My Writing Process!

I was tagged by the lovely Beth von Staats to take part in the 'My Writing Process' blog tour - thank you Beth! You can find her post here!

(No What's Up Wednesday post from me this week - my week's been that dull there's nothing worth mentioning!)

What are you working on?

I'm currently working on a historical/paranormal novel called Bloodroot and Bracken, which takes place in Lancaster during the mid-16th century. The story follows a woman called Jane Ask, a Protestant during the reign of Mary I, who is accused of witchcraft during her early 20s and then tortured. During her trial she sinks, and is therefore found innocent, but she spends the rest of her life struggling with PTSD.

Jane eventually marries a Scottish tutor, a Protestant like herself who has fled London, and has four children, three of whom survive infancy. When her only surviving daughter, Thora, performs magic, Jane must protect her from herself, and everyone else, when her powers grow stronger.

How does your work differ from others of it's genre?

When it comes to historical fiction set in the 16th century, I've found that most novels tend to be about men and women who are either members of the royal family or who are some form of nobility. I'm much more interested in what life was like for the every day person for whom life was a real struggle on a daily basis. That's not to say that there aren't pieces of historical fiction about the average person - of course there are - but I think there should be more of them.

In my experience I've also found that historical fiction is primarily either completely factual and grounded, or, if fantastical elements are included, some of the historical accuracy is lost. In my novel I'm trying to reach a balance between including magic, but also keeping the story as honest as I can in terms of historical accuracy.

Why do you write what you do?

Considering I've always loved history it took me quite a long time before I considered writing historical fiction. I was raised on Grimm's Fairy Tales, Hans Christian Andersen and Roald Dahl, so my first forrays into writing were always fantastical in some respect - even now, though I am writing historical fiction, there is magic present.

I listened to an interview with Hilary Mantel - which can be found here - in which she said 'history is not behind us, history is something we move through', and that really struck a chord with me. I think a lot of people are intimidated by historical fiction when they shouldn't be; 500 years ago the world was a little different but people were still people, and they had hopes and dreams and fears just like any of us. I would love it if I were to become published and encourage just one person to no longer be intimidated by history.

I also primarily write about women - my current WIP is about a woman and her daughter, after all; romance takes a backseat - because I find women fascinating. I'm not ashamed to say I'm a feminist (nor should anyone be) and I find myself exploring a lot of feminist issues in my work; particularly because my two protagonists are threatened by the society they live in, which is a society ruled by men and the church.

How does your writing process work?

If I'm being completely honest I'm still not sure if I even know the answer to this question yet. I know that my writing process still needs a lot of work; I need to get into the habit of planning just enough so that I can sit down and just start writing a draft, but not so much that the planning puts me off actually writing the story.

I still don't feel as though I write enough - in fact I know I don't - and I don't write everyday, which I really, really should, even if it's just a few words. I'm the Queen of procrastination!

One thing I know for sure is that I will rarely start writing something unless I know how it ends. In most cases, whether it's a short story or something longer, I will even write the final line of the piece. It doesn't have to stick, it can change at a later date, but if I know what I'm aiming towards I find the rest of the piece much easier to write!

I'm never entirely certain whether I start with a character or a plot, and to be honest I think it's neither. What I usually have in my head before I start writing something is a situation or a predicament. For example, I got the idea for my current WIP when one of my tutors at university mentioned that a lot of short stories contain a sense of irony - Roald Dahl's stories are proof enough of that - and for whatever reason the first thought that popped into my head was: 'imagine if a woman was accused of witchcraft, found innocent, and then had magical children?'

Just like that, I had an idea for a story. I wrote a 5,000 word short story that I was immensely proud of, and almost all of the feedback I got was: 'I'd love to see this turned into a novel'. I've always been intimidated by novels - I was never confident that I could create a decent story that consisted of 70,000 words which were just different combinations of 26 letters - and I've also always been wary of novels which started out as short stories. Most of the time they end up looking like novels that should have stayed as short stories.

Still, I let myself mull over the idea because I'd grown very attached to the characters I'd created. Slowly, the idea began to escalate, and when I decided to do my MA in Creative Writing I took the opportunity to stretch my story into a novel. I'm still in the middle of my MA now and the story has turned into something which I really do believe is on its way to being a novel I can be proud of!

I'm going to tag anyone who wants to participate, because I'm fairly sure pretty much everyone has participated in this blog hop by now! If not, consider yourself tagged!

J.

Meet My Main Character!

On Sunday I came across a fantastic new blog hop/chain of posts for historical fiction writers to introduce the main character from their WIP or soon to be published novel. It looked like so much fun that I simply had to join in, so the lovely Beth von Staats tagged me in her post. Make sure you check it out, it's a really interesting read!

