Writing Process Blog Tour

Thanks to Emily Benet for nominating me to take part in the writing process blog tour…

What am I working on?

I’m writing my second novel, which has a current working title of The Castle of Dreams. It has similar themes to my first novel: romance, long-buried family secrets, friendship and motherhood. It’s also different in a way because it’s based in a fictional town (my first novel, Secrets in the Shadows, is set in Blackpool). The setting I have created for The Castle of Dreams is Silenshore: a very small town with a rocky beach at its base, a high street that rises uphill and a chateau-style castle at the top. I wasn’t ready to move away from the seaside: I love the sea and the atmosphere that it can create, but I wanted to try something new by bringing in a fictional castle and a coast that was different from Blackpool’s. I do think that I will return to Blackpool for future books – there is so much I haven’t explored yet.

How does my work differ from others in its genre?

I think my books combine a few different sub-genres (romance, historical, mystery, magic realism etc), but then all of my favourite books do that. I think my books are different because there is only one of me, and my combination of influences is unique and varied: there’s probably a bit of Sweet Valley, Sylvia Plath and all sorts in there: even if you can’t see it, the influence of so many different books is what has brought me to this point.

Why do I write what I do?

Because the kind of thing I’m writing is what I like to read. I adore thinking about the ripples that actions can produce for hundreds of years after, the idea of history repeating itself, and the way that places are like characters themselves, constantly evolving over time.

How does my writing process work?

I make a lot of notes, think a lot about my plots and characters and try to write as much as I can in my spare time. I don’t set myself daily word counts to reach or anything like that because I like writing, and so normally I don’t really need to discipline myself. Having said that, if I’ve had a long day and I don’t feel like writing then I don’t feel guilty for leaving it for a day or two. In fact, watching dramas on television, reading or just having a bit of time to think can sometimes inspire me much more than staring at my laptop screen. I have always written because I have just always wanted to, and I think I always will.

So now I have talked about the writing process, I nominate Margaret James to do the same! Check out Margaret’s blog at margaretjamesblog.blogspot.co.uk  and her latest book, The Creative Writing Student’s Handbook