Caution: Contains minor spoilers

Story behind Persistence of Memory by Winona Kent
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I actually got the idea for Persistence of Memory while I was researching my family tree. I was born in England, but I came to Canada with my parents when I was very small. I’ve been back to England a number of times, and each of those trips has included visits with a few relatives. But I grew up without any aunts and uncles and cousins nearby, and so the idea of having an extended family within shouting distance was a bit peculiar to me.

My dad was born in Czechoslovakia and was a refugee in World War Two. He ended up in England, where he changed his last name to Kent and met my mum. My dad’s side of the family has been really well documented by other family members, but my mum’s side had never really been researched.

I was never really interested in where I’d come from, and where my mum’s family had come from, until one day a few years ago, something just sort of hit me - flash, like a lightning bolt. I get these "struck by lightning" moments every now and then, and when they happen, they usually lead to something big.

A friend who was an expert at researching her own family history gave me some excellent pointers, and signed me up to one of the family tree programs, and I was away. I had a lot of success - it’s lucky in those days most people never strayed more than a mile or two from their birthplaces - but then I hit a brick wall with one of my great-grandfathers. No birth certificate. No information about his parents. Very little information about him at all, until a census record in 1911. And he died young, aged 42. And no one in the family could provide any of the missing details.

That was the next “flash” that started me writing Persistence of Memory. I took all of that frustration and intrigue, and I gave it to the main character, Charlie Lowe. And then I sent her back in time to actually meet her great-grandparents, six generations in the past. I even named her great-grandfather (x 6) after my mysterious great-grandfather - Augustus.

It’s also interesting that this didn’t start out as a novel. Ten years ago I took a break from writing books, and went to Vancouver Film School to learn how to write screenplays. I think Persistence of Memory was my second script, after graduation. I pitched it absolutely everywhere and although I got a lot of positive feedback, I couldn’t convince any producers to take a chance and option it. So I put it away and worked on other projects. And then, last year, after the success of my novel Cold Play (which was adapted from my major screenplay project at Film School), I felt the time was right to turn Persistence into a novel as well.

So the screenplay became my outline, and I worked from that. The process of writing a novel is completely different in so many ways from writing a screenplay. For one thing, you have the luxury of being able to follow a character’s thought processes. And you can indulge in description. A screenplay is more like providing the bare bones of a story for a director, and once it’s out of your hands, it gets worked on, altered, rewritten and reshaped by an entire team of film-makers. A novel is all your own work. And I loved being able to explore Charlie’s life, and the characters who inhabit her life.

The other thing I really enjoyed about writing Persistence was the opportunity to work with an editor. That didn’t come right away. Cold Play, my previous novel, was self-published as an ebook and a paperback, and I was quite prepared to go the same route with Persistence. But I could also see many advantages in trying to find an agent, and having Persistence published traditionally. So I went through the exercise and queried about 200 agents in three countries to see whether they’d be interested in taking me on.

I’ve had agents before (two, in fact), but the publishing industry is going through a massive change, and it’s even tougher now than it was 10 years ago when I was pitching my second novel The Cilla Rose Affair. So while a number of agents asked to read my manuscript, none actually felt they could interest a major publishing house in it.

I was on the verge of self-publishing Persistence when I thought, I’ll just try a few of the new digital publishers who are out there, to see if they might be interested. The advantage of this new flock of publishers is that they operate without much overhead. They have virtual offices. They’re prepared to take risks where the traditional publishers won’t. There’s no danger of unsold books or inventory sitting in a warehouse. They don’t have to pay for paper and printing and delivery of books. Everything they put out is digital - an ebook or a print-on-demand trade paperback, or both.

And a huge plus with any publisher is that, in exchange for a percentage of your royalties, they’ll design a decent cover for your book, provide an excellent editor, and help with your marketing. Which is why I was thrilled to bits when Matt from Fable Press wrote back to tell me he loved the story in Persistence of Memory and he was very keen to publish it, as long as I was willing to make a few changes.

I can’t stress enough how important it is for writers to be open to criticism, and to making changes to their stories. I said yes immediately. I love working with editors, and shaping my fiction with the help of someone who has an objective point of view, and is seeking only to make it a better finished product for the reader. I learned so much from that exercise - including a few things I’d never even considered.

The one big thing Matt made me do was restrict the point of view in the story to two characters: Charlie Lowe, the heroine, whose narrative takes place mostly in 1825, and Nick Weller, Charlie’s physicist cousin, who lives in the present. My original draft had a rather grand third person omniscient point of view, following many of the characters at once. Matt made me change all that, with some interesting results.

I pleaded with him to let me use the point of view of Louis Augustus Duran (the Greater) - but he said no. So, near the end of the novel, you’ll see a letter, written by Monsieur Duran to Charlie. It’s an old, old literary device, and it felt a bit odd at first, but when you think about it, it’s just the sort of thing you might find in a novel from the era that Charlie accidentally finds herself in.

