A WRITER'S MORAL COMPASS

Picture the scene ... for a writing exercise given by my writing group we were asked to write the opening pages of a novel set in war time. No specific war was given. It didn't have to be a romance. I prefer to call my books relationship novels but there will almost always be a romance in there somewhere. I chose WW2. I'd never written an historical before. I didn't know that I wanted to but I set to with the exercise with absolutely no view to publication. I used multiple viewpoints, often within the same paragraph - think Maeve Binchey. I live not far from Slapton where that village, and many surrounding ones, was requisitioned to billet American soldiers in the practice for D Day.

I also live not far from Plymouth which had its own Blitz ... a Canadian uncle was there as part of the demolition team. So, you see, I had a fair bit of background to go on. I read a couple of wartime romances (which I don't normally read) before I began, just go get the gist of how it's done. I didn't stop at a few pages. I wrote three chapters. A member of the writing group I go to is a Times Best Seller novelist. She asked if she could show it to her agent. A top agent, as it happens - well, THE top agent. Said agent asked to meet me in London. So off I went. It was obvious during our afternoon tea that she would be happy to represent me. She talked about a series. She told me where she wanted the series set. I came back home slightly shell-shocked. I told my dad. He went very quiet. 'Your granny didn't find war romantic, love,' he said. His own father had perished in WW1, although he came through WW2 himself unscathed. That pricked my conscience if you like. As we all watch the war in Ukraine in more or less real time the sheer horror of it is hitting me all over again. I have absolutely nothing against anyone who chooses to write, or read, wartime sagas but I knew I just couldn't do it then, and I can't do it now. No doubt there is someone, somewhere, already penning a novel set during the current war in Ukraine.

So, the upshot is that although I would probably have made a shedload of money out of writing wartime sagas, I declined - as gracefully as I could - the agent's representation. Possibly, it is the biggest writing-related error I could ever make, although she left it open should I ever change my mind. At the end of the day we must all write what we feel comfortable with and thank our lucky stars we live in a country where we are still able to do that.