Today I'm very happy to welcome the lovely Carol Wyer on Simona's Corner of Dreams, she answers some questions about her books for me, enjoy!
1. Did you always
dream of being a writer?
No. I always dreamed about being famous but given my
acting and singing ability was pretty hopeless, I figured that would never come
to fruition. I fell into writing. I was passionate about reading and started
writing children’s stories in my twenties. At that stage, I had no confidence
to share them with anyone and it wasn’t until my thirties that I approached
publishers with an idea for a series of illustrated books that taught French to
children aged four onwards. What I didn’t realise then and only discovered
after writing several bestsellers was that I could become famous if I kept at
it. Since I began writing for the adult market, I’ve managed to get my face on
television several times, including two appearances on BBC Breakfast
television, been interviewed on numerous radio shows including BBC Radio
Drivetime with Simon Mayo and been in magazines. I’m hardly A-list celeb but
I’ll settle for a little fame.
2. How did your
writing career develop?
Okay, this could take a while to explain, but the
moral is – never give up. The children’s stories I mentioned earlier were
picked up by one of the big publishers and I was in talks with them when my
best friend and illustrator for them died suddenly. I couldn’t bring myself to
work without her and dropped the idea, although I took the first two books we’d
done together into schools and used them as teaching aids. I didn’t write again
until my son left home and I turned his bedroom into an office. I wrote my
first novel, Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines. To cut a long story short, I
self-published it with You Write On and it became such a success, I was
featured in Woman’s Own magazine as a best-selling author. From there, I was
picked up by Thornberry publishing who republished it along with my second
book. I fell on my feet and met another publisher, Safkhet at a book festival
and they asked me to submit any further material to them. As it happened, I had
a non-fiction book, How Not to Murder Your Grumpy – a spin-off from my first
two books that I offered them. They read the script the same day I sent it and
offered me a three-book contract immediately. I stayed with Safkhet for my next
four books but when I wrote Life Swap I wanted to offer it to a different
publisher. I had heard so much about Bookouture and hoped they would be
interested. As it was, they were. They gave me a two-book deal and published
Life Swap and Take A Chance On Me. The same time Life Swap came out, Safkhet
decided to close their doors and I found myself without a publisher for my
other books. Once again, I fell on my feet – a publisher who knew of my success
at the People’s Book Prize Awards offered to take my back catalogue and now
Delancey Press publish those books. Following the success of Life Swap
Bookouture offered me a 3-book deal and I asked if I could submit new material-
thrillers. They read the synopsis for the three books and signed me up. I am
now writing a series around DI Robyn Carter.
3. Your newest novel
is called Surfing in
Stilettos, what is it about?
Surfing in Stilettos is the sequel to my first book
and picks up the story of Amanda Wilson. Who now takes a gap year in France
with grumpy husband Phil only to find herself abandoned there. She meets a
mysterious woman, Bibi and
her life is suddenly turned around.
4. What was your
inspiration for the book?
There are so many inspirations. I lived in the area in
France for 11 years and fell in love with it. I actually wrote the book while
staying back in the area at a gite, owned by a couple with an old dog, called
Ted (Yes, he is real and he’s in the book.) We ended up going back to dog-sit
Ted on several occasions which gave me some of the inspiration for Amanda’s
situation. The character of Bibi is based on my own friend there, Solange. When
I used to blog about Solange and the daft things we got up to, all my followers
thought she was hilarious so I used some of the anecdotes and put them in
Surfing in Stilettos. With Surfing, I wanted to entertain readers but provide a
story with a moral – life is about love, friendships and family. The relationship between Amanda and
her party-mad mother touches almost every reader and it is with pride that I
say Grace is modelled on my own mother. The last part about the danger of the
Internet came from being stalked on Facebook. I won’t go into details but it
was an unpleasant experience that gave me the kernel of an idea for the plot in
the book.
5. Can you tell us
more about the main character(s)?
Amanda is a 50-year-old woman who feels she has no
raison d’etre any more. Her retired husband is driving her bonkers and needs
constant attention. In this book, Amanda’s journey is one that will resonate
with many women, no matter how old they are and her relationship with Grace is
one that will make you snort with laughter and cry.
6. Where and when do
you write your stories?
I mostly draft my stories in France. I go there four
times a year, shut myself away in a gite and write. I do all my writing by hand
(I know – how archaic!) I then take the notebooks and type up the draft in my office
at home. When I say office, I mean garret. It’s a small box room at the top of
the house with only a skylight so I don’t get distracted.
7. What do you do and
enjoy when you’re not writing?
At the moment there is no time at all to do anything
other than write and edit. I have some very tight deadlines and can’t really
fit in much. I used to do all sorts of stuff like scuba diving, flying, quad
biking, kick boxing etc. Luckily old age has got hold of me and now writing is
exciting enough.
8. If you could switch
places with a character from a book, who would it be and why?
Tigger from the Winnie the Pooh stories. He’s always
happy and irrepressible and I’d like to feel like that every day.
