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4 Tips to Writing a Better Novel

Posted on December 22, 2013 by LisetteDecember 22, 2013

by Lisette Brodey

Tip #1

KEEP A TIME CHART: Even if you never mention particular dates in your novels, it’s important that you know the day and date of every scene. You may ask, “Why do I need to know that if it’s not part of my novel?” I’ll tell you why.

When you’re in the thick of writing your book, it’s very easy to lose track of how much time has elapsed between events. In some of my novels, my characters have had such long, complicated days that it’s taken me chapters to describe the action. Conversely, I may skip ahead two weeks, a month, or even years. It all depends on the story.

Every time I begin a novel, I pull out a calendar, and I choose a date. Sometimes it has everything to do with the story and what time of year it is, sometimes it doesn’t, but it’s still important. Let’s say your character is an unhappy wife who is keeping tabs on her husband’s whereabouts because she is convinced he’s cheating. In Chapter 7, she’s having lunch with her best friend and telling her everything that she has just found out. Can you accurately have your character tell her friend what happened five days ago, what happened three days ago, and what happened two weeks ago if you don’t have it noted? I sure can’t.

If you keep a dated time chart with a simple synopsis of what happens when, it will save you lots of headaches down the road.

Tip #2

KEEP IT TIGHT: Let’s stay with our story of the woman who thinks her husband is cheating on her. There’s a twist in this story. She finds out that he’s not cheating at all but wants her to think he is because he’s being blackmailed and is actually trying to protect her by letting her assume the lesser of two evils. Ah, the plot is thickening. Let’s say that in Chapter 10, the woman makes a major discovery that changes her perspective on what is going on. Before you create a brand-new character to deliver that information to her, make sure there are no existing characters that can do the job. Don’t introduce your reader to new people if they serve no real purpose and will do nothing more than clutter or dilute your prose. When you use established characters, you may just come up with even better plot twists than you imagined. You may very well need a new character, but take the time to think about it. Keep it tight.

Tip #3

LISTEN TO YOUR NOVEL: Most of us know that it’s very difficult to proof your own work. Your eyes tend to see what is supposed to be there, not what is there. If you have spent an hour reworking a paragraph or speech, you may have become so immersed in getting it right that when you read it back, you don’t notice that you’ve used a particular word three times in two sentences. Unless it’s intentional, it’s not good. Most computers have text-to-speech functions. To review your work, highlight the part you want to hear, place it in a new document, and highlight it again. Then, sit back and listen to your words. If there are words missing, misspelled, or repeated, you will hear them. Listening gives you a different perspective than reading.

You may wonder why I suggested putting your text into a new document. You ask, “Why can’t I just highlight it in the document I’m using?” You can, but as you know, highlighted text can disappear instantly if a wrong button is touched on your keyboard and you can’t quickly hit Control Z (PCs) or Command Z (Macs) to undo. That’s all. It’s just a safety measure to protect what you’ve written.

Tip #4

USE YOUR FIND COMMAND: Do you have pet words or phrases that you tend to overuse? I know that’s always a worry for me. When I’m immersed in telling a story, my brain is focused on the action and sometimes I’m merely serving as a transcriptionist for my characters. Sometimes my editor will catch these repetitions and just as often, I’ll catch them myself. If you’re able to identify words or phrases you might overuse, use the FIND command in Word (or other software). Then, change them or rewrite sentences to avoid them. Just get ’em outta there. And remember, the more unusual the word, the more obvious the repetition.

What are your favorite writing tips?

CHAT WITH ACE ANTONIO HALL

Posted on December 15, 2013 by LisetteSeptember 6, 2015

Ace Antonio Hall graduated from Long Island University with a BFA. He is a former NYC middle school English teacher who can’t get enough of zombies and Spider-Man comic books. When he’s not in the gym working off the extra calories from eating way too many donuts, Ace writes young adult horror fiction. His YA zombie novel, Confessions of Sylva Slasher was released by Montag Press on April 14, 2013.

Time to chat with Ace!

I hear you have some very exciting news! Can you share it with us?

Yes! I was so honored to have taught an intensive 3-day writing workshop at the Los Angeles Science Fiction Convention (LOSCON 40) at the LAX Marriott at the end of last month, November. Each day was three-hours, and marked the first time I worked in the capacity as a teacher since 2006, when I was an Associate Director of Education at the Sylvan Learning Center in Northridge. I hope it was the best LOSCON had ever seen and they will ask me back for 2014. Fingers crossed.

