[Interview_2] David Hough

Historical romance author, David Hough has been writing for more than 20 years.

His books include King’s Priory (BeWrite Books, 2007); The Gamekeeper (Lachesis Publishing, 2007) and The Gallows on Warlock Hill (Lachesis Publishing, 2008).

In an earlier interview, he talked about the factors that motivated him to start writing.

David Hough now talks, among other things, about his novel, Prestwick (BeWrite Books, 2009):

Are you still writing everyday?

Some days I will get 5,000 words onto my computer, other days it will be only five hundred, but at least I will have written something. That’s important.

I write every day.

The process starts shortly after I wake up. While enjoying my first cup of tea, I will focus my mind on the scene I expect to write that day. I don’t switch on my computer until I have a good idea of how that scene will pan out. Then I start writing and I keep on writing until I have completed all I planned before I started.

The next bit is easy.

I switch off the computer and walk away from it. I know from experience that if I try to write something I haven’t previously planned it will be rubbish.

How would you describe your latest book?

My latest book is called Prestwick.

It’s a high tension aviation thriller set in the skies off the west coast of Scotland in the 1980s. It was published in 2009 by BeWrite Books and you will find it on their web site. You will also find it on my own website.

It’s a bit different to my previous books in that the pace is so much faster. Pure thriller.

I chose the time and location because they were meaningful to me in my career as an air traffic controller.

The story concerns the crew of two aircraft that collide over the North Atlantic – just a glancing blow, enough to cripple them but leave them both just about flying. The weather is atrocious and the only airport open to them is Prestwick, but the pilots are refused landing permission.

Why? What do they do about it? You'll have to read the book to find out.

Which were the most difficult aspects of the work you put into the book?

I’m a bit wary of that word “difficult”. Can we look at the things I find most challenging?

My main concern is that my writing should be to a professional standard. I rather think that even if I was a famous author I would still have that concern about delivering a professional standard of work. The reading public are not fools, you know, they can recognise the difference between good and bad writing.

I deal with this concern by taking extracts from my work to a weekly writer’s workshop and reading it aloud to a critical audience. They know me well enough not to hold back in their criticism and I value that. I write down each and every point they make and then go away to consider them.

Invariably, there are ways to improve on my first efforts and so I rewrite sections again and again until they are as good as I can get them. I never, ever accept a first draft as anywhere near good enough.

Which aspects of the work did you enjoy most?

A writer is a creative artist. He or she creates people and events that would never otherwise exist or occur. That, to me, is a sense of enjoyment and satisfaction. I can look back over a manuscript and say to myself, “But for me, none of this would be. The characters would not exist and the events would not have taken place. I have created something unique.”

It’s a great feeling.

What sets Prestwick apart from the other things you've written?

As I said before, the story runs at a faster pace than my other books.

Also, this is the only story I have written in which everything takes place in the space of one day. I had to write it that way in order to draw out every single moment of tension as the pilots struggle to keep their crippled aircraft in the air.

It is similar to the others in that I was writing about things I knew. I did some research, but not as much as for the historical novels because I lived through the period and environment of this book.

Do you know what your next novel will be on?

I am working on a sequel to The Gallows on Warlock Hill. I enjoyed writing the original but realised afterwards that I hadn’t said everything I wanted to say. There were other “themes” I wanted to explore. So I have taken the same locations and the same conceptual premise as the first book and wrapped it up in a new plot and new characters.

How would you describe the writing you are doing?

I write stories that have real meaning for me. Two of my novels are set around the history of Cornwall, my birthplace. They describe the place as it was more than 100 years ago simply because I wanted to research the era of my own Cornish ancestors. Other stories mix history with the present day because I am fascinated by the effect history has upon our present day lives.

I began by looking at the matter from a surface viewpoint – how the wider aspects of history have shaped our environment - and then I started to delve into the idea that our previous incarnations on earth might affect the sort of life we experience today. One of my favourite books, King’s Priory, was the first in which I really went to town on the idea that each of us has a soul with a past history which is relevant to our present life.

I write about places I know, or have known. My latest novel, Prestwick, is a fast paced aviation thriller set in locations on the west of Scotland where I have worked. My previous novel, The Gallows on Warlock Hill, describes the glorious Dorset countryside, near to where I now live. It also delves into the problems people faced in Northern Ireland during the “troubles”. I was the aerodrome controller on duty at Belfast Airport on the day troops were first airlifted into the province in 1969. I wanted to put my thoughts about that experience into the story.

I suppose the writer with a target audience nearest to my own is Barbara Erskine, but I try my best not to copy her style. I want to be recognised for my own way of writing. Why do I write for that audience? Simply because their reading preferences match my own. I enjoy reading that sort of book

How much influence has Barbara Eskine had on your writing?

This is where I may seem to be contradicting myself.

The two authors who have influenced me most are Nevil Shute and Daphne du Maurier. You will rightly tell me that they don’t write the “Barbara Erskine” sort of story. But they have both written novels in which time barriers have been broken. Remember du Maurier’s The House on the Strand and Shute’s In the Wet?