I also wanted to use the point of view of Monsieur Duran’s son, Louis Augustus Duran (the Lesser). Again, I was forbidden. Which is why you’ll find Charlie lurking behind a garden wall at Stoneford Manor, overhearing a soliloquy (in terrible, French-fractured English) as Monsieur Duran (the Lesser) wanders among the cabbage rows, plotting. The same restriction forced me to have Charlie invited to lunch with the Durans, so that father and son could argue over inheritances. And on the way to lunch, she detours into the servants’ quarters, and manages to teach Mr. Deeley (the manor’s groom) and Mr. Rankin (the manor’s gardener) how to play a newly acquired French acoustic guitar.

Finally, a word or two about the series I plan on writing, with Charlie and Mr. Deeley as the main two characters. Persistence of Memory started out as a standalone novel, a sort of homage to Jane Austen (although Jane has been dead for some years by the time this story takes place in 1825). I didn’t even think of Persistence as a genre piece. But I realized, as I was pitching it, that it does fit neatly into a little corner of speculative fiction - accidental time travel - and Charlie and Mr. Deeley do fall in love - so there’s your historical romance. And I haven’t had my fill of them yet - both have demanded more time with me, so there will be a series. And the next one will be set in World War Two London.

Persistence of Memory isn’t a traditional bodice-ripper. Nor is it a highly philosophical piece about time travel. And there aren’t any zombies in it. But if you love the idea of someone accidentally ending up in pre-industrial revolution England, and you’re at all acquainted with Jane Austen’s work, you might like Charlie’s adventures with Mr. Deeley. I had a great time writing about them. I hope you have an equally entertaining time reading about them.

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Audio Interview on TalkDigitalNetwork.com with Matt Plourde, publisher of Fable Press, talking about e-publishing in general, and Persistence of Memory .

A Fresh Approach to Publishing

"Certain authors have the ability to write a character that speaks to certain people...Charlie  had actual desires and wants, vulnerabilities and strengths...my partner and I fell in love right away with the main character."

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Interview with Winona Kent, author of Persistence of Memory

Bibliophilic Book Blog

Interview: Q. Please tell us about the inspiration for your current release.

I actually got the idea for Persistence of Memory while I was researching my family tree. I was never much interested in where I'd come from, until one day something just sort of hit me - flash, like a lightning bolt - and I started digging into my mum's family in England. I get these "struck by lightning" moments every few years, and when they happen, they usually lead to something great. I had a lot of success tracing my family tree, and found out about everyone except one of my great-grandfathers. I literally hit a brick wall with him. No birth certificate, no information about his parents, very little information about his life in general until a census record in 1911. And he died young, aged 42. No one in the family could provide any of the missing details either. So I sort-of took that frustration and intrigue and gave it to the main character, Charlie, in Persistence of Memory. And I sent her back in time to actually meet her great grandparents, six generations in the past.

Q. How did writing this book affect you?

I ended up learning a lot about early 19th century social history in England! I was never good at history in school, but I think it was because I could never “connect” any of it to myself. I’d never experienced it, so I found it difficult to relate to things which happened before I was born. But as soon as I sent Charlie, the novel’s heroine, back in time, I could imagine her initial disconnection from the era she’d landed in. And then because she had to experience everything in that era, I had to learn about it myself. So it was a great way to become an expert on 1825 England. And the research methods I developed will come in handy for the next novel, which is again set in a time before I was born - 1940 London, during the Blitz. So you could say that I’ve become much more historically aware as a result of “Persistence of Memory”. Writing this novel also gave me a fabulous idea for a series of novels about the same two characters - Charlie Lowe and Mr. Deeley, who becomes her love interest. “Persistence” didn’t start out as the first novel in a series - I wrote it as a standalone story - but I ended up seeing the potential in more stories about accidental time travel with these two characters, who are great together.

Q. What is the hardest part of writing for you?

The hardest part is finding the time to write. A long time ago I decided that the only way I'd be able to work full-time and write would be to incorporate naps into my day. So I have a short nap, 20 minutes or so, at noon, and then I have a long nap, about 2-3 hours, after work. And then I write into the night. I'm lucky that my best creative time is late at night. I try to write every day, including weekends. I don't have a daily word count, though I do have a detailed outline. Sometimes I can only write one paragraph. Sometimes I can write 10 pages. If I feel I really need to concentrate and apply my creative mind without interruptions or distractions, I'll take some holiday leave from work and become a full-time writer for a few days. A long time ago, before the arrival of the internet, I found it really difficult to do research. Researching a novel in those days would involve long hours in a library, scrolling through microfilm to read newspaper and magazine stories, hunting down books and needing a budget for photocopying and microfilm printing. The internet has made everything about research so easy now. What used to take months can literally now be done in an hour or two. So really the only difficult part of writing for me these days is finding the actual time to write.