Is your recent book part of a series?

Well, Lisette, I’m so glad you asked me that question. As a matter of fact, yes! My publisher came up with the moniker/sub-genre ZOMBIE POP, really by mistake, to describe to the new illustrator how the artwork should ‘pop’ off the cover for the second edition, and Emilio, who did an incredible job capturing the essence of how I envisioned Sylva Slasher, latched onto the name and used it on the cover.

It opened my imagination to tap into the cultural world of the youth for my young adult series. My first novel, which was recently released, Confessions of Sylva Slasher is Zombie Pop, Volume 1, and the next book, which I’m half-way done with, Sk8board Xombies, or Skateboard Xombies, will be the next in a four-part Sylva Slasher series.

Being that Sylva rides BMX bikes and skateboards, the second book is going to be one heck of a roller coaster ride with plenty of twists, turns and cliff-hangers—even more than Confessions.

If you were to advertise your book on a bumper sticker, what would it say?

Got Zombies? Sylva Slasher does. Teen for Hire or Zombies Love A Girl With Brains! My publisher is working on tee shirts to market, right now, as you read this.

What part of writing a novel do you enjoy the most? The least?

I can say that I love character building, world building and creating visual scenes the most. I get a real kick out of seeing all of that come together when the characters walk out of the page and speak to me in vivid language and imagery. Add Christmas, Halloween, German Chocolate cake and falling in love together in one big bowl of excitement and that would pretty much summarize how I feel developing those aspects of my story!

The least? Editing sucks. I spent fifteen hours straight reading my entire novel and cleaning up edits to turn the manuscript into the publisher to meet the deadline. My butt and back were mad at me for weeks after that … but I’d do it all again, because it was part of my dream becoming reality, and the end result of my feelings from seeing my book published can’t even be put into words. If I did it would sound something like, “Yesssyesssyesssahhomigodexpialidociousbooyahzzzzzmmtt eyemmsoolovingituh!”

… See? Can’t be put into words.

How much research was involved in writing your book? How did you go about it?

Tons. The funny thing about research is that I can have two pages of research that will show up in only one or maybe two sentences of the novel. I love to use experts and specialists as consultants to make sure that I’m providing sound logic and intelligent continuity. It’s important to me that, even though it may be fiction, it has a basis for reality.

Some authors, like me, always write scenes in order. But I know some people write scenes out of order. How about you?

For the most part, I write them in order. I will usually lay out some kind of skeleton, or structure from beginning-to-end of the story, and then change it, as my imagination flows freely. Alexandra Sokoloff and Christopher Vogler’s ideologies have been the backbone of my structural processes.

Is it important for you to know the ending of a book before you write it? The title?

Yes, because I come up with so many ideas, I’m all over the place. Knowing the ending of the book keeps me focused, and the title, which usually changes by the time I’m halfway finished with the book, or have gone through a few rewrites gives me direction.

How would you define your style of writing?

Fun, fast-paced and spine-tingling. I am a very visual person, so I try to bring my set pieces to life so that no matter what age-level of the reader, they can see what I paint on the page. Since I am obsessed with the Twilight Zone (one year, on my birthday, which is July 4^th, I stayed in bed and watched fifteen hours of a TZ marathon), I love speculative fiction, as well as psychological thriller and infused elements of each into my stories.

How important is the choosing of character names to you? Have you ever decided on a name and then changed it because it wasn’t right for the character?

I am obsessed with words—love to write, read and recite them over and over. I believe they have such great power! Names, to me, are just as powerful! They dictate invisible energy that can be received and processed in so many ways. Many cultures believe names to have spiritual significance, and I share that same thought process. If you look at how powerful pseudonyms, stage or pen names are, you will begin to see how important they can influence success. Have you ever noticed how many very successful celebrities have names that are so uncommon or unique that if anyone else decides to use that same name, they seem unoriginal, at best?

I go to great lengths to find names that bind the character spiritually, mentally and physically to create a persona that is unique to their experiences in my novels. For example, Sylva’s first name is because simply, her mother fell in love with her gray, or silver eyes at birth. Her last name, Fleischer, means butcher, which of course is synonymous with Slasher. Being that I’m a huge comic book fan, Sylva Slasher rolled off the tongue as easily as Silver Surfer. It just felt right, and I went with it.

