Sue Shepherd: Could you repeat that please?

Thank you to Sue Shepherd for this delightful piece about the use of our favourite words.

During the final, final edits of my latest novel, ‘Love Them and Leave Them’, it became apparent to both myself and my editor that there were certain phrases that I really liked to use. Of course I’m not unique, every author has their preferred words that they constantly return to, we just can’t help it.

What I found interesting about mine was the fact that not only had I often used them in the narrative

, but my characters had also used them in their dialogue. I knew all my characters very well, I could picture their mannerisms, I could hear their voices and accents, and yet, occasionally, out of nowhere, one of them would utter a phrase that simply wasn’t them at all, in fact it was 100% me.

What was happening there? Why were these characters, who I knew as intimately as any of my real life friends, suddenly saying something that was so completely ‘Sue Shepherd’?

I could only conclude that somehow, subconsciously, my own voice was determined to be heard. This reminded me that even though these people are real to me, so much so that they wake me at night and demand to be heard, the truth is that they all came from inside my head. It makes no difference who they are, male, female, old, young, goodie or villain, they all have a little bit of me inside them. (Yes, I’m now rubbing my hands together in true Doctor Frankenstein fashion!)

In some ways I’m rather pleased they take after me, I’m extremely fond of some, and even the baddies have wormed their way into my affections. But I remain very grateful to my editor for pointing out my duplications and for making me aware when my characters spoke out of turn.

It does make me wonder what words other authors can’t help repeating? What did Agatha Christie find herself having to keep a check on? Did J K Rowling’s editor have to break the news to her that she’d gone overboard on a certain phrase? Once we, the writers, are made aware of our little foibles, we can do our best to minimise the usage in future. But words are a part of our upbringing, a part of our everyday lives, indeed, they’re a part of who we are. Our favourites are stubborn little buggers, and they will slip out!

Here are some comments from our members about their ‘favourite’ words:

“I ‘just’ ‘actually’ ‘obviously’ know what you mean. And also (hanging my head in shame) I will admit that my characters swear a lot in my first drafts, because I swear a lot. Oops!”

Alison May.

“My characters ‘just’ do so many things ‘abruptly’ or ‘suddenly’ that I dread to think what they look like in the reader’s imagination.”

Sue Moorcroft.

One of my books had a character who ‘raised his eyebrows’ about 17 times. Though I have removed some of those eyebrows since then.”

Colin Garrow

“My headmistress sleuth, Harriet Quigley, not only raises her eyebrows, she shrugs a lot and bites her lip far too often! I have to do a check before I let her go.”

Nicola Slade

“My characters are constantly pulling things. I don't mean they're on the pull, but they pull doors, pull on coats, pull away. When I edit I have to remind them to tug, drag, grab and other more interesting words.”

Kath McGurl

“My word is ‘though’ at the end of sentences. It’s especially noticeable when I write in the first person. I have to go through at the editing stage and remove a lot.”

Jennie Bohnet.

About Sue:

Sue Shepherd writes contemporary romance and enjoys creating novels with heart, laughs and naughtiness. She doesn’t pull any punches when choosing her subjects, but manages to handle her characters’ challenging situations with sensitivity and humour.

Her debut novel 'Doesn't Everyone Have a Secret?' was published by Corazon Books in March 2015.  It reached the top 10 UK Kindle chart, and also topped the romantic comedy, contemporary romance and humour charts. It became available in paperback on Amazon.UK in November 2015.

Sue’s second novel ‘Love Them and Leave Them’ was published in September 2016.

Sue lives on the picturesque Isle of Wight with her husband, two sons and a standard poodle.  Her passions in life are: her family, writing, the seaside and all the beautiful purple things her sons have bought her over the years.  Ask Sue to plan too far in advance and you'll give her the heebie-jeebies and she'd prefer you not to mention Christmas until at least November!

Love Them and Leave Them:

Sometimes you have to leave the one you love … sometimes you’re the one who’s left behind. The new heartwarming and heartbreaking romantic comedy from the No.1 bestselling author of Doesn’t Everyone Have a Secret?

On his way home, Ed makes a split-second decision that changes the lives of all those who love him. Six years on, Ed’s daughter, Jessie, is stuck in a job with no prospects, her dreams never fulfilled. It will take more than her unreliable boyfriend, Chris, and temperamental best friend, Coco, to give her the confidence to get her life back on track.

