authors Archives - Emily Royal

Irish Charm

Emily Royal authors, Mills & Boon, RNA, romance, writing July 18, 2019July 19, 2019 6 Comments

Everyone claims to have some Irish Ancestry, don’t they? Being 25% Irish, I’m always intrigued by stories featuring a bit of Irish authenticity. So I was so thrilled to be invited to join fellow Scot Eilidh Lawrence’s tour for her fabulous short story, Hunger, set on the Oregon Trail.

The talented, lovely Eilidh, who I met in person at the RNA Conference

First of all, Eilidh, welcome to my blog and thanks for being here.
EL: Thank you so much for sharing my story Emily, and for giving me your time! I’m very glad to be here.

Can you tell everyone a little about yourself?
EL: I am an aspiring romance author, songwriter and contributor to the Pink Heart Society (PHS) e-zine. I was a co-founder of #UKRomChat, a weekly live Twitter chat for romance writers, and co-hosted the chat for its first year. In 2018 I finalled in the TARA and WisRWA Fab Five romance writing contests. I’m a former prosecutor and hold a Diploma in Forensic Medical Sciences, but, no, I would not rather be writing crime! I’m all about happy-ever-afters.

Yes, I love a happy ever after, too, even if the characters are put through the mill along the way! And I love all the discussions on #UKRomChat about romance and happy endings! So, onto your story: what appealed to you about the setting?
EL: I wrote the story in response to the prompt of ‘Western Expansion.’ I like having a starting point. I’d never heard the term before and I knew very little about American history, so it seemed like a chance to learn more. I love reading historical fiction and a historical setting appealed to me. The Oregon Trail was an incredibly hard journey and travelers didn’t always survive it, but people undertook it seeking a new start. That felt very powerful. More specifically, a campfire is an intimate setting.

Oooh yes, I love that sense of pioneering and adventure! And I’ve found writing historical fiction is a great chance to learn more through research. How did you go about researching for Hunger?
EL: I was starting pretty much from scratch, so I began with some very basic online research. I narrowed my focus to The Oregon Trail after watching Ken Burn’s: The West, a brilliant documentary series. That’s also where I learned about later in life marriages between Irish Great Hunger survivors. It was a passing reference but gave me the spark of an idea. After that my research had two strands: The Oregon Trail and Irish immigration to America. Everything I learnt fed into the deep sadness in Órlaith and Liam. I got my facts from educational online resources and I watched Westerns set on the Oregon Trail (taking them with a pinch of salt, of course) to add flavour, for example that’s where the reference to dust coating Órlaith’s clothes came from.

I love all those authentic little touches! Often a lot of research is put into a single line of detail in a story. Are you tempted to use the research you’ve already done to expand the story into a novella or novel? I love the interaction between Órlaith and Liam!
EL: Thank you! So true. You’re not the first person to ask that question. I wrote Hunger as a piece of flash fiction. It was intended to be a snapshot. But people keep asking for more… It’s lovely to get that reaction! I have no specific plans to continue Órlaith and Liam’s story at the moment but maybe there will come a point when I sit down with them and ask them to tell me what happens next. Because I don’t know!

I love that, when characters speak to an author! I definitely want to see more of Órlaith and Liam. What else are you working on now?
EL: I’m working on my first novel, an Amish Romance which came out of the Harlequin Love Inspired Amish Blitz. It’s been slow progress, but I’ve taken encouragement from placing in the Fab Five and TARA RWA chapter contests along the way. I’ll be submitting it soon to the Romantic Novelists’ Association New Writers’ Scheme. I’ve also started a Scottish contemporary romance with an #ownvoices aspect. The hero lives with an anxiety disorder. It’s really important to me that people living with mental health conditions are accurately represented in fiction, through well-rounded characters who have their owns stories that don’t start and end with their experience of those conditions.

Yes, that’s so important! Thanks, again, Eilidh, for sharing your story.

