Tag: Thoughts

Writing a novel in 365 days

Day 3 continued

A few thoughts are running around in my head, none of them good about Will.

Why is it that there is sometimes a feeling that a star football player at the college level, has something about him that might be suspect?

Perhaps it’s just his age, and we know that in some cases when stardom hits at an early age, it can affect them in unexpected ways.

Of course, in a male, there is possible gender bias, perhaps in a home environment where there is an alpha male who may unintentionally pass on those beliefs, in words and in actions.

Or that leadership, drive, and continual reinforcement that he is the team, not the playing collective, can also alter the mind.

Or that he is simply a bad seed, and those traits are ignored in the pursuit of the ‘prize’.  History has shown that we have a tendency to ignore the obvious for the sake of something else.

Or have we simply ignored the most rational description, that Will is the lovable cuddly bear type, and all we’re doing is pandering to Jeremy’s jealous thoughts.

Don’t we all tend to think badly of a rival simply to make ourselves feel better?

…

Let’s go in one direction and see where it takes us.

…

Will dragged his chair closer to Sally, put his arm around her shoulder and dragged her close to him.

“How’s my girl?”

He looked at her with lust in his eyes, or what she thought was lust.  She was not exactly an expert in that field, but that night three weeks ago, in the back of his car, it was go-to-whoa in three minutes.  He had that same look now.

Her first time though, after the prom, with Freddie was a long slow burn followed by a gentle experience that almost left her floating on a cloud, an experience that had lingered for days, weeks afterward.

Until she discovered Freddie had left town, never to return.  And more devastating, Freddie had seduced her in a bet.

“I am not your girl.  You do not own me.”

It was spoken in anger, surprising herself more than Will, who let her go as if she had struck him.

“Whoa.  It was only an expression.  Did I do something wrong?  I thought we were good.”

She sucked in several deep breaths and tried to calm herself.  Had just a small part of her screaming match with Jeremy registered?

“We are.  I’m just feeling stressed.  Sorry.”  She put her arms around him and snuggled closer.

Will could see Jenny looking in Jeremy’s direction and remembered being told about their argument.  He had heard they’d been combatants since grade school and that he was always annoying her.

“You want me to sort Jeremy out, once and for all?”

A shudder went through her, a distant memory of someone else saying the same thing to her, that had tragic consequences.

It was reinforced by a rumour that Will and some of the football team had bullied wannabe players and some of the cheerleaders, a rumour no one would substantiate, but she knew two of the girls and they chose to leave and go to school elsewhere.

“No.”

“You secretly like him?”  Will tried to make it an off-hand question but his tone and demeanor meant something else entirely.

Just that look scared her.

“No.  He’s an old friend that doesn’t understand the friend zone.  He will though, but that’s my battle, not yours.”

“I can make it mine.  if it’s making you unhappy.”

“I can fight my own battles, Will.  I’m not a helpless female.”

The grunt he made was enough to make her believe otherwise.  Being his girl meant being his possession and woe betied anyone who messed with his property.

“As you wish,” he said.

“Now let’s talk about something else.”

…

Of course, there are just as many controlling women as there are men, and sometimes they are hard to pick. 

And there are just as many of each who use a wrong turn of phrase, leading to misinterpretation and assumptions.

Have we one here? 

…

©  Charles Heath  2025

Writing a novel in 365 days

Day 3 continued

A few thoughts are running around in my head, none of them good about Will.

Why is it that there is sometimes a feeling that a star football player at the college level, has something about him that might be suspect?

Perhaps it’s just his age, and we know that in some cases when stardom hits at an early age, it can affect them in unexpected ways.

Of course, in a male, there is possible gender bias, perhaps in a home environment where there is an alpha male who may unintentionally pass on those beliefs, in words and in actions.

Or that leadership, drive, and continual reinforcement that he is the team, not the playing collective, can also alter the mind.

Or that he is simply a bad seed, and those traits are ignored in the pursuit of the ‘prize’.  History has shown that we have a tendency to ignore the obvious for the sake of something else.

