Family Feeling.

 Biological, blended, extended, found - family is a significant ingredient in many books - so much so that it's become a trope. Books that give you warm feelings, maybe a little envy, often set in small communities, which are an attraction in themselves. 

But what if your book doesn't call for that sort of set up?

This topic came up in a recent discussion between writer friends - what do you do if family is not part of the picture, or even if it is necessary that the protagonist does not have any family - is alone in the world? (Which is the case in something I was recently working on and which I hope to go back to in due course.) 

Siblings and extended family might be optional extras, capable of being omitted - only children and small families do exist - but everyone has or has had parents. What to do about them? It is, of course, possible not to mention them either, but strangely, this often proves difficult. 

Options?  

Most obvious, and most ruthless - kill them off. Some sort of accident can be arranged - particularly if you want a nice neat clean sweep. I would guess that statistically there is a much higher mortality rate for deaths in car crashes in books than in the general population as a whole. Airplane crashes are possible, but more unusual. I must admit that when reading I find the car crash solution rather a tired one. Mindful of cliches, I decided to dispose of a set of parents in a house fire, which actually wound itself into the plot when I came to write it. I also murdered another heroine's parents in mysterious circumstances. Fictional parenthood can be a risky business. 

Natural causes is a kinder option, but can be tricky unless they are elderly enough for that to be feasible. Easier if there is only one parent - absent dad and terminally ill single mum has sadly featured in several books I have read recently, and I have used that one in a stored manuscript too. 

Alive but distant is a possibility. Estranged for a variety of reasons, either on their part or on the protagonist's. We've all read the disinherited heir or the runaway - or simply the emotionally unavailable parent with whom an adult hero or heroine now has very little in common, except the accident of birth. Those situations require explanation and might have emotional consequences, which the author may not want to explore. Which is where we circle back to that car crash. Or simple physical distance, living in a distant part of the country, or the world - retirement to Spain is another situation I have seen several times recently. 

This seems to have turned into a rather heartless post, callously killing off all these innocent family members. I'm not really like that, honestly. Except when I am. Writers are like that, when we're being writers...

IRL I was lucky. My parents are still much missed, but I know not everyone has that luck. 

But I hope that you get my point - that there are layers and decisions to writing a book that are not always foreseen or appreciated. All part of the creative process - but not necessarily what you expect when you first sit down with the hope and intention of writing a book. 

Using your words

 My latest writers' group meeting ended in a three cornered discussion on writing the dreaded synopsis. I say dreaded, because I don't recall ever meeting an author who greeted the idea with anything less. It doesn't matter if it is for a book as yet unwritten, or incomplete, or one that is finished - although both have their own unique problems. For a book that is not finished the dilemma is significantly:  'How the heck do I know what is going to happen? I'm only writing the thing.' The plot might take all sorts of turns before we reach the end. The characters might wander off in their own path, with the hapless author running along behind, waving their arms and yelling, 'You're supposed to be going that way.' (Take it from me - it never works.) 

In the case of the finished book you know what happened but there is the terrible task of shoe horning your wonderful, intricate work of art into a measly single page, single spaced, and plenty of white space, so it looks good as well as reads well. Hah! 

Authors who write novels are mostly not well adjusted to short pieces. 

In finished and unfinished there is a matter of selection - do you mention that sub plot about the brother, and the best friend - and what about the dog. (Yes, that was me, a few weeks ago.) 

I haven't done a synopsis for long time - until I did one a few weeks ago for the agent/editor round that is part of the Romantic Novelists' Association conference. It probably did me good to stretch my brain. I can't say that it will totally reflect the book that finally comes out, but it is an approximation, I hope. And no, I didn't mention the brother, or the dog. Any one reading the first few thousand words will find out about them fairly quickly.  A synopsis is all about making your words count. That three cornered discussion was interesting - the take away points - focus on the main story, make sure you reveal the ending, the agent/editor wants to know that you have a finish line in mind - OK, so it might not be quite the one you first thought of ...

The other thing that occurred to me was the using your words thing. The right choice can convey chunks of the plot without the detail. A character demanding something instead of asking or requesting says a whole lot about the situation, the relationship. the character themselves - all in one word. So, you have to weigh them and make them count, carrying as much load as they can, but without making it sound over blown, or a melodrama - which is why writing a synopsis is so damn hard!

Power of the Classics?

 As a writer I do like to get down from the Ivory Tower on occasions. Some of those occasions are meetings with other writers. Lunch or dinner may be involved. Also gossip - hey, we are human beings, and writers are nosy by nature. Whining and moaning may take place. See above, on being human. 

Also there is discussion.

Having dinner the other day talk got around to 'Watcha reading?' One friend revealed a project to read or re-read the complete works of a classic author, and the benefit this was having on her writing. 

I am not much on the classics. Read a lot of them in school, and in those days (I know, dinosaurs) you were expected to read around the set texts. Haven't done much that way since. I referred last week to abandoning a list of reading I was supposed to do for an exam and choosing the drama question instead. Now that was a completely different story. Shakespeare, the Jacobeans, Theatre of the Absurd - an awful lot of Beckett, Pinter, Osborne, Genet. and a lot of it a bit weird. And yes, it was all still pretty new then. I am that old. Thing is, I think it fed into my writing - rhythm, dialogue, silence, pauses (Thank you, Harold).  Influences do matter. With some people it is films - thriller writers often reference Film Noir classics. I gather that video games are also influencers now. Won't happen to me, but if it works ...

