Wednesday 16 July 2008

Writer's Break


I’ve just spent three weeks on Tenerife. I’ve finished the first draft of a 40,000 word novel. I’d written 11,000 before. I also got part of the way through a second draft. I guess being away form home and one’s normal routines means that you can concentrate more. I really did get close to my characters and really did get absorbed into my plot.

I think also the more relaxed pace of life and the sunshine there helped as well. Interspersing the writing sessions with some swimming and walking, some good food, some exchanges with other writers and some cultural visits gave some objectivity.

Plus it was an awe-inspiring location. In Tenerife you are living on the side of a very dramatic, very dynamic and very steep-sided volcano. The weather is very localised. I was on the north side, which is often covered in cloud. The cloud comes up off the Atlantic and gets stuck half way up the volcano. The south side is therefore very sunny and hot. It rains a lot in the west – though I particularly like the west. And it’s warm everywhere.

Of course, I’ve come back with another story in my head. It will be a fantasy, but will be based on what happened on this fascinating island centuries ago.

2 comments:

JCH said...

Well done Gill. It's nice to hear our beautiful island inspired you to get on with your novel and perhaps plant the seed of another. A Tenerife tale in the offing?

Gill James said...

Yes, indeed, ther is one fomring in my head. After I've finished what I'm working on now, that will be the next.
A fantasy 9-11.