Happy Friday, Book Dragons!
I’m so excited to be hosting a date on the Blog Tour for The Wanderer by Josie Williams! I have a really cool guest post Josie kindly write to share with you all.
I recently finished reading The Wanderer and loved it! It was an emotional rollercoaster, I can’t recommend it enough!
Happy reading!
How one night made me rewrite the whole timeline of the book.
When writing The Wanderer I knew there was a specific time of year I knew I had to base the book around. It all started one cold and dark November night. We were away on a long weekend break in a caravan in November. We hadn’t planned to do much that day, most of the camp was closed due to the time of year, so we’d had a lazy day walking the dog on the beach, playing on the 2p machines at the arcades, and drinking hot chocolate in a local café. To be honest I’d even forgotten it was fireworks night and we were sat relaxing and watching TV in the evening. Imagine my surprise when the sky exploded out over the sea, making us all jump out of our skins!
I remember we all rushed out onto the little plastic decking that was attached to the end of the caravan and we watched the fireworks as the campsite let them off over the sea in a gorgeous display set to music. It was while I was watching that a thought occurred to me about The Wanderer, the whole scene just popped into my head out of nowhere—Maggie and Ryder watching the fireworks together, maybe a stolen kiss under a beautiful sky, with the smells of hot doughnuts and candyfloss permeating the air.
Great, I had a scene to write! How exciting! But oops no, I soon realised it wasn’t quite so helpful… because I was already about a third of the way into writing the book and the time of year was not November! I had a decision to make: carry on writing it as it was, set in April/May, or rewrite most of it so I could shift the timing and have the scene that was now fully formed in my head? Obviously the easy option would have been to leave it, but my brain wanted that fireworks scene, so switching it up was what I would have to do.
As it turns out, I’m so so happy I decided to go with my gut. That time of year is my favourite—the cold weather, Halloween, fireworks night, the countdown to school holidays and Christmas… perfect for my winter baby soul! And the scene is a pivotal one that turned out even better than I had envisioned. And even the cover has fireworks on it, it’s that important! Who would have known that one night could change the whole timeline of the book? Certainly not me!
Fantastic Book Dragon 