A Baltic cruise on the Queen Victoria

We’ve recently returned from a wonderful Baltic cruise on the Queen Victoria, and what a marvellous trip it was. Dancing into the wee small hours with the sun still shining and sunset blending into dawn is a sight never to be forgotten. Beautiful! Her décor is appropriately Victorian, and the service second to none. Excellent entertainment every evening and plenty of delicious food. The diet starts now. And what a lovely ship she is.

The cruise began with a few days at sea before our first two stops at Stockholme in Sweden, and Helsinki in Finland. Later we visited Tallin in Estonia, Warnemunde in Germany, Copenhagen in Denmark, and Kristiansand in Norway. We enjoyed perfect sunny weather throughout, although not warm enough to persuade me into the pool. Admittedly this picture was taken on the first day so we were more interested in the free champagne.

The Grand Lobby

The highlight of the holiday was undoubtedly a two day stopover at St Petersburg. Once the capital of the Russian Empire, and formerly known as Petrograd, and Leningrad at different times in history, the city demonstrates a marked European influence with many opulent palaces. We viewed many of these from a boat on the River Neva, a splendid way to see any city. But one we actually visited was Catherine’s Palace, known as Tsarskoye Selo. Simply amazing!

Here is the ballroom where the aristocracy would be presented to their Imperial Highnesses before enjoying the ball.

Nearly every room, all magnificently decorated, boasted a delft-tiled stove. It seems the Romonovs liked to keep warm, and who can blame them in a Russian winter.This is the Picture Hall, also resplendent with its built-in stove.

 

We were even shown the Amber room. Breathtakingly beautiful, although we were not allowed to take photos. This was destroyed, broken up and stolen by the Nazi’s in the Second World War. Years of searching post-war failed to find a piece of it, so it has been painstakingly restored, the task taking 30 years to complete.

We also visited the amber workshop where the work of restoration goes on, and where small special panels are often made for visiting dignitaries. The amber has to be carefully cut and carved with tiny drills and saws, then rubbed and polished, an extraordinarily skilled task. We were all given a small nugget to take away with us. We were escorted by a Russian guide, Natasha, with excellent English, who made this visit a real joy.
 

Here is the wonderful facade of the Catherine Palace. Hard to imagine the palace itself was left as a burning wreck after the war, but that too has been restored in all its splendour.

On our second day we were shown the prison where the Bolsheviks kept their political prisoners, a stark reminder of what happened during the revolution.

Also the Peter and Paul Fortress, and the Romonov tombs in the Cathedral. Following DNA tests on Nicholas II and his tragic family, there are now wall plaques to honour them, even Anastasia who was found later.

I would love to visit St Petersburg again as there are so many others places we didn’t have time to see, not least the hermitage and the winter palace. Here is an exterior shot of them, taken from the boat, so a bit rocky.

Edit and Polish

Clichés - Banish them completely. Always search your mind for a more effective and unusual way of expressing your meaning.

Pomposity - Never try to be over-clever with language. Never talk down to the reader. Use your thesaurus by all means but not to show off with long words.

Dialogue - Sift out any words or phrases that don’t suit the character who is speaking.

Journalese - Beware of sounding like a journalist trying to fit everything into one sentence.

Dialect - Use with caution. Confine it to one or two key-characters and tone it down.

Slang - Check that any particular word or phrase was used in the period of which you write. Modern slang soon goes out of fashion. Use with care.

Foreign words - Restrict to a few essential ones to give a flavour, like cherries in a cake.

Jargon - If you are writing about a specialised subject, make sure the meaning of any technical words or phrases are made clear.

Clarity - Make sure that this applies to all your writing.

Check spelling, grammar, punctuation, split infinitives, repetitions, clumsy sentences etc. Cut out purple prose, useless adjectives and adverbs and all superfluous material which adds nothing to the story while trying to keep its vitality and freshness.

To help you do this, keep in mind your reader who you should be encouraging to use his/her imagination. Understatement is a powerful tool.

