My writing retreat – complete with a ghost!
Reflections on my writing retreat at the wonderful Goddards in Surrey, where I enjoyed time with good friends in a wonderful location…complete with an unexpected guest!
Memories of Living in Paris
Clare Flynn shares memories of living in Paris in the late 80s/90s and how she is drawing on these to inform her work in progress.
Finding Inspiration from Location – in Kenya
Nine times out of ten when it comes to writing a new book my start point is geographic location. It might be a particular country, or geographic area – or it might be a building or a landscape where a story comes to me. This time with my current work-in-progress I am...
Using hotels for key scenes in books
Yesterday I posted on Facebook about the horrible fire at the Claremont Hotel on the seafront here in Eastbourne. You can see what’s left of it this morning from this image – courtesy of East Sussex Fire and Rescue. My post prompted a question from one of...
My hunch about wartime Beachy Head is vindicated!
About three years ago, when I was writing The Chalky Sea, I read as much as possible about the impact of the Second World War here in my home town of Eastbourne. I wanted my main character, Gwen Collingwood, a childless married woman whose husband has gone to war, to...