Q. Do you plan any subsequent books?

Yes - as mentioned above, “Persistence of Memory” is the first in a series of accidental time travel stories with the same two characters, Charlie Lowe and Mr. Deeley. The next one will be set in 1940 London, during the Blitz, and I’m thinking about perhaps making the one after that about London in the “Swinging Sixties” - roundabout 1964 when Beatlemania was at its height and the Brits were taking over the world in fashion, music, film… just about everything. It was a very exciting time to be alive - and I have the added bonus of actually experiencing it all first hand myself. After that, who knows? I definitely want to try and write one new novel in the series a year.

Q. What are you currently reading?

The current book beside my computer is called “Sex in Georgian England”. It’s about social attitudes towards sex, women, etc., in the early to mid-1800s. It’s research for the character of Mr. Deeley for the next novel. He’s a guy who was born into that era, and without giving away too many spoilers, he’s going to be a constant character in all of the future books, so I want to get his attitudes right!

Q. Please tell us your latest news (book-related or not!).

I just had my 59th birthday, so that’s a bit of interesting news, as I’m a lot older than most authors who are just starting out with a new book. I’ve had three novels published previously, but I consider “Persistence” to be a kind of new beginning for me, so I think of myself as a debut author, in spite of the fact that technically it isn’t true. I’m also really pleased to be accepted into the Fable Press family. My previous novel, “Cold Play”, was self-published so I know the amount of work that goes into editing, publishing and marketing a book. I’m really grateful to Matt at Fable for taking a chance with me, and giving me the opportunity to prove that I could write a really excellent story.

Q. Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

I think people will find the story quite entertaining, especially if they're fans of Jane Austen. The novel actually takes place a few years after Austen's death, but a lot of Regency customs and manners are still in place, and England hasn't yet launched into the massive social changes brought by the Industrial Revolution. It's about a much simpler time in our history, when women were considered delicate and frail, and their only ambition in life was to marry well. Both Sarah (Charlie’s great-grandmother x 6) and Charlie make it a point to rebel against those ideas - with interesting results!

I’d also like to thank my readers for buying the book. I hope they enjoy my sense of humour and the quirkiness of some of the characters I've created, and the fun I had researching and writing the story. I hope that comes out in the story itself. I'd like my readers to be intrigued by a few of my plot devices, and surprised by what happens. And I really hope they like Charlie and Mr. Deeley, because they're two of my favourite all-time characters.

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A Conversation With Winona Kent

A Bluestocking's Place

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I was born in London, England. My parents came to Canada when I was three, and I grew up in Regina, Saskatchewan, which is in the middle of the country where they grow all the wheat. I’ve lived on the west coast, in Vancouver, since 1982. All of my relatives on my mum’s side and a lot of my dad’s family are still in England. I’ve been back about a dozen times, including two summers when I worked there as a temporary secretary, so I still feel very English as well as Canadian. I have dual nationality.

My dad was a travel agent, and I was also in the travel business for a few years. My sister was a Captain’s Secretary on board cruise ships for about 15 years, so you could say travel is in my blood. I saw quite a lot of the world as a result, and it seems to have shown up in my writing. My last novel, Cold Play, took place on a cruise ship in Alaska! Persistence of Memory is also about travel… but in a slightly different way!

I have an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia, and I have a Diploma in Writing for Film and TV from Vancouver Film School.

In the past I’ve written freelance articles and short stories for Canadian newspapers and magazines. My first novel, Skywatcher, was a finalist in the Seal Books First Novel contest, and was published in 1989. The sequel, The Cilla Rose Affair, was first published in 2001, and I republished it as a Kindle ebook in 2011. My third novel, Cold Play, was published as an ebook and a paperback on Amazon in 2012. Persistence of Memory is my fourth novel.

When did you first start writing?
I first started writing when I was about five, before I had a written language. I used to tell stories to myself, and I drew pictures to illustrate them. My first major work of fiction was when I was 12, and in Grade Eight. I wrote a novel about a fellow named Lawrence Jenkins-Hennessy who was kidnapped and found himself on board a freighter bound for England. I handed out the chapters to my friends at recess. I got serious about writing when I was 16. I went to a very progressive high school where in Grade 12 I was allowed to write a novel for my English / Literature credit. So I wrote a story about three teenagers who decide to walk through one of the London Underground lines in the middle of the night when the electricity’s turned off. At Tooting Broadway one of the characters tries to murder the other two and there’s quite an exciting sequence at the end where they’re trapped in a tunnel when the electricity’s switched back on and the trains start running again. Parts of that novel showed up years later in The Cilla Rose Affair.

Why did you become a writer?
For a while, when I was about 10, it was a tossup whether I’d be an artist or a writer. I was quite good at Art, but in the end I found writing gave me more of a sense of accomplishment and, more importantly, it became something I absolutely had to do. I was driven to write. And I discovered that when I didn’t write, I was completely miserable. So I guess I became a writer because the alternative was unthinkable.

