Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!
One of the more under-read areas of Contemporary Romance & Women’s Fiction for me is the classical favourite – the Romantic Comedy and/or the RomCom. Which is a unique thing to disclose considering I am a ready fan of this particular niche in motion picture – oft times my memories of going to the theater to see the latest #mustsee film would befit this category – with several exceptions, as I never liked the RomComs which were pieces of fluff without substance, I preferred the heartier ones with descent plots, wicked good actors and a general sense of sophisticated charm.
When it comes to sourcing the kind of RomComs I want to read in Fiction, however, the search is an extensive one. I’ve found a few authors via ChocLitUK over the years who have a wicked sense of balance when it comes to the RomCom – one of the most #unputdownable reads I had from them was Sarah Tranter’s “Romancing the Soul”. However, if you’ve notice, I read that lovely within my first year of being a book blogger – ergo, it does take me a considerable amount of time to find writers who are writing romantic comedies I’d love to soak inside.
As I read the premise for “Mentoring Mr Singleman” it sparked a lot of lovely questions I wanted to start to ask the author – I was delighted when I learnt I could host an interview and showcase this debut novelist. The best part of all though is how they responded to my questions, allowed my readers and myself a bit of an inside glimpse into the storyline and gave a proper sense of the context of the novel ahead of reading! This is smashing as I wasn’t able to get a copy prior to my tour stop and I loved being ‘caught inside’ the author’s world through our conversation.
I am hoping you, dear hearts will find this interview as enjoyable to read as I had in hosting it. May it give you a tip of joy to find out more about ‘Mentoring Mr Singleman’ and what is next in store for this lovely debut author. This also marks the first blog tour I’ve hosted for Bookollective and I look forward to working with them again.
Brew yourself a cuppa and hug close to the convo!
Mentoring Mr Singleman
by Kim Sancreed
'A witty, off-beat romance set in Cornwall. New member of faculty Kate finds herself living below one of her colleagues in a converted engine house on the cliffs. Everyone can see they are made for each other, but he’s a little too in love with his surfing, and she’s a little too focused on her career. Under the merciless gaze of their students, Dave and Kate dance around each other through the highs and lows of a school term. Will they manage to get out of the way of their own happy ending?'
Places to find the book:
ISBN: 978-1527257122
Published by Wildword
on 24th February, 2020
Published by: Wildword
I believe this is a self-published work by the author
Available Formats: Trade Paperback and Ebook
Converse via: #Contemporary #RomCom
I enjoyed reading about your experience at Back Lane West – as it brings to light a part of Cornwall I hadn’t experienced yet myself – either through the stories I am reading (set there) or through friendships I’ve had over the years (of whom have lived either in the city or directly outside it) – this was a new part of Cornwall I was thankful to become acquainted by.
In keeping with Back Lane West in mind, was this the kind of new art scene happening in Cornwall which inspired “Mentoring Mr Singleman” due to how different kinds of people are constantly starting to cross each other’s path now in Cornwall? Where traditionally the area might not have been as conducive to have those worlds bridging together? Or was there another draw to setting this Rom-Com at Cornwall?
Sancreed responds: That’s a really interesting question. The short answer is probably no, in that the novel is firmly rooted in a version of Cornwall that I know well, one that is quite homogeneous. But the underlying premise of the question is astute – there are many other Cornwalls, some of which I do touch on, and most of which don’t get enough attention in fiction. I taught English and drama in a Cornish school for many years and to an extent am plugged into the literary and theatre scene. Less so the visual arts, which was why the Back Lane West visit did feel like a bit of a meeting of cultures. I’d like my future writing to be a bit bolder in attempting to cross some of those borders.
I love how the tag line references this as a ‘Cornish Romance’ – what do you feel in your mind would trigger this kind of recognition in readers from the UK vs readers from America? How did you want this particular story to stand out and become distinctively ‘Cornish’ for all readers who read it? Were there particular turns of phrase or a particular kind of eccentricity on display?
Sancreed responds: There is a sense in which “Cornwall sells”, both in the UK and overseas – we could name a number of TV series that have cashed in on and at the same time help to create this phenomenon. The truth is Cornwall is a slightly magical place, and people who drift down, or come as a tourist, very often stay. I think I wanted to capture, through Kate, that sense of seeing the place through fresh eyes. She comes down initially because the job feels like a stepping stone on her career path, but early on she recognises that it might turn out to be hard to leave. I was keen to avoid laying on the local colour too heavily, and any quirkiness I have included is fairly true to my own experience, and, I hope, respectful. I guess an American reader might hope to find some of the romantic tropes they associate with Cornwall, while a British one might be looking to recognise bits they had experienced themselves.
Alas when it comes to Cornwall, I mostly immediately think about Rosamunde Pilcher’s “The Shell Seekers” as it was one of my first introductions to the setting and the regional area. However, more recently it was the series adaptations of “Agatha Raisin” and prior to that, Cornwall pops in and out of my readerly wanderings every so often which makes it a nice place to revisit. I’m unsure what I would most identify was being specifically Cornwall myself – except because it is coastal and known for small villages, I suppose that plays a strong recognition in my own idea of Cornwall? Outside what I learnt from my friends.
