| Clare Girvan is a writer living in the small
town of Topsham, near Exeter, Devon. She focuses chiefly on short stories,
theatre and poetry. See the CV page for full credits. |
About me I was born in Birmingham, where I went
to the main Art College and trained in theatrical design, but changed horses
after three years to become a teacher.
I was married for seven years,
but divorced and lived singly for fourteen more, during which time, I was a
member of Kings Norton Motorcycle Club and rode my own Honda. I'm now married
to my second husband, Ray. When I took early retirement, we moved from
Birmingham and live in a cranky old cottage in Devon, where I've developed a
new writing career.
As well as writing, I've gone back to my theatrical
roots and been, variously, a backdrop painter for drama companies (including
the police!), wardrobe mistress at Cygnet Training Theatre, designed and
painted sets and directed a play for Exeter Little Theatre, and done many years
of backstage, wardrobe, set design, walk-on and wig- finding - and a little
acting - for Topsham's Estuary Players.
I've been a member of Exeter
Writers since 1999, and Northcott Community playwriting group since 2004. In my
spare time, I garden, make decorated Fabergé-style eggs, and organise
craft fairs.
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WritingI started writing seriously in 1982 and
have won several competitions.
I was asked once if I had a particular
theme that recurred in my writing, and I said I didn't think so. On reflection,
although I'll write about anything that takes my fancy, I do quite like writing
about Outsiders, that is, people who don't quite fit in, who have demons to
conquer. Once you have a character with a problem, you have your story.
I am not the organised kind of writer that goes to her desk at 9.00 am and
writes for three hours every day. We all have our own method, or lack of it.
Mine is to start when I feel like it, stop after an hour or two or even a few
minutes, do something else, and then come back. This may go on all day and half
the night or not at all. I seem to need regular breaks so that I can come back
to what I've written and rethink it. It's an untidy way of doing things, but
stories get written all the same.
As for novels - I have written two,
at least one of which needs fairly drastic revision. At the moment I am
concentrating more on competitions, which are an excellent discipline as well
as a challenge.
During my teaching career, I wrote many playlets and
full length productions that were performed by the children, and nowadays I
write pieces varying from one minute to two hours, some of which get performed.
My full-length version of Cold Comfort Farm is currently under consideration
with Curtis Brown, and subject to their approval, I am hoping to be able to
publish it.
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