Let’s take a look at book one, “Raw Mistakes,” as an example. When I started writing about Bree, I found myself relating to so many of her stories that I felt completely at ease writing about her. I wrote about fifty pages on her, but then hit a roadblock on where to go next. I wasn’t sure if the entire book would revolve around Bree and her life or if there were other characters to create.

So, I shifted gears and started writing about Nina, the real-life girl who inspired the character. But after about the same number of pages, I hit another dead end. Nothing exciting was happening in Nina’s world to keep the story going. (Sorry, Nina, but you did agree with me at the time.) I remember being in Zanzibar when I wrote her backstory. I was at a pool bar, using the electricity because we had a power outage at home, and I needed to charge my computer. I watched a young girl playing in the pool with a man I assumed to be her grandfather, and I was inspired by their bond. That’s when I decided to start writing about Jack and worked my way backwards.

Carla almost got the boot from the story because she was as exciting as watching paint dry. But then, in a stroke of genius (or maybe just a moment of boredom in the supermarket), her story came to me. I looked in the reflection of the doors, and I saw an unkept woman staring back at me, and suddenly Carla’s character sprang to life. Yes, that was me in the reflection. I’d just finished photographing a wedding, and I was exhausted (my clothes were creased from the camera straps, and I was muddy from lying on the floor taking photos), so I started figuring out why the character in the book could be so messy, and Carla’s story went from there.

Petra, well, now that is a whole different ball game. Her story just fell off my fingertips and onto the page really easily. Her story started with Rico. His character was based on someone I knew, and I made him just a little more creepy and a little more likely to cause you to love or hate him.

As to putting it all together, after some time, I found myself bouncing between characters, constantly switching back and forth, until I finally had what I thought were four intriguing stories about these women. However, I realised I needed to bring them together because, let’s face it, the tale was about four wedding planners who worked together, not four random women who had never crossed paths and never would.

The process of merging them all was a nightmare. It took me a whole week of colour coding. I needed to be able to quickly glance at my document and see who was where and what they were up to. It was like playing a game of hopscotch, jumping around the pages to keep track of everyone’s antics. I had to add a love interest to Nina just to be at the right place at the right time, and that then added another block of pages to the book.

So now, when I’m writing the stories, I write them on separate pages, one for each girl, and then I try to merge them every few chapters so I don’t end up with a muddled-up mess of tales that don’t tie up.

If you have any questions, feel free to send them in using the comments section.

Have a lovely Sunday.

Gwen