Postcards Are For More Than Writing On...

They can inspire stories...

Earlier this week the writers club held a workshop on this month's speaker evening, it was about short stories.

I have to admit that whenever we have to write something without any idea of what is going to be presented I slightly panic. My brain freezes and I have to remind myself I'm not going to be in trouble if I can't do it. So panic over...

We were given a postcard each, mine was a black and white semi-nude male with a large jar held on one arm- very classical. (If it didn't inspire us we could change it for another.) But it immediately triggered a character for my potential story, called Adam.

We had about ten minutes to write details about our character and some of us couldn't avoid starting to tell the story as we wrote. A few of us read out our descriptions. So far so good...

Next we were given another postcard and this was for our second character. I had a young girl sat in a restaurant with a waiter to one side with his back turned, so you couldn't see his face. This girl was Maria- very West Side Story connotations. Again another ten minutes to write about her.

Finally we were given a postcard with a scene, a building or a place like a river. I had a tall rounded building across a street, the painting's aspect gave the impression that you were in a high place somewhere across the road. Above one window was a striped red and white awning.

Adam, I decided, is a would-be artist earning money by posing as a life model. Maria works in an Italian restaurant across the road...

The final part of the exercise was one or both has a secret- what is it?

So it's on my list to do.

You might remember (or not) some time ago I mentioned that I had a box of postcards somewhere. Well I found them and they brought so many memories back as I looked through them.

There were postcards from exhibitions I attended in London when I was about twenty. Reminders of holidays I took in York, Stratford-Upon-Avon and Scarborough. Then there were the costume postcards from various museums, and cards of the beautiful Sutton Hoo exhibits, the real things held me mesmerised whenever I went to see them in the British Museum.

All the postcards triggered mental images of the past.

So I've decided to start gathering interesting postcard images to add to my box, like those used in the workshop, so when I need some different ideas I can look through and see what stories and characters they inspire.

But first I need another box...

Why Knock Romance Novels?

I was surprised to read an article in the Guardian  this morning reporting that "Psychologist says that 'a huge number of the issues that we see in our clinics and therapy rooms are influenced by romantic fiction'."

I think some Psychologists are a bit obsessed with blaming romance books for all feminine mental health and social ills...

Sadly this latest attack on Mills and Boon books comes via the Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Healthcare. (Now I'm not knocking what they do, they are important services for women of all ages).

But we never see crime novels - and some of them feature really gruesome murders- being cited as cause for concern in clinics- unless I've missed that article somewhere...

Sadly you can't read what data Ms Quilliam based her opinion on- unless you are a subscriber to the BMJ or wish to pay £24 for one day's access to the article! But the Guardian item (linked above) does give more detail and some of it is not unreasonable.

" "If readers start to believe the story that romantic fiction offers, then they store up trouble for themselves – and then they bring that trouble into our consulting rooms," writes Quilliam."

They are fiction. And I'm sure the majority of readers know that.

So a serious question, do Mills and Boon romance novels give women unrealistic sexual expectations? Do they think everything will be hunky-dory forever in their lives, just because it always is at the end of a romance novel?

I'm quite sure there are ordinary men out there who could rival some of the sexual abilities of the heroes of these novels, even if they lack the riches and looks.

The saying 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder' is very relevant.

There have always been women unhappy in their marriages- it's been going on for centuries. Just because now you can get a divorce it doesn't stop feelings of failure and guilt (and visits to the consulting rooms mentioned )- and that is more to do with society's and other peoples expectations rather than the ideal happy couple at the end of the book.

You don't read a romance to be depressed by reality- at least I don't...

Young women (and young men) are bombarded with unrealistic images and expectations every day from glossy magazines to music videos to talent shows.
They eventually accept that it isn't the real world, but that comes with time and experience.

Romance novels display a lot of positives and that should be encouraged and welcomed.