Sparkle Anwyl: Sleuth or Sidekick?

November 12, 2015 by Roland Clarke

After learning something about the ‘murder suspect’ Twyla Locke, it’s now time to meet the second character in “Fates Maelstrom”, my 2015 NaNoWriMo novel.

As this is the opening mystery in the North Wales-based series, “Snowdon Shadows”, the interviewee has to be a reoccurring character.

Noomi Rapace – Photo by Emma Hardy for British Vogue ~ Sparkle look-alike

So meet Meinwen Sparkle Anwyl, a twenty-four year-old Welsh detective constable with Pwllheli CID, part of the North Wales Police or Heddlu Gogledd Cymru.

If you are with Pwllheli CID, aren’t you outside your patch here in Craig-o-Niwl?

Technically yes, but I got assigned to help Detective Sergeant Mal Sumnor. He’s the officer investigating the suspected murder of Aubrey Locke.

I know the area well as I have family here – my mother’s parents have a sheep farm that borders with Hawktrewen Estate. This is my chance to help the community by solving an unresolved case. D.S Sumnor also needs my language skills.

Because you’re Welsh? Don’t all Heddlu have to be bilingual?

Yes, he needed that qualification to join the force, just like me. He speaks good Welsh for an Englishman, but he needed someone that spoke Romani. His Detective Inspector insisted that we talk to the suspect Twyla Locke in her own language, although she speaks Welsh and English.

Growing up, I visited my grandparents often. So I came into contact with Twyla’s people, and picked up Romani. Maybe that could become my third language, if I used it enough.

But they’re proud people that don’t suffer outsider fools well. DS Sumnor needs to tread carefully, if he wants to solve this case.

Are you concerned about the case? What do you think is going to happen next?

People will take sides, I fear. It won’t be easy remaining objective in my dealings with people I know. But that is a key part of the job. Hopefully, I can ensure that the victim gets justice, and the guilty are found. But I might have my hands tied by a senior officer that judges me by my appearance.

Do fellow officers judge you? What’s so strange about your looks?

My D.I, Fay Baines, doesn’t judge. She’s always been supportive. But there are others that have an attitude. I try to play down my image, especially when on duty. Off-duty, I’m probably more relaxed and unwilling to mention my job – and that can be useful if I’m undercover. What do you expect from a Goth policewoman?

Goth might explain your appearance. How would you describe your looks?

Dark and elusive. My looks are deceptive as I have dyed my dark brown hair to black. Before I changed my looks, some would say I was a typical Welsh girl. I’ve still got the heart-shaped face and pale white skin, but I’ve added strong black eyeliner, green eye-shadow and deep red lipstick.

The look seems subdued at the moment. Is that because you are on duty?

I sometimes wear this black trouser suit when I’m visiting families or for some interviews, like today’s. But, even on-duty, the norm is my black leather biker jacket, black T-shirt, black jeans, and my black Doctor Marten Dalton boots. Usually I add a studded black choker, black belt with studs and silver buckles, and black leather studded wrist.

Is there something that makes you a good detective?

Thinking outside the box? I never like to jump to the first conclusion, and try to find that hidden truth. A weird sort of deduction, some might say, especially when I use the studs on my bracers to work through the key points. If there’s no notepad to hand, then I can remember the points by letters that become a mnemonic. I also get what I call “a tingle in my tattoos” when something is wrong.

2013 Kawasaki Ninja 250r

You have tattoos? They aren’t obvious.

Well the Police rules are specific, and say things like, “You should not have tattoos which could cause offence”

I was aware of the rules when I first thought about joining the force. Then I remembered that when I got my first tattoo at sixteen. I chose angel wings joined by a white rose on my shoulders. My second tattoo was stylized rose with thorns, on my lower back. The final tattoo is a small one on my hip of a thorny rose.

Hopefully the thorns are symbolic. What is your worst fear?

Swimming pools send shivers up my spine. All because I was nearly drowned at school by a bully trying to repeatedly duck me underwater. I now find that chlorinated water triggers the memory of swallowing foul-tasting water. But in the line of duty, I can handle pools. However, I’m still an avid swimmer, but that has to be wild swimming, in the sea off the Llyn Peninsula, or in suitable lakes or rivers in the area.

That would keep you fit and healthy, crucial for overpowering some criminals. Do you see yourself as heroic?

