Monday 4 March 2013

WHERE THE STORY STARTED

Before I start I would just like to thank everyone for the kind emails, tweets and comments about my last blog.

The idea for my book 'PUTTING RIGHT THE PAST' came to me on a holiday in Spain, I was staying there with my partner and we rented a lovely apartment at the top of a very steep hill which looked right out to sea. There was about forty apartments and they were set out in an L shape, ours was right on the top in the middle. Most of the apartments were owned by people who lived and worked there, so it was very quiet during the day when they were all out at work.

Now I'm a nosey sod and was very interested in the comings and goings of the residents, I would be sat on the balcony in the mornings with my coffee as they went off to work, by the time they returned  it would be evening and more importantly, wine time. The thing is I have a terrible habit of inventing names and situations for people I see, unfortunately after a few glasses of wine my brain goes into overdrive.

We had stayed in the apartment the previous year and one of the residents had really intrigued me. I had named her Rosa, by the way she isn't the Rosa in my book. I first noticed her about four o'clock in the afternoon when she came out to take her two dogs and a cat for a walk. Now Rosa was beautiful she must have been in her late twenties early thirties she had long dark curly hair. After her walk she would then take her pets back to the apartment and would go off to work. Nothing unusual about that I hear you say, well she would come back about midnight, then take the pets for another quick walk before her guest arrived.

Yes she had an admirer and he would arrive about twelve thirty and stay until about two in the morning. He was about fifty and very smartly dressed, I named him Augusto and he was always in a suit and tie, I guessed that he could be her boss. The following year we returned, Rosa was still living there and she had now gained another cat and her routine of walking them was still the same, but her days of going out to work were over. Also the cat was not the only thing to have moved into her apartment, Augusto had moved in as well.

I told you I was nosey, well that's where the idea for my book first started; I knew it had to be based around a block of apartments somewhere in the sunshine, full of people sat on their balcony's knowing everyone else's business. Sadly Rosa and Augusto never made it into 'PUTTING RIGHT THE PAST' but whoever they are in real life they were my inspiration, I have a lot to thank them for.

Well I hope you are having a good day and next time I will talk about the characters I created in 'PUTTING RIGHT THE PAST'.

9 comments:

  1. Looking forward to reading your book. Sounds like it's going to be very interesting!

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    1. Thank you for the interest it is very encouraging, I was not sure if I was doing the right thing by blogging about my writing experiance, but I'm so glad I have.

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  2. All writers are nosy - it's part of the craft. You are clearly also observant, and that's part of being a writer too!! Loved this. Like reading a lovely piece of cake!

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    1. Thank you Carol reading cake and gossip seem to all go together, well in my life anyway

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  3. I always think people-watching is great if you want to write characters in fiction. You've obviously done a good job here although these two people are not apart of your story but inspired it. Look forward to reading this.

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    1. Thank you yes I love people-watching, I could almost say it's a hobbie. I have one situation in my memmory that I have been wanting to write in a book for years and have not been able to find a way of working it in, one day I hope.

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  4. People watching is definitely part of writing I think Ian! Where else do writers get there inspirations from if not from real life? Makes everything believable :)

    Enjoying reading about your writing journey.
    Shaz
    x

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    1. Thank you very much, just a rew more blogs about my book then i'm going to blog about books I have loved over the years, some going back twenty years, i call them my SUNDAY BEST BOOKS x

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  5. Can't wait Ian :) x

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