It’s my great pleasure today to welcome Darkstroke author, Angela Fish to my blog to discuss her writing journey.
Why I write…
Thank you so much for inviting me to visit your blog today to share my writing motivation and journey with you.
As a baby and young child I was badly asthmatic and I needed to be kept as quiet as possible! My mother read to me constantly and by the time I was four, I was able to read simple words. Once I could manage on my own I would read everything I could lay my hands on. At age seven I began writing simple rhyming poetry (possible influenced by my Rupert the Bear Annuals!) then short stories, usually full of clever kids undertaking seemingly impossible tasks, and I also tried writing a few plays. One of my teachers was kind enough to allow some of my friends and I to perform one of the plays. I remember a lot of running around!
From ten to eighteen, my main creative outpouring were largely reserved for English essays but I never lost my love of reading. After that, life took over and there was little time for writing. I used to make up stories for the boys when they were younger but only remember writing down one or two, and never really considered publication.
Fast forward some years and I decided to enter university as a mature student, studying Humanities with Creative Writing. This was where I developed my interest in human psychology, of myths and legends from around the world, and I also began writing poetry, almost exclusively. I then completed an MPhil Literature focussing on Images of Welsh Women in the Fiction of Welsh Women Writers 1850-1950. After that I joined the university teaching staff and later specialised in intergenerational work, so my main writing was academic, with some literary articles, as well as poetry. I had a number of magazine/journal articles and poems published but I just couldn’t/wouldn’t commit to writing anything of length.
Fast forward another fifteen years and I took early retirement which allowed me the time to join a number of interest groups such as Family History and Creative Writing, where I returned to prose and also found my feet in the world of Flash Fiction. The Fractured Globe started life as a short story, in response to a writers’ prompt. Several of my group suggested that I write a second story from another character’s point-of-view – not of the same situation, but something to complement the first. After that I decided to compile a series of stories that would interlink but when I tried writing the third character, it just didn’t work, so I abandoned it as I had been offered publication for a children’s book. That book turned into a series of three, followed by a picture book so The Globe didn’t receive any attention for a long time. I had the idea to pull apart the short stories and to try to reform them as a novel. I received some positive feedback so went ahead. It wasn’t the easiest thing to do, but once my characters were properly formed they wouldn’t let me give up and I knew I had to finish it. It’s a fairly dark tale which reflects my interest in nature/nurture, and is told through the lives of two single mums. If pressed, I’d probably liken it to a cross between Shakespeare’s The Tempest and the film, Sliding Doors. Another influence from some time back was the powerful docudrama, Cathy Come Home, which has stayed with me for many years. I was delighted when DarkStroke Books accepted the novel in August 2020 and it was published in December.
While I tend to write in fits and starts, once a storyline or certain characters have ensnared me, I have to complete that particular journey. At the moment I’m undecided whether to return to writing for children, or to complete something I started a while ago, based on an incident from my family history. I’m sure the answer will present itself soon!
About the Author:
Angela has lived all of her life in Wales and has worked in Medical Research, Electrical Engineering, and Education. The Fractured Globe is her first novel. She has previously had four children’s books published, as well as poetry, critical, and academic work.
Angela loves books and cats, probably in equal measure. She also shamelessly eavesdrops, particularly on public transport, or in queues – for research purposes only, of course.
Social Media:
web: www.angela-fish.com
www.facebook.com/AngelaFishAuthor
Twitter: @angelaEfish
Insta: AngelaFishAuthor
Amazon Author page: https://tinyurl.com/y6zeyrk2
BOOKS
The Fractured Globe https://tinyurl.com/y3y3hb7q
Children’s – all on Amazon Author page: https://tinyurl.com/y6zeyrk2
The Captain’s Favourite Treasure
Ben and the Spider Gate [hardbacks available direct via website www.angela-fish.com]
Ben and the Spider Prince
Ben and the Spider Lake
