How to write: time travel

Lots of us probably wish we could live in another era, but return safely to our own whenever things got 'hairy', or (if you went a long way back in time) whenever you got a headache and needed some quick pain relief.

One way to time travel is to write. Lots of my novels are set in historical periods I'm interested in: Roman Britain, Viking Wales,. Federation Australia.

If you do lots of research, once you have your characters and a rough idea of the plot, you really do get the feeling that you're 'living' somewhere else as you write.

A trick when writing historical novels is not to use everything that you've found out about the period in which your story is set. The reader doesn't want to feel like she's getting a history lesson. Drip little bits of information in only when it's relevant. It's fun to find out about the fashion fabrics and styles, the kinds of crockery and cutlery used to eat tripe (or whatever) but don't go overboard with these details. When writing A Hard Man to Love  (free now on Kindle) I researched 1910 Australia and also what was going on in the wider world and only added information that was of interest to the main characters, Pansy and Rex. One issue that Pansy thinks about is women getting the vote.

I can't go often, but I do love travelling to Wales. The stones have stories to tell!

How to write: mind miles

Woody Allen said 90 per cent of success is showing up.

How true!

In the case of writing, it means that if you show up at your computer and put in the time writing, eventually it'll pay off for you and your readers.

I believe almost everybody can write because everyone has a story to tell and a unique voice that makes them unlike anyone who's ever lived on this planet before.

But it's not easy to sit down and create a 50,000-odd word novel. It takes months, at least: months of stretching your imagination to the limits, and testing your resolve.

One way to keep yourself fascinated is to write a novel set in a place you'd love to be. It should be a place you'd fly to if you could: if you had the money, the time off work, the freedom from the commitments of a family...

So clock up the mind miles on your 'flying machine' , aka computer.

A village in the Cinque Terre, Italy

In some of my novels, I've visited Wales often because it's 'the land of my fathers' and I adore it, and I've also been to Italy, another favourite.

Australia is my home and I have a free novel on Kindle right now, A Hard Man to Love. In that novel I didn't move many miles away from my desk, but I did do some time travelling.

A friendly spaniel in my Dad's village of Hook, Pembrokeshire, Wales

How to write: make a room of your own

Virginia Woolf knew about the importance of having a special space.

It's a place where you can be calm and relatively unbothered by day-to-day problems. A place where your imagination can soar.

It can be a physical place, but also a mental one.

I mostly write in my garden, surrounded by my dogs, with the chooks scratching around and making that lovely contented clucking.

But to get to writing-readiness you need to be able to visit that place often, every day is best, even if it's only in your mind.

I once read a great article about writing and in it was this acronym: BINMAD. It stands for bugger inspiration, never miss a day. And it's worth remembering. If you can write every day, even only a sentence or so, you're keeping your story flickering in your imagination like a little candle. Don't let the candle go out because one day that flame might become a roaring fire that catches everyone's attention.

I wish I could take my own advice. I hope some of you might be able to.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY AND HAPPY WRITING!

How to write: LOVE it!

You're a goddess when you're a writer. You create characters and then you manipulate them. You toss obstacles in their way, you play with their emotions, you set fire to their dreams.

But in the end, you let them live happily ever after, or at least I do.

Being a writer is to experience the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

As a HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY special, Amazon has my lovestory A Hard Man to Love available for free.

Here's an excerpt from one of the scenes between Rex and Pansy. It's set in 1910, and Pansy believes she has a rare and dangerous condition that means she can't have children, so there are all sorts of reasons why these two should not be attracted to each other. And one of them is in the form of the evil but beautiful Prudence. Anyway, here are Rex and Pansy, and me having a goddess moment:

She knew she’d never feel shame for having kissed him – opened to him – in this way, no matter how well she understood that what she had done was wicked in the eyes of society. She’d never really been alive until now. His vulnerability, his beauty, his hauteur attracted her as a moth is drawn to a flame, only to burn up and die seconds later. She was that moth but she cared only that she was experiencing these few minutes in this room with him. Even if the rest of her life was lonely and miserable, at least she had this short fabulous time with him. She’d cherish these glorious few moments forever, when she felt the extent of his burning desire for her and savoured her short-lived power over him.

