Meet my main character - Alec Edwards - HIGH SPIRITS

Here’s your chance to get to know the main characters in HIGH SPIRITS

So, what’s HIGH SPIRITS all about?

1944 – ALEC EDWARDS world was opened up when he fell in love with JEAN FRANCIS. From the quiet confines of his orderly museum where everything was catalogued, labelled and recorded, he had been propelled into the chaotic realms of romantic attachment. This was during the Second World War, a time of air raids, bombings and rationing. Then the ‘worst’ happened. Alec and Jean were in the museum after hours when the air raid sirens went. Alec, ever the vigilant curator, was loathed to leave his precious collections out of its case and vulnerable and insisted on finishing the job. Jean is less than impressed and a dispute ensued and just as she is in the middle of delivering a right royal ear bashing when a bomb lands…..

It’s 70 something years since the bomb fell and the museum is staging an anniversary exhibition. Part of the original bomb, which caused extensive damage to a wing of the museum is going on display, alongside objects relating to the life and work of Alec. BETHAN ANDREWS is at her wit's end. As the curator of the museum she is leading on the exhibition but there is one small problem – Alec’s life was dedicated to the curation and collection of objects and little is known in the museum about him personally. The museum’s board of trustees has insisted on the anniversary being recognized so in desperation she puts out a public plea for help via the local paper. PATRICK HARMAN, Alec’s great-great nephew, responds.

In the meantime, the local rag has pricked up its ears. Alerted by Bethan’s call for help, a reporter has unearthed a long forgotten tale of ghostly lights and apparitions in the museum; of dead curators seeking their lost treasure. This led to the wealthy but totally batty BASTIAN HEDGES, the producer of the global phenomenon The Ghost Doctor ©, to bribe the Trustees with a big fat cheque, in return for filming his Midsummer Special in the museum.

Patrick arrives with his grandfather, POP, a cantankerous old man, at the museum with memorabilia. Much to Bethan’s horror, she realizes that she and Patrick have crossed paths before as students, in particular at the Student Summer Ball, when Bethan threw her principles to the wind and had a drunken night of passion with Patrick. She is relieved when he appears not to recall her at all. However, she shouldn’t relax. He is just being a gentleman and not letting on! For him, rather than being a blur of alcohol and regret, he rather liked her but then the cold light of day dawn and Bethan was in denial. Now they are thrown back together.

What none of them could realise is…the ghost stories are true; the curator does haunt the museum. The day the bomb dropped, it did more than just damage the wing, it killed Alec and Jean and they’ve spent the past 70 years watching the world go by aided and abetted by a much older ghost, that of POL, an eleven-year-old girl from the Iron Age.

The stage is now set for some ghostly intervention and for love to conquer all.

In this post, we’re going to meet ALEC EDWARDS, former assistant curator of Partridge Hall.

What is the name of your character?

Meet Alec Edwards. Born, lived and died in Plimpton Market, a town set in the rolling South Downs.

When and where is the story set?

The story begins during the war with the prologue to set the scene as how Alec and Jean met and fell in love before their untimely demise. It then moves onto the present day and picks up on the characters that work in the museum – Bethan, Patrick, Sal, Billy, and Seth. Unbeknown to them, their every move is being observed by three very mischievous ghosts.

What should we know about him?

Alec is fastidious to the extreme when it comes to his museum – his pride and joy. He developed his enthusiasm for the past as a boy and was fortunate enough to be taken on by the kindly curator, as a school-boy assistant. From there it was only a matter of time before he was employed full-time and spending all his waking hours in his beloved stores.

Alec’s devotion to his museum is such that he never made time for love. That all changes the day he happened to look out of his office window, tucked up in the attics of Partridge Hall, and across to the nearest building. Here, he sees the vision of loveliness that is Jean Francis. From then on, they see each other every day – she would smile and he would nod until fate finally takes a hand and they cross paths outside the local newsagents.

Of course, falling in love doesn’t alter Alec’s fundamental nature. He’s still fussy and prone to being a bit short with Jean. They bicker a lot but ultimately, he loves her with all his heart.

It’s just a shame that his parents and hers were so dead set against them marrying.

What is the main conflict?

He’s dead and having to live in his cherished museum with all the new-fangled ideas that have come along since his departure from the mortal world.

Alec is stuck in 1944 and aged 30, from a time when objects were recorded in dusty old accession registers and noted down on cards. It was an age when business was conducted over a hearty evening meal in the local coaching house and gifts of money were received from local benefactors who required deferential treatment and a bit of toadying.

Now, it’s all stakeholders and funding managers and people passing through who want to jazz it all up a bit. To top it all off, they keep re-arranging his stores and dammit, he’s just going to have to put it all back again!

What are his personal relationships like and how do they shape his character?

Alec had a very strained relationship with his own parents. We don’t learn much about his father but it seems his mother was a huge snob and this had filtered down to his sister, Rose, mother of Pop.

They seemed to have some idea that having a curator in the family gave them social standing – they had servants for heaven’s sake!

