I become so involved with my characters that when I have finished writing about them when the last full stop is stopped, their story keeps running in my head; sometimes as I’ve said before, their new story develops into an actual new story for me to write, with new people. I think I mentioned how the dramatic events Jaz and David suffered in the climax of ‘Flipside’ triggered the idea for ‘The Stalking of Rosa Czekov’, that dealing with the aftermath of trauma can be in some ways worse than the ordeal itself.
When I finished writing ‘Farholm’, I could not stop Michael’s life from continuing in my imagination; he is a man who is literally trapped in a loveless marriage because of his disabled son. Michael has found himself in love with someone else, but he has no contact with her, and never expresses it, hardly admits it even to himself. So could this be a new story for me to write? I would change Michael’s name, I might change his personal situation somehow so he has to remain married, unable escape by divorce or separation; there would have to be a puzzle, a mystery, there would have to be some excitement and tension, the plot would twist and turn and tease the reader…
Similarly, the characters in ‘Rosa’ continue their lives and a new story suggested itself; two people who do not really know each other, each with secrets, and yet who somehow love each other. I can see them booking into a hotel, going up to their room, and then not knowing what to do or what to say…
In ‘Loving Judah’, I mentally explore Aislin’s new life and new challenges after she leaves Cornwall at the end of the book and returns to Yorkshire. There are many ways a woman who has suffered bereavement and loss might step through a door into a new and exciting life but in order to interest my readers there would have to be some challenges and some mystery too!
Whether these three scenarios will develop into something I can’t yet say, sometimes it takes a while, maybe even a year or so of brewing and fermenting in my imagination before something begins to emerge!
Lois Elsden 