WHERE DID THE IDEA BEGIN?

The idea of conflict makes a good start. But as we were taught in history, in any situation that arises there will be both underlying and immediate causes.

You might [as I did, long ago] take part in a workshop. We were invited to write a scene in which two people meet again after a long time apart. Now, I am pretty hopeless about doing on-the-spot stuff like this, but sometimes it's no bad thing to be asked to ditch the little voice which is always telling you what a rubbish writer you are and just go for it.

So I dreamed up Jane [she became Jenny in the serial] clattering cups in the sink in her run-down beach-hut restaurant while remonstrating with her wayward son, who'd turned up out of the blue after n years away. Back then, Gary was a real bad boy. He later changed the most of all the characters, but I always liked him and was glad I was able to keep that part of his character which saw things differently.

Then, like scenery shifting, other underlying ideas gather themselves into the writer's mind at any time, day or night, unbidden and [occasionally] unwanted or at least unrecognised until some obvious use for them presents itself. Usually at 3 a.m. when, frankly, saner persons will be asleep. Best to scribble them down, and hope to sleep again.

But the immediate, immediate cause will probably be one specific challenge which jolts you into getting down to something you'd always told yourself you'd do one day.

'How would you feel about writing a serial for us, then?' asked my editor.

You allow one gulp of astonishment before, of course, you reply 'Yes!'

Left out the rights information...

Sent off the serial words to Hale the publishers last week... and already a letter has come back to me with a request to let them know these words are truly mine to sell. Of course, that's an assurance I should've put in the covering letter! Silly me.

Must now write back asap, with lesson learned, I hope.

Meanwhile, a talk about the story to local group seemed to go well. Thank you, friends. You made my day when you said it sounded as if I 'just sat down and wrote a story,' because [even though among the arrows, the spidergrams and the sticky notes it's not quite the whole truth!] that was what I was aiming for...