And now, for the story itself! “Hunger” by Eilidh Lawrence (aka Laura McKendrick) was a runner-up in the Women’s Weekly Short Story Competition, in association with Mills & Boon. Read on and be enthralled…

The Oregon Trail, near Fort Hall, Idaho, 1849

“Your cooking smells of home.”

The unfamiliar voice drew Órlaith’s attention from the pot where she stewed elk over an open fire. It took a moment for her to realise the man had spoken in Gaedhilge. Shadows danced across his gaunt face. A face she didn’t know.

“I’m Liam.” He bent closer, offering his hand. “From Donegal.” His fingers were long, his grip firm. His dark hair contrasted with his pale skin.

“You’ve the charm of an Irishman, to be sure,” she replied in English. They were in America now. “But we both know half the women in this camp are stewing game tonight. It was a good day for the hunting.”

He laughed, a sound she didn’t hear so much these days.

“Well, there’s none cooking it as well as you.”

A charmer indeed.

She returned her focus to the stew. The scent of wild garlic mingled with the ever-present woody, smoky smell that had clung to her hair and dust-coated clothes for months now.

“It really does smell good.” He hesitated. “Can I buy some?”

She studied him. “I’ve not seen you before.”

“No. We joined you today. My boy was exhausted. We rested, the two of us. Our party went on.” He shrugged. “That’s how it goes.”

“Your boy?” There were so many children on this wretched journey. “How old is he?”

“Danny’s but four years.”

“You both must eat with us. As our guests. No charge.”

“Us?”

“My brother Ruaidhrí and I.” She paused. “We’re all that’s left that were still in Ireland. And there’s my babby, Hope. She’s asleep.” Órlaith nodded towards their canvas-covered prairie schooner. The wagon was the closest thing to home little Hope had experienced so far in her hard, infant life.

“I’m sorry.” A respectful silence hung in the air. The clicking of the cicadas seemed clearer. Then he smiled. “Hope’s a pretty name.”

“Will you sit?” she invited, and he did. “I always wanted a baby girl called Caoimhe. But then I had Hope on the crossing. A babby born on the Western Ocean. Who would’ve thought? We were bound for America. Caoimhe seemed too…”

“Irish.”

A moment of understanding passed between them.

“Yes.”

“And what do they call you?”

“Órlaith.”

“Was it The Hunger took your people, Órlaith?”

“Disease.”

The fire crackled.

“I see.” A horse whinnied, and he turned towards the sound. When his face returned to Órlaith, she saw sincerity etched across his strong features. “My Nancy, she made it through the workhouse. Made it through near-starvation. Made it through the crossing. But she didn’t make it beyond Boston.” A single shake of his head conveyed loss and disbelief. “Cholera. Little Molly too. Buried three thousand miles from home.”

He did see.

“We none of us would’ve expected this, when we were young. This loss.” She picked up a stick and poked the fire. It sparked. “My sister and her husband left in ’44. Went to Oregon to farm. I could never leave, that’s what I thought then. But when my husband Ciarán and my parents died everything became so bleak. It didn’t seem like life would ever get better.”

A dark time. It wasn’t the smoke that caused tears to well in the corners of her eyes.

“There’s such misery in our country,” she continued, a catch in her throat. Their eyes met. Her pain was reflected in his. “That’s when Mary finally convinced us to come join them. My brother-in-law arranged it all. It was a good boat, at least. We were lucky.”

He looked away from her and tugged at the left cuff of his worn shirt. Had he not been on a good boat? She knew of the coffin ships and thanked God she hadn’t given birth in those squalid conditions.

From behind them, Ruaidhrí coughed. “I see you’ve met our new friend.”

She hadn’t noticed her brother’s return.

Ruaidhrí stepped from the edge of the fire’s light and slapped Liam on the back. He made friends easily, always had done.

“Well, I’ll get back to my boy.” Liam stood. “We’ll take you up on your dinner offer.” He glanced at Ruaidhrí. “If your brother doesn’t mind.”

Ruaidhri grinned. “The more the merrier.”

She was in dire need of merriment.

“You’re both very kind.” Liam lingered. “And Órlaith, perhaps later, I might have a dance?”

