I can - and do - talk about my writing for hours. I give talks to writers' groups, reading groups and even people waiting at a bus stop if they're there long enough. I have a couple of main topics, (see below) but these are not set in stone. However, don't expect a learned exposition on the significance of imagery in the modern short story or anything like that - my talks are lighthearted and, I hope, entertaining. And if I tell you something you didn't know before or make you look at something differently, well, that's a bonus. And if your bus comes along before I finish, that's ok too.
I'm on the approved speakers list of the Somerset Federation of Women's Institutes. When I went for my audition, I was on crutches, having fallen down a rabbit hole and broken my ankle - so I earned a few sympathy votes , particularly when I told them how my next story , a revenge one, was going to be about a rabbit who fell down a man hole.
Murder, Mystery and Mayhem
Who says crime doesn't pay? In this lighthearted talk, using examples from my murder mystery stories, I let you in to some of the secrets of planning and carrying out the perfect crime .... strictly in the fictional sense, of course. I explain how to bring a cast of characters to life (or to death in some cases), the importance of choosing the right location and discuss not only who-dunnit but how-dunnit and why-dunnit as well.
You know what they say about the three most important things about a property? Well, in crime fiction, it's motivation, motivation, motivation.
Street Library
Selling My Grandmother - and Other Family Members
This talk is confession time and I always have to check there are no members of my family in the audience as I own up to the shameless way I exploit my family, friends, neighbours and almost everyone who comes in to my local pub. I illustrate this with examples from my published stories and, if time allows, read a complete story - very often a twist in the tail story because I love to see the look on people's faces when they realise they've been deceived.
You're not sure what a twist in the tail story is? Then you'll have to come along to Selling my Grandmother and find out.
Frome Festival