Today I am delighted to welcome Sandra Danby to Books, Life and Everything, to talk about her life as a writer. Sandra has written two books in her Identity Detective series: Ignoring Gravity and Connectedness, her latest, which was published on May 10th.
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| c Sandra Danby |
Hello Sandra, it's great to hear from you today. Firstly, can you tell us three surprising things about yourself?
I cannot add or subtract for toffee. Mental arithmetic
terrifies me.
At the age of 16 I crewed a Fireball racing dinghy in races
at my local sailing club in East Yorkshire. Not on a lake, that’s for wimps.
The North Sea. The freezing cold North Sea.
I grew up on a farm and had a Shetland pony called Sixpence.
I spent a lot of time outdoors and my face was covered in freckles.
How do you go about researching detail and ensuring your
books are realistic?
Given my background as a journalist, it seems natural to me
that research is central to the genesis of a new book. I start with a basic
idea and, though unsure about the characters involved or landmarks in the plot,
I take up residence in the library and read history and non-fiction. I start with
one subject, take notes on my iPad of anything interesting. Gradually, plot and
character ideas emerge. I ask myself ‘what if’ frequently. I write lots of
notes to myself along the lines of ‘a character could do this’ or ‘remember
they ate that in 1940’ and ‘use this’. I watch relevant films and television
documentaries, I cut articles from newspapers and magazines. I start collecting
pictures of people’s faces in newspapers, searching for those that feel a fit
for my characters. For my second novel Connectedness I read a lot about art and
artists; for my third, Sweet Joy, I am reading about Britain in World War Two,
textile designers and bomber pilots. Although I am always reading a novel, when
I am in the middle of researching/writing I never read anything from the same
period or subject as my own project. At the moment I am working on the
marketing of Connectedness and research for Sweet Joy; so I’m re-reading The
Skull Beneath the Skin by PD James, the plot of which is totally unrelated to
my own writing. But I always learn something from PD James.
How difficult was writing your second book- did having one
published change how you went about it?
I felt more assured writing my second novel. The idea had
been bubbling away in my head for a long time so it was good to get it down
onto paper. This time I knew that my style is to write too long. My first draft
of Connectedness was 140,000 words; the first draft of Ignoring Gravity was
about the same length. This time I knew it was best to get the story down onto
paper, then re-draft and tighten and polish every word. Both novels finished up
around 100,000 words although I had no target word count. No first draft is
perfect. I lost count of the number of drafts that Connectedness went through,
but the knowledge that each version felt better is what makes this process
worthwhile. That’s my journalism training, I think, where every precious
instinct is knocked out of you in the early days as your copy is changed and
cut and re-written. I developed a thick skin in 1982.
Were there any scenes which you had to edit out of your book
which you still hanker after?
Yes, three in particular were surplus to requirements and
were cut from Connectedness. ‘A Desert Island’ is Justine Tree’s ‘Desert Island
Discs’ interview on Radio 4, giving insight into her career as an artist and
some hints about her mysterious past. ‘The Biscuit Tin’, told by Justine’s
mother Lorna, takes place on the day she dies. ‘Fairy Godmother’ is an
experimental first person viewpoint written when I didn’t know the identity of
Justine’s lost daughter. All three stories are combined in a short ebook that I
send free to anyone who signs up for my newsletter.
Do you have any other writers as friends and how do they
influence your writing?
I met my closest writing friends at creative writing classes
in London more than fifteen years ago. We have been meeting, once a fortnight,
informally, since then. Coffee and cake is always involved. Between us we have
written innumerable novels, short stories, poems and plays, and taught a
variety of writing and journalism classes. We are each other’s cheerleaders,
readers, drill sergeants, copy editors, critics and, most important of all,
friends. We say what we think with the intention of being helpful. We never
fall out though there may be intense discussion. Some sessions are about giving
feedback on chapters we have read in advance, others may be arranged to
brainstorm a plot problem or character development. Our styles are so
different, our experience varied, which means we bring our individual strengths
to the table. The detailed proofreader who spots when someone picks up a cup of
coffee and puts down a mug of tea. The actor specializing in creating realistic
characters, who asks ‘what’s her motivation?’ The poet with a beautiful turn of
phrase who says ‘tell me more about this.’ The journalist who plans and plots,
uses Excel sheets and sets deadlines. Which am I? The last.
If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what
would it be?