I think my favorite character names are Luke Skywalker, Hannibal Lecter and Cruella de Vil. Magnificent names. Don’t you think?

(Yes, I do! Fantastic, legendary names!)

Would you like to write a short poem for us?

Aw, Lisette, I would absolutely love to:

One day the moonlight said to me

To make my mark before I leave …

Was more her faith in me to be.

She said be a significance

In someone’s life beyond my kids;

I have been doing ever since.

For life gives us a choice to make

To play the rules and some to break …

The daring brave do choose their fate.

I choose to think out of a box

And sometimes do what some will not …

And some place go where some cannot.

Better to be significant

Than leave a stench of a vial scent

And face an end of poor time spent.

For there are those who leave a mark

Only to die without a heart

And left on stage without a part.

Better to leave a mark today

And touch a life in special way

Through pen, and voice, and character, create.

Let’s call that poem … let’s see … um, I think … THE WRITER’S CREE … yeah, that’s it!

Where do you live now? If you had to move to another city/state/country, where might that be?

I live in South Pasadena, but would love to live part of the year in Hawaii, and the other part in Venice, Italy!

If you could be invisible for a day, what would you do?

I would spend the mornings watching Stephen King’s process and absorb as much as I possibly could whenever he spoke to Tabitha, or anyone he communicated with. I’d follow Jackie Chan around, hoping to catch him working out, or practicing, and video tape every single one of his moves so I could translate it into Sylva’s martial arts technique. And lastly, I’d spend the evening skinny-dipping in the island waters of Hawaii, floating, chillaxing and watching the moon, breathing in the air of imagination and fantasy.

If you could duplicate the knowledge from any single person’s head and have it magically put into your own brain, whose knowledge would you like to have? And why.

Stephen Spielberg. He understands how to capture magic, fill our hearts with wonder, and drive the world into fascination. I’d love to be able to master that.

Have you ever walked out of a movie? If so, what was it?

The South Park movie. Wasn’t my cup of tea.

Do you have any guilty pleasures?

Indeed! Donuts. I love donuts. Especially, the big fluffy ones sold in Mom & Pop stores in Los Angeles. My Nana used to make them from scratch when I grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, and there wasn’t anything that could match the taste of those donuts, hot off the stove … except the donuts in Cali. I’ve had them all up and down the east coast, but will work out six days a week, and run six miles a day, just so I can eat as many Los Angeles pink-boxed baker’s dozen donuts as I can eat without the added tires to my waistline.

What are three things you think we can all do to make the world a better place?

Ride flying skateboards, vote for a lifetime supply of free beer for all Dallas Cowboys fans, and lobby at Marvel Studios for Stan Lee and the studio executives to contract Sylva Slasher to become an animated/anime series, comic book line, and hit television series featuring Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a mentor and guest star. Okay, so I’m a big dreamer. Never, ever quit, and always dream big!

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CHAT WITH A.T. RUSSELL

Posted on December 8, 2013 by LisetteDecember 21, 2014

A.T. Russell is a retired Navy Chief currently residing near Chicago with his wife of 25 years. A lifelong reader, the passion of writing came to him midlife. A.T. writes Urban Fantasy and aspires to write across many genres.

“History is a point of reference, not an anchor.” ~A.T.

Time to chat with A.T.!

What is your latest book?

My latest book is Apex. As for writing and the other stories I’ve written, this one is probably the most challenging, and for me that makes this one the most exciting to write.

Is your recent book part of a series?

It is. In fact, Apex is the first of four planned books. I’m actually franchising the series, and I’m very excited to report that Dawn Kirby and Frantiska Oliver will be writing two of the volumes. The last position will be decided by a process that Twisted Core Press is designing and I think it’ll be a trendsetting model for years to come.

What else have you written?

As some may know, I’m a member of 7DS Books, a short story platform and imprint of Twisted Core Press. I’ve had the great opportunity to write Greed for Seven Deadly Sins, Sleepy for Seven Dwarf Stories, Eddie’s Ring for Seven Dress Sizes, and No Man for A Man’s Promise. Above all, however, my greatest pleasure came from writing my first two books, New Alpha Rising: Ascension Parts I & II

How often do your characters surprise you by doing or saying something totally unexpected?

