Hello readers!
Today we're happy to bring you this guest post from Chris Bridge, author of Girl Without a Voice. The topic is something a lot of writers can probably relate to.
Why I stopped writing for four months
by Chris Bridge
One
morning, nearly three years ago, I got up early, as usual, and began to write.
My novel was called Long Lost then. Later it morphed into Girl Without a Voice. The
story had been skipping along. I had an outline so I knew where I was going but
not exactly how I was going to get there. I aim to write 1000 words before
breakfast. That morning I remember I was way over my target.
I’d written quickly but with a sense of unease. As I
wrote, a new idea crept into my mind and stayed there. It wasn’t what I ever
intended to write. It was in none of the plans I’d drawn up. But it was
perfect. It fitted everything and would add wings to the plot. This new thought
suddenly seemed like a really good idea.
My characters seemed to think so too. I realized they
had been heading for this confrontation for a long time. It was absolutely true
to both of them at that moment. It was exactly what each of them would have
done. So I wrote the scene.
When I read it back I was appalled. I’m a man who
tends to write about women. Leah is not only my main character, she is my
narrator, so I had written the scene from her point of view. I read it back and
thought, you’ve no right to do that. As a man you can’t know enough to make the
scene real. It could seem horribly gratuitous.
I re-read it and my doubts intensified. Every writer
has their red lines. I’d crossed one of mine. I’d already saved what I’d
written. I’d done this from habit before I read it over. I didn’t delete it. But I shut down the
computer and abandoned the more than 30,000 words I’d already written, all that
planning and the extensive research.
I didn’t go back to it for four months. But when I
read it through it came alive off the page. I was excited by the trajectory
that lead to the scene, and then both moved and disturbed by the scene itself.
It worked. It really worked. Women friends of mine agreed.
So much of what we do as writers exists in our
imaginations. I think we have to be true to all the experiences we have had,
and to all the observations we have made, and every story we have been told.
Truth is the only red line. We are not confined by gender or by age but only by
the way in which we have opened ourselves up to so many layers of experience
and the way we stay true to what we think we know.
Nice, right? If that left you wanting more, here's the scoop on Chris Bridge's new book Girl Without a Voice:
Robbed of speech and ignored, Leah exists on the margins. Then Patrick arrives.
Bullied as a child by her siblings, Leah is so traumatised that she loses the power of speech.
Being mute has made her acutely observant, so years later she notices how her mother, Izzy, becomes energized the moment the funeral of Leah’s father is over. She soon learns that Izzy is searching for the son she gave up for adoption.
Patrick is found and Izzy is delighted. He soon becomes a frequent visitor. Leah is so enthralled by Patrick that she changes her usual look of long cardigan over men’s trousers for a more appealing, womanly look. The change is not lost on Patrick who responds in a very non-brotherly way.
Leah runs away to the only friend she has and, after regaining the use of her voice, enlists his help in discovering the truth about her supposed half-brother.
Their search leads them to Leah’s estranged uncle and a run-in with the cult of the Living Saints.
Can Leah convince her mother that all is not as it appears with Patrick?
Can she and her family rescue their mother from the religious cult and escape Patrick once and for all?
Happy reading,
Erin & Anna
