I’ve been a fan of Coronation Street since before I can remember. It was the show I used to watch with my mum and grandma, all three of us huddled on the sofa. My grandma and I used to love Elsie Tanner, the wicked woman of Weatherfield, no better than she ought to be. She had a string of men in her past and I loved the naughtiness of Elsie, the cheek of her.
The Tuppenny Child
I went on to write TV Tie-In books about Coronation Street for ITV. I also contributed to the official ITV Corrie website, to their official magazine and to various one-off ITV publications about the soap. I have also written unofficial fan books. In addition, I set up and now edit the Coronation Street Blog, a fan site written by and for fans. It’s been online since 2007 and remains unique, a labour of love. And I’ve been writing online Corrie weekly updates since 1995. So being a fan of the show and writing about it is in my blood. It comes naturally to me. You could say I’m steeped in soap opera. I know their twists and turns, their cliff-hangers and signposts. Most of all, I know their women.
It’s a privilege and pleasure to write the TV Tie-in books for ITV. But I was acutely aware while writing these books that I was re-telling someone else’s story. I hadn’t created the wonderful characters I was writing about. Someone else had invented Hilda Ogden, Ena Sharples, Deirdre Barlow and their like, icons all. After being asked to write the official tribute book to the character of Deirdre Barlow after actress Anne Kirkbride sadly passed away, I knew I had it in me to write a book of length. And I felt certain that I wanted to create my own characters and write my own story. And so I began writing fiction. I found a home for my stories with women’s magazines where the central character was female and the story revolved around her family, friends or home.
The People’s Friend magazine enjoyed my stories so much that they commissioned me to write the magazine’s first ever weekly soap opera, Riverside. Now, not only do I write about the world’s longest running TV soap Coronation Street, I also write my own weekly soap Riverside for the world’s longest running women’s magazine!
And when I finally picked up the courage to develop my short fiction into novels, it was the women I put right at their heart. I write gritty, determined young heroines who take on everything that life can throw at them - and still come out smiling at the other end. Along the way they meet feckless fellas and evil villains but it is always the women I love writing most – the more gritty the better.
But while I take my inspiration from TV soaps and drama in terms of dynamic story arcs and fast pace and, cliffhangers, I absolutely do not attempt to write my own Corrie or EastEnders for the page. My novels are my own. However, the influence of soaps on the novels cannot be denied especially in terms of place, pace and tone. There is a lot crossover between soap and saga in that the more dramatic both can be, the better. In soap one drama follows another, secrets are revealed and characters’ motives hidden. It’s exciting, suspenseful and all of this feeds into the way I write my books. Readers tell me they can see the action unfolding in front of their eyes, that comes alive for them.
It’s all down to watching soaps on TV!
Glenda’s second novel The Tuppenny Child is out now in paperback with Headline.
Website: http://glendayoungbooks.com