Why did you choose to write novels?
I’ve always wanted to write novels, probably because as a child I was a voracious reader, and I loved reading full-length books. When I was at university working on my undergraduate degree, I had a great Creative Writing teacher who advised me to try all kinds of writing. So I tackled short stories and nonfiction articles, and even a play or two, as well as long fiction. Much later at film school I learned to write screenplays and tv scripts, and I had a few optioned, but I found that none of these gave me the same sense of fulfillment and satisfaction as plotting and writing a novel.

Is there anything you’ve had to overcome in order to become a writer?
I think the biggest obstacle I’ve had to deal with is the necessity of earning an income while I indulge my writing passion. So I’ve had to juggle a full-time day job with what’s essentially a full-time second job. I’ve solved this by having a nap after work so I start my writing time with a fresh brain.

Where did you find your inspiration for this book?
I actually got the idea for Persistence of Memory while I was researching my family tree. I was never much interested in where I’d come from, until one day I started digging into my mum’s family in England. I had a lot of success tracing my family tree, and found out about everyone except one of my great-grandfathers. I literally hit a brick wall with him. No birth certificate, no information about his parents, very little information about his life in general until a census record in 1911. And he died young, aged 42. No one in the family could provide any of the missing details either. So I sort-of took that frustration and intrigue and gave it to Charlie, in Persistence of Memory. And I sent her back in time to actually meet her great grandparents, six generations in the past.

What do you think makes a good story?
I think it always comes down to capturing your readers’ imaginations and giving them a good ride for their money. I personally love stories that surprise me – not only with the plot, but with the dialogue and descriptions, too. I hate uninspired, clichéd, pedestrian writing. Peoples’ tastes in novels are all different – some like horror, some like romances. But in every case, it’s a matter of understanding what your particular audience wants, offering it to them, and making it so compelling that they’ll stay up all night to find out what happens next.

Do you have a routine or schedule that you follow with your writing?
A long time ago I decided that the only way I’d be able to work full-time and write would be to incorporate naps into my day. So I have a short nap, 20 minutes or so, at noon, and then I have a long nap, about 2-3 hours, after work. And then I write into the night. I’m lucky that my best creative time is late at night. I try to write every day, including weekends. I don’t have a daily word count, though I do have a detailed outline. Sometimes I can only write one paragraph. Sometimes I can write 10 pages. If I feel I really need to concentrate and apply my creative mind without interruptions or distractions, I’ll take some holiday leave from work and become a full-time writer for a few days.

Is there anything you need in order to write?
It depends what I’m working on. If I really need to concentrate – if I’m working on a first draft, for instance – I need silence. If I’m editing or working on subsequent drafts, I can deal with quite a lot of distractions – tv, lawnmowers, bulldozers, etc. I used to think I could write anywhere, but I’ve discovered that’s not true. I can scribble down ideas anywhere, but in order to actually engage my creative mind in the craft of writing fiction, I need to be in a comfortable and relatively private place. I can’t write on airplanes, but I can write in hotel rooms. I can’t write on my balcony, but I can write in my living room. The only other thing I need to write is coffee. I don’t care what the studies say. Caffeine is the best creative kick in the world and it helps me focus.

What do you find most rewarding and/or challenging when writing?
I love it when I surprise myself. When my characters say something I would never have thought of in a million years – it’s just come out of their mouths, using their words. I also love the release of serotonin and endorphins that writing generates in me. It’s a bit like the high that runners experience. I also love it when I can entertain a reader, when they tell me that they’ve enjoyed reading what I’ve written and they can’t wait for the next book. That’s the best reward for me. What I find most challenging is my energy levels. I hate physically running out of steam when my brain wants to keep going.

Do you have any more writing projects in the pipeline?
Yes I’m working on the next book in the series after Persistence of Memory. It’ll be the same main characters, but this time Charlie will find herself in London in 1940, in the middle of World War Two and the Blitz.

What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
I don’t really have all that much spare time when I’m not writing or researching my next novel! I’m usually online, on Twitter or Facebook, connecting with friends. And I’m still very involved with family tree research.

What will readers find interesting about Persistence of Memory?
I think people will find it quite entertaining, especially if they’re fans of Jane Austen. The story actually takes place a few years after Austen’s death, but a lot of Regency customs and manners are still in place, and England hasn’t yet launched into the massive social changes brought by the Industrial Revolution. It’s about a much simpler time in our history, when women were considered delicate and frail, and their only ambition in life was to marry well. Both Sarah and Charlie make it a point to rebel against those ideas – with interesting results!