Alec got out of it all by burying himself in his work, not that it was a hardship –he was never happier than when he was in his museum. He even slept there, in a little camp bed in his office.

Jean opens him up, just a bit. She likes dancing and movies and drags him along to both. He feigns reluctance but he’s besotted with her. She has the biggest influence on him and, if they’d lived, she may well have reformed and softened his character. As it is, Alec is stuck with the mannerisms and idioms from life which makes him sound somewhat stuffy.

How do I get a copy?

HIGH SPIRITS is now available to download from across the Amazon market to your Kindle or Kindle apps for £3.99 or in paperback for £9.99

Flash Sale - starts tomorrow!

To celebrate the release of HIGH SPIRITS on January 6th I'm discounting Since You've Been Gone and Tales for the Fireside (ebooks) to 99p for 48 hours over the weekend 15-16 December.

Find out more by visiting my Facebook page or visit my webpage

Haunted Mansions - part four

My final haunted mansion is Michelham Priory.

Michelham Priory, founded in 1229, was in service to the church up until the Desolation of the Monasteries in the 16th Century.

The church was subsequently demolished, and the main building was turned into a home.

The most notable ghost to haunt the site is that of Thomas Sackville, a prior owner of the site. In life, he was an unpleasant man and continued his disagreeable behaviour in death. He takes great delight in upsetting visitors by pushing or striking them, and it is rumoured that another spirit that of a young girl is so scared of him that she takes refuge at the top of the stairs.

Of course, no respectable haunted house would be without a lady whether they be white, grey or any other colour. Michelham Priory has its own Grey Lady. She is often seen wandering by the bridge and the gatehouse. Sometimes, she is reported to have been seen staring mournfully into the waters of the moat, perhaps grieving for the loss of a child who drowned therein. Slightly more unnerving are the reports of her staring into the faces of sleeping guests.

Poltergeist activity has also been reported with doors and windows which slam seemingly of their own accord.

In my forthcoming novel HIGH SPIRITS which will be published on January 6, 2018, the young ghost called Pol is exceedingly scared of an unknown entity that roams the museum. Through the power of her longevity, she is able to keep him at bay and away from Alec and Jean but as her two friends, emboldened by their new friendship with Bethan, exercise powers of their own, the malevolent spirit becomes increasingly hostile.

Well, this ends my short series on haunted mansions, but I’d like to finish by telling you about my own experiences of working in haunted buildings.

For many years I worked at Dover Castle, probably one of the finest medieval castles in the world.

The most famous ghost is that of the Headless Drummer Boy who reputedly haunts the battlements near the Constable Tower.

Like all of these things, this tale has grown over the years.

In 1945 the Dover Express reported:

Dover Express - Friday 02 March 1945

And Now a Ghost!

The latest stunt about Dover is the "discovery" of a ghost story for the Castle. Until this year people - to whom the Castle has been a familiar friend for years - had never heard about "The Headless Drummer." The "Evening News" this week published an elaboration of the story published a month ago. The gist of this story is that in battles or skirmishes 200 years ago near the Castle a drummer had his head shot off, and that, as it could not be found, he was buried without it, and now his ghost patrols the moat on the night of each full moon, and then disappears with his drum into an underground passage.

To begin with, there were no battles or skirmishes near the Castle 200 years ago. The "Evening News" story about this ghost declares that at the end of the last century a young Guards officer spent a night in "the haunted underground passages," and in the morning had become a gibbering, white-haired madman, unable to give any account his experiences. We have recently been told that an article appeared in the "Strand Magazine" describing this episode. It should be easy, if this be true, to produce the date of the article and the name of the young Guards officer. Not a single writer on the Castle appears to have heard about this 200 years old ghost, of which stories suddenly turn up in 1945!

On Tuesday, the "News Chronicle" produced a new version the Headless Drummer's fate. This story is that he was murdered whilst in charge of the Regiment's pay. This bears a suspicious resemblance to the Ingoldsby Legend of the "Dead Drummer." But that gruesome episode occurred on Salisbury Plain. The “Daily Mail," on Wednesday, reported that the Brigadier at Dover had stopped the Ghost Hunt which was the latest development of this ghost stunt. The "Mail" describes the story as the most persistent legend in Dover. Till a month ago, no one had heard of it. The Brigadier was right to stop the Castle being made a laughing stock.

Dover Express - Friday 13 July 1945

CASTLE GHOST NONSENSE.

The "Daily Express," on Friday last, contained in its Hickey's column a nonsensical account of alleged manifestations by the recently invented "Headless Drummer." This is what the "Daily Express" published:-

"Legpull - not so gentle - reported from Dover Castle, where the superstitious think that dreary drummer boy's ghost is walking again. The Castle's new Deputy Constable, Brigadier H. E. Pickering, M.C., is living in the Constable's Tower, a few yards from where the drummer boy is supposed to take his stroll. In the past 24 hours, says a soldier in the garrison these things have happened to the unhappy brigadier:— "His monocle has been snatched from his eye and discovered underneath him; his silk dressing-gown has torn itself to shreds; his spectacles have disappeared from his pocket; his walking-stick disappeared; then, in the afternoon, the brigadier's personal pennant slowly lowered itself, and the missing stick appeared in its place... Drummer boy will get confined to barracks if he doesn't watch out."

