Here is a picture of my latest Pocket Novel - Love Triumphant, out last Thursday.
Steve Baxter disappears while interior designer Lizzie Hilton is doing the refurbishment of his property. His brother todd suspects Lizzie of being involved romantically with Steve who is due to come into an inheritance on his marriage. When it turns out Lizzie is also one of the last people to see Steve before he disappears her troubles really begin. Especially when she is fighting her attraction for Todd.
I don't know how other people write their pocket novels but if anyone is interested in my methods, I am definietly a 'panster'. I start by creating cv's for my character. I cut pictures out of magazines, supplements, newspapers etc. Then I give them a star sign which helps with characteristics. Each chaacter has an A4 page citing their details and a picture.
I put the details in a ring binder file. If I have a house that I like I put that in too. Then I think up a scenario - a job or a place that throws them all together. then I invent problems. I give everyone a secret in their past which I may or may not use, e.g. was once engaged to two girls at the same time; wrote an anonymous love letter to a boy at school. It helps me put flesh on my characters. I also think about what they did the week before the story begins.
Then I sit down at the keyboard and grind out my 50,000 words.
I don't go back to the beginning but once I am finished I re-write several times.
I like a dash of humour in my stories and I definitely like my heroes and heroines to have faults. In real life no one is perfect so why should a story be different?
I do draw on my memories from working at an international airport for 18 years, then as a health care receptionist. Ideas were virtually handed to me on a plate as I sat on the front desk.
So there you have it. We've all had interesting lives and every day we come across a situation that can be used. Never let any experience go to waste. Keep a notebook and eavesdrop shamelessly on conversations. Supermarket queues and bus stops are a wonderful source of ideas.
I have just had to sell up a family property and I think I have enough materail from that experience to keep me going for years.
Home some of my tips prove useful.
Margaret
Looking forward to reading this, Margaret. I am always interested in how other writers create their work. I like the idea of using star signs to get characteristics, never thought of that. I find my daily train journey to work is fantastic for finding people to pop into stories!
ReplyDeleteJourneys are a great idea to eavesdrop. I'm going to Worthing tomorrow so I hope to have a good listen to all that's going on around me.
DeleteSounds like a good story, Margaret - as always!
ReplyDeleteIt's fun building up character profiles. Carrying on through to the end without editing at first is good advice.
Hope you enjoy the story. I'm busy working on another one now.
DeleteThink I do a combination of writing the whole thing in one go but always reading what I wrote the previous day before starting again. Inevitably, some editing gets done and it makes sure the continuity flows. So interesting to hear how others work and create characters, plots etc. My next one is germinating ... an unexpected postcard is the starting point! Watch this space!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great starting point, Chrissie. Look forward to seeing the finished result.
DeleteI just got this today and I can't wait to read it - looks like another great read! I so enjoy your pocket novels, Margaret!
ReplyDeleteThat's great news, Julie. I really hope you enjoy it. As usual it was a pleasure to write.
DeleteSome great tips here, Margaret. I like the idea of giving each character a secret.
ReplyDeleteI write in Scrivener, which provides much the same scope as your ring binder for creating character pages, drag and drop facilities for pictures/background info etc.
Every time I start a new novel (or short story) it’s with the intention of rattling through the first draft, ignoring the temptation to revise as I go. Never seems to work out that way, though, but I’m still working on it.
I used to go back to the beginning to revise as well but it slowed me down so much so now I grit my teeth and resist the temptation althought it did take a lot of self discipline.
DeleteMargaret, I seem to start with a place or setting and why my characters both hero and heroine are there. I flesh out their personal issues or problems in their lives at this moment and what is making it difficult for them to connect ie the romance journey by asking why? I am more of a plotter. I jot down the important scenes and how they might be connected with smaller scenes and the overall format of the story if you like. But each scene might only have a snippet of dialogue or only what I want it to be about so the story progresses. Once I start writing I write through the whole novel setting a daily word count target. To begin each day I reread perhaps the last scene or few pages of the work and within 5 minutes seem to get back into the story again. It only seems a slightly different process for each of us.
ReplyDeleteI agree Noelene, it's horses for courses. I do try to do 1000 words every time I sit down because I feel you can at least work on something but not a blank screen. It's strange though how new ideas pop into my head while I'm writing, ideas that weren't in the original synopsis, that's why I call myself a 'panster'.
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ReplyDelete