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Tahlia Newland

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Wednesday Words: Character driven books. Another Prunella Smith book is on the way

January 7, 2015 by Tahlia Newland

Please do not share this photo. I have copyright on it, but you do not.

Prunella will not let me stop writing. I thought I’d have a break after finishing Worlds Within Worlds, but no, the first scene of the next book popped into my head the day after I’d published it.

Today I started writing it.

Prunella Smith: Past Worlds, The Locksmith’s Secret.

Who’s the locksmith?

Jamie. The guy she meets at the market.

What’s his secret?

You’ll have to wait to find out.

What else is going to happen?

I have a general idea of the overall shape of the book, the main events and the end, but I’m not concerned with details at all. The basic plot is strong enough for me to know where I’m going, to know it will work, and I really liked the surprises in writing without planning that I had when writing Worlds Within Worlds.

It won’t be a thriller though.

It will be a multi-layered reality again and transrealist in nature, just like the last one. But it won’t be so Buddhist; I think that side of Prunella’s personality might manifest as an Italian Catholic nun. The book she’s writing is steampunk—yay what fun—and the themes …? I wasn’t sure until I started writing, but Nell, the steampunk character, is active in trying to get the vote for women, and already prejudice against women has come up as a topic. I can see social prejudice is on the agenda as well, so it looks like that will be one theme.

What about genre?

Cross genre. Definitely. Probably literary fiction will be the best general term, but romance will be a strong element, continuing the themes touched on in the last book. There’ll be touches of historical fiction too, because part of the story takes place in England, in an old house, and Ella ends up editing the memoirs of an English aristocrat, so I’ll be doing some research. I’ll write it all first, then do the research to fill in the details and check the facts. Actually, it may end up being women’s fiction more than anything. There’ll always be a metaphysical aspect to my writing, but whether I call it metaphysical or not, I don’t know.

I have to set aside time to write.  All the other stuff I have to do as an indie author, the business stuff, can take up too much time—especially marketing—but the Prunella Smith series needs to be written so that when someone finds Worlds Within Worlds and enjoys it, they can move onto the next book.  I have to keep the internet off and just write, because I enjoy writing. I don’t enjoy the other stuff so much.

Though, like all my books, there’ll be a lot of action in it, this one is definitely character driven – Prunella drives me to write.

 

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Filed Under: Book talk Tagged With: character driven stories, Prunella Smith

« Blog schedule for 2015 – what I’m doing for you.
Friday Free fiction: Ella and the Beast. »

Comments

  1. Alex says

    January 7, 2015 at 10:58 pm

    Wow, those books sound really interesting. I like a nice complex setting and a some depth to my fiction.

    It is great when a character, or set of characters just comes to you and commands you to write about them. The thrill of seeing where the inspiration will take you.

    I often write with only the end in mind, how I get there I leave to my minds own creative devices. I find the less I think about it, the grander the adventure often turns out being.

    Good luck with it all.

    • Tahlia Newland says

      January 8, 2015 at 5:53 pm

      Thanks Alex. I too like to have the end on mind, though with Worlds Within Worlds, I didn’t. I had no idea where it was going when I started – I didnt even know I was writing a novel until I saw a way the different scenes were reflecting each other – and I think that allowed the best scenes to pop out.I don’t think I’ll ever fully plot a book again. It much more fun just to see where it goes, and I have enough experience now that I can be confident that it’ll have all the right elements.

  2. Jacqui Murray says

    January 9, 2015 at 2:53 am

    She sounds fascinating–and looks it, too. I like character-driven when the characters keep my attention.

    • Tahlia Newland says

      January 9, 2015 at 7:57 am

      There’s always plenty of action in my books too. The character driven bit is really Prunella driving me on to tell her stories. That said, Worlds Within Worlds does have quite a few contemplative passages

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Hi I’m Tahlia Newland

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