Well I’m a kookie crime buster that helps her community, but doesn’t conform, and doesn’t have a cape – just a super bike. But heroic is too emotive. I do my job, and although I suspect that some see me as an intense weirdo that is incapable of doing a normal policing job, I get results, even if the approach can seem offbeat.

Do you actually have a super bike?

It’s more of a sport bike, although it’s powerful enough for me. It’s a black Kawasaki Ninja 250r. When I bought it, second-hand for £3,500, with my mechanic brother Owen’s help, some of the family said I should have bought a second-hand car. Why? I get to drive enough squad cars at work, and leaning a bike into bends is much more fun. It was neon green, but, because that wasn’t my colour, my brother re-sprayed it for me, I dream of a black 2015 Indian Scout – but that would be outside my means.

Are you going to die in this story? Should you?

I don’t intend to give up that easily. I always say, “Failure is not an option,” so that has to be the same for ‘death’. I don’t even think my most negative colleagues would want that. However, if my death helped in some way then it might be acceptable. But then I can’t be in a sequel.

Twyla Locke: Murderess or Scapegoat?

November 5, 2015 by Roland Clarke

Time to meet the first character in “Fates Maelstrom”, my 2015 NaNoWriMo novel. And the opening mystery in the North Wales-based series, “Snowdon Shadows”. As some of the characters appear in the sequels, the key question is, “Who survives to tell the tale?”

Twyla Anemone Locke?

In the opening scene, this nineteen year-old Welsh gypsy girl, is the main suspect in a murder, and being grilled by the police.

So Twyla, why should we care about you?

I want the chance to help my family and my community in Craig-o-Niwl, and I need someone to listen to my side of things before the mouthy men – the police or Heddlu – jump to conclusions because of my gypsy blood.

I just want to continue studying for my Diploma in Horticulture at Northop College. But all that changed when I got arrested for my English grandfather’s murder. Why me? I loved my Pappus, so I must be innocent. I spent time with him at his home, Hawktrewen Park, because I adored him.

My apologies. It’s hard not to pry. Is there a reason for their suspicion?

Other than the evidence they claim to have? I’m not good at being accused of something. All my guilt turns on me. The voices come back. The past mistakes. My blood.

What voices? What mistakes? Are these important to your character?

The voice feels like a shadow haunting me. It has lurked throughout my life – in my memories, experiences, and nightmares. I can hear her voice. Yes, she’s a girl like me. I’ve always been aware of her shadow, ever since my first bad dream. My earliest memory is a nightmare of a boat on a lake and clinging onto someone for life. It was explained as a genetic memory of my parents – of my dad Alex saving my mum Jewell and their unborn child from drowning – the night that I was born.

When I was a kid, the shadow became my invisible friend, called Midge. I talked to her and even blamed her – she was the sister I never had. She was my confidante when hiding in bushes or trees away from other kids. And when I was sick, then so was Midge.

Now I’ve been arrested for a murder that I can’t remember commiting. When I was younger, I could have blamed Midge. If the shadow is real could it steal my ID, my memories, and my life? Because some people feel that my madness and amnesia is a means to hide from my guilt.

They say that I’m a serial offender and a juvenile delinquent. But the crimes were real petty – not even bad ones…all misunderstandings. It’s just prejudice because I’m a gypsy. Okay there were four charges but I can explain them all, if anyone gives me the chance – which they don’t.

Are we talking about prejudice because of race?

My dark, foreign looks make me stand out. Some might be kind and say they’re exotic. My skin might be olive, and could be called Mediterranean. But there’s more Eastern blood in me – mixed with the gaje from my dad. The dark brown eyes and black hair must be from my gypsy mother. Maybe the strong bones and muscles are my father, but they make me like a tomboy, when I dress in jeans.

How would you describe your personality?

I lack self-confidence and will often question myself. But that’s better than acting too quick. When compared with friends, I’m an overweight underachiever. I’ve yet to do what my parents dreamt of doing. They died before they could make the community better. On good days I am determined. But more often it’s better to close the world off, and deal with things in my head.

Do people understand you? Or do they all shun you?

People close to me, like my fellow gypsies at Horn’s Rhych, they understand me. However, I often wonder if other people understand me. Even friends at college can act weird towards me – asking ‘is that what Gypsies think/do/like?’, or even expecting me to read their hands or cards. One even produced a crystal ball. I’m just a gardening student not a fortune teller.

