{"id":1343,"date":"2023-05-12T10:25:12","date_gmt":"2023-05-12T10:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/lincolnshire\/?p=1343"},"modified":"2023-05-12T10:25:12","modified_gmt":"2023-05-12T10:25:12","slug":"margarets-milestone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/lincolnshire\/highlights\/margarets-milestone\/05-2023","title":{"rendered":"Margaret’s Milestone"},"content":{"rendered":"

This summer Lincolnshire-born author Margaret Dickinson has published her 30th novel with publishers Pan Macmillan, so we chatted to the writer to congratulate her!<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"Margaret's
Margaret’s 30 novels under her current publisher, Pan Macmillan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Three Million, at least. That\u2019s the number of words which have enthralled fans of Margaret Dickinson\u2019s work for over 30 years. Born in Gainsborough, the author renowned for her romantic sagas moved to the East Coast back in 1949 and remained there until recently.<\/p>\n

In total, she has written 39 books, but this year sees the publication of The Poacher\u2019s Daughter, which is book number 30 since signing to Pan Macmillan in 1994, where Margaret remains probably one of their most prolific and consistently popular writers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoyed English at school and I\u2008always knew I wanted to be a writer. At school I\u2019d have to read the classics: Bront\u00eb and Austen. Of those I think Pride & Prejudice was always my favourite because it had everything; romance, humour and a strong story…\u201d<\/p>\n

For pleasure, Margaret would read novels by Catherine Cookson or Victoria Holt, unaware that she was actually putting in the ground work getting to know her own genre.<\/p>\n

Margaret left Skegness Grammar School after taking A-Levels and enrolled in secretarial college, working in the Education Office at Skegness before leaving in 1970 to have the first of two daughters.<\/p>\n

She had been writing since the age of 14 and was first published professionally twelve years later. \u201cI wrote nine novels published by Robert Hale between 1968 and 1984.\u00a0 These were a mixture of light, historical romance, an action\/suspense novel and a thriller.\u00a0 The first novels were much slimmer (55,000-60,000 words) and lighter in content, quite different from my later work. But it\u2019s great that they have now been reissued under Pan Macmillan.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy books are usually set from the early 1900s to the 1960s, which is a convention of a genre established by Catherine Cookson and similar authors. She took a great deal of inspiration from her background, growing up in the North East of England and it helped to greatly inform her work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quite besides the underlying romantic plot which is a consistent theme of her work, Margaret\u2019s books always have a strong historical setting, informed by a fondness for history and a recognition of the importance of getting all of the details of each setting era or profession correct. Margaret\u2019s work has historical accuracy and emotion in equal measure.<\/p>\n

\u201cA plot can find you even when you\u2019re not looking for one,\u201d says Margaret. \u201cThe Clippie Girls in 2013 was inspired by a visit to the Crich Tramway Museum in Derbyshire, and the sight of a tramway car damaged during The Blitz.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy latest book, The Poacher\u2019s Daughter, was inspired by the old Lincolnshire tale of William Dadley, a gamekeeper who worked near Alford. It\u2019s suspected that he was murdered by a poacher.\u201d<\/p>\n

The book is a very different story though, and it sees a poacher\u2019s daughter and a wealthy landowner\u2019s son meet and fall in love, but the setting of the Lincolnshire Wolds in 1910 and the characters\u2019 respective differences provide a backdrop to the story.<\/p>\n

Margaret always sets her books in familiar locations, which have over the years included Lincolnshire \u2013 Wolds and Fens \u2013\u00a0 plus Nottinghamshire and Sheffield.<\/p>\n

Each novel is over 100,000 words in length and Margaret\u2019s disciplined approach to writing allows her to work on a book a year. The usual deadline for a book is 1st October, and that\u2019s the point at which the final manuscript is submitted to the commissioning editor to view before a copy editor finesses the text with the kind of forensic detail for which they\u2019re justly renowned.<\/p>\n

Margaret says that the early morning is her favourite time to write, and that the process is quite organic. Some writers work with a synopsis and gradually expand it until it incorporates all of the story\u2019s detail and forms chapters.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Margaret has developed an instinct for pace and gets a first draft down quickly, infilling with details as she goes along. Afternoons are usually preserved for research, interviews with magazines like Pride and for book signings.<\/p>\n

It takes about a month from the submission of the final book for any changes to be made, and then in autumn Margaret starts work on her next manuscript. Rather than juggling a few different novels at once as some authors are known to do, Margaret prefers to concentrate on one at once, although she can\u2019t help but have an idea fermenting at the back of her mind for her next book.<\/p>\n

Margaret won\u2019t be drawn on the details of book number 31 for Pan Macmillan, but we can reveal it\u2019s about half complete. No doubt it will be as popular, as romantic and as warmly received as the rest of her work as you\u2019d expect from one of Lincolnshire\u2019s most prolific authors.<\/p>\n

Find Out More: The Poacher\u2019s Daughter is now available in all good bookshops, \u00a37.99. <\/em><\/strong>It\u2019s also available as an e-book, for more information on Margaret see www.panmacmillan.com.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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