Meet Gwen Dandridge -
Awarded the Awesome Indies Award for outstanding fiction.
It’s my very great pleasure to feature Gwen and her work as the first of my special posts this autumn.
Pete and I left France last week and are now back in
my beloved Cornwall in the UK.
The summer lingers on, although the leaves are turning and
the evenings are cooler - and we’re stacking the wood pile ready for the first
evening with the wood burner for company.
But that’s quite enough about the weather
because I want to introduce you to Gwen - and her work.
Hi, I’m Gwen Dandridge,
I own a two year old golden retriever named, Maddie, who thinks her job is to
be nice to people-- and it is.
She’s a therapy dog.
She goes into the
library and listens to young beginning readers read.
The program is called
“Paws to Read.”
Mine has been the
weirdest of journeys.
I started writing at
the request of a math professor friend.
She needed a math book for younger
students that was readable and not dry.
Through a number of wrong turns and horrible early drafts, I managed to make that happen. Now though I write
fantasy only, adding math for the The Stone Lions books.’
AND hot off the press, Gwen has just received her B.R.A.G. medallion and says that's she's just tickled that she's got it! (And rightly so.)
AND hot off the press, Gwen has just received her B.R.A.G. medallion and says that's she's just tickled that she's got it! (And rightly so.)
Look at Gwen’s
gorgeous cover, folks!
Tell us Gwen, when
did you actually start writing?
‘I only began writing
about sixteen years ago.
Before that I was a
systems’ analyst. I also do a lot of art: stained glass, pottery and mosaics.
Many, many years ago I worked in a backpacking shop.’
And every
author has a favourite place to write, where’s yours?
‘Restaurants are my favourite spots to write! Otherwise I’m likely to get side-tracked with email or laundry or any of a dozen other projects that get my attention. I like to writing in twenty to sixty minute chunks. Plot lines, however, often come when I’m hiking by myself, that’s when I do my best thinking.’
‘I’m not an outliner
at all. Even in school I could never pull an outline together. I would always
have to write a rough draft first and then cull the outline out of that.
Sometimes I use pictures that invoke the scene I am working on but not always.
Mostly I just slog along figuring it out as I go. Notes are my breadcrumbs for
moving through my writing. A note can be a line of dialogue or a paragraph from
a scene or a full page of writing. As I move along different aspects of the
story uncover themselves. During final edits I sometimes use index cards as an
aid to accentuate plot arcs.
But if you are
asking about process, it’s very much fits and spurts. I usually have a strong
beginning and an end before I start a new book. Most often I have an idea of
how the story goes, but my books evolve along the way. For example, in the
beginning of writing The Stone Lions, there were no lions in the story.’
This is always
an interesting one, which authors have proved inspirational to you? (For me
C.S. Lewis is a giant!)
‘There are so many
wonderful writers that inspire me: Patricia A. McKillip, Juliet
Marillier, Robin McKinley and Robin Hobb to mention a few. I love to read
and reread them. Even though they are fantasy writers, they tell tales that
deepen my understanding of the world. And I love their use of language.
My childhood
favorites were Walter Farley, Tolkien, Louisa May Alcott and Jules Verne. Many
of these books broadened my life. I can’t imagine who I would be without having
had those stories.’
And can you let us into
the secret of what you’re working on at present?
‘Ah. I’m working on
quite a few books right now, a YA book with dragons called The Dragons’
Chosen, the second of The Stone Lions series named The Jinn’s
Jest and a younger YA book currently named The Lady in the Tower.
There are a couple of others that I am messing with but those are the ones that
have a completed storyline and a strong first (or twelfth draft).
So what do you
plan to do in the future with your writing?
‘I was just part of
running a writers’ workshop on Middle Grade writing and next weekend I’m
heading out to a Children’s book Festival. More workshops are in the works.
Other than that, I’m going to sit myself down and WRITE!’
(Good on you Gwen!)
To buy ‘The Stone
Lions’ pop over to Amazon.
Buy it for kindle or as a paperback.
While there, check out the reviews, they'll blow you away!
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