Learning and changing
In which I ponder on the themes that seem to intrigue me, and change the name of my newsletter
Learning what interests you
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been noodling around with ideas for my next novel and then letting them marinate to see what comes out of it.
One idea was clearly more exciting to me than the others, as I have somehow managed not only to create a Scrivener project called SECOND NOVEL, but also to write nearly 3,000 words.
You may ask: ‘What is the plot, Kat?’
To which I would answer: ‘Plot? Who needs a plot when you have vibes.’
(Thereby also answering the usual writerly question of whether I’m a plotter or a pantser…)
Anyway, I digress.
So, my idea is more vibes than anything else for the moment (except – see below). But one thing I have realised this week is that both The Policy of Truth and this new story idea feature people who are living in a country other than the one they’ve been born or brought up in.
I know that part of that is because Britain was overflowing with Allied soldiers, airmen, and sailors from a multitude of other countries during the years of the war, but with this new book, I didn’t even think twice before I made three of the secondary characters people who have come to or settled in Britain.
Has the fact that I have lived away from where I was born and grew up for the past two decades played into this, I wonder?
I cannot help but think it has a large part to play in this.
For the past 20 years or so, I’ve been used to feeling like a fish out of water. Even now I can still make silly little cultural “errors” that immediately mark me out as “not from here” – beyond my accent, beyond the way I speak Swedish. I think it is these that are the most striking.
And I find that fascinating. So fascinating, it seems, that I include it in my writing.
It seems that we all have themes that play out through our lives, even if we don’t realise what they are until we are on the far side of 45.
What I’ve been up to recently
So, what I’ve been up to recently is apparently starting my next novel.
After sitting with a few different story ideas for a few weeks and not doing any revising of The Policy of Truth or work on the second novel, inspiration struck. While on a train, no less.
The name of my POV character came to me, along with inspiration for a couple of scenes.
I dutifully jotted them down.
The next day, I wrote about 900 words in Scrivener. And the day after that, I wrote almost 2,000 words.
I’ve since realised that I need to make some changes to those scenes, but I am grateful when the impetus to write comes like this. This was very much how I started to write The Policy of Truth, testing out scenes and seeing what my characters would do in certain situations.
None of those original scenes remain in the novel as it is now, but they were essential almost in helping me get to know my characters and their behaviours.
What I’ve also be up to is rebranding this newsletter. As I spend so much of it these days discussing my novel, it felt natural to switch over to using my pen name – Katharine Rogers – for this space and to leave behind The Kat Edit, which has always been my freelance business guise. As the work I do there is now almost exclusively corporate (and thus not as interesting to share with you), this seemed as good a time as any to make this change.
What I've been reading recently
Quite a few reads these past few weeks. I’ve been on a roll!
In Memoriam - Alice Winn: Please do yourself a favour and read this book. Lyrical, beautiful, devastating – one of my top reads this year. I could go on and on (and write paragraphs) about this book, but I won’t. Please do read it.
The Lido Girls - Allie Burns: I read this as the British League of Health & Beauty was part of the plot (and, at that time, I was thinking of my next novel to involve the league somehow). This was decent enough read, but there were a couple of plot points that never seemed to be resolved.
Sweet Caress - William Boyd: I enjoyed this overall. What I did not enjoy was some of the female lead character’s interiority, which clearly showed me to this had been written by a male author. I know it’s a sweeping generalisation to say “Women don’t think like that!”, but really, I think you’d be hard-pushed to find many women who think in the way that this female character did about certain things. I’m saying no more.
The Lost Apothecary - Sarah Penner: A romp through eighteenth century London, filled with poison and suspense. However, it just reinforced to me that I often find dual timelines in which one is set in the modern day somewhat of a letdown. The present-day chapters failed for even more in their depictions of London, which felt as if they’d been written by someone who didn’t know the city.
Trust - Hernán Díaz: I think I liked this book. I’m not totally sure. I’m still trying to make up my mind. It’s not so much one novel as three separate novels, telling the same story of an outrageously wealthy New York couple from three different angles. It’s all tied together by a separate story told by a female character. I can’t give too many details without giving too much away, but that part was my favourite. This book left me a lot of unanswered questions, but I think it was meant to. As I said, I’m still pondering over this one.
Pachinko - Min Jin Lee: This should have been exactly the kind of book for me: a historical saga following the stories of several generations in one Korean family. There was much to love about this novel, but my main feeling having finished it was that it was simply too long and took in far too many side stories. I didn’t need to know the story of the wife of the best friend of one of the family members, for example. I assumed it would come back around and play into something later on, but it simply… didn’t.
Mother’s Boy - Patrick Gale: And I’m ending with another book that qualifies as a top read this year. This is such a quiet and tender novel, following the largely fictionalised life of Cornish poet Charles Causley through to his mid-30s. Sometimes all you need is a beautiful, yet powerful read that you can settle down and relish.
Next month, I should be sharing my thoughts on the latest Kate Atkinson novel, Shrines of Gaiety, and the much-discussed Nineteen Steps by Millie Bobby Brown (ghost-written by Kathleen McGurl). I mean, I couldn’t not read that one, since it’s set during the Second World War.
Until the next time,
If you like this newsletter, you can buy me a virtual coffee - coffee always keeps me going ☕