What would thrill and delight me? This is my favourite question, and I asked it when I felt the itch to write a new novel.
Something witchy, sexy, cool, I thought — an exhilarating mystery set in Cape Town with a major global issue at stake. With Mother City majesty as the backdrop, every character becomes a hero. Adventures seamlessly take on an epic quality.
About women. There’s a particular brand of warmth, flamboyance and mischief shared between women who know each other well. I wanted to celebrate that and explore women’s life lessons, including those of three “godsisters” and a middle-aged academic with a young boyfriend.
Then, sitting on the sofa one afternoon, I was struck by what felt like a beam of magic: a personal power word unlocks their supernatural abilities. This was it, the missing part of the story I needed. I gave thanks to the story gods and opened my laptop.
To get a book written, “little and often” works for me. I set the bar quite low, aiming to write just 500 words – a little over a page – four times a week. With stops and starts, a manuscript takes about a year to write. Atmosphere is key: I wrote The Which Word at an antique games table which unfolds into a chessboard — and has a secret compartment and a drawer lined with red satin. It emanated the intrigue I wanted to capture.
What surprised me was how Zen worked its way into this novel. This cut-your-crap branch of Buddhism has been an invaluable influence on me over the past 10 years, and I guess it was only natural that ideas like non-attachment, being in a state of pure awareness, and what it means to give fully in this moment, would find their way in. So, the godsisters’ saucy banter and explicit excerpts from the sex diary found under a bed sit alongside protagonist Rafi’s spiritual initiation.
The funny part? While I was deep in the writing, I got it! My own power word landed. A few months later, a friend I’d discussed my book concept with asked me, “So, do you have a secret power word?” I paused … Oh my god … I’d forgotten my word.
Maybe it’ll come back? You never know.
There was pain too. Real pain. I worked long hours as an editor and ghostwriter that year, and the extra time spent writing my novel (not to mention scrolling mindlessly through social media when I was tired) sent my shoulder into spasm for months. Thankfully, doing Nia dance classes with movement and creative process facilitator Gail Schoeman sorted it out.
I read somewhere that if the thought of publishing what you’re writing doesn’t scare you, you’re doing it wrong. Be your audacious self; put it out there. I took that to heart in writing The Which Word, and after many obstacles to finding a publisher (was the afterparty scene in the blackest room just too dark?), I found Mirari Press, which actively seeks out the strange and the audacious. Please, let’s raise a cup of witches’ brew to courage in all its forms.
The Which Word by Catriona Ross is published by Mirari Press
