#WordWeavers Mar 18:
Tell us about a time when your MC failed

In novelx3, Dr Andrew Bridges, the climate scientist, is walking St Cuthbert’s Way in Northumberland on a pilgrimage to Iona (it’s complicated) when he finds himself in Coldstream

Coldstream is not on St Cuthbert’s Way

That’s apart from the fact that he had failed to persuade the government to take appropriate action over global warming

#WordWeavers #novelx3 #ClimateBridges

#ScribesAndMakers 2 Whatever?

The climate was changing at an alarming rate. If it went on like this – and it would go on like this whatever anyone did now – large parts of the world would become uninhabitable within decades. ... There would be floods and droughts and storms and wild fires and temperatures would become unendurable. There would famine and there would be war.
He had done what he could. He was worn out.

#ScribesAndMakers #novelx3 #ClimateBridges

#WritersCoffeeClub 20
What rôle does death play in your work?

In the natural course of things, death is usually there or thereabouts

Now I look more closely, it seems death is always there or thereabouts

#novelx1: 1. traffic 'accident'
/ 2. suicide

#novelx2: 1. father [MC1]
/ 2. army service in Belfast
/ 3. both parents [MC2]

#novelx3: 1. wife

#novelx4: 1. suicide [ref x1 above]
/ 2. terrorist bomb

#novelx5: 1. Covid19

#death #amWritingFiction
#WritersCoffeeClub

WordWeavers 23
Your MC is lost in a busy city…

Nice question

Novelx1: Broderick Arnot, lean against a wall looking lost until someone offered to help

Novelx2: Theresa, take refuge in a cafe and ask the barista
Tom would never consider himself lost

Novelx3: Andrew Bridge, hail a cab

Novelx4: Elyssia, ask the first person to walk by: “Where the hell am I?”

Novelx5: Jim, phone Gill (his wife) & ask where he’s supposed to be

#WordWeavers 23
#novelx1
#novelx2
#novelx3
#novelx4
#novelx5

WordWeavers 4th June

Mood of the opening paragraph in 3 adjectives

despairing tired frustrated

"It was the end. He couldn’t do it anymore. He’d had enough. There was no point, except that there was a point and he knew there was a point and he knew that he had given his whole life and all his energies, all his skills, his expertise, his understanding,... – he had given everything to get the message across but no-one was listening"

#WordWeavers
#novelx3
#amWritingFiction
#ClimateBridges

#WordWeavers Mar 28
What gives your characters a sense of self-worth or meaning in their life?

#novelx1
Broderick: working with a team; finding signs of (past) life in the soil

#novelx2
Theresa: sailing; helping people

#novelx3
Andrew: fighting climate change (even if it is a hopeless cause)

#novelx4
Elyssia: believing in a better world; the love of the man she loves

#novelx5
Jim: surviving day to day; keeping the Tidal Teashop open

#WordWeavers #amWritingFiction #amEditing

#WritersCoffeeClub Mar 4

Do environmental concerns feature in your work?

Yep, novelx3 is called “Climate Bridges” and features a climate scientist on the run from the government

#WritersCoffeeClub
#novelx3 #amWritingFiction #writingCommunity

Day 1. Intro Day. If you could hang out with one of your side characters for a day, who would you choose? Why?

Into.
I'm Phil. I'm retired & live in the East Midlands, UK, with my wife. I have three novels in the drawer and I'm working on number four. They are all set in the 21st century UK

Which side character?
(Find file. Check manuscript. My memory is shocking)

'Climate Bridges'
Tilly
Upper Teesdale
Makes butter & is deeply connected to the earth

#novelx3
#WritingWonders
#amWriting