The Chatsfield: I Forgot to Reveal Myself

The Chatsfield Circle LogoThe Mills & Boon Chatsfield transmedia project has received a fair amount of press for the innovative storytelling method and the manner in which readers can engage with various hotel characters via text, email, blog entries and secret messages.

And I mentioned last week that I have a small role in the hotel part, and invited y'all to guess which one it is. 

But I have to come clean about two things: 

1. I really am not very good at promoting myself openly. Like, HERE IS A THING I AM DOING is not what I like to talk about so much, though I love to talk about books and what folks are reading and ask nosy questions. 

2. I have a terrible memory especially when I have to pack for something like RT and thus must plan outfits according to humidity vs. number of presentations in a day.

Thus I forgot to reveal what my role is – and I feel pretty dumb about that. Sorry! 

So, curious to know what part I'm writing? I'm writing Ally Bliss, specifically the Bliss Undone blog.

Writing first person narrative? Not to difficult, as I do that quite a lot. Writing first person narrative of a British person who is younger than I am and also working as a chambermaid and plus-one escort in London? Not so easy! My biggest fear was that I would sound too American (seeing as I am) and give myself away, but apparently I'm doing alright. Plus I have a lovely editor who is Actually English With The Accent And Everything so I get my 'muricinisms corrected straightaway. 

Writing fiction is not at all my strength, even when the style of it is close to what I normally write. I like the challenge but I'm also fascinated by how one little part that I do is tied into a multi-layered story that can be accessed from all different directions technologically-speaking. It's unique but it's also really, really neat. It's a way to extend the strength of contemporary world building into a more immediate and digital venue. 

Have you taken a look at the Chatsfield site? Does that type of multi-layered interaction interest you in the romance worlds you enjoy? (Also, any British slang I should include in the last few entries? Suggestions welcome!) 

Categorized:

General Bitching...

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  1. Re British words:

    I have spent (wasted?) a bunch of time at this wiki as a writing resource:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_words_not_widely_used_in_the_United_States

    Some of it’s very funny. And of course it starts with “abseil” which is a fabulous word!

  2. Sarita says:

    I wouldn’t have guessed, the character’s voice is pretty different than your ‘you’ voice. Sounds like a fun project to be involved in.

  3. Lindsay says:

    Oh wow, that’s awesome! I did some poking around (I liked reading the emails, it was cute to snoop like that) and I’m really interested to see how all of these things unfold. I wouldn’t have guessed either, especially as soon as I started reading it you had a british accent.

  4. SB Sarah says:

    @Sarita & Lindsay:

    Thank you! It is really weird to write in a voice that isn’t me. I’m so glad you couldn’t tell too easily!

    One thing I did to switch my brain to “not Sarah” was listen to a bunch of BBC podcasts. BBC pronunciation is pretty uniform, however, so I downloaded some more without looking closely at which ones were which. So I selected one while walking the dogs, and was really into it and trying to compose in that person’s “voice,” until I realized I’d downloaded a Scottish comedy podcast. So poor Ally was very nearly Scottish. Which is NOT the same, LOL.

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  6. joy says:

    Wow, I thought the Bliss Undone was the best part of the Chatsfield series, well done! I think Ally deserves her own story.  Lucky you to have a good editor to get the idiom, phrasing and accent right.

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