Quest to visit a film location

Chavenage House, Tetbury

The Ghost of Greville Lodge

Earlier this year, I watched a film called The Ghost of Greville Lodge (2000), which stars George Cole and Prunella Scales. In it, a teenage boy becomes involved in a ghost mystery when he stays at his great uncle's country manor, and the film is based on the book DOWN CAME A BLACKBIRD by Nicholas Wilde.

I was absolutely enchanted by the gorgeous manor house that stood in for Greville Lodge and longed to pay a visit to see its charms for myself. Imagine my delight when, upon investigation, I found it was located about 30 miles from where I live - fantastic!

Portrait of David Lowsley-Williams

I visited Chavenage House near Tetbury this weekend and was given a very enjoyable tour by the current owner, David Lowsley-Williams. He's a gifted raconteur, and you certainly get your money's worth when he gives the guided tour (in fact, the tour his grandson gave which followed at least half an hour after ours was rapidly catching us up!).

The Cotswold manor house has been almost unchanged for four centuries and, as a result, has been used as a period film and TV location for over twenty years. Agatha Christie: Poirot - The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1990), The House of Eliott (1991), Cider with Rosie (1998), Lark Rise to Candleford (2008), Tess of the D'Ubervilles (2008), and Wolf Hall (2015) have all filmed here.

Unsurprisingly, there has been an upsurge in visitors this summer due to the location being used in the BBC's popular Poldark (2015), starring Aidan Turner (a.k.a. Kili in The Hobbit trilogy, and the very swoonsome vampire Mitchell in Being Human). The TV crew are due to return this October to film for the second series.

If you're ever in the area when the house is open to the public (Thursdays and Sundays from 1st May to 30 September), I'd highly recommend a visit. Here are some more pics to whet your appetite:

Elizabethan memorial figures found in the porch of the Chapel

Tapestry in Cromwell's Room

Ireton's Room with Flemish tapestry

Have you visited any film or TV locations?

Quest to find DAMAGE DONE by Amanda Panitch

I recently went to Orlando on holiday with my sister and her family, and I had a fab time visiting the various theme parks. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was the highlight for me - I was even able to buy a keyring there with my name on it.

I didn't plan it this way, but Amanda Panitch's book, DAMAGE DONE, was having its release date whilst I was in the States, and I was determined to track down a copy. Amanda and I have been critique partners/beta readers for several years (we met on the Absolute Write forum), and I am beyond thrilled she's a published author now. I couldn't make it to Amanda's launch party on 21st July, which was held at Books of Wonder in New York, but I went to the Florida Mall that day to see if I could find the book out in the wild. Now, there were about 250 stores there, but could I find a bookstore? Nope (major disappointment, but my suitcase and the weight allowance for the flight home were probably thankful!).

Luckily, I already had my signed copy winging its way to me, and DAMAGE DONE arrived a couple of days after I returned home - yay!

Here's the blurb about the book:

22 minutes separate Julia Vann's before and after.

Before: Julia had a twin brother, a boyfriend, and a best friend.

After: She has a new identity, a new hometown, and memories of those twenty-two minutes that refuse to come into focus. At least, that's what she tells the police.

Now that she's Lucy Black, she's able to begin again. And her fresh start has attracted the attention of one of the hottest guys in school, a boy who will do anything to protect her. But when someone much more dangerous also takes notice, Lucy's forced to confront the dark secrets she thought were safely left behind.

One thing is clear: The damage done can never be erased. It's only just beginning. . . .

Sounds deliciously page-turning, right? It is! Go buy a copy and see for yourself (you might even spot my name in the acknowledgements page!). :o)

Ever wanted a caricature of yourself?

The Duke & Duchess of Cambridge

Helen and Kirk (from drama group)

Since Kevin Rye joined my local drama group some fifteen-plus years ago, he's used his artistic talents to create wonderful backdrops for our productions. He's also written and directed plays, as well as acted in them (and will appear as Sweeney Todd in our October production of 'Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street' by C. G. Bond).

I've often told Kevin his backdrops are so impressive, he should hire himself out to paint murals for people, but, alas, his answer is just a wry (Rye?) chuckle. I'll keep persevering though! (One day, Kevin, one day...)

Anyway, Kevin has now branched out into the art of caricatures, so if you're looking for a caricature of yourself or a family member or friend, then visit Rye Smile Caricatures to see what he can offer. His caricatures can also add fun to a live event, so look no further if you want a special memento of your wedding day, birthday party, corporate event or other celebrations.

