Our backstory

(Forgive the very grainy pre-digital pictures!)

Jayne on Heather:

We met 10 years ago - yes, 10! - on an Arvon course in Yorkshire. The course was for 15 writers of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror, and the organisers of the Arvon Centre at Lumb Bank had been dreading our arrival. They were expecting us to be pretty strange. As it turned out, the comedy writers who'd preceded us had been far too serious; we 'weirdos' were a great laugh.

Heather and I were thrown together. We shared a room in the converted barn, and hit it off as soon as we opened our mouths and spoke in North American accents.

At the time, I was amazed by Heather's output, and I still am. She's written a handful of novels and been published in several small press publications, as well as Mslexia. She's managed to build her life around her writing, yet has remained a normal human being. Yes, she can be intense, but in an intensely likeable way.

What I enjoy most about Heather's writing is the careful detail, the economy of language and the humour. Like me, she enjoys mixing the ordinary with the extraordinary - our Fantasy roots revisited - and she handles the material well, whether it's a greenhouse timeslip or a most unusual caller to a crisis hotline.

Her enthusiasm, and determination to get a novel published, is undaunted. Her spirit helps to keep me going. We're taking different paths, but we're definitely heading for the same destination.

Heather on Jayne:

I'm pleased Jayne and I met when we did; my first novel wasn't well received by the Arvon tutors and I was reeling from this first rejection. Jayne was upbeat, relaxed, less inclined to melodrama! People like me need people like her.

But relaxed doesn't mean she isn't serious about writing. When she took a break to have her children a few from our Arvon group thought that was the end of Jayne the author. But she has discipline. And, being positive, she looks for what can be achieved. Soulmate was written on begged, borrowed and stolen time (as was this website). Any mother who manages that must be serious.

I think Jayne has a larger picture of life; she intends to be published but the desire doesn't define her every waking moment. And thank goodness, because we have enough 'write about what you know' novels whose protagonists are authors. It makes her style kind. It has humour, a welcoming pace and characters penned with that considered choice of detail that attracts and makes you shake your head in recognition.

I think she'll acquire the kind of readers who will wait for her next book, who will get together at her public appearances and talk about her and her characters as if they were old friends.