[The story of a Drummer Boy's ghost appears to be a war-time invention for the delectation and horrification of our wartime guests and pandering Pressmen, to whom any stunt is acceptable. The Editor of this paper has been a constant visitor to the Castle for many years, and never heard word of this legend from guides, who certainly were expansive in their talks. Not a word of it has appeared in any published Castle folklore.]

Over the course of 12 years at Dover Castle, I have heard reports of ghostly experiences from trusted colleagues. One such was the sighting of a gentleman dressed in 17th century clothing seen by one of my former colleagues as she swept the basement.

Many experiences were centred on the tunnels under the castle. One visitor complemented me and a colleague on the marvellous sound effects in the Underground Works, a series of medieval and Napoleonic tunnels. We informed him that no such effects were used down there and he went very pale. Concerned that someone had found their way into the lower levels we investigated but found nothing.

My own experience may have been a trick of the eye but upon closing up the keep (now grandly called The Great Tower), I thought I spotted a man entering what was then known as the King’s bedroom. I had been tasked with clearing the second floor along with a colleague, a rather tall, thin chap. As I turned, I thought I saw him going into this room, but only the lower part of his leg from below the knee, as it lifted off the ground to mount up into the room. Naturally, I called out that I had already checked that room only to find my colleague appear from another direction. Quickly, he checked the room but found no one and the only way out was through the door.

This tale was taken up (without credit to me, I might add!) on the popular television programme Most Haunted where the medium declared that the chap was called Michael and was some kind of high ranking servant to the king.

Hmmm…well, okay, if you say so!

Again, the tale has got bigger with each telling.

This was how it was reported on the pages of paranormal group who visited the castle for a night vigil in 1991:

On another occasion very recently, two female members of staff saw the lower half of a man's body crossing the doorway of the King's bedchamber during the evening search of the keep. The two witnesses followed the figure into the chamber only to find he had disappeared, and there was no other exit. Other members of staff were close by in the main hall at the time.

Well, nearly right, I suppose!

Sometimes, the half a leg is a whole leg and climbing the spiral stairs…

Moving on from Dover Castle, I next spent 13 years in the employ of the Colchester Museum Service (now Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service).

For the keep itself (misleadingly called Colchester Castle) I never felt much in the way of bad vibes. Even in the prison area.

In the Hollytrees Museum, a former home to the Gray and Round families, perfume and the smell of cooking could be sensed wafting through the house before any visitors had been in.

One day, a colleague came down from doing a patrol of the rooms to report that she wasn’t overly keen on the gentleman she’d seen at the top of the house. She’d said ‘hello’ but he’d glared at her.

It took a while but then I realised we’d only had about half a dozen visitors that day, being as it was winter and looking back on the videotape all were accounted for except a man - we’d had no men visiting us that day.

Feeling less than brave, we summoned a colleague from the castle who checked the whole house to make sure this man hadn’t secreted himself away somewhere. As the only way in and out was by the front desk, we could not explain it.

I personally, have heard what sounded like heavy footsteps pacing up and down in the room above where I was sitting at the front desk. Whilst two of my former colleagues both saw what looked like a lady in a dress, or rather the train of her dress, go by along what was once a corridor but is now blocked by the lift.

I think the only place I ever felt very uncomfortable in was the Natural History Museum in Colchester which is housed in a redundant church – All Saints.

All Saints parish is tiny; tucked at the end of the High Street. The church is surrounded by a small graveyard and underneath is a crypt into which the wealthier members of the parish were buried including Charles Grey, one-time owner of Hollytrees and the castle and its grounds.

One day, I and another member of staff were asked to go to the museum as the staff member on duty had reported a problem, possibly with the roof. Now, this gentleman is one of the calmest, most pragmatic people I ever knew so when he said that he heard a loud noise that sounded like slates falling from the roof, we believed him.

Neither myself nor my colleague could see any damage to the roof. To put things into perspective, the interior of the church is open to the roof and sound carries in very strange ways, but our colleague was insistent and, to be honest, he wasn’t one prone to histrionics. He described it as sounding like the tiles were slipping then crashing to the ground.

Another check confirmed that all tiles were intact.

About a year or so later, I was in the museum alone save for two elderly persons. All of a sudden there was a terrific noise which sounded like something sliding down the roof followed by an enormous crash. Just as my colleague had described. The two visitors also heard the noise and wondered about it.

Again, no external damage was found.

An interesting theory was put forward – not knowing how the crypt underneath was laid out, could it be possible that a coffin, perhaps sitting on a wooden shelf which had given way, had landed on a coffin below (this would account for the sliding and crashing sound) and that finally, unable to bear the weight any longer that coffin had finally fallen? Without being able to access the crypt, we can’t tell but it was a truly weird experience.