To add to his many talents, Kevin also has impressive Ninja skills when it comes to catching bees (as witnessed at a recent drama rehearsal). So far, I'm still waiting to see his caricature of this awesome event!

Happy Independence Day to my American readers, btw! And Happy Wedding Anniversary to Kevin and Jill!  J

Russell Brand

Simon Cowell

Kevin Rye

The Writer's Voice 2015 - my overall experience and the agent round

View from Fenella's island

The sun has set on another The Writer's Voice, and what an experience it's been for me this year!

I first took part in 2013 and, whilst I wasn't chosen for a team that year, I was an honourable mention for one coach. I joined Twitter after seeing many of the other entrants interacting over there, and I also received some wonderful feedback on my query and first 250 words.

As entrants were encouraged to support the other entries, I commented on a lot of blogs and, me being me, I subscribed to the posts in case anybody replied to me. Little did I know what a fabulous idea that was at the time! A few days later, the coaches started making their picks - and this is when my inbox started filling up with all these subscription notifications. I reported those picks on Twitter under the #TheWVoice hashtag, and other entrants were very grateful for the information.

Last year, I didn't make it past the Rafflecopter (random generator to select entries), but that didn't stop me from participating. I commented on as many entries as I could and subscribed to the posts, so when the coaches started making their picks, I could again report my findings. Due to the restrictive nature of Twitter posts, I decided to make a couple of blog entries to keep track of selections. The coaches, as well as the entrants, found this very helpful.

So, 2015 rolls around, and I have a new manuscript to enter into The Writer's Voice. But when was the contest taking place? The first mention I found was in a 'P.S.' Mónica Bustamante Wagner put in a blog post in March. Game on! I made it past the Rafflecopter and posted my entry on my blog in May. I then commented on most of the other entries and again subscribed to the posts. I found out Twitter names for most people and directed them over to #TheWVoice, if they weren't already aware of it. The coaches started making their selections on Monday 25th May and I had a hard job keeping up with the notifications coming in, announcing the news to the waiting contestants on Twitter and updating my blog post with the results. At the end of that day, several coaches had chosen the same people, so the entrant then had to choose between the coaches. This selection process took place over several days, and I hadn't been selected by any of the coaches in the initial rounds.

Then, that Thursday, my Twitter feed and my blog post had exploded overnight with activity. Monica had selected ME to join her team but, because of the time difference between us, I'd already gone to bed before I found out. I was gobsmacked (and totally overwhelmed by all the love and support from the other entrants)! My 'quest to be selected as a ‘The Writer’s Voice’ team member – 2015 edition' was a roaring success - hoorah!

Over the course of the next few weeks, Monica and her guest coach, Stephanie, helped me polish my query and first 250 words. The 32 entries went live on the coaches' blogs on Friday 19th June, and the agents stopped by on Tuesday 23rd June to vote. I'm very pleased to report my entry received three votes, and I've now submitted my manuscript to those agents.

Overall, there were 75 requests made for 26 entries (or 81 requests for 27 entries, if you include the two Ninja agents who voted). Entrants who received three or more votes would be able to send a full manuscript to the requesting agents, whilst those with one or two votes could send a partial.

Here's the breakdown of votes received per age range/genres:

MG Fantasy - 3
MG Magical Realism - 1
Upper MG Fantasy - 3
Upper MG Mystery - 1
MG TOTAL NO. OF VOTES: 8

YA Contemporary - 9
YA Contemporary Fantasy - 6
YA Fantasy - 13
YA Historical - 7
YA LGBT Contemporary - 1
YA Mystery - 5
YA SF - 7
YA Space Opera - 4
YA TOTAL NO. OF VOTES: 52

NA Contemporary Romance - 7
NA TOTAL NO. OF VOTES: 7

Adult Literary - 3
Adult Psychological Thriller - 1
Adult Steampunk - 3
Adult Women's Fiction - 1
ADULT TOTAL NO. OF VOTES: 8

The agents voted for this number of entries:

Caitie Flum of Liza Dawson Associates - 6 (3 fulls, 3 partials)

Mollie Glick of Foundry Literary + Media - 6 (6 fulls)

Erin Harris of Folio Literary Management - 5 (4 fulls, 1 partial)

Lauren MacLeod of The Strothman Agency - 7 (5 fulls, 2 partials)

Sara Megibow of kt literary - 1 (1 full)

Renee Nyen of kt literary - 4 (2 fulls, 2 partials)

Ammi-Joan Paquette of Erin Murphy Literary Agency - 4 (4 fulls)

