EV Bancroft – Butterworth Books

I reach for pen and paper by E.V. Bancroft

by Robyn_NyxJune 28, 2025June 16, 2025Leave a comment

Like many children, I grew up being read to—whether it was a poem about smugglers and highwaymen or a beloved classic like The House at Pooh Corner, I absorbed those stories and the worlds they opened up. As a shy girl with a speech impediment, I dreaded attention and rarely spoke. Instead, I took every opportunity I could to escape into the wild and magical realm of words.

The written word was always my friend.

By the age of six or seven, I was inventing stories and writing poems. Whenever asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always said, “a writer.” Writing gave me a way to express feelings I couldn’t verbalise—and it still does. Like Cyrano de Bergerac I could only declare my love through poems, and deal with the grief of break up or loss through the written word. Even now, when I’m writing and want to tap into raw emotion, I reach for pen and paper. There’s something more organic about that physical act.

For me, storytelling is a way to reveal hidden emotions, forge connections, and share my unique perspective—a perspective grounded in empathy and understanding. Stories can spark change, pose questions, and challenge the status quo. They always have. Think of Dickens, Kafka and George Orwell—writers who brought injustice to light through fiction. My greatest hope is to write something that resonates with someone, makes them feel seen, and gives them hope.

That, to me, is success.

People remember how a story made them feel. We connect deeply with individual experiences—like the solitude of The Martian, or the unspoken ache of a hidden relationship in Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Atmosphere. Some stories stay with us forever. Those are two of mine. Which ones have stayed with you?

Bouncing Ideas by EV Bancroft

by Robyn_NyxJune 9, 2024June 5, 2024Leave a comment

Okay, I’ll put my hand up, I’d never read a specifically sapphic (lesfic) genre book before 2019. I’d read the more literary offerings, from Well Of Loneliness, to Tipping the Velvet to Oranges are the Only Fruit etc, because I’ve always loved literary fiction, but unless you could get it easily in Waterstones or the equivalent, I hadn’t gone searching. Honestly, I was so busy at work in the last few years, the only books I listened to on my commute tended to be business or management theory books. (I know, I know, all work and no play and all that…)

When I took early retirement and attended a Global Wordsmiths’ writing course it was like a whole new world opened up to me. Not only did I learn about the craft of writing (and have been learning ever since) I suddenly came across the rich seam of lesbian and sapphic fiction which I’ve been tapping ever since. I must have read and listened to hundreds of books since, and I love the breadth and depth of them; some have made me laugh, kept me gripped or made me cry.

But more than all that is the welcome of a group of like-minded souls I can discuss writing and books and exchange recommendations with, who share the same interests as me. They are all different and quirky: my friends; my tribe.

Attending writing retreats has been a real joy, even for an introvert like me. If you are debating whether it is worth it or not, the answer is definitely yes. To be taken out of our own environment where we can concentrate on writing and bounce ideas off each other, discuss plot holes or correct our literary peccadillos is priceless. That the workshops are often held in interesting places just adds to the attraction.

Come and mine the sapphic seam with me!

Website: https://evbancroft.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/e.v.bancroft.writer

Twitter, Instagram, Threads, TikTok and Blue sky all under evbancroft.

EV Bancroft’s story, On the Path to Glastonbury, is in SappFic Eclectic, Volume 5.

LesFic Eclectic Volume Three: Coach Five on the Blog Train

by Robyn_NyxDecember 22, 2021December 22, 2021Leave a comment

It’s the penultimate day to the big release, and coach five on our LesFic Eclectic blog train brings another four authors into the station for your entertainment: the brand new voice of Tabetha Dale, and emerging authors E.V. Bancroft, Valden Bush, and Maggie McIntyre. Volume Three is released tomorrow on Thursday 23rd December, but you can download Volume One and Volume Two right now.

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How excited are you to be involved in this project?

Valden: I’ve really loved it. To be in books with authors you admire gives you a huge buzz. I’ve been in each of the three volumes, and it has given me huge confidence as a writer to get words on paper and have them published. The experience is irreplaceable.

Tabetha: It is an honour and privilege to be involved in this project. This is the first work I have had published and I’m very excited to have the opportunity to share my writing with the wider world.

Maggie: Extremely. This Is the first short story I have published, and It’s been a most enjoyable challenge.

E.V.: It’s great to have the chance to hone my skills and also an opportunity to have my story nestled between some fabulous writers—well, their stories anyway!

What’s your story about and what genre does it fall into?

Valden: My story is about a couple, one of whom is injured and in hospital. The genre is romance.

Tabetha: It’s Poetry’s birthday. Spending time out on the water with her dad in their little fishing boat should have been an idyllic day for them. When a storm sets in, Poetry and her dad are in danger from the raging sea. But what else waits beneath the waves around Whispering Skerry…waiting to change their lives forever? Find out what Poetry’s destiny will be in this young adult fantasy fiction.

Maggie: It’s a contemporary lesfic romance, between an older woman and a younger one, about taking a chance, and finding new hope and a new love in unexpected places.

E.V.: It’s a contemporary romance. Not interested in romance after a bad break up, Beth has decided the only love in her life is her rescue dog, Darcy. A dog emergency challenges her perspective.

What kind of fiction do you like to write and why?

Valden: I like space opera and adventure because the stories can be gripping with action and movement, and they can have heroes and lots of romance and love.

Tabetha: I’m enjoying exploring my writing style and young adult fiction is certainly not something I thought I would enjoy…but how wrong was I? Tapping into my latent teenage angst has been intriguing. Exploring the darker side of life is something I’m curious about too.

Maggie: I write lesfic romance, but usually with a gritty, realistic undertone which addresses some deeper Issues on the way. I especially like the ice queen trope. All my six novels so far have definitely had happy endings as I am a hopeless romantic.

E.V.: I enjoy the more lyrical romance genre, so I’m striving for the sweet spot between lesfic and literary fiction. Why? Because I have a passion for the classics and love lesfic novels that also have some depth and commentary about life in them.

Tell us something about yourself that readers might not already know.

Valden: I worked in the Vice Squad for a year.

Tabetha: I’ve had the amazing experience of swimming with turtles, penguins, lizards, seals, manta rays, and even a shark in the waters around the Galapagos Islands…and perhaps a mermaid.

Maggie: I tend to fall in love with my main characters, so have written two series to see what happens to them next. I alternate between UK and US settings and characters.

E.V.: I can touch my nose with my tongue. Come on, admit you didn’t try it! :0)

What’s your favourite line from your story in LEV3?

Valden Bush ~ The White Feather
Does anywhere exist with waves that are equal in length? Where did they come from?

Tabetha Dale ~ The Mermaid of Whispering Skerry
I’ve got to breathe. I jerk, and twist, and water rushes up my nose. I open my eyes to see my last bubbles of breath escape to the surface.

Maggie McIntyre ~ Zumba (Taking a Chance)
With the scent of warm scones still floating on the air behind them, Hilary reached for Jackie’s soft, smiling mouth yet again, and resolved to make up for all the wasted years.

E.V. Bancroft ~ The Left Behinds
Even I couldn’t ignore the smattering of tell-tale signs that individually meant nothing but together signified so much, like an artist who makes a few seemingly random strokes until gradually you pull back and see the whole picture.