Madalyn Morgan
It's a new year with new possibilities! Are you planning to do anything differently this year? Personally, I've thought about spending more time on certain activities (reading, writing, sleeping) and less time on others (actually just one: browsing the internet). I think these are more realistic ambitions than what some people might consider. I'm not going to set a goal of becoming a frequent gym user with a huge TikTok following and an e-wallet full of BitCoin. I don't know how to use most equipment in a gym and I know next to nothing about viral videos or cyrptocurrency. I may do a few stretches, write a few social media posts and read the Wikipedia entry on Blockchain, but I'm not making any promises.
I wonder if anyone has ever declared a desire to read less fiction? I hope not. It's usually a case of wanting to read more and what better time to delve into a new series than the beginning of a new year? If that idea appeals then you may want to learn more about this week's guest who has ten novels to her name.
Madalyn Morgan was brought up in a pub in a small market town in the East Midlands, where she has returned to live after thirty-six years in London. She had a hairdressing salon and wig hire business before going to East 15 Drama College. Madalyn was an actress for thirty years, working in television, the West End and Repertory Theatre. She has been a radio presenter and journalist, writing articles for music magazines, newspapers and other publications.
I start the interview, as I often do, with a question about daydreams:
What is your favourite daydream (i.e. the one you return to most often)?
My favourite daydream is the one in which I see my first four novels, about four sisters in WW2, made into a television series. The oldest sister, Bess Dudley, is in the land army, and Margot is in a West End theatre during the Blitz. Claire is in the SOE working with the French Resistance and Ena, the youngest Dudley sister is involved with Bletchley Park. I visualise them on the screen, see the stories unfolding, feel the love, and pain of loss – and I can see the friendships between the land girls and the camaraderie of the French Resistance. I can see how relationships develop and how spies and foreign agents manipulate people and are eventually caught.
There have been two directors interested in the wartime novels. Sadly, neither could raise the money to finance the production.
If you happened to be called upon to be a supply teacher for a short period (à la jury service), what would you teach (other than creative writing or English)?
I would teach The History of Twentieth-Century Women, focussing on WW1 and WW2. Women played vital roles on the home front; feeding their families when food was rationed, growing food in allotments and gardens, recycling and reusing. In 1941, single women were called up to do war work as mechanics, engineers, munitions workers, air raid wardens, bus and fire engine drivers. By 1943, eighty per cent of married women were working in factories, on the land, or in the armed forces.
Could any of your characters be teachers? If so, what would they teach?
In my first novel, Foxden Acres, Bess Dudley taught English in a London school, returning to Foxden when the war started and city children were evacuated. Margot became a singer and dancer in the West End and went on to teach dance when the war ended. Claire was in the SOE and worked with the French Resistance. She was fluent in German and French and could have taught both languages, except German wouldn’t have been popular in post-war England.
If you could go back to school, what would you like to study that you didn’t originally?
I would study English; language and literature. English was part of the school curriculum, but it wasn’t taught in detail as it is today. Worse still, I didn’t work hard enough.
Thinking back to your time at school, might there have been a book in your satchel that wasn't on a reading list?
There were no books in my satchel except school books. I lived in a pub with a jukebox and knew the lyrics to every record in the top 40. I was an only child and my parents bought a television for me to watch while they were working. Until then, I wanted to be a singer in a band. Once we had the television I was determined to be an actress.
What else would have been in your satchel, and what are you carrying around at the moment?
There would have been exercise books and a pencil case containing pens, pencils, a rubber, and a twelve-inch wooden ruler (which I still have). There was always money for the tuckshop, a comb, a small mirror and lipstick which my friends and I would put on after school to walk home.
Since becoming a writer, I always carry a notebook and a couple of pens in my handbag, business cards in a cardholder, and a purse for cash, bank cards, store cards and my driver's license. I carry a small hand-crafted wooden cross and always have antibacterial hand wipes, lens wipes, tissues, a comb and a small makeup bag with a mirror and the essentials. Before leaving the house, I put in my mobile phone.
School’s out! If you had 24 hours to do anything you wanted (with unlimited funds and none of your usual responsibilities), what would you do?
Only 24 hours? I’d better have a jet standing by then. From my home in the Midlands, I’d hire a helicopter to fly me to Birmingham airport where I would board a jet to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. There would be a fast car waiting to take me to La Closerie des Lilas where I’d sit and soak up the creative atmosphere left by the ghosts of Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre, Man Ray, Oscar Wilde, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Emile Zola, Anaïs Nin, Gertrude Stein and many others who frequented the terraces in the days when it was cheaper to drink in cafés than to heat your apartment.
What was the latest daydream of yours that made the leap into the real world?
Being signed by Storm Publishing and having my series reissued by Storm was incredible. Better still, they have produced my first four novels as audiobooks. A fellow author and good friend told me that Storm had set up a new publishing company and was looking to build a client base. She had suggested publishers to me before, but I hadn't submitted to any of them, so I sent Storm my first novel, Foxden Acres. I couldn't believe my luck when Kathryn Taussig replied and asked me if I had written any other books in the series and, if I had, would I send them to her. Since then, I have been on a career-changing roller coaster writing ride.
It's probably time for a lesson. What single piece of advice would you like to share? This could be about writing or life in general.
If you can help someone, help them.
Now for the Random Question. Which of the following would you like to have named after you; park, theatre, football stadium, university library, hospital, airport? You may choose only one.
Theatre.
Thank you for inviting me to chat on your fabulous blog, Martyn. I enjoyed answering the questions. They are great, different and interesting.
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I hope you all enjoyed my questions and Madalyn's answers. You can find out more about Madalyn on her blog: https://madalynmorgan.wordpress.com/ You can also follow her on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and LinkedIn). Below are links to her novels:
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