You may recognise a few locations as you read the new book from Shropshire author Rosy Gee, as they have inspired some of her stories.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Rosie G, hello how are you? Very well thank you. Fantastic name, I love that Rosie G, very memorable. Thank you.
00:09Which is what you want if you're an author. And tell us a little bit about yourself then. So we're in Lentwerdyne, Lentwerdyne? Yes, Lentwerdyne.
00:18Lentwerdyne, this is where you live? Yes. How long have you lived round here for Rosie? Seven years. And where were you from originally? Sussex.
00:26Okay, so how did you discover Shropshire? I met my husband and he lived here, so I moved up. It's a lovely part of the world isn't it? Beautiful, absolutely beautiful.
00:36If you're coming from a black country boy you often invade Shropshire for work and leisure purposes. So we're not too far from Ludlow and Ludlow and Lentwerdyne, Lentwerdyne?
00:48A picture in the book? It could be, it's a fictional village. Because I live in the village I based it around here, but it is completely fictional and there's lots of characters.
01:04So give us a bit of a synopsis on the book then, what's it all about? Well a lady goes missing and her husband doesn't report her missing for two days.
01:13And there's a new housing development planned in the village and she is opposed to it. She makes lots of noises, she gets mixed up with various things and the story progresses and her friends try to find out what's happened to her.
01:30And they make a shocking discovery and eventually they find out what happened to her. But you've got to buy the book to find out. And the book's called, you've got it there, The Mysterious Disappearance of Marsha Bowden.
01:44Now we're talking about women going missing, do we need to be thrown into Samaritans? How's your own marriage? No, absolutely fine. It's all out of here. Is crime stories always been a passion of yours? Watching films, TV's and stuff?
02:01I grew up reading Agatha Christie. I fell into the genre of cosy crime. I submitted the book to the Cheshire Novel Prize last year and they came back with a wonderful critique. And I submitted it as a thriller. They said if I had submitted it as a cosy crime, which I didn't know existed at the time.
02:19No, I've not heard that myself actually. Apparently it's very popular at the moment and it's set, usually set, like Midsummer Murders, Miss Marple, that kind of thing. And it's usually all tied up neatly at the end, which this book is and I've been told it has a very clever ending as well.
02:34So when did you first get into writing then? I've always written. I wrote my first book when I was seven, when my baby sister was born and I still have that book. Then I wrote another book aged 12, which I won a prize for at school. And I've written articles for magazines. Always wanted to write a novel, but I plotted and planned and it didn't work for me. It got tied up in knots, gave up.
02:56And then during COVID, of course, I had so many long hours to fill that I sat at my desk, started typing. And I just read the book On Writing by Stephen King and he's a pantser style writer, which is an American term, but basically it means you sit down and you write, you fly by the teeth of your pants.
03:12Yeah. So just literally as thoughts are coming into your head and let it flow. I don't know. They just appear and they do what they, you know, they just go off. And so, yeah. And that's how I discovered that I was a pantser style writer. Yeah. I've not, yeah, I've not heard of that before, but that's, um, that reminds me of when you get a band and they say, oh, well, we all just booked a studio and we got in the studio and often it doesn't work out for the best, does it?
03:36Well, there was a lot of editing. I was, fortunately, I started peddling the book around the manuscript around to agents and publishers. And on my 14th submission, Roma Reads Publishing picked it up and Lauren Ilbury has been amazing. She's been a wonderful editor and she's helped us with the developmental edits, the structural edits, line by line edits. And I've learned so much this year. Yeah. It's been an amazing experience. So now I just have to try and sell lots of books. Indeed.
04:04So we're here at the Lion Pub, um, and the pub, am I right in thinking it features in the book? It does, but it's not called the Lion. Yeah. There are sort of certain storylines set here and things happen. Yeah. So, yeah. Do they, do they know here that you've, you've took inspiration? Um, I don't think so, but people have to buy the book. Yeah. They definitely need a copy poised behind the bar or something, don't they? Yes, definitely.
04:28So you, this is a passion of yours, so I presume there'll be more writing and more things come in. Yes, I've written my second novel already and I'm busy editing it. Um, it's along the same lines, Cozy Crime. It's not, um, a follow on, it can be read as a standalone, but there are similarities, certain places I've used again. Um, not the same characters, um, but yeah, a lady, something happens to a lady this time and we have to find out why. Yeah.
04:54So how do you do your writing? Is it on paper? Are you typing? No, I just type straight onto the screen. Yeah. I don't usually print it off until near the end and then I print it off because it's like 350, 400 pages. Yeah. Um, so, um, um, I, I like to work on the screen and, um, I'm a legal secretary by day, so I work on the screen a lot and I'm a touch typist, a trained secretary. I know it's very old fashioned, but, um, so I'm showing my age now.
05:22But I, yeah, I just sit down and type and, and then I go back and edit and edit and edit, tidy it up. And then when I think it's ready to submit to my publisher, my editor, then I will send it to Laura, but not until, um, not until I think it's ready. I'm going to be nosy now if I haven't been nosy enough already. Um, what's your favourite Agatha Christie story then?
05:42Oh, that's a very good question. I really enjoyed The Mirror Cracked from Side to Side. I don't know why, I just thought it was very clever. I haven't read any of her books for years because I used to read them as a child in school. But, um, yeah, very, very clever.
05:58She's inspired a lot of people, hasn't she, over the years? Well, thank you ever so much. We wish you all a success with your book. And, um, I'm sure people will enjoy, as they read it, thinking, I know this place, this Antimelia, you know, so great stuff.