She looked at the Irishman, tall, not yet old, a survivor. But gentle too, and familiar. Like home. She smiled. “That’d be grand.”

The flames between them flickered and leapt.

I hope you enjoyed reading Hunger as much as I did, and I’m secretly hoping we get to hear more of Órlaith and Liam!

Emily xx

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Critique Groups – 8 Good Reasons to Love

Emily Royal authors, critiques, publishing, rejection, writing June 19, 2018June 23, 2018 0 Comment

Writing is a solitary activity. I spend most of it alone, usually late at night, most often with a mug of tea and a snake for company (see photo).

Even when writing in a crowded place you’re alone. You need to dive into your head and listen to the voices in order to get those words on the page. Sounds like pretentious flim-flam, but it’s true. For a committed introvert like me (all hail the INFJ personality) the necessity for solitude isn’t an ordeal, but it introduces a layer of problems associated with feelings of isolation, inadequacy and loss of confidence.

At some point in a writer’s life people will read your work. Writing itself isn’t frightening but having others read your work is vomit-inducingly terrifying. Your heart and soul is on the page and you’re letting it flap in the breeze, exposed to the elements, sitting atop the parapet waiting to be shot at.

The most powerful support mechanism out there for a writer is the critique group. One I’m in came together very organically and quite by chance; a bit like that rare occasion when you can’t remember why or how you wrote a scene but it’s the one you’re most proud of.

That’s the best writer group there is – not people forced together like a band manufactured with the sole purpose of income generation for the likes of Simon Cowell, but more like a group of high-schoolers from all walks of life who stumble across each other in someone’s Mum’s garage – or, in this case, a small hole in cyberspace acting as a virtual garage.

So, with that in mind, here’s my top 8 benefits of belonging to a critique group.

1 Critiques
What it says on the tin! Good critique pals set their personal tastes aside and focus on the quality of your characterisation, story development, imagery, dialogue (ahem) sex scenes, you name it. It’s scary, so scary, letting other people read what you’ve written. But the more you share, the more immune you become.

2 Two-way street
I always had it drummed into me that at Christmas it’s more blessed to give than to receive –which means Christmas happens on a regular basis with my critique pals. By critiquing the work of my buddies I’ve learnt a lot about the craft of writing, having seen all sorts of great examples on how to do it. By writing down my appraisals of their work it’s helped me recognise some of the issues in my own work, too.

3 Honesty
…is most certainly the BEST policy! Yes, it’s wonderful to be told your book is the best thing they’ve ever read, but the time comes when only the most brutal of appraisals is required. Using risk management jargon (the actuary in me will never die), the critique group is your second line of defence, the first being your own inner editor. They are, in essence, the collective Chief Risk Officers who review each element of your project (dialogue, pacing, imagery etc) and red-flag anything that might spell disaster for your book’s prospects. They tell me where my writing sucks and why.

4 Variety
As human beings, critique partners will differ in their opinions. As do publishers and agents! This helps me to have the confidence to take their feedback on board but also to remember that for my project, I can decide what I change and what I don’t. Plus the added bonus is that the critique group hive mind presents me with a lot of options and I get to choose the best.

5 Consistency
Yes, I know this contradicts the one above, but if my critique pals give me a consistent message, that’s telling me something! Sometimes howlers or honking great canyons in the plot are right before me but I can’t see them. If all my buddies spot it, that tells me how big a deal it is.

6 Problem-sharing
Nobody – and I mean nobody – will have your back as much as your critique pals. While you’re waiting to hear back from your submissions, or when you’ve had a rejection from that one company you’d pinned your hopes on (or, as once happened to me, two rejections within 20 minutes of each other on a Saturday evening), the critique buddies are the only people who really get it. They feel your pain because they’ve been there. I turn to them every time I find myself asking “what’s-the-point-of-it-all-why-don’t-I-just-give-up-writing”.

7 Joy-augmenting
For want of sounding like a parrot, nobody – and I mean nobody – is going to celebrate your successes as much as your critique pals (see above for the reason!)