You know, I have one character that has been the most thrilling challenge I’ve faced in storytelling. Little Wolf says what she wants when she wants to, and no one can stop her, not even me. Thing is, she’s the only character I’ve written that has had that effect on me, and writing around her, even in scenes I didn’t want her to be a part of, is where the challenge lies. She’s a main character in New Alpha Rising Saga and I look forward to sharing her madness with the world in the third book.

How important is the choosing of character names to you? Have you ever decided on a name and then changed it because it wasn’t right for the character?

I believe choosing a character’s name is critical to any story. From my perspective, names should be memorable, respective of the character’s personality, and above all, brand-able.

Were you “born to write” or did you discover your passion for writing later in life?

This is a great question for me, because the answer is, I have no idea. All I know is that I have to write. The passion came along in 1994 and words began to hit the page in 2009, totaling over three million that year. Ever since, I’ve been head down and punching keys.

Having our work out there to be judged by strangers is often daunting for writers. Do you have any tips on handling a negative review?

My best advice to handling a negative review is simply remembering that your imagination belongs to you. When you share it with others, their imaginations may not be a good match. If and when that is the case, remember that stories written by the historical greats were ripped worse than yours, and that was by people who really mattered in the literary industry. Nowadays everybody is a critic, and tearing others down is a sad truth about our overall culture today. After all, isn’t that what reality tv is all about? Judge this and judge that, then let’s see who can rip the hardest. Seems like a lot of people channel Simon Cowell these days.

Every day brings forth new changes and shifts in the world of publishing. Any predictions about the future?

I think Amazon will become the BIG ONE.

Have you ever wished that you could bring a character to life? If so, which one and why?

I would love to bring Little Wolf to life. She’s a doctor, a killer, and an Omega Wolf. She loves hanging out with puppies and watching cartoons, and world peace would piss her off. Other than those things, she’s about as cool as any creature I can, did actually, imagine. If I could wish, though, the whole world would know Little Wolf as well as I do.

What genre have you never written in that you’d like to try?

I typically have a romantic element in every story I write, but I really want to tackle a full-on romance. Trouble is, every time I write, the theme of the story pervades many aspects of my daily life. With my luck, pouring my passion into romance, my wife of 25 years might think I’m flipping the script on the second half of my life and have me committed or something … or worse.

Please, tell us about your experiences with social media. What are your favorite and least-favorite parts of it?

Social media is a wide open expanse, a tremendous pool of laughs and thoughts, though sometimes myopic and quite scary. You see, some authors use their platforms for their family members and personal friends to interact with them. That’s cool, but when their profile is supportive of their books, services, etc… they shouldn’t complain when a fan or interested customer comes along and steps across a line they’ve blurred. I’ve seen a number of people trip over that line and get burned in the process. No, it hasn’t happened to me.

What might we be surprised to know about you?

I’m very humble and I don’t say much on social media platforms. I think, maybe it’s shyness on my part. Heck, it could be fear of the unknown. I mean, I am shading 50, so it’s possible I have old school hesitancy. I’m getting better at interacting with others, though.

What’s your favorite film of all times? Favorite book?

My favorite film is Something The Lord Made. The best I can say is, watch it. It’ll open your heart and mind to a truth that affects every human being on the face of the earth. As for my favorite book; I love J.R. Ward’s Dark Lover. It is the only book I’ve ever read (thoroughly enjoyed the entire series, by the way) that made me want to scream at the author…violently. In less than five chapters, she managed to kill my favorite character, and that was the first book of the series! George R.R. Martin wasn’t able to have that kind of impact on me, and he kills everybody off!

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Seven Deadly Sins

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New Alpha Rising: Ascension Part I

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CHAT WITH SUSAN BUCHANAN

Posted on December 1, 2013 by LisetteDecember 21, 2014

Susan Buchanan lives in Central Scotland with her partner, Tony and their baby daughter, Antonia. She has written three novels in the women’s fiction/chicklit genres and is currently writing her fourth.

Time to chat with Susan!

What is your latest book?

The Christmas Spirit. It’s a short novel, of just over 50,000 words which tells the story of four people who are not looking forward to Christmas, for various reasons, and a fifth person who comes into each of their lives to try to enrich their lives and instil in them the magic of Christmas again.

Here’s the blurb as a little taster:

Christmas is coming, but not everyone is looking forward to it. Rebecca has just been dumped and the prospect of spending the holiday period with her parents is less than appealing.

