PAC Interview: Carol Westron

 

In a new series of interviews, I'll be talking to members of the Portsmouth Authors Collective - a group of local authors who have come together to help promote one another's books. Members of the Collective publish a full array of fiction and non-fiction titles, and in this, our first interview, we'll be meeting the crime writer Carol Westron.

Author Bio: Carol Westron is an author, article writer, editor, reviewer and creative writing teacher. She writes primarily crime fiction but also writes children’s picture books, which are illustrated by her autistic grandson. She is an expert on the Golden Age of Detective Fiction and has given papers at many academic conferences. She is a founder member and moderator of The Deadly Dames and the organiser of Mystery Fest, an annual part of Portsmouth BookFest.

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Loree: Welcome to the blog, Carol. I'm thrilled that yours is the very first in a series of new interviews with members of the Portsmouth Authors Collective, so thank you for agreeing to start things off! And for the benefit of anyone out there who doesn't already know, Carol and I are sisters-in-law, not sisters. That explains the difference in accent!

We've known each other for a long time now, and my recollection is that I invited you to go to a writing group about thirty years ago, at the Portsmouth Arts Centre in Eastney, a group run by Keir Cheetham. Clearly, you have me to thank for getting your writing career off the ground! 

Carol: Gosh, that was a long time ago! At its prime, Penultimate was a superb writing group and I was an active member for years. I’ve found local writing groups a magnificent resource, offering support and companionship. Many of my closest friends have been made via writing groups and conferences. Sadly, Penultimate closed some years ago but the other group I’m involved with, Havant & District Writers, is still thriving.

Another thing I’m grateful to you for is suggesting we attend the weekend writing conference that later became Winchester Writers’ Conference. I went back every year for many years and learned a great deal, and Barbara Large, the organiser, became a dear friend. One conference led to many others and I made some enduring friendships, including with Elizabeth Sirrett, founder and editor of Mystery People. Lizzie encouraged me to become one of her reviewers and write articles for her ezine, which resulted in my fascination with the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.

Loree: When did you begin to write, seriously? We were both writing short stories when we attended the workshop group in Eastney, but I suspect you were writing long before that. Were you?

Carol: I can’t remember a time when I didn’t make up stories, certainly I was doing so as a young teenager. It was immature stuff, but useful to kickstart my craft. The only time I totally put writing on hold was when I had three children under five. However, as soon as I got a bit of free time and enough creative energy, I was back to writing. As a sweetener for the kids, I undertook to write a chapter of a children’s fairytale/fantasy on the days they were all in school, which I read to them, snuggled up together on the sofa, when I’d collected them from school. Recently, I tidied up the two books that came from this time, Enchanter’s Power and Enchanter’s Quest, and thanks to the encouragement of my wonderful beta reader, Dot Marshall-Gent, may well publish them in 2023.

Regarding the short stories, I was fortunate enough to have the first story I submitted accepted by Woman’s Weekly and had several others taken afterwards, which was a nice boost for income and ego while I was re-establishing myself in teaching. However, when I was teaching in Adult Education and travelling back and fore to Wales, where my mother was ill, I had to make the time-management choice between writing short stories or full-length crime fiction and chose the latter. As the copyright for the short stories reverted to me, I will probably publish a short anthology of them when I have time.

Loree: What about reading? Who are your favourite authors? What books have stayed with you over the years? What writers have you learned the most from?

Carol: I’ve heard many crime fiction authors cite Enid Blyton’s Famous Five as their earliest influence but, although I read them, I think I always found the protagonists too privileged and their life experiences too alien to count them as an influence. My early influences include GeorgetteHeyer, Mary Stewart and Ellis Peters. From the former I discovered how to weave historical language into lively comprehensible dialogue. The two latter authors demonstrate how to set scenes, using rich evocative descriptions. The great Agatha Christie is the Mistress of Smoke and Mirrors, displaying clues in full-sight but in such a way that you don’t recognise them until the detective explains. Edmund Crispin is a genius at breaking the literary rules with flair. Regarding contemporary authors, I enjoy humour, such as displayed by Donna Andrews (my annual Christmas treat from my daughter.) I’m fortunate enough to have reviewed many fabulous authors, such as Peter Lovesey, Frances Brody, and M.K. Graff, whose novel The Golden Hour is the most evocative cosy I’ve ever read.

