Do You Ever Feel Invisible?
I have a very close friend that I always share my book ideas with. During the planning stage of Invisible I told her about this comical plot I was developing. It was a simple idea of a girl who was invisible called Alice. She’s been invisible for quite a few years until one day she bumps into a man and finally becomes visible again. Her excitement is stumped, though, when it transpires that it’s only when she’s in this man’s company that she’s visible. As soon as he goes out of sight, so does she. And even worse is that she can’t stand this man that she ends up being stuck with. He’s so gross, he actually makes her want to heave.
As soon as I’d finished explaining all this to my friend, her response took me by surprise. Rather than commenting on the idea of being stuck with a horrible man, she told me that she could totally relate to the idea of being invisible. Despite everything else, it was this element that she latched on to. She said she’d often felt invisible herself.
It was at this moment that I realised how through my life I’ve often felt invisible too. And if we have both felt this way, other people must have also. This is when I knew the key theme of this book had to be invisibility in itself.
From this point I decided that for each character I’d either make them invisible in some shape or form, or very visible. Alice is obviously literally invisible, but for her closest friend, Dan, I made his invisibility a little more subtle. Firstly, he is a middle child and somehow always feels lost. Then he is also overshadowed by a scheming work colleague.
Whereas Dan often feels invisible, his work colleague, Emily, is a visible force of nature. Big and bold, she always charms everyone she meets. So much so that the people around her can’t see that she’s stealing Dan’s clients. Dan is a steady, reliable worker, but his self-doubt and more understated approach don’t get noticed, and the truth gets masked behind Emily’s bravado.
This same sense of the visible person hiding their true nature is seen in Ethan, one of Alice’s love interests. With a flawless appearance and extreme confidence, he captures attention wherever he goes. But this visible façade is pretty much all there is to him, and it’s hiding very little underneath. However, most of the people around him can’t see past his vibrant outer shell, so visible is it.
At the start of the book Alice aspires to be like Ethan. He mesmerises her. But how often in life are strikingly visible things actually just hiding something that we aren’t supposed to see? I liked exploring that notion in the story and seeing how the elements of visibility and invisibility actually worked side by side.
This book is undoubtedly a fun comedy, and none of these elements are there to challenge my readers. But those words from my friend stayed with me. I also came to believe that wherever there is something invisible, it’s only right to balance it with very visible. Writing this story has made me think we all have a bit of both, and we only ever show people just what we want them to see.
Invisible by Lindsay Woodward
The complications become more and more hilarious as Alice tries to steer her way through her conflicting emotions and find her way to happiness. Will she succeed or will life always get the better of her?
Knowing there was nothing else I'd rather study, I did my degree in writing and I've now turned my favourite hobby into a career.
I write love stories with a twist, always leaving readers guessing right until the end. They're far from your normal romance stories, but a love story runs through the heart of all my books, with a sprinkling of something weird thrown into the mix.
When I’m not writing novels, I’m a Marketing Consultant specialising in copywriting, so words really are my world!
https://www.lindsay-woodward.com
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