At the start?

 I'm in a scary place at the moment - hovering on the edge of starting a new manuscript!!! 

The idea that has been bugging me since Xmas is still bugging me, and now I've signed on for a workshop in March that requires a new piece of work for a critique session - so it looks as if I am doing this. I have notes. I have research - lots of stuff on Dark Academia, which is where the thing seems to be taking itself.  More of that in future posts. I've back burnered the projects I was struggling with for the moment and I'm gathering myself for the cliff. 

If you are writing fiction there is always a series of simple questions to be answered at the start of the project – even if the author is not consciously following a framework.

Who? What? When? Where? How? 

Who – the protagonist, the villain, the key supporting characters,

What – overall premise – murder mystery, jewel heist, treasure hunt.

When – historical, contemporary, futuristic

Where – the setting – cosy village, desert island, outer space.

How – that’s your plot - and the point where it all starts to get way more complicated ...

I'm assembling those elements. I don't have all my cast yet. I have hero and heroine, but not the supporting players - or not all of them. I know roughly where the thing is going. It's contemporary, but over an extended time line. It will be set primarily in Wales - yes, I am coming home. 

And the plot? Like I said, it's complicated. 

I'll keep you posted. 

(Apologies for the absence of a post last week. My computer, a venerable old lady, who is showing her age a bit, had a hissy fit and would not let me near half the display and controls. I've sorted it out now for the moment, but something will probably have to be done long term.) 

Because of the hissy fit I did not get to wish you a happy St Dwynwen's Day on Sunday. So I am saying it now. 

Diwrnod Santes Dwynwen Happus. 

Technical Hitch

 Apologies for the absence of a new post on Wednesday 21 January. I'm having an irritating technical problem.

I hope that normal service will be resumed in the near future.

Coffee Addiction?

 Not me. I rarely drink it. Tea is my beverage of choice. A preference inherited, I think, from my grandmother.  I have six different varieties in the cupboard which I do drink regularly, but a nice mug of English Breakfast is always acceptable. Or should that be Welsh Breakfast? 

I have noticed however that people in my reading matter seem to have an obsession with the stuff - coffee that is. It's particularly noticeable first thing in the morning, when characters either cannot function at all, or are super grumpy, or both, before their caffeine fix. Often preparation involves a machine of considerable expense that requires Master's degree in engineering to work it. Yes, I have done that one. With all the different types now on offer it can be a marker for personality. The rugged hero, of course, drinks his black. If he's a cop, it probably has the consistency of engine oil. Heroine gets something with more milk.  The precious princess semi villain - ex girlfriend, difficult boss, snooty colleague, will probably insist on a special type of non dairy, specific number of shots, etc. And I admit to this category too - I do have a weakness for the occasional fancy stuff with syrups and other additions, Dairy is OK, but I have been known to ask which speciality brew has the least coffee in it. Tea addiction - see above. 

Then there is, of course the coffee shop as a place for the meet cute, a work location or a fast pit stop in a queue for a take away. The cosy coffee shop, often attached to a bookshop, gallery, garden or stately home can be the impetus for a whole book on its own. And if you add dogs, cats, dragons ...

From a writer's point of view coffee is a useful 'prop'. It gives your actors something to do. It is an icebreaker and a signal of hospitality. It can be offered at any time of the day, unlike alcohol. It serves in the place that tobacco took in golden age fiction, when cigarettes would be offered rather than a drink. It's universal and will probably not be going away any time soon. It has certainly come a long way from the milky coffee in the cafe by the beach that was the reward for a cold winter walk in my childhood. What would now be classed as a latte - and made with instant powder, of course. 

But that was a long time ago.

Distraction?

 You've probably seen lots of them - videos and reels and memes of kittens chasing feathery toys. Distracted by the new and pretty. 'Oh - look at that! Chase it! Chase it!' 

At the moment, that is me too.

I have a Work In Progress that has been moving at the pace of treacle. And I have been threatening to try my hand at a cosy crime - even done some work on it. I'm still interested. I have a fantastic plot twist that  I would love to put into writing - well, I think it is fantastic. But somehow the rest of the book has never come together - or not yet. I have not given up on the idea by any means. Because that's what happens with ideas. And it's happening now. In a completely different part of the forest. Suddenly I have my own shiny feather on a string, distracting me. Two ideas that have suddenly melded, a MacGuffin, a hero who has been occupying space in my head for a very long time, and an opening line that I really want to use. I blogged about it in November when it first began to simmer and it hasn't gone away. Instead it is gathering momentum - two strands that didn't have anything around them that are acquiring form and substance.  It's a romantic suspense, possibly the first of a trilogy and it is busy incorporating all sorts of threads and snippets that I have wanted to write for some time.

So now what do I do? 

Go after the fluffy distraction and write that one instead?