From Memoir to Fiction
With the final edits taking place on my new novel, I have pondered how to best serve my readers and give better content.
After a lot of soul-searching, I began to realise that it is time to move away from my memoir ‘Catch Me If I Fall’ and the trauma within the pages of ‘A Mother’s Lament’, to focus on what I want to do from this point forwards… fiction!
It’s important in a writer’s mind to know where there focus should be and how to brand/market themselves. Whilst its taken some time to get there, I’m now certain that fiction is the genre for me!
I think I prefer fiction to the real world!
Nikki Rodwell – Inspirational Writer & Speaker
I have been a ‘non-fiction’ writer and focused on advocating for mental health over the past few years, which I will continue to do, but on a lesser scale: I will do fewer public speeches on mental health stigma for the WI and other organisations, whilst reducing my activities both online and offline supporting mental health.
I find myself doing too many things these days: mental health support, speaking, raising money for Back Up charity, running book clubs, and spending a lot of time on social media. Not to mention taking part in my husband’s show Evita!
A lot of my blogs and writings have been centred around mental health issues and giving tips for support, which is going to change. It takes up a lot of time to create blog posts/newsletters etc, so I feel this time would be better spent aligning with my new persona. Being the open and transparent person that I am, I feel an obligation to make this clear for any of my followers.
I am currently Nikki Rodwell – motivational writer/speaker and feel this title needs to change. There will be some changes to my website (mainly colour as I want to move away from pinks) and my logo will change too. This way it will be clearer to people what I write from this point forwards.
Genre
The last few years have been a ‘settling in’ period with regards my writing, and I have been guilty of crossing different genres!
You could say I ‘fell’ into writing (excuse the pun – Catch Me If I Fall?!) since I had a very important memoir to write covering issues of a spinal cord injury and mental health. However, I never realised how much I would love the process of writing and it has started to become so much more than just a hobby.
People that write memoirs/autobiographies often just write the one book solely to get their message out into the world. But I soon became besotted with studying the art of writing, wanting to get better, and so decided to continue. The other writers/authors whom I have connected with both online and off are great too, as are the poetry workshops and writing courses that I have attended.
Therefore, I now feel ready to re-brand myself as an ‘author’ since this is the direction I am heading.
Who says I can’t change?
I’ve heard that it can set an Author back five years if they change genre – and my thoughts on this are…’so what?’ I haven’t even been writing five years yet!
I intend to continue writing my poetry for my own pleasure because I love it, and it is also extremely healing. What’s more, it also helps my other writing a great deal. As for memoir – well it would have to be a full autobiography if I write another one, but that is a long way off yet since I would need to wait for certain people to leave this world before I can safely do so! It would probably fit into the genre I’m leaning towards anyway, although disturbing truths as opposed to fiction!
Nikki Rodwell – AUTHOR of disturbing stories
My first fiction book is in its final stages of editing and is a psychological suspense/thriller.
I have had sleepless nights thinking how to rebrand myself and make this change.
Why psychological thrillers?
They say write what you know, and, also what you love. Well, psychological thrillers are my absolute favourite – with both books and films. Think ‘Girl on the Train’ or ‘The Black Swan’!
As far as knowledge and experience are concerned, I have quite a ‘dark’ background with a fair amount of trauma, including an experience of psychosis, escaping from controlling husbands and family conspiracies… there are plenty of ideas for me to pull my fiction from.
Whilst it would seem a little indulgent to have switched from memoir to poetry and now fiction thriller, I see this as development as a writer, and the journey to find my ‘niche’. I have loved writing my latest fiction book ‘The Hoax’ and am already drafting the book that will follow this.
Why disturbing?
Well, I guess you could say my memoir is rather disturbing; perhaps the fact it is real and raw makes it even more so. It could be considered most people’s nightmare scenario, and one that they could never possibly imagine. My poetry book, ‘A Mother’s Lament’, could equally be considered disturbing – every mother’s worst nightmare.
There is a crossover (albeit it small) with the subject matter for psychological thrillers. Fiction involves getting inside the characters head and showing their thoughts and what drives them to dark thoughts. I have had great fun with ‘The Hoax’ since it is written in 1st point of view as a man!
What’s to come
I will be merging some elements of my marketing (I have way too many social media accounts!) and possibly need to create two newsletters. One for my current memoir followers who know me on a more personal level, and one for new followers who read my fiction. I haven’t quite decided yet.
There will be some changes to my website, and my logo will change too. This way it will be clearer to people what I write from this point forwards.
My blogs will take on more of a ‘writing’ nature with discussions around my genre as opposed to support with mental health issues. I will still discuss psychological issues (since these will be relevant to some of my fiction characters) and talk about my writing process, content, what makes my characters tick, writing tips, and anything that makes up the following genres/subgenres:
Psychological thriller, psychological drama, psychological domestic, suspense.
I will be writing a blog post soon, to talk more about the components that make up psychological fiction and thrillers, but this is a transition period, with the promise of some very exciting stuff to come.
They say change is as good as a rest
Change is good!
We naturally tweak/change things we do in life, which (hopefully) help us to progress and grow. I would love to know what you have changed or developed along your journey, writing or otherwise. Please feel free to contact me via my website and I will email you back.
It takes courage to go after what you want and make the changes required to achieve this. I had never written so much as an essay before I wrote my memoir, and certainly never imagined myself becoming a fiction writer!
I look forward to sharing more with you soon!
