A Year of Storytelling

I’ve always been a writer. Always. Even before I was published, I used to write all the time. And when I’m not writing for fun, I work as a professional copywriter. Words are my life and I’d be lost without them.

But lately I’ve been using words in a different way. Rather than writing them down, I’ve been using my voice.

It all started in January when I got invited to a StoryTelling Corner in Leamington Spa. I’d presented many times in a professional capacity and I was no stranger to the stage, but reading out fiction that you’ve put together yourself - knowing you’re going to get direct feedback - is nerve-racking.

I chose to go back to the start and tell the story of my first book, Bird. I described how it came about, and then I did a short reading from it. I didn’t want to just read, I wanted to tell my story. It was a storytelling event after all.

To my surprise, I actually think I got a better reaction from the story of how I came to write the book than the actual reading itself. I suppose anyone could read the story at any time, but insight into a writer’s mind is something you don’t always get. Especially when I do have a very unusual imagination. I definitely concern my husband at times!

This experience got me hooked and I’ve done several similar events now through the year. And with each one I’ve learnt so much about storytelling. It’s more than just reading from the novel that you spent months putting together. You need to be able to captivate the audience so they’re hanging on your every word. You need to use your voice as much as your language.

The biggest surprise of all this year, though, came when I went to a slightly different event. It was at a business networking meeting and for the first time ever I decided to tell a very personal story about a dreadful thing that happened to me. There were lessons I’d learned and a message I wanted to convey, and I thought making it personal would be more impactful.

I’d never spoken about anything so personal to a room full of people before, and I was nervous about the response. But the response I got was incredible, and totally unexpected. People were very moved by the content, but most of all people told me they felt drawn into what I'd been talking about. ‘You can tell you’re a storyteller,’ someone had said, to which everyone in the room agreed.

I thought back over what I’d said and I realised that I hadn’t just relayed a terrible event, I’d walked them through each moment of it. I’d done the old "show not tell" and it had really worked. I hadn’t consciously done it, it was just the only way I knew. But the impact was massive.

Everyone has a story to tell. We have lives packed full of them. But if you really want to tell that story, then make sure you show it. Set the scene, build the characters and draw your audience in. Even if it’s real life, use your words to show them what happened, and use your voice to dramatise it.

If you have something to say, then surely you want people to listen to it. You’ll only achieve that if you say it in the right way and demand their attention. Don’t waste any opportunity. Go for it!

I’ve met Spider-Man. Really, I have

When I was growing up, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends was one of my favourite TV programmes. It was a cartoon that featured Spider-Man, Iceman and Firestar and I loved it.

There was something about this group of heroes that captured my imagination. All the way from the villains they fought against to the adventures they went on, there wasn’t a minute of each episode that didn’t engross me. I soon became a mega Spider-Man fan. My mom has told me more recently that I was so obsessed, I’d shoot my own pretend webs at people.

One of my earliest and fondest memories was when Spider-Man made an appearance at a local Radio Rentals shop. It was probably the most exciting moment of my very young life. The actual Spider-Man - Peter Parker himself – was visiting a shop nearby me and I couldn’t wait to meet him. I totally believed that it was the real man and my dad told me a few years later that he even had an American accent, despite this being in Staffordshire. So therefore, it must have been the real Spider-Man.

I got his autograph on a special card that has his image on and I treasured it for years.

Thirty years on and I’m still a huge fan. I love Spider-Man’s amusing comments, determination, intelligence and all round entertainment factor. He’s not faultless and far from immortal, and Peter Parker struggles to make the balance work, but what’s not to love?

Writing My Superhero

My idea for Emmett the Empathy Man, my fourth novel, was totally separate to my love of superheroes. Empathy Man came more from an idea about how I’d wished so many times that someone would come and sort my life out for me. But as soon as I started to think about comics, I knew I had to add in lots about Spider-Man. I particularly enjoyed writing the ongoing debate about who would win in a fight: Spider-Man or Superman. I’m sure you can’t imagine who I was cheering on!

I also spent far too much time on a sequence where the main characters debate what super power they’d like to have. Writing novels is very hard, but sometimes you can have the most amazing fun.

I’d like to thank Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends for setting me on a journey of escapism that sparked my imagination from a young age. I’ve been lucky enough to meet my hero and I’ll never forget it. Because in Radio Rentals that day it must have been the actual Spider-Man, right?

Scene Setting

I’m not a good traveller. I’ve never felt the urge to visit lots of different places. Even when I do go away on holiday, I’m always pleased to come home. There’s nowhere in the world like your own bed.

I’m a big believer in writing about what you know, so when it comes to where to set my stories it means I don’t have a world of places to choose from. But that’s never been a problem. Although having a good setting is very important, I believe it’s also vital that the setting works as part of the story. It needs to be more than just a place that people exist in. It needs to complement the characters and bring the story to life in itself, not just be a backdrop to unrelated action.

