The first draft is finished and I’ve become obsessed with it. It\u2019s provisionally titled Softening and I\u2019ve a better idea what it’s about now. I’m taking a break from it for a few weeks, so\u00a0it\u2019s a good time to reflect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perry is a hyper-controlled executive with simmering anger issues. She meets Rob, a chaotic Australian maths teacher, at an introduction to meditation course, at a local rundown community centre. They meet every Saturday morning at the classes, and after a rocky start, their relationship develops. They pull towards each other and push apart, but by the midpoint of the book they are (mostly) together, only to fall apart again in the third act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Being a meditation class, there are a number of characters that wash in and out of the narrative. The main ones are<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These characters carry plot points which affect the character arcs of Perry and Rob, or influence their relationship. There are other characters, who are there for colour and interest. I might drop those ones in future drafts, or move them into the background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Running alongside the romance, are some intersecting subplots featuring Perry, Rob or more minor characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of the subplots feed directly into the main plot i.e the growing relationship between Rob and Perry. Some don\u2019t. I might drop the ones that don\u2019t in future drafts. The future of John and Julie is looking shaky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The book is structured into pairs of chapters, Bardo and Meditation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have doubts about starting the mediation chapter with a poetic (I hope) description of the meditation. Is this the much reviled info dumping? Does it break the narrative drive? I\u2019m not sure. I\u2019m hoping the beta readers will tell me, when I find them, and I\u2019m a few more drafts in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The POV mainly limited third person. This is mostly Perry, and to a lesser extent Rob. Several other characters have one of two POV scenes. The descriptions of the meditation practices are third person omniscient. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I mostly find the world a humorous place. Frankly, it\u2019s sometimes absurd. The novel shares that perspective. I\u2019m not sure if the book is a hundred-percent-down-the-middle-no-question-about-it romantic comedy, but it\u2019s close. The tone is light and the romance is sweet. The people are ridiculous but they are kind. Things get serious, but there is a twinkle of humour in it; if not in the serious scene, then in the next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is Perry\u2019s central dilemma and drives the story. She loves her job, is great at it and has made a lot of money doing it. It has taken its toll, which manifests as impatience and anger issues. During the first act, the company she works for gets into trouble, which increases her stress and cause her emotions to spin out of control. The rest of the book is her coming to terms with her new situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is contrasted by Rob, who truly doesn\u2019t care about his teaching career. This is presented in a light hearted way, but ultimately causes problems of its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most of the characters soften in some way; either they change, or the perception of the POV character changes towards them. Many of the subplots revolve around this softening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is contrasted by Vanessa, the hippy-dippy meditation teacher, who by the third act, is revealed to have a streak of ruthlessness, thankfully now mostly suppressed, but still unnerving when evident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I started writing Softening, all I wanted to do is stitch together various scenes about meditation; things that I\u2019ve experienced over the years, or stories people have told me. Fortunately, I realised that squishing a bunch of humorous scenes about people meditating, wouldn\u2019t make a very good story. A novel about meditation would be dull at best, and nauseatingly preachy at worse. So the overarching romance between Perry and Rob was brought in to glue it all together. The meditation is secondary now, and the romance is what the book is all about – thankfully. Still, meditation is what brings all the characters together. It is the water in which they all swim. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the first draft, I know there are sections that are nauseating preachy; fiction readers don\u2019t want to be lectured at, especially on the virtues of meditation. So, any scenes that are guilty of that, need to be edited or removed in subsequent drafts. Still meditation is good for you – promise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve long been interested in the edge of things, where one thing becomes another, in between places. When I go to a city centre, I like to go to the edge and see what\u2019s there. It\u2019s often the most interesting things; little shops that can only exist where rents are cheap, forgotten statues, weird little public parks. The characters in softening spend much of their time in between places, geographically or psychologically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a cliche to say that the non-living are characters in some way, and no writer wants to be cliched. Completely ignoring that, the city is a character. It is Perry\u2019s home which she loves, and her reluctant to leave the city is a difficulty for her. Nevertheless, she does everything she can to stay. She is of the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I linger a little bit more on the description of the city, than I do with other locations. I fundamentally like cities. They are astonishing places, and much under appreciated. Henry James on London sums it up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nIt is difficult to speak adequately or justly of London. It is not a pleasant place; it is not agreeable, or cheerful, or easy, or exempt from reproach. It is only magnificent.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Neurodiversity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
None of the characters are labelled as being neurodiverse, but a few are, although it is never openly discussed in the novel<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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- Esteban has some form of autism spectrum disorder. He also suffers the long shadow of a traumatic childhood, which he hasn\u2019t come to terms with, and perhaps never will.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Rob has ADHD though it is undiagnosed, so he doesn\u2019t know it. A lot of his quirks and character flaws are a direct result of his condition. From my own experience, having ADHD is fine if you know about it, but it sucks if you are undiagnosed. Rob is stuck in the sucky state.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Other characters may or may not be neurodiverse, or have distinct psychological issues. Perry could have the edges of OCD. Clayton has suffered trauma, and the shadow of that impacts him in the narrative. Perry\u2019s mother might have Generalised Anxiety Disorder, and Perry\u2019s father, who is unnamed, could have suffered from depression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even the characters that have no diagnosable mental health problems, have their issues. John and Julie are obsessed with their dog, Brenda and Dorothy are delusional, and Dolores is just very very stressed. Of everyone, Vanessa is perhaps the most well balanced, although she presents as being the most eccentric of all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meditation classes attracts people who are searching for something. People in there have either seen through the delusion of life (very rare) or are just not very good at it. They are also an interesting bunch, and on the whole lovely, once you get past their quirks. The story is founded on that notion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ideal Reader<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019d like to think that the ideal reader of Softening is gender neutral, but realistically the vast majority of readers of romantic fiction are women – a great shame, as romantic fiction is a lovely genre – so reluctantly, the ideal reader is a woman. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This woman is established in her career, and is quite successful, and reasonably affluent. She likes her work, but has other interests outside. She dabbles in meditation, but has struggled to keep a consistent practice going. Each new year, she resolves to meditate every day, but by mid January she is skipping, and by February she has stopped. She used to be a yoga teacher, but her life is busier now, so she doesn\u2019t have the time anymore. She misses it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She has a long commute to work, and she reads fiction to pass the time. Her go-to genre is romance, but she also reads a lot of literary fiction and historical novels. She is an avid reader and eclectic, so she is happy to read fantasy, thrillers and science fiction too, especially from established mainstream authors like Margaret Atwood or Kazuo Ishiguro. The only genre she wouldn\u2019t read is horror.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She feels like an outsider sometimes, but people wouldn\u2019t know that about her. She is perhaps an immigrant, or has slight neurodiverse tendencies, but these are undiagnosed and cause her no other issues. She is well liked and friendly, though she is an introvert. She may or may not have children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Comp Titles<\/h1>\n\n\n\n
Comp titles are difficult. Softening isn\u2019t derivative of any book I\u2019ve read. I didn\u2019t set out to write a book like this novel or that title. I wrote the book I wanted to. So with hindsight, these are some comp titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One Day by David Nicholls (2009). <\/h2>\n\n\n\n