Well, The Ceramic Cottage will finally be available for purchase on Amazon Kindle on 3rd November. (Price £1.99/US$2.99) A paper version will follow in due course, though I've yet to decide the route to take on that.
One of the biggest problems for me has not been the plot or the writing: they came, if not easily, at least naturally. No, my worry has more to do with giving offence. A character's views, or in this case several characters' views, are not necessarily those of the writer, indeed that would be difficult when the characters have opposing standpoints. Nevertheless, I suspect some readers are more likely to home in on the opinions of those with whom they disagree.
Of course, it is easy for a writer to be disingenuous about balancing different standpoints. Those with one view can be depicted as bigoted fools while those who reflect the writer's view are all heroes or heroines. This is particularly evident where an author is pushing an ideology, and I have read several novels where this is the case. Unfortunately there are no heroes or heroines in this novel, as they reflect my own circle of friends and myself. That's why most of my characters are insecure twits, albeit ones who have their moments of charm when not being totally irritating. The only hero here is the ceramic cottage itself, the only ideology a warning about accepting received opinion from any direction.
One of the biggest problems for me has not been the plot or the writing: they came, if not easily, at least naturally. No, my worry has more to do with giving offence. A character's views, or in this case several characters' views, are not necessarily those of the writer, indeed that would be difficult when the characters have opposing standpoints. Nevertheless, I suspect some readers are more likely to home in on the opinions of those with whom they disagree.
Of course, it is easy for a writer to be disingenuous about balancing different standpoints. Those with one view can be depicted as bigoted fools while those who reflect the writer's view are all heroes or heroines. This is particularly evident where an author is pushing an ideology, and I have read several novels where this is the case. Unfortunately there are no heroes or heroines in this novel, as they reflect my own circle of friends and myself. That's why most of my characters are insecure twits, albeit ones who have their moments of charm when not being totally irritating. The only hero here is the ceramic cottage itself, the only ideology a warning about accepting received opinion from any direction.
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