Romancing September Across the World – Day 24 – Lorraine Jenkin – Stephanie Hurt

Good morning everyone! I want to welcome you to the 2nd part of Day 24 the 3rd Annual Romancing September Across the World Blog Tour. If you haven’t checked out Rosie’s post from earlier, then go by https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/ and get caught up.

Now on to today’s featured author, Here’s the question I asked:

What has been the biggest inspiration for your writing?

Without trying to presume that I have anything in common with Dickens in any way, a big inspiration for me has been Mrs Havisham in Great Expectations. I was just so excited by her character, the storyline of which I’d never come across before. Romantic novels sometimes suffer from being a little predictable, and I desperately try and steer away from that. I’d love to have written about Mrs H, but decided early on that if I start writing about a character that I’ve read about somewhere before, I stop, delete and go back and start that character again. That’s why characters like Skinny Twat and Big Eve were such a pleasure to create.

I also love sentences that make me suddenly stop reading and go back and read the paragraph again to make sure I’ve understood it properly. I remember the first book that did this for me was Gone With The Wind. Margaret Mitchell suddenly dropped in that someone had died and I felt as if I needed to run next door and check that it really said that, and I had read it properly. I think to have that kind of twist in a storyline is a really important aim for a writer.

Here’s a little bit about today’s author:

I started writing my first novel after having had one of those “life moments” and decided that if I ever wanted to be a writer, I had to actually write. I packed in my job and headed off to the wilds of South America with little more than a tent and a toothbrush. By day I would walk across the Argentine Pampas, being stared at in amazement by more sensible people in cars and buses and as night fell, I would hide my tent behind a few bushes and try to forget that there were still pumas out there…
In that grotty little tent that I sometimes shared with mice, ferocious biting insect thingies and a fox who crashed in one night and stole all my food, I wrote Chocolate Mousse and Two Spoons – a tale of love, life, skinning rabbits and eating cake.
I have since followed this with Eating Blackbirds – a novel based around a man who has spent his adult life saving his money in the most ingenious of ways as he waits for his Big Adventure. As he nears early retirement, the Big Adventure starts to happen…
My third book, Cold Enough to Freeze Cows, was so named after I had been jotting down Welsh idioms – unfortunately, my writing was a bit messy and so refering to it months later, I got it wrong… The book should, technically, have been called Cold Enough to Freeze Crows, but after much deliberation, I decided to invent a new idiom and stick to the Cows – after all, in the book, the winter in Mid Wales farming country was very, very cold…

My style of writing is perhaps difficult to categorise (although everyone says this, don’t they?) I don’t think it is traditional Chicklit – simply because the characters in my books tend not to be chicks, but are welly-wearing, ruddy-cheeked, occasionally hairy-arsed folks who have adventures in the hills. It is said to write about what you know and I know a lot more about tramping over mountains in a lumber shirt and boots than I do about carrying this season’s Chanel bag to my high-flying job. I doubt that I have ever been classed (accurately) as a chick, and I think my books reflect this…
Whatever its category, they have been described as being “witty, clever, fun and sad” (TV Presenter Miranda Krestovnikoff) and “a novel to delight in – starting with its ability to make this reviewer laugh out loud” (Western Mail).

Whatever they are, I hope that you enjoy them!
www.lorrainejenkin.blogspot.co.uk

Today’s featured book is “Chocolate Mousse and Two Spoons” go by and check out her book, then here’s a little about it and where to find it.

Book Description

Lettie Howells has hit a new low. This is the last, the very last, time her soon to be ex is going to leave her counting the bruises. Her housemates and supersorted sister persuade her that she’s not going to find the man of her dreams among the tourist traffic in Lyme Regis and she duly sends off her ad to the Lonely Hearts columns. From a motley crew of respondents she selects Doug – a jolly but ‘once-bitten’ hunk of a Welsh forester.

But the path of true love does not run smooth: there are two whole communities of friends and relations to muddy things up.

Though her day job sees her serving tea and cake, Lettie yearns to paint. A trip to Doug’s home town provides a new canvas and a surprising brush with fame…

“Witty, clever, fun and sad – couldn’t put it down! Miranda Krestovnikoff” (BBC’s Coast)

“This sweet romantic story is flavoured with an unexpectedly strong cast of characters… a case of expecting light fluffy chocolate mousse and getting so much more.”

HONNO: http://www.honno.co.uk/dangos.php?ISBN=9781870206952

AMAZON UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chocolate-Mousse-Spoons-Lorraine-Jenkin/dp/1870206959/

AMAZON US: http://www.amazon.com/Chocolate-Mousse-Spoons-Lorraine-Jenkin/dp/1870206959/

I hope you enjoyed it! Keep watching for more great authors all month and don’t forget to go by Rosie’s post at https://rosieamber.wordpress.com/… Let’s make it another awesome tour for 2015!

4 thoughts on “Romancing September Across the World – Day 24 – Lorraine Jenkin”

Love your writing inspiration and the twists you hope to get in your own writing.

Gone With the Wind inspired me in many ways. It’s one of my favorites and I was glad to hear you speak of the twists in Margaret Mitchell’s writing. Twists keep the interest and the reader coming back for more…

“Hairy-arsed folks”! I love it. And I have to agree with Stephane and you, Loraine: I’ve read Gone with the Wind three times. Like Pride & Prejudice, it’s definitely one of my favorites.