SUBSCRIBER SPOTLIGHT
http://www.writers-online.co.uk APRIL 2020^47AN HISTORIC ADVENTURE
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See http://writ.rs/sellyourbook for more detailsPlotting the crime
‘I’m like Donna Tartt, but without the
same degree of either talent or fame,’ writes
subscriber Jacquelynn Luben.
‘But, now, with my sixth book just
coming off the press, I have to confess it is
around ten years since I completed my last novel.
‘Lost Innocents is my first crime novel.
‘I read it out at my writing circle, and listened to the
members’ suggestions. I worked my way through each set of
comments. At the rate of a thousand words a fortnight, it
took a long time to read out the whole book. Then I realised
I wanted to adjust the structure to make it more suspenseful.
It meant changing around the first third of the book, and
when I’d done that, I wanted to know if it worked. Three
writers read it through and made suggestions, and again I
read carefully through the comments, at the same time as
rereading it at the writers’ circle.
‘A year ago, I took a break from it, and brought out a book
for small children, What Grandpa did next. But then it was
back to the novel for more editing, revising, correcting and
so on. When I read an article a few months ago (Moving
on by Sophie Beal, WM May 19), which talked about an
author’s reluctance to let go, I recognised myself.
‘Lost Innocents was written in a very different way from my
genealogical novel, Tainted Tree. That book more or less “wrote
itself ”, to use an author’s cliché. When I started Lost Innocents,
I only had an idea for a starting point, and didn’t really have a
destination. I thought of it as a cliff face, in which, each time I
went back to it, I had to chip out another
foothold and climb up from it. That was the
second reason why it took me so long. The
first was that, initially, I couldn’t think of any
story at all.
‘But that’s in the past now. The work has
all been done, and for better or for worse, my
crime novel is ready to face an audience.
‘Lost Innocents is published by
Goldenford Publishers Ltd.’
Website: http://www.goldenford.co.uk‘After over 22 years in the writing, including two major
reworkings (and a lot of minor edits!), The Raided Heart
finally hit the electronic shelves on 15 November 2019,’ writes
subscriber Jennifer C Wilson.
‘Not only is it great to have simply finished the book, I’m
delighted that it’s also going down so well.
‘The Raided Heart is a historical romantic adventure, set in the
harsh world of the border reivers, on the English-Scottish border.
The reivers were a hardy bunch, who left us phrases such as
“bereaved” and “blackmail”, and following Meg and Will on their
journey has been as thrilling as running from a successful raid.
‘And the icing on this writing cake? In early December, I
discovered it had been awarded Bronze in The Coffee Pot Book
Club’s Book of the Year Awards Historical Romance category, as
run by Mary Anne Yarde.
‘With this being my first “traditional” historical fiction, with no
ghosts or timeslip to hide behind, I’m obviously over the moon
with the news, and am already working on the second in this new
“Historic Hearts” collection, published through Ocelot Press.
Amazon Author Page: https://writ.rs/jennifercwilson‘I’m like Donna Tartt, but without the