Good morning everyone!
And another Tuesday rolls
around!
First, I must apologise to today's
interviewee, Anne. Her interview
was supposed to be featured last
Friday, but I was feeling quite
unwell and spent most of the day
in bed and I'm not ashamed to say, feeling a little sorry for myself! Happily, I'm feeling a tad nearer to normal again, if in fact anyone would consider me to be 'normal'. LOL!
As Anne has patiently waited her turn, I'll get along with it without further delay!!
Eva: Welcome Anne and thank you for being a part of my series of author interviews. Please start by telling us all about yourself (as in, a bit of a biography).
Anne: Thank you so much for having me, Eva! Hello everyone! I’m Anne Wedgwood, author of the Twist in the Tale novels, a series of not-so-cosy crime books set in my current home town of Beverley, East Yorkshire. I’ve lived here for the past fifteen years, after moving up from London for work reasons, and have no plans to leave! Having worked in education all my life, I began writing in my fifties, and now squeeze in the writing around the edges of my ‘day job’. I live in a quirky old house in the middle of Beverley with my husband, who serenades me throughout the day on his piano, and we’re visited every now and then by our three grown-up children who have all returned ‘down south’. When I’m not working or writing, I love to read, cook, garden, travel, watch movies and walk on the Beverley Westwood.
How many books have you written up to now? Are they published or self-published? What
genre are they?
I’ve written three books in what I call the ‘not-so-cosy crime’ genre. They are essentially cosy, but
there’s a hint of darkness in each of them by the time you reach the end. The first, The Botanist was
self-published, and my second, The Soloist, is hybrid-published with The Book Guild. They are also
publishing my third book, The Narcissist, which is due out at the end of October. They are
standalone books, narrated by different protagonists, but they all feature DI Ronnie (Sharon) Twist,
hence the Twist in the Tale label.
Of all the genres there are, is there any genre/s that you feel you wouldn’t be able to write and
why? Is there any genre that you really wish you could write, but feel you wouldn’t be able to
do it justice?
I don’t think I could write romance. I find it much easier to write about ‘off-beat’ people than
‘normal’ ones, and although I’m fascinated by people relationships within families – and this is an
important part of my books – I’m not interested in romantic threads. I’d love to be able to write
modern classic fiction, and this is what I tend to read most, but there’s no way I feel I could do it
justice.
Do you have any favourite ‘out-of-the-ordinary’ words that you like to use in your books?
What are those words? Also, what words used by other authors irritate you more than they
should?
I try not to use any words too often, as I’m really irritated by unnecessary repetition, so I spend more
time avoiding certain words than using them – I won’t tell you which ones as I don’t want anyone
looking out for them in my books! There aren’t any specific words that annoy me, but I do become
more irritated than I should when writers use multiple alternatives to ‘said’ or unnecessary adverbs to
describe dialogue.
Do you sing at all, be it karaoke, in a choir or have done so professionally? Whether you have
or not, have you ever written (or had the urge to write) any song lyrics? Have those lyrics
been used at all?
I sang a lot in choirs when I was at school, and to a lesser extent as an adult. I really loved it and will
get back to it one day – maybe when I retire! I’m also fond of singing along to certain musicals when
I’m in the car, although I try not to do it when there are passengers with me! In the dim and distant
past, I wrote some musicals for primary school children, so I have written song lyrics which have
been performed, but perhaps not in the sense that the question intended! But in case anyone is
interested, I’ve written lyrics for adaptations of Alice in Wonderland, The Prince and the Pauper,
Peter Pan, The Hobbit and a musical about James Bond called Shaken, not Stirred – if anyone’s
interested in reviving them, just let me know!
What question would you like to pose, (if you were to ever interview your favourite author),
which never seems to get asked in author interviews? And who is that favourite author?
That’s a hard one – I have a lot of favourite authors! But if I had to choose, I’d have to go for Agatha
Christie. I’ve heard that she had some of her best plot ideas when she was washing up, so I’d ask her
if that’s true, and where else she was when she had her ideas.
If you were to ever write a children’s book, (and those of you who already do) would you/do
you do the illustrating yourself, make use of a family member or friend’s talent or pay an
illustrator? Do you solely write or do you have any other creative pursuits?
I’d love to be able to draw but I can’t, so I’d ask my daughter, who is an architect and a talented
artist. She designed the original cover for The Botanist and we have lots of her work in different
media around the house. My only other creative pursuit is music, although I’ve not done much of it
in recent years. I studied flute and piano to a good level, but now all I do is play the occasional piano
duet with my long-suffering husband!
Of all the characters you have created, who is your favourite? And why?
That’s a hard one! I think perhaps it’s Alex, the brother of my protagonist, Billie, in The Narcissist.
He’s the youngest significant character I’ve created, and he brings humour into the book as well as a
very likeable personality.
