Dreams and Aspirations

Recently one of the little people wrote a story. The teacher was impressed and the little person was asked to read her story to other classes in the school. She's an avid reader who adores books and so was excited and pleased that other people enjoyed her story. Her dreams are now of being a writer.

Being excited about this lightbulb moment she told some friends she was going to be a writer. One of them commented that no-one would buy a book by a child.

I'm sure we all have friends like that - although whether they stay friends is another blog post altogether. It doesn't matter whether our dream is to write a book, climb Everest or find a cure for cancer, there is often someone who will ridicule the idea and tell us why we're wasting our time. I'm not talking about the person who points out realistic challenges but who still supports us, I mean the ones who don't have the vision and ideas, and only want to keep everyone else in their bland we're all the same and will never do anything special worldview.

We may never make the bestseller list, reach the peak of Everest or find that cure for cancer, but the journey to wherever our dream takes us is what is important.

Themes

After finishing a novel recently I was delighted to find additional material at the end of the book in which the author wrote about his initial idea for the novel, and what had inspired him with the characters and plot.

As a reader I'm fascinated by these insights. I'm not sure whether it's because I'm a writer, or just nosy.

As a writer I'm also fascinated by the things that people see in my writing - some intentional and some that truly amaze me, as I'd never thought of them.

Sometimes I finish a book, put it down and don’t think much more about it, but other times the characters remain with me for longer and I think about character choices and actions.

Writers are often urged to consider the underlying theme in their work. To me this suggests we look for the theme once we’ve finished writing. I think this is the appropriate time, as writing with a theme in mind can lead to preachy writing or overdoing the emphasis. Themes need a light touch, rather like sprinkling fairy dust! Better that some readers miss it than being trampled underfoot by the lecture.

When I first started writing Lives Interrupted, I began with the idea of how people would deal with the aftermath and consequences of being involved in a major catastrophe that changed their lives. It was only while reading and editing a draft version of the novel that I saw the theme - the strength of friendship. This was shown in the stories of Rosa and Ellie, and Kate and Francine. It was also echoed in a plot line I removed in an early version. 

If you’ve read Lives Interrupted you may well have seen other themes and not noticed this one. It doesn’t really matter. Reading is a very individual activity. When I’ve discussed books or films with friends I often find that we have very different ideas of the theme, or alternatively the plot was so gripping we couldn’t turn the pages fast enough to even think about theme. We read to be entertained, and sometimes we don’t need to analyse what the author really meant. What do you think?

Guest Post on Bookish Whimsy

Today I'm over at Bookish Whimsy with a guest post on Charlene's excellent blog. If you'd like to know a little more about me, my writing space and how many houses I've lived in then pop on over and say hello.

Book Reviews

Book reviews were in the news for many of the wrong reasons last year and earlier this year, and possibly because of this I guess many people discount some reviews thinking they've been written by the author’s friends and/or family.

When my husband sent me a link to this blog post, I realised that perhaps the struggle to get reviews might have become my latest fixation!

I laughed out loud when I read the post, but found myself nodding in agreement at much of it.

Good reviews are wonderful – they give the author a huge boost of encouragement and lots of warm fluffy feelings. By a good review I don’t necessarily mean 5-stars (though that is brilliant). A sentence or two outlining what you've enjoyed about the plot/characters/prose is great as well as useful, and finding out what someone hasn't liked is also helpful. It's harder to read, but constructive feedback is good, though sometimes the phrase might sound more like a mantra through gritted teeth!

Yesterday my morning started brilliantly when I discovered this review on the Rabid Readers Review site.

Great Expectations

Someone asked me what I'm working on at the moment. I’ve just published Lies of the Dead so I’m in the phase of deciding which bubbling idea to go with next. I have two quite different book ideas I’ve been considering, but one is definitely making all the running at the moment.

I love this part of the process, although it’s so nebulous it can hardly be called a process. I recall vividly sitting in a café on the coast somewhere between Sydney and Brisbane – okay I recall the moment and the café just not exactly where it was - reading a magazine article, when THE IDEA struck. 

As with the previous ideas that became books, at that point THE IDEA was just a premise with the main character appearing as little more than a silhouette.

She (the main character) is still nameless. I always take a long time with names before the correct one comes, but I know a lot more about her now than I did in that café. I know how she feels about some of the things that concern her and how she will react to situations. I know her family situation, her husband’s job (which is important to the plot), and with each piece of the puzzle she comes a little further out of the shadows.

