Existential Pickle May 21, 2007
Posted by Jen in : Journal, Novel , 7 commentsLiz has been posting profiles of the novel racers recently. It’s fascinating how people come across differently somewhere other than their own blog or website.
As for writing my own profile, that seemed an unnecessarily daunting task. Which of my roles should I adopt? The Retail Hell persona where I am “always upbeat, always capable, funny, intelligent”? Or the weary, bedraggled, never-quite-in-control ninny who gets into the car after work, desperate to get home for a quick weeping session and cup of industrial tea before the onset of teenage torture and household chores, dog poo and exploding cookers. Novel Racers – oh yes! I’m supposed to be a writer too. So, do I don the ‘I can do it and do it I will’ technicolour dreamcoat. Or the black mantle that conveys to the world that my words are trite, dull and aimlessly going nowhere but the bin?
“I don’t why you’re bothering with all that,’ chips my mother. Lovely. I might not pick her as a guinea pig reader then.
My novel characters are having a huge discussion about which of the others around the dinner table they’d like to swap lives with for a week – it’s really amazing that the characters themselves are throwing up insights into each other that I, as their creator, hadn’t even noticed.
And me, who would I be if I could swap for a while? I don’t know, to be honest. I’d quite like to have a go at being the me I have pencilled in for the future, the one I always thought I’d be but haven’t quite managed yet. You know, just to see if I’ll be any good at it.