Have you ever killed off a character in your books (I’m sure you have)? If so, was it
because…it fitted nicely into the storyline? OR…Did you start to really dislike the character
and, with too much work involved to re-write without that character, think it the easiest
option to have that person die?
I’ve not actually killed off a character that the reader has had time to get to know… yet! My books
all begin with the discovery of a body, so no one has died because I got fed up with them. That’s not
to say it won’t happen in the future, but I tend to plan a lot in advance, so it’s more likely that a
character would be killed off for a plot-related reason than because I’d started to dislike them.
Are any of your characters based on family members or friends? Have you kept their
characters totally true to life or have you given them bonus traits that you wish they
possessed in real life?
A lot of my characters have traits that I or other people I know possess, but none of them are fully
based on an individual. I enjoy popping in references to what I or people I know like doing for my
family and friends to spot, but I like creating ‘new’ characters, who can be interesting in whatever
way I choose.
Relationships/family life aside, what are your TWO main regrets in life?
I’m almost pathologically positive, so I tend to find silver linings as a means of avoiding having
regrets. If pressed, I’d say I regret not undertaking a writing course sooner – I did this after writing 3
not-so-great versions of ‘The Botanist’, and if I’d done it sooner, it would have saved a lot of time!
What was your passion as a child? Did that passion stay with you during your adult life OR
did you, as you grew up begin to detest what you once enjoyed?
Reading and music, both of which are still very much with me in adult life.
What was your best subject throughout your school years? And your worst?
The worst is easiest – art! I was always good at maths, and I still love the world of numbers. I was
also good at music and creative writing, although there was a huge gap in my writing between
leaving school and starting writing books a few years ago. Despite all this, I loved geography best –
see the next question on this!
Tell me about your favourite teacher throughout your school years? Was it a crush you had?
Were they just an excellent teacher of your favourite subject?? Or some other reason…kind,
fun, generous…?
We had a highly colourful geography teacher. She also ran the drama club and she always wore
stripey tights! She was incredibly enthusiastic and she sparked a real love of geography, which I later
studied alongside education at university. When she left, there was a huge pile of farewell stripey
tights on her desk!
Did either of your parents ever express a wish to write? Are they supportive and proud of
your work? Or do they just choose to not get involved, but they are pleased for you?
Both my parents died a few years ago. They neither expressed a wish to write, although both wrote
memoirs of their lives. Sadly, neither of them lived long enough to read my books, but I’m sure
they’d have been proud of me. They were both great readers themselves, and discussing books
together was a continuing part of our lives. My step-mum is also a great reader and has been an early
reader of my earlier books, and my children are now my ‘test’ readers, as they’re all very well-read
themselves.
Tell us about your ultimate ambition, be it personal, travel, writing, work, hobby related or
other?
To have my books in lots of bookshops! They are in one or two, and you can order them through
multiple online sites, but it would be great to walk into shops and just see them there.
Do you have any phobias and if so, what are they? Have you ever conquered any phobia and
if so, how did you do it?
I don’t like spiders, but it’s not a phobia.
Most people I know are not happy with something physical about themselves (face/body
etc.,) but if you could change anything about your personality, what would you wish to
change?
I’d like to be better about doing things I don’t want to, now rather than later. Like cleaning.
What is your ‘go to’ snack, whatever the time of day? And drink of your choice?
Crisps would be my first choice although I spend a lot of time not ‘going to’ them! Red wine or very
peaty whisky, or a nice cold glass of Yorkshire tap water – it’s really delicious, and I’ve never tasted
tap water as nice as ours anywhere else!
Cats or dogs? What do you have? Do you introduce any pets into your books?
We always had cats when I was growing up, and I still love them, but when we moved to Yorkshire,
we got our first-ever dog, and as I result I can’t decide now! We’re currently pet-free as we like to
travel and we don’t like to leave a pet behind, but I think one will creep back into our lives at some
point. I’ve not had any pets in my books yet. I did have a dog at first in The Narcissist but it didn’t
add anything to the plot so I removed it. Maybe one day…
AND FINALLY, Hit me up with all your Amazon book-links? And the links to your website and
social media profiles?
https://www.instagram.com/annewedgwood/
https://twitter.com/annewedgwood
https://www.facebook.com/AnneWedgwoodBeverley
https://www.annewedgwood.com/
https://www.amazon.co.uk/kindle-
dbs/entity/author/B08LQVT9DS?_encoding=UTF8&node=266239&offset=0&pageSize=12&searchAlias=stripbooks&sort=author-sidecar-rank&page=1&langFilter=default#formatSelectorHeader
Thank you once again Anne for a great interview!!
In the spotlight this coming Friday we have author J.C. Michael!
Enjoy your week everybody!
Love always,
XXX