Joined up writing...by Sheila Claydon

Click here for my BWL page

In my last post I wrote about finding a story, and about the trigger that prompts my imagination sufficiently to write a book. It can be a picture in a magazine, or a holiday, or an article in a local newspaper for example. I also talked about my next book, due out in June 2022 which, while it still doesn't have a title, is the final story in my Mapleby Memories trilogy, and how this is proving more problematic because, whatever the trigger, it has to tie in with the first two books Remembering Rose and Loving Ellen. 

And that is the reason I have a collection of triggers on the back burner. Ideas and pictures that I save until the right story comes along, which in this case is a 600 year old water mill that I chanced upon hidden in woodland. If you have read either of the Mapleby books you will know that they are a mixture of romance, fantasy and history, so a very old mill seemed just the ticket. And when I started this was very definitely the case. The first couple of chapters came easily, as did the main characters, and I was very quickly able to introduce them to some of the characters from the earlier books. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, I was stuck.

I had the back story, the characters and the geography, and I knew how I wanted the story to develop, but I couldn't make it work. Because it was summer and because there was plenty of time before publication I stepped back for several weeks, hoping all would become clear when I started writing again. It didn't! So what to do?

Slowly a possible solution dawned. Instead of writing as I usually do, from the beginning of the book to the end, I was going to have to separate the plot into character led sections, write each one separately, and wait for the right time to join them up.

So right now I have Sophie, the main protagonist, in 3 separate places in 3 different time zones, interacting with 3 different groups of people, and somehow I have to make sense of all of it. Confusing? Maybe, but it has unblocked the writing process. The 'Sophie in the immediate past' section I'm working on at the moment is flowing easily, and because I am typing it up in red I won't confuse it with the 'Sophie in the here and now' section which is in black, or the 'Sophie in the distant past' section which is in blue.

Also I think the joining up process will be interesting and as I always like a challenge, satisfying, when it eventually works. I do think the book will require a bit more editing than usual though and I still have to find a way to link Sophie to the long ago people who worked in the mill. I can 'see' them and 'hear' them but to go back 600 years requires an enormous leap in culture, geography and social mores. Fortunately I have found some really interesting history about old water mills. For example, in medieval times in the UK many water mills belonged to the Lord of the Manor who hired a miller to operate it for him, and he also insisted that all his tenants used his mill and no other! I just know I'm going to enjoy finding out more, so watch this space.

Finding a story...by Sheila Claydon

 Click here for my BWL page

I'm often asked about writing a book. Do I plan it chapter by chapter? How do I develop my characters? Do I ever use real people? Do I ever suffer from writers block? Do I suffer from deadline stress? Yet strangely, the one thing I am rarely asked is what triggers a story? Yet to me that is the most interesting part of writing.

I can pinpoint the taking off point for every story I write, and it can sometimes be something that happened months or even years before that has been quietly sitting and waiting for its chance to shine. At other times it is almost instant. Take Reluctant Date for example. It is set mainly in an (anonymised) place where I had such a wonderful holiday that much of its geography and ambience is lifted directly from that experience. It didn't take me long to decide to find a heroine either. She more or less leapt at me from a magazine article about dating websites. I find that once I am focused on a story everything else seems to fall into place. I'm not sure if it's because I am looking or whether the characters are just out there waiting until I decide to tell their story!!

In Kissing Maggie Silver it was the photo of an interesting looking girl in an advertisement that started it. That, and yet another holiday where a countryside ranger took us on a trek. I just put them together.  Whereas  Mending Jodie's Heart was triggered by a house, a horse, and a bridle path!

As they say, every picture tells a story. And I can remember why I wrote every single one of my books just by looking at the cover. A sepia photo for Remembering Rose, a cruise from NewZealand to Australia for Cabin Fever, a magazine article for Finding Bella Blue, and so on and so on. 

Now, however, it is time to write a new book but one that is part of a trilogy, a follow-on from Remembering Rose and Loving Ellen. This makes it a little more difficult as part of the story is already there so whatever my trigger is, it has to fit with the previous two books. And that's where old ideas come in. The ones I've had on the back burner waiting until I'm ready. And this time the trigger is another photo, but not of a person. It is of an old and derelict watermill. 

The mill is at least 600 years old. I came upon it unexpectedly a few years ago when I was walking my dog in woodland, and I was so intrigued by the fact that none of the local people seemed to know anything about its history, that I took several photos and stored them away for future use. And now seems to be the right time for it to take its place in my next book. Those who have read the first two books in the trilogy will already know quite a lot about the village of Mapleby. What they won't know, however, is how times are changing for the villagers, and the old mill has quite a lot to do with that.

It's half written. It hasn't got a title yet, and it won't be published until June next year, but without the old mill it might not have happened at all. So here's to story triggers and to the writers who recognise them and store them until the time is right. In the meantime, I have to get back to my writing.