As a book reviewer I have made contact with authors from all across the globe and feel immensely privileged to be able to share some amazing work. However, there is always something rather special when a book comes to my attention which has been written by an author in my part of the North of England. So with this in mind I have great pleasure in featuring some of those authors who are literally close to my home. Over the next few Saturdays, and hopefully beyond, I will be sharing the work of a very talented bunch of Northern authors and discovering just what being a Northerner means to them both in terms of inspiration and also in their writing.
Hi Deborah. A warm welcome to
Jaffareadstoo..
Tell us a little about yourself
and what got you started as an author?
I've always loved reading and
used to haunt my local library and always came away with the maximum number of
allowed books. I guess I always wanted to write. I used to write a lot of
poetry, and still pen the occasional poem. My first novel was not published
until after my daughter left home for University - because then I had more time
to devote to writing, and a novel is an enormous task.
I wanted to write historical
fiction because I love history and have always enjoyed costume dramas since
working as a set and costume designer for theatre and TV. For a long time I was
based in and around Manchester, and I used to enjoy choosing furnishing fabrics
from Abakhan's to reproduce the heavy Elizabethan fabrics of the past for the
stage, and the Asian shops of Manchester provided me with diaphonous sari
fabrics which made for perfect Regency gowns. The North West is full of
interesting history, and at one time, between theatre contracts, I had a
part-time job in Oldham Museum. I enjoy looking at antiques, old houses and
museums, and love doing archive work which is necessary if you write historical
fiction.
Your novels are not always set in
the North West but I wonder do the people and its landscape shape your stories
in any way?
One of my novels; 'Past
Encounters', written under pen name Davina Blake, is a novel set in Carnforth,
Lancashire in 1945 and ten years later in 1955. This meant the period is on the
border of slipping into memory and on the border of historical fiction as a
genre. Because of this it meant I was able to interview people who had first
hand memories of the times, although those people were often housebound or
elderly.
My novel is set during the
filming of Brief Encounter, the classic film, which features Carnforth railway
station as one of its main locations. Quite a few people who worked in
Carnforth in and around the station were drafted in as extras for the film, and
it was these people I traced and interviewed in order to construct a fictional
lead character who might have been an extra during the filming. I took some of
my other research along, eg newspapers from 1945 and books about WWII with good
photographs, and this gave a natural start to the conversation whilst we looked
at the pictures together.
Sometimes it was a cue for their
photo album to come out, and those were great insightful conversations. I drank
vast quantities of tea and coffee and ate lots of biscuits and cake! The
Heritage Centre at Carnforth Station was extremely helpful, and they still
stock the finished book in their shop, and display a poster of it in the
underpass between platforms. It was a pleasure to meet people who'd lived their
wartime years close to my home.
My first novel, The Lady's
Slipper, is set on the Cumbria/Lancashire borders and has scenes in Kendal
Market, and a quite gruelling scene inside Lancaster Castle when it was the
local hanging gaol. Lancaster has a great maritime history, so when I needed to
know what a seventeenth century ship looked like, I was able to consult the
Maritime Museum. I love setting my books locally, although not every book can
be local. My most recent series is set in Hertfordshire, but I used my trusty
northern readers to give it the once-over before it went for publication.
As a writer based in the North
West, does this present any problems in terms of marketing and promoting your
books and if so, how do you overcome them?
So much marketing and promotion
is now done online, that it really makes no difference where you live. Email
means communication is quick and effective wherever you are. There are some
excellent local magazines in which I've done features, such as Lancashire Life,
who have always been very good to me in terms of getting an article out to
highlight a new book of local interest.
How supportive are local
communities to your writing, and are there ever any opportunities for book
shops, local reading groups, or libraries to be involved in promoting your
work?
Local bookshops have been
incredibly supportive, particularly with my locally-set books. Carnforth
bookshop (which also has 10,000 second-hand books - heaven!) continues to stock
Past Encounters, and the Cumbrian bookshops stock my other books. Also, the
Cumbria and Lancashire Library Services have been fantastic at organising talks
for me in libraries where I can discuss how I researched my books with readers.
They also have many reading groups, and I've been to quite a few - from as far
north as Workington, to as far south as Preston.
You have to have quite a thick
skin, as inevitably, as well as the people who loved my book, there is always
someone who hated it! Lancashire and Cumbria are huge areas, so my trusty red
Fiat Panda has done a lot of miles over the last few years. But it is always a
treat to talk to readers and hear their opinions face to face.
If you were pitching the North
West as an ideal place to live, work and write – how would you sell it and what
makes it so special?
The North West is a warm and
friendly place to live and the backbone of the M6 means you can easily connect
to other places. And it is beautiful - the lakes and mountains of the Lake
District, and the coast around Morecambe Bay are all within a few miles drive.
Writing is a solitary business -
how do you interact with other authors?
I am part of two networks of
North West writers who meet on Facebook, The Pendle Literary Salon (!) and the
Westmorland Writers. I also meet familiar faces from the North West at
conferences such as the Romantic Novelists Association and the Historical Novel
Society conference. But lots more informal networking goes on with writers at
Booth's coffee shop in Kendal, or the 1652 Chocolate Shop where you can indulge
yourself in chocolate treats as well as look around their chocolate museum.
And finally, if someone is new to
your work, which book do you think they should start with?
If you like WWII women's fiction,
start with Past Encounters. For a more 'period' read, start with The Lady's
Slipper.
Thank you so much to Jo for
hosting me.
You can find me on Twitter
@swiftstory
Or sign up for my newsletter and
a free book at www.deborahswift.com
Huge thanks to Deborah for taking
the time to share her thoughts about the North West and for answering my
questions so thoughtfully
I hope that you have enjoyed
reading today's Close to Home feature.
Coming next Saturday : Marie
Laval
~***~