I must also give honourable mentions to Debra Brown, who started this blog hop, and to Farida Mestek, whose post inspired me to join in!

What is the name of your character? Is he/she fictional or a historic person?

My novel has two protagonists, but the protagonist we see the most of is Jane Ask, who is 21 years old at the beginning of the novel (apart from the brief prologue, in which she is 6). She is entirely fictional, and very dear to my heart.

To the right is a picture of how I imagine Jane, made with this dollmaker because, sadly, I can't even draw stickmen well.

When and where is the story set?

The novel is set in Lancaster, Lancashire, and at the beginning of the novel the year is 1554. Mary I sits on the English throne.

What should we know about him/her?

After her mother's sudden death when she is 6, Jane grows up with just her father and two older brothers. Her oldest brother, Matthew, and her father eventually die, and her other brother, David, moves to London to work as a carpenter there. Jane elects to remain in Lancaster, near the countryside that she loves, and away from the wilderness that is London.

At the beginning of the novel London, and indeed all of England, is a dangerous place for Jane to be, for she is a Protestant, and therefore a heretic in the eyes of the queen. She must keep her beliefs incredibly secret, as Lancashire, like most of the north of England, is devoutly Catholic. 

She lives a quiet life as a healer, with only a select few friends, and enjoys her own company. She's also rather proud, despite being on the poorer end of the social scale, though she would never admit it.

What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?

During the autumn of 1554 Jane is accused of witchcraft. She is arrested, questioned and tortured via thumbscrew, leaving her hands forever maimed. Determined not to be hanged for something she hasn't done, Jane still refuses to admit to the charges. She is eventually ducked and found innocent when she sinks, but spends the rest of her days struggling with PTSD; she suffers from nightmares, flashbacks and panic attacks.


Jane eventually marries a Scottish tutor, a Protestant like herself who has fled London after seeing some of his friends arrested and executed, and has four children, three of whom survive infancy. Her oldest child and only daughter, Thora, gives her something of a shock when one day she summons fire in her palm.

The realisation that her beloved daughter is the very thing Jane was once accused of being brings back memories she'd rather forget. She is forced to question everything she knows about the world and the true circumstances of her mother's death, all while trying to protect Thora from herself as her powers begin to grow stronger.

What is the personal goal of the character?

Ultimately Jane wants nothing more than to keep her children safe, and she will do anything to make sure that they are. Due to her PTSD she suffers from mild paranoia, and is fiercely protective of all three of them.

Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?

Yes! My novel is titled Bloodroot and Bracken, and a few weeks ago I took part in WeWriWa and posted the first eight sentences of the novel. Other than that, however, I keep it mostly to myself. For now!

When can we expect the book to be published?

Ha - I need to finish writing it first! Ideally I'd like to have it ready to send off to agents either at the end of this year or the beginning of next year.

I hope you enjoyed finding out a little more about Jane, and I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Once again, thank you to Beth von Staats for tagging me. I'm going to pass the torch to Carrie-Anne Brownian, an author of 20th century historical fiction whose characters I'd love to learn more about, and also to Amy Brashear, who, I believe, is working on a novel which takes place in the 1960s. Exciting!

If anyone else would like to join in, let me know and I'd be more than happy to tag you!

J.

What's Up Wednesday! | 26/02/13

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop created by Jaime Morrow and Erin L. Funk as a way for writers and readers to share with one another what they get up to each week. 

This week I thought I'd start joining in!





What I'm Reading

I'm nearing the end of Grave Mercy, the first book in Robin LaFevers' His Fair Assassin trilogy. I was a bit unsure of it at first, but now that I'm into it I'm loving it! Luckily for me I already own a copy of Dark Triumph so I can jump straight into that once I'm finished.

What I'm Writing

I'm still working away on Bloodroot and Bracken, my historical/paranormal novel. Right now I'm trying to write the scene in which the main character discovers her daughter's a witch and it's so difficult - turns out I'm rubbish at writing shock!

What Inspires Me Right Now

As it almost always does, music is the thing that keeps me inspired when I need to write, and I've found that Florence + the Machine is perfect to listen to when writing about witches. I can't stop listening to these three songs in particular.

What Else I've Been Up To

Mainly stressing about my future, which is never fun. I'm in my early 20's and in what could be my last year of education, and while the big, wide world is exciting and full of possibilities it's also absolutely terrifying!

But it's something of a comfort to know that the majority of my friends feel exactly the same way. I don't think anyone really has their life on track when they're 22 - there's no fun in knowing exactly where you're headed, in fact I think now is the ideal time for the wise words of J. R. R. Tolkien: "It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."

And now I'm going to make myself a delicious bowl of macaroni cheese and head to the library to get some work done!