I was interviewed by Renee Rose on Blushing Books. Come take a look!
Blushing Books Blog
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Do I Know You?
I was just wondering...
When you start a story, do you base it on a person that you know? Do your main characters have a lot in common with the people you know? Do your villains if you have any, freakishly resemble someone that you don't like or does someone in your story get a spanking because you're in a mood... Maybe you just wake up with new people in your head.
As I've said before I started out writing Fan fiction. With Fan fiction, you start off with most of the characters already developed for you. I have been know to use and expand upon real life situations but that's usually just a tiny seed that inevitably grows into something much bigger, if not something else entirely.
When I was writing Becky's Last Chance I just woke up with the characters in my head. Odd the way that happens. It wasn't the whole story, just the main characters. I had to really think about what I wanted to do with them. It was almost like they were family members, people that I knew. They didn't though resemble anyone that I DID know. Once I figured out where I wanted the story to go I had to create a few more characters along the way to get to that end. Those are the characters I think I may have injected a little of people I know or may have known in the past into.
When I was writing An Unexpected Husband, I woke up with a seed of the story itself in my head. The plot. I had to come up with the characters early on and they were fresh to me. I didn't already KNOW them. I did get to like them a lot though as the story continued. That's where editing helps. When you go back to the beginning you can change things that don't fit so well with the characters you've become more in tune with by the end.
Now I've just finished the sequel to Becky's Last Chance and I enjoyed going back and developing the characters even more.
So how do you start a story? What comes first?
An Unexpected Husband Amazon US
An Unexpected Husband Amazon UK
An Unexpected Husband Blushing Books
Becky's Last Chance Amazon US
Becky's Last Chance Amazon UK
Becky's Last Chance Blushing Books
When you start a story, do you base it on a person that you know? Do your main characters have a lot in common with the people you know? Do your villains if you have any, freakishly resemble someone that you don't like or does someone in your story get a spanking because you're in a mood... Maybe you just wake up with new people in your head.
As I've said before I started out writing Fan fiction. With Fan fiction, you start off with most of the characters already developed for you. I have been know to use and expand upon real life situations but that's usually just a tiny seed that inevitably grows into something much bigger, if not something else entirely.
When I was writing Becky's Last Chance I just woke up with the characters in my head. Odd the way that happens. It wasn't the whole story, just the main characters. I had to really think about what I wanted to do with them. It was almost like they were family members, people that I knew. They didn't though resemble anyone that I DID know. Once I figured out where I wanted the story to go I had to create a few more characters along the way to get to that end. Those are the characters I think I may have injected a little of people I know or may have known in the past into.
When I was writing An Unexpected Husband, I woke up with a seed of the story itself in my head. The plot. I had to come up with the characters early on and they were fresh to me. I didn't already KNOW them. I did get to like them a lot though as the story continued. That's where editing helps. When you go back to the beginning you can change things that don't fit so well with the characters you've become more in tune with by the end.
Now I've just finished the sequel to Becky's Last Chance and I enjoyed going back and developing the characters even more.
So how do you start a story? What comes first?
An Unexpected Husband Amazon US
An Unexpected Husband Amazon UK
An Unexpected Husband Blushing Books
Becky's Last Chance Amazon US
Becky's Last Chance Amazon UK
Becky's Last Chance Blushing Books
Friday, August 10, 2012
It Isn't Whether You Win or Lose but How You Play The Game
Like the rest of the world, we in Australia are in the grip of Olympic fever. Now Australia has always done pretty well in the medal tally, considering the amount of people who live here, particularly in swimming. This year however, we were given a short sharp shock when our swimmers didn't do as well as we expected them to do. I personally think they did great to even get there in the first place, but it seems that I was in the minority.
Every adult who has or has not ever swum a lap of a pool had an opinion on why it was that our swimmers weren't captured on the middle of the podium, gold swinging around their necks while our national anthem blasted through the arena with pride. Who knows what happened. Perhaps on the day, other countries who wanted it as much as us and who trained just as hard were better on the day.
It seemed that even the swimmers were judging themselves as more than one or two swimmers were captured by reporters so upset that they were unable to speak because they got silver not gold. Seriously people? Silver...second best swimmer in the world. When did sport become so harsh and judgemental?
Yesterday I was given the chance to witness what true sportsmanship was about. I was at my son's sports carnival. My youngest is eleven and the carnival was typical I guess of most school carnivals where all the children are all in one of four house groups. The rules are simple, you have to go in your age race and every other race is optional. Winners and place getter's win points for their house, although all the kids get points for going in a race regardless of where they come.
