ASHLINN CRAVEN: Keep up...if you can

We are delighted to welcome Ashlinn Craven to the blog today. She was happy to answer a few questions for us:

2014 was a busy year for you with the publication of High Octane: Ignited followed by High Octane: Unleashed. It’s evident from the titles that they are fast paced. Is the excitement of the genre reflected in the speed of your writing? Tell us something about your working day.

Hi Natalie. It’s such a thrill to be on this blog. Yes, the High Octane books are set in the Formula One (F1) racing world, and there’s nothing faster on the planet. I wish I could say the same for my writing speed … I write in snatches, sometimes at 5a.m., sometimes lunchtime, sometimes on a Sunday evening, always tapping away in my three-fingered manner. Not an exact science, but maybe four months later I’ll have that first draft.

Explosive and Kick-ass are just two of the expressions I’ve seen to describe your books. Had you visited the world of Formula One before? I imagine there was a good deal of research involved.

Oh yes, behind all the money and international glamour there’s much to learn, some of it even interesting. The day-to-day routine for an F1 driver is Spartan--they have to be sickeningly fit to survive at their level. An average person has a resting heart rate of 70 bpm but drivers have more like 45-50, which ramps up to 180 during a race. A normal person could survive two, maybe three, laps at F1 speeds before they’d crumble under the g-forces. And as for the mental training … drivers need to enter a meditative state before the race to cope at all. So, to give them relationship issues to deal with at the same time seems almost unfair of me, but, heck, I do it anyway!

What would be your choice of reading? Something in your own genre or a complete change? A favourite author?

My genre choice is very mood dependent. Currently I’m glomming (buying everything of) Rhoda Baxter, Julie Cohen, Jenny Colgan, Rachel Cross, Nick Hornby, and it kills me to leave out a whole bunch of other fantastic authors but I don’t think you’d appreciate a list that goes to the end of the page!

Your characters all have wonderful names. Do your heroes and heroines choose their own or are you allowed some input?

Thanks. They choose their own names. They’re bossy like that. But I get my revenge when it comes to choosing the cover. Aha yes, that keeps them on their toes.

Have you always been a writer?

If we discount academic papers and computer programs, and we probably should, then no, it’s a relatively recent thing for me. I started writing romantic fiction in 2009 when I did a correspondence course with the London School of Journalism, which was brilliant.

When you’re not working what do you do to relax? I’m assuming you’re not a Formula One racing driver but I could be wrong of course.

<Laughs> I’m a useless driver. To relax, I stay as far away from the road as possible, preferably in warm water of some kind, preferably with friends or family, preferably with a glass of chilled Prosecco, and preferably with a view of the Alps (not too hard as I live I Switzerland). This prevents me from reading, which is probably a good thing.

As all members of the RNA know, romance offers a multitude of genres and opportunities to the writer. Are you ever tempted to try something else or is your foot firmly placed on the accelerator pedal?

Situations that engage the mind and the heart battling it out will always grab me, and the romance genre is perfect for exploring those. I’ve eased my foot off the accelerator pedal and with my next novel (Core Attraction out April 27^th  published by Crimson Romance), I’ve stepped into the world of nuclear power where my heroine is a nuclear plant employee who runs up against an environmental activist who’s returned home from Japan not a happy bunny. Set on my native east coast of Ireland, its theme is tolerance in the face of the unknowable.

About Ashlinn:

Ashlinn Craven writes romantic fiction about people who find love, themselves, and each other, in odd circumstances. When she isn't dreaming up stories that engage the mind as well as the heart, she works in the high-tech sector where she sees the future being rewritten daily. Her favourite part of being an author is hearing from her wonderful readers from around the world.

Thank you for joining us today, Ashlinn, and good luck with the new book.

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Margaret James: Magic Sometimes Happens

Today we welcome Margaret James to the blog.

A couple of years ago, I decided to set myself a challenge. I would write a dual viewpoint novel in the first person and I would write half of it in a foreign language.  