But some folks are antagonistic. ‘You’re different’, ‘you smell’, ‘my phone got stolen… by her.’ The mouthy men think that about not just me. I’m an outsider and so are my people.

Yet the locals come to the Rhych and buy plants and food from us. Most of them don’t stare or act rude. The Welsh have been treated badly themselves, so understand about prejudice. You could say that the English are the outsiders, or invaders, that took the land and the prime jobs. But then I’m part Locke, and they’re the local English landowners.

What is your worst fear?

I’m terrified of dying young like my parents – at 19 like my mother. That’s why I’m afraid of lakes – they died on Lake Como. Drowned. Well, my father did, having saved my mum. But then she died a few hours later giving birth… to me. And I’m now nineteen and it will be months before my twentieth birthday, so it could still happen.

What do you think is going to happen next?

The mouthy men will find me guilty of murdering my Pappus. That will cause trouble between my two families, and mean the end of Horn’s Rhych. And the end of my parents dreams for Craig-o-Niwl and Hawktrewen estate.

What are you going to achieve in this story?

I need to prove my innocence, or someone else has too. And find the real killer. If not then I must ensure that the two communities don’t blame each other for my failure. My ancestors will not forgive me, even if they can torment the murderer. They are talking to me already. Their eyes see everything.

Are you going to die in this story?

I hope that I live. Unless my death helps solve the crime. Or is my health going to kill me? What would be the point of that? I need to die achieving something.

Attempting to Blog during NaNoWriMo

November 4, 2015 by Roland Clarke

When I realised that Wednesday November 4^th was IWSG day and it fell during NaNoWriMo I panicked. How was I going to fit the post in? The easiest solution seemed to be not write anything. Who would miss me for one month? I’ve already began to comment on fewer websites, to manage my time more efficiently. But then I’m following more sites than I did last year. So missing an IWSG post wouldn’t get me blackballed. Would it?

The problem was not just November 4^th. I’ve also committed to writing something on here every week, Foolish or challenging? Well, during NaNoWriMo it will be a challenge.

Insecurity: how do I blog during November and do NaNoWriMo? I’m not a multi-tasker like many writers – I’m only a man.

Solution: Write all the posts before November and schedule them. Simple.

It would be… if I hadn’t wasted October – just don’t ask how, or I’ll have to say the Force was with me. Anyway, all I have to do is send in my submission for the IWSG Anthology Contest and then I can re-work my “Fates Maelstrom” character interviews as posts. Finally, rather than post on Tuesdays, I will schedule these for every Thursday.

So that’s the way I’m going to blog during NaNoWriMo. Just don’t expect my usual long-winded comments.

NaNoWriMo Desktop
– http://hermiejr157.deviantart.com/

The first Wednesday of every month is officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day. We post our thoughts on our own blogs. We talk about our doubts and the fears we have conquered. We discuss our struggles and triumphs. We offer a word of encouragement for others who are struggling.

Please visit others in the group and connect with other writers – aim for a dozen new people each time.

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

Let’s rock the neurotic writing world!

Our Twitter hashtag is #IWSG

And be sure to check out our Facebook group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/IWSG13/

The awesome co-hosts for the November 4 posting of the IWSG are Stephen Tremp,Karen Walker, Denise Covey, and Tyrean Martinson!

Cunning Plan or Devious Plot?

October 13, 2015 by Roland Clarke

Time to look ahead and maybe concoct something. Now seeing that this is the UK and November 5^th is creeping up on us, I was thinking something explosive and controversial. Fireworks?

Well there was a devious plot on 5 November 1605 that might have made headlines, if it was successful. But now it is remembered in a different way than intended. But what would have happened if Guido had succeeded?

On a serious note, our animals would be better off.

However my November is more likely to be more of “I have a cunning plan” – if all unfolds as intended. No I don’t mean the proposed return of ‘Blackadder’, although that could be more than cunning. What do you think??

