Life is Stranger than Fiction Right Now by Tamsin Cooke

I don’t know about you, but I am finding it hard to write. Maybe it’s because I’m trying to write a funny story for 7-9 year olds, and I’m not feeling that funny right now. 

Perhaps I should try writing a dystopian horror instead.  Except that wouldn’t be fiction! 

We are living through surreal dangerous times. So much so, my work in progress feels like an utter fantasy when it’s actually realism. 

Or it was. 

When I came up with the idea two months ago, I thought my main protagonists were fun, lively, a little bit mischievous, living in a ‘normal’ town. But now I realise they are full on rebels, as are their parents, living in some alternative reality.

For example: 

One of my characters gives the other one a hug. Not only are they standing so close to each other, they are actually touching! What about the two metre rule?  What are they thinking? Luckily neither of them has a cough!

Now wait for it. They go to a playpark and join other children. Can you believe what you are reading??? There are now six of them. Six children playing in the sunshine. How dare they? Surely the police will turn up at any second, disperse them and give them a much-needed lecture about being so reckless. 

My characters go to school. They eat crisps from the same packet. Plus their parents are at work and they're not key workers. Their parents are obviously selfish anarchists.

A month ago, my characters’ actions were just normal, mundane. But as I write them now, I pause. It feels strange - almost wrong. All the little things that we took for granted have been stripped away from us. And quite rightly so. We need to keep everyone as safe as possible. But it means the small activities such as going to the park or giving a friend a hug are fantasies. I know that in the near(ish) future, we will return to our normal ways. But I hope we’ll remember to appreciate the smaller things in life.

And so, I’ll continue to write my funny story, knowing that what's happening in my characters' lives is actually the norm. It’s only now that life is stranger than fiction.

Tamsin Cooke

Author of The Scarlet Files Series and Stunt Double Series

Website: tamsincooke.co.uk
Twitter: @TamsinCooke1 

I'm a Wuss by Joan Lennon

I'm a wuss about all sorts of things - time travel, for example (I'm cowardly about bad smells and no painkillers and dying in childbirth and what do I do if my glasses break?) and going into caves and aggressively spicy food and the fear of falling through not-quite-thick-enough river ice. And as a writer, I'm a wuss about killing characters.

Knight, Death and the Devil by Albrecht Durer 1513 (wiki commons)

Now, mostly I'm able to avoid the scary stuff by choosing not to time travel, go into caves, eat spicy food or walk out onto dodgy river ice. But as a writer, sometimes, the choice isn't mine. In the story (for 10+) that is currently banging about in my head, shouting for attention, the plot requires death. And not just a few random extras in red shirts. Central characters are going to die. And I don't like it. I've put off starting this book. I've danced about trying to find ways of saving everybody. And it just can't be done. Characters are going to have to die and, not only that, characters are going to have to grieve, which is worse. Unlike Stranger than Fiction, there is no way out for me. I'm going to have to face my wussiness.

I just need to woman up and get writing. Any thoughts, advice, reactions would be gratefully received, though.  Thanks!

Yours wussfully,
Joan.



Joan Lennon's website.
Joan Lennon's blog.
Silver Skin.