But that’s not the real reason they had a great influence on me. It was their writing style that captured my imagination. I have read all their books and enjoyed reading them time and again because their narrative “voices” spoke to me.

The writing just came off the pages for me. I try to capture that skill in my own writing.

Why is accurate research important?

I enjoy writing about history and I aim to put a lot of effort into researching the subject matter so that I get the history right, or as near right as I can manage.

Of course, I am likely to make mistakes, but at least I try to get it right. I get frustrated when I read stories by writers who have simply accepted popular but misguided myth as fact and embedded it into their novels.

A while back I was asked by an editor to scrutinise a manuscript sent in by a lady who had written a fanciful tale about Bonnie Prince Charlie, depicting him as a brave Scottish hero intent only on achieving Scottish independence. In reality he wasn’t Scottish (he was born in Rome, his father was born in England and his mother was Polish) and his sole aim was to capture the English throne.

There is so much information out there on the internet, there really is no excuse for any writer not getting the facts right.

In case you are wondering, I loved the time I spent living and working in Scotland and I feel that those writers who get the country’s history wrong do the people of Scotland a gross disservice.

What would you say has been your most significant achievement as a writer?

To be recognised as a writer.

To date, I am standing on a low rung of a very long ladder, but I am on it and that gives me a sense of satisfaction. Of course I want to climb higher, but I am under no illusions about the difficulties that entails. For the present, let me enjoy holding in my hands a book I have written, let me enjoy counting myself amongst the world’s congregation of writers.

How do you intend to achieve this climb to the top?

I have been published mainly by small presses: BeWrite Books in the UK and Lachesis Publishing in Canada. They are both excellent organisations and I have nothing but warm feelings and praise for all involved in both companies. But, as a dispassionate writer, I still harbour that spark of hope that I might one day strike lucky and get my work recognised big time.

How do I deal with it?

I attend writers’ conferences and writers’ workshops with feelings of optimism that one day I will meet an agent or wealthy publisher who will look favourably upon my writing. My problem will then be in dealing with the inevitable feelings of guilt at leaving behind the good people who gave me a start in my writing career.

Possibly related books:

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Related articles:

• David Hough [Interview], By Penelope Jensen, INside Authors, January 2008
• David Hough [Interview_1], Conversations with Writers, October 5, 2007

[Interview_1] David Hough

David Hough was born in Cornwall and grew up in the Georgian City of Bath. He now lives with his wife in Dorset, on the south coast of England.His novels include Scent of Spring (Robert Hale, 1989) and Ride Upon the Storm (Robert Hale, 1990) which he wrote under the name Tracy Davis and which are also available in large print from Ulverscroft publishers. In addition to these, Hough has published A Tangle of Roots (BeWrite Books, 2004); The Vanson Curse (BeWrite Books, 2006) and King’s Priory (BeWrite Books, 2007).

Three more books, The Gamekeeper; The Gallows on Warlock Hill and The Washington Incident are due to be released shortly.

In a recent interview, David Hough spoke about his writing.

When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?

At age forty I had a heart attack and my future prospects in my day job (I was an air traffic controller) became limited. As soon as I was able, I went out to buy an electric typewriter and signed on for a correspondence course in creative writing.

That was twenty two years ago.

The majority of my stories are historical romance with grit. The Vanson Curse was the first of these. The grit is important, probably more than the romance. Although I began by writing light stories, I do not wish to be known as a fluffy romance writer. So I include romantic elements in my books, but I tarnish them with hard realities. I also enjoy writing two-period stories such as King’s Priory.

Who is your target audience?

Male and female readers who enjoy a rattling good yarn with a dose of hard grit.

I write the sort of story I enjoy reading. I love historical novels but I also enjoy well-written novels that have stories-within-stories. Think Nevil Shute and A Town Like Alice or Requiem For A Wren. Each novel had a second story embedded into the main story and narrated by a character in the main story.

I used that technique when writing King’s Priory. The main story is set in the twenty-first century and the embedded story is set during the Second World War.

Who would you say has influenced you the most?

Daphne du Maurier and Nevil Shute. Du Maurier because she wrote so amazingly well and Shute because he wrote the kind of book I enjoy reading.

How have your personal experiences influenced the direction of your writing?

Being on the wrong side of sixty, I have had the pleasure of meeting a lot of people, with countless different personalities. When I create a new character, I think about the people I have known and imagine how they would behave in the situations I have created. Sometimes that leads to my characters doing the right thing… and sometimes the wrong thing. But that’s life.

What are your main concerns as a writer?

I would like my readers to see my characters as real people. I go out of my way to make them human with human failings and frailties. I have never created a character who was anything near perfect because I have never met such a person in real life.

What would you say are the biggest challenges that you face?

Getting recognition. Like so many other writers, I have been rejected by virtually every major publisher and agent, but I have faith in my writing.

How do you deal with these challenges?

