Story-Telling Vibes...

Lovely, lovely Ritche and 
friend from It's A Sin.

I love a bit of representation. If you can see it, you can be it. That sort of thing. It's usually smashing the patriarchy and televising more women's sport. Or smashing heteronormative society and sharing LGBTQIA+ stories in the mainstream. Or smashing the blinding whiteness of TV and including people of colour in main roles rather than as sidekicks or representatives of 'other'. That's the way representation works and with the likes of Ms Marvel, It's A Sin, and the start of the Women's Euros in a couple of days, for example, representations can be spotted here and there.

I am not florals for spring. 
I am not groundbreaking.
(Yes, I know she's being sarky.)

As a writer, however, there's a different kind of representation I need. I've realised that when I'm writing a new story - whether it's for adults or a younger audience - I'm actively looking for something that's gone before. Something that feels the right vibe. I want to know I'm not being groundbreaking. Because being groundbreaking is a gamble that might not pay off. I need to write something that hits a spot that people may already be predisposed towards. I want the vibe already out there. That way I know my story, whose idea may only be a germ at first, can find its feet and work. Why waste two or three years on a book if it's not workable?

I imagine it's a bit like having a muse. I need a muse with every book I write. The Free Dictionary tells me that a 'muse' is 'a guiding spirit' or 'a source of inspiration.' That's exactly what I need each time. As I look back, I can see I had muses for every one of my books. All different, all already out there, but each one inspiring me and guiding me along the creative path. You want to know what they are? Sure you do!

Carry the Beautiful
I recently reread one of my favourite books - The Sacred Art of Stealing by Christopher Brookmyre. It came out in 2002 and is a bank heist thriller, with the most authentic romance I've read in print. And even though Carry the Beautiful contains no bank heist, no thriller, and no current romance (there's one told in flashback), as I reread the book, I could see I'd structured my story in a similar way. The vibe of the layout is what guided me through. Introduce a few characters that seem unrelated at first. Set the scenes in different places. Bring them all together at the end. That book was the muse for my first book. I just hadn't realised it at the time.

Leeza McAuliffe Has Something to Say
I remember watching my Year Fours during the daily ERIC sessions. (Everyone Reads In Class.) And for those ten minutes every morning, I'd feel gutted that none of the stories they were choosing would have been anything I'd have read when I was their age. And that's either because children in the 2010s were massively different to children in the 1980s (LOLZ) or because publishing was experiencing a different trend. It was all Harry Potter-lite. Wizards, spells, time travel, magic, and fantasy. When I was a kid, I'd have walked straight past that section in the library, and found the real-life stuff. The stories about divorce, death, sibling rivalry, and growing up. I loved Judy Blume and I wanted to write something modern that homaged her stuff. So I did. (I mean to say, I wrote it .Whether it homaged her stuff is forever up for debate.)

Assembling the Wingpeople
I had the idea for this - the sequel to Carry the Beautiful - planned out, and I knew where the story was going to take me, but it still felt a little flat. And then I watched the second series of Fleabag. The whole idea of Fleabag falling for the priest was what gave me the inspo to beef up my own plot. Along came Gethin. He provided the push Tilda needed to break out of the self-imposed isolation, regardless of whether he became a significant other or not. The vibe of Fleabag was exactly what I needed to push along my actually-very-different story. (No priests, no secret feelings causing angst. Just inspired by the vibes.)

Leeza McAuliffe Book 2
This is what I'm writing now. And whilst I'm still homaging Judy Blume, I've found another story that's given me the mental vibes I need to get this one off the ground. I'd worried for a while that I needed to bring relationships into this story. Leeza's now at high school, and in a split class with Year Eights (it's a tiny school in the middle of the countryside.) Of course hormones would be rampant and there'd be romances all over the show. Some lasting even longer than a weekend. I had no idea how I was going to write it without being too adult and sexy. But then Heartstopper came along. It's the most lovely, relationship-based show/book, but no one mentions sex once. It's all best mates, and holding hands, and kissing, and spending time together. It's exactly the vibe I want for the next instalment of Leeza's life. If Heartstoppper hadn't arrived, I'd have been flailing around, not sure how to crack on

There's a thing people say: if you don't read, you can't write. And yep, I think that's true. But it's not just books. It's wider than that. If you don't immerse yourself in stories, then you can't create your own. It doesn't matter if they're on TV, at the cinema, or written on paper. Exposing yourself to other people's lives - fictional or not - develops empathy, and understanding. The ability to see things from another person's POV is a gift. Whether you choose to make up your own stories after that, well that's entirely up to you. But it adds to the richness and joy of life. That's why the recent news that some Universities are thinking of scrapping English Literature degrees, should be of concern. If nothing else, it means that after you've come home from your target orientated, graduate job with value, there's nothing to read, watch, or enjoy in your down time. We need to see ourselves represented and we also need to see the lives of others explored, in order to develop our empathy and kindness beyond the people we know. We all love stories. There should always be stories. And some of us are lucky enough to write them.

Have a lovely week, folks.