“I saw a rook
today, with a straw in its beak, and I was visited by an
inexplicable, unnamed longing; the kind of poignant yearning that one
associates with the anguish of youth rather than with the sensible
placidity of middle age.” Thus starts Facing
the Music
written by one Willa Marsh (otherwise known as Marcia Willett).
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| Facing the Music |
In
the early days the stories just poured out of Marcia once the dam had
finally collapsed and whatever it was that was holding her creative
spirit decided that the time had come to let go. In those days she
was published by Hodder Headline and they were bringing out a new
hardback every six months – Those
Who Serve
in 1994, Thea’s Parrot and
The Courtyard in
1995, The Dipper
and Hattie’s Mill
in 1996, Starting Over and
Second Time Around
in 1997. It was Looking Forward
(the first book of the Chadwick Trilogy) that broke this mould.
Publishers don’t really like trilogies and it was a huge sign of
Headline’s confidence in Marcia that they agreed to this one even
though it was obvious that these were going to be difficult books to
write and the time had come to slow things down a bit and publish
annually.
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| Amy WIngate's Journal |
Actually
it was even more phenomenal that that sounds. Somewhere along the
line, Marcia had found time to write a number of short stories for,
amongst other publications, The Mail on Sunday. There is a big
difference between writing the sort of novels that Marcia writes
(which are character driven – called “vertical writing”) and,
for example, adventure or crime novels (which are plot driven –
“horizontal writing”). Short stories have to be plot driven.
Vertical
writing is very frightening. Indeed, if you attend a writing course
you will be told that “writing into thin air” is, quite simply,
wrong. It isn’t but the ability to do it and pull it off is very
rare: I, for example, simply don’t have it: Marcia has. It goes
something like this: two “known” characters are brought together
in some situation and the writer “listens” to how they react to
each other and records what happens. This is easy enough to imagine
if you are thinking about a couple of close friends or relatives. You
know how they work and you would be able to make a good guess at the
outcome. From then on every interaction is treated the same way which
is why a novelist can be convinced that A is going to marry B only to
be shocked to discover that this is not the case. A wants to marry C
and B is . . . well, that depends on who B is: deeply upset,
relieved, indifferent.
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| Sisters Under the Skin |
Anyway,
Marcia was well ahead of herself so she decided to take one of these
short stories to see whether she would like some extended horizontal
writing for a change; the chance to explore something completely
different. Her agent asked her what she was doing.
“Nothing”,
said Marcia, innocently.
“Rubbish,”
rejoined Dinah. “Tell me, you’re writing something, aren’t
you?”
“No,
not really.”
“What
does that mean?”
“Well,
its not a proper book.”
At
which point Dinah insisted she see the manuscript. She agreed that it
was not a “Marcia Willett” but that it ought to be published. She
offered the manuscript to Sceptre and they wanted to buy it. The
problem was that this could not be published under the name of Marcia
Willett and we spent a few totally hilarious days trying to come up
with something suitable. Finally it was Dinah who came up with the
answer: Willa Marsh. That first book, Amy
Wingate’s Journal
was to be followed by three more, including Facing
the Music.
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| The Quick and the Dead |
Thus
it was that we all realised that there where two voices inside
Marcia: one who was hooked on vertical writing (Marcia – who is a
really nice person) and one who yearned for some horizontal writing
(Willa – who has a rather wicked and naughty streak).
Then
came the day when the two voices began to merge – in The
Children’s Hour – and Dinah decided
the time had come to move Marcia on to a new publisher: Transworld.
Since then Marcia’s books have become slightly darker, slightly
more edgy (and therefore slightly more close to real life) as she has
allowed characters to come into focus who, in the early days, she
would have banished. Despite this I am sure all her readers would
agree that she holds onto those two characteristics that are to be
found in every book: the concepts of redemption and hope.
As I
write, both Hodder Headline and Transworld have published twelve
books each so the next one out – in 2014 – will nudge Transworld
into the lead.
So
what happened to the Willa Marsh books? Well, here in the UK they are
out of print but, and much to Marcia’s delight, they have been
published by one of the literary publishers in France, Editions
Autrement. They have all four books in print and have now bought The
Children’s Hour but it will be
published under the name of that well known author in France (with
reviews in La Figaro),
Willa Marsh.
And
what brought all this on? Well, we were in the lower car park in
Totnes the other day and I saw a crow with some paper (not a twig) in
its beak which it was carrying to the nest which he and his mate were
busy repairing. This is a bit earlier than I would expect but I
expect they know what they are doing.
Here we see Mr Pickle in the arms of Mr Fickle. Well, that's where he would be, isn't it? If you want to know more about what Fickle and Pickle get up to in real life click here. You will then learn, among many other things, that one of them has been rescued on no less than three occasions.
