Writing About Who You Know (article) by Frances Lynn on AuthorsDen

Illustrated Teen Fiction. I had never contemplated writing for children or teens until I chose to write “Crushed”, my recently published illustrated novel for teenagers. It’s weird, but writing this article has made my prose come out a bit like teen fiction! I used to play tennis regularly with an eccentric girlfriend, mother of two daughters in their early teens. The father was a normal businessman, but the rest of the family were very artistic. My friend, the mother didn't have to go out to work but loved to paint at home for fun. As a result, she was always splattered from head to toe with oil paint, even when she went out for dinner to smart restaurants with her husband. I often used to go to her house afterwards for a meal. One day, while the whole family and I were eating a Chinese takeaway, my friend suggested - wouldn't it be wonderful if I wrote a book based on her family? What a genius idea I thought, and felt so inspired, that I went away and wrote "Crushed" very quickly - in the space of a few months only. And, considering the novel is 250 pages long, that was quite an achievement, believe me. In real life, my friend’s daughters were always drawing, painting or making jewellery. They were very creative and didn't waste their youth glued to the television like a lot of their friends did. The girls would loved to have watched TV all day long if they had their own way, but as their mother wouldn't allow a television in the house, they had no choice but to be artistic at home. The youngest daughter looked like an angel, but she was a Leo with a terrible temper. When she wasn't being bad tempered, she used to dress up in little spangled skating costumes and ice-skate in the local ice-rink, that her mother drove her to every weekend. She wanted to be a professional ice-skater when she left school. The eldest daughter was a good-tempered Libra and wanted to be a cartoonist. But, unlike her younger sister who used to love dressing up and put on makeup, she was a bit of a tomboy and couldn't care less what she looked like. Similar to Door in "Crushed", she was tall and thin, and could easily have been a teen fashion model if she had wanted. But, she couldn't be bothered to look tidy. Maybe, it was because her Mum kept nagging her all the time to make an effort with her appearance, but the eldest daughter wasn't interested in clothes. Both girls were completely different. They had different interests, went to different schools and didn't share the same friends. But one thing they did have in common was having crushes on pop stars. Their bedroom wall was splattered with posters of their favourite idols. "Crushed" was definitely inspired by this family, but I made the girls in the book completely different. First of all, in real-life, there wasn't any sibling rivalry between the girls, and in the book they are non-identical twins. Also, in the novel, Door loves to play the drums, while Dee in the book is a ballet dancer. Even though the Brevington family in "Crushed" is completely different from the family in real life, the characters in the book seem realistic, even though I made them rather mad and eccentric. I think it's always best if you write about what you know, even though it's not the exact truth. After all, writing fiction is a bit like being a fantasist. However, I couldn't resist putting real life stuff about the family in the book, like the eccentric mother in the book being a painter. And, that both girls had crushes on pin-ups and went to different schools. I suppose that's why the girls recognised themselves in the book, even though I was very careful to make them appear completely different. After all, I didn't want them to sue me for libel! Copyright: Frances Lynn 2006
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