Hi everyone,
Another two stops on the Escaping From Him blog tour. I'm sharing a sneaky extract on JL Merrow's blog, and Charlie Cochrane is interviewing me about whether my characters take over from me while I'm writing or if I'm in charge. I'm sharing another little sneaky peek of the story too on Charlie's blog.
The interview with Charlie is copied below:
Do your characters feel like they have minds of their own, or are they putty in your hands?
*balancing hands, palms turned to the sky* Half and half. That’s a bit of a cop out isn’t it? So, I write character biographies before I write my novels, all the basic info about the characters. I also plan my novels, scene by scene, Post it note by Post it note. So, usually I know what they’re going to do. However, sometimes while I’m writing I find out something new about the character which means the original plot idea wouldn’t make sense. In this case the character does take over in the driving seat – for a bit. I may stop writing, then plot out the new scene befitting of the new aspect I’ve found out about the character, and then I’ll write it.
When I’m really writing fast, and the words are flowing faster than my fingers can type, I sometimes feel as if I can *see* the characters in my mind’s eye, acting out the scene in front of me and I just have to write down what I see. This often happens when I’m plotting too – so there’s plenty of fun and creativity for me at the Post it note plotting stage too. And then when I’m writing, I see/hear the characters talking to one another in my imagination and all I do is type it down. Blimey, that sounds pretentious and weird doesn’t it? I’m not all *closes eyes and pinches nose* ‘I wait for the muse or I can’t write’ about it, I’m really not. I sit down and write, whether I’m in the mood or not, when I have allotted time to write, I make the most of it and I write damn it. If I’m not sat at the laptop there’s no way I’m going to write, so by sitting there, and writing my way out of a block, just free writing anything, rubbish I know I’ll have to edit loads later, I often write myself back into the scene, and into that magic bit with the mind’s eye working its sparkles. And it’s in that magic sparkles part when the characters sort of take over things. But often I’ve had a bit of magic with the characters when I was planning their journey with Post it notes anyway. So you see, sometimes I’m in charge of them and sometimes they’re in charge of me…as I said, half and half.
EXTRACT – Darryl gets in his boyfriend Chris’s car which jogs a memory
I ran to the car, I started it, glanced at my bag on the back seat, containing all I gave a shit about in the world, took a deep breath. Am I this person? Am I going to be this new person, or am I incapable of doing it?
I stared at the kitchen window where I'd stood making dinner for my Bath friends one evening. The same evening Chris had refused to eat what I'd cooked because the pasta was little bow ties, and not little twists. "You know I don't eat the bow ties, babe. What can I have instead?" he'd asked, the guests looking at their plates intensely.
"We don't have any little twists left." I had looked at the bowl of pasta in the middle of the table.
"What about spaghetti, I like spaghetti."
"We don't have any left. I checked. I thought it'd be fine."
And he'd grabbed the car keys, shouted, "It's fine, I'll get it," before slamming the door.
The memory of that night in the bedroom, once my friends had gone, still couldn't wipe their faces from my memory as he slammed the door. No amount of tantric up-all-night-sex could do that.
Buy Links for Escaping From Him:
Amazon UK ~ Amazon US ~ All Romance Ebooks
Another two stops on the Escaping From Him blog tour. I'm sharing a sneaky extract on JL Merrow's blog, and Charlie Cochrane is interviewing me about whether my characters take over from me while I'm writing or if I'm in charge. I'm sharing another little sneaky peek of the story too on Charlie's blog.
The interview with Charlie is copied below:
Do your characters feel like they have minds of their own, or are they putty in your hands?
*balancing hands, palms turned to the sky* Half and half. That’s a bit of a cop out isn’t it? So, I write character biographies before I write my novels, all the basic info about the characters. I also plan my novels, scene by scene, Post it note by Post it note. So, usually I know what they’re going to do. However, sometimes while I’m writing I find out something new about the character which means the original plot idea wouldn’t make sense. In this case the character does take over in the driving seat – for a bit. I may stop writing, then plot out the new scene befitting of the new aspect I’ve found out about the character, and then I’ll write it.
When I’m really writing fast, and the words are flowing faster than my fingers can type, I sometimes feel as if I can *see* the characters in my mind’s eye, acting out the scene in front of me and I just have to write down what I see. This often happens when I’m plotting too – so there’s plenty of fun and creativity for me at the Post it note plotting stage too. And then when I’m writing, I see/hear the characters talking to one another in my imagination and all I do is type it down. Blimey, that sounds pretentious and weird doesn’t it? I’m not all *closes eyes and pinches nose* ‘I wait for the muse or I can’t write’ about it, I’m really not. I sit down and write, whether I’m in the mood or not, when I have allotted time to write, I make the most of it and I write damn it. If I’m not sat at the laptop there’s no way I’m going to write, so by sitting there, and writing my way out of a block, just free writing anything, rubbish I know I’ll have to edit loads later, I often write myself back into the scene, and into that magic bit with the mind’s eye working its sparkles. And it’s in that magic sparkles part when the characters sort of take over things. But often I’ve had a bit of magic with the characters when I was planning their journey with Post it notes anyway. So you see, sometimes I’m in charge of them and sometimes they’re in charge of me…as I said, half and half.
EXTRACT – Darryl gets in his boyfriend Chris’s car which jogs a memory
I ran to the car, I started it, glanced at my bag on the back seat, containing all I gave a shit about in the world, took a deep breath. Am I this person? Am I going to be this new person, or am I incapable of doing it?
I stared at the kitchen window where I'd stood making dinner for my Bath friends one evening. The same evening Chris had refused to eat what I'd cooked because the pasta was little bow ties, and not little twists. "You know I don't eat the bow ties, babe. What can I have instead?" he'd asked, the guests looking at their plates intensely.
"We don't have any little twists left." I had looked at the bowl of pasta in the middle of the table.
"What about spaghetti, I like spaghetti."
"We don't have any left. I checked. I thought it'd be fine."
And he'd grabbed the car keys, shouted, "It's fine, I'll get it," before slamming the door.
The memory of that night in the bedroom, once my friends had gone, still couldn't wipe their faces from my memory as he slammed the door. No amount of tantric up-all-night-sex could do that.
Buy Links for Escaping From Him:
Amazon UK ~ Amazon US ~ All Romance Ebooks
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