Imagine a plane circling the runway in fog, it keeps circling until the lights on the ground break through the mist and it finds its way towards landing.
I have been circling for some time around ideas for my next novel. Would it springboard from another folk tale? or would it be something around my bohemian childhood? But the characters in Kitty's tale seemed to keep calling. I started jotting down notes, and soon the lights on my personal runway began to show.
It is fascinating when you take a character you already know, how the circumstance around that character seem to bloom and make space for new storytelling. And so a whole new story begins.
The Process
The process with my first novel was easy. I was presented with facts around which to work. Then I began at our natural meeting place; the landscape we share. This time it felt like looking into a void. I had no starting point. It was only when I was beginning to panic, that an idea began to form. It is around the life of Sarah, Kitty's friend, who disappears into a violent relationship. Her estranged son, Nate, comes to a point when he wants to know what happened to his mother. He will be my protagonist. Unless he slips from my hand like the proverbial soap in a bath, of course.
Many authors work from notebooks with copious notes and ideas. It just doesn't work for me. I favour bits of paper so that I can move things around. I am a visual person by nature and my little figures really help to keep possible characters in mind. At present I am exploring avenues to see where things take me. But I am not a plotter. Soon, I will pick a starting point and start writing. From there the characters will begin to lead. That's the real exciting bit. I can't wait. But until I do. I will continue to plough on through the fog. I'll keep you posted when I hit the tarmac.
Thanks for listening.