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Rosen Trevithick

About Rosen Trevithick

Rosen was born in Cornwall. She studied psychology at Oxford before moving back to the West Country.

Readers have downloaded over a quarter of a million copies of Rosen's books. Several titles have broken into the Amazon charts, including a number 1 humorous fiction bestseller.

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24.11.2013 12:56

Kath Middleton on Beyond 100 Drabbles

When Kath Middleton, known as 'Ignite', gave Lipstick and Knickers a two star review I thought she was a tough person to please, perhaps somebody who preferred a more traditional read. Don't get me wrong - Lipstick and Knickers isn't everybody's cup of tea. It has the lowest rating of all my titles, so a two star experience is not entirely rare. It is, however, unusual for somebody from UK Amazon Kindle forum to give a two star review to another member. I'm not saying it shouldn't happen - I'm all in favour of honest reviewing - but the reality is that most people quietly step away if they don't get on with a book by one of their peers. The rare nature of a critical review from that group, gave me the impression that Kath was harder to please than most.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Over my three years as an author, I have come to realise that Kath Middleton is one of the biggest advocates of Indie books and experimental writing, to ever own a Kindle. For years she has offered free proofreading services to Indie authors. She started Ignite Books - a blog celebrating five star books, almost all of which are self-published titles. And she contributed an article 'Why Read Indie Books' to Indie Scene Magazine.

Kath has done so much to support Indie authors, that we all delighted when she turned her hand to writing. I've interviewed her about her new co-written drabble collection, Beyond 100 Drabbles.

Promotional photo for <i>Beyond 100 Drabbles</i> by Jonathan Hill and Kath Middleton

Promotional photo for Beyond 100 Drabbles by Jonathan Hill and Kath Middleton

Am I right in thinking that a drabble was the first piece of fiction you had published? Had you written any fiction prior to that?

I had a single short story published in the Goodreads anthology, A Splendid Salmagundi. The idea for that came to me out of the blue and I ran with it. It was the first story I'd written and I didn't think I'd ever write another. I never feel I have much in the way of ideas. So the first drabble I had published in Indie Book Bargains was my second published piece of fiction.

You've been heavily involved in the Indie book scene for a number of years. What started it all off?

It started with my husband buying me a kindle! I began to notice Indie books for the first time and to enjoy their exuberance. They often couldn't be shoehorned into strict genres and I liked this. I suppose I became involved through a lifelong inability to keep my mouth shut! If I found mistakes in books I didn't think it particularly useful just to tut or to complain to myself. It seemed a more useful thing to do to let the author know. Initially I expected people to be cross that someone was criticising them. Now a number of authors send me their work before it's published. I'm always happy to help. My reviewer ranking has slipped as I spend more time doing the proofreading which takes longer than a straight read but it's more fulfilling to do.

Many published Indies are also drabblists. What attracted you to Jonathan's work in particular?

From Jonathan's first publication, Eclectic, I felt his writing had quality. As usual when you first come across an author, I knew nothing about him. I could see he had an old-fashioned respect for grammar and an instinctive ability to construct a sentence. I rarely have to correct him! He corrects me! I hope I don't sound stuffy but I admire his literary integrity. When I came across him on forums I was pleasantly surprised at his youth. We oldies tend to think that the youth of today has no idea about the correct use of language. He's a shining light in the gloom of bovvered and innit!

Did you split the work down the middle half and half?

No, it grew far more organically than that. Jonathan was collecting drabbles for his first book when I began to have a few published in IBB. He'd been writing them for the newsletter for ages. We would email and congratulate one another on these and eventually the drabbles began to fly between us daily. We both enjoyed getting an instant reaction. One particular drabble of mine, which is in our joint book, struck Jonathan and he said, 'I wish I'd written that'. I said he could have it as a guest drabble in his next book. Then we thought a two author collection might actually work. When I sent mine over, if he specially liked it, I'd say, 'I'll put a J next to that one,' so the collection grew. I always felt it was his book though and he has the greater proportion of drabbles in there.

Are there any running themes in your work?

Jonathan is good at writing stories on a theme and both his drabble books have such series. Mine always seemed to be one-off ideas until I began to twist a few traditional tales and fairy stories. These have been published in the IBB newsletter but my stories in Beyond 100 are all stand-alone. I think my mind is less organised than Jonathan's!

Now a question I asked Jonathan, but am interested in your side of the story: Have there been any differences of opinion or have you agreed on most things? How do you resolve differences of opinion?

The fact that we enjoy one another's writing and have similar ideas and standards means that we don't actually have disagreements. Usually we confirm one another's worst fears! There were many occasions when one of us would email a drabble and say, 'I'm not sure about this,' and the other would say why it didn't really click. We merely confirmed one another's instincts. We just agreed to put these to one side and only go with the ones that made us both say 'Yes!' when we read them. Looking back I don't remember having to resolve anything. We seemed to agree without stating it overtly, that if either wasn't convinced by a drabble, it didn't go in.

What can readers expect from you next?

The lady who said she had no imagination and didn't have a book in her has just completed a 40,000 word novella. It's being picked over by one or two author friends whose opinions I respect (yes, Jonathan is one!) and as long as they don't cut it to ribbons I would like to publish it, probably early next year. As it had a 64 year gestation period I have no idea whether there'll be another but the last six months have taught me never to say 'never'!

Further Info

Ignite's Blog

Beyond 100 Drabbles

A Splendid Salmaundi (edited by Kath who also contributed a short story.)

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