LINDA MITCHELMORE SPENDING SUMMER AT 23 THE STRAND

Today I’m delighted to continue with our Question and Answer series introducing Novel Points of View authors and their writing. Please give a warm welcome to novelist and prolific short story writer, Linda Mitchelmore and her delightful summer novel, Summer at 23 The Strand.

Hello Linda,

Before we get into the interview, let’s have a little introduction to Summer at 23 The Strand.

It’s May, and actress, Martha, has bailed out of a Hollywood movie, escaping a romance that she knew was doomed before it had even got really started. She comes to Devon and 23 The Strand for some time-out and to plan her next move. Meeting Hugh wasn’t in that plan but, to her surprise, she finds herself falling for him as they help one another heal from their respective, emotional pains. Martha decides to leave a welcome gift for the next occupant, something each of them continue to do throughout the summer – Cally, Arthur, Lucy, Ana, Stella, Bella, Caroline, and Margy – carry on. Come September, 23 The Strand has worked its magic on them all.

I loved the premise of the novel, having each visitor to 23 The Strand leave a small, thoughtful gift for the next occupant. Where did the inspiration for the storyline come from?

Paignton harbour where many of the characters
 go to get on tripper boats

This is something that was lodged deep in my memory banks! When I was growing up, my mother used to clean holiday chalets on a Saturday morning, and when I was in my teens I used to help her – earning the grand sum of 2/6! Very often, visitors would leave things behind … items of clothing, combs, books, amongst other things. My mother was supposed to hand anything left behind to the supervisor, but times were hard and if it was something useful then she’d simply slip it in her bag. But once, to her great delight, someone left a box of chocolates with a note on top – ‘For the cleaner’. I remember her delight that it was for her and not other people’s rubbish.

As I began each chapter and met each fresh set of characters, I enjoyed trying to second-guess what token they might leave. If you were to take a short break at 23 The Strand, what might you leave behind?

A parmesan grater. I’ve stopped in lots of cottages/gîtes and there’s never been a parmesan grater! I mean, who can make a spag bol, even on holiday, without freshly-grated parmesan on top?

The location feels very real and somewhere I’d love to visit. Do the beach chalets exist? (Please say yes!)

Ah well, I’ve taken a bit of poetic licence here with the chalets. The place

Colourful chalets at Preston beach

is real – Preston beach (and I’ve taken a bit of poetic licence with that as well!!) which is halfway between Torquay and Paignton and which most holidaymakers never find so it’s still very much a locals’ beach. There are chalets there but there are no facilities and you can’t stop overnight in them – they’re just somewhere to take a camping stove, get water from the standpipe on the prom, and store your bathing gear.

Each visitor to 23 The Stand brings their problems but it’s being close to sea and nature, along with the people they meet that helps them see life afresh. Do you enjoy spending time outdoors?

Seal getting friendly around the local coastline

How did you guess? I’m like a caged animal if it’s sunny outside and I have to be indoors. Even if it’s raining I usually get a short walk in every day. My house is perfectly placed – fifteen minutes walk from the beach, and a quick hop over the back hedge to the wood behind my house and another fifteen minute walk and I can see Dartmoor in the distance.

As I mentioned in my introduction, you are also a hugely successful short story writer. Short fiction and novel writing are very different disciplines – how do you juggle both?

Ah well, funny you should ask that. A magazine short story editor once

Author Linda Mitchelmore

told me that short stories are, more often than not, a terrible waste of a good novel plot! This, when she asked me to stretch a short story to a serial, and said serial then became a novel. So the discipline of writing is no different as such. That said, if I’m working on a novel I do find it hard to leave my characters on their journey of 350 pages or so and write about another character who might only cover 500 words. So, while I’m working on a novel I might only write a short story or five as a diversion from a sticky patch in the novel.

The questions I love asking writers – which authors do you enjoy reading? Who inspires both your novel and short story writing? 

I’ve been inspired in the craft of writing – both short stories and novels – by the American writer, Elizabeth Berg. She has a most excellent how-to book, Escaping into the Open, The Art of Writing True. This will open up your mind and help you bare your soul as a writer which, I think, is what you have to do to be good at it. Elizabeth Berg has written short stories although I’ve not read any. She’s also had many novels published and I’ve read a fair few of them ….  ‘Say When’ remains a favourite.

You write short stories, have completed a novel trilogy, and now Summer at 23 The Strand. Can you share a little about what you’re working on next?

I’ve also had two novellas and a stand-alone full length novel published

First in Linda's Emma Trilogy

before HarperCollins published Summer at 23 The Strand. I’ve got a couple of novel ideas out there under consideration at the moment; one is set at Christmas and the other is a summer, seaside-based one. While I wait to hear if they’re to be taken up I’m writing short stories … just so I don’t forget how!

Your joy in keeping busy shines through Linda. Thanks for giving us an appreciation of the inspiration behind your writing and we’re sure many of our readers will also enjoy spending time this Summer at 23 The Strand.

Join us next time when Victoria Cornwall, author of Cornish historical fiction, will be in the spotlight.

Until then, happy reading!

Rae x