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How my African childhood inspired my second novel

I last set foot on Zambia’s red soil more than forty years ago but the memories are as vivid as ever.

Growing up in southern Africa gave me the inspiration for my latest novel, Looking for Evelyn.

I borrowed heavily from my 1970s childhood in Zambia and from my early days as a journalist in Scotland for the book, but the central plot is all made up.

Journalist Chrissie Docherty returns to the southern Africa of her childhood and tracks down Evelyn Fielding, a woman at the centre of a scandal that shook a remote expatriate outpost in the Zambian bush in the 1970s.

As I looked at old photos and remembered the people I knew and the places where I roamed free, the colours, sounds and smells of Africa came flooding back, making the book a joy to write.

My two brothers, sister and I had an idyllic childhood in Zambia, climbing trees, exploring the vast, empty bush, making friends with local children and avoiding deadly snakes.

Here are some family snaps from that time – the colours may have faded a little but the memories have not.

Maggie Ritchie as a young girl in Zambia - FREE TO USE UGC MSN
In our garden in Chalimbana, aged around seven. You can tell it’s the early 1970s by the length of my dress!
Our bungalow – if you look carefully you can see my mum on the veranda and my little sister Mairi standing under the Flame of India tree. Dad used to pay us children five ngwee for each grasshopper we caught munching on the lawn.
Our bungalow – if you look carefully you can see my mum on the veranda and my little sister Mairi standing under the Flame of India tree. Dad used to pay us children five ngwee for each grasshopper we caught munching on the lawn.
With my brother, Iain, who had recently knocked out half his front tooth hammering a nail into a plank to make a treehouse.
With my brother, Iain, who had recently knocked out half his front tooth hammering a nail into a plank to make a treehouse.
Looking a bit peaky at my First Communion. I’d been ill for months with some mysterious tropical fever. There was no doctor in Chalimbana at the time and Mum looked after me with the aid of a nurses’ handbook.
Looking a bit peaky at my First Communion. I’d been ill for months with some mysterious tropical fever. There was no doctor in Chalimbana at the time and Mum looked after me with the aid of a nurses’ handbook.
My brother Iain, me, my brother Andrew and our little sister Mairi, the ‘baby’ of the family, in our garden.
My brother Iain, me, my brother Andrew and our little sister Mairi, the ‘baby’ of the family, in our garden.
My sister Mairi, aged five, and me aged nine – note the psychedelic 1970s dress – with our dad, John Mallon, who was setting up a teacher training college in Chalimbana for the British Council. It’s still going strong.
My sister Mairi, aged five, and me aged nine – note the psychedelic 1970s dress – with our dad, John Mallon, who was setting up a teacher training college in Chalimbana for the British Council. It’s still going strong.

My comfort reads

We all have favourite books that we return to throughout our lives. As comforting as a cup of tea and a slice of cake, but without the calories, these novels have cheered me up time and again.

The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford.

Light and delicious as a mille-feuille from a Parisian patisserie, Nancy Mitford’s novels set between the wars and based on her eccentric family are a comic delight, but this, the first in a trilogy, is my favourite. The characters have become as familiar to me as family over the years, from Linda in her romantic but doomed pursuit of love to mad Uncle Matthew and his child hunts and chub fuddling, to the hilariously unscrupulous Bolter and wickedly charming Fabrice de Sauveterre.

JeanRhys_WideSargassoSea-1Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

Inspired by Rhys’ childhood in the Caribbean, this novel is the prequel to Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, telling the story of Rochester’s mad wife in the attic, Antoinette Cosway, a Creole heiress. I first read this when I moved to Scotland from South America and was transfixed by Rhys’ evocation of the colours, smells and sounds of the tropics.

th-4Mapp and Lucia by E F Benson

Another brittle comedy set in the 1930s, I love E F Benson’s waspish observation of the two rival snobbish queens of the not-so-sleepy town of Tilling. The formidable women each have their admirers and foot soldiers, from Quaint Irene to Major ‘Benjy’ Flint, Georgie and Diva. The six novels in the series are a delight and have been turned into a TV series by both Channel 4 and the BBC.

th-6I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith

The image of the teenage Cassandra Mortmain writing her diary with her feet in the kitchen sink of the crumbling castle she shares with her eccentric but poor family stayed with me long after I finished this wonderful novel. The characters stayed with me too: Cassandra’s father, who suffers from writers’ block and shuts himself up in a tower reading cheap detective books; his second wife Topaz, an artists’ model who likes to commune with nature in nothing but a pair of boots; and noble Stephen who is quietly in love with Cassandra.