Or have we simply ignored the most rational description, that Will is the lovable cuddly bear type, and all we’re doing is pandering to Jeremy’s jealous thoughts.

Don’t we all tend to think badly of a rival simply to make ourselves feel better?

…

Let’s go in one direction and see where it takes us.

…

Will dragged his chair closer to Sally, put his arm around her shoulder and dragged her close to him.

“How’s my girl?”

He looked at her with lust in his eyes, or what she thought was lust.  She was not exactly an expert in that field, but that night three weeks ago, in the back of his car, it was go-to-whoa in three minutes.  He had that same look now.

Her first time though, after the prom, with Freddie was a long slow burn followed by a gentle experience that almost left her floating on a cloud, an experience that had lingered for days, weeks afterward.

Until she discovered Freddie had left town, never to return.  And more devastating, Freddie had seduced her in a bet.

“I am not your girl.  You do not own me.”

It was spoken in anger, surprising herself more than Will, who let her go as if she had struck him.

“Whoa.  It was only an expression.  Did I do something wrong?  I thought we were good.”

She sucked in several deep breaths and tried to calm herself.  Had just a small part of her screaming match with Jeremy registered?

“We are.  I’m just feeling stressed.  Sorry.”  She put her arms around him and snuggled closer.

Will could see Jenny looking in Jeremy’s direction and remembered being told about their argument.  He had heard they’d been combatants since grade school and that he was always annoying her.

“You want me to sort Jeremy out, once and for all?”

A shudder went through her, a distant memory of someone else saying the same thing to her, that had tragic consequences.

It was reinforced by a rumour that Will and some of the football team had bullied wannabe players and some of the cheerleaders, a rumour no one would substantiate, but she knew two of the girls and they chose to leave and go to school elsewhere.

“No.”

“You secretly like him?”  Will tried to make it an off-hand question but his tone and demeanor meant something else entirely.

Just that look scared her.

“No.  He’s an old friend that doesn’t understand the friend zone.  He will though, but that’s my battle, not yours.”

“I can make it mine.  if it’s making you unhappy.”

“I can fight my own battles, Will.  I’m not a helpless female.”

The grunt he made was enough to make her believe otherwise.  Being his girl meant being his possession and woe betied anyone who messed with his property.

“As you wish,” he said.

“Now let’s talk about something else.”

…

Of course, there are just as many controlling women as there are men, and sometimes they are hard to pick. 

And there are just as many of each who use a wrong turn of phrase, leading to misinterpretation and assumptions.

Have we one here? 

…

©  Charles Heath  2025

Writing a novel in 365 days

Day 4 and 5

Understandably it will take two days to do some planning, not that I generally do any planning.

I usually start with a sentence and the idea grows into a story   More often than not I have no idea where it is going to go, and for me, that’s half the fun of it, I am like the reader, being taken on a roller coaster ride.

But…

This is by the calendar.

The questions are…

What is it about?

I’ve been thinking about a story for my ‘The cinema of my dreams’ series titled ‘ The One that Got Away’.

It might not necessarily be exactly that but it is a first love, a mismatch socio-economically, and given her parents, a battle he was never going to win.

But, the bottom line, neither didn’t stop loving the other, but left it too late to do anything about it.

What happens after that?

We will all be hanging on a knife edge…

What kind of book is it?

Murder mystery.  Sorry, but not sorry, my stories often veer off into any or all of murder, mystery, or espionage.

Why do you need to write it?

I don’t.  It’s not like trying to write that second book after being told everyone has one book in them.

But for me, this is just another story that’s running around in my head with a dozen others but it’s finally at a point where I can put words on paper to flesh out the ideas.

How many pages can you get done today?

That’s the same as asking how long is a piece of string.

But this is a weekend task, so I’ll let you know tomorrow.

Writing a novel in 365 days

Day 4 and 5

Understandably it will take two days to do some planning, not that I generally do any planning.

