NaNo Diaries: Day Six

My Writing Desk... in the Dining Room

Morning Pages Wake Up Call: 6.32 
Word Count:2106 (Total 13097) 
Treats: Stopped for cappuccino and croissant while out shopping.
Exercise: Another walk in the woods 
Word of the Day: CREPUSCULAR (adjective) 1. of, relating to, or resembling twilight; dim; indistinct. 2. Zoology. appearing or active in the twilight, as certain bats and insects.

The lie in was not planned this morning but Naughty Nell woke us as 4.20am grumbling and growling. The two other dogs did not join in - if they had we'd have been deafened - but she did not stop despite our sleepy reassurances. In the end I switched on a torch and shone it at the place she was looking at. My Ugg boots. One of them had fallen over and I guess she saw something in their shadow, who knows?

I've written two different stories today. The second was prompted by a Monday Muse posted on my on-line writers group at Writers Abroad. It had created the nuggets of a character in my head who just would not go away so I had to let her have her day. And so she has and a very enjoyable encounter it was too. Love it when I go off the prescribed track, must be the rebel in me!

Ciao for Now

NaNo Diaries: Day Three

Morning Pages Wake Up Call: 5.15am (I'm not joking, dog being sick)
Word Count: 2003 (the three are very important)
Chocolate: Nada, but I did bake some carrot and raisin muffins
Wine: A Rum and Black (that's Cassis) when I've finished this post





In preparation for NaNo, I've been gathering prompts from a number of sources to use during the course of the month. I've selected thirty of them and created a Scrivener scene for each one of them, which show up nicely in the cork-board view. 

However, I wanted to select them randomly (as I'd be tempted to choose the ones that interest me most at that moment in time and might not like the end ones)  so I've written the numbers from 1-30 on pieces of paper, screwed them up and put them in a bowl. Simon chooses one each night before I go to bed so I can read the prompt and go to bed and maturate the seedlings for my writing. That's the theory anyway.

They're a mixture of images, scenes, dialogue, characters just to provide a little variety. I've recently become a Pinterest fan and have started some of my own boards which you can find here. A great way to collect and gather information and suits my preference for 'visuals'. 

The wellies above featured in my writing session on Day Two. They weren't actually blue. Nor were they spotty, nor filled with plants (but a great idea!). They weren't even in the original prompt. But red wellies did pop into my head some time during the night before as being important to my character. Each to their own. 

Ciao for now,

Meet My Main Character Blog Hop

I've been tagged by Dianne Ascroft to take part in this blog hop about main characters in our latest work in progress. Dianne is a fellow member of Writers Abroad and has self published a novel set in World War II - Hitler and Mars Bars.
I'm currently working on a fantasy novel but do have other historical works in progress, so I shall showcase one of those. However, there is no reason why the characters for the blog hop can't be from any genre as you will discover from my tagged authors below. Makes things a little more interesting...

1) What is the name of your character? Is he/she fictional or a historic person?
There are two strong female characters in this project, Eve Lacey and Isabella Bloomfield. Neither of them are based on any particular person—more they are a mix of women I have read about in my research around World War II, particularly about the ATA girls. When I lived in the UK, I met and interviewed an old lady, Pat Brandon, who had nursed in London during the war and she also inspired me to write about this time.

2) When and where is the story set?
The story is set during the years of World War II and starts with Eve and Isobel meeting in a field hospital in France. They continue their friendship when Isobel joins the ATA and Eve is posted back to England.

3) What should we know about him/her?
The two friends couldn’t be more different. Eve is from the country and ran away from her cruel aunt after her father died. Isobel is a wealthy debutante who it seems has everything she could wish for. The women, however, share a birthday and from the first time they meet, their lives run along parallel lines.

4) What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?
Eve and Isobel fall in love with the same man, Jack Wallace, an ace fighter pilot. Eve has a brief liaison with him and falls head over heels in love but never sees him again. Isobel is pursued by Jack and eventually agrees to marry him. Soon after, Jack is killed in combat and Eve reveals the consequences of her liaison.

5) What is the personal goal of the character?
Both women want to live life in the moment as dictated by circumstances out of their control. However ultimately they both want to be loved and seek to secure their future. 

6) Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?
The working title at the moment is All Will Be Well but it has been known as The Flying Angels as it features quite a bit about the ATA girls.

7) When can we expect the book to be published?
This was the first full length work in progress I penned. Having self-published The Duke’s Shadow, on March 1 this year it has given me the confidence to rewrite all my works in progress. Hopefully, 2015. You can find news updates on my website Louise Charles.

The two authors I have tagged are: 
Vesna McMaster - a fellow member of Writers Abroad and 
Pam Burkes, who writes with her sister as the author, Ellie Campbell. Together they have published four novels, How to Survive Your Sisters, When Friends Go Bad, Looking for La La and To Catch a Creeper.