Photo: For the love of coffee by Ian Shane.

For the reader to care about the protagonist, we need to know her deeply. There must be something she desires or hopes for, but something or someone gets in the way. The focus of her desire must be strong enough to sustain the plot, and ‘real’ enough for the reader to carry on reading to see if the denouement brings her success. Her desire or problem doesn’t have to be revealed in one fell swoop, but there needs to be enough hints about it to draw the reader in.

I like to submerge myself into my protagonist and other characters, so that when I write their dialogue, I use their terminology and react in the way they would. I let the dialogue be written straight from the heart i te first draft, and then I refine it several times during the editing process.

Some characters are verbose and use certain words such as ‘sweetie’ and ‘dear’, which sets them apart from other characters. Some have a clipped many and others display nervous twitches, to help the reader visualise the characters.

One way I find useful to get to know them all, is to daydream over a cup of coffee. With a notepad to hand, I think about the plot line and wonder how t influences the characters. My mind wanders freely, and if I listen carefully, I can hear the characters speaking. The thoughts may not be in sequence, but it doesn’t matter as I save them in my notebook for a future day.
I also like to let them take the lead at times, as that throws up surprising twists and obstacles. I find myself entertained by such acts, which I hope the readers do too.

I like to make my protagonists likeable as that suits the contemporary romance genre. I use snippets from my friends or people I meet, and a tiny part of me can slip in too. However, likeable doesn’t mean that they always do things right – to be believable, things need to go wrong. That’s real life.

Now I’ve written this, I’m going to make a mug of coffee and sit in the garden to ‘chat’ with my protagonist. Currently she is working through her emotions of desire and despair, and I need to listen to how she wishes to proceed.

Happy Word Flow One & All.

                                                   Photo : Love from Aunt Owwee

Call me naive, call me an idiot, but I had to check the definition of Women’s Fiction and Chick Lit, as in my mind they were two different styles. I believed that Chick Lit featured a protagonist who was in her 20’s to 30’s, and was a career-driven woman who was obsessed with her appearance and shopping. It had a contemporary setting, and was often light-hearted and humorous.

My view on Women’s Fiction is that the protagonist is an older woman, from her forties onwards, who doesn’t have the perfect physique or life. She may have battle scars from a divorce or the death of a loved one; she may have a dysfunctional family, money worries or psychological difficulties. Humour still has a role to play too, and sometimes difficult subjects can be raised in a gentle way – such as the author Marion Keyes, who deals with issues such as domestic violence and addictions.

I was surprised to see the author, @KatieFforde in the Chick Lit section in Waterstones, as, her protagonists are not trendy young women a la Sex In The City genre. I love reading her novels as I can identify with her protagonists in many ways – and she makes me laugh at times.

Perhaps it is my prejudice that makes me believe that Chick Lit will have little substance to entice me as a reader, and perhaps I am mistaken and should re-evaluate my thoughts. I write about women who have dysfunctional lives and are in their forties, but I can’t somehow find a way to say that I write Chick Lit. I find the label worrying as my novels may be dismissed as ‘not proper literature’ – but should I care?

Chick Lit may have been an important genre trend in publishing when Helen Fielding’s novel Bridget Jones’s Diary was released, but I wonder if the term is too flippant for today’s society, as it can perhaps also mean  light and fluffy, not worthy of reading.

Women’s Fiction is an umbrella term for books that are marketed to female readers, according to Wikipedia, and includes many mainstream novels, romantic fiction and Chick Lit. Maybe the title of the genre is not vitally important, as I noted that on the back cover of Katie Fforde’s novels, the genre is simply marked as ‘fiction’.

I love writing in this genre, and i have tried others such as crime and thriller, which although i enjoyed at the time, I’m having more fun – not all the time mind you – writing in this genre. So I write Women’s Fiction and if an agent chooses to call it Chick Lit – I’ll go with the flow.

Happy Word Flow One & All.

‘Cartoons from erix!’

I’m very aware that my submission package is sitting in a couple of slush piles – and I can’t help wondering how my baby is feeling?
Does she feel uglier than those around her? Has she felt the finger of fate touch her, and then cruelly pass her over, only to pick the adjacent baby – who has perfect blond ringlets.

I want to cuddle her and tell her that i have faith in her, and that she has the potential to shine. She needs to know we’re in this together. But it’s like the first day at school – i have no means of communicating with her as someone else is in charge of her for the time being.

The longer I wait, the more I fear she’s been rejected – she perhaps lacks the X factor to grab the attention of those in power. And of course, that’s my fault – and I can blame no one else – even my family who demand to be fed and dressed in clean, ironed clothes.

But she’s my baby, and I’ll never forget how she helped me along my writing journey – through her I’ve learnt so much – my failings and my strengths.
Oh yes – i won’t forget her, but I may tweak her hair, smooth her ruffled eyebrows, change her clothes, or eve put her up for adoption – but she’ll never be forgotten by me, her creator.

Perhaps one day she’ll win the bonniest baby competition – only time  and a lot of pampering will tell.
Personally, I’ve always been attracted to the guy with quirky looks – no Pitt or Clooney for me.
So logic would say that someone out there will find my baby appealing – even with her squint and stumpy legs!

