Look what I've been up to

As I've already told you, before I start writing properly I've decided to develop my plot lines, I loved doing this for Spanish Steps, it's a bit like scribbling down all your thoughts and then, rather like a jigsaw puzzle, organising them into a cohesive whole.  

At the moment I am surrounded by sheets of paper full of ideas, for example on one sheet I have written 'Max talks to Rosie' and from that thought the following ideas grow

• Rosie's dialogue to be in italics which will hopefully imply that it's not quite an ordinary conversation.
• when will it be obvious to the reader that Rosie is dead? i don't want to hit them with it on the first page.
• should I have all Max's conversations with the woman fro his past in italics or just those with Rosie?
• Will he have conversations with the other woman from his life in the same way e.g his Mother? No I think that before his stroke he will only speak to Rosie.  After the stroke he will be reliving the past so the italics will be unnecessary.
• without being mawkish the conversations with Rosie must show that their love is still alive
• should Rosie be a timid little thing or a feisty redhead? 
• probably go with feisty but must make sure that she doesn't become a harridan 

So do you get the idea?  Character development and plot lines are so much fun to write.  This is where I can try things out before committing them to paper, so to speak.  The characters can spout rubbish, the story can go off on a thousand tangents but when I gather all the notes together and get to work with the highlighter pen then I will hopefully be able to start writing without loosing my way too often.  Well that's the theory anyhow.

Introducing some of the main Characters

Polish names. The old man Maksymilian , his parents, 2 brothers Marek and Pawel and 1 sister Anka Family Name Napierkowski his son John/ Janusz his Grandson Dominic/Dominik

Max Napier is looking forward to his trip to Liverpool to revisit the city of his youth in this its year as European Capital of Culture. He has persuaded his young grandson Dom to join him on the trip but sadly wasn't surprised when his son cried off at the last minute claiming that the business couldn't spare him for the weekend.

John Napier, Max's only son, is the CEO of Napier Construction Ltd and like a lot of successful businessmen he sometimes forgets that if wasn't for his father he wouldn't be where he is today.

Dom is looking forward to spending some time with his Grandpa. Since he was a small boy he has been fascinated by the old man's tales of his early days in Poland and in this his GAP year before starting medical school next year Dom hopes that he will be able to persuade Max to join in on a road trip through Poland to visit his homeland.

Max

The more that I'm learning about the lives of ordinary people during the war the more I'm realising that there is no such thing as an ordinary person. Everybody has a history, a tale to tell.

I started to plan out this book with the single notion that it is very easy when you're young to look at an old person and not see them. Age makes you invisible.

How many times have you walked through a busy shopping centre and tutted to yourself because your way is blocked by an old lady walking with a zimmer frame? Do you ever stop to think that in her day she may have been a gorgeous young flight attendant working for BOAC who was cut off from her Middle Class family because she fell in love and married a handsome young Egyptian pilot?

No, well you're not alone. All most of us see is somebody in our way, an old dear who is stopping us from getting back to the office in time for our very important meeting, an obstacle to work around.

I want to make the reader stop and think the next time they see an old chap, 'what's his story' and to do this I have to be as factually correct as I possible can be - hence all the research - it would be to do the Max's of this world a huge disservice to make a fundamental historical error - and the more I am getting to know Max the more I am determined to do him proud.