What are the underlying themes? Are they connected to your life story?
I’m a great believer in the idea that “your DNA remembers”. In other words, you carry fragments of DNA from your ancestors, and things which they believed in, or created, or thought, have the possibility of being repeated in you, because of that connection. I also believe that everything in our lives happens for a reason. I totally believe in the interconnectivity of events, and you’ll see this in the story. One event in the future depends on another event in the past happening – or not happening.

I also believe in reincarnation, and the idea that we’ve lived before, in other lives and other times. There’s a little of this in Persistence of Memory, but that idea will be more prominent in the next novel, which is set in World War Two. I have a very strong personal and metaphysical connection to the events that will take place there.

What do you want your readers to take away or remember about this book?
I hope they remember my sense of humour and the quirkiness of some of the characters I’ve created, and the fun I had researching and writing the story. I hope that comes out in the story itself. I’d like them to be intrigued by a few of my plot devices, and surprised by what happens. And I really hope they like Charlie and Mr. Deeley, because they’re two of my favourite all-time characters.

Do you have a blog or website you wish to direct readers to?
I do have a blog but it’s very infrequent.
http://winonakent.wordpress.com/
I’m hoping to contribute more in the future.

I also have a personal website:
http://www.winonakent.com
I have lots of interesting things there. For instance, for Persistence of Memory, you can find a detailed character list, a map of the village of Stoneford, and the first three chapters of the novel.

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Persistence of Memory Interview
Lovely Reads

When did you realize that you wanted to become a writer?
Unconsciously, when I was about five. I used to tell stories to myself, and draw pictures to illustrate them. Semi-consciously, when I was 12, and writing my first novel. I handed out chapters to my classmates at recess, and realized that I could command an audience with my creative thoughts. Fully consciously, when I was 16. I had an enlightened high school Lit teacher who allowed me to write a novel for my major project. It was about three teenagers walking through a London Underground tunnel at night, when the electricity was switched off. One of them tries to murder the other two at Tooting Broadway.  Mr. Williamson loved it. I still remember his comment on the last page: “If I could give you more than 100%, I would. Bravo!” I can’t say enough about how important early encouragement is to a budding writer. Back in the 1960s and early 1970s, when I was at school, creative activities weren’t included the curriculum in a big way. So anyone who succeeded at being a writer, usually did so in spite of their education, not because of it.

Is being an Author all you dreamed of, or did it just happen? The best and worst thing about it?
That’s an interesting question. The road to “authorhood” has been a long one, with all kinds of twists and turns and detours. And it was a very deliberate and persistent path, nothing accidental about it.

My first published works were short stories and freelance articles in Canadian magazines and newspapers. In 1982 I moved to Vancouver so I could pursue my MFA in Creative Writing at UBC. It was the most fabulous three years of my life. My Masters thesis was an epic called The Sloughwater Chronicles, about two English women in 1882 Saskatchewan. One was a London girl who had travelled by ship and train to join her husband, who was homesteading in a sod hut on the open prairie. The other was married to a shopkeeper who had set up a store in a tent in the newly created town of Pile of Bones (later to be renamed Regina). The two women met on the train travelling west from Winnipeg, and the novel followed their progress in their adopted country.  

My first published novel was Skywatcher, in 1989. It was a finalist in a first novel competition and I was really thrilled. I got a huge advance, negotiated by one of the top literary agents in Canada. Unfortunately my timing was dreadful. It was a spy spoof. The Berlin Wall came down, the Cold War ended, and spy novels were almost instantly seen as outdated and archaic. Even my favourite author, John LeCarre, went through a bad period around that time. I had a series of books about the same characters all set to go, but Skywatcher sold badly. My agent left the business. Nobody wanted to publish the sequel, or anything else I’d written, because of my dismal sales record. I looked for advice and was told I basically had to ride it out - and it might take up to 10 years before I could start over.

So, I took a break. I never stopped writing, but I stopped sending my work out. And then in 2001 the book industry began to change. With the advent of digital publishing, it suddenly became affordable to produce a self-published, print-on-demand paperback. I had the sequel to Skywatcher ready to go. I updated it a little, and then published it as The Cilla Rose Affair.

I’d also written a third novel, Found at Sea. It had nothing to do with spies, and was set on a cruise ship in the Caribbean. I sent it off to an agent in the UK, who loved it. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to find any publishers who felt the same way.
In 2003 I took a buyout from the telecommunications company where I’d worked for 18 years. I decided to learn how to write screenplays and tv scripts. So, I became a full-time student at Vancouver Film School. My major project - a full-length feature film script - was adapted from Found at Sea, the novel I’d written a few years earlier.

After film school I spent a few years concentrating on scriptwriting. I had four feature scripts optioned, and a cooking and lifestyle program I wrote for had two pilot episodes filmed.

But I never gave up on my long fiction, which was always my first love. I went back to Found at Sea, and turned it into a novel again. I changed its name to Cold Play and moved it from the Caribbean to Alaska. And the main character Chris Davey (Purser) became Jason Davey (ship’s entertainer). I sent about 200 queries out to literary agents in three countries. But the publishing industry was changing again, and I was out of luck. So, I decided to fully embrace digital technology and brought Cold Play out myself, as an e-book and a trade paperback.

