Every so often I step away from the keyboard and take a day off. Not because I want to. I resist and avoid and cling to my desk in a desperate fashion. Friends persuade and entice me outside. And it is always good, always nourishing and refreshing. There’s a planned outing later this week, and I can just picture my characters’ reactions when they realise I’m not there…
Sharp-witted Justin notices first. He looks up, listens and checks again. “She’s gone out!”
Every character sags with relief. They go back to bed and sleep in till lunchtime. Later, they shuffle downstairs to get tea and food, and they sit in silence in the great hall of the castle.
People who usually snipe and gripe at each other, pass the sugar without word. Two of them exchange a wry smile, for without my omniscient presence to keep them busy, they can sense what’s coming; not the details, but the shadow of something bad ahead, something they would avoid if they could. But like my day out, it cannot be avoided. It has to happen.
They head to bed early, exhausted by the hours of doing nothing, tired from the rest and relaxation.
No arguments. No sex. No laughter.
How boring! These people need me. Maybe I shouldn’t step away from the keyboard after all…
They didn’t get left alone for long, those poor characters. I soon pulled them all back into the drama and the story.
Publication
After a long and convoluted trail to publication, the story is finally out in the form of a three-book series called A Dancer’s Journey. As you can see from the editor’s comment below, Justin and the others were completely justified in being relieved that I was gone.
Series on Amazon UK
Series on Amazon worldwide
Read my article Dance and Despair: Writing What You Know on Women Writers, Women[‘s] Books.
More on the series:
- A Ballet Novel and a Tale of Publishing Woes
- Dance Research in the Dungeon
- Pointe Work and a Red Leotard
- Working Girl: a WordPress Prompt Goes Dark
- A Snaggled, Barbourous Place
- Diabolical and Deranged: Writing and Blood
- Chosen Sisters: Friendship and Dance
A Connected Series
Those characters do show up again, in the background, of Castle Dancers
As you can see, I’m still putting fictional people through terrible things!
The night before Ariel, a sixteen-year-old girl with a deformed hand, starts at the most prestigious dance school in Scotland, her mother tries to kill her.
Torn from a life where she never fitted in, Ariel quickly becomes the focus of a reality TV show. In the castle school, she forms deep friendships and meets Alexander, the best looking boy she’s ever seen. Together, they unravel the mysteries of the castle’s shadows and confront the demons of Ariel’s past.
Can she rise above a lifetime of pain and embrace the possibilities of fame and love that beckon to her?
‘Ariel: Dancing on TV’ is a mesmerising tale of resilience and the pursuit of a brighter future against all odds.
My Historical Novels
The characters go through the proverbial wringer in these too!
- From the misty hills of ancient Scotland emerges a tale of love, betrayal, and the fight for freedom. Join Morragh in SISTERS AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD for an unforgettable journey.
- If you like castles, Scotland, history, witches, stone circles and Christmas done medieval-style, you might like THE MERMAID AND THE BEAR. There’s also a love story.
- FIREFLIES AND CHOCOLATE: Torn out of an isolated life in a Scottish castle, Elizabeth embarks on a determined quest to return home. Exhilarating adventures unfold on the high seas, love blossoms, and the chocolate, purchased in Benjamin Franklin’s printing shop, is delicious!
All novels are available in paperback, kindle and on kindle unlimited.
Newsletter and Free Story
You will receive a free short story when you sign up for my occasional, more-intimate-than-the-blog newsletter (the story can be read in a browser too). It’s listed on Goodreads to help with those reading goals!
The Performance: sometimes going home for Christmas is just one huge performance…
When Ariel returns home from dance college, her mother expects her to perform the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy in a pink, sequined tutu in front of many, many party guests. Ariel adjusts the costume and choreography to expose dark truths about her life, but, as it turns out, this is not the biggest performance of the night…
New Books and Special Offers
If you would like to hear about new books and special offers, you can follow my Amazon author page.
About Page
Read all about little old me here
Love this idea! Have you read Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next books? He does a great take on what characters in books might get up to when the story isn’t happening… 🙂
No, I haven’t. Will have to look those up 🙂
Love this entry! I can picture all your characters and haven’t even gotten to know them yet! 🙂
Good! I hope I can do that in the book too 😉
What a good way of putting it. Your characters will appreciate you so much more after the rest.
Alas, I don’t think so. I’m sometimes so pleased when I discover how tweaking a few words can make their situation so much worse. I do love them though 🙂
I really enjoyed this!
I’m glad 🙂
I love the imagined life of your characters when you don’t direct or at least guide their actions.
It’s such a relief for them!
Thanks, Ailish. I loved that.
🙂
I love this.
Beautiful pic, too. I visited the Highlands about 4 years ago. Pictures do not do the mountains justice.
Agreed. It’s impossible to capture.
Love your creativity. Gorgeous pictures.
Thank you 🙂
Tell them to bugger off (I’m sorry for the rudeness) and that you will bring back some special memories for them when you come back!
Ha ha, the perfect response to the situation!! 😀
😀
This made me smile. Broadly.
😀
Laughing here. I never thought about my characters idling when I wasn’t writing. Hilarious. I think they push me about when I write more than I push them about, but it comes to the same thing in the end. Lovely photographs!
Glad it made you laugh 🙂
What a hilarious post! Loved it. I’m that way too. Resisting the pull to emerge into my own life when there is so much my characters need to do.
We do tire them out!
love it–thank you for the chuckle!
Glad you liked 🙂
Loved it, but reading was tinged with sadness… Why ?
Next week, we should be in Scotland.. Instead, we’re must avoid leaving our village.
Holiday rescheduled again, for November this year.. Also, via a lost Kindle, and a print copy delivered somewhere else, reading your book at last,
I hope your holiday works out well this year, and that you enjoy the book!
loved this, woke about 2 a.m, wondering what one of my characters was up to.
Sadly, no holiday in Scotland next week – second time. Instead, we must avoid leaving our village.
Holiday re-booked, for November this year….
Haha! What a great idea, this made me laugh 🙂
It was a fun one to write!
Your characters made my morning, Ailish! Thanks for the inspiration and laugh.
Glad you liked 😀
I fear my characters take too much time off.
Time to take them in hand 😉
Now I am worried about all the characters I have abandoned over the years. lol
It is concerning. Who knows what they might be up to now? 😀
I like the way you give characters a life of their own —
They certainly have that. They do rather get away from me sometimes 🙂
hahaha; your blog looks interesting; I’ve decided to follow it 🙂
Thank you, John 🙂
Thanks so much for the follow You have a lovely site, how very Gothic that you can write about and in old castle settings – what an awesome writing space you must have!
Love your affection for and sense of connection to your characters. They become so real don’t they! I would love to see what Mr Shakespeare’s characters got up to when he was out and about – probably a lot of violence and mayhem but also a bit of what is probably in A Dancer’s Journey too, the rompy lot that they were! An interesting angle to take – I never considered how awful it must be for characters to have to wait for us to be doing other things before they can do whatever we’re going to write up for them months from now. Someone should write a book about what characters do when the writer is away
You’re so very welcome 🙂 It was good fun to play with this concept. There are a few books that do this too – Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next books are mentioned here in the comments.