jenniferanneraines

Backstory

For a variety of reasons, I’ve been thinking about backstory lately. Backstory is the history that has made your characters who and what they are. In last month’s blog I paraphrased Shannon Curtis who conducted a craft session on backstory at the Romance Writers of Australia Conference. Backstory, of necessity, includes the emotional shrapnel embeddedContinue reading “Backstory”

Collective Creativity

Over the long weekend of 10-12 August Romance Writers of Australia held its annual Conference in Sydney—All That Glitters. My resident pedant says the line originates with Shakespeare “all that glisters is not gold”, but perhaps organisers were inspired by Kate Earl’s, All that Glitters with its links to 1930s jazz tones. Doesn’t matter, the conference offeredContinue reading “Collective Creativity”

Bathing in nature

I was scanning social media the other day—that essential in an author’s toolkit—when someone mentioned winter sneaking around the corner. The writer was in the northern hemisphere, so for them winter is ahead. My initial response was—ah, open fires, doonas, hot chocolate, adoring companions, snuggling down in the corner of a sofa to read, orContinue reading “Bathing in nature”

Writing Planting Hope

Story ideas come from a gazillion sources, a snippet of conversation, a news item, a photograph, an interview, a memory. The core of Planting Hope came from a friend. She was passionate about gardens, about permaculture, about rain tanks, and native bees, about growing vegetables and surrounding them with flowers, but equally she believed inContinue reading “Writing Planting Hope”

Mothers

Today is Mother’s Day in Australia—14 May 2023, so let’s celebrate mothers. Where would we be without them? Happy Mother’s day to my mum. Note: the woman in the photo is not my mum, but a much-loved ancestor. Now for my confession. Mother’s Day has made me reflect on how mothers appear in my books.Continue reading “Mothers”