Friday, 2 February 2018
Release Date: 11th January 2018
Publisher: Avon
Publisher: Avon
Genres: Women's Fiction
They’ll always have each other…won’t they?
Lisa
and Elliot have been best friends ever since the day they met as
children. Popular, bright and sporty, Lisa was Elliot’s biggest
supporter when the school bullies made his life a misery, and for that,
he will always be grateful.
Twenty years later, life has pulled
the pair apart and Lisa is struggling. Her marriage is floundering, her
teenage kids are being secretive, and she’s so tired she can’t think
straight. So when Elliot knocks on the door, looking much better than
she remembers, she can’t help but be delighted to see her old friend
again.
With Elliot back in their lives, Lisa’s family problems
begin to improve – he’s like the fairy godmother she never had. As their
bond deepens, she realises how much she’s missed him, and prays that
this is one friendship that will last a lifetime. But sometimes, life
has other ideas…
A heartwarming story perfect for fans of
Keith Stewart and Jojo Moyes, that will leave you with a tear in your
eye but hope in your heart.
GUEST POST
To Plan or Not to Plan?
Is it best to plan your novel before you start writing
it?
Some authors will tell you that planning is essential.
Others will say not to bother, advising you to write ‘by the seat of your
pants’. Make it up as you go along, in other words.
Personally, I’m an advocate for finding a middle
ground between these two recognised writing techniques. Why? Because that’s
what I do, although every writer is different. So what are the advantages of planning?
It helps you to achieve a balanced structure, for one
thing, with a proper start, middle and end. It’s also less daunting when you
set out to write each day if you know what’s going to happen in advance.
The chief downside, as I see it, is that you have to
focus all of your inspiration into a small window of allocated ‘planning time’,
which might not be the period when you’re at your most inventive.
Not planning encourages raw creativity, allowing for eureka
moments to strike at any time. It is arguably more exciting than planning, due
to the unknown nature of what you might write.
At its best, this can help generate unexpected twists
that will thrill the reader. At its worst, it risks leading to uninspired
endings that don’t have the benefit of being properly signposted and prepared
for like a pre-planned finale.
If you’re not careful, there’s also the risk of
inadvertently writing yourself down a literary cul-de-sac along the way,
leaving you with nowhere to move forward.
Most proponents of the ‘seat of your pants’ technique
– the great Stephen King being a prime example – tend to start with little more
than an exciting concept to launch their story. Then … who knows? They have to
trust that they’ll be inspired on a regular basis to keep the plot moving
forward from there on.
Another practical problem with this method is that
unless you’re a huge star, like Stephen King, your publisher will most likely
request a plot synopsis well in advance of your manuscript being delivered. That’s
tricky if you’re not yet sure where it’s going.
So why do I like to straddle the two different methods?
Simple – it’s the best of both worlds. It’s having your cake and eating it.
I plan to a certain degree, which means coming up with
a start, middle and end for my story, plus profiles for my key characters. I
definitely have enough information to write a synopsis, but there’s also plenty
of wiggle room, allowing me to introduce twists and turns as they occur to me
along the way.
This is what works for me, but it won’t be for
everyone.
If you’re a budding author embarking on your first
novel and you’re not sure how to proceed, I’d suggest sampling the different
methods for yourself. You could always apply them to a short piece of writing
initially, rather than a whole book. Trial and error should give you a decent
idea of what will work for you. Then it’s time to get crafting that
masterpiece.
ABOUT S.D ROBERTSON
Former
journalist S.D. Robertson quit his job as a local newspaper editor to pursue a
lifelong ambition of becoming an author and to spend more time with his wife
and daughter. His third novel, Stand By
Me (Avon, £7.99), is a heartwarming story about the power of friendship. It
is published on 11 January 2018.
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