Sue Guiney in Asia

Sue Guiney, my colleague from Ward Wood Publishing and author of A Clash Of Innocents, is at the start of a tour of S.E. Asia. She sent me an email about her trip with some web links and information on how to follow her progress on her blog. With Sue´s permission I am posting her message on my blog. I thought that my Tuesday reading group, who are reading Sue´s novel, and other visitors to my blog might like the opportunity to see what she´s up to.

Sue´s message:

Hi,

My excellent adventure is just a few days away – an entire month travelling around SE Asia with my new novel, A Clash of Innocents. I’ll be travelling to four countries giving workshops, presentations, readings and book signings with the aim of raising as much money as possible for charity through my book sales.

I have events planned at places like Nielsen Hays Library in Bangkok, the Butterflies Garden in Siem Reap, the International School in Phnom Penh and the Tanglin Club in Singapore. The main event, though, is the founding of a new on-going, internet-based Writing Workshop for the children of the Siem Reap shelter, Anjali House.

I hope you’ll follow along with me! I’ll be blogging as I go along, complete with pictures and perhaps a video or two, on

http://sueguineyblog.blogspot.com

I have already started to talk about the trip there, and Sunday’s post will show a brief video which we’ve made about the origin of it all. Please check in every now and again to see what I’m up to and maybe to post a comment of encouragement every once in a while. I’d love to hear from you. Of course this is exciting, but it is bound to be tiring and a bit overwhelming as well and the occasional kind word from a friend would be much appreciated.

If you are moved to contribute to one of the charities I am supporting, do go to their websites, read more about them and follow their directions there:

Anjali House http://www.anjali-house.com
Tabitha http://www.tabithauk.com


That’s all for now. See you soon in cyberspace.

Love,

Sue

www.sueguiney.com

A Clash of Innocents

Sue Guiney´s new novel, A Clash Of Innocents, has just been published by Ward Wood Publishing. My copy arrived today and I´m very keen to get started on reading it. I had some questions which I put to Sue about the writing of the book, its genesis and her working method. Many thanks to Sue for sharing her thoughts and ideas on those issues with us today.

Sue´s book is available from Ward Wood Publishing´s website at:

http://www.wardwoodpublishing.co.uk

Or from The Book Depository at:

www.bookdepository.co.uk

Or from Amazon at:

www.amazon.co.uk

Mike H A Clash of Innocents is set in Cambodia. Firstly, how did you decide on that location? Do you have any particular connection with Cambodia?

Sue G To be honest, I never really decided on Cambodia. Cambodia decided on me. I went there with my husband and younger son back in 2006 on a service trip where we worked for various charities and really criss-crossed the entire country. At the time, I was still very involved with writing my first novel, Tangled Roots. But Cambodia took hold of me, and when I started thinking about what to write next, I realized I needed to write about it.

Mike H Have you used any of your own experiences from travelling in Cambodia in the novel?

Sue G Yes, I cannot tell a lie J My experience of driving for 8 hours along the dirt road that connects Phnom Penh with the south, trying to take part in a children’s Khmer dance class, the rituals associated with New Year, all became scenes in the novel. The characters and plot are completely made up, but they do reside in a world that I actually, though briefly, experienced.

Mike H The plot concerns a woman who runs a children´s home. How did you get the idea for the story? Was there any particular event or experience that planted the seed of the plot in your mind?

Sue G For a week during our trip we volunteered in a children’s home. It was heartbreaking and fun and completely eye-opening. But the whole time I was working with those kids I kept wondering what they all thought of us Westerners coming into their home, trying to get close and be a part of their lives, and then disappearing forever. I began to wonder if our presence was doing more harm than good, and from that conflict grew the idea for the novel.

Mike H When did you first begin to plan the story and how long did it take from the first idea to completion?

Sue G When I finished writing my first novel, Tangled Roots, I knew I had to start working on something else right away otherwise I’d drive myself crazy worrying about the whole publishing ordeal. There were 2 ideas that popped into my head, but I soon realized that I had actually been pushing the Cambodian concept to the back of my brain already for months. So, actually, A Clash of Innocents had been gestating even before Tangled Roots was finished. From then on it took a bit over two years which, for me, was incredibly speedy. Tangled Roots took me 9 years to write! But that’s another story…

Mike H What is your working method? I mean, do you have a regular, set time for writing or do you write when the inspiration takes you?

Sue G I believe in inspiration, but I don’t believe inspiration has much to do with getting the job done. And I do approach my writing as a job. I go to my little office upstairs in my house every weekday morning, and I sit there for three hours. I say 3 hours not because I decided that, but because it seems to work for me that way – 3 hours and I’m done for the day. Then the afternoon is for meetings (I also am Artistic Director of a theatre charity called CurvingRoad), family matters, real life. Then the next day I pick up where I left off, trying not to get too bogged down in editing what I had done before – but that’s hard for me. I’m a terrible tinkerer. I can’t leave anything I write alone.

Mike H How do you plan the writing of a novel? Do you map out the whole plot and plan chapters before you start on the first draft?

Sue G That’s what I did this time and it really worked for me. Before I started to write, I had an outline of the structure, what was going to be in each chapter, back stories of each character. I tend to be an a-type compulsive, highly organized sort of person, and I find working this way very helpful. The important thing for me, though, is to remain flexible. I may know where I’m going with each chapter, but I usually don’t know how I’m going to get there. And that keeps the mental editor at bay and allows me to enter that other-worldly writer’s place – I bet you know what I mean. I also think it allows me to finish things in 2 years rather than 9!

Some Literary News

Here´s some news about a new independent publisher that´s just started operations in the U.K. The company´s name is Ward Wood Publishing and it´s been founded by Adele Ward and Mike Fortune-Wood, who was formerly a part of Cinnamon Press. Ward Wood Publishing will be releasing three books during this autumn, with further publications planned for next year. Their first book will be out at the end of this month; A Clash of Innocents by Sue Guiney. The novel is set in Cambodia and tells the story of an American woman who runs a home for orphaned children. One day a young woman arrives at the orphanage and stays there. From then on, the plot thickens. I´m really looking forward to getting a copy and reading it. And also, I shall be interviewing Sue as soon as the book is released and asking her about the story, setting and experiences described in her novel. I´m going to post the transcript of the interview here on my blog. Read it early in October.

In the meantime, here´s a link to Ward Wood Publishing´s home page. You can find more information about A Clash of Innocents there and also details of the other forthcoming publications, of which my poetry collection, Midas Touch is one:

http://www.wardwoodpublishing.co.uk/

And here´s a link to Sue´s blog, where there is more information about her writing and the new novel:

http://sueguineyblog.blogspot.com/