I’m well aware that there are many bi-lingual and indeed multi-lingual novelists in the RNA and, since my challenge was to write half my novel in American English, perhaps it was really no challenge at all? At first, I thought the whole thing would indeed be a doddle. I mean a cinch. Americans say elevator, the British say lift. They say sidewalk, we say pavement. We use a biro, they use a ballpoint. I’d just have to remember a lot of things – I mean a ton of stuff – like that.

Alas, there turned out to be far more to it than merely replacing biros with ballpoints. I’d chosen to make my hero American, so I had to research how American men really speak, in particular 30-something, well-educated, Midwestern American men, because the novel is set partly in Minnesota and the hero comes from Missouri.

Over the years, Amglish has gradually infiltrated Britglish, and we British usually understand Amglish perfectly well. But I still found I had to watch my step, I mean be on the ball, while I was translating my own Britglish into my hero’s Amglish. I find something is a hoot while it cracks him up. I have mates while he has buddies. I arrive while he shows up. I say definitely while he says you bet.

I didn’t want to write in joke Amglish, so my American characters never say whaddya or gonna or woah/whoa. I can’t stand woah/whoa, sorry. It makes me shudder. I mean it creeps me out. As for American expletives – I have to tell you, citizens of the USA, you don’t have nearly enough of them. You have the universal damn, but – if we don’t choose to go fishing in the open sewers of Urban Dictionary – what else can be used in more-or-less civilised society? We British are far more inventive!

I must admit I adore my hero Patrick Riley, whose lovely Midwestern voice I could hear in my head the whole time I was writing the novel. So all I had to do was take celestial dictation. But just once in a while I did get the feeling that when Pat assured me that yeah, American guys of his age did say stuff like that, he might have been having me on. I mean he was kind of kidding me.

Who is Patrick, then? He’s a married father of two small children and professor of IT at a college in Minneapolis. He doesn’t want to be attracted to Rosie Denham, a visiting British PR professional, but...

Pat had a difficult childhood. But he’s worked hard to make something of his life and nowadays he has a great career. Sadly, he also has a wife from purgatory and a best friend from hell. My heroine Rosie Denham is going to help Pat find his personal happy-ever-after, and in return he will help Rosie deal with the issues in her own troubled life.

At the start of the story, neither Pat nor Rosie has the time or inclination to fall in love. But in romantic fiction magic sometimes happens and, since I love magic, I had great fun writing this book. As for challenges – the hero and heroine meet plenty, including some stiff competition for the limelight from Patrick’s gorgeous children, Pat’s sex-addict buddy Ben, Rosie’s great mate Tess, and incidentally a very cute dog.

About Margaret:

I’m a British writer of historical and contemporary fiction. I’m also a journalist working for the UK’s Writing Magazine and I teach creative writing for the London School of Journalism.

I was born in Hereford, but now I live in Devon at the seaside, which is great because it means when I am stuck for a plot I can always go for a walk along the beach and be inspired!

Magic Sometimes Happens (Choc Lit) is available from Amazon as an ebook from October 1st.

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Thank you for visiting the RNA blog, Margaret and good luck with your book.

The RNA blog is brought to you by Elaine Everest and Natalie Kleinman. If you would like to write an article for the blog or b interviewed about your latest project please contact us on elaineeverest@aol.com

Creative Writing Matters

Today we welcome RNA members Cathie Hartigan and Margaret James. Why did they decide to write The Creative Writing Student’s Handbook?

Margaret James

Margaret is a British writer of historical and contemporary fiction.  She is also a journalist working for the UK’s Writing Magazine and she teaches creative writing for the London School of Journalism. She was born in Hereford, but now lives in Devon at the seaside, which is great because it means when she is stuck for a plot she can always go for a walk along the beach and be inspired!

Her latest novel is a contemporary romantic comedy, The Wedding Diary.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Wedding-Diary-Choc-ebook/dp/B00C6BFEUC/ref=pd_sim_kinc_1 

www.facebook.com/margaret.james.5268 

www.twitter.com/majanovelist 

www.margaretjamesblog.blogspot.co.uk

Cathie Hartigan

Cathie teaches the piano and creative writing.  Although her professional training was in music, a decade ago she swapped one keyboard for another in order to take her life-long love of writing more seriously. Since then, she has won several prizes for her short stories, was a finalist in the annual Woman and Home short story competition three times and was thrilled to be included in the digital edition of Truly, Madly Deeply.