Carrie Pestritto of Prospect Agency - 13 (12 fulls, 1 partial)

Kathleen Rushall of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency - 4 (3 fulls, 1 partial)

Andrea Somberg of Harvey Klinger, Inc. - 11 (10 fulls, 1 partial)

Courtney Stevenson of Pippin Properties - 7 (6 fulls, 1 partials)

Caryn Wiseman of Andrea Brown Literary Agency - 7 (6 fulls, 1 partial)

#TeamMaries won The Writer's Voice 2015 with 21 votes. #TeamCoffeeHouse had 20 votes. #TeamTRex had 19 votes. And #TeamFTW had 15 votes.

I hope to be back again next year with my trusty spreadsheet in hand, ready to go blog diving and reporting once again. I love the Writer's Voice! J

The Writer's Voice 2015 - Teams and Battles

Will there be fisticuffs amongst The Writer's Voice coaches this year as they fight over entries for their teams? Last year, Elizabeth Briggs won two out of her three battles, and I'm sure she'll be hoping for victory again in this stage of the competition.

You can check out our entries here, and if you haven't already joined us over on Twitter, then do stop by #TheWVoice.

The coaches have until 4th June to select their teams, and I'll do my best to keep track of things here in the meantime. A breakdown of all the entries is found in my previous post.

ETA: If a coach makes a pick on a blog, I'll slot that entry under that coach's team. If more than one coach selects it, it'll drop into the 'BATTLES!' section instead until the entrant chooses which team they're going to join.

COACH PICKS:

Brenda (#TeamCoffeeHouse): #76,  #78,  #107,  #116,  #151,  #163,  #177,  #194
#116 = MG Fantasy
#107 = Upper MG Fantasy
#076 = YA Contemporary
#078 = YA Contemporary
#151 = YA Contemporary
#163 = YA Contemporary Fantasy
#177 = Adult Psychological Thriller
#194 = Adult Women's Fiction

Elizabeth (#TeamTRex): #19,  #59,  #64,  #90,  #106,  #137,  #158,  #164,  #178
#019 = MG Fantasy
#090 = YA Contemporary (Withdrawn from contest)
#164 = YA LGBT Contemporary
#137 = YA Fantasy
#178 = YA Fantasy
#064 = YA Horror
#059 = YA Space Opera
#106 = NA Contemporary Romance
#158 = Adult Steampunk

Krista (#TeamMaries): #29,  #67,  #69,  #81,  #109,  #140,  #159,  #169
#069 = MG Fantasy
#159 = MG Magical Realism
#140 = YA Adventure/Romance
#029 = YA Fantasy
#081 = YA Historical
#067 = YA Mystery
#109 = YA SF
#169 = Adult Literary

Monica (#TeamFTW): #16,  #57,  #73,  #79,  #98,  #113,  #131,  #172
#079 = Upper MG Mystery
#057 = YA Fantasy
#073 = YA Fantasy
#113 = YA Fantasy
#098 = YA SF
#172 = YA SF
#016 = NA Contemporary Romance
#131 = Adult Fantasy


BATTLES!:
Brenda v Elizabeth (#116 = MG Fantasy) - WINNER: Brenda
Brenda v Elizabeth (#106 = NA Contemporary Romance) - WINNER: Elizabeth
Brenda v Krista (#169 = Adult Literary) - WINNER: Krista
Brenda v Monica (#107 = Upper MG Fantasy) - WINNER: Brenda
Elizabeth v Krista (#81 = YA Historical) - WINNER: Krista
Elizabeth v Monica (#178 = YA Fantasy) - WINNER: Elizabeth
Krista v Monica (#069 = MG Fantasy) - WINNER: Krista
Krista v Monica (#172 = YA SF) - WINNER: Monica


Additional pages have been requested by:

None this year.


Further questions asked by:

Brenda - #163 #194
Elizabeth - #179
Krista - #81 #159
Monica - #57

The Writer's Voice 2015 - Breakdown of entries

A very special thanks to coaches Brenda Drake, Mónica Bustamante Wagner, Elizabeth Briggs, and Krista Van Dolzer for hosting The Writer's Voice again this year. They're currently checking out the entries to see who they want on their teams in these not-quite-blind auditions.

My 2015 entry can be found here. *Cough* Pick me! *Cough*

There are 195 very talented authors all competing for a spot on one of the teams, and you can check out the links to our entries here.

