Archive for May, 2008

May 16, 2008 | 4 Comments

I was at the RNA Summer Party last night so here’s a very brief report and a few pictures. First mega congratulations to Giselle Green who won the 2008 Joan Hessayon Award for her debut novel (which sounds remarkable) called Pandora’s Box. I predict huge things for this book. Congratulations to all the contenders - I hope you had a wonderful evening.

I heard but didn’t actually see the ceremony as I was in a corner, quivering, preparing to give my short speech. Happily, it seemed to go well, people laughed in the right places and I even enjoyed it!

Here are some pics. First (l-r) me, the 2008 NWS winner Giselle Green with the Joan Hessayon trophy and Fiona Harper (2006 winner). I just couldn’t let go, you see…

Next gardening super guru, Dr Dave Hessayon OBE with VIP guest (who I think is HMB Historical author Carol Townend - thanks Julie!)

Brigid ‘Biddy’ Coady and Julie Cohen, misbehaving as usual.

I also chatted to my LBD and Headline eds Claire Baldwin and Cat Cobain, Maddie Rowe from Mills & Boon; authors Elizabeth Hanbury, Catherine Jones, Judy Astley, Katie Fforde, Jan Jones, Sara Craven and lots of friends and new writers. It was a very exciting evening - helped by the champagne generously donated by Dave who made a speech about his late wife, Joan, that had many of us in tears.

Thank you RNA, all the NWS scheme ‘readers’ and Dave.

May 14, 2008 | Comments

If you’d like to listen to Elizabeth Hanbury and me on BBC Radio WM (chatting about how North & South inspired us to write novels, click Listen Again - Phil Upton on Tuesday May 13 - about 2hours 20 mins into the show.

Rosy Thornton’s also written a great article about fanfiction for the blog of Norman Geras.

STOP PRESS

I’m doing a session on Writing and Publishing for the National Year of reading at Cannock Library, Staffordshire on Monday May 19 at 2.30pm-4pm. Free refreshments!

May 12, 2008 | 4 Comments

Flippin’ eck. It’s all happening. Just found out my Aldi duo edition is scheduled for Sunday May 18. Along with a number of Headline and LBD titles you can get Wish You Were Here and Decent Exposure at a bargain price.

“Hours of sunbathing entertainment guaranteed – two great titles in one handy, beach-bag friendly paperback,” says Aldi.

Bet they say that to all the girls…

Comments

Glorious weather eh? I’ve been taking the laptop outside on the patio to work. I’m deep in revisions for my current book for the next few weeks. My daughter is popping home briefly on Wednesday (hurrah!) then I’m off for a flying visit to the RNA Summer Party on Thursday to give my farewell speech. Tomorrow morning, I’m supposed to be on the Radio WM Phil Upton show with Elizabeth Hanbury (and Rosy Thornton in spirit). We’re talking (by phone) about how we met on an Internet fansite and started writing novels inspired by N&S.

May 9, 2008 | 3 Comments

It’s the RNA Summer Party next week and (sob) I’ll be handing back my New Writers Award to one of the five contenders. I wish them all the best of luck and I know they’ll have a fantastic evening.

However, I do know one of them, Elizabeth Hanbury. She’s the third person from my North &South messageboard to make it into print and she did it via the New Writers Scheme. Here’s her call story.

Hi there everyone,

Elizabeth Hanbury here *waves* Phillipa has kindly asked me to guest blog with my call story for my regency romance, The Paradise Will, so here it is….

I’ve always been fascinated by the regency period as it was a time of paradox; the exquisite taste, elegant manners and honourable code of the time ran alongside vulgarity, gambling and a penchant for excess in all things. Rakes and courtesans lived alongside (and often collided with) an exclusive ‘polite’ society.

Plenty of good material for fiction there then (!) and unsurprisingly, I chose to write regency romance. I began writing short stories in my limited spare time before deciding to try a full length novel. This proved to be a much tougher proposition. I dashed off five chapters, promptly ran out of steam and left it untouched for months! Eventually I returned to the manuscript and planned the rest of the story. Doing so helped me to persevere and work through to the end; I felt compelled to give the characters I had created a fitting conclusion. The story completed, it then gathered dust at the back of a drawer for a couple of years….until the advent of a BBC drama called North and South in the autumn of 2004. What’s the connection between my regency romance manuscript and the BBC adaptation of a victorian novel? Let me explain.

North and South, and particularly Richard Armitage, the actor who played Gaskell’s hero John Thornton, caused something of a stir in cyber space and when it aired on TV. A group of ladies - Phillipa, Rosy Thornton and myself among them – found our way to the BBC drama messageboard, looking for information on North and South and Richard Armitage. Such was the demand we were given our own N&S messageboard. When the BBC decided to close it in the spring of 2005 (and Richard Armitage posted a message which sent the BBC board into meltdown!), many of us moved to C19, a messageboard set up to discuss N&S,19th literature and many other subjects as well.

Our new playground was great fun! Friendships, both cyber and real life, sprang up and continue today. We could post after 10.00 pm, upload images and – hurrah – fiction and fanfiction for other C19 members to read. I was amazed by the quality of the fiction on offer. It was brilliant and the clamour for N&S fanfiction was, naturally, loudest of all.

Another corner of the board was devoted to Georgette Heyer, the queen of regency fiction and, being a Heyer fan since my teens, I joined in the discussions. When I mentioned that I had written a regency romance, some members asked if I would share it. Feedback was extremely positive and their encouragement led me to begin work on two further regency romances, one of which was The Paradise Will.

I joined the New Writers Scheme of the Romantic Novelists Association in 2007 and revised The Paradise Will manuscript using the feedback from the scheme. Robert Hale Ltd., an independent London publishing house, accepted it in October 2007 and The Paradise Will was published on 30th April 2008. I’m also pleased to say The Paradise Will is a contender for the RNA 2008 Joan Hessayon New Writers Award.

It feels surreal – yet totally wonderful – to be a published author and it’s all because of C19, North and South and a certain actor called Richard Armitage, whose memorable portrayal of John Thornton was the original catalyst..

Posted by Phillipa in Uncategorized @ 7:10 am