A warm welcome to Sue Moorcroft today.
BESIDE THE SEASIDE
When
I decided to bring Honor Sontag from Connecticut to England, I could have
planted her anywhere. I thought about Middledip, the middle-England village
where some of my books are set; I thought about London, because a lot of
Americans seem to love it. But neither of these seemed quite right for Honor.
It
was Robina, a secondary character, who made me decide on Brighton, the small
seaside city on the south coast of England. Robina’s an aging hippy, and
Brighton has an eclectic and eccentric population where an aging hippy would
fit in nicely.
It
really wasn’t because my son was going to university in Brighton and I’d have a
lot of excuses to visit the area … No, it wasn’t! I knew Honor would love Brighton.
She’s an Anglophile and her dad used to take her to England almost every summer
vacation, when she was a child. Brighton, with its shingle beach and typically
British Palace Pier, would intrigue her. She’s a history major and as well as
the Palace Pavilion, where the Prince Regent used to hold outrageously good
parties in the early Nineteenth Century, there are castles and historic
buildings scattered around surrounding East and West Sussex. But the fact that
my son was going to university in Brighton was handy. Not just because I could
see more of him than I might otherwise, but because when I was working at home
(a three-hour car journey away), he would take photos I needed or check out
details.
My
editor, who knew the area, queried whether Honor would be able to see the
derelict West Pier from the entrance to the Palace Pier, and I was certain that
she could. But I sent him a text and he wandered down to the pier to
investigate. He rang me: ‘Is she nineteen feet tall? Then, no. There are kiosks
in her way.’ I grumbled a bit because I’d really wanted Honor to be able to see
the West Pier from the Palace Pier, but at least he stopped me from writing one
of those scenes that readers send you messages about, because you’ve got it all
wrong.
I did
a most of my research myself, of course. I didn’t actually find a tall, dark,
hot local guy on which to base Martyn Mayfair, he came out of my imagination.
But I spent a lot of time walking along the Undercliff Walk between Rottingdean
and Eastingdean (the latter only exists in the book) where Martyn and Honor run
together – arguing, mainly – and checking out the coffee shops, because Honor
goes to work in one. I chose her a nice little bungalow, overlooking the sea –
it belongs to Martyn’s sister – and made myself familiar with the landmarks
(the fish and chips are fabulous in the White Horse Hotel) and then …
… I
set the rest of the book in America. Where my brother lives.
I
love research!
Sue Moorcroft writes romantic novels of dauntless heroines and irresistible heroes
for Choc
Lit. Love
& Freedom, won the Best Romantic Read Award 2011 at the Festival of
Romance.
Thanks for stopping by, Sue!
I took this pic of Queensland's sunny Gold Coast 5 years ago, the last time I had a proper holiday.