What's in my head?

Oh gosh, it's Friday again. The day for reporting how much novel I haven't written.

What can I say? That nonetheless, I'm thinking and feeling positively about it: this is great for me. (I am almost too excited about my impending UK trip to write: pathetic but true.)

What else can I say? That I've just read fellow novel racer, Dave Hill's The Adoption and really, really liked it. First of all it has a similar tone to what I'd like to achieve for my novel. I don't want a wild rollercoaster-like plot: I want beautifully drawn, believable characters in real situations. It made me think of my friend, The High Priestess of Punk-chew-ation's recent observation to me about how I like 'proper stories.' I agreed with her and ever since I haven't been able to stop thinking about the comment and what it meant - what it means for the story I'm trying to write.

What is a 'proper story'? Well, it is the kind of thing I like to read. I loathe fantasy (I read and enjoyed all the Harry Potter books because I share a love of reading with my 13 year old son and want to be able to understand what he likes) but generally I don't want to be asked to believe in things I know don't exist: Fantasy, magic, blah.

What I loved about Dave Hill's story was that it was a piece of life, with pain and problems, and flawed individuals. It could've been made over dramatic but it wasn't, it was real. That's what I want for my novel. I don't necessarily want there to be a happy ending because it's not real.

I know how my story goes, but I don't know how it ends and I sometimes wonder if this is a problem. In The Adoption it doesn’t end – well obviously it does end – the book, the story, but the point is that the characters don’t. Really believable characters continue their lives, if only in some place inside each reader. You can’t hope for much more as I writer I think.