Ravenscliffe

by Jane Sanderson

  How easy is it to write the Yorkshire dialect?

  Not very easy at all, to be honest. I had to tone it down from the way that I know Yorkshire folk talk because it becomes too much of an obstacle to the uninitiated. As it is, the dropped aitches and the t’ instead of the is quite difficult to sustain and can look daunting on a page where there’s a lot of dialogue. But I felt it was important to distinguish between the working-class locals and the other characters, and also I wanted to be faithful to my own Yorkshire roots. I sometimes think the books should come with an instructional DVD so that everyone knows how to ‘talk Tyke’.

  How long did it take you to write Ravenscliffe?

  About a year, six months less than it took me to write Netherwood, although Ravenscliffe is about twenty thousand words longer. Of course I had a deadline this time around, and I must admit this made me more disciplined about my writing. I didn’t let a day go by without adding to it, even if it was only a couple of hundred words.

  If you weren’t a writer, how would you like to make a living?

  Naturally, I’d bake fabulous pies and sell them.