220px-The_Constant_NymphThe Constant Nymph by Margaret Kennedy

This is another coming of age novel that features a spirited teenage heroine. Tess lives in genteel but cheerful poverty in the Austrian Tyrol with her bohemian and eccentric musical family, the Sangers. A bestseller when it was published in 1928 and made into a film in 1943 with Joan Fontaine and Charles Boyer, it doesn’t seem to be that well known now. I’ve bought countless copies over the years after lending it to friends.

How to write a novel: a 10-point battle plan

fury-brad-pitt-shia-la-beouf-in-tankA few people have told me they’d like to write a novel but don’t know where to start. With one novel published, a second being considered by publishers and a third underway, I’d like to pass on what works for me.

Like all forays into unknown territory, you’ll need a battle plan, some stalwart buddies, and a map.

  1. Think about what you want to write about: a story you’ve always wanted to tell; a world you’ve always wanted to explore; a character that won’t leave you alone; a period or subject that you love.

I had the idea for Paris Kiss on my honeymoon when I visited the Rodin Museum and was captivated by the love affair between the great sculptor and his young student, Camille Claudel.

2. Take a sheet of paper and scribble down some ideas. I find mindmapping useful at this stage.

3. Do some initial research but careful not to get stuck and use it as an excuse not to write the novel. Research – from books, visits to locations, interviews, the Internet – will throw up plotlines and characters.

For Paris Kiss, I visited a sculptor’s marble studio, went to Paris (not a chore!), and read memoirs, biographies and guidebooks from the period, the 1880s. I researched before and during the writing and rewriting.

4. A shadowy cast of characters will begin to emerge. Ask each one: what do you want? What is stopping you? Who among the other characters are helping or hindering you? This will bring them to life and they’ll begin to drive your story. Some of them will get out of hand and demand whole subplots and threaten to take over the story. It’s up to you whether you want to rein them in or let them have their moment in the spotlight.

In Paris Kiss, Jessie’s love interest Georges and the cross-dressing artist Rosa Bonheur started off as bit players but soon loomed large, bringing light into a dark story.

5. Write a one or two page synopsis telling the story. This is also a good time to decide from whose point of view you will tell your story – is it a first person (I) narrator or third (he/she)? First person seems the easiest option for a debut writer, but it can be limiting.

I wrote Paris Kiss in the first person, from the viewpoint of Jessie, Camille’s best friend. My second novel is written in third person, alternating between the points of view of two main characters. This allows you greater freedom to tell your story – but be careful not to chop and change between different points of view too abruptly or often as you risk losing your reader’s empathy. An experienced writer like Jonathan Franzen moves effortlessly between multiple points of view but it isn’t an easy trick to pull off.

6. Break the plot up into scenes or chapters and write an outline on index cards of what is going to happen in each of them. This is your map that will stop you getting lost. Some writers claim not to plot but I find the more you plan before you start writing, the less work you have to do at the rewrite stage.

7. Set yourself a target of how many words you are going to write in each session – for some it’s 500 words, for others 2,000. I’m somewhere in between. Find a time and place that suits you to write and make it a regular date – some write every day, early in the morning or late at night, others like me are weekend writers. I also give myself ‘writing holidays’.

8. Keep writing and don’t stop for revisions. Writing a novel is a marathon and you may hit ‘the wall’ at 45,000 words – write through it and keep going until you get to the end. Well done! But there’s still a long way to go.

I was ready to chuck Paris Kiss at the halfway mark and had lost faith in it. I was desperate to get on with my second novel, which was bubbling away in the back of my mind and seemed so much more interesting. But my writing tutor had a stern word with me and I’m glad I listened to her otherwise Paris Kiss would still be languishing in a drawer along with three other abandoned novels.

9. Print out your novel and leave it alone for as long as you can before tackling the rewrite(s). Re-read with fresh eyes, making notes, rewrite, and show your MS to a few readers you trust to give constructive feedback. Rewrite as many times as you think necessary but don’t hold onto your novel forever. Send it off to several suitable agents listed in The Writers’ and Artists’ Handbook, following their submission guidelines to the letter.

I re-wrote Paris Kiss three times – twice after I’d secured a wonderful agent who had some great if tough-to-hear insights. Whole scenes (and sections) were cut, new scenes created and characters radically changed.

