Radio Interview

I don't know how many of you can pick up Radio Humberside from Hull  but if you can then I'm doing an  interview with them this morning. 

This of course  is because of the workshop I'm doing on Valentines's Day - so just to remind you  . . . .

Dates: 14th February 2012

Time: 1:30pm to 4:30pm

Location: The Ballroom The Angel
Brigg Lincolnshire
Tickets cost £7 per person and are available in advance from Ashby, Brigg and Scunthorpe libraries.
Places are limited so book early to avoid disappointment.
The event is for adults aged 16 and over. To book a place contact Emma Prideaux at North Lincolnshire Central Library on 01724 860161  or email library.enquiries@northlincs.gov.uk.

The interview will be at about 11.10  am on the David Burns morning show - and if you can't listen this morning, then I'm sure it will be available  on their Listen Again feature

Do you want to read about Hull?

I don't know how many times I've tried to write this post - but I know that each time I've started it  - or even thought about it - something has happened to interrupt  me. These interruptions  have tended to be linked to two things.

1. Builders - we are having the kitchen revamped and extended   and the work started last week so  lots of questions, lots of noise, lots of dirt . . .the cats hate it, we can't get the car into the drive . . . .
I keep telling myself it's going to look wonderful when it's done - and it is - but right now it's chaos.

2. Interviews  - it seems that someone said - in a blog about settings for books :

The precise setting matters: Edinburgh and London will work well. Leicester and Hull less so. With apologies to Leicester and Hull. (And this does NOT mean you can't set books in Leicester and Hull, just that they won't of themselves be a draw to those who don't appreciate the romantic aspects of those cities.)

And as I live near Hull and have given several workshops and talks there,  the local radio - Radio Humberside - wanted  to interview me to know what I thought.

What do i think? Well that it you are writing a romance  then you are writing the story of the emoitonal journey of your hero and heroine - and they are what matter. Just as in real life when it isn't  wher you are but who you are with the makes a romantic time,  so in a romantic novel it's the people  whose story you are telling who matter.  
Of course there are more obviously 'romantic' settings that appeal to  a large number of people and so might make a book attractive  - Venice, Rome, Paris, all have that image - but it still depneds on who you are with or what the emotional story might be. Personally I spent one of the least romantic days of my life in Paris and as a city it has never appealed to me since - but my sister spent her honeymoon there - so obviously we'll disagree over that!  And I have had some very romantic days/evenings . . . nights   in some totally unromantic  seeming places. 

The trouble with the accepted 'romantic' images are that they tend to be the easy sell - the places where it's easy(easier) to create a romantic setting   that will quickly an effortlessly be picked up on by a reader.  But the 'easy sell' is that because it has been used so often that it can become a shortcut/shorthand - and unfortunately can be used so often it also become a cliché  - and so not inspiring or interesting at all.  And it's still matters that it's who you're with /who you are reading about. A gloriously romantic setting won't make a dull book exciting or a  slow story into a pacy best seller.

Which is basically what I said on the Radio Humberside interview. It must have sounded alll right because the next thing  was that I had a phone call  from the local news programme - Look North - who are also covering  this 'Hull won't work well as a setting'  subject - asking if I would do an interview for them too.
Which wasn't quite as  simple a request as it sounds - when I took the phone call I had a conditoning pack on my hair, was in the scruffiest jeans and tee shirt, no make up - and my work room was a tip!
I had an hour while the interviewer drove from Hull to here to sort that out - rinse hair, dry  hair, find some makeuo, do face - change clothes .  . .

The 'tidying'of the room was done by my patented method - pick up all the mess, piles of papers, assorted (and not sorted) bits and pieces and take them into another room. Dump them there and shut the door firmly. Return to office and wipe a duster hastily aroud all surfaces.  . .  finished just intime.

The interviewer was lovely, very relaxed and good at putting me at my ease. (Thank you Rowan!)  We did all the filming and I answered all the questions.  I think it went well - apart from the one moment when Flora decided to get into the action and jumped on the back of my chair, swishing her tail around and draping it across my face - we had to  redo that bit!

