The dynamics of a relationship are always interesting to write.  Is there a leader and a led, or are we dealing with true equals?  Maybe things are more complex: one partner may tend to dominate in certain areas, and the other in others.

But what if things change so much that the relationship seems to totally reverse polarity?

Take my characters Hazel and Annie.  The pair met at school.  Annie was the academically brilliant, devastatingly pretty, pocket Venus: who exuded confidence, who all the boys adored and a positive genius on the hockey field.  Hazel was a year younger, at an age when that’s still an important difference.  She has a distinctly poor body image, being convinced she’s fat and ugly.  And although she’s quite clever, she’s utterly useless at sport.

At first, the pair simply ride the school bus together and Haze feels honoured just to be in Annie’s presence.  They become friends, but Hazel’s still convinced that to Annie she’ll settle into being the plain girl, who makes the pretty girl look even better.

Hazel is hopelessly in love with Annie, but would never dare breathe a word.  And then to her utter astonishment she discovers the feeling is mutual.  Haze can’t begin to fathom what this goddess of a young woman sees in her, but see it she clearly does.  Even so, Hazel remains something of a follower.

But then Annie is ‘harmed’, as her family put it.  She takes an illegal drug at a gig, while away from Hazel.  It’s adulterated: effectively poison.  She nearly dies, but instead spends two years in what amounts to a waking coma.  Then she confounds her doctors by recovering, well mostly, never completely.  But she has no memory of those missing years.  So far as she is concerned, she was at a gig, then suddenly she finds herself in hospital.  She assumes only hours have passed.

Hazel, meanwhile, has had to come the long way round, and although technically she’s still a year younger, she now has a year more experience than Annie.  In effect, their ages have reversed.   She’s also had other relationships.  She’s a university student, where Annie had only just reached the end of school.  She’s in a growingly successful Rock band.  In short, she’s now a fully fledged adult, where Annie is still mentally in her teens.

The couple do get back together, but their relationship now has to find a new dynamic.  And this is part of what my next book, ‘Debbie’s Gift’ will be grappling with, as both partners have to learn what has changed; what has not and how to cope.  It’s been a fascinating process.