The First Novel: Writing with Heart brought Solace to Life

I have been writing my whole life, but I was in my sixties before I coalesced the bits and pieces jumbled in my mind to create a novel. Those bits and pieces were life snippets, moments in time that snapped into place and merged in a peculiar way to produce a fictional piece of writing.

Sure, I googled “how to write a book”, but really there was no way that google or AI or any other type of technology could tell me what lay within me. Only I could source that information, not another living soul or platform or whatever could do that for me. In my case, it was my own life experience that provided the force, the current, if you will, that swept me along as the words travelled from my brain down my arms and out of my fingertips.

My dealings with my own family, my own experiences of grief, joy, friendship, fear, insecurities, love, humour, the whole damn gamut of emotions, together with a healthy dose of imagination ended up with me creating a story that is completely unrelated to my own life.

𝓘𓆸𝓶𝓪𝓰𓆸𝓲𝓷𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷 . . . . My favourite word in the entire English language. Imagine if a particular set of circumstances occurred. How would you react? How would a child, the family, an older person, a mother, a father, or a friend react? The characters grew from my perceptions of how these fictional people may cope with the circumstances presented to them.

How the characters in Solace reacted to the loss of June and Jamie was perceived from what I had observed throughout my life, even though the set of circumstances that presented in Solace never presented in my own life. For Solace this was the story telling technique that worked for me.  I really don’t know if that same technique is applied by other authors.

The characters developed as I wrote and took on their own persona. I got to know them intimately. I felt for them. In life, not everyone reacts the same way, not everyone is a hero although most want to be. I began with this vague sort of outline which helped me formulate the tragedy that the characters would be faced with. I did that because that is what I thought I was supposed to do, and it did give me a starting point.

Once, I started writing, the personality of the characters immerged, and the characters themselves made the story come to life. Family dynamics are at play in everyone’s life, and it was no different for the characters in Solace. It may be fiction, but life happens to us all and you can imagine how a family may deal or not deal with tragedy and trauma. Although Solace is pure fiction, I still wanted it to be authentic.

There were a few writing tips that I did take on from my research on how to write a book. The main one was having a disciplined writing routine. I wrote pretty much every day for three or four months for six to eight hours a day. I would stop hungry and thirsty with my little dog, Starry, peering up at me wondering if I might feed her. “It’s getting late,” she would admonish, “I should have had my dinner by now.”  Thank goodness, for Starry, and my husband who just left me alone to do what I needed to do.

I realised very early that I wanted each character to describe their own reactions, emotions and thoughts. Can I say I didn’t overthink it? I didn’t try to plan what I wanted each chapter to be about and the order in which it should be written. Earlier in my life when I tried to write, I got so bogged down in trying to master the writing process that it became all about that and I got nowhere. This time I just let the characters have it and the writing style naturally developed from the insight of my own life experience.

One thing I did do was develop a timeline. I realised about a quarter of the way in that it was important that the timing of past and present events was aligned and believable. When I was editing, I came across one of the characters in two places at the same time, so I tried to be very careful with ensuring accuracy in the timing of events.

The Australian setting was a no brainer for me. I could not be a truer bluer Aussie. The beauty of our country is awe inspiring. I mean, it’s so beautiful it hurts. There are really no words that will ever truly describe that beauty. Although, being an author means I must keep trying. The Australian landscape will always lay behind whatever piece of fiction I create.

The painting is by artist Kim Simmons. Titled: “Generations” The location is Bridport. My husband gave it to me for Christmas, and it fits perfectly with Solace.

The motivation for writing a novel? Well, that’s an easy one. When I was at school I always said I would be an author when I grew up. Does this mean I’m a grown up now? I have never really understood the whole follow your dreams cliché before now. People say it’s easy to go to work when you have a career that you love. Righto then, that’s a lovely thought but the mortgage needed to be paid and the child educated.  Life is not that black and white. I am privileged to be now retired from the “real” job and to have gained the life experience that I needed to make my dream a reality.

Did I sit down early and say to myself that the theme of the book will be resilience? I probably should say yes to that one, although it was more at a sub-conscious level to start with. As I was writing the word ‘resilience’ sat with me, particularly the resilience of children. The strength shown by family under dire circumstances can never be underestimated and I did have that in my mind as I was writing.

Solace was written with heart, and it has helped me to keep growing and see the experiences of life, both good and bad, as an opportunity. I have a second book almost ready to go. This next book could not be more different to Solace, faster paced and more adventurous and I can’t wait to get it out there.

My Aunty Betty was the first person to read Solace, and this is what she said. “Just finished the book, Kathy. Thoroughly enjoyed it! Loved the way each character told their story. Such realistic family saga. Amazing! xx” Yeah, she’s probably biased but I loved receiving that from her.

Solace is my first novel, and I don’t doubt I still have much to learn, which is great! Challenge is good. I will be back with another blog in a while where I’ll try to describe my journey with the publishing and marketing process. Talk about a steep learning curve! In the meantime, stay well, and thank you for following my journey.

Kindest regards,

Katherine

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