Loree: You crime fiction ranges from cosy crime to more gritting police procedurals. By outward appearances, you seem like quite a mild-mannered person, but you clearly have a dark side! Do you have direct links with the criminal world, or do your books spring purely from your imagination?

Carol: I’m intrigued by the ‘mild-mannered’ label. Have I really not revealed my true colours over all these years? More common descriptions are ‘stubborn’, ‘uncompromising’, ‘incisive’. Maybe we’ve not been in situations where you’ve see that side of me. What provokes my anger is usually injustice, especially to the vulnerable. This passion for justice does tie in with my writing. I love crime fiction because it matters. There’s nothing worse you can do to anyone than kill them or somebody they love. Of course, the detective cannot restore the dead to life but they can offer answers and some form of closure to the living. I have no criminal connections but I do have a useful source to make sure I don’t stray too far from proper police procedure and a brilliant psychological advisor who’d tell me if I made errors that way.

Loree: As a writer, what are the things you enjoy most, and what do you find most challenging?

Carol: There’s nothing like the buzz of writing the first draft but I don’t plot and if I have time gaps when writing it’s hard to keep cohesion of the plot and style. Although that can be remedied when editing.

Loree: Like many of the writers in the Portsmouth Authors Collective you’ve gone down the self-publishing route. Was that an easy decision to make? What are some of the pros and cons of self-publishing?

Carol: This is such a large question we could spend the whole interview discussing it.

I didn’t find the decision hard: I’d already had a publisher whose money-men pulled the plug at the last minute and an agent who loved my writing but demanded I wrote sagas because she found those ‘easy to place’. It was wonderful to take back control.

Pros - you have control over editing, content, lay-out, cover etc. Cons - the same as the pros. The buck stops with you—any bad decisions are your responsibility.

Loree: You’ve published seven novels, now, and four children’s books that were illustrated by your grandson, Adam. And during a lot of this time you were working and raising your family. You’ve been incredibly prolific. How do you do it? You must be very disciplined. Do you have a particular writing routine? Do you set yourself goals?

Carol: My routine is that when I have two or three days together I will write a first draft chapter or two. When it’s a matter of a few hours I will edit or write a review. I’m not disciplined but I love all aspects of writing.

Loree: As a writer, what’s been your proudest achievement?

Carol: This is a deceptively hard question because my roles as writer, teacher and Golden Age expert are so intertwined. Here’s a selection of proud moments.

1. The superb reviews I’ve had for all of my novels, and the wonderful Peter Lovesey saying that I was ‘a very good writer’.

2. The pride and empowerment my autistic grandson feels from illustrating the Adi and the Dream Train books and the development of his illustrative and story-telling skills.

3. My severely disabled students at the Horizon Centre entered the Winchester Reaching Out competition and achieved 1st, 2nd and 3rd places.

4. Giving an academic paper at St. Hilda’s Oxford, and sharing a platform with Martin Edwards.

Loree: Do you have any advice for people just starting out?

Carol: Read widely in your genre and write until you discover your own voice. Join a local writers’ group, preferably one that gives feedback. Above all, be kind to yourself, there’s no reason to beat yourself up.

Loree: Writing is a hard business. Why do it?

Carol: I do it because it’s who I am. Next to my family, it’s the most important thing in my life.

Find Out More About Carol

Website: CarolWestron.com

Twitter: @carolwestron

Articles and Reviews: Mystery People

Portsmouth BookFest: 2023 List of Events

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Loree Westron is the author of Missing Words. She has an MA and a PhD in Creative Writing, and is the founder of the Portsmouth Authors Collective.