When you
visit Wendy’s website, you are first greeted by a friendly smile and an
intriguing novel. Grabs your attention right away. The Scribbler is most
fortunate to have Wendy as our guest this week. She is sharing her thoughts in
a 4Q Interview and agreed to share a sample of her writing.
Wendy
Clarke started her career writing short fiction and serials for national
women’s magazines. After having over three hundred short stories published, she
progressed to writing novels. With a degree in psychology, and intrigued with
how the human mind can affect behaviour, it was inevitable that she would eventually
want to explore her darker side.
What
She Saw is her debut psychological thriller, published by Bookouture. Her
second, We Were Sisters, comes out in August 2019.
In
her previous life, Wendy has published three collections of short stories and
has been a short story judge for the Chiltern Writers Group, Nottingham Writers
Group and The Society of Women Writers and journalists.
Wendy
lives with her husband, cat and step-dog in Sussex and when not writing is
usually dancing, singing or watching any programme that involves food!
4Q: Let’s
talk about your novel – What She Saw. Great cover, interesting setting.
WC: Thank you, I’m glad you like it. A
lot of readers think that authors choose their own covers but in a lot of cases
this isn’t the case. My editor and the cover designer spent a lot of time
discussing possible ideas: motifs and colours that would work well with the
storyline, the genre of ‘Psychological Thriller’ and the title. When they were
happy, they emailed it over to me to see what I thought. Luckily, I loved it,
especially the red shoes which start you asking questions – who do they belong
to? What happened to the child? The novel is set in The Lake District which is
one of my favourite parts of England. It’s beautiful, yet haunting. In other
words, the perfect setting for a psychological thriller.
4Q: Your
website tells us about your writing journey and the numerous stories you’ve
written and that you are working on your second novel. What can you tell us
about that?
WC: My second novel is called ‘We Were
Sisters’ and is about an over-protective young mother, Kelly, who is struggling
after the birth of her third child. One day, she finds a locket in her baby’s
pushchair, but when she looks closer, she recognizes it as the one her foster-sister
Freya had been wearing when she died. The find brings back haunting memories of
Kelly’s lonely childhood and she fears someone from her past wants to harm her
family. Slowly but surely, her well-ordered life begins to unravel
4Q: Please share
a childhood anecdote or memory.
Photo Credit: Annette Batista Day - Unsplash. |
WC: Whenever I’m asked this, a
particular one comes to mind from when I was about six years old. Each year,
the town where I lived had a fete which, along with coconut stalls and a dog
show, held a fancy-dress competition for the children. In the past, I’d never
come close to winning but this year my mum had made a big effort with my
costume. I was a mermaid complete with shell headdress and a green tail covered
with silver milk bottle tops. I felt a million dollars. What’s more, the judge
was the current ‘Miss World’ which, for a child in those days, was the
equivalent of meeting a Disney princess. When I won and received a kiss on the
cheek from this beautiful lady along with my rosette, I couldn’t have been
happier.
4Q: Please
tell us about your writing habits and do you have a “special place” to write?
WC: Every January 1st, I tell myself I
will have a proper writing schedule and a serious ‘writerly’ place to produce
my work. Every year I fail. Basically, I’m a writing nomad. I write in the
living room, in the conservatory and on the swing chair in my garden. Anywhere
except in the ‘writing room’ my husband lovingly created for me. The same goes
for my writing habits. I sometimes write in the morning, sometimes in the
afternoon but never at a regular or set time.
4Q: Anything
else you would like to add?
WC: I would just like to thank you for
inviting me onto your lovely blog and to leave your readers with this message. If
you believe in your writing, don’t give up… You just need to find that one person
who believes in you.
An Excerpt
from What She Saw.
(Copyright held by the author. Used with permission)
“Beautiful
day, isn’t it.”
Graham
leans his back against the shelves of cigarettes and nods across the small
parking area towards the distant peaks. I hear the soft click-click of the
window vent as it turns and notice the way the sun streams through the window,
picking out the cracks in the wooden counter.
“It
is lovely, yes.”
“Scott
out today?” He scratches the side of his cheek, his fingers rasping on the
whiskers that grow there. His weekend stubble he calls it, even though the
weekend is yet to begin.
“He’s
taking a party of four out to Castle Crag this afternoon. The nearer it gets to
Easter, the busier he’ll be.”
“Well,
it’s certainly the perfect day for walking.”
I
wonder if Graham Hargreaves ever walks. I doubt it. Like many of the people who
have lived in the Lakes all their lives, a walk to him is a Sunday afternoon
stroll along the flat path beside the River Brathay. The people Scott takes out
are tourists seduced by pictures in the cottage brochures of majestic peaks and
sky-blue tarns, the clouds reflected in their mirrored surface. I don’t say any
of this to Graham, just check my list.
“Hold
on a sec. I’ve forgotten the frozen sweetcorn.”
Leaving
the basket, I walk to the tall freezer cabinet and as I do, the bell above the
door tinkles, making me turn. A young woman backs into the shop, struggling to
drag a pushchair over the threshold but, as the wheels get stuck on the step,
Graham lifts the flap of the counter and comes to her rescue. Shouldering the
door to keep it open, he grasps the front wheels of the buggy with his free
hand and lifts it over. I hear the woman thank him. She’s not from round here –
I can tell by her accent. Her back is to me, but I can’t stop staring at her
long dark hair. It’s like a magnet to me.
Dragging
my eyes away, I reach out a hand to pull open the freezer door. I hear the
woman’s footsteps in the aisle and that’s when it happens. In one
heart-stopping moment, Ria’s face is reflected in the glass – just as I
remember it. She’s standing behind me, her dark hair falling to her shoulders,
her eyes wide in terror. The shock is like a fist to my stomach.
Instinctively
I turn but the young woman has moved away and all I can see is Graham
Hargreaves rooting around in a basket of discount DVDs. When I look back at the
glass door, Ria’s face has gone but the feeling I had when I saw her hasn’t. My
hand is still raised to the door and I see it’s shaking. I stare at it as
though it belongs to someone else. With a great effort, I try to still my
racing heart but instead of lessening the feelings become stronger.
“Are
you all right, Leona?”
Graham
is by my side but it’s as if his voice is coming to me through a fog. I want to
answer him, but I can’t. I feel light-headed and disembodied, as if at any
moment I might float away. My fingers close around the handle of the freezer
cabinet and I’m scared to let go.
“Is
something wrong?”
The
sense of terror I feel is debilitating. I’m unable to move, the nerves and
muscles of my body unable to respond to the messages my brain is sending to
them. Graham Hargreaves has his arm around me. He’s saying something else, but
I can’t hear his words.
The
young woman is there too now, standing beside Graham, unsure what to do. Now
she’s closer, I see she’s nothing like Ria. How could she be?
Thank you,
Wendy, for being our guest author this week. Your story sounds captivating.
For you readers
wanting more info on Wendy and her stories, please follow these links:
What She Saw
Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/What-She-Saw-psychological-heart-pounding-ebook/dp/B07N8YGN5B
We were
Sisters Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/We-Were-Sisters-absolutely-psychological-ebook/dp/B07RSB413T
Website: http://www.wendyclarke.uk/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wendyclarke99
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wendyclarke99/
Many thanks for inviting me onto your lovely blog.
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