O is for....

1) Only Child. I am an only child, or at least I was until I was 15, which is enough to have you ‘reared’ and behaving for life as an only. The reason I am putting this fact in my things-about-writing section is that I have read many books which contain an only child who does not think or behave at all like an only. I think this happens because the author needs the hero or heroine to be a parent, but does not really need extra characters in the book, so one child is provided; and often the author was not an only child themselves, and is not particularly thinking about the fact that their young character now is, so they just write a child as they have known them. The end result is an only child who is much less knowing, much less comfortable around adults, and much less introspective than an ‘only’ child would be. Maybe one day I will write a story about an only child who will ring true!

2) Opal. This is my birthstone (October, another O) and I really love it, particularly the blue type, which can have sparkles or gleams of green or purple. The opal is a mystical-looking stone with hidden depths. An employer once described me as ‘deep’, but I don’t know about the colourful glints!!

3) Opium. Not a commonly used remedy, but useful for illnesses that have resulted from a physical shock that has not caused actual injury.