It is your responsibility to edit - not the editors. Send in as clean a copy as you can.

Revision

Questions to ask yourself as you revise - not in any particular order.
1. The beginning: Will it hook the reader? The novel needs to start where the problem makes itself most apparent so that a decision will need to be made, preferably coupled with some action. Do not swamp the reader with too much back story in the early pages, or too many minor characters. This will only confuse and slow down the story. You can add these facts later, as and when needed. Make sure you have answered the five W's: Who, what, where, why, when.

2. Check grammar, punctuation, spelling, tense, bad habits, overuse of lazy words. Now is the time to use your thesaurus but don’t overdo it. Repetition: Not just of words but every idea must be fresh. You only need say something once.

3. Theme: must be in sight throughout. Keep to the point. Too many digressions will confuse your readers and distance them from your characters.

4. Character: Are your characters strong? The reader must care about them and be involved with their troubles, in particular the main viewpoint character. Are they credible? Do they have flaws or a saving grace? What is their motivation for every action? Constantly ask yourself why they are behaving in the way they do. Does your hero develop and overcome, or learn to live with a different reality?

5. Dialogue: Needs to have a purpose and it should be clear who is speaking at all times.

6. Time: Make a time chart to check there are no discrepancies. These can slip in when you move a scene. If you use flashbacks, or it is a story taking place in two time periods. Make sure it is clear to the reader where they are at any given time.

7. Structure: Check the inciting incident, complications, crisis or dark moment, climax and resolution. Is the order of the scenes dramatically effective, or would the story be improved by slotting one in a more appropriate place, or leaving it out altogether?

8. Narrative Drive: Does the novel maintain a strong narrative drive throughout? Is it logical and credible? Does everything tie in and make sense? Is the story engrossing or does it sag in the middle? If so, why? Have you lost the plot and digressed too much, padded it with unnecessary description, or simply run out of imagination? Tighten it up and/or make something relevant happen.

9. Pace: This should vary with high dramatic moments and time to draw breath and consolidate the situation in between.

10. Conflict is the stuff of fiction to produce a page-turning story, involving both internal thoughts, problems and emotions, and external between protagonists.

11. Viewpoint: Check that you’ve stayed in it. Use a limited number or you’ll risk distancing the reader from your hero or heroine.

12. Overwriting: Don’t do it. Avoid adjectives, flowery phrases, purple prose, over-explanation, too much emphasis and overstatement.

13. Suspense: There should always be a sense of warning or promise. Chapters should end at a cliff-hanger. Have you withheld a vital clue long enough, or should you milk it a bit more? Are there enough twists and surprises? Clues? Red herrings? Have you led the reader down one path only to hit him with something totally unexpected?

14. Style: Easy, warm, strong, compulsive, rippling with tension, whatever your novel needs, your writer’s voice must shine through. Make sure it suits your chosen genre. Is it commercial and popular, or literary and serious? Fast paced, witty or gentle? Read plenty of books in your chosen genre as a guide, then don’t be afraid to experiment to find your own.

15. Personal: Do not air your opinions in the story, only those of your characters. If you’ve got a hobby-horse write it in a letter to the Times.

16. Emotional involvement: Show, rather than tell. We need to see and feel the physical and emotional effect of your hero or heroine’s fear, his/her reaction to a shocking event, or the passion in the love scene. Right from the first page the reader must live the story and suffer with the character.

17. Transitions: These should flow easily onto the next scene. Don’t clutter the text with trivia, or boring everyday details.

18. Appeal to all five senses. Make each scene evocative, and with a strong sense of place.

19. Length: Check what is normally required for the publisher you’re aiming for in your particular genre. Make sure it fits the market. It’s fashionable now to have shorter chapters, and shorter paragraphs. Punchier and easily accessible.

20. Ending: Tie up all loose ends for a satisfying ending with all problems resolved. Solve the least important first, leaving the original, most important problem till last.

