Saturday 17 January 2015

TRUMPET BLOWING LINDA MITCHELMORE

.....and a roll of drums, please. The third book in my 'Emma' trilogy is out! The bubbly has been cracked open! 9th January 2015. Published by Choc Lit. It's been a long journey for Emma and me. I didn't set out to write a trilogy. But when I finished writing TO TURN FULL CIRCLE - which can stand alone - Emma 'told' me her journey wasn't over. She still had hopes and dreams for her future. So I wrote on, thinking a sequel would sort things for her. EMMA:THERE'S NO TURNING BACK could have ended when Emma has made her choice to go to Canada with Seth and his infant daughter, Fleur. But just before leaving, the charismatic Matthew Caunter has come back into Emma's life - what might her future be with him? And again, there was that deep need in Emma for something Seth was unable, despite his deep love for her, to provide. EMMA AND HER DAUGHTER almost wrote itself. Of the three this is the one I most enjoyed writing. In the first two books Emma had run baking businesses - she was queen of the crab tart and the tarte Tatin. but I thought it would be a bowl of pastry too far if she were to do that in the third book. So I turned her into a dressmaker. Now, I'm not a dressmaker, so why, I hear you say, have I filled this book with fabrics and fashions and shoes and bags and fancy hats? Well, it's often said we should write what we know and my childhood was filled with all those things because my mother was a very gifted dressmaker. She'd been taught tailoring by her grandfather and could copy a garment just by looking at it ... well, that and cutting a pattern for it out of anything she had to hand - newspaper, tissue paper, a roll of wallpaper once I remember. I've set EMMA AND HER DAUGHTER in 1927 indulging myself more than a little with that because goodness, did I have fun researching fashions of that time. Emma makes a wedding dress for one of the characters in the book, and a headdress rather than a veil.
In the first two books which were set between 1909 and 1913 Emma's clothes were ankle length, and rather less than glamorous for the most part. But the 1920s means the Charleston and flappers and I had a lovely time trawling the internet for photographs to inspire my writing.
So, what's next? Emma now has her heart's desire in more ways than you might suspect. Her story has ended here. But Fleur? What will her future be? And in this book I've introduced a new character, Stella Martin - she, too, could carry a book on her own, I think. Hmmm..... back tot he keyboard, then!

10 comments:

  1. Ooh, Linda...can't wait to read the whole trilogy (the TBR pile is high t the moment).

    I couldn't agree more with what you say. I'm currently finding exactly the same, as my most recently-published characters haven't finished living their lives yet, despite the fact that I offered them a happy-ever-after ending.

    It's intriguing the way that some stories end with the last page and some don't.

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    1. Thanks, Jennifer. When I went on a writing course once I was told that an ending doesn't have to be happy but it does have to be hopeful. So I wrote 'hopeful' and then I thought no, Emma's been through enough - she deserves happy! As to your last comment.....Gone With The Wind was crying out for a sequel but Margaret Mitchell never wrote one..... alas.

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  2. I am sure Emma And Her Daughter will be as much fun to read as you clearly had researching and writing it.

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    1. Thanks, Mary....that was in the plan. Fingers crossed!

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  3. Sounds lovely - must read! Pattern-making - what a fabulous talent to have.

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    1. Thank you so much Kate Blackadder for passing by to comment. I can stitch on a button and turn up a hem but that is the end of my sewing prowess and I was always in awe of my mother's skills. She could look at a dress in a shop window or a magazine and then cut a pattern for it....what skills I haven't inherited!

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  4. Lovely to hear of the evolution from single book to series, Linda. And it all makes so much sense! Looking forward to reading it.

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    1. Well, the cheat part of it all is that I already had my heroine in book one so didn't have to wrack my brains to find another for the other two. the word 'lazy' was said but I pretended not to hear it..... :)

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  5. Sounds fantastic, Linda! Can't wait to read it. I love researching fashions for characters in my books. The furthest I've had to go back is the 1920s, but the book I'm planning in my head might require me to jump back another hundred years beyond that!

    Good luck with the book.

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    1. Thanks, Jenny. There are some wonderful books on fashion and the older the fashion the more black and white the photographs are and I just adore b&w, especially for portrait photography. Art galleries are also a good source for this sort of thing.....hope all goes well with your next writing plan!

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