August 8, 2012
I have a fabulous guest on the blog today – Hazel Osmond, but first an apology for my absence. My excuses are that I’ve had Olympic fever and also had my head down writing my 2013 release with Piatkus. I’ve been to two Olympic events – which were awe-inspiring -and will try and get round to posting photos soon but first back to Hazel!
I ‘met’ Hazel on C19, the online fan forum and writing site which started my fiction career and that of a host of others. We have a lot in common. As well as being inspired by Mr Richard Armitage, Hazel’s in the RNA (like me) and she’s a copywriter (like me) and she also writes sexy romantic comedy (like me.)
She’s written a brilliant post about Writing What You Know.
Familiar and unfamiliar ground
Along with ‘show don’t tell’, ‘write what you know’ is one of the best known bits of advice given to writers. You can see how it makes sense to be on familiar ground and in my first book, ‘Who’s Afraid of Mr Wolfe?’ I followed the advice, setting it in the world of advertising which I know well.
But writing what you know doesn’t really cover what the novelist does. If it did we wouldn’t be called novelists, we’d be journalists or diarists or even documentary makers. That’s because we take what we know and put it in the fast spin cycle of our mind – our imagination. So while elements of Mr Wolfe were drawn from my own experience, much of it wasn’t. (Something I kept telling people when they asked about the sex scenes only to find my husband was smugly lying and telling them it was all first-hand knowledge. Harumph)
So, in Mr Wolfe’s case, what I knew was simply a springboard that enabled me to go off in many other directions.
With my second book ‘The First Time I Saw Your Face’, the situation has been different. Yes, it’s set in Bath and then Northumberland, two places I know very well, and it’s still a really funny romance, but alongside the humour and passion are other elements that include sheep farming, alcoholism, tabloid journalism and the psychological state of someone who has had a life-altering accident. I do not have personal experience of any of these things, so how, as a novelist do you equip yourself to write convincingly about them?
Research is part of the answer and the internet has transformed the breadth and depth of information to which a writer has access. I am also lucky enough to have good friends who are sheep farmers and a couple of days on their farm, helping with the sheep and driving them mad with my questions (the farmers, not the sheep) enabled me to understand the tasks they do, the pressures they face, but also get first hand experience of all the sensory things… how a sheep smells, what it sounds like when it’s about to give birth. Priceless stuff if you’re going to convince someone you’re the daughter of a sheep farmer.
But what about subjects like alcoholism or coping with the aftermath of an accident? Well that’s the tricky part. I did do a lot of reading – not just the factual stuff but first-person accounts and literature produced by charities to help people in these situations. But that’s really just a starting point… after that comes trying to understand the emotions that are involved, the situations that have to be gone through, and the effects on those who love these people. And then you have to make the big leap and stop thinking about these things in isolation, you have to start thinking how all of this would manifest itself in your particular characters. If you don’t do that it simply feels that you’re draped a coat over someone but not put them into it properly. At best, that grates, at worst it can seem as though you’re being melodramatic or patronising.
It’s a strange process of being outside something but also trying to get inside it and I would never in a million years say it means you ‘understand’ what these things are like, or even worse, ‘feel the pain’ yourself. How could you? What I do hope it means is that you can empathise enough to produce a story that is true to how a lot of people feel in these situations and, just as importantly, believable for your characters.
And how did I get my insights into all the skulduggery involved in the world of tabloid journalism? Well, that was easy – I simply followed their lead and what I didn’t know, I made up! Since then, of course, we’ve had the revelations about the News of the World and the Leveson inquiry and it appears that I may have been nearer to the truth than I ever imagined…
The First Time I Saw Your Face is available now in e book and print from Amazon and book stores and supermarkets.
Posted by Phillipa @ 8:52 am |
July 11, 2012
Last night, I signed up as a Supporting Author for the Festival of Romance in November. I really enjoyed last year’s event but in 2012, authors are taking the romance right to the heart of the public in Bedford town centre.
Two of my publishers are sponsoring the event – Piatkus Entice and E-scape press – and there are many great authors and good friends getting involved. I haven’t finalised which sessions I’m taking part in but I’ll have details closer to the event, if you want to come along.
In the meantime, my October book, Miranda’s Mount is now done and I’m eagerly awaiting the cover. It’s listed on Amazon.com in the US, Fishpond in Australia and other sites but I’ll put up the full list of links as soon as I get them. I’m also deep in the middle of writing the next one at the moment, provisionally titled It Happened One Night.
