September 2022 – and already, with another few days still to go, the month has been turbulent and unexpected. Only the weather has been peaceful and pleasantly calm. But no doubt some autumnal brisk winds and gusty showers are only hours or so away, planning to catch us out. So, September – we’ve had to...
Author: Jude Hayland (Jude Hayland)
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ELIZABETHAN BABIES NO LONGER …
Just think of it. Our grandparents – if you are of a certain age – lived through the reigns of five or six monarchs. My grandparents were born during the last decade or so of Queen Victoria’s life so would have gone on to witness a couple of Edwards (ok, one of them rather briefly...
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That Was The Year …
January might be, strictly speaking, in the accepted way of things, the first month of the new year with December the last of the old. But to me that is entirely inaccurate. September is the month that starts the whole ball rolling again just as June completes it. Which leaves July and August as delightfully...
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The Naming of Novels
…is no easy matter. As a writer, it can be hard to come up with something that is pertinent and memorable. Sharp, catchy yet unique. Yet lately, publishers seem to be favouring titles that are, in fact, ambiguous and not at all easy to remember. A week or two ago, like two middle-aged (ok –...
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Introducing Polly Dodd …
One of the best things about writing novels is giving birth to numerous characters. These protagonists become surprisingly real over the course of developing and writing the story and there are times when the desire to meet them all in the flesh, invite them round for a cup of coffee or spot of supper becomes...
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Whose Story is it Anyway …?
Point of view is something that can plague writers, but, if it is well handled, readers should not be unduly conscious of it. Unless that’s rather the point. But more of that later. Of course if the novel is a first person narrative, everything is very simple. The story has to be told rigidly and...
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1953 and all that …
For us Elizabethan babies, born in the early days of the Queen’s reign, she’s a figure whose life has shadowed our own. Always there in the background in some shape or form. Our mothers were about the same age as the Queen. Our fathers more or less parallel with Prince Philip. And as for their...
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THE WAY WE WERE ….
The past month has seen my book buying habit go into overdrive. But then the number of hours I’ve spent reading each day has increased stratospherically – and since shops have been no-go areas to me since I foolishly mistook my step on the Old Brompton Road en route to the tube and permitted my...
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Who Wrote What and Why?
As a member of all sorts of Facebook fiction reader and writer groups, I daily read comments, reviews, conversation and just general chatter about books. Lately, with more enforced time to scan through these as a result of a fractured shoulder and, counting my luck that it’s my left arm held firmly, rigidly, in a...
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Write What You Know …
…or at least that is advice vaguely handed out to people who claim they want to write. And to a certain extent, it’s probably a good starting point. After all, if someone can’t write convincingly of their immediate surroundings and experiences, they are unlikely to be able to conjure imagined worlds and scenarios. But after...