This is the “Behind The Scenes” post for the story “Road To Back Home“. Please read that first if you want to avoid spoilers…
Yet again, the curse of not being able to think of an idea for a story struck again, and yet again my backlog of ideas bailed me out. This one has been in my “to write” list for a few years now, and this was a good time to dig it out.
The house itself is based on one that I lived in a few years ago, internally at least. The arrangement of the landing is exactly as I remember it, although the garden and front room are from a different house. To be fair, the layout is generic enough that it could be from anywhere, and I’m sure there’s a hundred thousand houses that could be described in exactly the same way within a mile of where I am right now.
I’m trying a new approach to the writing this time, trying to take more time while writing and imagining the events in more detail before writing each section. I then read it aloud to Rebeca, which really helps – that made me conscious of plot issues, repeated words (and I am terrible for repeating words within a sentence), and other issues (at one point, in the first draft, time ran backwards… oops). It’s a good technique, and I recommend it.
Another technique that I’m experimenting with is something I was told years ago – if you read a book, read it twice: once for fun, the second time to see how it’s done. I’m doing that now and it’s interesting to see how other authors handle things once you know what’s coming. It’s early days, but so far that’s something else that I would recommend, if you’re trying to write.
The post “Behind The Scenes: Road To Back Home” first appeared on simoncollis.com and is Copyright © Simon Collis 2018. All rights reserved.