The author behind books including ‘A Walk Around the Historic Inns of Cwmbran’, ‘Gwent History and Mystery’, and ‘Victorian Cwmbran’ has shared her writing tips.
Carol Lewis, a former Llantarnam Comprehensive School pupil, told Cwmbran Life how she started writing. She said: “I always had my head stuck in a book from an early age so always wanted to write one of my own. I like ghost stories but also like researching the stories behind them.
“In 1999, I started writing articles in the yellow CoStar newsletter about the history of Cwmbran, even though the editor said there was no history in Cwmbran before the new town. The best one I wrote was ‘Ghosts of Cwmbran’. I had a lot of positive feedback.”
She’s just finished writing a biography about a distant relative with a fascinating story.
‘Ivor Boden’
“I’m not working on anything at the moment,” said Carol, “I have just published a biography of my cousin (twice removed) Ivor Boden. He was born with a lazy pituitary gland and only grew just over three feet tall. He went to the US and became an actor.
“My previous books were local history, Victorian Cwmbran and Victorian Pontypool. I also wrote Cwmbran History and Mystery and Gwent History and Mystery. I wrote a book about the history of witches and how the hysteria around them grew called ‘Children of Nature’ and a novel called Hanbury Park.”
Her writing was carried out around employment until she had to leave through ill health earlier this year. Her DWP work coach has supported her to become a self-employed writer.
Carol said: “I begin my writing process the old-fashioned way with pen and paper and then once I’m happy with it, I type it into a template that I download onto my laptop from Kindle Direct Publishing. When I was employed, I used to have a notebook on my phone where I could jot down any ideas I had once I was on break.”
She encourages ambitious writers to start getting ideas down on paper, even if they’re only “fragments.”
She said: “There’s no perfect time to start. Get a notebook and pen and get your ideas onto paper even if it’s just fragments. Eventually they will all build up. Keep going and don’t give up.”
Carol Lewis’ books
Carol’s books can be bought as ebooks for Kindle or paperbacks from Amazon.