I have been mapping out the characters for my new nov, The Four Matthews, using the techniques suggested to us on the OU course which involve doing very detailed profiles of each person, their physical appearance, personality, personal history, etc. It is a useful method. Whilst I may not end up using all of their background information in a story, it helps to understand their motivations.
The new characters I have created are grabbing me more than their previous incarnations. I feel I can weave a few interesting plotlines around them as they trek across Shropshire and Staffordshire.
So now we have Polly and Martin, a young couple who have been to counselling and each agreed to partake in activities of interest to the other. Hence Polly joins Martin on a walking holiday – but gullible Martin doesn’t yet know Polly’s activity of choice is to be a swingers’ party! He remains besotted with his partner and naively oblivious to her infidelity and gold-digging tendencies.
It is fun, but also extremely daunting, being at this preliminary stage of creating a novel. It will be the fourth one I have written since 2003 – albeit none have been published – and I still experience this same tingle of apprehension as I set out on my ‘journey’ (that word again!) across blank pages.
