Shutterstock / 13_Phunkod©“The People’s Friend” Writing Hour is held every Tuesday at 11 a.m. on Twitter. It’s a time when we can get together with writers for a chat and it’s always heaps of fun!
Every week we summarise everything that went on right here for those who missed out.
Spring seems to be on its way! What’s your favourite thing about this time of year?
Flowers and greenery, bird song, longer days . . . what’s not to love?
For those heading into autumn in the southern hemisphere, we hope you enjoy the lower temperatures and the beautiful changing of the leaves.
What’s your work in progress at the moment? If you’re not writing, what’s your reading in progress?
It’s so exciting to see what you’re all working on. It looks like we have a brilliant bunch of stories and pocket novels on the way!
What things do you do to bring your characters to life when you’re writing them? How do you make them feel real for the reader?
You all had some great tips on how you handle this part of the writing process.
Give them quirks and idiosyncroncities, speech patterns unique to each character. And don’t forget to keep mentioning these things, subtly, throughout the work. At least, I try to… not sure I always succeed. #pfwrtinghour
— Glenda Young, Author (@flaming_nora) February 7, 2023
I try to look at pictures of people or places and then build the character from there. I give them some sort of problem that the reader can empathise with eg a missed train, miserable job, no good boyfriend etc
— Louise McIvor (@lou_mcivor) February 7, 2023
If you were to open your own bookshop, would it have a theme? Would you have a cafe in it?
There are some great ideas for bookshops in the thread. We especially love the idea of a “Friend” café!
A4. It’d have a folklore theme, artwork on the walls, calm surroundings inspired by nature, with a cafe next door that allows pets inside (There’s been a cafe/library questions each week, are People’s Friend planning on opening one? 😀 I’d go there.) #PFWritingHour
— Kitty-Lydia Dye (@KittyLydiaDye) February 7, 2023
We could have authors reading their poems and stories, and serve the food from our lovely recipes!
We may be getting carried away . . .
If you could chat for an hour to any character from a book, who would it be and what would you ask them?
As always, we had some brilliant answers!
#PFWritingHour Q5. I’d chat with Kitty Bennet to find out her hopes and aspirations.
— Amanda Giles Author (@GilesAuthor) February 7, 2023
I’d love to ask Anne Elliott, of Persuasion, how she kept her temper with all the people who were so dismissive of her.
— Marian Myers (@MarianJMyers) February 7, 2023
The Time Traveller in The Time Machine. I’d ask him to build one for me so that I could travel back to the pre mobile phone/computer era and see Duke Ellington and The Beatles live!
— David Balmer (@DavidBalmer14) February 7, 2023
Have you hit any of your writing goals of 2023 yet?
Congratulations to those who already have! If you haven’t, don’t worry, there are still ten and a half months to go and we have faith in you.
We’ll see you at our next Writing Hour on Twitter — 11 a.m. on Tuesday 14 February, 2023.
Or catch up on our previous roundups.
Abigail Phillips Abbie is the newest member of the fiction team at the "Friend." She loves how varied the role is - every day is different and there is always a new story to read. She is keen to work closely with established writers and discover new writers, too.
