A LOCAL author has published her first novel to public acclaim. Undy based Hazel Hitchens’s new book Babs and Aggie: The Good the Bad and The Vegan was published last month and is already attracting local attention.

Hazel, who grew up in Manchester but moved to Monmouthshire when her husband was offered a job in the area has always had a passion for writing - saying she was just seven years old when she announced she wanted to be a writer.”

“It was the first thing I was told I was good at. I remember the local newspaper ran a competition for primary schools for children to write a story and I won second prize.”

Her novel, which was initially intended as a short story, successfully combines women’s fiction, cosy fantasy and magical realism and is about two folklore witches in a modern-day setting.

“Babs and Aggie is probably best described as a cosy fantasy which is heavy on humour,” she said.

Hazel explained she takes a different approach to writing than many authors with conversations with friends providing inspiration for many of the scenes in the book.

“I tend to write scenes rather than an entire novel and so once I had the opening for Babs and Aggie and once I got their voices, I had a rough idea of how it would go, and an idea of a scene would come up and I would write that.”

“I write enough until I have enough scenes to stitch them all together.”

“My friends inspirate me because we spend so much time making each other laugh and knowing when other people need a lift.”

“I think that’s what kind of gave me the inspiration for the characters is the strength that friendship can give you.”

Hazel explains while she has always loved writing the scariest thing about her novel was handing it it over to be read by people who were not within her close circle.

She added that although she hasn’t always been comfortable with social media she has learned to embrace it while promoting her book.

Despite the publication journey being a learning curve Hazel says it has also been a lot of fun.

“It’s been wonderful with perfect strangers, who have shown their support through reviews telling me how much they love the book or by sharing it with their friends and even offering their venues to hold book launch events,” said Hazel.

Hazel says that of all the things she has written the story of Babs and Aggie has had the strongest effect on her and she hopes readers will enjoy reading it just as much as much as she enjoyed writing it.

“People are looking for something that does remind them that there's happiness, that there's friendship, and that there are people who will stand up to bullies effectively,” she said

The author has explained that for aspiring writers the key point to remember is that you aren’t in competition with other writers.

“Reach out to other writers and a lot many of them are happy to find a community that can support you because writing is lonely when you're sitting there on your own.”

Hazel added, “don’t overthink writing.”

“I think when you can’t write, it’s normally because there’s something else going on.”

Hazel explains that there are sometimes external factors and there could be internal factors as well for writing.

“It might not be working because of an issue with the plot or with the character. So, I usually find the best thing to do is to do something completely different.”

The author has said that its personal for every individual in relation to writing a good story.

“For me it's something that stays with me long after I close the book.”

When writing stories, the author added that: “to write the best story you can you need to keep your audience in mind.”

“With Babs and Aggie, I knew, again, that the audience would be effectively people like me, women of a certain age. What I have loved is hearing from younger women and a few men as well too who've said that it reached them as well.”

Hazel has said that there will be more of Babs and Aggie, she hopes that she will be able to reach an audience and build enough platform so that her other stories will be seen.

One of Hazel’s friends, Deanne Adams is a professional editor, and she is friends with Welsh author Claire Fayers, who have supported Hazel in her writing journey.

“I do tend to have a process with them where I will write it, and then I will hand it over to Deanne to edit, and then I hand it over to Claire and she's able to look at things from a fresh angle.”

When writing this book Hazel said, “when you have such strong characters, you think the story is going to go one way and then you start writing their interactions, you realise that they know better.”

Hazel’s book is available to purchase from Troubador bookshop, Amazon, Waterstones or any UK book retailer.