And finally: Check the accuracy – again and again! Facts MUST be correct. Check and double check.

Ten Reasons For Rejection:

1. There isn’t a strong enough hook to draw you straight into the story.
This is vital. The reader will only buy the book if she’s caught up from the very first paragraph. Give an indication of the problem on the first page and make it strong. Don't ever overload your first pages with too much back story. Start the action with a bang and slip in any necessary details and explanations later as and when needed.

2. Unsympathetic, weak characters.
Readers must feel able to identify with the viewpoint characters, and care about them. They must be strong and well-thought-out. The hero must be heroic. The heroine too. But they must also have flaws, be human, fallible, and likeable so that the reader understands the motivation behind all their actions. Make a biography for each and every major character so you don’t make the mistake of changing their eye colour in Chapter Five. You will learn more about them as you write, which you can add to your bio. Decide whose story it is. Whose viewpoint works best for any particular scene.

3. Lacks Spark.
This may have something to do with your prose style. Are you trying too hard? You’ve read all the how-to books and now you’re carefully following the rules. The danger is that it could end up seeming mechanical or wooden. The quality of the prose is vital. Don’t settle for less than your best. Dialogue must be sharp and engaging. Find your voice and make your writing special.

4. Not compulsive.
This may mean that there is a problem with pacing, plot or character. Have you varied the pace or laboured some points, wallowed in a quagmire in the middle? Does the narrative drive have the energy to power the story along? Or have you run out of plot? Problems, tension, conflict and complications. This is the stuff of fiction. Make a list of all the obstacles you could put in the way of your key-character achieving her goal. Give your story pace. Milk the scene, push it to its limits. Make your characters strong, your love scenes sexy, your story exciting.

5. Poor structure.
 Check that your story has a beginning, middle and end. It should build to a climax and finish with a satisfying denouement in which the problem is resolved.

6. Lacks credibility.
Have you fallen into the trap of using coincidence to get your character out a sticky situation? Banish it from your story. Life is full of chance, coincidence and random actions, but fiction must have motivation, logic, order, and a cohesive whole. Character motivation needs to be sufficiently strong to make their actions logical. Have you done sufficient research to help you handle an idea in a realistic fashion? Don’t fudge. Find the answer. Make it real.

7. Not emotionally compelling.
Are you nervous of digging into your own emotions or simply of putting them down on paper? Forget what people you know might think of your book, your mother, your daughter, and write what you feel. Banish all negative thoughts, all those little voices over your shoulder which ask ‘What will my dad think of this!’ Examine the inner conflict of your main characters. How are they are reacting to what is going on around them? How do they feel? Is there sufficient tension between the hero and the heroine? The reader should care about those characters and want to keep turning those pages.

8. Unimaginative.

The editor may not quite put it that way, but it is a common reason for rejection. They’ve seen it all before. It isn’t fresh, the characters don’t come alive, the plot is predictable and lumbers along. True, they’ve seen every plot before, so don’t expect to come up with something unique. But don’t give them time to think about that, keep the pace moving, and never settle for your first idea. Write down every possibility you can think of, and then dig deeper. Eventually you’ll hit on a different angle, a new twist. The best ideas come when you are actually writing. Strong characterisation can guide you through the mire of plotting. They should be able to tell you what is going to happen next. See below for ways to stimulate your imagination.

9. Not commercial.

Is it written for a market? Have you done your market research? It’s vital to know who would want to read your book. The bookseller or etailer, as well as the publisher, will want to know where he is going to put it on his shelves. The reader will wonder if she will like this book? What sort of book is it? If you don’t know, why should they? Publishing is a competitive world. If you are to succeed you must aim to be as good as the best in any given genre.

10. Spelling and grammar issues.
 Don’t think these aren’t important. If you don’t take the trouble to present your manuscript as well as you can, using a dictionary to check every spelling, check every fact at least twice, why should an editor waste time even reading it? Polish, polish, polish.

