It's strange but true that, despite having posted more than 2000 pieces on this blog since its inception, there are still a good many authors of note whom I have yet to cover. The number includes quite a few authors with whom I've been friendly for a long time,and someone who comes into that category is Anthea Fraser.
Anthea was already a very well-established author when I first met her and her late husband at a CWA conference many years ago. I read quite a number of her books featuring DCI Webb- twelve of the titles in the series had titles with a shared link, all taken from "Green Grow the Rushes-O". It's a series that I can heartily recommend. She's also written a wide variety of other books, and the publication by Severn House of her latest, A Tangled Thread, prompted me to invite her to contribute a guest post. I'm glad to say that she accepted, and here is what Anthea has to say - I was particularly interested to learn of her map-drawing approach to her craft, which I wasn't previously aware of:
"My mother was a published novelist and I’ve been writing virtually
all my life. My first novels were on paranormal themes with a crime element in
them, and I then turned to straight crime with sixteen books featuring DCI Dave
Webb. I’m now working on the tenth about Rona Parish, a biographer and
freelance journalist. What I enjoy about a series is that the settings and
characters are ready waiting for you when you embark on a new book – like
walking into a strange room and seeing people you know.
I also enjoy the freedom of stand-alones involving
characters whose story will be completed within the covers of one book, and
tend to write them alternately with the series. My latest novel, A Tangled Thread, is an example, where
three separate stories are gradually and unexpectedly brought together.
Families fascinate me and the tensions between them – the loves, hates,
jealousies, rivalries and ultimate loyalties – are, I find, perfect ingredients
for a crime story.
Before I start to write, I draw detailed maps and plans of
my locations, and sometimes tear out illustrations of interiors from magazines
to use as rooms in the main house in the book. By
describing houses and streets in some detail, I hope to make readers feel as at
home in the environs of the book as I do."
I’m lucky enough to have very vivid dreams which I’m able to
remember when I wake, and in fact dreamed the plot of at least one novel and
several short stories, which was very useful!