But what if Ed had made another decision? It could all have been so different …

Six years on, Ed’s daughter, Jessica, has a successful career, loving boyfriend, Nick, and a keen eye on her dream home. But when new clients, a temperamental Coco, and her unreliable boyfriend, Chris, walk into her life, Jessica’s perfect world soon starts to unravel.

Love Them and Leave Them is a story of love, families, friendship and a world of possibilities. Whichever decision Ed makes, the same people are destined to come into his daughter’s life, sometimes in delightfully different ways. And before they can look forward to the future, they will all have to deal with the mistakes of the past.

Website: www.sueshepherdwrites.co.uk

Twitter - @thatsueshepherd

Thank you so much for your words, Sue. My husband has just pointed out my over use of the word ‘grimace’ – ho hum!

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

FOCUS ON: The Birmingham Chapter

Next in our tour of the UK, Marilyn Rodwell answers my questions about the Birmingham Chapter

Thank you for inviting me to take part on the RNA Facebook blog. It's a pleasure to come on here and tell you about our Birmingham Chapter. We don't have a fancy name, because Birmingham speaks for itself! But you never know what will happen in the future.

How long has the Chapter been running and where do you meet?

I have no idea how long we've been running, but I started attending in 2003, and took over the organising of it almost 5 years ago. We meet for lunch in the Edwardian Tea Rooms of the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Chamberlin Square, Birmingham, which has lovely new décor and fabulous ambience.

How many members usually attend your meetings and do they, as with so many of our groups, revolve around a meal?

When I started, we had about 8 members and sometimes it would be just 4 or 5 of us at meetings. In the last few years we have grown, and now have 30 members on our books. We also have visitors from the Leicester Belmont Belles pretty often. We usually have between 15-22 attend meetings. 

Meals are definitely included. We have lunch between 12 noon and 2.30pm. We mainly chat about our writing over lunch, tell of our successes, and share our woes.

It’s lovely to see such an increase in your membership. Is your Chapter open to non-members of the RNA?

Yes and no. We tend to welcome people whose membership has lapsed. Some of these were unable to get into the New Writers's Scheme. However, we do not actively seek out non-RNA members to join us. We have had a lot of new RNA members join us over the last couple of years.  

Can you tell us about any speakers or guests you've had in the past year?

We tend not to do much of this, as we meet in a very busy place that can be noisy. However, we have had the pleasure of having Jean Fullerton last year who visited us and sprinkled some of her pearls of writing wisdom over us, for which we are grateful.

We also had Sue Moorcroft the previous year, to run an all-day Writer's Workshop, which was fabulous, at the new Library of Birmingham. We used the RNA grant to help fund this event.

Previous to that, I had a Writer's Day at my home and one of our members, Emma Daley, presented to us the ins and outs on publishing on Amazon.

What do you have lined up for the rest of 2016?

We have just had our Writers Day on March 5th, at a lovely venue, The Radisson Blu Hotel, in the centre of Birmingham. The day went very well, and we had 25 attending from 3 Chapters. We used our RNA Grant left over from last year to subsidise our brilliant speakers - Alison May, Sally Jenkins, Bella Osborne, Helen Barrell, and Lizzie Lamb. The feedback I had from the attendees was excellent. Thank you to the RNA for facilitating this.

What in your opinion makes your RNA Chapter so special?

That is a hard question to answer without bragging! In fact, I may suggest that we can rename ourselves, The Brilliant Brummies. We have grown quite fast in a short space of time, and at times it seems overwhelming, particularly when we try to organise events. But we really appreciate our meetings because we meet only a few times a year. This is due mainly because some our members come from as far as Shropshire and Cheshire. 

A couple of years ago I started the (closed) Writers' Support Station Facebook Group. It isn't RNA affiliated but now has 167 members of writers of any genre. So any writer wanting to join can send a request.

The most exciting thing about our Chapter is that with our growth and our support to each other we have had a number of success of all sizes. This year, we have three people nominated for Romantic Novel of the Year Award in March - Alison May, Bella Osborne, and Janice Preston. All three started at the Birmingham Chapter in the New Writer's Scheme, and we have watched them become multiple published, and win various awards over the last few years. But the Chapter has also recently seen other successes, such as short story publications, long listed and short listed for various prizes and competitions, self-publications and traditional publications, prizes, articles published in magazines, and non-fiction publications.

