Anika’s Thoughts of the Week 14

How are you all doing?  I’ve been thinking about writing and carrying on with one of the books I have already started.  Possibly even tonight - who knows?  I mean I know that I am close to having worked out the next sections to a number of them while I was in hospital.

I say that I am close to having worked them out and I must admit I am, but am not 100% sure if I have got there completely yet.  While I was in hospital I used the time to do a LOT of reading - mostly because I couldn’t use my right hand and typing with my left thumb on my phone was not particularly fun.

When I was a child I was constantly reading.  But when I came to Scotland I struggled greatly with reading and after I had seizures, reading was simply words together on a page.  Understanding wasn’t there.  But this hospital stay after a fall was a fantastic opportunity to take the time to read.

Some time back (can’t remember when) I came across the idea that you need to SHOW not TELL readers things about the characters in your book.  And yesterday, I was reading about subtext and how that makes people identify with the characters more.

Today, I have been considering subtext and realised that the books that have given me ideas without telling me have actually made some fascinating reading.  Thing is, working out how I will do it in my work for the readers is another thing entirely!  But I know it can be done.  Now I need to work out how I am going to do it.

Writing, as you now know, is a big part of me.  Introducing new ideas and concepts and applying them to my writing can only make them better.

So, I guess the thing is, if you want to read more parts of books I am writing, you’ll have to come back and look for yourself.

TREASURE

Showing people what goes on in a story, rather than telling them and introducing subtext as well makes it much more interesting because people can work things out about the characters without you spelling it out.