My guest today is Elaine Everest. With
publication of her new saga, The
Butlins Girls, around the corner, I just had to ask her a few questions.
Thank
you so much for welcoming me to your blog, Natalie. I can’t wait for Thursday and publication day.
You join me just days before publication of
The Butlins Girls. Readers of your Sunday Times
bestseller, The Woolworths Girls,
will be eagerly awaiting another dose of nostalgia. For some it may be a trip
down memory lane, but you aren’t old enough to have lived in the period you
write about, yet your research and attention to detail are impeccable. How do
you do it?
I
was fortunate to have been born in the fifties when times hadn’t changed that
much. I lived in a town which not only had a lot of history but also still has
many people who love to talk about ‘the good old days’. My family loved to chat
about what happened (and when) so I grew up listening to stories of the war
years. The next step was to read about those times in books – who doesn’t love
reading a book?
Did you pick the era or did it choose you?
In spite of the hardship of those post-war years, it seems a much kinder and gentler
age than the one we live in now.
Like
many writers I’ve dabbled with other genres. I have a modern romcom collecting
dust but although never picked up by a publisher it did help me become
shortlisted in The Harry Bowling Prize. I’d been a fan of Harry’s for years as
he wrote about the area where my Aunt Doll and Uncle Geoff had their pub and
his writing resonated with me. Somewhere inside me there has always been that
interest in times gone by. So, to answer your question I’d say that history and
sagas picked me.
Can your readers look forward to more of
the same? What else do you have in the pipeline?
I’m
thrilled to say that readers loved The Woolworths Girls so much I’ll be
returning to Woolies later this year. Old friends and new faces - it was a joy
to write. Then in 2018…
You allude to your family’s history in the
world of the travelling fairground. What stories you must have to tell. Perhaps
a future novel?
My
love of the fairground is a link to my maternal family and my mum who died when
I was seventeen. She told us of the hard life she had as a child and the
bullying because she was so different to fellow school children – that’s when
she got to attend school due to travelling with the fair. She made us value
education and aimed to having good jobs once we had our exams. The fair closed
down after WW2 so I never experienced the fun of the fair. My granddad did
still own the ground and some of the old-fashioned caravans, which I remember
fondly. Brightly polished lamps, china, a fierce parrot that hated kids! It’s
all there locked in my memory ready to use in stories. Oh, and the family link
to Billy Butlin…
In addition to writing novels, short
stories and articles, you also run a creative writing school The Write Place in
Dartford, as well as being in charge of social media for the Romantic
Novelists’ Association. How do you fit it all in?
It’s
a case of making sure I do fit it all in and all part of being a full time
writer. I often tell new writers that if they wish to earn a living and be
thought of seriously as a writer they need to do more than write a novel. We
have to learn our craft and that can take years. Short stories help us create a
piece of fiction with a beginning a middle and an end – just like a novel but
not quite as long. I love the time I spent writing more short fiction. I could
think of an idea and write it in one day. My record from having an idea to
making a sale is 36 hours. Feature writing pays well and authors have to pay
the mortgage and eat! Both fiction and features helped me build relationships
with editors whilst learning the craft of writing novels. Teaching classes for
Kent Adult Education Services in Dartford and Gravesend came about after I won
the BBC Radio Kent short Story Writer of the Year competition in 2003 and was
invited to run a few classes. I later moved on to run my own classes and
workshops as I preferred to make my own decisions. Being part of the RNA
committee is an honour as I get to meet so many authors and also watch as new
writers progress with their career – they have great parties too!
Many of your readers will know of your love
of and association with the dog world. In the past you’ve written non-fiction
books on the subject. Is there any genre, fiction or non-fiction, you would
like to turn your hand to in the future?
I could talk for hours about dogs and the show world! I’m honoured to have
been part of a world where people breed sound healthy dogs and do their best to
promote new owners. I’ve
sat on a few breed committees and done my bit to keep the positive side of our
breeds alive. Even though I’m not quite as active in the show world as I used
to be I’m still called upon to broadcast about dogs – usually when something
nasty happens. It is down to us to wave the flag for responsible breeding
which means closing down puppy farms and not promoting designer dogs.
As a personal friend, I know how wholeheartedly
you throw yourself into everything you do. Outside of the writing world, is
there an unfulfilled ambition?
Are
you giving me three wishes? To be honest I’m living the dream. I have a
fabulous literary agent in Caroline Sheldon and I’m with a wonderful publisher,
Pan Macmillan. So, outside of the writing world… Hmm I love Cornwall and would
really like to move there but it would have to be a very large house so I can
run workshops and writing retreats. I can be found most days on Rightmove
dreaming over houses in the two million pound bracket. I suppose I’d better
write faster!
Links:
Twitter: @elaineeverest
Thank you for such interesting questions. Xx
I’m delighted, as I’m sure your readers
will be, to hear that Woolies will be returning later in the year. In the
meantime, very best wishes for The Butlins Girls. I may just have to book a
holiday