What a thriving group you are - and I love idea of The Brilliant Brummies! Who is the contact for new members? 

That will be me - marilynrodwell@btinternet.com

Thank you for having me on your blog! Telling you about us has been a pleasure. Don't forget, we welcome all visitors.

Thank you for joining us, Marilyn. I have no doubt you will receive many applications to join your Facebook group.

The RNA blog is brought to you by,

Elaine Everest & Natalie Kleinman

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

Workshops and Courses with Nikki Moore

We both enjoy attending workshops for writers and thought it would be a splendid idea to run a series for members to find out more about these resources. Who better to write our new series than the lovely Nikki Moore. Thank you for agreeing to fit this task into your already busy schedule, Nikki.

A belated Happy New Year everyone. I hope 2016 has been kind to you so far.

I was thrilled when the lovely ladies who run the RNA blog – Elaine Everest and Natalie Kleinman - asked me to join the team and write a monthly post about writing workshops and courses that might be of interest to our members, as well as the wider writing community.

I’m even more delighted to kick off the series with a post about the workshop I’ll be co-running with award winning author Sue Moorcroft next month. (She also happens to be my aunt so it’s doubly a pleasure to do this workshop with her). For the four years that I was on the New Writer’s Scheme pursuing a publication contract, I didn’t dare dream of a day that I would be delivering workshops for aspiring writers or to published authors who want to improve their knowledge of the writing craft, so 2016 is an exciting time for me.

Without further ado, here’s what you need to know.

Workshop Title:

‘How to Write and Sell Your Novel’ with Romantic Novelists Sue Moorcroft and Nikki Moore.

Workshop Details: Thursday 18^th February 2016, 10 a.m. – 4.00 p.m. at the Limes Hotel, Park Road, Swanage, Dorset (BH19 2AE). This is part of the annual Purbeck Literary Festival. More details about the festival can be found here.

What the Tutors Say: This fun, interactive one-day course is designed to arm participants with the writing and storytelling techniques particular to novel writing.

Enjoy a practical workshop with two experienced novelists who will share their knowledge and experience, looking not only at writing and storytelling, but at genres, submission techniques and the publishing world. Expect practical exercises, talks, group forums and Q & A. Bring your writing materials of choice.

Aimed at: Aspiring authors who are planning to write a romance novel, or people who have written a novel and want to take the next step and sell it. This may also suit published novelists who are interested in switching to the romance / women’s fiction genre.

Course Tutors:

Sue Moorcroft

Award winning author Sue Moorcroft writes contemporary women’s fiction with occasionally unexpected themes. The Wedding Proposal, Dream a Little Dream and Is this Love? were all nominated for Readers’ Best Romantic Read Awards. Love & Freedom won the Best Romantic Read Award 2011 and Dream a Little Dream was nominated for a RoNA in 2013. Sue’s a Katie Fforde Bursary Award winner, a past Vice Chair of the RNA and editor of its two anthologies.

Sue also writes short stories, serials, articles, writing ‘how to’ and is a creative writing tutor. Her latest book is The Wedding Proposal.

You can find out more about Sue via her website or Twitter @suemoorcroft

Nikki Moore

A devoted Dorset girl, Nikki Moore has a HR day job, two kids and a lovely boyfriend to keep her busy alongside the writing. Published mainly by HarperImpulse, she’s the author of the #LoveLondon series, which has been in the Top 100 short story charts on Kobo and the Top 20 in the Amazon UK bestsellers Holiday chart.

Nikki was a finalist in a number of writing competitions from 2010 to 2012 and her debut novel Crazy, Undercover, Love was shortlisted for the RNA Joan Hessayon (New Writer’s) Award 2015. Valentine’s on Primrose Hill (the third #LoveLondon novella) was shortlisted for Best Short Romance in the Love Stories Awards 2015. She also has a story in the bestselling RNA/Mills & Boon anthology Truly, Madly, Deeply. Nikki is a strong supporter of aspiring authors, loves to chat about writing and reading, and can often be found on Twitter when she should be writing.

You can find out more about Nikki via her blog or Twitter @NikkiMoore_Auth

Booking details: 

Tickets are £25 per person including a buffet lunch and are available from the Swanage Tourist Information Centre (Tel. 01929 422885) or the Discover Purbeck Information Centre (Tel. 01929 552740). Alternatively you can book online here

Why not treat yourself to an inspiring start to the year?