I usually start with a sentence and the idea grows into a story   More often than not I have no idea where it is going to go, and for me, that’s half the fun of it, I am like the reader, being taken on a roller coaster ride.

But…

This is by the calendar.

The questions are…

What is it about?

I’ve been thinking about a story for my ‘The cinema of my dreams’ series titled ‘ The One that Got Away’.

It might not necessarily be exactly that but it is a first love, a mismatch socio-economically, and given her parents, a battle he was never going to win.

But, the bottom line, neither didn’t stop loving the other, but left it too late to do anything about it.

What happens after that?

We will all be hanging on a knife edge…

What kind of book is it?

Murder mystery.  Sorry, but not sorry, my stories often veer off into any or all of murder, mystery, or espionage.

Why do you need to write it?

I don’t.  It’s not like trying to write that second book after being told everyone has one book in them.

But for me, this is just another story that’s running around in my head with a dozen others but it’s finally at a point where I can put words on paper to flesh out the ideas.

How many pages can you get done today?

That’s the same as asking how long is a piece of string.

But this is a weekend task, so I’ll let you know tomorrow.

Writing a book in 365 days – 18/19

Day 18

We have an exercise, not exactly in writing, but this is to do with characters.

These, to me, tend to fit into two types, people we know and people we’ve seen, and to be honest I;m always on the lookout for a character whether fascinating or horrible.

Of course, we have stereotypes in our arsenel:

Dressed in black, the once cinematic stereotype for the villain, especially in American Westerns, to the femme fatale in her definitive little black dress, the littler it is the more evil she is, or perhaps the more risque (putting it mildly) she is. Again, a Hollywood stereotype.

Then the others, large hats, baseball caps, Fedoras, Bowlers, Top hats and tails, fascinators, the headwear that often these days only dusted off for particular purposes. Once the norm a century ago this sort of wear, along with ball gowns and tuxedos that rarely get an outing, perhaps because of a lack of nightclubs, balls, and dressing up for dinner, a ritual of course that only the rich, powerful, and aristocracy did regularly.

But I digress…

We are supposed to remember what they wore, what they said, who were they in your opinion, and what was their occupation, and lastly, what would they not do, and what would happen if they were forced into doing it?

Interesting…

The last person I met, rather plain work clothes that made them look dull and interesting, we changed words about the product I’d just bought. As for what kind of person, that all depended on experiences and while I would say that person was hiding something under that facade, they could most likely be the life of the party, certainly the outgoing and friendly sort that never had a shortage of friends and acquaintances. What would they most likely do? Anything but serving customers if they had a choice, perhaps the sort who would shine in guest services in a large resort hotel or ship.

What would they not do, that’s a list a mile long, and if forced, I’d say it would be a devastating travesty. In writing it’s always a possibility that a character has to act out of character and do stuff they never expected. But this characterisation is always based on our own fears and hatreds. What wouldn’t I do? Jump out of a plane in a parachute.

That person opposite me behind the counter, I could see them doing it in a heartbeat.

Perhaps I’ve just found my next character!

Writing a novel in 365 days

Day 3

It’s all about the nuances of mood, of feeling, the little things that bring a character to life, that convey an emotion that we have all felt one time or another.

And if we’re lucky, be able to convey exactly what is going on in the mind of the protagonist, or any of the characters for that matter.

I thought I might write the same story as yesterday from a different point of view.

…

Sally could see Jeremy, sitting in the corner looking decidedly miserable.

Why didn’t he give it up?

Ever since grade school, he had clung to this notion that they could be friends, perhaps more than friends.

Nothing could be more abhorrent.

He was one of those people whom her father despised, the poor who refused to make something of themselves.  Everyone had the same opportunity to make something of themselves.

That’s why it surprised her that Jeremy had elected not to follow his father into plumbing and decided to go to college.

Her college.

“Do you think he’ll give up now?”

Jenny, her best friend and often co-conspirator, saw her glancing in Jeremy’s direction, not for the first time.

“No.”

“But you wish he would?”

