November | 2023 | Novels Now

Setting the Scene: Or as one blogger has suggested: Your scene is a sketch, not a photograph.

I thought for this one I’d do a compare and contrast.

“Tracy sat very, very still. Her hair straggled out of the bobble she’d picked up two days ago and tickled the skin around her ears. Impatiently, because she knew there was a lot of writing ahead of her, she tugged the strands of hair and wrapped them with the fraying elastic until she could hear again. The cottage was quiet. Her dad wouldn’t be back for at least an hour and her ma would be taking the chance of a bit of sleep before he came.

She slid her hand down the side of the sofa bed and caught hold of her squeezy torch. It was a nuisance and a Godsend. She couldn’t make up her mind which, but it had meant she’d finished the last lot of Maths problems and handed them in on time yesterday. If only there was more time at the after-school homework club.

She breathed in the familiar smell of damp plaster and worse – from the bucket in the corner. She was not going to spend the rest of her life in another dump like this one. No! Tracy Craig was going to be a teacher.“

“Eloise yawned. Write five hundred words on the theme of personal achievement was the latest homework assessment. Could that teacher think of anything more boring?

She shrugged out of the velour onesie Daddy had brought back from his trip to Paris. Wouldn’t the rest of them give something for this, then? She ran her fingers over the embroidered logo before dropping it on the floor. Why have a maid and hang things up yourself?

Dropping her silk nightie over her head, she sank into bed and drew her tablet across. Nothing much on her socials. Oh well, maybe this once she’d do the homework on time. Now, where was that site? The one her cousin had shown her that did all these boring essay jobs and put in a couple of mistakes to make it look real? Eloise Mack was going nowhere near any University. Her personal statements would be done in person.”

I hope I’ve given you the physical situation of each girl but also the emotional one. I think the reader can see the characters and the obstacles each faces when striving for a future. I believe they’re sketches and not simply photographs.

Anybody in West Edinburgh this morning, Saturday 18th Nov? I’m talking as part of a ‘local authors’ panel’ in Colinton library. Our slot begins at 12 noon and runs, with time for questions and mingling, till 2pm. Thorburn Road.

Below you’ll find a list of other Robins. Hope you’ll pop over to their sites for a nosey.

Anne

Dr. Bob Rich https://wp.me/p3Xihq-33K

Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/

Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/

Helena Fairfax http://www.helenafairfax.com/blog

Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea