Monday 25 July 2016

Characters in Every Season





When I was giving my bedroom a much-needed tidy the other day, I stumbled across a little church diary from 2006 which was a blast from the past! Grandma used to get us one each for Christmas and, among the other diaries we received, you may think it was tricky finding a use for them all.


How wrong you would be!

My sisters and I used the diaries for stories. A writer will know that the characters in a story can get a little bit carried away sometimes. An author needs a diary to keep track of where her characters are at specific times.

It also helps when you're trying to figure out seasons. You don't want to be describing beautiful snowy scenes when, in the last chapter, you were waxing lyrical about the lush fruit of autumn! Yes, I've been known to do that!


A little flick through this 2006 Church Diary and I'm left utterly bewildered. I can't remember this story at all. I must have only been 13 when I started it, and I mostly likely didn't have a clue how I wanted the story to pan out. The names don't help either. I always had an Ivor in my stories - possibly because of my love of Ivor Novello - and the other names are pretty standard. I'm sure I have written 20 different stories with a Robert in them.




So, here is your challenge: Write a story based on what is included in this diary.

Let me know if you come up with a story for these rather ambiguous characters! I'll be intrigued to know what you have in store for them!

Tuesday 19 July 2016

What's In A Title?

I'm lucky.  I've always had poetry in my life.  Starting with the earliest nursery rhymes and passing through the works of the powerful wordsmiths such as Alfred Noyes and Walter de la Mare, to the poems my mother wrote for myself and my siblings.  Poetry has been an ever present force.

Countless years ago, when I was ten, I was bought an encyclopedia of famous people.  Amongst the hundreds of entries in it there were also some quotes and, on reading one such quote, an inexplicable interest was triggered.  The quote was:

"'Tis strange - but true; for truth is always strange; Stranger than fiction"

I was so taken by this that I read in earnest about the man who had created it.  It was a child's encyclopedia so, as you would imagine, great chunks of this man's life were omitted.  But, nevertheless, the appeal of Lord Byron's writing had caught me.

Years later, I made the discovery that Dark Lochnagar, a song I loved hearing The Corries sing, was taken from the poem Lachin y Gair by Lord Byron.  That I had found an inspiration in this song, without knowing that Byron was the author, only emphasised the appeal his words had for me.  The pensiveness and loss (this poem was written far from the mountain it describes and with little hope of returning to it) gave rise to the inspiration that created Day's Dying Glory.  I also discovered that the third verse, perhaps the most evocative in writing, had been missed out from the song.

I've learnt a lot more about Lord Byron since then.  I recently described him as a man with a questionable moral compass, which I feel might have been a generous description given some of his outrageous behaviour.  But it cannot be denied that, as poetry goes, this man was a genius.  His use of language to paint settings is second to none, and his meter always matches his story.  The three words of his that I have borrowed to name my novel speak with far more imagery than you first anticipate, and the more I consider them, the more I see that they do not just describe a sunset, but a turning point.  A turning point in a day, and a turning point in a life.

It would be wrong to imply that Byron's writing was my sole inspiration for this book.  I have drawn inspiration from writers including Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte and Ann Radcliffe.  As well as these authors, Sir Walter Scott's poetry is made mention, and I am lucky enough to own a first edition of "Ballads and Lyrical Pieces", a book that features in my novel.

But without wanting this comment to turn into an essay (though every year I keep meaning to enter the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association Essay Prize), Byron's poetic legacy clinches top spot for me.  When you can extract three words from a writer and have them tell their multifaceted story, that is inspiring writing.

So, what's in a title?  A lot more than it seems!


[Day's Dying Glory has been distributed to the libraries listed in our first blog]

Monday 11 July 2016

Thus The Story Begins




Last week I began what I thought was the final stage of my novel's life.  On Wednesday, 30 copies of "Day's Dying Glory" were sent to different libraries around the UK.  The launch date for this book is actually next April, but I wanted to give libraries the support of something new and different as well as getting my book out there.  I even included a competition in it, for both readers and libraries.

So this seems like the end of the journey.  It's been quite a long journey - usually I dive straight into things and try to get them finished as quickly as possible - but this began over four years ago with this online exchange:

30/01/2012 (Name removed to try and keep the mystery alive!)

10:08 You: You've been invited to this chat room!
 me: Hello XXX!
 You: Hello. I closed the window by mistake
 me: I thought maybe you did!!!
  <3
10:09 I'm writing!
 You: :D <3 Oooh, what are you writing?
 me: A new idea of storiness!
 You: Whatsit? Whatsit?
 me: or storyness, which looks more like it!
10:10 You: What's it about?
 me: So far, a lodge in the highlands!
10:11 You: oooh, exciting. What happens?
 me: Not telling - you'll have to wait and see!
 You: Oh, come on! Please?
 me: I'll send you the second paragraph but that is all...

And so this novel, so unlike anything I had ever written before, began to take shape.

After four and a half years in the pipeline, and so many edits and drafts that I have lost count, my novel finally made it's way Out There, wherever "There" might be.  And it has been emotional.  My book has made people laugh and cry, readers have fallen in love with characters and really hated others.  And igniting such emotions in my readers gave me hope that publishing was not out of the question.

But I've realised, as we've prepared the characters and writing to be sent out into the world, that this is not the end of the journey for them.  Rather it is the first step in their outgoing journey, and I am anxious and excited to see how they get on Out There.  So if you are in the vicinity of any of these libraries (below), please pay them a visit and ask for their copy of Day's Dying Glory.  Who knows, as well as enjoying the book, you might win the £50 gift card!

Bromsgrove Library, Worcestershire
Canton Library, Cardiff
Brough Library, East Yorkshire
Oakmere Library, Potters Bar
Wigtown Library
St Mary's Library, Scilly Isles