9. What books have influenced your life most?
Candide by
Voltaire because it was the first book that got me interested in writing
comedy. Also all of Chaucer’s works and plays by Moliere. (Yes, it’s all seems
a little high brow but they all influenced me in ways that my diet of Agatha
Christie and Dennis Wheatley did not.)
10. What are you working on at the moment?
Book 3 in the DI
Carter series. I have no title for it yet, rather worryingly.
11. What do you enjoy
most about writing?
Working out ways to surprise my readers, or to make
them laugh. It gives me huge pleasure to know something I have written will
make them chuckle or look at life in a more positive way.
12. Imagine Surfing in Stilettos would be turned into a
movie, who would you cast for the main characters?
I think either Dawn French or Renee Zellweger would be
suitably cast as Amanda. Bill Bailey as Phil, Amanda’s grumpy husband and the
delicious Christian Bale as Todd, Amanda’s ex-boyfriend/lover.
13. You also published
Little Girl Lost, a thriller, this
year, can you tell us more about it?
Little Girl Lost was my first thriller in a series
featuring DI Robyn Carter. It is described as a ‘Gripping, fast paced and
nailbitingly tense, this serial killer thriller will chill you to the bone.
Perfect for fans of MJ Arlidge and Angela Marsons.
It is about a family hiding
secrets and a killer who want them to be revealed. A series of seemingly
unconnected murders are somehow linked to Abigail, a woman who appears to have
it all including a perfect baby, Izzy but who is nursing a terrible secret.
Gradually, Abigail’s life is turned upside down and then, Izzy is kidnapped. DI
Robyn Carter must uncover the murderer before it is too late. The book is
chock-a-block full of twists and turns and surprises.
14. You write
thrillers as well as women fiction books, why both and how different is writing
for the two genres?
That is a difficult question to answer briefly. I’ll
just say that I cut my teeth on writing humour which comes naturally to me, but
as I grew as a writer and began adding more twists and turns to my plots, I
realised I needed a genre that would allow me to do this more easily. I have
always been an avid reader of thrillers and so it seemed the most logical genre
for me. I am obsessed with thrilling and surprising people so hopefully the DI
Carter books succeed in doing that.
15. Can introduce some
of your previous books?
I’ve written several comedies. The first, Mini Skirts
and Laughter Lines is about a bored housewife facing 50 who begins blogging to
keep herself sane. It became a best-seller and I was featured in Woman’s Own
magazine as a result. I subsequently wrote the sequel Surfing in Stilettos, and
then the spin-off non-fiction books How Not To Murder Your Grumpy which has 700
ways of entertaining a grumpy old man (or woman) and Grumpy Old Menopause
(whish featured on BBC Breakfast television and won The People’s Book Prize
Award 2015) Both came about due to
letters and emails from readers of the first two books who identified with the
characters Amanda and Phil Wilson and wanted strategies of how to cope with
ageing! More comedies followed and Just Add Spice was the first of several that
had twists in them. I wrote another non-fiction, Grumpies On Board a humorous
travel guide with a difference and a
short story collection that touches on dark and light stories, Love Hurts. The
book with the most amazing twist was
Life Swap and no one guessed it. The Life Swap hashtag trended on Twitter the
day it launched with celebrities like Dawn French joining in. Take A Chance On Me, which is my favourite
book – it has been described as “most uplifting and inspirational”. I wanted to
touch people who were going through a dreadful time in their lives and show
that there is hope. It was written very much from the heart.
16. You worked and
lived abroad for a while, how was that experience for you?
It was quite an
experience. I’ve lived in France and Morocco but morocco in the eighties was
different to Morocco of today. It was a real culture shock but a magnificent
experience. There’s not enough room or time to tell you everything that
happened to me but there were some gems. I taught in a language school and
students would bring in presents for me. I had to stop them when one night, one
came in with a live guinea fowl that I had to take home in a large carrier bag
on the front of my moped. It kept clucking and making noises as I navigated the
streets. I released it in a park even though the student wanted me to cook it.
17. Coffee or tea?
Always herbal tea. I’ve drunk fruit or herbal teas for
years.
18. Paperback or
e-reader?
Both. I have an e-reader for holidays because I’m a
speed-reader and before the advent of these marvellous machines, I had to forgo
clothes to take twenty or thirty paperbacks for my holidays. These days, I get
to take both. I still prefer paperbacks. Can’t beat turning real pages.
19. Mountains or the
sea?
Again both. I can watch the sea for hours, mesmorised by it’s ever
changing colours but the mountains are stunning to, as long as I don’t have to
hike up any.
20. Summer or winter?
It used to be summer but as I’ve aged, I prefer the cooler months, mostly
because I can wear boots. I have a massive collection of boots and only one
pair of sandals!
21. Sweet or salty?
Salty…always salty. I’m addicted to crisps. Mr Grumpy keeps telling me off as I
wolf down an entire packet almost every night.
BIOGRAPHY
Carol Wyer became a full-time writer in
2010 when she turned her attention from writing children’s educational
books as a hobby, to the adult market.
Her
first two novels Mini Skirts and
Laughter Lines and Surfing in
Stilettos won several awards for humour and much attention from the media.