I've been busy compiling details of the entries, collecting Twitter* handles, prompting people for missing details from their queries (genre, word count, etc), and subscribing to posts (apologies for my stock comments on your posts, btw, but it was the fastest way to subscribe), and I can now share some of the fruits of that labour with you.

Altogether, there were 22 MG, 6 Upper MG, 114 YA (I've included Upper YA in that), 10 NA, and 43 Adult entries.

You wanna further breakdown of categories? (You want to see what competition you're up against, right? ;o) ) Of course you do!

On the whole, I've gone with the descriptions you've given (but I might've made a few tweaks if I didn't think it was entirely correct).

ETA: I've updated the list to include the entry numbers against their categories. Let me know if I need to make any amendments.

Here you go:

MG

MG Adventure x 1 (#120)

MG Arthurian Retelling x 1 (#165)

MG Contemporary x 6 (#11, #23, #32, #125, #127, #190)

MG Contemporary Fantasy x 1 (#48)

MG Fantasy x 7 (#18, #19, #69, #72, #91, #116, #134)

MG Fantasy Adventure x 1 (#61)

MG Ghost Story x 1 (#37)

MG Horror Comedy x 1 (#26)

MG Magical Realism x 2 (#149, #159)

MG Mystery Adventure x 1 (#160)

Upper MG

Upper MG Contemporary x 1 (#20)

Upper MG Fantasy x 2 (#75, #107)

Upper MG Fantasy Adventure x 1 (#148)

Upper MG Mystery x 1 (#79)

Upper MG Mystery Adventure x 1 (#47)

YA

YA (genre not specified) x 2 (#46, #82)

YA Adventure/Romance x 1 (#140)

YA Comedic Horror x 1 (#74)

YA Contemporary x 23 (#5, #10, #21, #27, #35, #39, #41, #43, #49, #50, #56, #58, #70, #76, #78, #85, #90, #103, #128, #136, #151, #180, #185)

YA Contemporary Fantasy x 3 (#40, #135, #163)

YA Contemporary Romance with a Fantasy twist x 1 (#188)

YA Contemporary SF x 1 (#166)

YA Contemporary Thriller x 2 (#4, #87)

YA Dark Fantasy x 1 (#95)

YA Dark Paranormal x 1 (#110)

YA Dark Urban Fantasy x 1 (#156)

YA Fantasy x 24 (#2, #12, #14, #22, #25, #29, #31, #44, #55, #57, #66, #71, #73, #96, #99, #105, #113, #121, #137, #161, #170, #178, #191, #195)

YA Gothic Horror x 1 (#126)

YA Historical x 3 (#81, #145, #157)

YA Historical Fantasy x 3 (#7, #111, #162)

YA Historical SF x 1 (#141)

YA Horror x 3 (#64, #89, #168)

YA LGBT Contemporary x 1 (#164)

YA Literary Ghost Story x 1 (#123)

YA Low Fantasy x 1 (#42)

YA Magical Realism x 1 (#52)

YA Mystery x 3 (#8, #62, #67)

YA Near Future Thriller x 1 (#38)

YA Paranormal x 1 (#9)

YA Paranormal Fantasy x 1 (#174)

YA Paranormal Romance x 2 (#147, #193)

YA Post-Apocalyptic x 1 (#171)

YA Psychological Thriller x 1 (#114)

YA Realistic x 1 (#176)

YA Retelling x 1 (#54)

YA Romantic Thriller x 1 (#119)

YA SF x 13 (#60, #68, #83, #97, #98, #109, #112, #138, #144, #152, #167, #172, #101)

YA SF/Romance x 1 (#94)

YA Southern Gothic x 1 (#45)

YA Space Opera x 1 (#59)

YA Speculative x 1 (#3)

YA Steampunk Cinderella Retelling x 1 (#153)

YA Superhero Fantasy x 1 (#184)

YA Thriller x 2 (#65, #139)

YA Time Travel x 1 (#88)

YA Urban Fantasy x 3 (#17, #33, #53)

NA

NA Contemporary x 2 (#118, #133)

NA Contemporary Fantasy x 1 (#183)

NA Contemporary Romance x 2 (#16, #106)

NA Paranormal Romantic Thriller x 1 (#132)

NA Romance x 2 (#30, #63)

NA Romantic Fantasy Adventure x 1 (#1)

NA SF x 1 (#15)

Adult

Adult Character-Driven Suburban Novel x 1 (#108)

Adult Contemporary Fantasy x 1 (#142)

Adult Contemporary Romance x 3 (#84, #100, #143)