10. Cross your fingers, light a candle, wish upon a star, and start writing your second book.

 

 

 

 

 

THE SOUND OF SILENCE

SILENCESilence is golden but rare these days.

While I love living in bustling, lively Glasgow with its friendly, chatty inhabitants. it can be hard to find a silent place to write undisturbed. I’m always on the lookout for quiet corners where I can set up my laptop and lose myself in the world I’m creating. As a journalist, I’m used to busy newsrooms and constant interruptions and can cheerfully block out background noise to write a feature. But I can’t do this when I’m writing the first draft of a novel. That’s when I need complete silence.

Some authors like JK Rowling like to write in coffee shops, but I find them too distracting. Others, like Louise Welsh, hire artist’s studios. Another I know takes the train from Glasgow to London and back just to write. I tried this on a recent trip to Aberdeen but became engrossed in a fascinating conversation between two women about designer labels – conducted in the Doric.

Public libraries used to be a haven for writers seeking peace and quiet. The Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson likes to write at her local library. Remember all those fierce librarians who enforced silence? Well, that’s no longer the case. My local library does great work with children and puts on a homework club, free movie screening and a nursery rhyme session for mums and their tots. All to be applauded – but what a racket!

Even Glasgow’s wonderful Mitchell Library is a noisy place since it’s been modernised. Last time I was trying to write on its ‘silent’ study floor, the walls were leaking a thumping bassline from a dance competition in the theatre. I had to flee to my bolthole – the tenth floor of Glasgow University’s library. It’s a great place to concentrate, except during exam time when it’s impossible to find a seat. So, the hunt continues. I’ve recently found out that the Mitchell hires out silent study carrels and there’s a writers’ room at the CCA.

Anyone have any ideas? Or should I just buy a pair of noise-cancelling headphones?

 

How to be a Time Bandit

timebandits02One of the questions I’m asked most often at author events is: how do you find the time to write? Most of us feel we don’t have enough time in the day for work and family commitments, catching up with friends and the constant buzz of social media, let alone to write a 90,000-word novel. Well, I’m a busy working mother and I have written two books in between school runs, emptying dishwashers and running my own business.

The secret is to become a Time Bandit.

If, like me, you need to earn a living, then you have to steal it from other parts of your life. I wrote Paris Kiss in four hours stints on Saturday afternoons at Glasgow University library while my husband looked after our young son. It took me two years to complete the first draft, but I got there chapter-by-chapter, week-by-week. I did my research in the evenings when I stole back hours from the biggest time thieves of all: television and social media.

Some writers stealthily get up at dawn before their families and the working day get started – that’s what  E Annie Proulx did when her children were young. Others write in the evening after the kids have gone to bed, although I’m always too exhausted by then and want to catch up with my husband over dinner and a glass of wine. Some – fast writers no doubt – write in their lunch hour. Stephen King wrote Carrie like this while he was teaching in a High School until he could afford to write full time. Like me, some work on their days off – Val McDermid wrote her first four novels on Monday afternoons while she worked as a Sunday newspaper reporter. And a great tip I’ve learned is to take a week’s ‘writing holiday’ from work.

To write, you do have to sacrifice a chunk of your free time but, as most writers will tell you, writing is a labour of love. So, if you want to write that novel, there’s nothing to stop you. Go for it!

Inspired by Art

Research is one of the great joys of writing an historical novel.

When I worked on my debut novel, Paris Kiss, I didn’t confine myself to reading dusty tomes on 19th century Paris.

Art from the period helped fire my imagination about what life was like for my two heroines, Camille Claudel and Jessie Lipscomb, who were protégées of the great sculptor Rodin.

300px-Edouard_Manet_-_Luncheon_on_the_Grass_-_Google_Art_Project-2As well as poring over history books, biographies, fashion plates and memoirs, I looked closely at the work of Camille Claudel, Rodin, Seurat, Renoir, Manet and Toulouse-Lautrec, among others.

Artists at the time were working en plein air, capturing the every day lives of Parisians.Continue Reading

Lessons I’ve Learned as a Debut Author

(This post was originally published in May 2015)

The day I had dreamed about finally arrived when my debut novel Paris Kiss was launched earlier this year.

But like most long-held ambitions the reality was entirely different from the daydream that had sustained me through writing a first novel, finding an agent, rewriting, and securing a publisher.

I’ve loved every minute of it – and this is what I’ve learned from my author debut so far.Continue Reading