The Canterville Ghost

I love The Canterville Ghost, particularly Charles Laughton's version (although it's hard not to enjoy Patrick Stewart's turn as the irascible old ghost)

In the seventeenth century, Sir Simon de Canterville is forced by a Code of Chivalry to engage in a duel on behalf of his brother but flees to the family castle out of cowardice.

Disgusted by his son's behaviour, Lord Canterville has the only entrance to his son's hiding place bricked over as proof that Simon is not there, ignoring Simon's pleas for mercy. Here, Sir Simon is condemned to a slow, nightmarish death.

Lord Canterville then curses his doomed cowardly son to find no rest until "a kinsman shall perform an act of bravery" in his name.

Over the centuries, Sir Simon becomes famous as the most terrifying ghost in all of England.

During World War II the castle, now owned by six-year-old Lady Jessica de Canterville (who lives in fear of him), becomes home to the US Army Rangers who are billeted there. Sadly, for Sir Simon, the soldiers are not in fear of him but, instead, mock him. Sir Simon cuts a lonely figure who is weary of his time on earth.

Jessica soon discovers that one of the soldiers, Cuffy, is a Canterville and with his help, she overcomes her own terror of the ghost.

Sir Simon introduces Cuffy to all his ancestors via the family portrait gallery. Each Canterville has his own sorry story of cowardice. Cuffy scoffs at Simon's misgivings and boasts that he is different.

Cuffy, however, displays his true Canterville colours when, on a raid in France, he is paralysed by fear. Naturally, this act means he must leave the Rangers. Lady Jessica, in an attempt to bring out the inner hero in Cuffy, accidentally triggers a mine. Cuffy hitches the bomb behind a jeep and steers it into a ravine. The courageous act finally frees Sir Simon from his centuries of bondage.

Loosely adapted from a story by Oscar Wilder, it is the tale of a cowardly ghost seeking redemption. The tale is set in World War II, a wild deviation from its source material, and mixes themes such as heroism and courage under fire, the qualities Sir Simon lacks.

Haunted Mansion - part one

Who doesn't love a haunted mansion? Well, I guess it depends on your disposition but come on, it's got to get your interest, right?

HIGH SPIRITS is set in Partridge Hall, formerly the home of the family that gave it its name. The last resident, Sir Wolseley Partridge died childlessly and rather than finding an heir amongst his numerous relations, he chose to bequeath his mansion to the town of Plimpton Market.

The mansion became the home of the town museum, acquiring artefacts from the town's lengthy history to fill its rooms.

But Partridge Hall also holds a secret. Hiding within it are three lively spirits – Alec, former assistant curator, who still considers Partridge Hall to his domain and intensely dislikes any changes the present incumbent makes. Jean, his young lady, who had never been in the Hall until she started stepping out with Alec and is most displeased to find that she is spending her eternity there. Finally, there's young Pol, a child from the Iron Age who has seen it all – the land before any settlement, the building of the medieval manor and its replacement with the far grander Hall, and finally its last incarnation as a museum. These three love, laugh and squabble. Are each other's boon companions as the years roll on but occasionally, they get a little fed up with the same old routine.

To celebrate the release of HIGH SPIRTS on January 6 2018, let's take a tour of famously haunted mansions starting with WOODCHESTER MANSION.

Ghosts abound at this unfinished property built over the original house, Spring Park. William Leigh, ran out of money before he could complete the project and the building remained in the family until 1938 when it was sold.

Sight of a headless horseman and a floating coffin have convinced locals that the estate is haunted.

Inside the property it is as if time has stood still and that all the workmen have downed tools and left for the day. Here, a ‘tall man’ is seen walking along the corridor which leads to the chapel, whilst another man is seen in the doorway of the same chapel looking up at the stained-glass windows.

From the scullery, singing can be heard. Of course, Woodchester was never a home, being unfinished so these spirits must be from the former building, Spring Park. Plans show that the scullery and kitchen for both buildings are in the exact same spot. A young girl has been seen on the staircase but, again, this has to be the stairs from the former home.

On the landing is a sentient ghost, that is, he is aware that he has been seen whilst another is that of a man with a hat.

As well as sensing the presence of 'people' in military uniform- the house was used by US and Canadian soldiers just prior to D-Day, music from the 1940's has been heard. And, some visitors have reported the smell of bacon frying!

In HIGH SPIRITS – Alec has the misfortune to end up in the old scullery of Partridge Hall after he'd accidentally fully manifested corporeal after getting his trousers in a twist over a display label.

Unfortunately, for him, he is captured on a multitude of phones and his image is quickly going viral on the internet.

Bethan Andrews, curator, is summoned to the museum by an anxious colleague and arrives to find the street jam-packed with members of the public, eager to get inside to find the ghost for themselves.

Inside, Bethan finds both Jean and Pol out of their wits with worry as to where Alec has disappeared off to after his 'incident'. They finally locate him in the scullery, a dirty old room that now houses the boiler and a multitude of spiders.

Excerpt:

The scullery was situated in the basement and housed the boilers. It was a bit dank with only a half moon window and plenty of cobwebs. The only person who ventured in there was the gas man when he came to read the meter, and that was with extreme reluctance.