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| Sandra Danby aged 10 c. Sanfra Danby | |
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Read all types of novels and make a note of what works and
what doesn’t, what keeps you reading and what stops you. Read outside your
comfort zone. Talk to people about the books you read and listen to their
opinions. Understand that each person takes something different from a book;
there is no blueprint, we each bring our own life and baggage to our
interpretation of a story. All of this applies also to your own books, when you
write them. Do not expect universal approval, it doesn’t exist.
Listen to the advice you are given but do not blindly accept
it or reject it without consideration. Evaluate it, then adopt or discard it.
There is no ultimate template of how you should write, what you should write,
the rules you should obey or break. But, and it is a big but, you must listen
to the advice and consider it before rejecting it. You must know the rules,
before breaking them. You will be a better writer for it. We are bombarded
these days with writing advice, never have novelists been so vocal about how
they write, when they write, at what time of day. There is no right way and
wrong way; there is your way. Be true to yourself. Listen to feedback and
suggestions, be polite, be prepared to offer positive feedback and suggestions
in return, always give the person giving the advice the respect of considering
it. I have participated in many writing classes – as student and teacher – and
watched as some students, whose minds were closed to advice, simply did not
hear suggestions that could help them. I’ve also watched other students writing
copious notes about how their work should be changed and I worry they would
subsequently make changes without analysing why. Knowing who you are as a
writer, having confidence in what you write, has to be earned. There is no easy
way.
Do you have any unfinished or unpublished books hidden away?
Yes, I do, and so does every author I know. Tiara is
unfinished because life got in the way, rather than because I ran out of steam.
One day I will return to it. It is a story of decisions and consequences, and
how you can change the direction of your life if you want to. Magazine editor
Tara is rushing to a business dinner. Distracted by the thought of wearing the
beautiful vintage necklace she has bought for the evening, she loses control of
her car and runs over a child. She runs away. Meanwhile an exhibition curator
in London is gathering material for a show about 1920s jewellery, some of it
precious and never seen before in public. In 1929, as the Wall Street Crash is
happening, tiara designer Eliza Tavernier suspects fraud at Atelier Tavernier.
And a man dies at the docks. Can an object be unlucky, or do people create
their own fortune?
Thanks so much for those fascinating answers. Now to hear a little more about your books...
Book Spotlight on ‘Connectedness’
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| c. Sandra Danby |
TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD, ARTIST JUSTINE TREE HAS IT ALL… BUT
SHE ALWAYS HAS A SECRET THAT THREATENS TO DESTROY EVERYTHING
Justine’s art sells around the world, but does anyone truly
know her? When her mother dies, she returns to her childhood home in Yorkshire
where she decides to confront her past. She asks journalist Rose Haldane to
find the baby she gave away when she was an art student, but only when Rose
starts to ask difficult questions does Justine truly understand what she must
face.
Is Justine strong enough to admit the secrets and lies of
her past? To speak aloud the deeds she has hidden for 27 years, the real
inspiration for her work that sells for millions of pounds. Could the truth
trash her artistic reputation? Does Justine care more about her daughter, or
her art? And what will she do if her daughter hates her?
This tale of art, adoption, romance and loss moves between
now and the Eighties, from London’s art world to the bleak isolated cliffs of
East Yorkshire and the hot orange blossom streets of Málaga, Spain.
A family mystery for fans of Maggie O’Farrell, Lucinda
Riley, Tracy Rees and Rachel Hore.
About the ‘Identity Detective’ series
Rose Haldane reunites the people lost through adoption. The
stories
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| c. Sandra Danby |
you don’t see on television shows. The difficult cases. The people who
cannot be found, who are thought lost forever. Each book in the ‘Identity
Detective’ series considers the viewpoint of one person trapped in this
horrible dilemma. In the first book of the series, Ignoring Gravity, it is
Rose’s experience we follow as an adult discovering she was adopted as a baby.
Connectedness is the story of a birth mother and her longing to see her baby
again. Sweet Joy, the third novel, will tell the story of a baby abandoned
during The Blitz.
About the Author
Sandra Danby is a proud Yorkshire woman, tennis nut and tea
drinker. She believes a walk on the beach will cure most ills. Unlike Rose
Haldane, the identity detective in her two novels, Ignoring Gravity and
Connectedness, Sandra is not adopted.
Book links: Ignoring Gravity available at Amazon
For all the latest news about Sandra’s books, sign-up for her occasional
e-newsletter.
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