January 2023 – Sue Cook's Writing Blog

This week I am Writer of the Week at The People’s Friend. This is the second time I have featured in this slot. The first time was when my only serial to date, To St Peter’s Field, was published in 2018. This occasion coincides with the publication of my Xmas story Some Day My Prince Will Leave.

Not surprisingly, this story is based around a panto and was triggered by an idea someone else suggested many years before. I was on a £30, all-day, food-provided, woman’s fiction workshop, more years ago than I can remember. The leader asked us to think of suitable ideas for an Xmas story and someone suggested a panto. Brilliant, I thought. I love a good panto.

It went no further at that time as I couldn’t think of a suitable plot. I can’t remember how I came up with Prince Charming and Cinders kissing on stage every day (twice on Saturdays). I suspect it was one of my famous first lines. I’m a serial starter; first lines and opening paragraphs strike me out of the blue. I write them down straight away and then have to think up the rest of the story, which can be a very long process.

Well, Brexit came along and Piotr, being from Poland, was going home, as all his Polish friends had done, which offered no chance of a real-life romance for poor Cinders. But this is womagland and there must be a happy ending. So throw in a fairy godmother in the shape of a meddling granny, with a surprising past in place of a magic wand, and Bob’s your uncle.

I think this is a good example of thinking outside the box. It’s so easy to be hackneyed when writing Womag stories. After all, there are only so many ways boy can meet girl then be kept apart by a spanner in the works. But what an interesting situation to be in – kissing your ideal man every night on stage, but never for real.