...is visiting my blog today. Hello Jacquie and thanks for giving up some of your valuable time to be here today...
JC Hi Angela.
AW You're a writer of short stories and also a contributor to the anthology Miss Moonshine's Emporium of Happy Endings. What sort of stories do you regularly write and where can we find you?
JC I mainly write short stories for women’s magazines
including Woman’s Weekly, The People’s Friend, My Weekly and Take A Break in
the UK, plus a couple of overseas magazines.
The story subject matters are wide-ranging but cover universal issues
that affect women e.g. relationships, motherhood, loss, temptation, etc. Short ‘twist in the tale’ stories are always
popular and humour goes down well too.
The stories have to be tailored to the readership of each of the
magazines so if anyone fancies having a go, my number one piece of advice would
be to read the magazines and get a feel for what they want. Word counts and current submission
requirements can be found on the excellent Womagwriter’s blog:
https://womagwriter.blogspot.com
https://womagwriter.blogspot.com
AW Thanks for the tip. So tell me, what's it really like being a
professional short story writer?
JC It’s The Best Job Ever. I work in my pyjamas or in my garden. Sometimes both. I can
spend hours watching TV, reading a book or staring into space and call it
research. I can legitimately eavesdrop
on any conversation. Some stories take
ages to write but some I can’t type fast enough. Unlike writing a tightly plotted novel, if a short story isn’t
going well I can introduce a ghost, a dog, or a murder without worrying about
repercussions further down the line.
AW What first got you into writing and why?
JC In my day job I often worked with people with mental
health issues and I tried to encourage them to use journaling as a way of
relieving stress and anxiety. One day
it occurred to me that I was stressed and anxious too! Soon the stream of consciousness stuff fell
by the wayside and I was plotting and planning longer pieces and novels.
AW The word 'story' implies a
fiction. Is it all imagination or do
you also undertake research for your stories?
JC Considering how many people I have killed over the
years, I would like to state categorically that imagination plays a huge
part! Like most writers I often wonder
how much trouble I’d be in if someone were to check my browser history. I’m thinking particularly of the various
poisonings…
On a trip to Orkney I had the pleasure of visiting
the chapel built by the Italian POW’s who were held there during the war. Seeing the chapel and the beautiful setting
got me thinking about how very different those men’s experience of a POW camp
would be from, say, prisoners building the railway in Burma and an idea emerged
for a story. Last year I wrote a story
about the suffragettes and I really enjoyed the research. I love that I get to research a wide variety of
subjects without having to know my subject inside out the way a novelist does.
AW
Have you never been tempted to write that novel that they say is in
all of us?
JC My first attempts at writing for publication were
novels. I even finished one or two but
usually I got bored with the story long before the end and wanted to run with
my next ‘brilliant idea’ instead. I
don’t have that problem with short stories.
I can be writing about evil dolls, a contemporary romance and a
historical all at the same time.
AW Famous authors, such as Roald Dahl and Dylan Thomas,
had a special space for writing. Do you have a writing ‘shed’ of your
own?
JC I write in a corner of my bedroom. Now, with my kids grown up and gone, I suppose I
could claim a room as an office but I’m a creature of habit and find it very
difficult to write
anywhere new. Writing in my bedroom has a hidden advantage. At any time I can retire to bed, snuggle under the duvet with my wireless keyboard and as I type, the words magically appear on the screen across the room. More IT literate people may take that in their stride but to me it smacks of witchcraft.
JC I write in a corner of my bedroom. Now, with my kids grown up and gone, I suppose I
anywhere new. Writing in my bedroom has a hidden advantage. At any time I can retire to bed, snuggle under the duvet with my wireless keyboard and as I type, the words magically appear on the screen across the room. More IT literate people may take that in their stride but to me it smacks of witchcraft.
AW Finally, what would your
eight-year old self think of, and say about, you today?
JC My eight year old self always had her nose in a book
so she would be delighted to learn that despite everything she was told,
writing stories is actually a proper job. She has starred in many of my tales,
including the first story I ever sold to Woman’s Weekly. She would, however, be very disappointed by
the lack of dragons in my stories.
You can find The Miss Moonshine anthology here
Thank you Jacqui, and another fellow Author on the Edge will be visiting the blog next month, so watch this space...
Kate Field Melinda Hammond My Own Post Helen Pollard
How delightful to meet you. Loved the anthology of Miss Moonshine. I really enjoy writing short stories too but have never thought about submitting them to magazines. Thanks for the idea.
ReplyDeleteHi, thanks for visiting the blog and I wish you luck with your stories.
ReplyDelete