Writers are sponges, they soak up all sorts of things. And then they come back -  in books. 

The White Whale

 I read a lot of crime. Mostly romantic suspense, but there are police procedurals, cosies with amateur  sleuths, the occasional thriller. Crime with horror, the supernatural, ghosts, dogs, Dust Bunnies. (You need to be a fan of Jayne Ann Krentz, which I am, to get that one) they are all in the mix. One of the things I have noticed, and enjoyed recently, is the cold case crime. This is art following life, of course, as with ever refining forensic techniques, where evidence has been effectively preserved it is possible to revisit cases that stalled, and bring them to a successful conclusion. 

In fiction, one of the tropes of this sub genre is the detective and the one that got away. That case that they never managed to solve. In something I read recently the detective referred to it as her White Whale. Sadly I can't remember now what book it was, sorry, but the expression stayed with me. Memory is a tricky thing. I had the perfect ending for the WIP, when I get there. Did I write it down? No. Can I remember it? Also No. I am hoping that it will surface, even if in ghost form, when I get there. When. And Nel and Logan might have quite different feeling when I do, so I am trying not to grizzle about it.  But, back to the whale. As far as I know I have never read Moby Dick. It was probably on the list of classic literature that I was supposed to read for an exam in the dark and distant past, but I abandoned the list fairly soon and did the drama question instead. Much more my thing. But I still know about the White Whale. Literature is an entwining thing, the blocks from the past on which successive writers build. I've mentioned before the use of classic quote for subsequent book titles, which I love, but which in these days of algorithms are less common. It's all key words now, and poetry, Shakespeare and the Bible can be a bit light on those.  But the references remain - and the books we write now are that much richer for it. 

The power of the secret

 I'm sure you've noticed - writers, readers - and the people in publishing  who decide on book titles - love a secret. 

It's what makes the genre fiction world go round. And yes, I hold my hand up for that. I like a secret too. It comes in all sorts of ways. In crime and in romance -  a subject for blackmail or maybe an event that happened in the past that no one talks about - that's the classic for a group of friends who did something awful in the past, agreed not to speak of it and then it starts to come to light many years later. I've often wondered about having that sort of secret hanging over you. Honestly I think I'd confess - can't stand the suspense. I write it not live it. There is the treasure hunt sort of secret, when you have to follow the clues or the map or whatever, and whodunnits are actually one big secret. Who actually did make away with Colonel Mustard in the library - and was it with the poker or the candlestick? 

In romance there is often a family secret - one that the protagonist doesn't know about but which impacts their life out of the blue. A favourite is the secret baby, but knowledge that a close relative was a criminal might have just as much impact. With the popularity of DNA and ancestor research these days more people are actually living it - before it might just be a family rumour about that nine months Auntie Flo, spent living with that cousin in Scotland ...

People in fiction - human and non human - are complex characters - that's what makes them interesting. Curiosity can kill the cat, and gets quite a number of protagonists into trouble when they go poking around things they shouldn't. There is a common myth that many people who gets the message 'Fly, all is revealed' (or the modern equivalent - probably a WhatsApp? ) would be on their horse (or the car/train/bus) within the hour. 

Thankfully, I don't have secrets like that. I don't have a horse, or a car, so the fleeing stuff would be difficult.  I do currently have a secret - don't groan - it's the re-release of the four Riviera books as a box set all for 99p - or free if you read on Unlimited. Currently number four in hot new releases for romance anthologies - so people must be reading them. Thanks. And I hope you enjoy them 

Bookfair jaunt

 I had a fun day out at the beginning of the month - a trip to Cardiff Bay and the Sugarpages Book Fair at the Futures Inn. 

I haven't been down to the Bay for a long while - used to be there every weekday when I worked in Baltic House, opposite the Coal Exchange. It was worth the trip on this occasion as the fair was a lot of fun. A room full of authors with all kinds of books - historical, fantasy, romance and thrillers. Really, what's not to like?  Apparently there were about 300 visitors over the course of the day. I timed my arrival a bit later - it takes a while to get down there on the train and I did get a bit lost on the way. One of those cases when you can see where you want to be but end up down the wrong road. Didn't take long to find my way though, it was a lovely sunny morning and being later was probably a good thing as there had been a very long queue when the doors opened.

It was good to talk to so many authors and the room was buzzing with people chatting, buying books and having them signed. I exercised strong will power and did not buy any physical books but made notes and took names and spent the evening loading up my e-reader. Plenty of new names to try out and even better when you have actually met the author.   

I spent a happy hour or so wandering round, chatting and admiring - and there was a lot to admire. Once hunger finally got the better of me I found my way over to the Millennium Centre, treating myself to a late lunch and a wander around the network of craft stalls which were there for the Bank Holiday. Lots of chatting and admiring there too. 

It was a very successful day out, with plenty of enjoyment reading the results. 

SugarPages will be doing a series of similar events during 2026 - two in Bristol and also in Thornbury and Gloucester, with a return trip to Cardiff in November, so there are plenty more opportunities to meet some authors and check out some books in fun events. 

News

 The Riviera books have been put together in a new box set. All four of them, including the two that were finalists in the Romantic Novelists' Association's Jackie Collins Romantic Thriller of the Year award. Three were boxed as a set before, but now you get all four for 99p! And they have a brand new cover. If you don't have all the books already, this is your chance. Romantic suspense - so you get mayhem and murder along with the hearts and flowers. There are flowers - this is the Riviera. I couldn't resist describing beautiful gardens. You can see the link to Amazon  HERE