Today it's our stop on the
A Summer of New Beginnings blog tour and I have two posts to share with you, a guest post from Lisa Hobman talking about character formation as well as Emma's review which I'll be uploading shortly.
Part of the joy of writing fiction is being able to create characters and put them in situations I can only imagine. This happened when I wrote A Summer of New Beginnings.
I became familiar with the Northcoast 500 a while ago when I visited parts of the route with my family whilst on holiday. The route includes a varied combination of terrain types from flat roads to bumpy tracks and can be navigated in a variety of ways. Many take the relaxed choice of cruising on huge metal beasts from which they can enjoy the stunning scenery at their leisure. Some choose to hire motor homes and stop en-route to eat picnic lunches in little parking areas. Some drive and park their cars outside hotels or bed and breakfasts, enjoying all the luxuries of home at the end of each day. And then there are the brave souls who embark upon the journey by foot or on bicycles.
When I first visited the north coast of Scotland I was immediately inspired to write a story that took place there. So many incredible views and locations to choose from, however, left me a little spoiled for choice. It was when we stopped to admire one such view that I spotted a group of people with a backpacks, standing beside their push bikes, water bottles in hand, chests heaving from exertion, that I realised it was something I would never be likely to do myself. I would definitely take one of the softer options and travel the whole route by some fuelled vehicle, and in fact my husband and I plan to do that very thing in the near future, however, I am nowhere near fit enough to cycle it!