What a bargain! 

Good luck with your workshop, Nikki and Sue.

The RNA blog is brought to you by,

Elaine Everest & Natalie Kleinman

If you would like to write for the blog please contact us on Elaineeverest@aol.com

Lin Treadgold going Dutch

Lin Treadgold was born in Saltburn by the Sea, on the east coast of England. She a member of the Romantic Novelists' Association and The Society of Authors. In 2001 she moved to The Netherlands. Her romance novel, 'Goodbye, Henrietta Street' was launched on 1st July 2013.

‘Goodbye, Henrietta Street’, is a poignant romance novel based on the Isles of Scilly and Yorkshire. Pippa Lambton leaves home for the beautiful Isles of Scilly, for a chance to rediscover herself. She meets Norwegian, Sven Jorgensen. Is this the eternal nature holiday or just a passing wave on the beach?

What gave you the idea for your book and how long did it take to write?

A place to which I have always returned are The Isles of Scilly in Cornwall. Its very special to me and fulfils all those dreams of paradise and warm conversation. Life is caring and provides an appreciation of all the things we take for granted on the mainland and the wildlife is a pleasure to watch with puffins, seals, and wonderful flowers.   

I wanted to provide the rest of the world with information about this lovely part of the UK, through a romance novel and I wrote Goodbye, Henrietta Street with my heart in the writing.

I went to Scilly with a friend who had cancer and he encouraged me to write the book. ‘You never know until you try.’ he’d said.  ‘Life is too short.’ Six months later he passed away. It was his words that made me want to see it through. 

How did you find your publisher?

I made twenty or so submissions and was accepted by two publishers but I turned them down, as their contracts were not to my needs.  I eventually found Safkhet Publishing who offered me everything I required for a first novel and I accepted their offer.

When did you decide to become a writer and how did you start this new part of your life?

I have always loved writing stories but I never got around to being serious about it until I moved to Holland. I opened a journal on my daily routine in early 2001.  After reading through the proposed book, written in longhand, I started to type it out on the computer.  I searched for a creative writing tutor. Jacqui Lofthouse who gave me all the right information on how to write and what to look for. http://thewritingcoach.co.uk/ . I had previously undertaken a creative writing course with Leeds University in the late 1980’s so I was able to get out my notes and start the whole process again.

What is next in your writing life?

Try to stop me writing and it would be like having my teeth pulled.  No sooner had I launched my first novel, I wrote the second one. To quote my editor at Cornerstones Literary Consultancy,‘The Tanglewood Affair’ has all the ingredients of a gripping and absorbing novel: an array of colourful and interesting characters, an unusual setting, sinister goings-on and a central love story. It makes for a really engaging read.’ I hope very soon it will be ready for submission. I am now making the final changes to the text.

To have a consultant and bounce ideas is worth a lot to me, providing me with a very professional report. I also have Sue Moorcroft to thank for her input. It is up to the author to set up a presence with book signings and so on and build a rapport with readers. My previous life experiences showed me how to do this. 

The third novel has the first seven chapters written with a working title of Harold, The Good Soldier.  The story is very real and poignant inspired by original World War II letters from a prison camp in Italy.  So watch this space. I enjoy working on two books at the same time.  I also have a novella in progress.

Website: www.itslinhere.wordpress.com

Safkhet Publishing: Goodbye, Henrietta Street

Amazon.co.uk: Goodbye, Henrietta Street

Thank you for joining us today, Lin.

Brought to you by the blogging team of Elaine Everest and Natalie Kleinman

If you wish to be featured on the RNA blog or would like to submit a craft article please contact us on elaineeverest@aol.com

RNA Conference 2012 Kitchen Report – The Romaniac Kitchen, Penrith

It was the first conference for most of The Romaniacs and with seven out of nine of us attending, we already knew we were going to have one heck of a kitchen party. We had our own karaoke backing track system, lead vocals by Laura  James, plenty of wine, several bottles of champagne and Catherine Miller brought some very special Morello Cherry homemade wine, circa 1975, courtesy of her late Grandad. Celia Anderson made some delicious cakes.  Oh, and in true student style, Lucie Wheeler provided the Super Noodles.

It could only have been better if our lovely Jan Brigden and Liz Crump had been there.