Bethan made her way down the narrow back stairs into the basement and opened the first door on the left. It was swollen with damp, and gingerly she felt inside the door for the light, hoping, as she did that she didn’t hit any spiders of which there were many.

In its day, this had been the provenance of the scullery maid, the lowest ranking maid in the servant hierarchy who did the menial jobs such as washing up and other dirty chores deemed beneath the kitchen maids.

As Bethan’s eyes became adjusted to the dim light, she could just make out the old wooden draining board and the deep ceramic sink.

She ventured cautiously down the small flight of creaking stairs and turned around, nearly wetting herself as she did.

In the darkest corner, sitting on an old wooden stool was Alec.

“Alec!” cried Jean and flew over to him.

Pol got there first and threw her spindly arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. He patted her arm in a good-natured way, and she let him go.

Alec pulled out his hankie and mopped his brow.

“What happened?” asked Bethan.

“I…I... don’t rightly know,” stuttered Alec who were he alive, may correctly be described as having gone ashen. “All of a sudden, there they all were, the people I mean, looking at me and then, it was like a wrench, and I was here.”

“But why couldn’t I feel you?” Jean was as distraught at finding him as she was of losing him. She crouched down beside him and took his hand in hers.

Alec looked at her fondly. “I don’t know my dear, but I couldn’t feel you either.”

Jean laid her head in his lap and kissed his hand. “Oh, my darling. I thought I’d lost you!”

Alec lifted her face to his and kissed her: “It will take more than this to separate us, my love.”

Next time – 50 Berkeley Square!

Arriving this autumn

I'm pleased to say that the first draft of my next novel 'High Spirits' is now 2/3 complete and in good shape.

I'm aiming to have it on Kindle in the autumn, muse and time permitting.

To celebrate, here's a look at the artwork.

Since You've Been Gone

Since You've Been Gone

By Lisa Dyer

About the Book

Together Forever...

until the day Abigail dumped Hal, after he left for university, back in 1983. Hal was so devastated that he went home less and less until, in the end, he didn't go home at all. And he never got over her, even after he married the wealthy Julienne. Their marriage was doomed from the start; it was just a case of who caved in first.

Abigail had a secret; one she had kept from Hal, and it had defined her life for fifteen years. She was glad he never came back to learn it. That was all about to change.

Hal was on his way home. Nothing would ever be the same again...

Excerpt

​In the beginning...

…there was Hal and Abigail and they should have lived happily ever after… everything in their story shouted that to the world. Hal’s mother knew it. Their friends had no doubt about it. Hal and Abigail were the perfect pair. Having grown up together from infancy, there were no secrets, no hidden agendas; just love. All that was missing were the church bells and the first flat with the second-hand furniture and the gas fire that didn’t work, and even that would be okay because they’d cuddle up in bed to keep warm until summer.

Then Hal blew it all wide open by getting a conditional offer to study at Cambridge – in the Department of Veterinarian Medicine. To be honest, it was a total shock to everyone, but most of all to Abigail. She had supported his idea to apply, but had secretly thought that he would be out of his depth and have second thoughts. He didn’t. It was all he thought about and planned for. He locked himself away in his bedroom to study, and suddenly two people, who had been inseparable from the first moment they had met, were wrenched apart. Hal’s mother, Diana clucked about nothing else; anybody would think he was marrying into royalty. Anyone foolish enough to ask, ‘How’s the family, Di?’ soon found themselves wishing they’d kept their mouths shut.

Hal and Abigail limped through the spring, and dragged themselves into the summer. His hard work paid off and he attained the required grades then received positive confirmation that, come the autumn, he would be going up to Cambridge. There was one last night, camped down at the Bay, Hal on his guitar and the old crowd avoiding talking about what was happening, as if by doing so it may go away. And that was it. The beginning of the end of Hal Bartlett and Abigail Markham. Except, for Abigail it was the start of something new, something so big, so life changing – and its outcome would resonate down the years…

Amazon

Meet Michael Bayliss

What should we know about him? Michael Bayliss, vet, Yorkshire man, legend. On the surface, he seems a pretty uncomplicated person. He gets on with life, living in a flat above the practice and doesn't really have a long-term plan. This easy-going nature can put him at odds with people because they think he's easy to read, likes a bit of banter and therefore unable to be hurt but he is a vulnerable as the rest of us. Michael is the product of a broken home, his mum having run off with the local bingo caller. It has given him a wary perspective on relationships but that doesn't stop him having them or having opinions on Hal's. It's the commitment he has the problem with. What is the main conflict? For Michael it is keeping Hal grounded in reality. He knows that his friend has an emotional block but all the while it is kept on a low level, he's not bothered what it is. When Hal's life is thrown into confusion, Michael must be the anchor but also, he must have one eye on what the impact of going home might have on his life and the practice his shares with Hal. What is the personal goal of the character? For Michael it is getting through life as peacefully as possible. He's a grafter but with a slacker mentality. Not for him the mortgage and the kids. He doesn't want convention and, although he is wary of relationships because they seem to go to fast for him, he is really looking for someone just like him; someone a little unconventional. Since You've Been Gone was published by Crooked Cat Publishing in December 2013 and is available exclusively through Amazon across all markets and Kindle Unlimited.