Sally’s hesitation spoke volumes.

“Yes.”

“Well, you’re going to have to decide what it is you want because Will isn’t going to wait forever.”

Will was the most eligible of all the boys in college, the boy all the girls swooned over, and out of all of them, he had singled out Sally.  She was flattered, but there was something about him.

Jeremy had told her Will was not all he seemed to be but refused to explain why.  What other reason would he have if not out of pure jealousy?

And she had finally told Jeremy once and for all to leave her alone or she would have him removed from the college.  Her father was a huge donor and could make it happen.

Maybe she still would.

Just then Will, and three of his teammates arrived and filled the remaining seats at the table. 

Time to take her mind off the annoying gnat and focus of what was important.

…

Once again there is a myriad of paths for this story.

But the seeds are there:

– Does Sally have feelings for Jeremy?

– What is it about Will that worries Jeremy, other than jealousy?

Stay tuned…

…

©  Charles Heath  2025

Writing a novel in 365 days

Day 3

It’s all about the nuances of mood, of feeling, the little things that bring a character to life, that convey an emotion that we have all felt one time or another.

And if we’re lucky, be able to convey exactly what is going on in the mind of the protagonist, or any of the characters for that matter.

I thought I might write the same story as yesterday from a different point of view.

…

Sally could see Jeremy, sitting in the corner looking decidedly miserable.

Why didn’t he give it up?

Ever since grade school, he had clung to this notion that they could be friends, perhaps more than friends.

Nothing could be more abhorrent.

He was one of those people whom her father despised, the poor who refused to make something of themselves.  Everyone had the same opportunity to make something of themselves.

That’s why it surprised her that Jeremy had elected not to follow his father into plumbing and decided to go to college.

Her college.

“Do you think he’ll give up now?”

Jenny, her best friend and often co-conspirator, saw her glancing in Jeremy’s direction, not for the first time.

“No.”

“But you wish he would?”

Sally’s hesitation spoke volumes.

“Yes.”

“Well, you’re going to have to decide what it is you want because Will isn’t going to wait forever.”

Will was the most eligible of all the boys in college, the boy all the girls swooned over, and out of all of them, he had singled out Sally.  She was flattered, but there was something about him.

Jeremy had told her Will was not all he seemed to be but refused to explain why.  What other reason would he have if not out of pure jealousy?

And she had finally told Jeremy once and for all to leave her alone or she would have him removed from the college.  Her father was a huge donor and could make it happen.

Maybe she still would.

Just then Will, and three of his teammates arrived and filled the remaining seats at the table. 

Time to take her mind off the annoying gnat and focus of what was important.

…

Once again there is a myriad of paths for this story.

But the seeds are there:

– Does Sally have feelings for Jeremy?

– What is it about Will that worries Jeremy, other than jealousy?

Stay tuned…

…

©  Charles Heath  2025

Writing a book in 365 days

Day 17

Today’s topic is Words of Wisdom.

Can you find the words to describe what you think fiction means to you? Or even what it is for a particular novel?

One opinion, Russian, is that it’s aesthetic bliss. To me, most works by Russian writers tend to go on and on and on. Fyodor Dostoevsky is a case in point. I grant you that if you can sit through the novel, which is very good, your opinion might be a little different. Not so much Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and some of his works.

In my younger days of reading when a large book never fazed me, a thousand plus pages (And Quietly Flows The Don – War and Peace) to a few hundred (One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich) to mid-range five hundred pages (Doctor Zhivago) they all could tend to be tedious, though I have to say Doctor Zhivago as a book was fascinating, the film by David Lean, captivating, and the stage play, boring beyond words.

That is to say once you for past the Russians, there were British authors like Charles Dickens who could get up to that magic number of pages, and whose works could reach that lofty thousand. They were however perhaps more interesting, and most having been made into mini series for television, far more interesting as a spectacle than in reading the book.

And, of course, there is Jane Austen. Need I say more.