So now I'm sirtting here knowing the result will be on Look North in  a very short time - the programme is at 6.30. I expect that only a very little bit of what I said will ve shown in amongst lots of other comments but it was an experience - and I have a cleaner, tidier room to show for it!

You may be able to catch the programme on the play it again facility on the web site here.
And I'd like to know what you think. How important is the setting of a novel for you? Do you want to read about glamorous international  settings - one that have the romantic 'easy sell'? Or are you interested in trying new places  in books - or not bothered where the book is set so long as the characters are fascinating and the story intense and emotional?

I'd love to know - specially if you come from Hull.

Radio Humberside

Well that was fun. Thankfully the freezing fog dissipated and turned into bright sunshine so the journey was quick and easy. And then the radio interview went so quickly and was a lot of fun.

Lara King was so easy to talk to and we laughed at the same things. Kept having to remember when the mike was on and when it wasn't! Thank you Lara for making it so easy so that I didn't have a moment to have nerves.

And thanks too to Helen for friendly reception and the mug of coffee - hope you both enjoy the books.

Oh yes - the book. That's what it was all about isn't it? Officially today is the publication day for the UK edition of Cordero's Forced Bride, but to judge from the shelves in WH Smith, it has probably been out for a couple of days already. There were only 8 left of the 15 or so copies that had been put out. So that made my day too. And if you're in Grimsby and you're planning on buying a copy - I left some of my bookmarks there so if you're quick you'll get one.

And for those who have asked (thanks Anna) I think you can catch the interview on the listen again facility of the Radio Humberside site . I can't be totally sure as it does say the 'highlights' and I haven't listened to myself. But if it's anywhere, that's where you'll find it,

Right now I have to pick up where I left off with a recalcitrant Greek and then next in blogging terms is answering another question . . . Back soon!

Do you lie about your reading?

An interesting article in the Telegraph today about the results of a survey orgainsed to mark World Book Day.

Readers were asked to reply anonymously to the questions which included one asking if they had ever lied about reading literary books "to make themselves appear more intelligent and sexy than they actually are."

Apparently two thirds of those who responded admitted to lying about their reading. And the book most people claimed to have read was 1984 by George Orwell.

The second part of the survey asked people what they really liked to read and enjoyed. And guess what was right in there, above authors like James Herbert and Frederick Forsyth but Mills & Boon. 5th out of a list of 10. Good for all those readers, that's what I say. At times when the subject finding ways of getting people to read and keep reading is being debated all over the place - how about taking note of a resounding vote for simple, straightforward reading for pleasure? If people were made to feel less embarrassed by the fact that what they enjoy reading doesn't meet with the approval of the elitist critics who seem to think that only reading thier choice of the 'right' books is actually worth registering, then perhaps the levels of literacy could go up through simple practice and enjoyment.

If you want to know the full results then here they are:

Books we pretend we have read:
1. 1984, by George Orwell42%
2. War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy31%
3. Ulysses, by James Joyce25%
4. The Bible24%
5. Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert16%
6. A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking15%
7. Midnight's Children, by Salman Rushdie14%
8. In Remembrance of Things Past, by Marcel Proust 9%
9. Dreams from My Father, by Barack Obama6%
10. The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins6%

(If you want to know - I've read 1-5 of these and not the others. And no I've never lied about reading any of them - I can't actually see the point.)

Authors we actually like reading:
1. J K Rowling61%
2. John Grisham32%
3. Sophie Kinsella22%
4. Jilly Cooper20%
5. Mills & Boon18%
6. Dick Francis17%
7. Robert Harris16%
8. Jeffrey Archer15%
9. Frederick Forsyth13%
10. James Herbert12%

I suspect this topic might come up tomorrow when I have an interview on Radio Humberside.

If you can find the station (95.9fm, 1485am ) , I'll be talking to Lara King sometime after 10am. I'll be talking, amongst other things, about my latest book - Cordero's Forced Bride - which is officially published tomorrow. And possibly about living and working with another writer (aka The Babe Magnet) in a combinaton that's affectionately known as Crime and Passion.