My current novel, Persistence of Memory, also began life as a screenplay a few years ago. It’s a bit of a niche genre - accidental time travel / historical romance. But I’ve been amazingly fortunate to hook up with Fable Press, who’ve done a fantastic job editing and providing cover art.

In a way I guess I’ve come full circle! And “persistence”, I think, has always been my watchword!

What was the very first thing you ever wrote?
As soon as I learned to read I started writing little stories, so I can’t think of a defining moment that would qualify as “the very first thing”. The very first piece of long fiction I ever wrote was that novel when I was 12. It was about a guy named Lawrence Jenkins-Hennessey who was kidnapped and transported to England on board a cargo ship. I think I ran out of plot roundabout Chapter 10, so I don’t think I ever finished it. But that was probably my first serious foray into the writing world.


What made you create Persistence of Memory?  How did it come to you?
As I mentioned before, it actually started out as a screenplay. My dad’s brother had begun a family tree website and put me in charge of maintaining it, All of the research had been done by others to identify family members on my dad’s side, but I started to wonder about my mum’s side of my family. I was able to locate everyone quite easily - except for one of my great-grandfathers. There was no birth certificate, and I couldn’t find any information about his parents. He was a complete mystery until his marriage to my great-grandmother in 1897. So I used that frustration to create Charlie Lowe’s story. And then I sent Charlie back six generations into the past to actually meet the ancestors who’d been such a mystery to her.

Who is your literary hero?
Monica Dickens. She was Charles Dickens’ great-granddaughter, and she wrote the most wonderful novels about the various jobs she’d held, and her experiences in life. She also wrote excellent children’s stories and was a great humanitarian. My favourite of her novels is The Listeners, about the Samaritans, the crisis helpline people.

How much of your characters are based on your traits or someone you know personally?
I think it varies with the story I’m writing. I always put bits and pieces of myself into my main characters - I think most writers do that. In Persistence of Memory, there’s a lot of me in Charlie Lowe - but she’s a lot bolder than me, and much more outspoken. I’m quite timid in real life! I think there’s probably a lot of me in Sarah Foster, too, especially when it comes to her stubbornness and her sense of independence.

In my previous novel, Cold Play, there wasn’t much of me in Jason Davey, the book’s narrator. But I based his love interest, Katey Shawcross, quite a bit on myself. She was a travel agent dealing with life-changing circumstances, and I remember being in very similar circumstances to her when I was a travel agent, on a fam trip on board a cruise ship.

Describe your main character in six words.
Charlie is principled, impetuous, loyal, inventive, curious and unafraid.

Describe the world you’ve created in six words.
Jane Austen’s England. With an iPhone.

What scene was your favorite to write?
There were so many that were a lot of fun, but I think my favourite was Charlie’s lunch with the two Louis Augustus Duran’s. I love the dialogue between the two men, the absolute petulance of the Lesser Monsieur Duran contrasted with the complete eccentricity of his father. If I can be permitted a second and third choice, I’d have to say the scene in The Dog’s Watch where the Lesser Monsieur Duran is losing a fight with the brother of a maid he’s recently sacked. And the scene where the Greater Monsieur Duran, Mr. Rankin and several of Mr. Deeley’s friends pay a late night visit to Lemuel Ferryman’s bedroom window, and conspire to lure him outside.

What scene was the hardest for you to write?
Probably the scene near the end where Charlie’s reading a letter from the Greater Monsieur Duran. Not because it was difficult emotionally, but because of a technical constraint, My excellent editor decreed in early rewrites that I had to limit the points of view in the novel to only two characters: Charlie and her cousin Nick. This meant that I had to re-imagine a number of scenes where I’d had an omniscient narrator, and neither Charlie nor Nick were present. So in order to finish the story, and let the readers know what ultimately happened to all of the main characters from 1825, I had to be inventive. I ended up resorting to a long letter, which is a technical device that was actually quite common in that era, but not something I’d ever used before in my own writing.


What are you working on now?
I’m researching and outlining the next novel in this accidental time travel series featuring Charlie and Mr. Deeley. It takes place in World War Two London, during The Blitz. My mum and dad met during the war, when she was a WAAF and he was a paratrooper. And my grandfather was an ARP Warden. My mum and her memories are a prime source of research!

Goals? Accomplishments? Improvements?
I’d like to be able to finish a novel a year. It’s what I’m aiming for, though I’m not sure how well this will work in reality, since I also have a full-time job. The good news is that I can retire in six years, so as long as my brain and my body stay healthy, I have grand plans to write well into old age. I’ve managed to accomplish what my main goal has always been in life - writing and publishing novels - so really, all I can add to that is that I continue to do the same, always with a view towards learning and improving and becoming a better writer with each new book.