To sum up our kitchen party, we thought we’d share a page from our Visitors’ Book …

Friday, 13 July 2012

Dear Kitchen, Thank you for helping me rediscover the joy singing can bring. And also the pain. Love, Laura.

Nikki Goodman : Ah, how will I ever forget the Romaniacs’ kitchen? There was wine (some of it homemade vintage circa ’75 that threatened toxic shock syndrome), there were snacks and there was singing! Best of all was the laughter.  A kitchen beyond all compare.

What goes on in the kitchen, stays in the kitchen. Except when it’s videoed and put on Facebook and You Tube. (Laura)

They say the kitchen is always the hub of the party, and in this case, it most certainly was! (Lucie)

THIS is what Romantic Novelists look like! (Debbie White)

Jane Holland : Those three glasses of 1975 Morello Cherry homemade wine will stay with me for life.

The Romaniacs needed a good get together and what better way than to do it with friends. That and alcohol which could change the way you see the world. That’s why at the time we were all singing like angels. (Catherine)

Sue Moorcroft : That was a great night! The homemade wine from 1975 scared me a bit but when I offered to buy some ‘real’ wine, the soothing, ‘Oh, we’ve got some of that if you want it,’ made me feel like a lightweight. The Romaniacs were fantastic company, every one of them. I just hope I’m invited to their kitchen parties in the future. Xxx

We may have had a naughty kitchen, but it wasn’t dirty, having been sterilised with alcohol. (Laura)

Ever since joining the RNA, I’ve aspired to the heady heights of having one of the Naughty Kitchens at a conference.  And now, thanks to some wonderful company, a lot of alcohol and loud singing, I think I can say I’ve done it – and got the YouTube evidence to prove it. (Vanessa)

Mandy James : My accommodation was next to the Romaniacs’. How did I know? The raucous caterwauling and shrieks of laughter gave it away.

I left my quieter party and went to investigate … they wouldn’t let me leave, even though I insisted I didn’t want a drink or to sing at the top of my lungs. But eventually I had a small sherry … When in Rome-aniacs … see what I did there?

Two hours later the police came to close us down. Well, OK, a slight exaggeration, there was only one arrest. We had an amazing time and I recommend that the naughty kitchen be free on the NHS!

When I found out we were in student accommodation, I decided that I needed use this opportunity as research (I got that tip from Jane Wenham-Jones) and what better way than to fully immerse myself into student life. What a kitchen party that was. Sadly, any further attempt at emulating a student ended on Sunday - even now I am still trying to recover from the weekend. (Sue)

The kitchen party was to the Romaniacs and their guests what opium was to great authors of the past – inspirational, but painful the next day. (Celia)

A messy kitchen is the sign of a happy kitchen, and ours was delirious. (Debbie)

It was always going to be the Romaniacs’ kitchen. (Laura)

Sue Moorcroft Shares Choc Lit's Short Story Competition

The details...

CHOC LIT SHORT STORY COMPETITION         

Choc Lit are looking for short stories of up to 1,500 words in which the central theme is chocolate - eating it, drinking it, cooking with it, or anything else. Let your imagination take flight!

PRIZES

1^st prize £200, publication on the author’s corner blog and a box of organic chocolates from Plush

A Runner Up will receive £50 and a box of organic chocolates from Plush

RULES

1.       Your entry must be a maximum of 1,500 words.

2.       All work must be your own and not previously published.

3.       The entry fee is £3 per story

4.       All entries must be received by 31st January, 2012.

JUDGES

Your judges are Choc Lit authors Margaret James (The Silver Locket, The Golden Chain) and Sue Moorcroft (Starting Over, All That Mullarkey, Want To Know a Secret? and Love & Freedom). Both authors teach creative writing for the London School of Journalism and have published numerous short stories, including in the Romantic Novelists' Association's short story anthology. Both have regular columns, Margaret in Writing Magazine and Sue in Writers Forum.

HOW TO ENTER

1.       Please post your stories to: Short Story Competition, Choc Lit Ltd, Penrose House, Crawley Drive, Camberley, Surrey GU15 2AB. Please enclose a cheque for £3 per story - i.e. to enter 3 stories costs £9. Cheques are payable to ‘Choc Lit Ltd.’

2.       Or email info@choc-lit.co.uk with the subject header ‘Short Story Competition’ and pay your entry fee by Paypal atorders@choc-lit.co.uk.