In Bird, my debut novel, I knew early on that I’d set it in London. I love London, it’s my absolute favourite city. I used to live there myself and the impact that the city has on Beth (the main character) is based on my own experience. I also grew up in a Staffordshire village, like Beth. I love my home village and my heart will always be there, but I felt the call of the city and I wanted to move. This is exactly where I begin the story of Bird, with Beth having that same excitement about her new adventure. London became the making of Beth. It was a challenge and it changed her, but it helped her become who she wanted to be and the city in itself is an important part of the story.

In The Birds (the sequel), I needed to find new places for the characters to go. It was necessary for the story that they leave London. For one particular scene I pondered for ages as to where I could set it. It needed to be out of Britain; that was important. Beth and Simon needed to be away from the action for a while. Then it came to me: I’d take them to Florence. I may not be well travelled, but when I do go away, quite often it’s to Italy. And I have a particular soft spot for Florence.

Me in Florence

For the story, I loved the fact that it’s such a romantic city, but it’s the setting to a very dark turn of events. Would it have the power to help things or would the beauty of the city be lost on the characters? It was an interesting idea to me, and as I wrote it I let it play out quite naturally.

In my most recent book (the last in the trilogy), Free as a Bird, I again needed to take the main characters out of London for a while. It needed to be somewhere far enough away that it would be completely different to their current lives, but still very much in England as it still needed to be part of a particular storyline. When I thought about Beth’s love of London, I knew I had to take her to another vibrant city. She wouldn’t be happy anywhere else. Looking at my options, Birmingham was too close to where she grew up. I needed her to be away from everything she knew. So I took the action to Manchester. I very much enjoyed seeing how it affected Beth as she left the ‘magic’ of London behind.

I have been to Manchester a few times, but I’m also lucky enough to have a very dear friend who knows it much better than me and she was a huge help in giving me some local knowledge. I couldn’t have written it without her, and it was only right that I dedicated the book to her.

I’m currently in the late editing stages of my new book and I’ve put just as much thought into the scene setting once again. But that’s a different story…

Developing an Idea

I’ve never been short of ideas for stories. I really don’t understand the concept of writer’s block. I suffer from the opposite: there just isn’t enough time in the year for me to write all that I want to write.

I’m currently working on a brand new story, the first one I’ll be publishing that’s not about Simon and Beth (how I miss them). This is far from a new idea, though. These characters and this concept has been with me for quite a long time. Say about 25 years.

I’m a daydreamer. I always have been and I always will be. And it’s my daydreaming habit that got me through really boring lessons at school. I did well at school, although thinking about it now I’m not quite sure how, I did spend a lot of time daydreaming.

This one particular daydream I remember vividly in science class. Obviously I have no idea now what science lesson it was nor what we were supposed to be doing; all I know is that I really didn’t want to be there. So I started to fantasize about how I could get out of the lesson. But the writer in me wasn’t thinking about being excused to go to the toilet, I was thinking big, dramatic, about to change your life forever sort of stuff.

Loads of thrilling ideas raced through my head. Like suddenly a man would rush through the door and tell me I’m the chosen one. (For anyone who’s read the Bird trilogy that might make some sense). Then I thought what if I suddenly started to develop magical powers (again, sound familiar?). But a daydream that really caught my imagination was that I suddenly pass out and when I wake up I don’t know where I am nor what I’m doing there.

This idea excited me. What a fabulous concept. The teacher would have to send me home if that happened!

But it’s a times like this, when a gem of an idea inspires my brain, that I then can’t switch it off. I start to ask myself questions like why can’t I remember anything? What’s happened to me? What’s going to happen to me? How will I get my memories back? What does it mean to my life? What does it mean to the world around me?

Before I knew it, I had a story that I couldn’t wait to write, and that’s exactly what I did (when I got home, of course. I just want to clarify that I didn’t start writing it in science class).

I called it “Brain Implants” and it was about fifteen pages long. I was very proud of it at the time, but it was no novel. It was quite a standalone story about a girl who passes out suddenly, can’t remember anything, and how she goes about piecing her life back together again. However, it was an idea that never stopped niggling at the back of my mind.

Since then, dozens of different experiences, dreams and people that I’ve interacted with have slotted into the storyline. So many times I’ve seen or heard something and I’ve realised what a great addition that would make to “Brain Implants”. And now, twenty five years on, I’ve nearly completed it. It’s now a much deeper story and I’m incredibly pleased with it.

It’s not called Brain Implants anymore, and to give you a little insight, there aren’t any brain implants in it at all since I’ve developed it. Although there is still an implant somewhere, but that’s for me to know and for you to find out.

I’ll keep you posted on when it’s being published. I hope it sounds of interest! 

My Writing Process

Somebody recently asked me how I know when my book is ready for publication. How do I know when to let it go and stop making changes? As I’m sure any creative person would agree, it’s very hard to see any work as complete. There is always room for improvement. However, I’ve disciplined myself to a very strict writing process and this helps me know when I’ve reached the point to let my work go and let someone else read it.

I start off with my trusty notebook. I use it to write down all my ideas. These are usually scraps of ideas to begin with and I write them down whenever I have inspiration. This means that when I come to write something new, I always have a pot of ideas to delve into. Although, by the time I’m ready to write, an idea has normally been hounding me for months and it’s already quite developed in my mind.