Now I have to say that running is not my son's favourite or best thing. To say he is not a natural runner is an understatement. But I watched him run in his age race with all the pride that a mother could have, clapping wildly as he came in last. I thought that would be the end of the day for us until the tug a war, well for him, I was sitting in a chair, but I was wrong.
I was stunned as the next race started. There was my boy lined up again ready to race the two hundred metres. He was determined that if he couldn't win then he would get points for his house. Did he win? ...no but he did once again get points for his house. Enough? I thought so. No apparently not, as half an hour later he was lined up for the eight hundred metres. I could tell he was tired and that not only was he going to lose but he was going to lose badly. I was worried that the kids would tease him if he came noticeably last. I almost considered going over and asking them to pull him out. It seemed cruel to sit there and watch your child knowing that they would fail. Finally I decided that it would most likely embarrass him more if I intervened so I waited and watched.
My brave boy ran for a lot of the race and walked for some. I could tell he was exhausted and at one point I didn't think he was going to be able to finish... I almost cried. I didn't know what I could do without making a giant fuss. Eleven year old boys do not want their mothers to come help them off the field under any circumstances. So once again I held my breath and waited. I am so glad that I did.
All of a sudden some of my boy's friends ran over to the track where he was losing heart, being the last one still running and they started to cheer him on. These were friends wearing all the different colours of their house groups, who didn't give a damn for the competition while they helped a friend who needed them. By the time he reached the end of the race the entire school was clapping and cheering for a boy who tried his absolute best.
Sometimes I think that we could learn a lot from the simplicity of childhood. When we're teaching our kids how to play sports, maybe we could try to cultivate rather than repress their natural instincts. Maybe they know better than we do what's fair.
An Unexpected Husband Amazon US
An Unexpected Husband Amazon UK
An Unexpected Husband Blushing Books
Becky's Last Chance Amazon US
Becky's Last Chance Amazon UK
Becky's Last Chance Blushing Books
Every adult who has or has not ever swum a lap of a pool had an opinion on why it was that our swimmers weren't captured on the middle of the podium, gold swinging around their necks while our national anthem blasted through the arena with pride. Who knows what happened. Perhaps on the day, other countries who wanted it as much as us and who trained just as hard were better on the day.
It seemed that even the swimmers were judging themselves as more than one or two swimmers were captured by reporters so upset that they were unable to speak because they got silver not gold. Seriously people? Silver...second best swimmer in the world. When did sport become so harsh and judgemental?
Yesterday I was given the chance to witness what true sportsmanship was about. I was at my son's sports carnival. My youngest is eleven and the carnival was typical I guess of most school carnivals where all the children are all in one of four house groups. The rules are simple, you have to go in your age race and every other race is optional. Winners and place getter's win points for their house, although all the kids get points for going in a race regardless of where they come.
Now I have to say that running is not my son's favourite or best thing. To say he is not a natural runner is an understatement. But I watched him run in his age race with all the pride that a mother could have, clapping wildly as he came in last. I thought that would be the end of the day for us until the tug a war, well for him, I was sitting in a chair, but I was wrong.
I was stunned as the next race started. There was my boy lined up again ready to race the two hundred metres. He was determined that if he couldn't win then he would get points for his house. Did he win? ...no but he did once again get points for his house. Enough? I thought so. No apparently not, as half an hour later he was lined up for the eight hundred metres. I could tell he was tired and that not only was he going to lose but he was going to lose badly. I was worried that the kids would tease him if he came noticeably last. I almost considered going over and asking them to pull him out. It seemed cruel to sit there and watch your child knowing that they would fail. Finally I decided that it would most likely embarrass him more if I intervened so I waited and watched.
My brave boy ran for a lot of the race and walked for some. I could tell he was exhausted and at one point I didn't think he was going to be able to finish... I almost cried. I didn't know what I could do without making a giant fuss. Eleven year old boys do not want their mothers to come help them off the field under any circumstances. So once again I held my breath and waited. I am so glad that I did.
All of a sudden some of my boy's friends ran over to the track where he was losing heart, being the last one still running and they started to cheer him on. These were friends wearing all the different colours of their house groups, who didn't give a damn for the competition while they helped a friend who needed them. By the time he reached the end of the race the entire school was clapping and cheering for a boy who tried his absolute best.
Sometimes I think that we could learn a lot from the simplicity of childhood. When we're teaching our kids how to play sports, maybe we could try to cultivate rather than repress their natural instincts. Maybe they know better than we do what's fair.
An Unexpected Husband Amazon US
An Unexpected Husband Amazon UK
An Unexpected Husband Blushing Books
Becky's Last Chance Amazon US
Becky's Last Chance Amazon UK
Becky's Last Chance Blushing Books