8 Steam vent
I suppose any secret group is good for this but sometimes we just want to vent when things aren’t working – when our plot’s not stacking up, the words just won’t come, we’re besieged by rejections, we’ve had another 1-star review, we’ve had reviews disappear or when an author has sent us a threatening C&D letter for having a certain word in the title (couldn’t resist the nod to #cockygate) – then the critique buddies band together and share in mutual venting. Boils are always better lanced.

So if you ever feel isolated or if you’re afraid of letting others see your work – you don’t have to be! There’s bound to be other like-minded souls out there wanting to hook up with other authors. There’s loads of bigger groups on Facebook to join where you can ask of anyone fancies being a critique partner.

I can safely say the best choice I ever made writing-wise was joining a critique group. If you’re thinking of forming or joining one then do it – you won’t regret it!

Em xx

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Don’t get your knickers in a twist!

Emily Royal authors, Liz Taylorson, writing October 30, 2017October 30, 2017 2 Comments

I’m thrilled to have the lovely Liz Taylorson, not only as a critique buddy, but as a guest on my blog. Liz is a real talent and her debut novel, out on 23 November, promises to be the start of a flourishing writing career. Liz was kind enough to raid her knicker-drawer and drop by to chat about one of the overlooked-but-tough tasks an author faces – choosing that perfect title. Over to you, Liz!

Titles are really difficult.

I’ve lost count of the number of fellow writers who have expressed to me the difficulty of finding that perfect, succinct instantly memorable, totally fitting title which should effortlessly conjure up atmosphere, setting and genre for their novel all in one go. We all seem to struggle.

I had this idea for a Christmas novel set in a seaside village. My heroine, a vicar, has never slept with a man because she doesn’t believe in sex before marriage. My hero has a well-deserved reputation as a ladies’ man, but they find themselves attracted to each other despite all the odds. All through the early drafting stages, the novel had a working title. And that working title was … The Vicar’s Knickers.

It was, after all, going to be the story of how our handsome hero charmed his way into them and it had a very pleasing ring to it as far as I was concerned, even though it was a bit silly. I realised that I needed to think of a slightly more sensible, conventional alternative, so I turned to my writing buddies.

‘What do you think I should call my book?’ I asked them. ‘Do you think I should stick with the knickers thing, or something else?’

‘Stick with the knickers’ said most of them, very unhelpfully. Once you’ve given something a title, it’s hard to find an alternative that suits it quite as well …

We considered genre. Cupcakes, ice cream, cafes, Cornwall, cosiness and seaside are all popular themes in my genre … but I have managed to write the only romantic women’s fiction novel in the whole world that does not have a single cupcake in it, and it’s not set in Cornwall. After we had collectively disregarded The cosy little vintage café of cupcakes by the sea in Cornwall we threw around some more sensible ideas.

My writing friends came up with suggestions based on northern lights, and stars and winter and Christmas and all the other principal elements of my book that had nothing to do with knickers. Someone suggested looking at quotes, and then, inspired, I came up with the perfect title. The stars in the bright sky – it was Christmassy, pretty, religious and linked in with several key scenes in the book set at night. I could even see the cover in my mind’s eye:

The only problem was, when (as one of my writing friends suggested) I checked on Amazon, there was already a book with that title …

It looked like it was back to square one, it was going to have to be the return of the knickers – well, it was memorable – but I couldn’t do it. I looked around at all the books mine would have to sit next to on the shelves if it was ever published, and I knew that there was only one sensible way to go, and my buddies had unwittingly come up with the answer already. I may not have cupcakes or cosy Cornish cafes, but I did have quite a lot of sea in my story. The Little Church by the Sea it was. After all the joking, I realised that we had been onto something as a group – there was a reason why all those titles are popular – they succinctly give you atmosphere, setting and genre all in one go.