Are there any authors or books you recommend?
There are so many that have influenced me…and one of the terrible things that happens when you become a busy writer is that your reading time is seriously compromised. I have so little spare time these days - and the free hours I do have are usually devoted to research or writing. I’d have to fall back on my favourite authors - Monica Dickens, as I’ve already mentioned. John Le Carre, my other favourite writer. And curiously, John Galsworthy - for his Forsyte books, which really are a study of interesting characters, family politics and dynasties. Before Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs, there was The Forsyte Saga. It influenced me greatly as a teenager, and I read my way through all of the novels after I’d seen the series on tv.

What's your favorite thing to do when you're not writing?
When I’m not researching or writing (or at work), I’m either sleeping (which I’m very fond of) or I’m online, Twittering. I love Twitter. I’ve mentioned that I’m normally very timid in real life. Twitter lets me be far more outgoing and chatty than I could ever be in person. It’s an interesting phenomenon, and I’m sure I’m not the only one this has happened to. Twitter is filled with constructed personalities. It’s a fascinating adventure every time I log on.

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BOOKS WITH BENEFITS INTERVIEW
Winona Kent
“Persistence of Memory” 

What should we know about you and your latest release?

I was born in London, England, but came to Canada when I was three with my parents. I grew up in Regina, Saskatchewan, where I got my BA in English. I’ve also lived in Winnipeg and Moose Jaw! For the past 30 years I’ve lived in Vancouver. 

I’ve been a freelance writer for assorted newspapers and magazines, a temporary secretary in London, a travel agent and the Managing Editor of a literary magazine. 

I have an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia, and I’m a graduate of Vancouver Film School's program in Writing for Screen, TV and New Media. 

I’ve had three novels published previously, and four screenplays optioned. My breakthrough in short fiction came many years ago when I won First Prize in the Flare Magazine Fiction Contest with my short story about an all-night radio newsman, Tower of Power. My spy novel Skywatcher was a finalist in the Seal Books First Novel Competition, and was published in 1989 by Seal in Canada, and Bantam in the US. The sequel, The Cilla Rose Affair, was first published in 2001 and reprinted in 2011 as an e-book. 

My third novel, Cold Play (a thriller / romantic adventure), takes place aboard a cruise ship in Alaska, and is also available as an e-book or trade paperback. 

Persistence of Memory is my fourth novel. It crosses a couple of genres (accidental time travel / historical romance), and is the first in a series about Charlie Lowe and her companion, Mr. Deeley. It was published by Fable Press as an e-book and trade paperback in September 2013.
 

Why you think the book would appeal to our readers?

Persistence of Memory takes place a few years after Jane Austen’s death. When Charlie accidentally finds herself back in 1825, she must quickly adapt to a much simpler time. This is an era before electricity, steam engines, indoor plumbing, everything she takes for granted in her 21st century life. The characters she meets and the storylines she encounters are quite reminiscent of something out of a Jane Austen novel. One of those storylines includes the groom at the local manor, Mr. Deeley, with whom Charlie falls immediately and hopelessly in love.
 

What prompted you to write your latest novel or series?

I’d never been very interested in where I’d come from, but after some relatives on my dad’s side began a family tree website and put me in charge of maintaining it, I started to wonder about my mum’s side of my family. I found everyone going back to the 1700’s - including a distant cousin who was living in a hayloft during one of the 19th century census periods! The only exception was one of my great-grandfathers. No birth certificate, no information about his parents, very little information about his life at all until a census record in 1911. And anyone who could have provided a memory or pictures - anything! - was dead. I took that frustration and intrigue and gave it to the story’s main character, Charlie. And then I sent her back in time to actually meet her great grandparents, six generations in the past. Persistence of Memory was going to be just a standalone novel, but I had such a good time with Charlie and Mr. Deeley, that I decided they needed more adventures together. So there will be a series. The next story will take place in World War Two London, during the Blitz.

 

What was the best thing about writing this novel or series?

I think the best thing was that I had a lot of fun. Writing is my passion, and I get quite upset if I can’t use my brain creatively on a regular basis. I would hate it if I ever thought of writing a novel as hard work, or something I resented because it was taking me away from things I would enjoy more. I’ve enjoyed working on all of my books, and I’ve always been a bit sad to let go of my characters at the end of their story. But by the time I finished Persistence of Memory, I knew Charlie and Mr. Deeley were going to have more adventures together. So this is just the first of many entertaining stories.

 

What was the most difficult thing to write?

