Thinking All the Time

 

I was surprised the other day to read a chunk of one of my first books and discovered I'd head-hopped.  I groaned and immediately decided I should read the whole lot and correct everything. How could I have done that? I know the rules. 

It suddenly struck me that I don't concentrate much on villains or bad guys either. I always focus on the heroine. Now that I've noticed, I worry that my stories may be one-dimensional. I'm currently writing a modern romance and there is going to be a bad guy. A villain. So now I'm sitting back for a day or two and wondering why my villain is doing what he's doing. What are the usual motivations? Greed? Jealousy? Envy? or just plain hatred?

I 'll have to decide soon.

My heroine can't go blithely on without casting a few thoughts in the way of whoever is obstructing her progress. So now, it's Autumn and I'm about to go for a walk with my dog. While she is carousing around (usually on the path) the recently-ploughed fields and looking out for a deer to chase, I shall be brain-storming my villain. I won't be on the lonely seashore feeling poetic. I'll be dodging piles of horse shit because early every morning the local livery stables sends its  horses out for exercise around their fields, and why should they not? I'm lucky I can walk there too.

I'll be watching my dog, noting the huge amount of apples growing wild this year and keeping an eye out for those deer. And thinking all the time.