Some thoughts on perspective...

 I am very aware that the majority of characters in my most recent WIP are female. I didn’t plan it that way- it just sort of happened. The fighter, the thinker, the puzzle solver, the helper, the decision maker, the caregiver, the villain- all female and all perceptive, thoughtful and clever. I suppose that is good in terms of developing strong female leads in YA fiction, but part of me is wondering if I am writing these characters because they are the characters I am comfortable with, the characters I understand, have experienced and seen in my everyday life and actually, the reason why  I haven’t created a male version of them is because I don’t actually know what a male version of them would actually be like.  I can’t create an honest portrayal of them because I don’t really, accurately know what men think and feel, I don’t know their shared experiences, so I am subconsciously avoiding it entirely. 

Then it got me wondering, can we ever truly and successfully write from the perspective of the opposite sex without having experienced what it is like?

I thought back to books where I remember feeling distinctly irritated by a male writer’s portrayal of a female character (I am sorry George R.R. Martin but I am not always hyper aware of my breasts- they are just kind of there and I don’t think about them most of the time!), and when I tried to think about female writer’s portrayals of male characters or stories written from their point of view, I couldn’t remember if I questioned how realistic and true their thoughts and feelings were because, ultimately, I haven’t really got a clue how a man thinks. I can guess. I can use models of the men in my life and try to fit their reactions to things into the portrayals I am being given, but I have no idea if it matches their inner thoughts and desires, the parts of us we keep hidden. Maybe men do think that way, maybe they don’t. Maybe that is a typical experience for a man, maybe it isn’t. I wouldn’t know.

I write female characters because I can relate to them, and I guess there is nothing wrong with that, but I would love to hear of any novels or books where writers have written from the perspective of a member of the opposite sex and have done it in a relatable, believable and realistic way. Let me know of any suggestions you might have in the comment box below.

Weekend Writing

After my last blog post on returning to work and my fear that I will be too tired/ won’t find the time to write, I was determined to spend some scheduled writing time this weekend.

I went on a couple of walks which I think helped a lot and enabled me to settle down to write, and I managed to reach over 20,000 words in my second draft. It felt good to make that progress and to have some solid writing time. I think even if it just ends up being a “weekend thing” from now on, at least I won’t be giving up on what I have started.

This time, as I am writing, I have been sharing my story with a few close family members and friends, which is something I haven’t tried before. With my previous collection of short stories, I waited until I was finished with my collection before sharing them. I have really enjoyed  ‘sharing as I write’ as it has been so helpful getting their feedback when the ideas are fresh in my mind and I can go back and change them much more quickly and easily. I am ever so grateful that they are so willing to read what I have written and to give up some of their time to do it. I really appreciate their encouragement. I have loved hearing their theories about what might happen next and differing opinions on characters. As a result, I feel like this feedback is also helping to fuel my determination to keep writing.

P.S Below is a picture of some sunflowers I found on one of my walks 😊

Back to work and finding time to write...

 All the way back in February, when I decided I finally wanted to get back into writing, I had some time off work and in those two weeks I was able to put pen to paper and start my writing journey. Then, the school closed and I found that (although I was still working from home and I eventually was in school part time teaching year 10), it was nowhere near as intense as a full time teaching timetable and meant that I had even more glorious time for writing. From February until the start of August, I wrote 13 short stories and the first draft of a YA novel but I knew that once I returned to work full time, I wasn’t going to be able to find quite so much time to write. However, I was determined to make time. I even planned a little schedule. Writing time in the evenings and weekends. It looked great on paper. But returning home each night this week, I didn’t take into account how absolutely exhausted I would feel. I am not used to walking around quite so much (especially in heels), being in constant ‘teacher/ performance mode’ and talking to so many people continuously throughout the day. It is both physically and mentally draining and all I want to do when I get in is eat, do something utterly mindless like watch TV, then sleep. I just couldn’t push myself to write. Even just turning my laptop on when I got home was off-putting as I had spent so much time on my laptop at work planning lessons and emailing and everything. I  couldn’t bring myself to type another word. It got me thinking- how do part time writers with full time careers that require so much of them find the time to write? And, even more impossible, how do writers with children manage? If you are either one of these, and you have some helpful tips, I would love to hear them! 😊

I got distracted by the sunshine...

 I started last week with good intentions. I organised my writing space, adorned it with flowers and a pretty new sign (see below), lit a candle and got to work. I managed to write over 10,000 words in one day, sent my chapters to a few friends who have kindly given me some feedback and even researched some literary magazines and short story competitions. I was feeling very productive.

Then the sunshine hit, we had a six day heatwave and I just could not bring myself to write anymore. To be fair, my lovely little writing space was far too hot to write in and all I felt like doing was reading instead. Although I would have much preferred to have kept motivated and written a lot more (as I felt that I was on a bit of a roll) and I am starting back at work soon so I will not be as fortunate to have so much writing time for much longer, I can’t begrudge the time reading. As I have probably said before, I always feel that reading helps me when I hit a writing wall and I immersed myself in the world of The Witcher, Nevermoor and The Time Traveller’s Wife across those six days and, truth be told, they were days well spent.