How would you best describe the engine house Kate and Dave co-habitat inside? What makes it such a clever place to reside by the sea?
Sancreed responds: These engine houses are all over west Cornwall (I can see several from my window) – and most of them are derelict. They vary in size but are built on roughly the same scale as windmills – very solid structures built of huge blocks of granite. A very small number have been refurbished and are used as permanent or holiday accommodation – generally fitted out to a rather higher standard than Dave and Kate’s! I liked the idea of making Dave and Kate neighbours in such a structure because, although they live in separate flats, they very much share this iconic Cornish entity, with its isolation, its links to the industrial heritage and its proximity to the sea. In my mind there isn’t great insulation between the floors, so each inhabitant is conscious of the other in a way they wouldn’t be if they lived in two halves of a semi – Kate can hear Dave moving around above her, and Dave fancies he can sense Kate’s energy beneath him. It’s something that the artist who designed the cover wanted to reference.
Opposites can attract even in the most humourous of situations – do you think Kate and Dave first felt they might be too oppositional to find a flirting of interest with each other or do you feel perhaps they felt they might get on a bit too well and were shy about starting a relationship? I was curious if you knew what was attempting to hold them back even if their match was obvious to others round them?
Sancreed responds: Well they got off on the wrong foot owing to an unfortunate minor car accident. But even prior to that Dave viewed Kate as attractive in purely aesthetic terms – he’s intrigued by her dry intelligence but a little put off by her enthusiasm for aspects of current educational thinking that he doesn’t approve of. And she of course has been slightly inoculated against men through her previous experience, and at this point in her life really isn’t looking for a relationship. So while their colleagues might see them as an obvious potential match, there are a few hurdles to overcome.
How did you get the accuracy of school life writ in such a way where readers can feel the realism of being inside the walls of the school? What did you want readers to tuck away most from the scenes at school?
Sancreed responds: Teaching was my own profession for half of my working life, and I wanted very much to write about it. Virtually everything that happens within the walls of the fictional school is either from my direct experience at various schools I have taught in, or that of friends and colleagues. I wanted to explore some of the tensions within educational practice, and to communicate something of the fun of teaching – you do laugh a lot – and the importance of the relationship between teacher and student. I felt there was room in the market for a book that focuses on the teachers, rather than the classic school story where the kids are the principal characters.
Earlier this year, I read “Adequate Yearly Progress” wherein I talked about how sometimes former teachers and/or those who work in Education have a unique approach to writing stories set in educational spheres of interest. I felt this previous author I read nailed most of what I had remembered myself in lower grades and in high school as well – how there is a particular insular experience at school and there are moments you wouldn’t understand about school if you hadn’t previously experienced going to either public or private schools. I do look forward to seeing how you’ve treated this part of the novel as I’m fascinated by it really and I love looking forward to reading those parts in particular!
What did you enjoy the most about letting Dave come to terms with himself and to take a delayed journey into sorting himself out through an adult coming-of-age story? What did you love most about Dave’s character?
Sancreed responds: That’s a really interesting question. By the time I was Dave’s age I had a mortgage and quite a large family, so in this instance I wasn’t recycling my own experience. I think I like his independence, and the fact that he is fundamentally decent, but has blind spots and flaws that he is dimly aware of, and is beginning to work out will only be reinforced if he carries on the way he is going. And he doesn’t always get it right with women.
Being a Contemporary story, how did you want to keep the air and texture of the story light-hearted? How did you seek to strike the balance between the serious chapters and the more humourous inclusions in other words? How did it all fuse together for you?
Sancreed responds: I think the humour arises organically to a certain extent from the subject matter – I’ve said above that schools are quite entertaining places, and the difficulties teachers face in carrying on a courtship in front of a thousand adolescents – as many have to – is potentially quite amusing. I don’t think of it as a particularly serious novel, although Donkey’s story gets quite dark in places, and I guess from Dave and Kate’s point of view trying to work out whether this other person, who is interested in you, and in whom you are also vaguely interested, is someone worth investing time and effort in, is also a serious question. The stakes are higher for Dave because of the stage he’s at – there are a couple of points in the novel where he could easily take a different path.
As this is a first novel and your debut – do you plan to spin this into a duology (where there are only two volumes) or do you have plans set forth to carry this into a series? I was curious if readers will learn more about Dave and Kate or if there romance and story is meant to be left to what reader’s will imagine for themselves?
Sancreed responds: I think if I wrote another one – and I am playing with ideas at the moment – it would seem a shame to stop at two. Three seems like a nice number to me, but they might not all focus so closely on Dave and Kate – there are other characters who have stories to tell, and characters I would like to introduce. So I feel quite comfortable with the idea of a St Petroc’s trilogy, in which Dave and Kate’s story would continue, but other characters might take centre stage for a bit.
Next to a duology and a quarter, a trilogy is a good rounding of how to carry on a series and give readers just enough to chew over about finding out new bits about their favourite characters whilst enjoying the interludes with new ones who have risen to take prime focus. I think you have a lovely idea here and I look forward to seeing what develops next! Hopefully before the sequel is published I’ll be able to get a copy of this in print to read first!
