Caron Allan

I was born in Tunbridge Wells in Kent, in the south of England, and lived in a number of different locations across the south of England until I was in my mid-thirties when my husband took a job in Australia, and we relocated with our two children to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia for five years, before returning to the UK to live in the Midlands where we are now, in Mr Darcy’s famous Derbyshire.

My parents were very much working-class parents, and we had very little money for luxuries. Or indeed, necessities. Perhaps that is why when the opportunity to live in Australia arose, we felt we had to take it: it seemed almost too good to be true that someone would pay to take our whole family to a different country where we would have wonderful new experiences.

Books were something we always had, whether it was through membership of the local library, school books, or books received as birthday or Christmas presents from my many aunts and uncles. As an only child, too, books were my companions and transported me away into dozens of magical worlds. From reading for pleasure came the desire to recount the stories in my own words, which soon began to develop my own ideas into stories. I began writing stories for my own enjoyment when I was around 8 or so years of age, and that continued into adult life.

I am a great history buff, and I love mysteries and especially the classic mysteries of the Golden Age of crime writing. It seemed as if the two ideas went together perfectly. And, I have always had a great curiosity about people, of history, and of other cultures.

I think that like most new authors, my main fears were along the lines of ‘what if no one likes it?’ I quickly had to develop a thick skin, because in fact, you can’t please everyone, and although there are many lovely people who adore my books and say amazing things about them, there are also a few who detest my books. I have had to learn to separate my work from my emotions once the book has been published, otherwise I’d never work again.

No. Although I have a very large collection of notebooks ‘just in case’ I run out, and the same for pens. But I think most authors are like that. Another thing I do is set deadlines for myself and only just manage to meet them. I once uploaded a book with just 30 seconds to spare on the due date. I am probably a bit too optimistic about how long things take me to do!

I had to look up quite a lot of forensic stuff, but luckily I enjoy that. I had to find out about poisons and methods of dispatching unfortunate victims. And I spent quite a lot of time on Google Maps driving around locations including Monte Carlo, just to make sure there was somewhere for Cressida to park and so forth.

Oh I am so not a socialite!!! I hardly ever go anywhere, and I have a small circle of close friends, none of whom are trend-setters either, sorry to disappoint! Though perhaps I think it would be good to go back in time and see the glamorous lifestyle for myself.

I am very inspired by images and music, so I found some pictures on Pixabay and Shutterstock of 1930s-era people. And I listened to some 1930s music – Al Bowlly in particular, and tried to imagine a young woman, no different from young women today really, interested in meeting a nice young man, or going out with her friends, and wrapped up in family concerns, and above all someone who was compassionate and caring. That’s why, when she finds a man dying in the street, she doesn’t feel she can just abandon him, she wants to help. No, Dottie wasn’t base don anyone in particular, although at any given stage, I ask myself, ‘What would I do in this situation? What would my daughter do?’

Probably I’d like to be asked if a huge advance might tempt me to sign with a traditional publisher. But I’d have to think very hard about that. Would it be worth giving up the creative control over my books? I’m not sure what I would say.

I am a huge cosy mystery fan – especially of authors such as Agatha Christie and Patricia Wentworth – I’ve been reading them for as long as I can remember, I love them, I love the style, the manners, and the tropes, and the world away from gadgets and social media, and of course, the dinner parties and nice dresses. I had already written a kind of time travel/reincarnation mystery, and part of that was set in the 1920s (it’s called Easy Living), so I got the bug for historical mysteries from that, I think, and I have always enjoyed reading books in series, and wanted to introduce characters who would be in most of the books, so it went from there.

Ideally I sit in a café, watch the world go by and write my first draft longhand in a notebook. But once the redrafting/revising gets started, I need to be at my computer, looking out over the garden where birds and squirrels vie with each other for the contents of the bird table. My desk in a dining table. There are bookcases behind me and a laminated A1 sheet on the wall which is my whiteboard for anything I need to remind myself about.

I don’t know about odd things? I mean, sometimes they say they like my books, which can feel a bit surreal: A complete stranger? Likes something I created with my brain and a notebook? Unbelievable! Writing tutors tend to say more weird stuff than readers. I have been told by a tutor that I had a better chance of going to the moon than of getting a book published (she obviously wasn’t a believer in Indie publishing!). and another told the class how to follow someone in real life to make our writing more believable and accurate – I don’t advocate that at all, it sounds really dangerous to me!

No, I am an only child. But I have cousins, aunts, uncles, friends, and of course my husband and my children, and my husband’s family. They are all incredibly supportive and encouraging, and tell people about my work and buy everything I publish.

You learn far more by the act of actually writing than you do in any other way. I say, just do it, don’t try to learn how to do it before you start. And as soon as you’ve finished a draft, put it away and write something else. Don’t immediately begin revising your draft, you need a bit of space and to take a step back to gain perspective, so that gives you the perfect time to write another book. The most destructive thing – reading bad reviews, telling people who don’t care about you your deepest secrets and hopes and dreams, and don’t compare your style, your genre or your method, with someone else’s.

I’m currently revising book 7 of the Dottie Manderson mysteries. It will be released in the summer and is to be called Rose Petals and White Lace. I’m also launching a new mystery series, this time set in the 1960s, so it will be miniskirts, big hair and murder! This series will be the Miss Gascoigne mysteries. Book 1 will be out this year and is called A Meeting With Murder. I’m also working on a couple of other projects as and when there is time!

I definitely would recommend AllAuthor – I love the mock-ups and the promo that you do. I do believe I have reached more people—the way my books are showcased on my page and recommended to readers who are interested in my genre means I can reach people who have probably never heard of me and might otherwise not have found my books. Thanks so much!