Isabel Ashdown

One of the greatest things I’ve learned in my time writing fiction is that almost nothing in life is ever wasted.

Take the snatches of conversation you might overhear on the bus, in the playground, through the grafittied formica door of a public toilet.  Every once in a while I’ll hear something so illuminating, interesting or hilarious that I just have to scribble it down in my pocket notebook with the thought that it might spark something creative in me – even if that creative connection comes months, even years, later.

For example, a few weeks ago I was walking back home after a trip to visit my publishers over in Brighton.  I was in one of those tense, cold moods, having sat on a train for 50 minutes in a carriage full of screechy teenagers.  As I walked away from the station, two lads of about seventeen were walking towards me, talking about their night out.  Through a mop of floppy hair the first one said, “What happened to you last night, mate?”  The second, more hungover looking lad replied, “Oh, man.  You wouldn’t believe it.  I was so wasted I thought I’d just go home.  Somehow I got myself to the station, and I stood on the platform, waiting.  But when my train came, I was so drunk I just stared at it.  And then it went without me.”  Floppy hair laughed raucously.  “Oh, man,” he sighed, before they disappeared out of my earshot.

This funny little conversation really tickled me, and I wrote it down as soon as I got home.  It was a charming, gritty insight into two strangers’ worlds, and whilst I haven’t used their conversation directly, the essence of it has made its way into the novel I’m currently writing.

So, use those overheard conversations to enrich your writing.  If someone in the doctor’s waiting room insists on speaking loudly into their mobile phone, instead of tutting and rolling your eyes like everyone else, listen in for the little gems.  It’s fun.  An innocent moment of eavesdropping can help in the development of an existing or new character, or even give you ideas for plot turns and surprises.  Carry your noteback unfailingly and never think you’ll remember what you hear without writing it down – you won’t!

Oh, what I’d give for all those lost thoughts and conversations I should have logged . . .

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To view Glasshopper Book Club & Reading Group Discussion Questions, click here.

Naturally, in the process of creating a work of fiction a great many writers draw on their own experiences, thoughts and fears.  The best stories are found within our own histories, because there is real emotion attached to them, and where there is real emotion a naked honesty is often found.

But writing about our own experiences can be unsettling, for both the writer and the people closest to them.  When I reflect on my own life, there are all sorts of events I could write out that would make great reading – but I’m not sure I really want to share them with the rest of the world, and I fear I’d lose a few valued friendships in the process.

So, how do you draw upon your rich and varied experiences without your work becoming semi-autobiographical?  The simple words, “What if . . . ?” can transform your fictional world, freeing you creatively to draw upon your own life without directly writing about it.

To give an example, let’s pretend that in my real life, I’m a 25 year old woman (alas, I’m not), with one young child, a gregarious, useless husband and a part-time job in the library services.  Well, my life could already make for a good start to a story.  But I don’t want to write about me.  What if my character has three children?  That would certainly make life more exhausting, perhaps more rewarding, perhaps more chaotic than my own?  What if she works in a book shop?  Well, I could easily draw on my experiences in the library, and my knowledge of books to imagine that world.  What if she’s older than I am, say, 35?  Could I pull it off?  What if the husband isn’t useless, but the wife is?  What if he’s a shy, nervous character?  What if my main character is actually the husband . . . ?

Already there’s the little spark of a new world to imagine, one which draws from a real life, and yet is suddenly quite far removed from that life.  Applying the “What if?” to your writing can not only kick-start a new project, but it can also serve to keep the story going at an exciting pace, allowing your fictional character to unfold as a fully-formed, complex individual.  Now, whilst the essence of your own experiences might run right through the story like a backbone, the insecurity of portraying yourself or another living person evaporates, and you can simply write.  The character is yours, and you can take it wherever you want to.

To buy Glasshopper, click here.

To view Glasshopper Book Club & Reading Group Discussion Questions, click here.

I’m often asked how I manage to stay motivated to write.  The truth is, sometimes it’s hard.  I’m a great believer in the use of writing exercises to unblock the resistant mind, having used a good number over the years to coax myself back into productive writing.  I guess others might find this kind of approach useful, so over the next year I will be creating a new writing exercise each week, to be posted here on the website.

Happy writing!

Creative Writing Exercise # 1 :- Take a Walk

It’s a vicious circle really.  The more I can’t get it together to write, the less inclined I feel to get out and about.  The less I get out, the smaller my inner world becomes.  The smaller my inner world grows, the less inspiration I have to draw on.  Of course the answer is easy: snap out of it and get your backside out the door.

Yesterday, my husband took the kids off to watch the football match over in Portsmouth.  It was the perfect opportunity for me to get down to some writing.  So after I had defrosted the freezer, rearranged the bookshelf and baked a tray of fairy cakes, I realised that I might be trying to put it off.  It’s not that writing is something I don’t want to do – I love it.  But sometimes, well, it’s just a bit hard to get going.  Eventually, in a fit of lethargy, I took the dog for one of his (and my) favourite walks.

It was a beautiful hazy afternoon, and from the top of the Trundle I could see the cathedral, the sea, the towns and villages stretching out around me.  In the inner dip of the circular walk, an unexpected band of bright white snow lay, which Charlie-dog bounded in and out of as I marched around the ring with purpose.  I paused to take in the view, all the while thinking about my new character, Sarah.

I suddenly realised that she needed to be removed from her home setting for a period, in order for us to see her from a different angle.  She needed to be put under a different kind of pressure, the pressure of being out of her comfort zone.  I finished my walk, bundled Charlie into the car and drove home with new purpose.  I wrote for two hours, and closed my laptop, contented that my story had moved on in a new direction.

So, take a walk.  It might be a favourite walk, one which simply relaxes and energises.  It could be somewhere new, somewhere you feel more alert and uncertain.  Perhaps it’s a trip of nostalgia, around your old school grounds or the city park.  Wherever it is, treat it as part of the writing, not as an unnecessary luxury.  Your writing deserves it.

To buy Glasshopper, click here.

To view Glasshopper Book Club & Reading Group Discussion Questions, click here.