Meet Abigail Markham

What should we know about her?

Abigail Markham is a Dover girl through and through. Born and raised in the Tower Hamlets, she still lives in a tiny terraced house within a stone’s throw of her childhood home. Abigail is a fighter. She is also complex. She didn’t have the best start to her life and her prospects were patchy to say the least but she has a good heart and is a strong woman. She married young and bore her first child in her late teens. The marriage produced one more child before it fell apart. She works in the local hairdressers and life is tough but she has her friends and her sister and they keep her going even though money is short.

What is the main conflict?

The main conflict for Abigail is reconciling herself with her past decisions. She has a secret and she has had to live with the consequences of the path she chose. Some would say she did it for the best of reasons and others might think that maybe she was crying out for attention but, the deed was done and she got on with it. There is a part of her that is angry, even though the decision was hers and hers alone, she feels let down. Only Abigail can reconcile herself to her decision and, although she doesn’t tacitly blame Hal, she feels anger towards him. Once she looks at herself and her own part in how her life turned out, she will be much more at peace.

What is the personal goal of the character?

Finding peace with her past. She is happy that Hal never came home because she doesn’t have to expose herself to having to tell the truth but she also suffers from an acute, unspoken sense of abandonment by him. It’s kind of given her a bit of a martyr complex – ‘look at me, look what I did without your help’. Once it all comes out, then she can move forward but she has to be prepared for it all to come out.

Since You've Been Gone was published by Crooked Cat Publishing in December 2013 and is available exclusively through Amazon across all markets and Kindle Unlimited.

Dude-Lit

We all know what Chick-Lit is, right? Chick-lit is usually light, romantic, boy meets girl; the written words equivalent of a rom-com. The cover tells you exactly what you are going to get when you open the page – girls who shop, have a great circle of friends but always has that one true best friend, can sink wine like water and have a crush on the boy next door.

Invariably, like the three act structure, there is Act 1 when the plot is set up, little bombs are primed to go off and foreshadowing is announced and the love interest is introduced. Act 2 is the fun and games, the nights out with the girls, the shoe shopping, the witty banter that is exchanged between the two would-be lovers until the mid-act turning point when it may all go south; a misunderstanding, a rival for affections, a row. Then the downward slope to the break into Act 3 when it all gets a little darker, maybe it’s all going terribly wrong but then, the eureka moment and ta-da, the protag knows what to do and the two would be lovers are reconciled and go off on a haze of pink fluff into a bright new future.

They are fun to read and the main character is always likeable in the same way as the object of her affection is always the best of men, even if she doesn’t know it at the time. So, what about those who, maybe, you know, what a little less chick and a bit more dude or have just got over Chick-Lit as a genre.

More to the point, what about men who want to read light fiction

Well, they can have a dose of Lad-Lit.

To be honest, Lad-Lit sounds a little bit too blokey for me; am I likely to find much talk of cheeky Nandos and some bant with the Archbishop of Banterbury?

Turning to Wiki for a bit of help I find this description:

Lad lit typically concerns itself with the trials and tribulations of urban twenty and thirty something men, faced with changing heterosexual mores and the pursuit of a desired lifestyle. The stories revolve around issues like male identity crisis and masculine insecurity in relationships as a result of the social pressures and the expectations of how they should behave in work, love and life, men’s fear and final embrace of marriage. In other words, the final maturation into manhood.

And it’s history:

"Lad lit" is a term of the 1990s that was originated in Britain, where it was developed for marketing purposes. Several publishers, encouraged by the increasing sales of glossy magazines (Maxim, Esquire, GQ, FHM), believed that such fiction would open up a new readership. Thus, lad lit is not its own phenomenon, but rather part of a larger cultural and socioeconomic movement. This new publishing category ostensibly sought to redefine masculinity. The protagonist of these books is the young man on the make, mindlessly pursuing booze, babes and football. His ineptitude, drunken-ness and compulsive materialism were part of his charm. The figure was created in contrast with the New Man of the feminist era and, beneath the crass surface, the lads are attractive, funny, bright, observant, inventive, charming and excruciatingly honest. They are characters who seem to deserve more from life and romance than they are getting.

Nick Hornsby, apparently, is the man for this type of genre, which is seen as a backlash against the phenomenon of chick-lit. Interestingly though, the Oxford Reference website states that in answer to the question, which came first, the chick or the lad, the answer is, the lad.

Hmm…so much for the 1990s, what about today. Is Lad-Lit still relevant or have we moved on? I think so. Welcome to the world of Dude-Lit. So, dude lit then, what is it? Who writes it? Do I want to read it?

A simple but effective description by blogger Brie Clemintine:

“Lately I’ve read books who main character is a man who goes through a self-discovering journey that make(s) me feel like I’m reading a “Chickless” Chick-Lit story, or, as I’ve come to think of it: Dude Lit”

The blogger on Giant Squid Books goes onto say:

“In many ways, dude lit seems to me to have many elements of chick lit, but told from the POV of a male narrator. It is said that if chick lit were a movie genre, it would surely be romantic comedy, and I think a lot of the same thing can be said about dude lit.”

