Note that this is the fourth Monday in April, as the third is Easter Monday.

"A beginning, a muddle and an end: where do Novelists get their ideas from?"

In an entertaining, informative talk, Bobbie Darbyshire will explain how the complex world of character, location, plot and subplot arrives in a writer’s mind.

Here is a typical comment: “Your talk was great, covering so much ground, and I loved the quotes from so many authors. I’m getting lots of positive feedback, including ‘that was the best talk I’ve heard since I joined u3a!’”

Winner of the 2008 fiction prize at the National Academy of Writing and the New Delta Review Creative Non-fiction Prize 2010, Bobbie is author of five novels, including “The Posthumous Adventures of Harry Whittaker” and “The Third Bus”.

She has worked as barmaid, mushroom picker, film extra, maths coach, cabinet minister’s private secretary, care assistant and volunteer adult-literacy teacher, as well as in social research and government policy. Bobbie lives in London and hosts a writers’ group.