As a huge fan of Look Fabulous Forever it was a treat to be invited to write this guest blog. I am very grateful to Tricia for all the tips I’ve picked up over the years, especially as even now, decades on from the glamorous Sixties, times when I was modelling with great photographers both in London and New York, I’m still finding it hard to accept that I’m old.
I can run upstairs on a good day, feed the family, kick a ball with the grandchildren (ten minutes max) and cling to the old chestnut of being only as old as you feel. But I do need that morale boosting dash of gentle makeup, I hate even going down to the supermarket without having made the slightest effort – so thank you, LFF, for understanding my need!
Having a productive interest, too, keeps me thinking and feeling younger – and forgetting about the actuality... Writing novels is mine. I have other interests, playing bridge, cooking, travelling, Liverpool Football Club, but it took me to have reached the age of sixty before having a first nervous stab at writing a novel.
If anyone is remotely thinking of having a try, the first thing to say is that if I can write a novel anyone can! I hadn’t been to university, hadn’t done a creative writing course, can’t spell…
I had to learn the hard way, living through a few rejection slips, carrying on, persevering. I was five years into my bus pass before getting my first novel published, it took that long, but you cannot believe the thrill!
When I was into the first chapter of my first go at a novel, I was given the most wonderful tip. I’d been lucky enough to be sitting one away from the great and eccentric author, Iris Murdoch at a dinner and when the man between us left for a moment, I dared to ask her if she had a single tip she could give. She didn’t brush me off impatiently. “It’s all about the characters,’ she said, ‘nothing else. The plot, if you need one, is dictated by the characters. Character is all.”
Well, it couldn’t have been more wonderful advice. It has stood me in good stead over the years, through six previous novels and never more so than with my latest book, ‘Love at War.’ Getting to know the characters has been essential in that as this novel is based on a true story. I was writing about real people who lived and breathed and almost all the dramas, loves and misfortunes that befall them in the story had actually happened.
My husband, Michael, and I occasionally do talks on cruise ships. I did one about writing novels and the 60s and months later had an email from someone called Antony Hummel who’d been at that talk. He had a huge collection of his parents’ wartime letters, he said, and would I perhaps be able to use them as the basis for a story?
I was curious, grateful, and he and his wife came to lunch to discuss it all. I saw the potential immediately and Antony gave me full permission to fictionalise his parents’ wartime experiences and handed over the letters.
By far the most unnerving moment came when sending him the final manuscript, I was terrified he would take exception to the inevitable additions and alterations I’d made, which would take the heart out of the story and I wouldn’t really have a book. I’d changed his mother’s character and filled in gaps in the letters with emotional events that I felt could have happened. My heart was in my mouth, but he and his wife happily said they were delighted.
‘Love at War’ is set in mainly in Cairo and East Africa and the research was so fascinating that my next novel, which I’ve only just started, is also delving back into the 1940s, also based on a true story and one very close to home.
I was born in 1940 during the siege of Malta and my mother, left behind on the Island with a new-born baby and a five-year-old while my Air Force doctor father was away in India for years, had a terrible time. There were extreme shortages of food and fuel and Malta during the siege was literally the most bombed place on earth. The food was running out by the time passages home for the women and children left behind on the island were eventually found, but the torpedoes were criss-crossing the Mediterranean and the chances of survival were slim. Still, I’m the living proof that my mother made it home!
If anyone has the smallest yen to have a go at a novel, do give it a try, it’s so rewarding and fulfilling. There’s nothing better than writing a sexy love scene at the kitchen table on a rainy day and, along with LFF makeup, it really does keep you feeling and looking younger than your years.
Sandra Howard x
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Tricia's Sun-kissed Summer Makeup Tutorial
Tricia's Sun-kissed Summer Makeup Tutorial
Tricia shows you her summer essentials and how she uses them to achieve a glowy, sun-kissed makeup look perfect for your holidays or a sunny day...
Upcoming Events:
Friday 23rd June
Film Club: She Said
Available on Amazon Prime
Watch the film beforehand and join us for a group discussion!
Day: Friday 23rd June 2023
Time: 4pm
Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86109288705?pwd=TUgzQW5IK0VnUGI2MGdtb0FQN3hxZz09
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