To tell a tale....

Well, having shared a few thoughts about writing in general, perhaps it’s time to talk today about my own books. Now, before you reach for the delete button, let me assure you straight away, this is not going to be one long sales pitch. Aside from the fact I don’t really want to just burble on about how you simply MUST buy my book for no other reason than its ‘awesome’, I find the self-promotion side of being an author toe-curlingly, cringe-worthy, as I can never entirely shake the feeling to talk about your own books in such a way borders on arrogance. It seems to me, it’s not for me to say whether it’s good or bad, all I can say with any degree of confidence, is it’s there to be read.

So, with that said, I hope you’re still here and perhaps I can focus on what I feel is important about the ‘Within’ series, ( yes, that’s what its called, I should probably have mentioned that before), so for me, it’s the story. I wanted to write a story people could relate too on a very personal level, which is why I opted to use first person. It just seemed, if you could see the world through her eyes, feel what she is feeling, if I got it right, it might give the reader a unique view on the whole plot. So instead of being a spectator, you would be right in the heart of the action. It all makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? And, perhaps like me, you think this perspective would make writing the whole thing so much easier, after all, all it needs is to type down everything that happens! I thought that too – in the beginning- and to a degree, that is true but, my friends, there is a major pitfall in writing this way and I fell headlong into it! Picture the scene, there I was typing away like a maniac, completely convinced I was writing deep, insightful prose...it was only when I took a break and re-read my work, I realised what I had actually written, was an almost endless drone of an internal monologue.

 

I was only a third of the way through reading, and I was already screaming at my main character to ‘just shut up because NOBODY CARES !!!!.’ We had her unbelievably self-absorbed thoughts on everyone and everything she came into contact with – be it animal, mineral or vegetable- not to mention her endless, increasingly-annoying ramblings about how it/she/he/them made her feel. By the end of it, I was poised to type the line,

‘ and then Carrie jumped into the nearest river because even she couldn’t take her whining psychobabble any longer.’

Thankfully, I resisted the temptation and, instead, just deleted the mornings’ work and began again.

So what’s the story about? Well, it’s about a woman, who is just an ordinary person really, she’s a single mother after escaping an abusive marriage, which has left her almost completely unable to reach her emotions. She does a dull job and, at the very beginning of the book, it seems nothing much will change for her. But, obviously through a series of events, by the time you reach the end of the first book, her life hasn’t changed dramatically, but she has – and that’s what the story is about. How seeing yourself through the eyes of someone else, even briefly, can change you completely. Now, having re-read that very brief description, you might be thinking, this is a love story – one of those, lonely woman meets chiselled hunk who helps her rediscover herself and they ride happily away into the sunset. I have to say, it really isn’t like that at all, I obviously don’t want to give anything away, but it couldn’t be more different. As I said earlier, this is the story of an ordinary woman, and as I am one, I can say with total confidence, unless he’s a cowboy, it’s extremely unlikely to find yourself riding anywhere! Not to mention, you don’t find chiselled hunks very often either.

 

 

I’ve just realised how long I’ve been talking, so before this post becomes a book, I will quickly answer one question I have often been asked, why did I need to write this story? Well, I suppose I felt it was worth sharing, that the idea was worth exploring and maybe – just maybe- someone might read it, who has a life like Carrie and she might start to think, maybe she wasn’t as ‘stuck’ as she thought. How good would that be? That my book could change someone’s opinion of themselves. Make them feel perhaps anything really is possible. I think if I ever found out that had happened, it would mean more to me than almost anything, to have even the smallest positive effect on someone through my work? Now THAT would be awesome.

Anyway, that’s more than enough from me, so until the next time

Take care out there xx