Bossyboots

Hi, I've had a very busy January, but between writing and proofreading commitments I have managed to spend some time proofreading my first novel, Boosyboots. The story covers a few weeks in the life of Michael Riley, the manager of a pottery factory, who is forced into a midlife crisis when his wife walks out on him. However, the blurb about boosyboots is not the purpose of this post.
What I want to talk about is the use of phone numbers in fiction, so please stay with me for a minute and all will be revealed. In my novel, poor old Michael Riley, goes on a quest to find another partner and have lots of rampant sex along the way. He puts adverts in the lonely hearts column of his local paper and joins a dating agency, but he finishes up disappointed and in some dire situations.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I had to use a lot of phone numbers in the book, so that Michael could get in touch with his various dates. So where did I get them from? Well, I just made them up. I have absolutely no idea what would happen if anybody tried calling them. I thought all authors made them up; what else can you do? Well, when I was half-way through proofreading, Bossyboots, I read an article that covered the issue of phone numbers and discovered there is a proper solution.

Apparently, the use of phone numbers in fiction and on the telly has been an issue for years. Some sad people can't help but ring the numbers that appear on the telly and in books. They see 'Street Cars' phone number on the top of a taxi in Coronation Street and ring up expecting to speak to Steve McDonald or Clare Peacock. I know that can't happen now because Clare's cleared off to France. Not that I think she did it, I reckon it was somebody from the prison where Tracy was banged up, but she's too scared to come clean, so she's letting Clare take the rap. Sorry, I digress, let's get back to the plot.

Because this problem has been known about for a long time, special numbers have been made available. If you go to ofcom'w website, www.ofcom.org.uk click here and follow the links through to drama you will find a whole range of numbers that can be used when writing fiction. There are blocks of a 1000 numbers that even have an authentic area code. For instance if you want a number for Manchester, you can use area code 0161 and then pick a number anywhere from the following range 4960000-4960999. Lots of cities are covered, except of course, Stoke-on-Trent, where Bossyboots is set. I guess I'll just have to use the closest code and that's Birmingham.

That's it for this post, but if you want to find out more about me, my books or writing services, please click here.