Individual screenshots, copyright held by the BBC

No, I mean NaNoWriMo and my chance to recreate “Fates Maelstrom” with my female Goth detective and in Snowdonia. I’ve almost finished the new character profiles and interviews, and there is a new detailed outline – a devious plot that Guido might approve of, and even a cunning plan that Baldrick couldn’t disagree with. And I have a blurb:

“Did Twyla Locke kill her wealthy English grandfather? Is the nineteen-year-old gypsy woman a schizophrenic liar that could kill again? Or is someone impersonating her, in an attempt to destroy her dreams?

Detective Constable Sparkle Anwyl believes the Romani girl is innocent, but her superior, Detective Sergeant Mal Sumnor, thinks that the forensic evidence against her is overwhelming. Why should he believe his offbeat Goth junior? She’s only needed as she understands Romani.

Then American investigative journalist, Brogan Keyes, produces photos that prove Twyla’s innocence. But why is he in the Welsh village of Craig-o-Niwl? Who is he? What is he hiding?

Sometimes the truth can lie hidden in the past, and some ghosts wield power in vulnerable minds. And some people have reasons to fear buried secrets.”

Although I am hoping that my preparations help me in November, I wonder if I can write 50,000 words in a month. Okay, I did in 2011, 2012, and 2013, but last year was a total zero. In 2014 I intended to write “Fates Maelstrom” Mark II but my total was zilch…nada. Perhaps because I hadn’t got my head around Sparkle Anwyl, or because my health intervened. Having just written 43,639 words in 100days – the 100k in 100 days Challenge – I know my limits, although that was all done ‘pantster’ style.

Or is the secret in the planning stage?

There are some good guides to that stage out there, like this one by Janice Hardy, who says for instance:

“If you like to outline, you might break down your 12,500 words into chapters to get a feel for pacing and structure. To hit your 50K-word mark, you’ll need to write 1667 words a day, so let’s say you’re aiming for a chapter a day. That would give you 30 chapters at the end of the month, a reasonable amount for your average 60-80K novel.”

So what’s my problem? Did Guido achieve anything? Would Baldrick do better?

What lines set you alight?

September 22, 2015 by Roland Clarke

I was going to blog about ‘A world without William Shakespeare’ but the prospect was too horrendous – even if Christopher Marlowe hadn’t been killed so young.

Did that line grab you, or turn you livid with anger?

How important to you is the first line of a book? I admit there have been some great ones. My favourites, and I read these decades ago, are:

There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it. — C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. – George Orwell, 1984 (1949)

But such lists are open to debate, and trying to pick favorites can be a challenge.

Getting that opening right, finding the right words, choosing the moment to start that is the question. Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer – that’s wrong, although as writers we can suffer.

At the moment, my mind is on openings, partly as I have taken on some beta reading, but also as I am struggling with my own opening line:

“Their eyes stared at Twyla without emotion and followed every move that she made up or down the stairs.”

The real question is – what makes you read on? The opening line or paragraph? The cover and blurb? Reviews?

I can remember days past when I went into a bricks & mortar bookshop and flicked through real books. Aah that smell. I started with the cover and blurb, then sampled the opening, and even flicked further on. Harder of course with e-books, but sampling is an option so I read as far as I can. To me a novel is more than a memorable first line.

Do we stop at “Who’s there?” or tarry longer with the Groundlings?

So what hooks you? What is your favourite opening? Can you envisage no Shakespeare?

Midnight Hamlet at The Globe by TheFella on Flickr

Why the Delays? Is it the weather?

September 2, 2015 by Roland Clarke

I should put this off given the title of this post. But as the date is September 2^nd and the first Wednesday of the month, it’s officially Insecure Writer’s Support Group day.

August has been a month of delays, but I can’t blame snow on the tracks, or leaves. But the weather or at least the distractions of summer might have played a part.

I admit that I didn’t give my beta readers a deadline for when their comments on “Storms Compass” were needed. And I forgot that the summer is filled with distractions, from holidays, tasty BBQs, and back-to-back horse shows. So a week ago I gave my readers until September 17^th, and even told those that I knew were tied up, the option of asking for longer. Now I just wait a few more weeks.

Not sure whether my brother has an excuse for moving the deadline over agreeing to help with my bridging loan to get to the USA. But that decision is being delayed as well, even though I now have the go-ahead for the next stage – the medical.

Any more delays?

Well I have to stick up my hand and admit the character profiles for “Fates Maelstrom” are delayed while I distract myself in some future world.

But isn’t that the fault of summer? Do you blame me?