Though I suspect a couple of my friends still haven’t quite forgiven me for ditching The Vicar’s Knickers …

The Little Church by the Sea: A heart-warming Christmas tale of love, friendship and starting over by [Taylorson, Liz]

The Vicar’s Knickers … I mean, The Little Church by the Sea will be published by Manatee Books on 23^rd November 2017. You can pre-order it on Amazon here

Biography

Liz has always surrounded herself with books.
As a child, she was always to be found with her head in one and she still has a bookcase full of her childhood favourites to this day. (She once read The Lord of the Rings thirteen times in a row, cover to cover!). All through childhood and adolescence she wrote – mainly historical romances involving impossibly perfect heroes! All this reading and writing led to a degree in English Literature (and another book-case full of books) and then a job as a cataloguer of early printed books for a major University Library.

Children (and then cats and chickens) interrupted her bibliographic career, and having given up library work Liz started writing fiction and hasn’t stopped since, joining the UK Romantic Novelists’ Association New Writers’ Scheme to try to learn how to write novels properly in 2015. She has also written some short stories, with one “The Second Princess” winning a competition in Writing Magazine which led her to think that maybe publication wasn’t a pipe dream after all.

The publication of her first novel, “The Little Church by the Sea” published by Manatee Books in November 2017 is a dream come true.

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Oswald and Occupations

Emily Royal authors, libraries, publishing, the day job, writing July 14, 2017 0 Comment

There’s a pandemic in the UK of local libraries being closed down. But the silver lining is the community spirit which motivates dedicated locals to band together and do something about it. That silver lining burst into sunshine on a bright, summer’s day earlier this month when, to the lilt of Scottish folk music, our village library was re-opened.

Guest of honour, internationally renowned crimewriter James Oswald, officially opened the library then stayed to sign copies of his books (all sale proceeds to the library) and chat to fans. A generous and approachable individual he was happy to put up with my company for about 20 minutes, sharing our writing experiences, and he even agreed to a photo!

He had an interesting path to publication, but I suspect that path never runs smooth. While unpublished, his first novel was shortlisted in a competition, attracting the attention of publishers. They liked the writing but weren’t keen on the paranormal elements. However, he stuck to his guns and self-published to enormous success & multiple sales, after which publishers came knocking, rebranded and the rest is history.

He writes quickly – his last draft took 11 weeks to complete. When we chatted he was about to start a new draft, aiming to complete by the end of August – that’s 8 weeks. While I metaphorically collapsed in exhaustion at the thought of it, he reminded me that his books are part of a series so his characters and setting are already well-established in his mind.

His writing approach is similar to mine: he doesn’t edit while getting the first draft down. Instead he makes notes if he decides while drafting that something needs changing, then carries onto the end. It doesn’t work for everyone but if, like me, you’re terrified of blank pages, loathe having unfinished projects lying about, and prefer to set out and plan the plot in advance, it’s a good strategy.

He’s also an example to dispel the myth that published authors languish on wicker chairs in orangeries in some kind of literary parallel universe while the royalties roll in, before stepping out for red-carpet events. Like most of us he has a full-time job. In fact, I suspect it’s more than full time. With a 30-acre farm to run, a prolific series of crime novels plus a fantasy series for youngsters he’s an exceptionally busy man.

In fact he told me that he’d sat down wearily one day to talk to his brother about all his writing deadlines and his brother reminded him that writing had always been his dream and he was only getting what he’d wished for!

The ultimate goal for unpublished writers like me is getting a publishing deal and it’s often difficult to see beyond that. I liken it to a professional qualification (I, too, have a day job – as an actuary – and had to sit exams for 7 years before I could call myself one). That ultimate goal is the single most important thing we aspire to where life often takes a back seat (just ask my family!). But when that deal finally comes, it’s the beginning, not the end. That’s when the hard work really starts.

But it’ll all be worth it. If (no, when!) I do succeed and have a novel published, what I’m looking forward to most isn’t a launch party, a book signing, the glitz or glamour – it’s the prospect of seeing my book sitting in the stand of my local library which dedicated volunteers worked so hard to re-open, so I can say that I’m a small part of something our community can be proud of.

Em 🙂

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