If Lad-Lit was on the back of some kind of rebellion against Bridget Jones and her diary, or the dawn of New Main, then perhaps DL has rolled in on the crest of button down check shirts, nice leather brogues, beards and craft beers.

I don’t know, when did hipster arrive on the scene because Brie was writing about dudes in 2012 and I've found references to it from 2010.

Well, having had a fish around on the web I’ve found some links to book recommendations in the Dude-Lit range so I’m going in.

One thing that has definitely struck me is this; I always floundered when trying to describe Since You’ve Been Gone. To me, a male protagonist wasn’t symbolic of traditional chick lit yet, I didn’t feel it feel into the Lad-Lit realm either. However, now, I think I’m very happy to describe it as Dude-Lit, which doesn’t mean that it is the sole preserve of men (as Chick-Lit wasn’t and never should be considered the sole preserve of women). Getting Amazon to rethink my browse categories however, is another matter!

RIDIN’ THE BUS

The bus plays a big part in my life because I never learned how to drive. Some days it's a complete drag; getting stuck in traffic (okay, so every one gets stuck in traffic but, c'mon, I'm on a bus!), babies screaming, people talking loudly on their phones so you know exactly every minutiae of their lives. I have to catch two buses and the second one has to go over the railway lines, so invariably we're stuck at the gates for a while. Yeah, it can be a drag.

Then again, I'm a writer so going on the bus is like a field trip. Seriously. People like to know where you get ideas from, or inspiration, or language and I say: take a trip on the bus. Get a day ticket, ride as many as possible - if you're not a regular bus user - and just...listen.

Dialogue can be really hard. We all have our own unique voice and sometimes that is the voice we use in our writing but that's not how all people talk. Some repeat themselves, some use 'like' and 'you know' too much, and some listen and nod and say 'yeah, yeah, yeah'. Actually, if you listen to people talking, you can see that we don't all stop and wait for the other person(s) to finish; we inject, interrupt, zone out. That's really hard to convey in a narrative sense but pretty easy if you're writing a script - there's a button to show that everyone is talking at once - but, honestly, would your reader want all the extraneous words we spout in everyday conversation? Probably not. Take this conversation I overheard on the bus a few weeks back:

Woman 1: I saw Ruth yesterday. I never had her down as a snob Woman 2: Oh? Woman 1: She was with her boy and he's off up to secondary school in September so I asked where he was going and she jumped in and said, the high school and I thought, you know, she meant one of them out at Lexdon, so I said to him, oh, I thought you'd go to Stanway and she said, yes, Stanway High School. Well, I've never heard it called that before, you know, because it's not a high school....secondary modern probably...but I thought, you know, she meant the high school. Woman 2: Well, yes, you would. Woman 1: We've got several of those haven't we...the girls high and the boys grammar and that private one. Woman 2. Well, I thought that's what you meant when she said high school...the girls high or St Mary's, you know, the private one. Woman 1. That's what I thought she meant when she said it, that's why I said, I thought you'd go to Stanway and she said, he is Stanway High School.

There was a short pause before Woman 2 started the conversation up again with a repeat of: Woman 2. Well, I thought that's what you meant when she said high school...the girls high or St Mary's, you know, the private one.

So, everyday conversation can be boring, repetitive and not for you but....but, it's not what they are saying per se that you should be interested in but the cadence, the variances in pauses, the words like 'yes' or 'yeah' that are used as a shorthand for not saying a lot; the tone of delivery of a 'yes' can be quite loaded., is it conveying anger, agreement, sarcasm, sadness?

lso, there's the variety. Slang is very transient and probably best avoided if it's really of the now as it will date quite rapidly however, it is interesting to listen to young people using slang.

I sat in front of two teenagers who were discussing gang culture on the two large estates in Colchester. Two phrases stood out in the conversation: getting switched up and on your onesies. The former, a quick check in the urban dictionary informs me is when your mood changes from calm to mad in an instant and the latter is when your on your own. In this case, the boy told his friend that it 'wasn't on for seven to do that when you're on your onesies.'

Of course, you can differentiate between characters by using regional accents. I did this in Since You've Been Gone by having Michael, Hal's best friend come from up north but even then, regional accents are not homogeneous. I based Michael's rhythm on Guy Martin - it was a tough gig watching hours of Mr Martin but he's interesting because he has a very unique and identifiable way of talking. However, a note of caution, be sparing in your use of dialect, readers don't necessarily want to have to fight through obscure words and saying just because you've found them during research (I loathed reading North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell for this very reason - her repeated use of the word 'hoo' which means 'she' bugged the life out of me). So, less is more, I think. Use it to convey but don't let it swamp the reader with idioms.

Ride the bus and happy writing

MY WRITING PROCESS

Here is my version of The Writing Process

What am I currently working on?