Adult Cozy Mystery x 2 (#124, #155)

Adult Detective Mystery x 1 (#102)

Adult Epic Fantasy x 2 (#13, #115)

Adult Fantasy x 2 (#117, #131)

Adult Fantasy Detective/Fae Noir x 1 (#24)

Adult Genre Fiction x 1 (#122)

Adult High Fantasy x 1 (#104)

Adult Historical Fantasy x 1 (#80)

Adult Historical Romance x 1 (#182)

Adult Literary x 2 (#86, #169)

Adult Literary/Commercial x 1 (#6)

Adult Magical Realism x 1 (#189)

Adult Mainstream Fiction x 1 (#77)

Adult Psychological Thriller x 1 (#177)

Adult Redemption Tale x 1 (#92)

Adult Romance x 2 (#130, #173)

Adult Romantic Suspense x 3 (#129, #186, #187)

Adult Social SF x 1 (#34)

Adult Steampunk x 1 (#158)

Adult Thriller x 1 (#36)

Adult Thriller/Supernatural/Horror x 1 (#192)

Adult Upmarket Apocalyptic x 1 (#154)

Adult Upmarket Contemporary x 1 (#93)

Adult Urban Fantasy x 3 (#146, #150, #179)

Adult Women's Fiction x 4 (#51, #175, #181)

Adult Women's Literary x 1 (#28)

*Don't forget to hang out at #TheWVoice over on Twitter, where you can connect with other entrants and maybe see some teases from the coaches and their coaching team members.

Quest to be selected as a ‘The Writer’s Voice’ team member – 2015 edition

I’ve made it past the Rafflecopter stage of The Writer’s Voice – phew! Now I have to post my query and the first 250 words of my novel in the hope of getting selected by one of the coaches onto their team. The query is spoilerish, so look away now if you don’t want to be spoilered (yeah, of course that’s a proper word!).

Oh, and for everyone else who’s also been lucky enough to make it through (Congratulations, fellow writers!) I’ll be putting a brief comment on your blogs so I can keep track of comments (especially coaches' comments). When pages are requested, or entries selected, I’ll do my best to keep people informed on #TheWVoice on Twitter or in a separate post here on my blog (so you might want to follow me...).

Anyway, without further ado, here’s my entry:

Query:

With a flair for telling fakelore, island girl Fenella lies to conceal her people’s oasis of forbidden magic from outsiders. But the sixteen-year-old’s tales of dragons and krakens can’t prevent a royal visit. Prince Jarek intends to seek a wife from among the islanders. Or so he says.

In the lead-up to the visit, Fenella saves a young man on the beach after a shipwreck. He claims amnesia. She names him Drake and feigns interest to investigate further. Puckering up her lying lips, she kisses her way through his memory loss. He tells her he’s a magic-user on the run. Fenella can’t admit her own magical ability will awaken soon, not with the magic-hating royal family on their way to the island. If they discover her island’s secrets, she’ll swing from the harbour gallows along with every other magic-user there.

But it takes a liar to spot a liar--and Fenella’s not the only one being economical with the truth. That signet ring Drake hides on a chain around his neck? It’s a royal heirloom.

THE FAKELORE GIRL is an 81,000-word YA fantasy novel. Thank you for your consideration.

First 250 words:

Lying spread-eagled on an altar wasn’t an experience I cared to repeat in a hurry; the knife the priestess was sharpening mere inches away looked evil, for starters. And the smile on Cressey’s blood-red lips showed just how much she relished her task. Barbarian.

The evening tide ebbed from the open-air temple dedicated to the goddess Drina. Waves lapped against the two stone columns standing as a gateway to the sea and the krakens haunting its depths. A small mercy I wasn’t chained to those columns, awaiting my death one kraken mouthful at a time.

“Shouldn’t I be naked?” I wiggled my toes. The heels of my feet and the tips of my fingers touched the four corners of the granite slab. Grains of sand rubbed against my skin. “I really think I should be naked.”

“What, right now?” The knife stilled. “Fenella, nobody wants to see that.”

“No, not now. For my Awakening ceremony next month.” For just a few seconds I imagined the full moon casting its silvery light over my unclothed body on the altar, my generous curves a stark contrast against the hard edges of the stone. I took the image a step farther: a gilt-framed portrait of the scene on display in our castle for all to admire. With my hands and long hair covering the appropriate bits (and painted tastefully from the right angle), I wouldn’t be too exposed – just exposed enough for the painting to win pride of place in any exhibition.

Fenella's island