Today, I’m delighted to introduce to you another talented author from my writers group, eNovel Authors at Work. Bronwyn Elsmore decided she was going to be a writer when she was just a little girl. True to her word, in time, she became a novelist as well as a playwright. Let’s find out all about her and her work, shall we?
Is there really a stowaway in one of the lifeboats? And what’s the truth about Germans and deckchairs? On a cruise ship full of passengers from a variety of countries there’s bound to be plenty of fun.
One ship, a handful of Kiwis, a few more Australians, and sixteen hundred Brits, Seventeen Seas tells their stories through ten countries, fifteen ports, across seventeen seas, for forty-six days. Stories of the journey itself and the multiple destinations are told through the viewpoint of a variety of characters.
Seventeen Seas is a travel-book with a difference. One reviewer says: “I have recommended the book both to my friends who cruise as well as people who have never cruised and would like to. This book gives a realistic view of what cruising is like in a fun and fictionalized manner.”
Gina, if that is her real name, wakes to an autumn morning and, against her better judgment, selects a light dress to wear to work. Deliberately, she misses the bus and walks into the city, then turns and walks back home. This is not a day for work. Tomorrow, in her navy pantsuit, she will be there. Today she will spend with a white dog and a remarkable man.
Every Five Minutes is also about the colour cornflower blue, beaches, parks, city streets, exotic places, coffee, flowers, polished stones, a unicorn and a swan, words, theatre, movies, music, and love. But most of all it’s about Gina, the dog, and the man.
Hello Bronwyn and welcome to my blog!
Thank you, Fros. This is so exciting!
What was the first thing you ever wrote and how old were you then?
Ha – my mother kept an exercise book in which I wrote my early writings, and from that I find that from age 8 to 10 I wrote a lot of poems. Most have pastoral themes – seasons, nature, animals, birds. Here’s one titled The Last Days of Summer –
The twilight came creeping over the hill
For a few short moments I stood still
To hear the rustle of the trees
And the last of the honey bees
Twas the loveliest picture I ever saw
For the days of this summer will come no more.
Don’t you love the ‘twas’ – I must have picked that up from poems of the time. My father wrote poetry so I guess he was an early influence too. These days the only poems I write are funny rhymes to celebrate special events in the family.
It’s just lovely, and surprisingly so, coming from a child! Clearly, you read poetry back then. Very impressive. Tell us Bronwyn, who is your favorite poet? Quote a couple of lines from your favorite poem.
Mmmm – I usually try to avoid naming favourites. However, I find myself coming back time after time to Tennyson’s Ulysses. Every now and again I feel the need to read it again, and each time I do I revel in the ideas, the stirring words, and the rhythms. A couple of lines? I’ll need 3 – those revealing Ulysses’ heroic intent in his decision to make a further voyage.
Death closes all; but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
One of the best short stories I’ve written refers to this poem, and TS Eliot’s Journey of the Magi, which I admire.
Any hobbies or interests that you enjoy in your spare time?
Somewhere in our street there’s got to be a notice directing all neighbourhood cats to our place. Feline neighbours and strays seem to congregate here. My husband grumbles and says it’s because I feed them. So I’m often looking after cats and kittens. It’s summer here in New Zealand and at the moment I have 20 monarch caterpillars housed in a spare room away from predators, in various stages of their transformation into butterflies. When they’re ready to fly I let them go saying “Have a good life.”
Aw, that’s so sweet! And not so much for the cats, but for the caterpillars. It made me go all gooey to hear that. How lovely of you! Do you see yourself in any of your characters, or do any of them have traits you wish you had?
The main character in Every Five Minutes, Gina, has some of my quirks, and I feel I know her well, but she is a fictional character and her story is not mine. Gina has come through tough times, and I’d like to think that in the same situation, I would find the strength she has developed.
What has inspired you to write this book?
Gee, there’s a strange story about this that still has me wondering myself. I was writing another novel, stepped into the shower one morning, and the idea came almost magically. In the few minutes it took to wash, I had the format, the main character and the opening. It intrigued me so much, I abandoned the other work and started Every Five Minutes right away. I still wonder about it. Maybe psychologists will make something of it, and one person even hinted at angels! Whatever, I’m glad the idea came to me, because I’ve had some stunning letters from people who have read it.
That’s amazing. The way it happens to me is just as weird. I’ll wake up in the morning to find a story is all formed in my head and terribly lively, as if I’d just dreamed about it. Choose a male and a female character from your book and tell us which actor/actress you’d wish to play them in a film adaptation.
What a tempting thought! And quite appropriate because, unlike me, Gina goes to the movies a lot. She’d know just who could play Mark and her – though I’m sure she’d underestimate her own part. A strong character actress for Gina – maybe Susan Sarandon. I’m a Viggo Mortensen fan, so he can play Mark – Gina deserves him. I included Viggo in another of my short stories.
Oh, Viggo is nice (rolls her eyes). What are you working on at the moment? Tell us a little about your current project(s).
I have just finished a new novel that should be available in a few months. It’s titled (provisionally) Backwards Into the Future. The story in this is also fiction, but the woman grows up in the period I did, in a very similar town, so there’s much that’s familiar to me.
I’m also a playwright and looking forward to a season of my play Where Were You? that’s coming up in May in Auckland. Plays are never finished in the same way a novel is, because the writer often works with the director and actors to fine-tune a script. It can be altered right up to opening night – and then rewritten for subsequent seasons. That process is one of the projects I’m working on right now.
Good luck with that project, it sounds awesome and highly rewarding! Tell us, if you could have one superpower what would it be?
Yes please! The ability to rewind time. Then I’d change some things in the past; not waste so much of it; and stretch what I have left so I can achieve a lot more.
Wow, good one! What genres do you read mostly, and what are you reading now?
Quite a variety. I like contemporary fiction with depth, biography, fantasy. What I’m reading now? I’m so glad you asked! I’m just beginning your book, The Necklace of Goddess Athena.
Oh, thank you, I hope you will enjoy it! Look forward to your impressions. If you could choose another profession, what would that be?
Over the years I’ve often wondered what I’d do if I had my life over again. Opera singer and jazz pianist hold some appeal, but I’d have to be allowed another share of that superpower potion. Really, I can’t imagine not being a writer.
Thank you Bronwyn. This has been a blast!
I really enjoyed our chat too, Fros; thanks a lot for the invitation.
When Bronwyn was about ten, she wrote to English Author Enid Blyton telling her she was going to be a writer too. She kept to her plan and that has been her occupation since – she admits that’s a fair while now. Over that time she has been an advertising copywriter, freelancer, contract writer, editor, education writer, playwright, writing mentor and tutor, and an academic writer during the years she was also an academic.
Bronwyn has written across a variety of genres – fiction for children and adults, non-fiction, radio stories, articles, humour, books, short stories, plays, and novels.
CONNECT WITH BRONWYN
Other links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BronwynElsmoreNZ
https://www.facebook.com/flaxrootsNZ
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/flaxroots
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+BronwynElsmoreNZ
Riffle: https://read.rifflebooks.com/profiles/151003
BookLife: http://booklife.com/profile/bronwyn-elsmore-2973
eNovel : http://enovelauthorsatwork.com/bronwyn-elsmore/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/436327.Bronwyn_Elsmore
