When I started planning my novel I used the amazing resource Blueprint for a Book, by Jenny Nash. She takes you through a unique process for outlining your book while staying true to your purpose for writing. One of the key parts of the book is working out the “why” for your story. This really resonated with me as I am a big fan of Simon Sinek and his book Start With Why, which is all about how people inspire action and create a lasting impact — and in my life books have been a constant source of inspiration, adventure and knowledge which have helped shape the course of my life. And I love the thought that my book could be this for someone else.

So, in this post I thought I would share with you my why for writing my debut novel The Old Crones Club (which is out summer 2025 if I haven’t mentioned that to you already!).

I have an overwhelming love for fairytale retellings, and I’ve always been a sucker for stories with happy endings. But now as an adult when I look back at the fairytales I loved as a child, I realise that women were forced into only a few small categories — with old women cast as the baddies and young women forced to be damsels in distress who wait to be rescued by some prince or other. Neither of these options represent all the strong and interesting women I know. So, I want to write stories that show the strength of women, be they young or old. The current position of women in society is still not where it should be and I like the idea of a group of women coming together to overthrow the patriarchy.

And in particular I want to tell a story about the power and knowledge of older women. I have always loved stories of older women who are underestimated. I love, love, love Miss Marple and Jessica Fletcher — and always got immense pleasure from the moment when the bad guy realised this unassuming little old lady who he’d ignored as unimportant was the one who had caught him. I am 43 this month (so although not old, I’m now not considered young…I guess that might make me middle aged but I’m unwilling to accept that title as I have a pact with my husband to live to at least 110!) and in recent years I have felt a subtle shift in how people treat me now I am getting older. There is still a prevalent thought that when women get older, they become irrelevant, and some would wish us to retreat to our knitting and keep our opinions to ourselves! And this feels terrifying to me — as I have so much more life to live and so much to say.

So, a love of fairytales and feisty older women formed my why…and on a Greek Island the seed of the Old Crones Club was planted (but more about that in another post). And with this why in mind, I wrote the following paragraph and the path to the Old Crones Club began.

In fairy-tale lands, when you reach a certain age, you must decide what type of old lady you’re going to be, and the Grimm Brotherhood gives you only two choices. The first option is the sweet-cuddly-granny-type. You’ll disappear from view to live in a small cottage deep in the woods, to await the day when you’re inevitably devoured by wolves. Or you can be the other kind, one of the wicked ones. You know, the ones the Brotherhood warned you about when they whispered their terrible tales late at night – making you squeeze your eyes shut so tight, that you forgot to ask any questions.