Italy | The View Outside

I’ve finally managed to get my link up on the site so this week I am participating officially! 🙂

Still experimenting with first person POV, and d’ya know what? I’m really enjoying it 🙂

In my first life, when I lived in France, my bed was straw. In my second life, in Italy, I laid on a large white bed, surrounded by vases of flowers, my body draped in the finest silk. Now, in what I call, my third life, I am a prisoner in a two up two down tiny terraced house in a small town in Northern England.

I don’t mind the cold and the rain, i was expecting that. But what I wasn’t expecting was how much John would change. I’m trapped and he has my passport.

This was part of a piece that a wrote about a poor French girl who tries to better herself. Unfortunately, in Italy she meets a man who, after promising her the earth, whisks her back to England to a life of misery (he turns out to be a right nasty bit of work!).

photo courtesy of Darren Robertson/freedigitalphotos

Poetic justice for being greedy? Or will the Italian Stallion come to England to rescue her?

One of my favourite bloggers, Hunter over at Hunters Writings recently included a link in one of her posts to a very interesting article:

Making A Writing Bible is an article that appeared on The Write Thing’s web site.
Edited to add: This link appears to be down 😦

Hunter has also been talking about The Novel Journal

So that’s what I’ve been working on, in preparation for Nano, my WIP Bible 🙂

I’ve decided to use a notebook rather than my Netbook as I can add things as and when I think of them. Even carry it around in my bag if inspiration strikes.

So, I’ve got the hero (although he’s changed a bit since you last heard about him….thank you for all your comments and suggestions!!!!). His name is now Daminano Moretti 😉 harry is still knocking about, and I’m sure i’ll find a use for him later 😉 Kate Walker suggested that we find a photo of what we envisage our hero to look like. So after some extensive Googling I have a couple of pics!

Then this section is for notes on my heroine, who is still Kate 🙂 I’ve also found a couple of pics of what I imagine her to look like.

I have a section for the minor characters. There won’t be many, as, in a Mills & Boon, its all about the hero and heroine.

The setting…..ahhhhh…. *day dreams wistfully* It’s Sorrento in Italy. So I’m collecting pics and info.

Chapter breakdown is a suggestion made by Sharon Kendrick at Swanwick. Because Mills & Boon books generally have a pattern, it’s a good idea to have an outline of where things need to happen, such as “the black moment” and that way you know where you are 😉

Notes and ideas is basically the section for everything else….title ideas, ideas for scenes, back story etc…..

I’ve never worked like this before (I was a pantster lol) but I can really see the benefits. And now, I have 2 whole months to collect all the info I need before I actually start writing on the 1st November! And I have to say….I’m loving it! 😉