Coming up with a new idea for a novel is an interesting process. You get ideas from all sorts of places; from people you meet and stories they tell, from newspapers and magazines, maybe from incidents that happen to you.
You run with an idea, sketch out a synopsis – often no more than a beginning and an end with a great blank in between. You’re not certain how you will get from that opening situation to the ending you have in mind.
What is certain is that the story will develop a life of its own as you write it and in many cases the end will be different from what you planned. The secret lies with the characters. once you start to believe in your characters as an author they start to determine the narrative. You put yourself in that character’s skin and see how she or he would react to what is happening around them. That’s the magic of writing. You create a world that’s real to you and just go with it. Often it’s surprising where you end up.
But first, you need that outline idea.
Right now I’m thinking of what my main characters in Outdriven and Nothing Happens Up There did after the final chapter. did they just cease to exist or is there a new chapter of their lives to be told? Is Maggie really going to settle down and look after her grandchildren or will she become embroiled in another adventure? Will a disillusioned Andrew Eastwood remain as West Lincs MP or will he choose a different career? How will his wife Claire react to that?
I am also working on an idea suggested by my local council filing for bankruptcy or its equivalent. Are council officers just incompetent or are they corrupt and in league with developers? Voters don’t take any notice of what the council does until it affects them and when it does they don’t know what to do about it. They cry out but they don’t speak out. In this scenario I’ve placed a young Bangladesh Muslim boy who has been unable to speak since he was eight. Will he be the one to save a precious green-belt park and how will that affect him?
I hope to finish that book by Easter, fingers crossed!
