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| Hang out the flags, I've got an idea for a story. |
Sometimes, it's the 'why'.
Why was the 'wicked fairy' in Sleeping Beauty wicked?
What drove Laurie Lee to start his journey in As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning?
What made Craig Campbell choose his way of life in Sinclair Macleod's The Reluctant Detective series?
When it comes to
novels, I think that authors juggle three distinct needs.
What does the reader
actually need to know, what does you need them to know, and (still with me?)
what do you need to know purely for yourself?
Initially, in my
Brit thriller, Standpoint, I alluded
to main character Thomas Bladen's difficult childhood. But the more I wrote,
the more I wanted to know what actually went on. So I explored that and some of
those formative events filtered through to the manuscript. That way the reader
can trace a thread all the way from who my protagonist is all the way back to some of the experiences that moulded his behaviour.
Even if you're writing
about a baby, its home environment and the attitude of its parents (which will
contribute to its conditioning and the life awaiting it) owe a debt to the
past.
I'm in the process
of submitting two novels to agents / publishers (at time of writing, I haven't
decided which road to take). To complicate things further, each book is a
different genre. Standpoint is a thriller about a civilian who joins the UK's
Surveillance Support Unit, while Scars and Stripes is a transatlantic comedy
drama set in the 1980s.
Being back on the submissions trail, it's easy to buy into the notion that I'm there at the beginning. Except that I'm not. My trusty spreadsheet reminds me that I've been contracted four times for other books, and offered a further three contracts (at different times) for a fantasy novel, Covenant, that I eventually chose to self-publish.
Being back on the submissions trail, it's easy to buy into the notion that I'm there at the beginning. Except that I'm not. My trusty spreadsheet reminds me that I've been contracted four times for other books, and offered a further three contracts (at different times) for a fantasy novel, Covenant, that I eventually chose to self-publish.
As writers we tend
to see ourselves at the start of something, which can be energising or daunting
depending on how you feel about that all-important next stage. But it's important to recognise the steps and
individuals (seen and unseen) that brought us to this point.
The journey of a thousand miles may well begin with the first step, but let's not forget all the other journeys that put us there, willing and able.
The journey of a thousand miles may well begin with the first step, but let's not forget all the other journeys that put us there, willing and able.
