s a bit of a numbers game: not everyone will like/love your stuff, but you don’t need everyone to love it. You just need one or two people on your side that will open the gates wide enough for you to sneak in.

But I think probably the biggest thing I wish I’d learnt a lot sooner is to have a few people around you who believe in you. People who can cheerlead and help you keep the faith when you’re consumed with doubt and drowning in rejection (because it can feel like that sometimes, unfortunately). For years I was in a relationship with someone who wouldn’t read my work, wouldn’t listen to my podcasts, and really didn’t want me to talk about it at all. And in those moments of doubt, when I needed reassurance, all I had was myself. I now have that mutual support from my new partner and a small group of lovely friends and writers. I just wish I’d realised my need for it sooner because we all need support. Even those of us who are used to being the ‘strong one’.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on my next book, and have a couple of audio projects that are in the pipeline; one factual and one fiction. I’m a bit superstitious so I won’t say any more than that!

The paperback of Regret’s of the Dying is available on March 30th. Other formats are out now.

WRITERS ON THE ROAD: LIZZIE LAMB

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People often talk about Castles in Spain however the inspiration behind my novels comes from an entirely different source – castles in Scotland. We visit Scotland every year with our caravan and I spend part of the day writing on my MacBook and the rest researching/exploring castles, researching ideas for my next novel. My favourite castle is Castle Stalker on Loch Linnhe, the castle featured in Girl in the Castle, although I’ve renamed it Tearmannaire, meaning guardian or defender in Gaelic. We stumbled upon it almost by chance as we were driving from Oban to Ft William and it loomed at us out of the Scotch mist. It was like something out of a film set – grey, imposing and sitting squarely in the middle of the loch.

Catching a sign advertising a café, Castle Stalker View, we pulled in for a better look. There we discovered that the owner gives guided tours of the castle. Even better, he collects potential visitors from the shore and ferries them across to his home in his launch. That later used that in a scene from in Girl in the Castle where the heroine arrives on the shore,  shrouded in an autumn mist, and rings a bell for the ferryman to take her over to the castle.

The following year we discovered Bioran Dubh Caravan Site overlooking the castle and have stayed there in subsequent years. The thrill of seeing the castle every morning when we open the blinds never palls. We’re booked ourselves in there this summer on our way south after touring the highlands. A word of warning, there is no toilet block at the site, only water and electricity so your caravan needs to be pretty much self-contained if you fancy staying there.

Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself. . .

The tour of the castle revealed details which I subsequently used in Girl in the Castle. How the RAF practices low level flying along the loch using the castle as a marker and dip their wings as they fly past. How Castle Stalker became Castle Argg in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, including the scene where John Cleese hurls abuse at King Arthur from the ramparts. I learned how canny landowners were reluctant to dine at the castle in the past because there was a good chance it would be their last meal; all very Game of Thrones. (I later used that detail in Dark Highland Skies my current novel).  I also learned about heiresses being dragged to the altar to secure their dowries, the groom who was murdered by a rival before the ceremony was over and the Jacobite gold allegedly hidden there after the 1715 uprising.

They’re still looking for that!

As a nice touch, I was able to give the owner current a signed copy of Girl in the Castle as my thanks for him sharing his iconic home with us. And, as an extra, you can dine on the pub on the shore which was a notorious haunt of Jacobites back in the day.

We’re really looking forward to our tour of Scotland this summer, who knows what gems we’ll uncover and how that will influence what I write next?

https://viewAuthor.at/LizzieLamb