The thing I love most about this part of the process is that there is all this possibility ahead of me before the internal critic gets to work and tells me I haven't quite captured the brilliance of my original idea!

On this subject my favourite philosopher (Winnie the Pooh) says, 'When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.'

Neil Gaiman said, ‘Perfection is like chasing the horizon. Keep moving.’

So I’ll keep moving and in the meantime I’m enjoying the nebulous part of the process.

Lies of the Dead

The nine months of a pregnancy often seem to last for longer than that, though at times pass too quickly - okay maybe just in hindsight!

In my experience writing a book is a much longer affair, though painful in different ways, but today I'm absolutely thrilled to say that Lies of the Dead is well and truly published and out there.

 

I had the initial idea for the story and the three siblings who are the main characters about four years ago, though they sat quietly for a while at the back of my mind, but gradually they clamoured more and more to be heard.

Liam, the youngest of the three, was the one who claimed my attention initially, and I intended to tell the story through him, but every time I thought about scenes, or tried to write, it was Tom, the oldest brother, whose voice came through. Eventually I gave in and listened to him.

Lies of the Dead is set mostly in Cornwall, though Andi lives in Bristol and Liam in London. The Cornish scenery and people played a large part in forming the story, and it is an area of England I love.

What would you risk to find the truth?

How well do we know those closest to us? When Liam kills himself, his older brother Tom needs to know why suicide was the only solution.

Tom, and his sister Andi, search for answers but don't know who they can believe. Are Liam's friends and associates the people they claim to be? Tom and Andi are propelled into a world where their ideas of right and wrong don't exist, and where people demand what neither of them possesses.

Liam's legacy of deceit is dangerous, and when Andi and her twin daughters are threatened, Tom realises that truth may have too high a price.

The main idea of the story remains as it first came to me, but the path it took has changed considerably, although I find that is often the way.

Lies of the Dead is available in print and Kindle through Amazon and Amazon UK and the other Amazon stores, and in alternative electronic formats through Smashwords. It will shortly be available through other retailers including the Apple store, Barnes and Noble and Sony store.

If you read the story of Tom, Andi and Liam I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know.

Words and Pictures

At the moment we have a friend from England staying with us. This is his first visit to New Zealand, and we are enjoying the opportunity of showing him the local sights as well as places further afield we love to visit. One of the great things about doing this is that it makes you look at familiar places as if you’ve never seen them before.

Last week we spent a few glorious days in Sydney, and it was great to look at this city we love as if it was our first visit.

We took lots of photos – although we already have plenty! 

There is a saying that a picture paints a thousand words, but words can also paint magical pictures.

About half of Driftwood is set in Sydney and while I haven’t experienced any of Juliet’s problems or had someone try to kill me, there are a number of elements and snatches of scenes included in the book that are places I’ve visited or things I’ve seen. When I read those scenes it brings back the incident I witnessed, or alternatively, when I visit a place I’ve included in Driftwood it reminds me how I used it in Juliet’s story.

Alex takes Juliet to dinner in Darling Harbour – this is a favourite spot of mine and while the restaurant they visited doesn’t exist, there are heaps of good places to eat in Darling Harbour.

In another scene Juliet watches a street entertainer in Circular Quay – I’ve since cut back this description, but the little I’ve left reminds me of his act and I can still see him clearly.

One of the chapters ends with Juliet watching a bride and groom in the gardens close to the Opera House. I watched the couple I describe posing for their wedding photographs by the harbour, and I sometimes wonder where they are now, and hope they are as happy as they were that day.

The New Zealand sections of Driftwood are set in Auckland, Christchurch and the Tasman area at the top of the South Island.

Juliet’s view from her home of the Auckland Harbour is the one we had at the time I was writing the book. The scenes set in Christchurch are ones I remember vividly, and with great sadness, as some of the places were badly damaged in the earthquake in 2010 and the severe aftershock in February 2011.

The Nelson and Abel Tasman areas of the South Island are outstandingly beautiful and we’ve spent many happy holidays exploring the beaches and walking the tracks through the National Park.

If you’re interested in seeing some of the places, I’ve been working on a board using photographs I’ve taken during visits, and I’ll be adding more images over the coming weeks.