Since then, she has appeared on numerous BBC radio stations, several
international radio stations, NBC television and BBC Breakfast television, and
Sky television discussing age-related subjects such as ‘Irritable Male
Syndrome’ and ‘Grumpy Old Menopause’. In 2015 she won the prestigious People’s
Book Prize Award for Grumpy Old Menopause.
Carol
has written articles for, and featured in several national women’s magazines,
including Take A Break, Choice, Woman’s Weekly and Woman's
Own who also wrote about her journey to becoming a best-selling author.
Author
of ten humorous books –three non-fiction and seven fiction, Carol changed
direction this year, and has written a series of psychological thrillers, and
published by Bookouture, featuring DI Robyn Carter. The first, LITTLE GIRL LOST
released in January 2017, had rave reviews and shows Carol has found her true
niche.
LINKS TO SITES
Amazon UK Author Page:
Amazon US Author Page:
Website: http://www.carolewyer.co.uk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/carolewyer
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/carolewyer/
BUY LINKS FOR LITTLE GIRL LOST
“What a page
turner! Wow. My head was spinning from the first page to the last.”
AMAZON UK http://amzn.to/2ez1vE5
AMAZON US http://amzn.to/2fCvQ5p
RETAIL DESCRIPTION LITTLE GIRL LOST
Her breath rose and fell in fearful gasps but it was too late. She could
already see what she dreaded most. The back seat was empty.
Bye, bye, Mummy.
When a devoted
teacher goes missing under suspicious circumstances and an actor is murdered at
a local reservoir there’s no obvious link between the cases. But as DI Robyn Carter starts to delve
deeper, her investigations lead her to Abigail, perfect wife and mother to beautiful little Izzy. What was Abigail’s
connection to the victims? And why is she receiving threatening messages from
an anonymous number?
Robyn’s instincts
tell her there’s a connection between these deaths, that it’s personal, but the
last time she acted on impulse her fiancé was killed. To break this case and
earn her place back on the force, she must learn to trust herself again – and
fast.
As she inches
closer to the truth, Izzy is abducted. Unless
she can get to the killer in time, a little girl will die.
Gripping, fast paced and nailbitingly tense, this
serial killer thriller will chill you to the bone. Perfect for fans of Angela
Marsons, Rachel Abbott and Karin Slaughter.
EXCERPT FROM LITTLE GIRL LOST
“Autumn was
Paul’s favourite season. The wood took on rich colours; russets, chartreuse,
and cardinal reds he wished he could capture on canvas. Then sycamore seeds,
the samara or keys, would detach themselves with free-spirited abandonment and
rotate to the ground like small helicopters. He wished he had spent time with
Lucas and shown him such beauty. Maybe his son would have turned out differently
if only Paul had invested the time. Bad father. You could learn so much from
nature. Sycamores possess the ability to grow in the shade of their parent.
What a shame Lucas had not grown in his father’s shade. Things would have been
so different.
From the corner
of his eye Paul spotted a movement but didn’t catch what it was. Deer often roamed
in these woods and he had seen a roe deer only a couple of weeks ago, the
russet brown of its rump and the flash of white of its under-tail as it fled
into the dark woods.
He squinted as
rays of light seeped through trees and blinded him temporarily, and then he
felt the trees folding in on him, his brain not comprehending but his instinct
forcing his arms forward to break the fall. He lay winded, hands grazed, a
sharp pain in his right ankle. Then, grimacing, he hauled himself to an upright
position, clinging onto the gnarly tree where he had fallen. A paper-thin piece
of bark pulled away, crumbled and dropped its powder residue onto his bleeding
fingers. He touched his face, already swollen, and traced a thick line of blood
that trickled down his cheek.
His ankle
protested at the weight on it. He had never fallen over before. He must be
getting really old, he mused. He should take up a different activity. Then
there was a crack. Someone or something was hidden in the trees, a walker, or a
birdwatcher perhaps. He searched for life but saw nothing.
‘Hello! Is there
anyone there? Could you give me hand? I’ve had a fall,’ he shouted. ‘Please,’
he shouted. There was no reply. He looked down at his cheap trainers, wondering
if they were to blame for his accident, and spotted the reason he had tumbled.
A piece of thick plastic rope like washing line was attached to the tree.
Someone had intentionally tripped him.
He had no time to
deliberate further. A figure came into view and stood by the trees.
An invisible hand
gripped Paul’s pulsating heart. His senses told him to run but the pain
emanating from his foot meant he would manage no more than a hobble.
The figure moved
closer. Shadows fell across its face, creating a grotesque mask.
Paul drew a deep
breath. ‘We need to talk. This is getting out of hand. We can sort it out.’
The figure moved
even closer, and camouflaged against the trees it seemed like a spirit or angel
floating towards him. It raised both hands, revealing what it had been hidden
before.”
Before he could
react, the figure flew at him. A scream rose in his throat but did not reach
his mouth. He dropped to the ground soundlessly. His final performance over.”
Excerpt From:
Carol E Wyer. “Little Girl Lost: A Serial killer thriller that will have you
hooked.” iBooks.
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