Eighty-two year old Stanley lost his beloved wife, Edie, to cancer. How will he cope with his first Christmas without her?

Jacob’s university degree hasn’t helped him get a job, and it looks like he’ll still be signing on come New Year.

Workaholic Meredith would rather spend December 25th at home alone with a ready meal and a DVD box set. Can anything make her embrace the spirit of the season?

The enigmatic Natalie Hope takes over the reins at the Sugar and Spice bakery and cafe in an attempt to spread some festive cheer and restore Christmas spirit, but will she succeed?

Some authors, like me, always write scenes in order. But I know some people write scenes out of order. How about you?

I generally write scenes in order, but in The Christmas Spirit, the opening paragraphs were actually changed to almost the last page. That said, I don’t always know what scenes are going to pop up. I start off with a chapter plan where I write a paragraph of what’s going to happen in that chapter, and sometimes three chapters later I discover that didn’t happen at all. Sometimes the characters develop in a different way to I originally intended them, or I might have a better idea!

Is it important for you to know the ending of a book before you write it? The title?

Not always. As The Christmas Spirit is a feel-good story, yes, I knew the ending with that, but with The Dating Game, I didn’t know who Gill would end up with. In fact I had imagined a character and a scene, which in the end I didn’t create at all! The title is more important for me, as once I know the title, I will write that book! With Sign of the Times I knew that I didn’t want a conventional ending, but that was as far as it went, until I actually was writing the book. I already know the ending for my fourth book, What If.

Some writers edit excessively as they write; others wait until a novel is finished to do the bulk of the editing. How about you?

Hmm, well, for Sign of the Times and most of The Dating Game, I redrafted and had my work edited by my editor Fi Broon. However, due to Fi’s other commitments, this time I wrote the whole novel from start to finish and then redrafted it five or six times, before letting my beta reader read it.

In hindsight, although we had a lot of fun doing it the way we did for the first two books, it was too labour-intensive and with all the books in my head that I want to write (I already have another seven planned) economy of time is very important. I think the more you write and the more you edit, the better you get at it, and, in theory, the better you write, so you shouldn’t have to do quite as heavy edits. I know many writers add a lot in the edits, but I tend to take away. You reach a stage where you are simply only changing the words and not making any major changes. Sometimes you have to know when to stop, otherwise you could be changing great to something good!

How important is the choosing of character names to you? Have you ever decided on a name and then changed it because it wasn’t right for the character?

To be honest, when I am writing a new book, sometimes the names just jump into my head, as happened with The Christmas Spirit. In the past, I have always been very careful to ensure those names were plausible for Scotland around the time the characters were born, but in The Christmas Spirit, I’ve gone off piste a little with the names!

I’ve twice changed names. In The Dating Game, one of my beta readers found the fact that two of the four girlfriends’ names began with L, confusing. So, I changed Laura to Debbie, and retained Lisa. In The Christmas Spirit I kept writing Sophie instead of Sylvie, so by the time I was three-quarters of the way through, I decided she was more of a Sophie than a Sylvie and changed it. By the way, the name Sylvie came from a new beautician, Sylvia, I used the week before!

I used up all the good names with Sign of the Times! I didn’t know I was going to have a baby at that point, so I started calling all my characters names that I liked. As it turns out, there is an Antonia in the novel, who, I hasten to add, bears no resemblance to my cherub! But, Holly for example, a name I love, and Lucy, these were just names I really liked.

Do you dread writing a synopsis for your novel as much as most writers do? Do you think writing a synopsis is inherently evil? Why?

Ugh! Yes, it’s the spawn of the devil. When I was submitting Sign of the Times to publishers, I drove myself round the bend trying to fit the lowdown of the twelve characters and what tied them together into a few pages. Plus, publishers and agents don’t agree on length of synopsis, or even what it should include, which I find bloomin’ annoying, so you have to write several. I need to do one soon for The Dating Game, which I have never tried to go down the traditional publishing route with. I’m not looking forward to it.

Are you an early bird writer or night owl? And do you have any must haves like coffee, chocolates, wine, music or something else?