Who was your favourite secondary character and why?
Sancreed responds: I like all the characters, and have a particular fondness for the students, although they can be challenging to get right. I like Edward Tremenhere – there’s a hint in the book that he has an interesting back story but he doesn’t do a great deal in this novel. I’d like to develop the D’Allesadros a bit too.
What did you feel was the most endearing character trait of Kate and why?
Sancreed responds: I like the fact that she doesn’t over-think things. She’s quite instinctive but not in an all-over-the-place kind of way. She’s self-reliant and self-contained. And I like her wit. She’s not one to tell long hilarious stories or to roll around the floor holding her sides, but she’s sharp, and dry, and gives as good as she gets. She can certainly handle Dave.
What is your process for writing? Are you more traditional with typewriter, notebook and pens or a bit more high tech with computers and applications? I was curious how you set about to write and what your process looks like from research to writing done the bones of a novel?
Sancreed responds: I do most of it on a laptop, although sometimes I brainstorm things with pencil and paper. I wrote the novel quite quickly in the first half of 2019, working for around two or three hours each morning, getting 1500 words down, then walking or playing golf in the afternoon, in the course of which I’d be chewing over what I’d written, and marvelling that my characters hadn’t quite behaved as I had expected them too, and working out what this might mean for the story. There wasn’t a huge amount of research to do as I was writing about a world I know well, though I did spend a bit of time on the price of wing mirrors! I don’t use plot development tools or anything of that sort, but I did attend an excellent Arvon course where I picked up some really useful tips on structure.
I loved how you lived and worked inside “Mentoring Mr Singleman” – how you allowed yourself pace and reflection outside before you moved on internally to write down the next bits of the story itself. It is a good working process and one I was thankful you’ve shared with my readers and myself. I love finding out how writers write – as we all approach it similarly and yet, we each have a uniquely independent process, too.
When you are not writing and researching what renews your spirit the most?
Sancreed responds: I live near a lot of very beautiful land and seascape: beaches, cliffs and woodland, and I like to get out in it. I need to feel the sunshine on my face. And music is very important to me. I’m not really very musical but it fascinates me and I love listening to it and attempting to understand its workings, particularly as it relates to the guitar, which is the only instrument I can do anything with. And I love drinking beer in the autumn sunshine outside French cafes, but it looks like that’s on hold for a while.
I love being out in the natural world – it is very Zen and very soul lifting, I agree. Music is a cornerstone of importance in my life. I am constantly listening to different varieties of music – which is one of the key benefits of finding #Spotify and hos.com (Hearts of Space) – as they provide brilliant ambiance to book bloggers and writers alike. I sometimes also find musical sounds and styles to match into a book I’m reading for an added layer of experience. I need to dust off my electric guitar one day and sort out how to play it properly – I love guitars too. And, I hope you’ll be able to get back to your French cafes as soon as this world crisis is over – there are some lovely experiences like that one I miss myself but there is something to be said for ingenuity and having a picnic in the car after having gone through a drive-thru! I love amber lager myself when it comes to beer – the light ones are okay but not my top favourites and I have a penchant of love for Guinness too. That’s my Irish showing! lol
I love how conversational this interview became and how you are given a lovely insight into why the author set this story in Cornwall as much as how Cornwall inspired the author themself. I love finding stories set in Cornwall – it isn’t often I find one nowadays as I seem to find locales in cycles. There was a moment in my readerly life where I spent a considerable amount of time there and now, whilst streaming #AgathaRaisin via #AcornTV this April I finally made my return! Ha!! Interesting sidenote: I couldn’t connect with Aggie in the books, but I found the adaptations smashingly addictive! So much so, I now ache for news of Series 4!
Bringing it back round to “Mentoring Mr Singleton” – I think after hearing the responses and getting a bit more information about the pace and context of the novel, this is definitely one I want to seek out via my local library as soon as they reactivate purchase requests! They kindly allow us to request both Indie Authors & Indie Publishers – which is one of the best joys I have as a reader as I can help get the Indies into public libraries. Now, if I only knew when those services would resume as this past week the library finally reopened after being shuttered for a month.
This blog tour is courtesy of: Bookollective
Be sure to follow the tour route
& the social feeds for Bookollective for more about this novel!
NOTE: Similar to blog tours wherein I feature book reviews, book spotlights (with or without extracts), book announcements (or Cover Reveals) – I may elect to feature an author, editor, narrator, publisher or other creative person connected to the book, audiobook, Indie film project or otherwise creative publishing medium being featured wherein the supplemental content on my blog is never compensated monetarily nor am I ever obligated to feature this kind of content. I provide (98.5%) of all questions and guest topics regularly featured on Jorie Loves A Story. I receive direct responses back to those enquiries by publicists, literary agents, authors, blog tour companies, etc of whom I am working with to bring these supplemental features and showcases to my blog. I am naturally curious about the ‘behind-the-scenes’ of stories and the writers who pen them: I have a heap of joy bringing this content to my readers. Whenever there is a conflict of connection I do disclose those connections per post and disclose the connection as it applies.
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