Actually...I've kind of got three things on the go. I know, spreading myself a little thin. One is a Young Adult novel provisionally called What Are Ghosts Afraid Of? This one is quite a bit of the way through but I've reached a halt and am still working out my demons on that one. Secondly, an untitled chick-lit piece that started off with great panache and good intentions but then stalled. Not because I don't know where it's going but because my third project took over. The Winter Rose is proving to be a genre mash up - a romance/historical/supernatural murder-mystery (I'm not even sure you can have that much of a genre mash up to be honest). We shall see.

What makes my writing distinctive?

I don't know...I use third person omniscient although I do generally have a distinctive protagonist. I guess it's up to the reader to decide if I have a distinctive writing voice.

Why do I write what I write?

I like ideas that amuse and intrigue me. I also enjoy looking at the weirdness of relationships. I don't really want to write straight chick-lit with the boy meets girl, boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back dynamic. Relationships are messy and they suck sometimes. They're also amazing and make you feel alive so I want to go down that route rather than the soppy will they/won't they road. With Since You've Been Gone I had the need to express something about how I felt going back home to Dover (also the home town of my protag Hal Bartlett) but also I was quite determined to subvert expectation. I think, in the most part, I succeeded with that.

How does the writing process work?

I'm a pantser - I write by the seat of my pants. I can't plan for toffee. I get an idea, a starting point. I get the measure of my characters and I get an ending. I just then work to join up that initial opening 'scene' with the final closing one. I started off writing scripts and putting them into contests. I think I probably write my novels in the same way. I 'see' a scene and I write that 'scene' (maybe that will translate to one side of an A4 piece of paper - I do it all long hand and type it up later). Then I will use that to progress to the next 'scene' and so on. So, when other writers/authors talk about word counts they like to achieve every day - 1,000/2,000/3,000 words, I talk about maybe 800 words. I do short, sharp blocks of writing.

Since You've Been Gone was relatively easy to write because it started out as a 90 page script that had been through tough feedback from a professional script reader. It had also been in competition - Prequel to Cannes (2nd place) and was only one of 25 scripts picked annually in the BAFTA/Rocliffe New Writers Forum Prize. It had its structure in place. So, writing from scratch is taking me some time.

What next?

I'll keep going. At them moment I've resumed work on the untitled chick-lit and managed to work out some of the bugs.

Meet my main character - Hal Bartlett

What is the name of your character?

Meet Hal Bartlett, sometime resident of Dover, Kent, now living in rural Oxfordshire with a veterinarian practice, a very opinionated business partner and a lot of marital problems.

When and where is the story set?

Hal Bartlett is the main character in Since You've Been Gone which is set fifteen years in the past. The story begins in Oxfordshire as Hal wrestles with the increasing deterioration in his relationship with his wife, Julienne. It's the eve of Julienne's spoilt younger sister's high-end wedding and Hal knows he's out of his depth. After a bitter row, Hal takes the only option open to him...he returns to the home town and friends he abandoned years before and begins his journey to revisit his past and lay some old demons to rest.

What should we know about him?

Hal is a good man, a bit of a wimp but essentially a good bloke. His life is a bit messy, no neat edges. He left his home town of Dover in the September of 1983 without ever realising how life expanding university would be. Slowly, so slowly even he didn’t notice it happening, Hal shed his old life, old friends who never left the town into which they were born and, sadly, he shed his parents. He didn't do any of this because he was denying his past...he did it because Hal is a man on the run, from his emotional past and in particular one person, Abigail Markham. She was 'the one'. The one that he loved first and last. The one that broke his heart. The one that cut him loose. His withdrawal from his old life and absorption into his new allowed him distance and an excuse never to go back and find out exactly what happened between them.

What is the main conflict?

Hal married out of his league and he knew it. His wife’s family have money, have never been on the type of rough council estate Hal grew up on let alone been in a council house and they glossed over Hal’s working class roots and remade him in their image and Hal, for a quiet life, goes along with it. He’s an adaptor but never comfortable in his new role and always guilty of what he’s done to his parents in order to keep the charmed life he now has. Hal needs to man up and get out but he’s loyal and steady and really he’s looking for an excuse. Hal is also wrestling with his past and is too scared to confront it, to move on and wipe his emotional slate clean. Forces outside of his control, however, end up making the choice for him and he goes back...back to the home town he left as a teenager and back to the family and friends he's distanced himself from in order to heal his own heart. He's about to get a big wake up call and his life will never be the same again.

What is the personal goal of the character? In the beginning Hal is drifting. He knows in his heart of heart he's in the wrong place and with the wrong person but he's also trying to be a 'good bloke'Like most people, circumstances drive him not the other way around and so he finds himself constantly fighting the tide to get upstream. What he really needs is a good old dose of 'closure'. To lay his past to rest so that he can move on with a new heart. He sort of understands this but is at a loss on how to act upon it without causing the hurt he some much desires to avoid. Hal wants to be at peace with himself.

Since You've Been Gone is available exclusively on Amazon across all markets to download onto your Kindle or Kindle apps and Kindle Unlimited for £2.99.Paperback is available through Amazon for £6.99