I decided to tackle the problem by working my way up from a small start. I approached a small press, BeWrite Books, who pulled me from the slush pile and published my first real gritty novel, A Tangle of Roots. I will always be grateful to them for that. They allocated me a marvelous editor called Carole Spencer who probably taught me more about writing than any other single person. With her guidance I went on to write the book that will probably always remain my favorite, King’s Priory.

When Carole left BeWrite she invited me to submit a manuscript to her new company in Canada, Lachesis Publishing. That story will be published in North America as The Gamekeeper. In the meantime I am slowly building up a stock of good reviews and recognition from the people who read my stories.

Do you write everyday?

I aim to write every day, unless circumstances prohibit. After waking, I usually lie for half an hour turning over in my mind my current project. I then get up, make a cup of tea, and sit at my computer, typing while my thoughts are fresh. This is often when my mind is at its best.

When I meet a natural pause, I have my breakfast and get dressed. I then think about the next piece of prose and go back to the computer only when I am ready to start typing. I never sit in front of my computer wondering what to write, I consider that wasted time. If I cannot find the right words, I switch off the PC and go for a walk or do something around the house. By the time I get back to the computer, the words will be ready and waiting inside my head.

A point will arise -- and I can never predict when it will occur -- when I instinctively know that I have exhausted my creative ability for that day. I then shut up the PC and leave it until the next morning. I will not force myself to continue writing because I know from experience that it will result in turgid prose which I will have to throw away the next morning.

What is your latest book about?

Lanyon’s Maid is a departure from my previous style. I think of it as Upstairs Downstairs meets Tipping the Velvet. It took around nine months to write. I have only just completed the manuscript and it is not yet with a publisher.

I would like to think about this one for a while before offering it for publication. Lanyon’s Maid is new to my style in that it has a challenging female aspect which I have never before tackled. I once had an agent who read only the first line or two before throwing a manuscript back at me with the words, “This scene opens in a female viewpoint. What makes you think you can write from a female viewpoint?”

My answer was that any writer who aims to take his job seriously must be able to write in any viewpoint pertinent to the story he or she wishes to tell. And that applies in both directions, male or female.

The agent wasn’t convinced but I persevered. And I set myself a major task with this story.

What advantages and/or disadvantages has this presented?

Lanyon’s Maid is set in Victorian times -- an age where female homosexuality was not supposed to exist. But it did.

My biggest challenge was research, discovering exactly how people thought and behaved at that time. I did not want to get too deep into the sort of biological detail described by Sarah Waters, but I wanted the emotions to feel right. The internet helped, as did my local library. The very fact of having to do so much research was not in itself a problem because all my books have needed considerable research.

Which aspects of the work that you put into Lanyon’s Maid did you find most difficult?

I constantly hear of writers complaining about the difficulties they face. I don’t think of anything connected with my stories as being difficult. Sometimes I need to think through aspects of the manuscript to make sure they work, but why should that be a difficulty?

I take pleasure in writing and the day it becomes difficult I’ll give up.

So, although Lanyon’s Maid was a challenging book to write, I don’t think of it as being difficult.

Which did you enjoy most?

I write for pleasure. Even if I started making big money, I would still write for pleasure. I see it as a creative art in which I bring into being people, scenes and actions that would never have seen the light of day, except that I created them.

While on that subject, I’d like to add a rider. That act of creation demands enormous responsibility. Other people are going to read what I write and be affected by it. My words could influence someone else’s life. I must ensure that I write them with sincerity.

What sets the book apart from the other things you have written?

Lanyon’s Maid has a lesbian element.

I didn’t set out to write such a book but as I planned through the plot it became increasingly obvious to me that this was how the story would have to develop. Even in those planning stages, the characters were beginning to take control.

So, I did my research and started writing the story the way it wanted to go.

I hope that my characters will appear both genuine and sympathetic to readers.

In what way is it similar?

Lanyon’s Maid is a Cornish historical story. It follows in the wake of my two previous Cornish stories (The Vanson Curse and The Gamekeeper) as well as the work of Winston Graham, Daphne du Maurier, Gloria Cook and E. V. Thompson.

What will your next book be about?

I want to write a sequel to Lanyon’s Maid, but to give it a different feel and different theme. I plan to take the story forward thirty years to the next generation. The locations (South Cornwall) will remain but the thrust of the story will be different and will center around a young village police constable. The working title will be Lanyon’s Law.

What would you say has been your most significant achievement as a writer?

Publication of my book, King’s Priory.

I had been trying for some years to continually improve my writing and I think I reached the point of personal satisfaction with this book. It has been awarded five stars on the Amazon.com website by two reviewers which pleases me enormously. That is not to say I thought there was anything wrong with my previous books, but with this one I succeeded in saying something that is important to me. To tell what that is would be to spoil the story for the reader. So I won’t.

How did you get there?

Persistence. When I mix with other writers I hear many tales of woe about inability to complete a novel or rejection when it is completed. I can offer no shoulder to cry on, just a piece of advice: writing demands far more than just hard work. It demands a level of persistence necessary in few other jobs.

This article was first published on OhmyNews International.

Related article:

David Hough [Interview_2], Conversations with Writers, April 11, 2010