Writers\' Forum - 04.2020

Roll a dice to fi nd all the ingredients for your next story

• or use each of the squares as a daily prompt this month

FICTIONSQUARE

THE WRITERS

’

INSPIRATION

T

he Haunting of Hattie Hastings
by Audrey Davis is described by
one reviewer as ‘a combination
of romance, humour and
the supernatural’. Normally the word
‘supernatural’ would have me scrolling past,
but I read a sample and the writing style
appealed to me and persuaded me to step

out of my reading comfort zone for once.
I’m so glad I did. I enjoyed this unusual,
quirky book and had several laugh-out-loud
moments. There were sad ones too but these
were handled very well. So I contacted Audrey
and asked her where the idea came from.
‘I can only say spooky forces were at work,’
she says, ‘because it literally came out of thin
air. The name Hattie Hastings materialised
fi rst. I started writing a chapter about Hattie
and her husband Gary with only the vaguest
notion of where it might go.
‘I imagined them as an ordinary couple
leading ordinary lives. In chapter one I wanted
to paint a picture of this normality, with Gary
lapping up his moment singing in the spotlight,
and Hattie wishing she could get to bed. From
there, I added their 20-year-old son, Johnny,

and his reluctance to make something of

his life. But, where was it all heading? Only

as I neared the end of that fi rst chapter did

inspiration strike. What if Gary died, then

came back to haunt Hattie?

‘As a confi rmed seat-of-the-pantser I did

little in the way of plotting, preferring to let

the story and characters develop with each

page. Hattie needed a best friend. What if

that friend had her own set of problems?

Who else could Hattie turn to when Gary

reappeared? Gradually other family members

and friends crept in, whispering in my ear.

‘Although I don’t necessarily believe in an

afterlife, I was drawn to the idea of a place

where lost souls are assigned guardians and

tasks to fulfi l. Here was potential to mix

things up with humour and pathos, because

I enjoy the balance between comedy and

sadness. Making people laugh is a gift, as is

bringing a tear to someone’s eye.

‘The Haunting of Hattie Hastings was

originally published as a novella trilogy. Partly

because I wanted to experiment with releasing

books this way, but mainly because I was still

winging it! In the lead-up to publication day,

I was working on the next instalment with

still no fi xed idea of how the story should

progress. Surrounded by white cards and

random scribblings, possibilities presented

themselves, many of which were discarded.

‘Taking on board pleas for the trilogy to

be released as a standalone novel, I went

ahead and combined the three parts. Many

people have asked how the book came about.

I usually mumble, “Not sure, really.” Probably

best not to mention my imaginary friends...’

I can relate to Audrey’s wing-it-and-see

attitude. I began my writing career with short

stories for women’s magazines and my fi rst

longer length piece was a two-part serial for

Woman’s Weekly. I’d decided on the murder

method and the victim – that was all carefully

thought out in advance. But I didn’t decide

who the murderer was until I was about

two-thirds of the way through.

It worked out all right in the end but that

story was only 7600 words long. My latest

novel, Burying Bad News (the third in my

Much Winchmoor series) is nearly 10 times

that length. So a lot more detailed planning

was involved and this time I knew who the

murderer was right from the start.

Do I prefer the plotter or the pantser

method? A bit of both. If I’m writing a novel

I need some sort of structure otherwise I

forget who did what to whom and why. But

with short stories, I often start writing and

see where the characters take me.

Do you, like Audrey, enjoy writing ghost

stories? If so, I can recommend Ghost Stories

and How to Write Them by Kathleen McGurl.

As well as some excellent writing advice, the

book contains a number of Kathleen’s short

stories and each one is used to illustrate a

particular aspect of writing for this genre.

There’s some really useful information there.

So my challenge to you this month is to

write a ghost story, using the Fiction Square.

This is probably the right time of year to be

writing for the Halloween market so good

luck! As always I’d love to hear from you.

Email [email protected]

Paula Williams hears how an author’s ghostly story materialised

Ist & 2nd roll

Characters

3rd & 4th roll

Traits

5th roll

Theme

6th roll

Location

7th roll

Object

Soldier Unfaithful Mystery Library Broken bottle

Electrician Worried Rivalry Abandoned

cottage

List of names

Rent

collector

Deranged Love triangle Call centre Bank card

Monster Untalented Betrayal Hair salon Superglue

Robot Loyal Comedy

Market

square Love potion

Waiter/

waitress Bored Temptation Cellar Compass

• Paula’s Much Winchmoor novels Murder Served

Cold and Rough and Deadly are available on

Amazon. See paulawilliamswriter.wordpress.com