I’ve been talking a lot about Nora Ephron lately. I’ve been re-reading one of her books, I watched You’ve Got Mail for the 496th time, and I’ve been pining for my broken Zabar’s mug (if you’re a wannabe New Yorker, then you’ll know).
And I thought I’d explain why, because it’s really rather lovely.
A while ago, I was in a coworking session with a friend and I was struggling with a chapter in my novel - or rather what would happen after a certain event. I decided rather than trying to meticulously plot it out, I’d just start writing. I began from the end of the event and let the words flow. Even if it was total trash, it had to be better than nothing. I was pleasantly surprised that something kind of cool and funny happened.
My main character found herself doing a walk of shame alongside the grandmother of the man she’d just slept with. I’ve no idea how, but that’s what happened. And I just went with it.
I didn’t think it would stick but I left this little scene in the draft I sent to my mentor. Words are words, after all. To my absolute shock, my mentor suggested that if I can find a way to bring the grandmother back, I absolutely should. She was his favourite part of my story so far.
And so, ‘the grandmother’ became Nora Elis.
As I started to bring this character to life, she became my favourite too. Nora was smart, opinionated and had a lot of wisdom to share with my main character, which as you’ll no doubt find out, she really needs. What I hadn’t noticed until I was further into the process was just how shamelessly I’d based her on Nora Ephron. The woman whose stories I so often turned to when I needed to feel uplifted, inspired or understood.
If I had plotted this out, I don’t think Nora would’ve come to me. Because you simply can’t underestimate the influence people have on you that you take for granted. Those who have impacted us to the point that we don’t even notice anymore, it’s become ingrained in us. How amazing is that?
I hope you have someone like that in your life, my guess is that you do. It might not be a famed, dearly departed writer, but I bet there’s someone.