I think it was my editor’s insistence that I confine the narrative to only two points of view. In the past, I’ve either written in the first person, or I’ve been like an omniscient creator and focused on the point of view of whatever character was involved in a particular scene. The first drafts of Persistence were like that. But my editor took issue with that. He persuaded me it would be a more compelling story if I were to only use the points of view of Charlie Lowe, the heroine, whose narrative takes place mostly in 1825, and Nick Weller, Charlie’s physicist cousin, who lives in the present. So I had to resort to some very creative workarounds in order to get the whole story told. Charlie turns into quite an inquisitive character, lurking behind garden walls and closed doors to overhear important conversations. She’s invited to dinner, and to a Grand Summer Ball. And towards the end of the novel, she receives a letter which provides some much-needed closure.

 

Which character in your novel(s) are you most like?

I usually put a lot of myself into at least one of the characters in my stories. In my first novel, Skywatcher, I was Charlotte, the “Squaddie” who hooks up with Anthony for a spy caper right out of her favourite TV show, Spy Squad. In The Cilla Rose Affair, which is the sequel to Skywatcher, I was Sarah Jane Woodford, the travel agent who has an affair with Christopher Robin Harris in London. In Cold Play, I was Katey Shawcross, another travel agent, who becomes the love interest of Jason, the narrator, on board a doomed cruise ship. All three of those female characters were supporting cast members. But in Persistence, I put myself in the shoes of the main character, Charlie Lowe.  She’s a lot like me - except she’s probably bolder and more adventurous. And I would hate to have to live in 1825 England. She loves it.

  

If you could pick any actors–living or dead–to play your main characters who would they be?

My main character in Skywatcher and The Cilla Rose Affair was Evan Harris, an older actor who had once played a spy on tv, and who, it turns out, is also a spy in real life. I loved The Man from UNCLE when I was a kid, and David McCallum was my secret crush. So in those two novels, definitely David McCallum. 

The very earliest drafts of both Cold Play and Persistence of Memory were written when I was running a fan website for Sean Bean. Sean, as he appeared in the Sharpe series, would have made a fabulous Jason Davey and Shaun Deeley. 

By the time both novels were actually published, each had undergone a major rethink and rewrite, and so had their main characters. Nowadays I see Jason from Cold Play and Mr. Deeley from Persistence of Memory being played by someone like a youngish Paul McGann from Withnail & I.  And if I can be permitted another secret crush, I always had Bill Nighy in mind for Louis Augustus Duran (the Greater) in Persistence.

 

What do you think that your novel(s) teach(es) women about themselves, about love, and/or about life?

There’s a lot of buzz going around nowadays about feminism, and what it actually means. A lot of the people who are talking about feminism are too young to remember a time when women were expected to graduate from high school with not much more ambition than marrying a nice husband, becoming a perfect housewife and raising a family. It really wasn’t that long ago. I was born into that era - the 1950s - and it lasted into the early 1970s. The things women take for granted today - a career, access to any job they want to train for, parental leave, not being forced to quit when they get married or pregnant, political and social equality, respect for physical and intellectual independence - all had to be fought for. 

Persistence takes place in the present, and in 1825, when life was far different for women. I make a point of letting Charlie make comparisons. But more than that, I allow Sarah Foster, her great grandmother (x 6) to be quite an independent woman, given the times she lives in. She works as a governess. She’s a widow, but she refuses to marry someone she can’t possibly love, in spite of facing financial ruin. She firmly believes her daughter, Mary, should be educated equally with her brothers, just as she believes Tom and Jack, her sons, should learn the things Mary is expected to know - such as how to sew buttons on a shirt. And Sarah’s no delicate flower. When placed in a perilous situation with a man, she proves she’s quite able to take care of herself. 

I hope if there’s any message in Persistence, it’s that women should be true to their own convictions, regardless of what others expect, and that nothing in life should be taken for granted. The best person to know what’s best for you, is you.

 

What is your favorite thing about writing?

I love being able to indulge my creative imagination. I love being transported into different places and times, meeting my characters and giving them amazing adventures. And I love sharing those adventures with my readers. 

What is your least favorite thing about writing?

Because I can only write in my spare time, I hate it when I get tired. Either my body’s willing, but my brain has shut down, or my brain’s willing, but my body’s run out of steam. I love it when I can take a week away from my day job and spend entire days with my characters, instead of just a couple of hours each night.

 

What character or plot do you love?

I always fall in love with the male heroes in my books. That’s a given. But sometimes my secondary characters really shine. In Persistence, I love Louis Augustus Duran (the Greater). He’s an older gentleman, but he has a quirky sense of humour, an enlightened philosophy, and his own sense of justice. I’d have loved to have known him in person.

 

What  character or plot do you hate?

I really dislike Louis Augustus Duran (the Lesser). He’s pompous, annoying, and petulant. I’m quite happy with his fate at the end of the novel.

 

What genre other than romance would you like to attempt?

I’d actually like to tackle erotic fiction. I’d probably have to do it under a pseudonym, though, as it would worry my mum too much if I used my real name. I’ve written a few erotic short stories, and there’s a real art to getting it right, and not having it sound like a shopping list of slang names for body parts.