The Two Brothers - Inspiration Behind the Story

Last week's break from writing in the Lake District did the job as I've managed to write two stories since I came home on Sunday. 

I came home from the Lake District refreshed and have managed to write two short stories (you can read my post The Perfect Writing Break here) which is just as well as at the weekend, my husband and I are sneaking off to Hayling Island for our annual modern jive weekend... yippee!

Today, I saw that I had two stories in The People's Friend Fiction Special. Both of these stories have stories attached to them (if you see what I mean) and today I though I'd tell you the inspiration behind one of them, The Two Brothers, as it is particularly dear to my heart.

As most of you will know, the last year has been spent writing my novel. It's been a steep learning curve, getting enough done to submit it to the RNA New Writers' Scheme, finishing it, writing a synopsis, sending out submissions in order to find an agent for it and, most recently, doing considerable edits and writing a blurb for the agent who believed in me and my writing.

My novel, at present called The Marbled Book, is set mostly on the Greek island of Mystos. Now Mystos doesn't actually exist, but it is based on the islands of Skopelos and its smaller sister Alonissos (as well as parts of other islands I've visited over the years). When I wrote the book, I'd never been to either of these islands but pictures I'd seen of them during my research looked perfect. 

By September, when the novel was almost finished, my husband and I decided to visit the islands in order for me to complete the research. I would be able to immerse myself in the sights, sounds and smells of the two islands (you can read my blog post on it here).

Whilst on a day trip to Alonissos, I discovered there were two smaller islands off the harbour town of Patitiri. They were called The Two Brothers. All through the holiday, the question floated around in my head - why were they called the two brothers and could I make them into a story when I got home?

I didn't want the story to be contemporary (it would have encroached on my novel) so I decided to set it just after the second world war. A guidebook I'd bought had mentioned the failure of the grape harvests around that time and I decided to work my story around this. Of course, as the title suggests, the story is about two brothers. It's a love story but also one of sibling rivalry.

But what of the two small islands of the same name which I mentioned earlier? Well, legend has it that there were once two giants called Otus and Efialtes. When they were children they liked to play at skimming stones into the sea. From these pebbles grew the Sporades islands. I knew it would be a perfect story to weave into my own fiction.

The special will be out for the next three weeks if you want to find out more about the story.

The Day I Typed THE END!

Today I am celebrating the moment I finally wrote THE END at the bottom of my novel. So how do I feel?

Proud, amazed, relieved and scared!

Actually, I can hardly believe I've done it - there were times, especially around the first quarter, when I wondered whether I would ever manage to write those two little words. 

There were several things that got me through the bad patches and the days of self doubt: my daughter in Germany demanding to read the rest after I'd sent her the first half (even though she already knew the story); my husband ignoring my calls of 'dinner's ready' (unheard of) as he was so engrossed in it; the editor at the RNA conference who asked to see the whole thing once I'd finished; the need to send something to my New Writers' Scheme reader; the three agents who 'favourited' my pitch in a #PitchCB Twitter event and last but not least, a good talking to every once in a while from writing buddy, Tracy Fells!

These were all real boosts but what ultimately kept me going was the fact that I really loved writing the story and had faith in it even when the going got tough. 

The novel is a contemporary romantic mystery/suspense and from the photos you'll see that it's set on a Greek island. The small island in my story is fictitious but loosely based on Alonissos in the Aegean. 

The novel started life as one of my published magazine stories but soon evolved into something very different - only the central theme, main characters and setting have remained the same. I've been on many Greek holidays (several mentioned on this blog) and used my memory of the places I'd visited, along with online research, to write the novel. I scoured the internet for pictures an island that best fitted my idea of the harbour and old town where my story is set and when I came across Alonissos I knew I'd found what I was looking for.

With this in mind, last week (with the novel in its final stages) my husband and I went to visit the island so that I could check details, take photos of the trees, flowers, beaches etc and ask questions. We had a fabulous holiday - staying in the small village of Agnondas on the island of Skopelos (next to Alonissos). We stayed in the lovely Lithanomon Apartments, 20 metres from the beautiful pebble beach with its three tavernas, and as it was out of season we had the place and the pool to ourselves. Lucky us! 

We swam, we walked, we looked in churches, we hired a small boat to visit deserted beaches and we took a boat trip to Alonissos to visit the old town on the hill which features in several of my chapters.

We even climbed the vertiginous 100 steps to the chapel of Agios Ioannis (the one featured in Mama Mia) on the North of the island. We expected there to be hundreds of tourists - but there was just us! I was fine until I got to the final steep part and then I looked down and froze. It took great willpower to climb the last part, but I really wanted to ring that bell to tell the world I was up there. 

All that was left was to come home and finish the novel. Luckily with my head full of sights, sounds and smells of the islands it didn't take long.