Author Lucy Diamond on the new-found inspiration behind her latest novel, The Island Getaway . . .
When people ask how I go about starting a new novel, my stock response has been that I generally begin with a ‘what if…?’ situation that grabs my attention. I then think about characters and build a world for them around that initial idea, and let the plot evolve. However, when it came to writing my twentieth novel, The Island Getaway, I found myself working differently, in that I began first and foremost with the setting of a hotel in a holiday destination, thinking I would weave in storylines about the guests staying there. I loved the prospect of having characters of all ages, backgrounds and personalities, who might not usually meet, being thrown together in one place. Settings for scenes immediately suggested themselves too – the hotel bar, the pool, a nearby restaurant – as well as scenes around the resort, at beaches or tourist sites. The Greek island of Kefalonia looked gorgeous, I thought. Now all I needed to do was decide who my guests would be. Which was actually easier said than done…
I never plan books in advance; I just start writing and see what happens. All I knew for sure about the characters of this book was that I wanted them to be a contrasting mixture of types, and for all of them to have an interesting or compelling reason for coming to Kefalonia. Perhaps because of such a free rein, I then went through many different ideas for who I was bringing to the hotel, many of which ended up being binned. It’s enormously frustrating when you seem to be deleting more words than you are adding but sometimes, for me, it’s only by writing the wrong story that I can figure out what the right one should be. For instance, one plot I tried out featured a woman coming to Kefalonia to scatter the ashes of a deceased relative. She also had her relative’s diary, detailing all sorts of adventures around Greece from decades gone by that this other woman had enjoyed. I ended up getting a fair way into this story before realising that actually the dead relative was far more interesting a character than the living one! Happily though, it wasn’t all wasted. I kept the diary and adventures around Greece from the 80s, and gave them to a new character called Nelly, whose exciting past catches up with her decades later. I also came up with an eighty-something retired cellist, Evelyn, who has come to Kefalonia to scatter the ashes of her late wife Rose, and is determined to find the right spot for her final resting place. So I got there in the end, just via a slightly circuitous route!
As well as Nelly and Evelyn, I thought up two further main characters. First, a disgraced actress, Miranda, whose recent troubles have been all over the tabloids. She’s supposed to be keeping a low profile but that’s proving harder than she hoped. Finally, there’s the Australian office manager at the hotel, Claudia, who ran away to the island several years before, to escape a bad marriage. Her ex-husband doesn’t know where she is – or at least she thought he didn’t…
As well as setting those narratives spinning, I also did something a bit different (for me), which was to intersperse the main plotlines with tiny snapshot stories about other characters working at the hotel. They began as little vignettes to add extra texture and colour, featuring a receptionist, a waitress, a cleaner etc, but I found it really fun to provide a counterpoint to the guests, and to explore the power dynamic between them, and ended up developing them into proper subplots. (Confession: I did have to let a few of them go in the edit – RIP the waitress and the night porter – when my editor pointed out that I already had so many characters, my readers might become confused with even more voices!)
There’s something about being on holiday, away from normality and routines, that can make people act more impulsively, I think. Even behave badly, at times! It can amplify fractures between couples, spending so much time together, or if one is travelling alone, like two of my characters, a break away can be a time of deep reflection about past highs and lows, as well as what the future holds. But heightening characters’ emotions in this way came in quite handy, bearing in mind the short space of time within which I had to construct my storylines. Most people only go on holiday for a week or two, so I had to pack in quite intense experiences for each character, without the luxury of months or years over which to develop a drama for them.
Having time constraints as well as the geographical restriction of an island setting, was an enjoyable writing puzzle, definitely one I’d recommend! Plus – added bonus! – having to spend time in Kefalonia and Ithaca myself for research made this one of my favourite novels to write. I wanted, more than anything, for this to feel like a holiday in a book ultimately: for readers to be transported to the beautiful island along with my characters, and to enjoy vicariously the stunning sights, the hospitality and warmth of the Greek people, and of course the incredible Greek food and drink.
It’s taken me twenty novels to start my writing process with a location and then work outwards, but I’m definitely going to try it again. I’m already looking forward to wherever my imagination takes me next!
(c) Lucy Diamond
Lucy Diamond grew up in Nottingham and has lived in Leeds, London, Oxford and Brighton. She now lives in Bath with her family. Lucy is the Sunday Times bestselling author of novels including The Beach Café and Anything Could Happen. The Island Getaway is her twentieth novel.
Lucy Diamond author photograph (c) Lou Abercrombie
About The Island Getaway by Lucy Diamond:
The dream holiday just got complicated . . .
On the sun-drenched island of Kefalonia, the new arrivals at The Ionian Escape hotel are hoping for a break from everyday life. But some of them are bringing a lot of baggage . . .
Disgraced TV star Miranda Vallance feels like the worst person in the world. Her sister won’t speak to her and her job’s on the line. She’s desperate to put things right, but how?
Eighty-two-year-old Evelyn Chambers has come to fulfil a promise to the love of her life. If she can steel herself to go through with it, that is . . .
And when celebrity chef Frank Neale checks in, rumours swirl around the hotel. But is it his wife, Leonora, who has more of a reason to escape to Greece?
The Island Getaway is a big-hearted novel from the queen of bestselling fiction, celebrating second chances, true love and the life-affirming joy of unlikely friendships.
Order your copy of The Island Getaway by Lucy Diamond online here.