Now, let’s get back to writing…

Hi, I'm Back :)

I haven’t posted in a little while as I decided to take a bit of a break. It was partly because of recommendations to wait a minimum of two weeks between writing your first draft and then reading through and starting your second draft. Apparently, it is better to have that space between the two drafts so I can view what I have written with more clarity once having distanced myself somewhat.

I have partly also taken a break because it was the start of the summer holidays. I am sure I have mentioned  that I am Head of English in a secondary school in an earlier blog post and although I was still in school for part of lockdown alongside teaching remotely, the level of work (with not actually being in school for so many hours/days) was substantially less- I actually had evenings and weekends where I could write. Despite this, I still wanted to feel like I was getting away and having a bit more of a break. Therefore, I decided to treat the first half of my summer holidays like a summer holiday and allow myself to have a total break from everything. I went away with my husband for about 10 days and have spent a few days getting back on top of things now we are home. We have also celebrated our first wedding anniversary and it was nice to reminisce about time spent with family and friends last year.

In my last post, I was determined to get ready for that second draft and I am afraid to say that I am nowhere near that point yet. I have organised my writing space a little but a lot more work needs to be done to make it a comfortable enough workspace to be productive in. I am pretty sure I am just procrastinating now. Let’s hope I am more motivated this week 😊

My First Draft

On Thursday I finished the first draft of my new novel. I have been ambitious with this one. This was my first full length novel. I am more of a fan of short stories. It was a thriller/mystery genre. Before I had specifically stuck to gothic fantasy. It was a challenge and I wasn’t sure about it for most of the time I was writing it. I liked 3 things about it (the beginning, the middle and the end) and everything in between felt a bit like a means to an end. Fortunately, actually reading back through what I have written, it doesn’t actually feel like that and some of those ‘means’ have actually made for the addition of interesting characters and development of the setting, so have probably helped me out a lot in the long run.

I have noticed a few things I am guilty of with writing a longer novel. I start off incredibly descriptive and then that level of description just wanes as the novel progresses and I speed towards the end. That is something I will have to fix in my second draft because I felt there was a lot of beauty in the description at the start and I just lose it by trying my best to get to the thrilling parts as quickly as possible. I am guilty of forgetting key bits of information as the novel develops- I kept changing my mind about some initials and they have ended up probably being every letter in the alphabet by the close of the novel. I am guilty of having terrible handwriting yet insisting on handwriting it all- that is going to be a bit of a puzzle when it comes to typing it up.

On the whole, I have enjoyed writing something a bit different. I have ended up creating something that is so much more about sisterhood and motherhood than I ever initially anticipated, and I am proud of the results.

I have decided I am going to leave it to settle for a while before typing up. I might distract myself with tidying up my writing space and making it feel special again (it has become a bit neglected over lockdown) and maybe creating myself a bit more of a rigid schedule. I feel like I have totally fallen into a lifestyle of doing what I want to when I want to do it which I know won’t be as feasible “in the real world,” and when I go back to work.

We’ll see if any of this happens in my blog post next week 😊

Why I love minor characters...

I have always, since childhood, supported the underdog. I was never a fan of the flashy, heroic head-lining characters who seemed to have everything going for them (or him, in most cases). I loved the sidekick, the underrated villain, the quirky character who pops up for some comic relief or merely as a plot function. They were the ones I supported. Not only because I felt they were undervalued but, in some cases, I was able to fill in the gap about them in my imagination. I didn’t know their backstory, wasn’t explicitly told what drives and motivates them, wasn’t exposed to obviously narrated clues to how they are currently feeling. I could decide. I could create them to be so much more of something in my mind.

My favourite character in the Harry Potter series is Narcissa Malfoy. Her love for her son and her decision at the end of the series (no spoilers) completely and utterly enthralled me and trying to truly understand her motivations, the intricacies behind her decisions, was something I wasn’t plainly told, I had to think about it, work it out. I am much more fascinated by Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest than I ever will be by Randle McMurphy and TV show-wise, having finally complete Pretty Little Liars, Mona has to be my absolute fave. (Some spoilers)-  I often found myself rooting for her over the others and was in complete denial that she was as cruel and sadistic as she was initially made out to be- I knew there was more to her and I liked second-guessing her motivations, her desires, etc.

I think those examples reveal that perhaps I am more fond of the morally questionable characters that skirt along the sidelines, inciting conflict, toying with being undeniably evil but then doing something that makes me wonder if that really is the truth in it, are they unquestionably antagonistic or is there more them than that? And I will never know, because they aren’t the narrator, they aren’t the glory-seeking protagonist. They are there, mostly as a function, something to cause complications or spur the main character on. I think that is why, in my own writing, I end up being more excited and intrigued my minor characters than my major ones. I end up loving them more and enjoying the fact that they aren’t revealing all, they are keeping parts of themselves hidden and unwritten and, if I ever do have any of my writing published, I hope readers really notice them, give them the time of day and try and fill in the gaps themselves.