Blog
August 2018
Wednesday 1st August 2018
ON THE MOVE
My novels always involve some form of movement. My "Breaking Camp Mystery Series" takes a retired couple travelling all across America. My novels As Clear as Glass and Running from the Moon move readers through centuries. For a Rainy Day moves across countries and Winter Pursuit takes readers across decades and continents. The journey is what shapes my characters, changing them as my journeys have changed me. Their travels are always undertaken with a purpose, with an end in mind, even if this is not evident from the outset.
I'm presently working on a novel that is a real 'road trip' novel. My characters are forced to travel big distances for a variety of reasons, facing different adventures and challenges along their way. Several of the trips begin for all the wrong reasons. Not all of my character's journeys will end well. Whether it's to escape, to explore, or to satisfy a hunger, my characters will be on the move. As always, my novels start with a kernel of an idea, usually a challenge of some kind. Then my characters, which are like stick figures when I begin, start to develop flesh and bones and distinctive personalities.
My main characters, normal, everyday people going about their lives until something happens, are forced to take the first few steps on their journeys. And once again my overriding theme of 'extraordinary events happening to ordinary people' becomes meshed with 'it's about the journey, not the destination'.
As it is for my novels, so it is for me. The joy in writing is not in the destination, although it is very satisfying knowing I have finished a book. It is the journey. The sheer joy of putting on word (or foot) in front of another; of getting on the path; of starting the journey!
The photo was taken during the summer of 1974. My sister and I spent 3 months staying in hostels and traveling by train throughout Europe. I was 22. Quite by accident, and without a visa or a proper train ticket!! we wound up in East Germany. While we were in W. Berlin, we took a tour of E. Berlin, going through Checkpoint Charlie!
