Bea Davenport is the author of In Too Deep, published by Legend Press on 1st June 2013.
What inspired you to write your novel?
I worked for many years as a journalist for newspapers and latterly the BBC, so lots of things that happened to me and that I saw happen to others are the inspiration for my stories. For a few years, I was based in a little Northumberland market town, Alnwick, which is now famous for its gardens and the fact that the castle was used as a Hogwarts set for the first two Harry Potter films! Until around the mid-2000s, it held an annual fair in which the key attraction genuinely was a ducking stool – only for women, though. (They don’t do this anymore). I always thought it had the potential for something rather nasty to happen, so it seemed like a great springboard for the plot that became In Too Deep. My fictional town, Dowerby, has some elements of Alnwick in it – although much of the setting is, of course, entirely made up.
When and why did you first start writing?
It’s become a bit of a cliché for writers to say they started writing as a child, but I genuinely did. For the age of about seven, I was always making up stories and creating my own comics with regular characters! I kept diaries from the age of 12, but in a mad moment I threw them all away when I left home. I was under the impression, though, that only ‘special’ people could become published writers – not ordinary people like me. I wish I’d shaken off this daft notion much earlier. I didn’t start putting my writing ‘out there’ until relatively recently.
Who are your favourite writers/influences and why?
This is a really tough question because I love so many writers. My favourites tend to change with the last book I’ve read. There are some that I love but know I couldn’t emulate, such as Barbara Kingsolver and Lorrie Moore. I’m also in awe of Hilary Mantel. But I think the influences on my own writing have included Nicci French, Fay Weldon (particularly the novels of the 1970s and early 1980s) and a long list of suspense writers. Note they’re all female! There are many male writers I read and deeply admire, of course, but I do think the genders tend to write (and read) very differently to each other, in an often quite intangible way.
Do you have a writing routine or place where you always write?
I fit my writing around my part-time teaching, and that changes from semester to semester, so much as I would like a writing routine, I don’t have one. But on writing days I aim for at least 1,000 words. If I get blocked, I do research or something that’s related but ‘else’. I have a little office room in a basement – it works for me because I don’t spend my time staring out of the window. I do most of my writing there but I will also write on trains and just about anywhere else, on a rubbishy netbook that was cheap because it’s a vile shade of pink.
Apart from writing what are your other passions and interests?
I have two school-age children and they take up a lot of time, and I’m also a school governor. I’m a keen reader and always have a book ‘on the go’. My town is blessed with a great theatre (The Maltings, Berwick) so I go there whenever I can and my New Year’s Resolution is to go to see more films.
What inspired you to write your novel?
I worked for many years as a journalist for newspapers and latterly the BBC, so lots of things that happened to me and that I saw happen to others are the inspiration for my stories. For a few years, I was based in a little Northumberland market town, Alnwick, which is now famous for its gardens and the fact that the castle was used as a Hogwarts set for the first two Harry Potter films! Until around the mid-2000s, it held an annual fair in which the key attraction genuinely was a ducking stool – only for women, though. (They don’t do this anymore). I always thought it had the potential for something rather nasty to happen, so it seemed like a great springboard for the plot that became In Too Deep. My fictional town, Dowerby, has some elements of Alnwick in it – although much of the setting is, of course, entirely made up.
When and why did you first start writing?
It’s become a bit of a cliché for writers to say they started writing as a child, but I genuinely did. For the age of about seven, I was always making up stories and creating my own comics with regular characters! I kept diaries from the age of 12, but in a mad moment I threw them all away when I left home. I was under the impression, though, that only ‘special’ people could become published writers – not ordinary people like me. I wish I’d shaken off this daft notion much earlier. I didn’t start putting my writing ‘out there’ until relatively recently.
Who are your favourite writers/influences and why?
This is a really tough question because I love so many writers. My favourites tend to change with the last book I’ve read. There are some that I love but know I couldn’t emulate, such as Barbara Kingsolver and Lorrie Moore. I’m also in awe of Hilary Mantel. But I think the influences on my own writing have included Nicci French, Fay Weldon (particularly the novels of the 1970s and early 1980s) and a long list of suspense writers. Note they’re all female! There are many male writers I read and deeply admire, of course, but I do think the genders tend to write (and read) very differently to each other, in an often quite intangible way.
Do you have a writing routine or place where you always write?
I fit my writing around my part-time teaching, and that changes from semester to semester, so much as I would like a writing routine, I don’t have one. But on writing days I aim for at least 1,000 words. If I get blocked, I do research or something that’s related but ‘else’. I have a little office room in a basement – it works for me because I don’t spend my time staring out of the window. I do most of my writing there but I will also write on trains and just about anywhere else, on a rubbishy netbook that was cheap because it’s a vile shade of pink.
Apart from writing what are your other passions and interests?
I have two school-age children and they take up a lot of time, and I’m also a school governor. I’m a keen reader and always have a book ‘on the go’. My town is blessed with a great theatre (The Maltings, Berwick) so I go there whenever I can and my New Year’s Resolution is to go to see more films.
What was the last book you read?
I read two at the same time (as it were) in the last couple of weeks, because one was for my local book group. The book group choice was Herman Koch’s The Dinner, but I found it a bit derivative. I also read, and loved, Jeanette Winterson’s The Daylight Gate, a fictionalised version of the Pendle witch trials. I love the beauty of her prose and the way she creates believable characters from such scant factual information.
What was the last book you read?
I read two at the same time (as it were) in the last couple of weeks, because one was for my local book group. The book group choice was Herman Koch’s The Dinner, but I found it a bit derivative. I also read, and loved, Jeanette Winterson’s The Daylight Gate, a fictionalised version of the Pendle witch trials. I love the beauty of her prose and the way she creates believable characters from such scant factual information.
In Too Deep is available to pre-order by clicking here
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