Loretta Rothschild’s twist-turning debut novel Finding Grace blends a page-turning moral dilemma with a sweeping love story, to explore the price of secrets, how the ghosts of our past shape our future, and whether there is ever a point where it’s too late to tell the truth. To celebrate its upcoming publication on 8 July, Loretta has shared with us her five top tips for writing an engrossing love story.
Read outside your genre
I have so often found inspiration in the most unlikely of places. Reading and watching movies outside the genre you are writing can be extremely helpful, especially for character and sensibility. I’ve learnt how to be economical with words by reading short stories and poetry. I’ve learnt so much about dialogue from watching movies. Billy Wilder taught me everything I ever needed to know about dialogue. If you haven’t watched Double Indemnity, go and watch it. Then read the script. Then read it again. It’s perfect. There isn’t a single word in that script that doesn’t belong there.
Read diaries to find character voice
Read diaries if you are struggling to find the voice of a character. I dip in and out of diaries all the time. They are easy to digest and not too demanding if you are also keeping an eye on a child swinging from the monkey bars. Whenever I feel like I’m losing touch with a character’s voice, I’ll spend twenty minutes writing their diary entry. What did they notice that day? What bothered them? What did they go to bed thinking about? Who called them? What did they say? It allows you to write freely without the idea that you’re doing it “wrong” or that it has to follow the outline. It has no purpose except to inform you, the writer so you can eventually write a more three-dimensional character. I’m currently dipping in and out of How to End a Story by Helen Garner, which is wonderful because I can see what is bothering Helen Garner without her spelling it out explicitly.
Get to the point
It is essential for the first chapters to pop. There is a lot of competition for potential readers’ attention. There are a million distractions. You need to GET TO THE POINT immediately. Your character should be in peril. If the scene you’re writing is taking place at a dinner table, drop your reader right at the dinner table. Don’t walk them through the front door, down the hall and past the loo.
The shouldn’t
Write about the reasons your characters shouldn’t fall in love. That might seem strange, but trust me. A couple disagreeing can be riveting. I’m not going to turn around if my husband says, “Look, that couple over there is having such a lovely dinner.” But if he told me the couple behind us were arguing, my head would turn faster than a barn owl at dawn. Friction and conflict are what make readers turn the page. The reasons why your characters shouldn’t fall in love are far more interesting than any reason they should.
Keep the camera rolling
See the world like a film director, you can’t risk missing anything. Everything you see will inform your writing. Watch how a person eats their soup. How is it different from the way you eat yours? How does a person walk? All of these little details will help build a thicker, more interesting character for your reader.
Loretta Rothschild’s debut novel Finding Grace publishes on 8th July from John Murray Press
