PAC Interview: Christine Lawrence
The Portsmouth Authors Collective was created to promote the work of the city’s current crop of authors, and this series of interviews offers a glimpse into the work their doing and their writing lives. This time around I'm speaking the the thriller writer Christine Lawrence.
Author Bio: Christine Lawrence is an ex-psychiatric nurse turned author and spoken word performer whose fiction draws on real life experiences and local settings. She was one of the BookFest 2012 ‘Writers to Watch’. Since then, her shorter fiction has been featured in a variety of local anthologies and projects including Portsmouth Fairy Tales for Grown Ups, the Writing Edward King project, the transmedia event Cursed City Dark Tide, and Pompey Writes: the Best of Star & Crescent. In 2021, she facilitated a series of writing workshops as part of the Libraries Connected/BBC project, ‘Novels that shaped the world’. A creative writing tutor, she is passionate about writing for well-being. She was a founder of T’Articulation and a workshop leader for the environmental writing platform Pens of the Earth.
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Christine: I have always loved to write. I started writing poetry as a teenager and still have books of work that I have kept over the years. Later, I would write long letters to friends who had moved away and enjoyed writing humorous accounts of my life. Poetry has been something that I’ve always dipped into writing at times when I needed to get something off my chest.
Once I started work as a nurse, my writing skills were channelled into report writing rather than creative writing. But I still wrote the occasional poem.
Loree: That all sounds very familiar. I started out writing poetry, too. There's an immediacy to it that I think we really respond to at that age.
You received an MA in Creative Writing at Portsmouth University. What was that like?
Christine: The MA followed on from a BA in Creative Arts so was a natural process. I enjoyed the opportunity to take on a large writing project and most of the tutors were amazingly supportive. However, it was the writing community that was probably the best thing about it.
Loree: That was my experience, too - connecting with a group of people who were on the same wavelength and helped to nurture those creative sparks.
You’ve published three novels, now? Or is it four?
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| Christine Lawrence |
My three earlier novels are psychological thrillers, starting with Caught in the Web. Set in 1973, Karen, who's struggling in a controlling relationship, begins working in a mental hospital and becomes obsessed with Evelyn, who was locked away in 1950 when she gave birth to an illegitimate child.
The next book, Payback, is set in 1986, when Karen is working in the community, helping clients address their drug addictions. Gemma, her client, volunteers in a charity shop and makes an unlikely alliance with a colleague who takes her on a journey in search of a missing woman. It’s filled with suspense— is there a body in the cellar, or is it in the imagination?
My third novel, Don’t Step on the Cracks, brings us nearly up to date. It’s 2019, and Karen is shocked at the amount of homeless in Fareham. She takes a job at the homeless hostel where a young resident is attacked, and several people are suspected. Karen tries to help a homeless man she finds sleeping in her shed and soon finds herself in danger again.
Loree: Wow. Impressive.
How do your experiences as a psychiatric nurse influence or inspire your writing?
Christine: I have always been passionate about letting the world know about people’s lives, and trying to dispel the myths around mental health and addictions. I believe that we can overcome our difficulties with help and hope that my books show that recovery is possible.
Loree: What is it that draws you to the ‘psychological thriller’ genre?
Christine: I think I was initially trying to tell the story of some of the people I worked with in the early days of my nursing career, but there is a huge influence from my own personal life too. It’s almost as if I have used my writing as a way to have a voice again after years of being in a coercive controlled relationship.
Loree: As a reader, who are some of your favourite authors?
Christine: Dickens, Sarah Waters, AndreaLevy, Joanne Harris, Bob Dylan.
Loree: What would you say these writers have taught you about writing?
Christine: They’ve taught me various things, I guess. Dickens’ characters and scene-setting and great stories of life in his time; Sarah Waters - great story-telling and brilliantly researched; Andrea Levy’s ability to write from different characters’ views and to get their voice so real; Joanne Harris, magical stories which really touch me; Bob Dylan was a major influence in my poetry writing as a youngster.
Loree: What would you say is the most challenging part of the writing process?
Christine: For me, it’s starting. Getting the first few words down on paper. I’m a terrible procrastinator. Then once I’ve started, it’s keeping disciplined to write regularly.
Loree: Ah yes. Procrastination. We’re famous for it, aren’t we? Dozens of books have doubtless remained unwritten on the subject. How do you deal with it? Do you have a writing routine? Do you write daily?
Christine: I seem to have half answered this one. I try to write regularly, but life does get in the way.
Loree: It does, indeed. I’ve got a couple of writing friends from my MA who keep me motivated. Their feedback and encouragement has been invaluable. Do you belong to a writing group, or have other writing colleagues to whom you turn for feedback and advice?
Christine: Yes, I belong to Springwood Writers group, and I’m also a part of Will Sutton’s groups - Write Your Novel/Take Your Novel Further. I regularly attend Scribblers Salon. I have several writing colleagues I trust and share my work with. I’m also a member of Portsmouth Writers’ Hub.
Loree: As well as being a writer, you’re also a regular spoken word performer and a keen amateur actor. How did that come about? Have you always been interested in acting or do you just like being the centre of attention?
Christine: Haha. I do like being the centre of attention, I suppose. I have been acting all my life but probably more seriously since my 30s when I regularly attended Adult Theatre Workshops at the Ashcroft in Fareham. When Titchfield Festival Theatre started in 2001, I was in the first play there in the grounds of Titchfield Abbey. Since then, I have been involved in many ways, running the wardrobe, acting, directing, stage managing, even writing a play.
Loree: I had the great pleasure of joining the Speak Up course that you ran with Jackie Green at this year’s Portsmouth BookFest. You were both so supportive and encouraging, and I came away feeling much more confident about reading in public. Do you enjoy teaching?
Christine: I do love helping people to find their strengths and overcome fears. I don’t consider myself to be a teacher, more as a facilitator. It’s a great feeling to see people shine that you have helped.
Loree: What advice would you give to someone just starting out as a writer?
Christine: Join a group, attend as many workshops as you
can afford, use books that are out there to help. You don’t need to do an MA to
be a good writer, just be excited about what you want to say. Mixing with other
writers is essential, I think.
Loree: That’s great advice. So many people struggle on their own, but I’ve always found the creative community to be very supportive. Thanks again for joining me, today, Christine. I wish you all the best with the latest novel.
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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.
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