In the Moors
In In the Moors Sabbie Dare walks between worlds...trying to help her shamanic clients while living a self-sufficient life in the sleepy town of Bridgwater, England. She’s mourning the loss of her hens to a fox when a detective called Reynard walks into her life. Rey likes to play his hunches and expects Sabbie to help him nail her client, Cliff Houghton, who has become the prime suspect for a horrific child killing after police find him lurking in the moors where the body was found. Cliff’s shamanic otherworld reveals dreadful secrets to Sabbie, shedding light on a spate of crimes that terrorized the area twenty years before. When a second child goes missing, Sabbie tries to piece together all the fragments she’s gained from her shamanic journeys. Although she’s sure of Cliff’s innocence, trying to prove it, and find the missing child, becomes a threat to her own survival. Always an optimist, Sabbie can’t help remaining cheerful and determined as she hurtles towards a dark and certain place of death…
You have been writing fiction since your teacher put a pen and paper in front of you, so can you tell us a bit about your earliest attempts?
When I was five, my infant school teacher Mrs Marsden read a story to the class. It might have been the fable 'The Mouse and the Lion', but I can't really remember. Then she asked the class to write a story, and that was when I had my early epiphany. I was dumfounded. For the first time I realized that the books I loved had actually been written by real human beings. Before that, I believe they must have fallen from some sort of story heaven. It was a revelation - from then on I was scribbling down stories all the time.
I wrote my first novel at the age of fifteen. Well, okay I started to write a novel which I never finished. I then took to writing short stories, which I began publishing a few years later in women’s magazines.
You also write children’s books, so do you have a preference between writing for children and adults?
I loved writing for children, and when I’m ‘into’ my narrative, I don’t really notice much difference between writing for adults and children. I’m certainly hoping to write more for children in the future.
How much did your MA in creative writing help you shape your work?
Weirdly, I didn't take the MA to get published. I was blocked by a book that was doing my head in, and knew I would either have to give up writing or push myself through it. But I learnt masses on the MA that helped me become a fuller writer.
On the course, I was told that I might have some skill in teaching - and that's mostly what I thank the staff at Bath Spa for. I love my job as a tutor with the OCA, and, as much as the MA itself, mentoring and tutoring other writers has made me a better writer myself.
What attracted you to crime fiction?
I do love the puzzle-solving element to crime fiction. I stay awake at night, trying to sort out all the permutations of each novel. I’m not sure I value that as much as the actual writing, though...the creating of strong characters, for instance, or the creation of a lyrical ‘voice’ for the narrative, but perhaps I should.
Please tell us about your inspiration behind the character of Sergeant Reynard Buckley.
He walked right onto the page. Although I know some real life coppers (thankfully!), Rey is not like any of them. He’s his own man, and sometimes even I’m surprised at the words that come out of his mouth into the manuscript.
Please tell us about your light bulb moment for In the Moors.
The idea for my Shaman Mysteries, and In the Moors in particular came to me one day, in the guise of Sabbbie Dare. She walked right into my head and spoke directly to me - sort of - ‘hi, Nina, I’m Sabbie, I’m 28 and I’m a shaman and a complimentary therapist. I love my job, but sometimes some very strange people come into my therapy room...’
At around that time, I’d been on a walk with my son on the Somerset Levels. As we hiked along, the day became gloomy and we were almost lost because each field on the levels is surrounded by water; rivers, dykes, rhynes, ditches and canals. We came upon the areas where they extract peat industrially; huge chunks like empty back swimming pools are cut from the earth and they slowly fill with water becoming reed beds and marshes. I thought that would be a great place to bury a body.
Sabbie gains the strength to get through life with her shamanism and her pagan beliefs, but still struggles with the memories of her difficult start in life. She has an open heart, and is adept at inviting trouble into her life - which bodes well for the second book in the series!
I am a druid; a pagan path which takes me close to the earth and into the deep recesses of my mind. Shamanic techniques help me in my life - in fact it changed my life - although, unlike Sabbie, I’ve never set up a therapeutic practice...I’m too busy writing!
What is your writing process?
Like Sabbie, I grow my own veg and keep hens (although she actually had hens before I did!) So I get up early to feed the chickens and then settle down to some writing. In the afternoon, if I’m not doing a bit of gardening, or harvesting (I like cooking, too), I’ll go for a walk to help the next scenes of my book come into my head. In the evenings, if we’re not going out, I’ll do a bit of internet networking or read a novel.
What is next for you?
I am now in the process of writing the second in the Shaman Mystery series. Sorry; I’m not going to tell you much about the book, except to say that of course Sabbie Dare is at the centre of it and Reynard Buckley is still solving crimes, with a bit of help from her. Once again a client spells trouble for her, and she has a hard time keeping away from danger.. As she says in In the Moors, I’m the sort of person who has to poke their finger into all the holes marked, ‘do not insert’.”