Middle Watch by Loretta Proctor
‘My new novel tells the story of Bride O’Neill; a young girl adopted as a baby after her parents tragic deaths. She has an unhappy time at home until her beloved foster father, Joe, takes her away with him when he becomes a lighthouse keeper. Bridie has a simplicity of being, a nature girl, happy when wild and free and here she meets young Ryan Waterman, her true soul mate. They fall in love. However, difficult problems arise which make her decide to try a new life and she goes to London to find herself. This sets in train a chain of events that leads to tragedy and drama on a lonely lighthouse amidst the crashing seas.’
Proctor found the research into the novel to be far more entertaining than she originally thought, ‘Researching this story was great fun as you can imagine. My husband took me round a lot of lighthouses!’
It's a fascinating process. They are all alive and well somewhere in my psyche and all I have to do is call on them and they come on stage and take their bows.
When I asked her about her writing process, she explained how hers is very different from that of other authors I have interviewed for Female First. ‘I'm not one of these people who can plot a book from cover to cover. I tend to write 'on the wing' and start with a theme and let the characters introduce themselves to me. It's a fascinating process. They are all alive and well somewhere in my psyche and all I have to do is call on them and they come on stage and take their bows.’
Proctor’s inspiration for the novel arose from her love of lighthouses, ‘most people are fascinated by them, aren't they? A friend was round having coffee one morning and telling me about her life. It's a very complex and strange tale and I could write a dozen books around her life stories. It was when she mentioned that her foster parents, whose marriage was not an easy one, went to live in a lighthouse on the Isle of White that I was seized with inspiration. This, I thought, would be a marvellous 'orphan' story.’
I was curious, after telling me that her inspiration had come from her friend's story if the main protagonist was based on her or a variation of her friend. ‘The main character of Bridie is nothing like that of my friend. The story simply uses her initial idea and then goes its own way. I suspect the heroine is a good deal more like me. The pull between town and city, the deep love of nature especially the wildness of the seas and coasts and the desire for a simple life are all me. 'Mean Millie' is based on my friend's unhappy experience of her foster mother but I know I do have some issues of my own that I explored here. Ryan and Jim are probably my inner soul mates. So I guess, the characters all come from my own material, my own tapestry of inner figures. I don't believe authors who insist their characters are nothing to do with them. They are definitely parts of themselves, sub personalities; certain recurring themes always emerge in every writer's work.’
Some may say that writing is a therapy, (I certainly believe this) and similarly, Proctor experienced some of this, ‘I began writing to escape the unhappy situations I found myself in as a very young girl. And also when I returned to writing later in life. So it is an escape from the pressure of reality. You create your own world and live in it. You can control the people in that world...at least up to a point! Characters do seem to have a life of their own at times. It's also a yearning to express things, a need to communicate thoughts and feelings and to create something as perfect as one is able to do. All writers will tell you what a marvellous moment it is when a book is finished, a sense of giving birth... or a brain orgasm as another put it! A tremendous coming together of the inner male and female, the left and right brain. Rapturous. Also, it's the most wonderful thrill when other people actually like the work and praise you. There's a sudden sense of being understood, that you've done something, however tiny, that you can leave to the world.’
I am sure many other published authors would agree that the worst thing about being a writer is, ‘Selling it to a publisher, the marketing. It's a hard slog and all new writers need to be aware of this and ready to make huge efforts. People are better educated, more articulate and it's so easy to write a novel on a word processor compared to my early efforts on an old Underwood with sticky keys! So there's a LOT of competition and a lot of very good unpublished authors all vying for a place out there. Writing is a solitary pursuit and many writers are a tad reclusive else how would a story have time to grow? So having to put oneself out there and spend a lot of time creating a buzz isn't always fun. But I'm beginning to enjoy it now, enjoying the challenge.’
Proctor’s advice is invaluable for those aspiring writers out there, however she had more words of wisdom to shed light on life as a writer if you are unsure if it’s the path you wish to take. ‘My best advice is to write for enjoyment above all. Write to please yourself, at least to begin with. Then take advice with humility but not with self-doubt. If you feel something is good and as you want it to be, then stick to your guns. Once one starts writing to please others, it's hopeless. All spontaneity and originality is lost. I made that mistake once and will never do it again. If it's really good then others will recognise this. If it isn't, at least you will have had fun and an escape from life's routines for a little while. And don't dream of being a best seller. That doesn't often happen. Money shouldn't be the object. I've met some wonderful people, made many new friends through this and that's the best thing of all.’
It doesn’t stop there for the recently published author, many would have some time off after the hard slog of producing a novel, but Proctor has carried on and is now on her next project. ‘I'm now three quarters of the way through a first draft for a book called Dying Phoenix. This is a sequel to my first novel, The Long Shadow, which is set in WW1 Greece during the Eastern Campaign. Dying Phoenix is set in 1967 when the Colonels took over Greece in an amazing and uncontested army coup. Greece is in the news a lot just now so it seems timely. Plus I am half Greek and like to write about my mother's country. I hope to go over there later this year for some research.’
In keeping with the ever changing times, Proctor is embracing the benefits of the e-book revolution, ‘I also hope to bring The Long Shadow out in an e-book form with Troubador Books who published Middle Watch and The Crimson Bed, my other two novels.’ She does not shy away from whetting our appetites for more of her work in the future either, ‘And there are still another couple of books in the cupboard that may see the light some time!’ Loretta Proctor’s Middle Watch, The Crimson Bed and The Long Shadow are all out now.
Lucy Walton