Last summer, I wrote a short story called Life With Nan. You can find this story in my recent publication The Postcard and Other Short Stories & Poetry. What’s happened to me after writing that story is interesting.
Just as Contelli’s Mimosa, a short story I wrote in college, became a full novel entitled Beneath the Mimosa Tree, so has Life With Nan started to become a novel. I fell in love with Nan and the main character of the story so much, that it prompted me to write a longer story, and so I think I’ll have a go at it.
That’s right. I’m using British lingo there.
The characters are all British, minus the main character’s father, who is American.
I guess this is what happens when you watch oodles of British television shows, obsess about British novels and characters, and find yourself reminiscing about the wonderful trip you took years ago to London and the Cotswolds. Certain things do inspire your writing.
And then, you start to write about them. Currently, I’m 8 chapters in and loving every minute of crafting these people I’ve imagined in my head.
And while setting a novel in the U.K. is something I’ve never done before (my husband said, “Why are you setting it there? What do you know about that place? Why not set it somewhere more familiar?”), I have to beg to differ with him on this count. Why not try to stretch myself and tackle something new and different? I have a computer and I can research things like British words, slang, places, street names, and locations. More importantly, I have to create the characters and make them believable. It can be done, but this novel may take more time and care and research than any of my previous ones.
But that’s okay.
I owe that to myself and my characters — to give them a realness that makes them lovable and unforgettable.
Honestly, you guys, I strive for that in my writing
every
single
day.
So, I’m going to continue to have a go at it.
* * *
Getting a jump start on #NaNoWriMo with nearly 30,000 words so far. Care to join me for National Novel Writing Month starting November 1st? More to come on Steph’s Scribe.
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