Cathie lectured in creative writing for nine years at Exeter College before leaving to found CreativeWritingMatters, which offers a range of writing services and administers The Exeter Novel Prize. Becoming a published novelist remains Cathie’s primary ambition.

When not writing, Cathie sings in a small vocal ensemble. The beautiful Devon coastline also provides plenty of distraction but on a rainy day if there’s an opera or theatre screening at the cinema, she’ll be there.

‘Collectively, Margaret and I have clocked up over three decades of teaching experience,’ says Cathie, who taught creative writing at Exeter College for many years and is now CEO of CreativeWritingMatters, an Exeter-based initiative which organises writing competitions, offers mentoring and provides a range of other services to writers. ‘We both realised long ago that the students who are likely to do well are good learners: who are willing to listen to their teachers but who don’t expect these teachers to lay down a set of infallible rules that will automatically lead to success. The students who succeed are those who think for themselves.’

‘So this new handbook is designed to show creative writing students how to learn,’ adds Margaret, who teaches creative writing for the London School of Journalism and contributes to every issue of Writing Magazine. ‘We hope our readers will engage with us – will think about what we say and will also do the exercises at the ends of the chapters. We’re always happy to hear from readers, who can contact us through the CreativeWritingMatters website: http://www.creativewritingmatters.co.uk/contact-us.html.’

‘When we first started to plan the handbook, we did wonder if our writing styles would mesh well enough to offer a smooth read,’ says Cathie. ‘The last thing we wanted was for readers to be able to say: this is by Cathie, but that’s by Margaret. As it turned out, however, the way we worked meant this wasn’t a problem.

‘After an initial meeting during which we decided what the overall content of the book should be, we agreed to write alternate chapters. Once these were written, we sent them backwards and forwards several times, tweaking, adding examples, adding exercises, rewriting when we thought we sounded too bossy (Margaret) or too sloppy (me).

‘We leaned on our writer friends to read and proof the book, spent a day preparing then photographing the cover image, grappled with Kindle Publishing Direct, and then – hey presto – it was done!

‘We believe creative writing students can benefit hugely from this book. Perhaps it will help teachers of creative writing too, for during the writing process both Margaret and I have learned a lot from each other. This brings me very neatly to our:

Ten Top Tips for the Creative Writing Student

1 – Don’t go on your writing journey alone. You can go it alone, but a fresh pair of eyes will always see things you won’t, even if you look at your work a hundred times. Join a group.

2 – Face the fear. You will have setbacks: getting nowhere in a competition, receiving ‘not suitable for our list’ emails from agents and publishers, or getting no response at all. Later in your career, you might have to deal with falling sales figures and/or not getting a contract renewed. Cry, beat a pillow or two and then start planning and plotting again.

3 – Do your research. Most authors don’t stint on their research for the books or stories themselves. But, once a book or short story is written, what then? If you already have an agent or publisher, then of course you’ll ping the manuscript to them. If you don’t, it’s essential to research the best place to send it. Don’t set yourself up for failure by sending your darling to an inappropriate competition, agent or publisher.

4 – Keep reading widely, relentlessly and with an enquiring mind. When a story impresses you, ask yourself: how did the author do that?

5 – When times are bad, don’t listen to the saboteur in your head telling you that your writing is a load of rubbish. Go on writing anyway.

6 – Don’t forget to write the story. It’s not enough to write just the back-story and the set-up. Don’t laugh – we see this kind of thing in competition entries all the time. There’s back-story, there’s set-up, but the writing doesn’t go anywhere.

7 – What happens and what happens in the end are two different questions with two different answers.

8 – If you’re entering competitions or have deadlines, always leave enough time for the redraft. And the second redraft. And the third…

9 – Research publishing options carefully: commercial or self-publishing? Big publisher or smaller independent?

10 – Keep the faith and believe in yourself.

Our thanks to both Cathie and Margaret for joining us today

This blog is brought to you by Elaine Everest and Natalie Kleinman.

If you would like to write something for the RNA blog please contact us on:elaineeverest@aol.com