Most important of all - if you get a rejection - don’t give up. Cry into your coffee, then read the rejection letter again. Listen to their comments, heed any advice which seems appropriate, then send it out again.

What should dialogue do?

1. Reveal and explain character.
a) Who speaks - this must be clear.. b) What they say should be relevant to the story c) How they speak should be distinctive for each character.

2. Advance the action - within each scene and within the novel.

3. It must create conflict. a) Between the protagonists. b) Against a character’s own inner thoughts.

4. Provide information - background detail or motivation.

5. Add pace and suspense through giving pointers, and vary the rhythm of the book.

6. Show viewpoint, emotion and mood.

7. Show inner thoughts alongside or instead of speech - But does it reveal everything, or only a part? What is not told?

8. Weave essential detail and action in with the dialogue. Great blocks of research interrupt the flow of dialogue and readers tend to skip it.

9. Dialect and historical slang. Absolutely no gadzooks type of speech. Aim always for straightforward clarity. Where it is necessary, don’t overuse - Make it fit the speaker and period. It’s safer to use only one character if a particular way of speech is needed to add the right sense of place.

10.Dialogue should add sparkle and life, colour and tone.

An ear for dialogue is important in any story. If you don’t have it, acquire it. Listen and take note verbal patterns, body language, what is left out or not explained, punch lines, how people who know each other well need fewer words. How people interrupt, discuss two subjects at the same time, get at cross-purposes. How people argue and react to confrontation. The gender divide - men and women differ in conversation, in what way? Listen to puns and syntax, dialect twang, regional idioms, favourite sayings and old saws. Notice how class, occupation, age and character are revealed in conversation. Listen also for the effect of emotion: Frustration. Anxiety. Anger etc. Most of all, keep it brisk, clear and to the point. If it doesn’t have a purpose, take it out.

Exercise: If you have trouble writing dialogue, take a piece of your own narrative, the aim of which is get across certain information to the reader, and rewrite it as dialogue which will impart the same information in a more interesting way. Show what the characters are doing while they are speaking, and how they feel about what they are saying.

Fowey Festival of Words and Music (formerly known as the Du Maurier)

Pont Pill

Last week I enjoyed a fabulous week at the Fowey Festival of Words and Music (or the Du Maurier Festival - as it used to be called). Can't think why they would need to change such an important international name. The Festival takes place each year in early May in Fowey, Cornwall, directed by Jonathon Aberdeen, but much of the work done by local volunteers.

It was wonderful to be back in Fowey, where we lived for 13 years, and where I ran a little gift shop on Fore Street. Good to meet up with old friends, and revisit favourite haunts, of which there are many in beautiful Fowey. My slot wasn’t until the end of the week so I could relax and enjoy the many events on offer at the Festival village, specially erected at the top of the town.

The first one of these was Liz Fenwick on Sunday afternoon. Liz gave an interesting talk about her journey to publication, and of her new title The Cornish Affair, which was most interesting. How she fits everything in to her peripatetic life style I cannot imagine.

Another fascinating talk was by Sarah Dunant, talking about her new historical novel on the Borgias: Blood and Beauty. As always, Sarah was bubbling with energy and enthusiasm, and full of fascinating and intriguing facts about this controversial family. I'm looking forward to reading it.

Judith Mackrell talked to Helen Taylor about the Flappers, a biography about six extraordinary women: Diana Cooper, Nancy Cunard, Tallulah Bankhead, Zelda Fitzgerald, Josephine Baker and Tamara de Lempicka. For anyone who loves the twenties, this book is a must have.

I also enjoyed Hilary Boyd talking about her unexpected bestseller, Thursdays in the Park. A love story that features a grandmother as the heroine, and is now to be made into a film. I think lots of women are now taking their grandchildren for walks in the park.

Lynne Gould gave a most interesting slide show on the settings for Daphne Du Maurier’s famous books, interspersed with snippets of information about her life and events that inspired incidents in the books. 