When I’ve made the decision to start a new book, the first thing I do is work on the storyline. I’ll think of what I want to happen, the conflict along the way, the characters and the situations, and I’ll draft it up on a side or two of paper. Then, when I have my outline, I’ll add more meat to the bones and write up a summary of each chapter. This can take several hours, and normally by this point I’m just itching to start the actual novel. But I can’t overlook the importance of planning.

When the detail is all in place, it’s only then I actually start chapter one. After years of writing, I’ve learnt that the first draft needs to be ‘bashed out’. It’s inevitable that as you start to write, new ideas will transpire, the characters will develop in ways you hadn’t seen coming, and when you finally get to the end, the first chapter will most definitely need tweaking. So that being the case, I never place too much emphasis on perfecting draft one. It’s important to get the plot and characters in place and then the next draft is where the real graft comes in.

Draft two is exhausting. I labour over every sentence, making sure I’ve chosen the right words and structured it properly so it conveys exactly what I need it to. It’s also here where the plot holes come to light and the inconsistencies appear. It normally takes me far longer to get through draft two than the first draft.

When I get to draft three, this is far more fun. This is the first time I really read my work as a reader not a writer and I make fewer changes; just those that are necessary. Then, as a final check, I always print off a version to edit it away from the screen. This is more like a proof read, checking for spelling, grammar and the inevitable typos.

Then I stop. I’m sure I could go on forever tweaking, but it’s always here I invite fresh perspectives. I have a group of people that I rely on to read my work at this point and I know they will always give me honest, constructive feedback. Once they’ve all read it, I take on board the suggestions and I do one final edit. Then I let it go.

Publishing a book, for me, is about as exciting as life gets. Month and months of very hard work finally go out into the larger world. It’s amazing to think that what started out as a little idea from a dream or an observation is now a full length story being read by people that I’ve never met. That’s an incredible dream come true.

New Year, New Stories

We're back to January again and I'm looking forward to another exciting year!

The last couple of months have been very busy for me. After launching The Birds in November, I've been working hard trying to promote it, while still promoting my first book, Bird. Then I've been planning lots of new stuff for the coming year.

In February, I am speaking at a reading group in Staffordshire. Just like Beth (the main character in Bird and The Birds) I grew up in Staffordshire and I'm heading back home to do a talk.

Moving on from that, I've been working hard on some new stories.

Firstly, the final instalment of the Bird trilogy is well under way. I'm hoping it will be published in the spring. I've had great feedback on the surprising ending of The Birds and I'm delighted that so many people are already eagerly awaiting the conclusion of the trilogy. It won't be long!

Then I have two more fantastic ideas lined up. Like with the Bird trilogy, I'm hoping that my readers will enjoy some different sorts of stories, with every day people facing extraordinary situations. I'm already working on something a bit more sci-fi. 

I'm looking forward to sharing more with you in the coming months. For now, though, happy reading and I'll see you soon.

An Unexpected Sequel

On 19th November, my second novel was published. It’s a very exciting time but it’s not the second novel I planned on publishing.

When I wrote Bird, my first book, it was only ever meant to be one story. My blog “My Fantasy World” tells you more about how I came up with the idea. There are parts of the story that echo my own life (not the bits with the feather, though, you’ll be pleased to hear!) but as I starting writing, the two main characters, Beth and Simon, developed in ways I never thought they would. As with all characters, they took on a life of their own and they led me in a direction I hadn’t seen coming.

The way Bird ended wasn’t as I originally intended. Beth and Simon developed a much stronger connection than I’d expected and it became apparent as the story went on that Beth had traits I hadn’t envisioned when I wrote her profile. I could see far more to their story than my notes had prepared me for. However, even at this stage, I still hadn’t considered a sequel.

When I did settle on the ending, it was never meant to be a cliffhanger, I just didn’t see it that way. I saw it more as the only way the book could end. Beth had to have more to her and I wanted to give readers some insight into why she had such a strong connection with Simon and why she’d managed to deal with everything in the way that she had. But it was meant to be an extra detail that readers could then make their own minds up about, not a sudden tangent that would lead to a new novel.

It was only when people starting reading the novel and I was getting feedback, that the idea of a sequel first entered my mind. I knew I had a lot more story to tell and I loved the way that readers had started to care so much about Beth and Simon and were eager to find out more. So I decided it was only right to myself, Beth, Simon and my readers that I continue their story.

Planning for the second book was easy. I knew exactly what was going to happen, it just felt
completely inevitable. Then, as I wrote book 2, the story seemed massive. I knew there was a third book that had to be written; a third part to Beth and Simon’s story that would naturally finish their adventure.

So The Birds is the sequel and the final book in the trilogy, which is already well under way, will be released in 2017. Then I’m back to the other story that I’d already started to work on before Beth and Simon opened up my world. So hopefully there will be a brand new story coming out in 2017 as well.

I’d be more than happy to answer any questions about my books, please just send me a Tweet @l_d_woodward using #birdnovel and I’ll get back to you.