But there are times when you pick up a book and start reading the first page, and then stop. It tells a budding author that on the one hand it’s not going to be your genre, and on the other, that the opinion of the book is in the eye of the beholder.

Writing a novel in 365 days

Day 2

We get to write today, 200 words, though the subject is pretty straightforward, it could take me in any direction.

Doesn’t everyone have an aggravating friend?

For a woman, it could be that friend with a heart of gold but an acid tongue, who sometimes doesn’t have any filter.

For a man, the first girl he ever fell madly in love with but it was unrequited, who parked him in the friend zone, well, the outer rim, and not averse to throwing him under the bus.

Been there, and you don’t learn but keep returning for more, hoping one day…

So, let’s run with it.

…

“When will you ever learn?”  Larry slid into the seat next to me with another odd assortment of dishes he would call ‘sampling the wares’.

The cafeteria was abuzz with lunchgoers.  I was sitting in a corner, as far away as anyone I knew, licking my wounds after the latest humiliation.

“She just isn’t worth the effort.  Just look at the fool she has as a boyfriend.”

He was right.  He had always been right, but it was that old adage ‘hope springs eternal’ that kept me going back to the well.

We could both see her and three of her friends flirting with members of the football team. 

He patted me on the back.  “Time to go in a new direction.  Eloise’s cousin is over from San Francisco and Wendy and I are taking her on a tour.  You’re welcome to come with us, and to be honest, I would make a lousy tour guide.”

Perhaps it was time to give up those foolish notions and move on.

“OK.  When?”

“Tomorrow.  We will pick you up at eight.”

If I could have predicted the consequences of that single offhand decision, I would have stayed in bed and wallowed in that sea of self-pity.

…

This story can go in so many different directions.

…

©  Charles Heath  2025

Searching for locations: From Zhengzhou to Suzhou by train, and the Snowy Sea Hotel, Suzhou, China

For the first time on this trip, we encounter problems with Chinese officialdom at the railway station, though we were warned that this might occur.

We had a major problem with the security staff when they pulled everyone over with aerosols and confiscated them. We lost styling mousse, others lost hair spray, and the men, their shaving cream.  But, to her credit, the tour guide did warn us they were stricter here, but her suggestion to be angry they were taking our stuff was probably not the right thing to do.

As with previous train bookings, the Chinese method of placing people in seats didn’t quite manage to keep couples traveling together, together on the train.  It was an odd peculiarity which few of the passengers understood, nor did they conform, swapping seat allocations.

This train ride did not seem the same as the last two and I don’t think we had the same type of high-speed train type that we had for the last two.  The carriages were different, there was only one toilet per carriage, and I don’t think we were going as fast.

But aside from that, we had 753 kilometers to travel with six stops before ours, two of which were very large cities, and then our stop, about four and a half hours later.  With two minutes this time, to get the baggage off the team managed it in 40 seconds, a new record.

After slight disorientation getting off the train, we locate our guide, easily found by looking for the Trip-A-Deal flag.  From there it’s a matter of getting into our respective groups and finding the bus.

As usual, the trip to the hotel was a long one, but we were traveling through a much brighter, and well lit, city.

As for our guide, we have him from now until the end of the tour.  There are no more train rides, we will be taking the bus from city to city until we reach Shanghai.  Good thing then that the bus is brand new, with that new car smell.  Only issue, no USB charging point.

The Snowy Sea hotel.  

It is finally a joy to get a room that is nothing short of great.  It has a bathroom and thus privacy.

Everyone had to go find a supermarket to purchase replacements for the confiscated items.  Luckily there was a huge supermarket just up from the hotel that had everything but the kitchen sink.

But, unlike where we live, the carpark is more of a scooter park!

It is also a small microcosm of Chinese life for the new more capitalistic oriented Chinese.

The next morning we get some idea of the scope of high-density living, though here, the buildings are not 30 stories tall, but still just as impressive.

These look like the medium density houses, but to the right of these are much larger buildings

The remarkable thing about this is those buildings stretch as far as the eye can see.