Happy Word Flow One & All

My latest novel -‘The Divine Pumpkin’ has now been made into a number of submission packages – after a lot of sweating over the synopsis, which we all know about – don’t we? When one rejection arrives, another package will be sent out, along with my hopes and dreams. This time, I’m in it for the long haul – and not giving up after just five rejections. I have faith in this story, and after four rewrites, I hope that someone, somewhere will share that faith.

I recognise more these days, that a rejection in any form, is only one person’s perspective, and that someone else may see it differently.
This has been highlighted for me recently, when I was buying a book. I read the blurb on the back cover, and decided that it wasn’t for me – but someone, somewhere obviously like it enough to publish it – we can’t all like the same style or genre.

But instead of jumping when the post arrives, or checking my emails every ten minutes, I’m engaged in writing my next novel, as I’m only content when I have a story coursing through my mind, and I’m putting it down on paper. The wait for a response can be so long, that it is better to be occupied than dwell on the unknown future.

Well, my journey continues, with all the twists and turns that comes with this route. I’ve packed a picnic, and first aid box, so I’m prepared for the long haul – at least I know from the Twitter world, that I’m not alone – and if you’re reading this, I imagine that you too are travelling by my side.

Happy Word Flow One & All.

Image by Bubble Head H_W

I was talking to a friend yesterday about my writing journey – the initial interest from some agents only to be told not unique enough – too unique – market already saturated with genre – you know the drill.

My friend went on to say that she couldn’t understand why i continued with my dream when agents/publishers are less willing to take risks in the current climate – and that I’ve left it too late to be an author in today’s market. I should have done it years ago.

She continued by discussing the ebook world and suggested I try there if i really wanted to bother. I was gutted by her comments – I felt as though she’d ripped my dreams from out of the sky and trampled on them, before scraping the sorry mess from off the floor, only to put them through the mincer just to make sure they were completely annihilated.

The focus then moved onto the story story world, and she said I should be doing that first. Well actually, I do frequent this world too – even though I’m not a great fan of reading them – and I pay to get them critiqued y a writing magazine – I’m learning all the time – give me my due I want to scream, from behind my cappuccino. And I think she may have forgotten that she read my recent one that I sent off to a competition – results still pending – and she ruddy loved it – oh how fickle!

I’m an avid reader in the women’s fiction genre – as well as others – and again, I can’t read them without learning about structure, pace, vocabulary…

She’s a great friend, but she left me feeling dejected – hopeless – as if i don’t write I have nothing left except for being a wife and a mother – which in itself is a colossal task at times. However, I need to write – I have so many stories pulsating around my head that I should put them down on screen and paper – it makes me happy. I shouldn’t let anyone crush my dreams as they belong to me – to me, I tell you.

This morning, whilst still feeling a little low, i was putting some clothes away for daughter #2, when I found her football kit – which I had loving ironed yesterday and put on her bed for her to put away – shoved into a draw that could barely close. I pulled it out and discovered that it was more creased than when I pulled it out of the washing machine. The final straw of hopelessness I fear.

So, should I still have hope, or be hopeless – I know what the parents amongst you will be saying about the latter issue!

Happy – & Hopeful – Word Flow One & All.

photo: For the love of coffee by Ian Shane

Whilst having my third coffee of the morning, I read a chapter in ‘Your first novel’ by Rittenberg & Whitcomb, entitled ‘State of Mind’. They suggest that your state of mind can actually affect your writing, and they offer advise on how to get over the most common problems of what affects your attitude.

Take ownership:  When people ask what you do, say you are a writer. Don’t feel the need to say you haven’t an agent yet, or you haven’t been published. You have to believe in yourself , you are writing, therefore you are a writer. Keep that in your mindset.

Love the story you’re writing:  Feel the passion for your WIP, but allow it to offer a different angle from what you were thinking, from time to time. Being open to a subconscious direction could take the novel somewhere unexpected – let the story live.

Write the best you can:  Although we all know that the first draft will need re-writing several times, try and write the best you can each time. Don’t let your mind persuade you that you don’t have to try hard the first time around – aim for your best each time – let your mind believe in yourself.

Don’t take rejection to heart:  We all receive letters of rejection, or hear nothing at all. It goes with the territory of writing, and we must accept it if we wish to succeed. There may be many reasons behind the rejection – the agent as too many crime writers or your genre isn’t trending currently, for example.

Feel positive:  Easier said than done – I know. You can drag your own mind into the dark doldrums if you spend too much time bad-mouthing other authors whom you feel don’t write that well. By all means, analyse other novels, but focus on what works – not always what doesn’t work.

Worry Not:  Worry not about the current marketing trends, about whether ebooks are better than traditional publishing, about how long an agent takes to get back to you. Worrying about things you cannot influence, only takes your energy away from your writing and daily living. Keep writing, and focus on what you can achieve, and not on what you perceive you are failing in. Keep positively focused on your WIP.

Happy Word Flow One & All.