Best of all, I’m feeling much better than I have done for months thanks to my meds – now, if only it would stop raining, things would be perfect…
PS I’m blogging at A Word’s Worth today about the new book and my chaotic working methods!
Posted by Phillipa @ 4:51 am |
July 9, 2012
http://youtu.be/XL5Ls4GDm2M
So, did you watch it? Did you cheer and hide behind the sofa? Did you cry?
I’m talking about the Wimbledon Men’s Singles Final, of course, and about Andy Murray’s defeat at the hands of the sublime Roger Federer.
Before the final, I think it’s fair to say that Murray was not the most popular sportsman in Britain, for a whole host of reasons, possibly because he refuses to trot out a string of populist but bland platitudes afer his matches. He’s truculent, grudging and at times, bloody awkward – but also a brilliant and utterly committed sportsman. Actually, I’ve never been in the Get Andy Murray Camp and have always seen a young man of intense passion, trying to keep a lid on his emotions so he could win the ultimate prize.
After the final, all that emotion came spilling out as he made his losing speech on court. Finally, we got to see the real man underneath the veneer – and it was glorious, dare I say, more glorious than even a victory would have been?
I cried, along with half the nation, not because he had lost because a tennis match is only a game, but to see a man driven to the limit by the pressure of his hopes and dreams.
Someone on Twitter who works in screenwriting said that the audience always loves a character who tries, more than one who succeeds. Yesterday, that was so true.
I bet I’m not the only writer watching who was soaking up the emotions, and thinking: next time a character has his darkest moment, I’m going to channel this feeling. What brings a strong man to show his deepest feelings in public? How can I use this experience to ramp up the emotional stakes in my story?
That doesn’t help Murray, and of course, in a romance, there’s always an HEA. I hope the Andy gets his HEA soon in the form of a Grand Slam win but whatever the outcome, he has finally become a true hero for me. Not for getting to the Wimbledon final, but for having the courage to show us who he really is.
Posted by Phillipa @ 4:39 am |
June 28, 2012
Woo hoo. Here’s the blurb for Miranda’s Mount which is out worldwide in October:
A sexy, funny contemporary romance set in Cornwall from popular UK women’s fiction author, Phillipa Ashley
When Miranda finds herself fighting for her home, her job and her heart, sleeping with the enemy may not be the best tactic…
With no family of her own, Miranda Marshall has developed a healthy respect – some would say obsession – with other people’s histories. As property manager of a spectacular island castle in Cornwall, she’s made St Merryn’s Mount one of the UK’s most popular heritage attractions. While she may have the castle running like clockwork, Miranda hasn’t bargained on its sexy owner returning to claim his birthright. Dark, handsome and with a rakish reputation, Jago St Merryn not only looks like a pirate but is intent on flogging the Mount to a soulless leisure corporation. Miranda faces the battle of her life as she tries to persuade him to face up to his past and continue the St Merryn dynasty. But Jago has his own reasons for jumping ship and when he throws down the gauntlet to Miranda, she’s forced to delve into painful memories she’d much rather keep hidden…
Here’s a picture of Michael Fassbender as Azazeal in Hex which is how I picture Jago.
Now, to those of you who know me and that I’ve been a bit under the weather and have been so lovely to ask how I am, it turns out I’ve got a pretty common problem that can be helped and fixed by meds.
AND The day ended very happily when I went to pick up the proof pages of Miranda’s Mount from the sorting office.
Bloody typical, the postie always calls when you’re out enjoying yourself, doesn’t he?
Posted by Phillipa @ 6:37 am |
June 26, 2012
It’s been a funny old time here lately in relation to a number of non-writing related things but I’m hoping that things will get better – or at least feel better – later this week.
One of the cheerier things that has happened is that I’ve had three lovely reviews for Just Say Yes from One Literature Nut and A Word’s Worth and The Royal Reviews.
Also my new Uk Publisher, Piatkus Entice, says I’ll be getting the hard copy proofs of my October contemporary romance, Miranda’s Mount tomorrow – which means I get to see the pages typeset like the finished e book. 🙂 This book should be available as an e book worldwide on October 1st and I’m hoping to have a cover and a blurb soon.
Posted by Phillipa @ 5:03 am |
