Month: June 2013

Missing My Characters

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I alternate between writing contemporary fiction with a dark edge and crime fiction. Currently, I am writing the former, but this morning I woke up missing my detectives, DI Eva Wednesday and DS Jacob Lennox.

The first novel in the crime series comes out this November, and I have already written and submitted to the publisher, the second one. Therefore, I have come to know the detectives well, and I am already witnessing their own personal journeys throughout the two novels. They both have complicated personal lives, where mental health issues, divorce and estranged family relationships can take their toll on Wednesday and Lennox.

They have become friends albeit sometimes irritating ones with the choices they make, but friends I cannot be without. I can feel their presence whether I am writing about them or not. I can see, smell and almost touch them, which is why I think I am missing them today. They are trying to grab my attention for a third novel in the series. I know there quirks, their likes and dislikes. For example, Lennox likes beer, malt whisky and will tolerate wine if there is nothing else. He likes black coffee with two sugars. Wednesday is sensitive, but passive aggressive and drives a cream VW Beetle. Lennox comes to know Wednesday’s personal life rather too intimately for her liking, in the first novel.

You see, I am rambling on about them to the point of obsession.

I am 70,000 words into the first draft of a contemporary novel, so the characters there are also real. But Wednesday and Lennox are distracting me today, and I want to know why. Perhaps a new story is burgeoning within me, but I do not want to notice it until I’ve finished my current WIP.

I hope if the characters feel so real to me, they feel real to the reader. After all, that is what we authors want. I have a feeling that Eva Wednesday and Jacob Lennox will be a recurring partnership in a few novels to come.

I hope your characters live with you in the same manner. I must say I am never lonely!

Happy Word Flow One & All.

Liebster Award

/ hemmiemartin / 2 Comments

Liebster Award

The lovely Louise Walters, 
author of ‘Mrs. Sinclair’s Suitcase’,  
for a Liebster award. Thank you, Louise!








The rules:
  • Thank Liebster Blog Award nominator on your blog 
  • and link back to the blogger who presented this award to you;
  • Answer the eleven questions from the nominator;
  • List eleven random facts about yourself;
  • Present the Liebster Blog Award to up to eleven blogs 
  • let them know they’ve been chosen;
  • Pass on the eleven questions to your nominees, 
  • or create new ones;
  • Copy and paste the blog award on your blog.
Here are my answers to Louise’s questions!

1. What’s your favourite novel and what
 do you love about it? 
Choosing one novel is very hard as I have 
favourite novel’s for
 various genre’s and moods. Therefore, I’ll choose
 ‘We Need To Talk About Kevin’ by Lionel Shriver. 
I love it because it explores the dark side
 of motherhood,
 and the complexities of remorse, regret and parental
 love. I haven’t sen the film as I have such
 fond memories of the book and I sometimes find
 films spoil that love.

2. Do you have any pet peeves in fiction? 
I can’t say that I do. I either enjoy a book or 
I don’t, regardless of how it is received
 generally. The author’s voice is important

3. What are you most proud of?
 My daughters and their positive
 attitude to life and their future careers.

4. Your most and least favourite people in history?  
Emmeline Pankhurst is my favourite person. 
I always vote in elections because of her dedication 
to the cause, and my 18yr old has recently voted
 for the first time. My least favourite person is Hitler, 
who is a recurring choice amongst the nominees. 
Need I say more?

5. The country, city or other place you’d most
 like to visit? 
Canada looks stunning – but oh so far away.
 I’ve become a wimp where flying is concerned. 

6. Which five people would you like to meet
 (dead, alive or fictional)?
Audrey Hepburn, Lionel Shriver, Anita Brookner,
 Greg Davies, Ian Rankin.

7. What makes you laugh the most? 
I love watching ‘You’ve Been Framed’ with
 my daughters. I especially love the clips
 about children and weddings. I love hearing
 my eldest daughter’s tinkly laugh.

8. If you could know the future, what would you wish for? 
For my daughter’s to achieve happiness in their 
chosen careers, and for my husband and I to
 enjoy a happy, healthy and long retirement together. 

9. If you won the lottery and could donate money to charity, 
which charity would you choose and why?
 I’m going to be a rebel and choose two.
 The Multiple Sclerosis Society
 and The Guide Dog Trust.

10. Do you suffer from any little phobias or superstitions? 
Spiders (another common theme).

11. What’s your favourite guilty pleasure?
 Watching American crime shows.

Eleven random facts about me

1) I am addicted to chocolate with sea salt.
2) I have far too many scarfs.
3) I love singing karaoke.
4) I support West Ham and Norwich
 football teams, and have been to 
see both teams play several times.
5)  I passed my driving test the first time in France.
6)  I tend to wear floral and stripy clothes, often
 together much to my daughters’ chagrin.
7) I went through a hippie phase during and after 
my nurse training.
8) I used to write to a prisoner on death row
 through an Amnesty International scheme.
 He was eventually executed.
9) I can’t drink much as I quickly become giggly
 then sleepy.
10) I used to hate giving injections when I worked
 as a family planning nurse.
11) I always were perfume as it gives me confidence.

I am going to pass the Liebster Award to the following blogs:


Thank you again, Louise. 
Happy Word Flow One & All