Mid-Autumn 2015 on might have to be converted to being cold and distant to fit in with some action later in the book. I’ve even erased minor characters completely if they didn’t go on to fulfil any dramatic function in later chapters. I don’t think I’ll transform into a plotter now – I like the excitement of letting the ‘actors’ in my dramas plot their own course. I recently read an article featuring a writer’s eight pointers for a successful novel. They are as follows: 1. Character 2. Wants something 3. Enters new world 4. Adapts to it 5. Gets what (s)he wants 6. Suffers as a result 7. Returns to ordinary world 8. Changes as a result. Out of curiosity, I applied this template to my latest novel, Pandora’s Gift, and it fitted perfectly. But that didn’t stop the pantster in me moaning, Does that mean I’ll have to write the same novel again with different char-
acters? Boring! Whichever way your writing brain takes you when embarking on your next piece of work, I hope the process turns out to be both enjoyable and effective. Pandora’s Gift, the third in the Pandora series comes out on 11 December 2015. Carolyn Mathews has a BA in English Literature and an MA in English Language Teaching and Linguistics. Born in London, of Irish parents, she became a management trainee for a Greater London Borough, gave it up to work in a Spanish nightclub, and finally became an English lecturer, producing books and plays for language students along the way. A member of the Society of Authors, her interest in contemporary spirituality informs and influences her fiction. She currently lives in Hertfordshire.
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