The other day, I was walking my dog along the beach when...Hang on. What I meant to say was that the other day , I was ‘jogging’ my dog along the beach. Jogging is a much better word – at least in a novel – because it gives a sense of character and scenery. Now where was I? Ah yes. As I was saying, I was jogging my dog along the beach when my ending suddenly fell into my head.
Unfortunately, at the same time, a seagull decided to expel its breakfast over my hair. Honestly.
Since moving from London to Devon five years ago, I’m still getting used to Devon folklore. One quaint saying is that it’s lucky to be ‘seagulled’. All I know is that it takes ages to get the stuff off. By the time I’d managed to do this, with the aid of wet wipes which I’ve learned to carry in my pocket, I’d almost forgotten the other thing that had got me.
The ending to my novel which I’ve almost finished.
It’s a funny thing but there are a lot of us writers out there who honestly don’t know what the ending is going to be until they are almost there. Someone first told me this before I was published – and I simply couldn’t believe it. Surely any novelist worth his or her salt, meticulously plans a novel from beginning to end?
In fact, as I was to find out, that’s where I was going wrong. The best way to write a novel – at least for me – is to wait for an idea to hit you. Then you need to people it with characters who have problems. After that, you introduce them to each other in a common setting such as a school run or a honeymoon. And then you let them do their work.
My latest book AFTER THE HONEYMOON is about one honeymoon, three couples and enough secrets to sink all the marriages before they’ve begun. I began by knowing that I wanted to set the first half in Greece and the second back in Britain, after the honeymoon. I also wanted to write about a mum with young children who didn’t want to leave them when she went on her honeymoon; a celebrity who marries a divorced mum with surly teenagers; and an English girl who runs the honeymoon hotel in Greece – but who used to know one of the grooms. But I didn’t know how it was going to end.
And that’s when I started running. Doing something physical is, I’ve discovered, one of the best ways to make the ideas flow. The worst thing you can do is to sit at your desk and wait for something to pop into your head.
Sometimes, I get an ending in my sleep when I’m running with my dreams, so to speak. I wake in the night, feverish with excitement, scrabbling for my beside pen. But in the cold light of dawn, that idea doesn’t seem so great after all.
In AFTER THE HONEYMOON, I must confess that I was going to make one of my heroines get together with someone else. But at the last hour, while having a dip in the sea (in my wetsuit), a huge wave came along and took me with it. For a minute, it took my breath away and it was then that I realised. My heroine needed to have her breath taken away too. So I put her with someone else.
Mind you, there’s nothing worse than an ending which is totally unbelievable. So I do try to keep my feet on the ground. I also try to make it happy although there are times when some of my characters don’t always get what they want.
Still, that’s life, isn’t it? Meanwhile, please excuse me. I’m just off for another dog jog....
Unfortunately, at the same time, a seagull decided to expel its breakfast over my hair. Honestly.
Since moving from London to Devon five years ago, I’m still getting used to Devon folklore. One quaint saying is that it’s lucky to be ‘seagulled’. All I know is that it takes ages to get the stuff off. By the time I’d managed to do this, with the aid of wet wipes which I’ve learned to carry in my pocket, I’d almost forgotten the other thing that had got me.
The ending to my novel which I’ve almost finished.
It’s a funny thing but there are a lot of us writers out there who honestly don’t know what the ending is going to be until they are almost there. Someone first told me this before I was published – and I simply couldn’t believe it. Surely any novelist worth his or her salt, meticulously plans a novel from beginning to end?
In fact, as I was to find out, that’s where I was going wrong. The best way to write a novel – at least for me – is to wait for an idea to hit you. Then you need to people it with characters who have problems. After that, you introduce them to each other in a common setting such as a school run or a honeymoon. And then you let them do their work.
My latest book AFTER THE HONEYMOON is about one honeymoon, three couples and enough secrets to sink all the marriages before they’ve begun. I began by knowing that I wanted to set the first half in Greece and the second back in Britain, after the honeymoon. I also wanted to write about a mum with young children who didn’t want to leave them when she went on her honeymoon; a celebrity who marries a divorced mum with surly teenagers; and an English girl who runs the honeymoon hotel in Greece – but who used to know one of the grooms. But I didn’t know how it was going to end.
And that’s when I started running. Doing something physical is, I’ve discovered, one of the best ways to make the ideas flow. The worst thing you can do is to sit at your desk and wait for something to pop into your head.
Sometimes, I get an ending in my sleep when I’m running with my dreams, so to speak. I wake in the night, feverish with excitement, scrabbling for my beside pen. But in the cold light of dawn, that idea doesn’t seem so great after all.
In AFTER THE HONEYMOON, I must confess that I was going to make one of my heroines get together with someone else. But at the last hour, while having a dip in the sea (in my wetsuit), a huge wave came along and took me with it. For a minute, it took my breath away and it was then that I realised. My heroine needed to have her breath taken away too. So I put her with someone else.
Mind you, there’s nothing worse than an ending which is totally unbelievable. So I do try to keep my feet on the ground. I also try to make it happy although there are times when some of my characters don’t always get what they want.
Still, that’s life, isn’t it? Meanwhile, please excuse me. I’m just off for another dog jog....
Thanks so much, Janey! :)
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