SUNDAY DINNERS
Hello,
It's October and that means SUNDAY DINNERS is getting closer. It's due to be released on October 26th and you can pre-order it now right here! So with the book edging ever closer, I thought now would be a good time to write a little blog about it. Here goes.
The book came about because I wanted to write a story about a family from a unique point of view. My initial idea was to tell it over a period of time from multiple points of view, but it still needed a focal point. It lacked something to bring it all together. The idea was put away in my huge 'To Do' folder with all my other novel ideas until I read an article in the newspaper about the death of the Sunday roast. It said that the traditional Sunday roast was dying out as families became too busy and suddenly it all came together. A story about a family told from each of their monthly Sunday roast dinners. It brought together the idea of family and also one of the great British traditions and something I did growing up every week without fail. I love Sunday roasts and they mean so much to me, and it was obvious what the story needed to be about.
In the book, all the grown up children are on the verge of leaving home. Everything is changing in the Wilde family house, and it's that tension that makes the Sunday roast dinners so important. Greg, the father, is desperately trying to hold onto the past, while the rest of his family are trying to move forward and get away. It's old v new, tradition v evolution, and it's exactly what I thought about when I read the newspaper article. I love the traditions of Sunday roasts, but I also realise that as much as we want to hold onto the past, the world keeps moving forwards whether we like it or not - which is especially true when you have children who keep growing up!
The first character I really focused on was the father, Greg Wilde. Initially I thought about writing the book from his perspective because he really is the main character, but as I thought about it, I decided it would be better to have multiple viewpoints. I also wrote HAPPY ENDINGS from different character points of view and I really enjoyed it. I also think it gives us so much more as readers if done properly.
From the beginning Greg evolved quite quickly. Greg is fifty-four and married to Lizzy. They met at university and have pretty much the perfect middle-class life. They live in a nice house in Muswell Hill, north London. Greg is a university lecturer and Lizzy is a stay at home wife. They have three children: Lucy, Matt, and Holly. Greg is in some ways a great husband and father, but in many other ways he's completely useless. He has ideas about how life should be and doesn't understand why his family don't completely agree with him. He was happiest when his children were little, and his marriage was better, but as the children grow up and challenge him, and his marriage becomes more complicated and strained, Greg doesn't know how to handle it. And like a typical man, instead of talking about it he keeps it all in.
One of the aspects of the book I really enjoyed writing was Greg's relationship with his wife, Lizzy. It's obvious from the start of the book that their marriage is in crisis. I wanted though to make sure we realise that it wasn't always like that. They were happy, and like so many of us, they had big dreams. They met at university in the 80's and were going to be different from their parents. They were going to change the world, but as so often happens, instead of changing the world, the world changed them. In many ways, Greg and Lizzy's marriage is the centre of the book and it drives everything else forward. I think the problems, and the arguments they have, a lot of people will be able to relate to and understand. There's also a lot of humour between them and I wanted to make sure the readers could empathise with both Greg and Lizzy because in every relationship, there's two sides to the same story.
Towards the end of the book, Greg and Lizzy's marriage comes to it's ultimate conclusion, but as Greg says at the beginning of the book.."That's the thing about life, it doesn't matter how happy you are, how happy you think you're going to be in the future, without warning it can all change in a second."
Greg and Lizzy's marriage is a wonderful love story and one that's so real and full of humour, drama, lies, arguments, and tenderness. I hope when you read the book you'll enjoy Greg's story and his evolution from the man he is at the beginning to the man he becomes at the end. It was a challenge writing him, but I grew to really like him, despite all of his flaws, because it's those flaws that make him human.
I'll write more blogs about the other characters soon! Don't forget to pre-order your 99p copy of SUNDAY DINNERS today!
Until next time.
Hugs,
Jon X
It's October and that means SUNDAY DINNERS is getting closer. It's due to be released on October 26th and you can pre-order it now right here! So with the book edging ever closer, I thought now would be a good time to write a little blog about it. Here goes.
The book came about because I wanted to write a story about a family from a unique point of view. My initial idea was to tell it over a period of time from multiple points of view, but it still needed a focal point. It lacked something to bring it all together. The idea was put away in my huge 'To Do' folder with all my other novel ideas until I read an article in the newspaper about the death of the Sunday roast. It said that the traditional Sunday roast was dying out as families became too busy and suddenly it all came together. A story about a family told from each of their monthly Sunday roast dinners. It brought together the idea of family and also one of the great British traditions and something I did growing up every week without fail. I love Sunday roasts and they mean so much to me, and it was obvious what the story needed to be about.
In the book, all the grown up children are on the verge of leaving home. Everything is changing in the Wilde family house, and it's that tension that makes the Sunday roast dinners so important. Greg, the father, is desperately trying to hold onto the past, while the rest of his family are trying to move forward and get away. It's old v new, tradition v evolution, and it's exactly what I thought about when I read the newspaper article. I love the traditions of Sunday roasts, but I also realise that as much as we want to hold onto the past, the world keeps moving forwards whether we like it or not - which is especially true when you have children who keep growing up!
The first character I really focused on was the father, Greg Wilde. Initially I thought about writing the book from his perspective because he really is the main character, but as I thought about it, I decided it would be better to have multiple viewpoints. I also wrote HAPPY ENDINGS from different character points of view and I really enjoyed it. I also think it gives us so much more as readers if done properly.
From the beginning Greg evolved quite quickly. Greg is fifty-four and married to Lizzy. They met at university and have pretty much the perfect middle-class life. They live in a nice house in Muswell Hill, north London. Greg is a university lecturer and Lizzy is a stay at home wife. They have three children: Lucy, Matt, and Holly. Greg is in some ways a great husband and father, but in many other ways he's completely useless. He has ideas about how life should be and doesn't understand why his family don't completely agree with him. He was happiest when his children were little, and his marriage was better, but as the children grow up and challenge him, and his marriage becomes more complicated and strained, Greg doesn't know how to handle it. And like a typical man, instead of talking about it he keeps it all in.
One of the aspects of the book I really enjoyed writing was Greg's relationship with his wife, Lizzy. It's obvious from the start of the book that their marriage is in crisis. I wanted though to make sure we realise that it wasn't always like that. They were happy, and like so many of us, they had big dreams. They met at university in the 80's and were going to be different from their parents. They were going to change the world, but as so often happens, instead of changing the world, the world changed them. In many ways, Greg and Lizzy's marriage is the centre of the book and it drives everything else forward. I think the problems, and the arguments they have, a lot of people will be able to relate to and understand. There's also a lot of humour between them and I wanted to make sure the readers could empathise with both Greg and Lizzy because in every relationship, there's two sides to the same story.
Towards the end of the book, Greg and Lizzy's marriage comes to it's ultimate conclusion, but as Greg says at the beginning of the book.."That's the thing about life, it doesn't matter how happy you are, how happy you think you're going to be in the future, without warning it can all change in a second."
Greg and Lizzy's marriage is a wonderful love story and one that's so real and full of humour, drama, lies, arguments, and tenderness. I hope when you read the book you'll enjoy Greg's story and his evolution from the man he is at the beginning to the man he becomes at the end. It was a challenge writing him, but I grew to really like him, despite all of his flaws, because it's those flaws that make him human.
I'll write more blogs about the other characters soon! Don't forget to pre-order your 99p copy of SUNDAY DINNERS today!
Until next time.
Hugs,
Jon X
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