What happens when you read trashy magazines! Madeleine Maddocks confesses all...

Many, many thanks, Denise, for inviting me for an interview on your blog, especially now so many of us in the creative writing, blogging world are taking the plunge and self publishing our work. I am DELIGHTED to be here.

Great to have you Madeleine. Firstly, I'm interested in how you got the idea to write this particular story.

For me, ideas for stories come from many different things, like a snippet from a radio programme, something read or heard, being just a couple of examples. For this story, I was at the hairdressers looking through the Celeb photos in Hello and Ok magazine (I stopped reading the spiteful text that goes with them, long ago). Then I came across a different Women’s magazine that included an extremely heart-warming story about a young woman and her soldier boyfriend. I was left with such an unexpected warm glow.

Aha, so you had a magic moment when reading trashy magazines.

Yes, isn’t that the truth! Usually the stories in those magazines seem quite depressing and tawdry, so you can imagine this one left quite an impression. As I thought more about the story, I had a ‘light bulb moment’, as there was one relatively trivial element in the account that got me thinking in that What If? way that writing craft books encourage. Without providing spoilers, I can only say that I realised that I could create my own characters, who suffer a similar tragedy for a novella/short story and explore this element as the twist in my tale. This makes it not quite romance, more realistic fiction with romantic elements.

Yes, there’s quite a difference between the ‘romance’ genre and a ‘romantic’ element to a story.

Now what was informing your plot?

I am fascinated by social psychology and personal relationships and so this story was a great vehicle for exploring what happens when the going gets tough. The ‘who stays and who goes?’  catalyst. The subject is also very topical and full of that all-important conflict, which modern stories demand.

Are you from a military background Madeleine? If not, how did you manage to sound so authentic?

I realised that as I did not come from an army background, I knew nothing about soldiers or what happens to them when they are injured. So I spent the next few days researching these areas, much of which was sobering and heart breaking. I wanted to reflect both sides of opinion about the military. Then I sat down and started to write, mulling over my characters, what they were like, what were their agendas. The rest evolved after edits and revisions. I put the story away for a while, as it was longer than stories in magazines (though it’s occurred to me that it might have made a great serial!)

What happened when you dragged your manuscript out of the ‘bottom drawer’ ?

When I came back to it again recently, it was then that I decided I would launch it as my first e-Publication. After blogging for almost 2 years and submitting stories and challenge pieces, I have recently enjoyed some successes, so I felt more confident to put my story ‘out there’. I am embracing the advice of Neil Gaiman: ‘Learn to write by writing. Make mistakes, it means you’re out there doing something’.

How did you settle on your book cover design?

I wanted something simple that encapsulated both the romantic element of the story and the army theme. The UK flag and the silhouette came into my head immediately, so I trawled the royalty-free image websites (for example, freedigitalpress.com) and the design began to materialize. Then I realised the cover wasn’t gritty enough for the story content, so I then played about with other elements and designs and asked my blog audience to vote for their favourites. The feedback/ comments given were invaluable. So I’d like to say a HUGE thank you to everyone who took the trouble to vote and comment.

I’ve seen other authors do this, asking reader’s opinions about the cover design. It’s a good way to get readers interested in the upcoming book too!

Thank you Madeleine. It is a pleasure to host you today and I wish you happy sales!

About the Author

With a creative imagination and an imaginary friend to keep her company, Madeleine Sara spent much of her childhood writing stories and making her own books. These days she enjoys blogging on the topic of creative writing, textile crafts, magazine editing and website design. She now lives in Devon, England with her husband and two cats.

Ultimate Sacrifice is available here:

 at Amazon.com   Amazon. UK  Amazon FR     Amazon de

Go here for more launch posts for Madeleine's book.

ALSO, we have India Drummond guest posting at RomanticFridayWriters today. We would love it if you dropped in and said hello.

Insecure Writers Support Group - Creating a Sense of Place

It's the first Wednesday of the month - that means I've been in Fiji for a month (gulp - where did the time go?) and also time for the post for Insecure Writer's Support Group. Click on the badge above to go to lots more posts.

Today is also the Bombshell Launch Party for blogger Madeleine Maddock's ebook, Ultimate Sacrifice. I'll be doing an interview with Madeleine on Monday 6th August. For the full schedule, go here. Good luck Maddy!

Available at Amazon.com   Amazon. UK  Amazon FR     Amazon de

Today let's talk about creating a perfect story (I wish.) But at least we can try to get all the elements we need...

Stories we write are anchored in a specific time and place. That doesn't mean shutting your eyes and jabbing a pin on a map and deciding you'll set your story in the Arctic Circle. No, your story is an entity, and as well as having that story idea, those characters already popping up demanding to be included, you have to have your story and your characters set in the right place.

Think about some of our favourites...can you imagine Wuthering Heights anywhere else but on the wild gothic moors of Charlotte Bronte's 19th Century Yorkshire? Could Oliver Twist be set anywhere else but Dickensian London? Thinking modern now - can you separate Janet Evanovitch's Stephanie Plum from her Trenton, New Jersey roots? What about Alexander McQueen's lady detectives? Don't they just work in Botswana?

Now your mind is racing along and you'll be thinking of your favourite stories - yes, their sense of place is all-embracing. It encompasses not only the physical, but the socio-economic, the cultural, the physical, the language, the politics, the weather, the mood of the place. (And if you're writing fantasy and you're creating a whole world, you need to think about all these things too. If your world boasts triple sun, you've got to know how that affects the people, the seasons, how the shadows are cast.)

"Place...makes the characters real...themselves...[Place] never really stops informing us...it is astir, alive, changing, reflecting, like the mind of man himself." Eudora Welty.

Travelling helps to find that perfect merging of place, characters, plot. As we travel we see the unique, the ridiculous, the different, the quixotic...we see stories everywhere, at least I do.

While cruising the Fiji Islands (sorry, lovely image isn't it?) I came across this unique sight - Fijian locals serenading arriving travellers to their island, Mana Island. Amongst the melody-makers here's this white guy, terribly-bad sun-scorched skin. What's he doing here in this incompatible climate? He looks happy, joyous even. Great story. I've got to write it...And why don't the Fijians wear hats in the boiling hot sun? (Generally it's a cultural thing - insulting to the Chief. Once you could have been cannabilised for just wearing a hat or touching the Chief's head.) I'll tell you, I got quite a headache walking around a Village with no hat on...

• What about you? Do you think place in your stories is terribly important?
• If you write fantasy or sci-fi, do you spend ages world building, getting it right?
• Do you enjoy stories with a great sense of overall place, where it all comes together?