Writing – it's a thrilling endeavour

Hello there. Thanks for reading the first blog on my re-vamped website. I just wanted to talk a little bit about writing itself, and how amazing and rewarding it can be. Behind these moments of joy and wonder (!), there is a great deal of research, hard work and sheer slog. You have to put the hours in. I don't mean to make that sound onerous, because it isn't really. I enjoy the process – the challenge. Right now, at 13:36 on Wednesday 23rd September 2026, I have an idea for a story that's bubbling away in my head. It's the last thing I think about at night, and among the first things I consider the next morning – in addition to all the getting-up-for-the-loo moments in the night 🙂. Although I feel like I'm thirty-two (or thereabouts), my bladder is actually sixty-nine.

I digress.

This idea that I'm ruminating on is developing, and I keep having to commit new ideas and plot points/twists to my trusty iPhone (as voice-prompted notes). Once I've settled on the beginning, middle, and end, I'll need to flesh out my characters so that I know them as well as I know myself. This is the really important bit. I want to know if they were bullied at school – what their first record was that they bought/streamed – whom they vote for – you get the picture. The thrilling bit, and I did use the word in the title, is when your story reaches a certain point, and the characters take over and begin to write themselves. They really do! You know them so well that, in new scenarios, they can only act in one way. These off-piste moments don't alter the denouement, but you may reach it in a new, thrilling (two mentions of that word now – not including the title) and unexpected way.

That's it for now.

I'm adding the only writing-themed image I could find in my iPhoto library. This was when I read my 'History Lesson' short story to members of the Nottingham Writers Studio. People asked if I had been a teacher...

Cheers, Paul