In the company of women

Today I am delighted to welcome my friend Sara Sartagne to my blog.

Sara is the author of several novels which cross genres such as women's fiction, romance, dual timeline and historical.

Sara Says ....

I’m an only child and there was just mum and me while I was growing up. Frankly, men didn’t feature all that much.

This may be the reason I have treasured my female friendships throughout my life. It might also explain why, try as I might to write differently, however swoony my heroes, my novels usually contain more about the women and their friendships than the classic romance should.

I’ve tried, honestly.

The Garden Plot, my first full-length book, showed how my heroine’s niece Lisbeth and her best friend Magda schemed to bring together a grumpy developer and a lonely garden designer. Much as I enjoyed watching Sam, my feisty female gardener, and Jonas, my tetchy, gorgeous businessman fall in love, I also loved the interactions between the two girls.

So much so, I dedicated the next two books and three novellas to them! (French Kissing for Beginners, Best Laid Plans, The Glasshouse Effect, A Wedding at Christmas, and A Wilder Heart).

Which is how my contemporary books fit more comfortably into women’s fiction than romance.

And even when it comes to my historical dual timelines, there’s a strong female relationship. In The Visitor, Sarah’s best friend is Abigail; in The Fern Keepers, Emily’s new and delightful friend is Lady Charlotte Chester; and in The Year of Yes and No, Harriet’s oldest friend is Anne. They all play pivotal roles in the plot and in my main character’s development.

So, when a topic shows up repeatedly in your writing, it’s an indication of its importance in your life. It also points to your own experience. Many of my contemporary novels have intergenerational female friendships (Lady Susan and Ella in Love in a Mist, Lisbeth, and Madame Moreau in French Kissing for Beginners) and I know that I have my grandmother to thank for their veracity.

I don’t have dozens of women friends, but I do have a few lovely, close, always-there-in-a-crisis mates and they are my rocks in what seems an increasingly turbulent sea. But the beauty of many of my female relationships is their variety and depth. While all of us have our individual stories, our friendships are driven at their core by connection – through shared laughter, secrets, tears, collaborations.

And I’ve found, to my delight, that my writing life is no different from my real life. I have a couple of mates without whom my books would be much poorer and thank goodness, they have never shuffled away muttering about busyness whenever I plead for their help at the end of a first draft. As well as spotting typos and continuity errors, they provide other female perspectives (just when I’m lumping everyone’s experience together and imagining everyone thinks like me) and they give me support and a good telling-off when I’ve been stupid.

Allie, whose blog I’m commandeering, is one of my most recent booky mates and her gentle encouragement has been crucial to steady me in the blind panic of finishing a book and wondering if it’s good enough. At some stage, I hope to be able to be of service to her as we both look for new readers in an increasingly crowded and competitive market.

I’m part of two local writing critique groups and I’ve found them to be safe, encouraging, and helpful and the added bonus of finding other women who suffer the same scares, face many of the same issues in writing and therefore get me, might outweigh all the other benefits.

See? That connection thing again.

In a world where we often need to fight for recognition and equality, my relationships with other women provide a sense of solidarity. They remind me that I’m not alone, that my experience and my story matters. And my friendships also remind me that we’re stronger together.

From the kitchen table to the office or boardroom, from late night texts to a shoulder to cry on or a joyful hug, female friendships weave threads of strength, empathy and hope into the fabric of everyday life.

As I’ve found, some friendships change everything—come to my website, subscribe for the prequel to my English Garden Romance series and discover stories of women who lift each other up, even while looking for love.

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