     “You’re a witch!” he rasped, a smile on his lips. “An enchantress! I didn’t know what a kiss could mean until now.”

How to write: hooks

Don't you love it when you read the first sentence of a novel and just know that you're not going to be able to put it down - that feeling of being hooked, and giving yourself up to it because you know you're in the hands of a master story-teller?

Once you as a writer have your characters, setting and a rough idea of a plot, make sure you have the best possible first sentence. You want to grab your reader's attention from the first word.

Here are some great sentences that sucked me into the story and didn't let me go:

My name is Serena Frome (rhymes with plume) and almost 40 years ago I was sent on a secret mission for the British security service. I didn't return safely. (Sweeet Tooth,  Ian McEwan)

The tramp stank of piss and some unmentionable human filth Gavin couldn't even bear to imagine. (Tremble, Tobsha Learner)

Despite the fact that Carol Jackson has to sit in a pram, she and her mother are going out together while mine is downstairs whispering with a perfumed woman in an animal skin. (The Hiding Place, Trezza Azzopardi)

In Melton Mowbray in 1875 at an auction of articles of 'curiosity and worth', my great grandfather, in the company of M his friend, bid for the penis of Captain Nicholls who died in Horsemonger jail in 1873. (Short story "Solid Geometry", Ian McEwan)

Each of those beginning made me want to read on. Each introduced a character in the very first sentence. A character who is already interesting. And in each, the language is simple and the situations complex, full of potential conflict an human misery and anguish - which we love to read about! Also, each has a strong and unique voice.

My novel A Hard Man to Love is free from Amazon from this Valentine's Day!

I love writing in my garden. I find it inspirational.

How to write: voice

You're unique, and so is your voice. It's one the world wants to hear. So don't be afraid to write as YOU. I start my writing day with an eggsellent breakfast courtesy of my five ex-battery hens.

What is 'voice' exactly, when it comes to writing?

Think of your favourite author, the one you turn to again and again. It's likely he or she has a special way of looking at the world, a quirky way of saying things, a uniqueness that's hard to pin down, but that makes you long for their next novel.

For me, reading a favourite author is like having their voice whispering in my ear. It feels like they're 'talking' just to me. And because their writing is so fabulous, you forget that it's writing. It feels like they're actually speaking.

New writers often disregard their own voice. They seriously 'sit down and concentrate to write a book' and forget that their voice is special. Never before in the history of humankind has there been a voice like theirs, and there never will be again.

If your writing has a stilted feel, it's because you're trying too hard.

Imagine you're writing for just one reader, someone you like very much. It could be your bestie, or your Mum, or your Grandma. Write exactly as you would talk to them. Your own voice will come through and your readers will love you for it.

My novel A Hard Man to Love is free on Amazon from Valentine's Day!!


How to write: love scenes

The most important sex organ is the brain.

Remember this when you write love scenes.

The attraction between your lovers has to be more than physical. They have to connect at a deep psychological level and your readers have to believe that they're right for each other in every way, not just because they like the way the other looks.

So set up many scenes and confrontations and affectionate wordplays between them before that very first kiss.

You'll have your readers eating out of the palm of your hand.

Having said that, when it comes to the lovemaking, you can let rip. But you need to be honest. How would these particular lovers do it? What is idiosyncratic in their personalities that might affect how they make love? What in their characters might inform what they like to do and what they don't like to do?

And don't neglect other parts of the body when you write your love scenes. After all, good lovers don't. John Updike, a master at this, wrote about the sole of one of his character's feet as he unhurriedly described their appreciation for each other, phsyical and emotional.

In my novel A Hard Man to Love I tried to build up a sizzling tension between Rex and Pansy before letting them even touch.  A Hard Man to Love is free via Amazon from Valentine's Day!