Now that I have an 8-month-old baby, I am a ‘write whenever she is asleep’ writer, so even though I am a morning person (not 4am though!) I am now writing at all sorts of strange times. Basically, as soon as baby Antonia naps, I down tools, sod the housework, make myself a coffee and start writing! I’m going to have to try and get better at writing in the evening. It’s not my thing. I had to go to a coffee shop at the weekend whilst my other half watched Antonia and I rattled out parts of The Christmas Spirit. No distractions. Usually I need silence to write, although I have discovered I can write, if pressed, with the TV on, and I feel tired or in need of inspiration, I put Classic FM on. I love classical music!

How would you define your style of writing?

Humorous, chatty, relatively informal, international. I favour dialogue over lengthy descriptions. I studied Balzac at university and he makes Dickens look frugal. I take great pains to ensure my facts are correct. I was surprised to discover many authors don’t, even traditionally published ones and I know a few who have admitted serious mistakes because of this. I had always just taken it as a given before that facts were corroborated.

Apart from The Christmas Spirit, my books all have a travel theme. Sign of the Times was partly set in Italy and Switzerland; The Dating Game – Barcelona, and What If will feature chapters in Hong Kong. There is however a nod to the international even in The Christmas Spirit.

Do you miss spending time with your characters when you finish writing them?

Most of them, yes. I am really looking forward to writing the continuation to Sign of the Times, which I hope will be out for Christmas 2014, otherwise Spring 2015. I miss a few of the guys from The Dating Game and Lisa, funnily enough, who is not the main character.

Have you ever started out to write one book and ended up with something completely different?

Well, not completely different, but What If has taken on a bit of a life of its own. It should be out in Spring/Summer 2014. The first paragraph introduces us to a whole new major theme, which I hadn’t envisaged when I originally conceived the book.

What’s your favorite comfort food? Least favorite food?

Sorry to be clichéd, but it’s chocolate and I’m a big fan of Green & Blacks, especially the ginger one – I bought two bars today! And I love Cadbury’s chocolate buttons.

That aside, it would have to be pasta. I think I must have been Italian in a previous life. I have Italian friends who eat pasta as a starter every day and I envy them!

Least fave without a doubt is celery – it is disgusting – unless it’s in soup and hidden by all the other ingredients. But, come across a piece of raw celery in a salad? Makes me want to scream for my mummy!

If you could be invisible for a day, what would you do?

Ha ha, that would be telling. But let’s just say I’d pay actor Rupert-Penry Jones a visit, for starters!

What’s the coolest surprise you’ve ever had?

When The Dating Game launched last November, I was busy tweeting away like a mad thing, five months pregnant, and the doorbell rang. It was a delivery of the most enormous bouquet of flowers, and equally gigantic box of chocolates, to celebrate my launch from my Other Half, Tony. He’s a typical Scotsman and not known for doing the hearts and flowers thing, so I actually cried!

What are the most important traits you look for in a friend?

Honesty, reliability and they need to be a good listener as I talk a lot(!). Oh, and punctuality ( I hate people being late, it drives me nuts. I am having to reassess this now, though, as having a baby in tow makes you late regularly, even when you plan to leave 15-30 minutes earlier than you need to!)

Care to brag about your family?

Of course, but now with the arrival of baby Antonia, I have two families to brag about! I could write an entire book on how amazing Antonia is and I am sure most mums are the same. I never tire of complete strangers coming up to me in the street and telling me how beautiful she is, or how her wee smile just lights up the world. Today I discovered she has a determined chin when concentrating. She almost makes it jut out – had me in stitches. Watching your baby grow every day is pretty special.

Tony works in Medicine and he ‘saves lives’ for a living. Well, he is instrumental.

My parents and siblings are very down-to-earth, we all live within twenty miles of each other, although I’ve lived abroad a few times. Growing up my two sisters were closest to each other and my brother and I were the same. He’s the baby. My little sister has three boys, so the arrival of baby Antonia meant the first granddaughter in the family. My nephews are fantastic – funny, gorgeous and cheeky as hell! I am sure my daughter will end up a tomboy with three boy cousins!

What makes you angry?

This list could take some time! – people with no manners, people swearing around children, smoking around children, drivers not signalling thank you when you let them into a lane, when you hold a door open for someone and they don’t say thank you, those who park in Mother and Child only spaces, but are interestingly without any vestige of a child or car seat. Poor customer service – actually, that should be top, it riles me so much! Liars. Thieves and rogue tradesmen (like those who scammed my elderly uncle in Glasgow a few weeks ago)

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