Ferryside where Daphne wrote her first books

Polridmouth (Pridmouth) Bay where the wreck took place that features in Rebecca, based on an actual event that took place a few years before she wrote the novel.

The next day we listened to Jane Dunn talking about the Du Maurier sisters: Angela, Daphne and Jeanne. Angela, the eldest, was also a writer, although not as famous as her sister, and Jeanne an artist who settled into the St Ives community. All three were passionate about Cornwall.

Other authors at the festival included: Joanna Harris, Michael Morpurgo, Piers Brendon, Ken Livingstone, Kathy Lette, Fern Britton, Robert Powell and many more.

David enjoyed Wendy Cope reading from her wonderful poems, and Simon Hoggart being witty about MPs. And we also saw two plays: The Little Hut by St Austell Players, and Memory of Water, by Troy Players. Both were of an excellent standard, and the former very funny indeed. And of course there are boat trips (the only way to view Fowey) plus many interesting walks and other events.

Enjoy a Wind in the Willows boat trip

We loved the musical evening with Cantabile, a quartet of singers who sang with harmony and humour. I’ve never seen anything like it, they were great fun, singing Lambeth Walk backwards, and another song like a stuck 78 record. Hilarious!

On the Saturday afternoon I gave my talk on my life as a writer set against the changes in technology. Though I'm not quite old enough to have used a quill pen, I did write my first novels on a sit-up-beg typewriter. I finished by discussing how the revolution in ebooks is changing the landscape for writers.

My talk took place at the town hall and yes, that is a bed behind me, not for me to take a rest but part of the set. It seemed totally weird to be standing on that stage again after all these years. The last time I trod those boards was as a spice girl (or rather old spice) in Sinbad the Sailor, the pantomime 'what I wrote' . Fortunately I only had to produce the basic script as the rest of the Troy Players chipped in with the jokes. Excellent teamwork and great fun.

I also might have made a passing mention to my new book:
My Lady Deceiver, which is set in Cornwall.

1905. Rosie Belsfield feels as if her life has ended when she is rejected from Ellis Island and put on the next boat back to England, leaving her family behind. But fate gives her a second chance when she befriends Lady Rosalind. Having boarded the ship with one identity, fate decrees that Rosie leave it with another . . . As Rosie arrives in Cornwall as ‘Rosalind’, she finds herself increasingly trapped by her deception and the cruelty of those around her. Her only hope seems to be the enigmatic Bryce Tregowan, with whom the promise of a new life beckons. As she falls deeper into love and lies, can Rosie keep up the act, or will her secrets reveal themselves? And to what consequences? 

Published by Allison & Busby
Available from Amazon

The week ended on a high with a fabulous one-woman show by Ruthie Henshall, international musical star of Crazy for You, She Loves You, and Chicago. What a wonderful voice she has, and a delightful rapport with the audience. A brilliant evening, and a brilliant Festival. Can’t wait for next year. Not only a fun event but the marvellous Fowey River and town to enjoy.

The Voyager cruise ship at anchor in Fowey River

Questions every Writer should ask over the main Character’s Journey

1. Who is your main Point of View character?

2. What is the inciting incident or problem and in what way does it effect her life?

3. What emotional state is she in at the beginning? And at the end?

4. What does she want? What are her aims and goal, and what does that tell us about her?

5. Many obstacles must stand in her way. What is her flaw that prevents her from attaining her goal, and which traits will help her to overcome them in the end?

6. What is at stake? How high are the stakes? What will she lose if she doesn’t achieve her objective?

7. Why should the reader care? They need to be emotionally involved, understand her flaws and be willing her to succeed. Motivation. Motivation. Motivation is the secret.

8. What does she learn along this hazardous journey? How does she confront her demons and develop as a person?

9. The darkest hour will come when it seems as if she has lost everything. This will be followed by the climax when, largely by her own efforts and certainly not luck or a Prince Charming riding to her rescue, she wins through.

10. How does her story end? Redemption and resolution. Major problem finally solved and a satisfying end for the reader.