Helen’s Comments (group member since Mar 01, 2010)

Helen’s comments from the Q&A with Helen Simonson group.

Thanks.

Thanks Julia. When I began, I had only the smallest of ideas - to write something for myself. The village, Rose Lodge, and the Major in his late wife's housecoat appeared and there was also Mrs. Ali, the stranger on the doorstep. My initial short story ended when the Major told Mrs. Ali that his son, Roger, would drive him home from the funeral. It was a simple story of a missed connection, missed potential. However, all who read it loved the two characters and demanded more information. I was told it might be the novel I was meant to write. I set out on that long and inpossible road with no map and no destination. I just followed the characters around and hoped they would lead me to interesting ideas. Fitting all the stories and characters together certainly never felt 'perfect.' I often described the writing as 'like carrying a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs - without the bowl!'

Thanks for asking, Susan. I have the characters in my head for my next novel and am doing some research to make sure I get the details of their setting and their lives correct. I'm hoping a second novel won't take me five years but I have learned that you can't really put a deadline on creativity. Some books take six months and some take fifteen years.
Ah, the movies! Have you read 'Little Women' and do you remember the chapter, "Meg goes to Vanity Fair"? The slightest movie interest can be very head-turning. I'm trying not to put on too much borrowed finery, but to keep my feet on the ground and my head in my next book.

I had a fleeting image of home and he just appeared at his doorway; dressed in a floral housecoat. I was certainly interested in a man who owned half a pair of shotguns - I am so very fascinated by the way family heirlooms and family money can so powerfully unite and divide us. The Major also gave me a way to write about someone who was definately not me. I prefer to write what I do NOT know.

Great question. Maybe not. I fear that the younger we are the more the surface things matter - the right job, the right look, the shared friends and activities. It takes real guts to step outside one's comfort zone. Maybe it takes maturity?