Characters

Have I got too many in the Novel?

If I feel like I have then maybe it's true. I've just introduced a couple more and I'm feeling that I have to really justify their presence. Maybe it's nothing to worry about too much at this point though (half way through first draft) I'm still just trying to write the story down and see what comes.

I had a lovely conversation with another writer this weekend (he's written two novels, unpublished, and ghost written several others, published). When I said that I had reached the half way point and felt that the rest of the novel was, if not writing itself (I wish!) then at least letting itself be seen - he said he remembered that moment exactly with his most recent novel and had the good fortune for it to happen at a time when he was doing nothing but writing and could easily clock up 6-8,000 words a day! I was very jealous, knowing that I will have to do my best with my two hours / 1,000 words each morning (no let up in work for the forseeable future - financially good news, creatively a bit of a bummer). It did inspire me though.

Is it really June already? Blog has been neglected partly because of work (which recently included a week of fourteen hour days made bearable only by the company of lovely people and a plentiful supply of tasty treats, and I suppose the fact that I love my job really :@))

And then a much needed holiday in Italy visiting family and friends. A gorgeously relaxing week with lots of splashing in the pool, eating amazing food, and meeting several new people with connections both in my present and my past. The latter filled my head with ideas for stories which between the sunshine and the wine I somehow failed to write down. I really must try to make some sense of in the next couple of days before the intensity of it fades.

Holiday included one of those 'perfect moments' that keeps you glowing through the tougher times - cycling round the walls of Lucca, hubby and daughter just ahead on a tandem, the air filled with the scent of jasmine and the sound of church bells. That should keep me going through the next couple of months of work madness at least.

Teenage diaries

I've been working on my children's story for the Times / Chicken House competition lately. I thought all had been going OK but then realised a week or so ago that I hadn't done enough character work and didn't really know several of my characters very well at all. I have since compiled a notebook of details about each of them including pictures (torn from catalogues) back story time lines, 'questionnaires' etc. This has been really useful, even though it has inevitably led to massive rewrites

I read A. Writer's blog today and found that she had experienced something similar. I am going to follow her example by interviewing my characters - more in depth than a questionnaire and potentially very useful for finding out things I didn't know about them.

As part of my research / character building I spent part of today (my birthday!) reading the diary that I wrote when I was 14 (my central character is a 12/13 year old girl). According to my closely packed barely legible scribblings I was unashamedly obsessed with boys and music. But my strong friendship with my best mate Vicky is also very evident and there are some references to school work that are quite illuminating:
"Maths homework too hard. Tried for two hours still can't do it. Wrote English essay in bath and while drying hair."

My favourite bit is the much asterisked and exclamation marked week labelled 'The Best Holiday Ever' - a school skiing trip to Italy, which is recorded in furtive hints and half-code that I only half understand - although I think it is clumsily covering up Bacardi drinking and adolescent fumblings. It was enough to trigger some happy memories though and bring a smile to my aged face.

I'm really enjoying this project - just hope I can meet that deadline!