Thank you, Wendy!

Many years ago I wrote my second ‘proper’ novel called ‘A Strong Hand From Above’ about Mal, a young  artist who returns to her family home after many years away on the death of her beloved step-father. The plot revolves around the difficulties the stepfather’s will creates and the conflict between Mal and her step-brothers which has roots going back to when they were children. It probably needs a lot of rewriting, but I think the characters and their situation and the story of their antagonism is strong enough and with some work will maybe see the publishing light of  day next year.

I was very pleased when I finished writing it, I had worked hard and put a lot of effort into it and my dear friend, Wendy, kindly read it. I asked her to be honest with any criticism, I welcomed any comments she could make, even if she thought the whole thing was rubbish I wanted to know! In fact she was very complimentary, and did make some good points… which I don’t really remember now but which I know I used when I rewrote the novel.

However… there was one thing she said which even though I secretly knew made sense, I didn’t change. It was about the ending… the villain of the piece was revealed and Mal was almost heart-broken at her betrayal by another character. Wendy suggested an alternative ending might be more shocking, but what she suggested involved a completely different character; she said it would be much more of a shock to the reader if this other character was involved in the evil plot! I couldn’t bear it, I liked him, he was nice, he wouldn’t do something so nasty… but deep in my heart I knew she was right… but I still didn’t change it, I changed many things but not the ending.

Driving home today past the leisure centre in glorious sunny weather, for some reason my mind strayed back to ‘A Strong Hand From Above’ and I suddenly realised I had changed as a writer, and now I could change the ending and it would be more effective. My problem had been what I’ve criticised other writers for, I had become too fond of my character. Once I had decided that, as I crested the top of the bridge over the railway line on Winterstoke Road, a whole lot of other ideas leapt into my head of how I could make the whole story darker, how Mal could be more at risk and the plot more exciting. As I cruised round the roundabout at the Walnut Tree pub I suddenly saw a whole horrible history to the family which Mal would only gradually uncover as the story progressed. I zoomed past the hospital my head buzzing with ideas… it would be the same story, the same characters, but it would be better.

I pulled up onto the drive of our house and suddenly wondered if ‘A Strong Hand From Above’ might be my next novel after publishing ‘Flipside’…. I wonder… should it? …More on this later!!

Thank you, Wendy, if you hadn’t made that suggestion all those years ago, I never would have thought of it myself!