We caught up with our writer in residence, Maureen Lee, and asked her about some of her favourite books, what she's working on at the moment, and the secret to writing good saga fiction...
Hello Maureen.Could you set the scene for us… where are you sitting at the moment? What can you see around you?
I am typing this in my office in the garden. All I can see through the window are trees. I am not very conscious of my surrounds when I’m writing. I’d sooner not be distracted by pictures and ornaments. It’s a very dull, slightly chilly day for July and I am feeling sorry for the people who have come to Clacton, Frinton and Walton on holiday and are either sitting on a cold beach or wandering round with not much to do. I am reminded that when our three sons were young we used to hire a chalet on Frinton beach for the summer holidays. I used to go very early just after my husband had gone to work, have breakfast in the chalet, and the children would get the best place on the sand to make castles.
I’d just like to thank you very much for being Bookbite’s writer in residence over the past few months, and contributing such wonderful blog posts and writing tips. Have you enjoyed the experience and how did you find writing a regular blog?
Yes, I enjoyed myself very much. I was amazed to find myself able to write a regular weekly blog. I had thought I would dry up around the end of the first month.
You finished your latest novel, After the War Is Over, a few months ago. What are you working on at the moment?
I submitted After the War is Over at the beginning of April. I understand my publisher likes it, but haven’t yet received the manuscript back with their comments. I was then asked to write another novel for the Quick Reads series. These are short novels that sell for £1.00, and are about 20,000 words, written for reluctant readers or those who haven’t read for quite a long time. I wrote Amy’s Diary about the thoughts and experiences of a girl who is 18 when the war starts. By it ends, she is twenty-three and married with children. This was submitted a few weeks ago. I am now writing Melissa’s Baby which commences in 1945. I am having difficulty plunging into the story, becoming immersed in it, and keep adding little bits to what I have already done rather carrying the story further on. I am just plodding along, knowing this is probably only temporary.
Can you describe your average writing day for us?
Mornings, my husband and I walk into town, have a coffee, usually in a Cafe Nero, do some shopping, then return home. I deal with emails, read the paper, and go down to my office at around 2 pm and stay until about 7.30, with an hour’s break for tea.
You were born and grew up in Bootle, just outside Liverpool. How much of your early childhood experiences – the people and places that you knew – have gone into your novels?
Although I left Liverpool (I lived in Bootle and Kirkby) when I was 24, they were the years when my brain was formed and I can’t escape them. Getting married and having children happened when I lived in the South, but all the years living here haven’t affected me anything like the early years in Liverpool. My publisher wants stories set there, so in a way I can never escape.
Your books span a whole century, from the First World War to the present. How do you go about researching your novels and can you provide Bookbite readers with any research tips?
When I began writing seriously in 1990, six days a week in a rented office, I used the library for research. I can’t recall exactly when I had access to the Internet, but remember when I was writing The Girl from Princes Park and I wanted to know about the Runcorn suspension bridge and finding a wealth of information about it on Google. Since then, I have found it invaluable. I still regularly buy books if I think they will be of help in the future. When writing Queen of the Mersey, I had a character who was a fashion buyer and found a book called I Can Get it For You Wholesale being sold off by the library. It was perfect for me. I have occasionally written to people to ask for information and without fail they are helpful.
Out of all your characters, do you have any favourites? Are there any that you strongly identify with?
Yes, I really grow to love some of my characters. Levon in The Leaving of Liverpool, Jack in Mother of Pearl, another Jack in The Girl from Barefoot House, Vanessa in Nothing Lasts Forever. One day I might write a novel featuring all my favourite characters, even the ones who sadly died.
Which of your novels are you most proud of?
I really can’t answer that as I love them all. However, I did start a saga that turned very black right from the beginning. It also became very political. I called it Mrs Murphy Hires a Cleaner, rather a trite title in retrospect. I think it is my best novel. Bits of it are so clever that I can hardly believe I wrote it. My publisher refused it, so it was sent to another and was published under the pseudonym Kath Kincaid.
Now that you have written 20 novels, has the process of writing become easier for you? Are you a more confident writer than when you started out?
No, I think I am less confident. I worry that I have used up all my imagination and my brain has dried up. If only I could progress more with Melissa’s Baby then I might not worry so much.
What would you say is the key to writing good saga fiction?
An unnaturally vivid imagination is required for any sort of fiction.
How do you cope with writers block?
I don’t cope. I get hysterical and am concerned I will never write again.
Once you finish a novel, do you find it easy to let go, or do you find that characters and plotlines continue to absorb you?
I do find it easy to let go, though some characters do live with me forever – I described a few earlier. As I get towards the end of a novel, I have usually started to think about the next and can’t wait to get started on another set of characters.
You have written about the perseverance you needed – to keep writing and sending out your work to publishers – to get published. What advice would you give to Bookbite readers looking to get their work into print?
If you want to be published, make sure there is a market for the type of novel/short story/play/poem, you are working on. Buy the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook so you can keep up to date with what’s required – if you can’t afford it, you can look at it in the library. Have real faith in what you’re doing. Persist. Enjoy it if you can. There are always exceptions to the rule. Who would have thought exceptionally long books aimed at children would turn out to be as phenomenally successful as the Harry Potter series. Join a writing group. I found the latter enormously helpful.
Finally, can you recommend any recent books that you’ve read, and what will be on your summer reading list?
I enjoy thrillers most. I have just read the latest John Grisham and Mo Hayder books and enjoyed them both. I recently ‘discovered’ Robert Goddard and have since read half a dozen of his really skilful thrillers. Also came across Douglas Kennedy, an American writer who lives in London. He often writes in the first person as a woman and I find his books very gripping.
A final point, I have mentioned self-publishing a few times in my blogs. I had three thrillers of my own, all unpublished, and decided to put them one by one on the Kindle e-book site. Dusk went on at the end of May and I am pleased to say it is selling at the rate of roughly fifty copies a day. I am thoroughly enjoying the experience, of being able to check every morning how well it has done the day before.
Anyway, goodbye Bookbite, I have truly enjoyed meeting you and wish you all the luck in the world with your writing.
Thank you, Maureen!
