There’s not a lot to tell you about progress with the editing, so I’m going off on a tangent today!
Here in the UK, we’ve been marking Mothering Sunday – it’s often referred to as Mother’s Day but I like the traditional term as it’s a reminder of the roots of the celebration. Many of the events people mark have interesting histories and it’s fun sometimes to read about them.
Social events and celebrations like this are great tools for writers, and can be used to comment on all sorts of human interactions. For example:
Relationships – a forgotten birthday can be a symbol of a hollow relationship, or a big family gathering can show the tensions between different characters.
The passing of time – from New Year to Easter to Christmas, for example; or the main character’s birthday coming around each year.
The nature of characters – how they respond to celebrations: are they upset to turn forty, or angry at a partner’s attempt to romance them at Valentine?
I’ve set short stories at parties; scenes at family gatherings and romantic weekends away; chapters planning and hosting parties. The important thing is to make sure the scene is relevant and pushes the story forward. If it’s good enough for Jane Austen, it’s good enough for me!
In other news – Thursday was World Book Day (as observed here!); a chance to celebrate books in all their forms and genres. This year, I happened to be reading one of my go-to books on the day: Lantana Lane, by Eleanor Dark. I read it often, and I really ought to read something new but sometimes gentleness and familiarity are more important than widening my literary horizons.
Also – I read this article about the disproportionate amount of reviews published for books written by male authors, compared to female authors. Although I think most readers will pick a book that is well-publicised, or which a friend has recommended, rather than look for one reviewed in the literary press, I found it interesting. Two of the writers I have seen making the most headlines in the UK over the last few months have been J. K. Rowling and Hilary Mantel, both extremely successful female writers. Maybe reviews are not the only pertinent area of press to research…
And finally – On the theme of Mothering Sunday, here’s a link to poems about mums.
Happy writing,
EJ
🙂
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