This week I’m doing something a bit different on the blog to fill a gap for a planned post (which will be coming soon…). I thought about just having a week off, but then decided to ask my husband to fire some questions at me last night, with the resulting interview posted below.

Author Biog (taken from my About Me page) :

Where do you get your inspiration for your books?

Headlines and articles in the news acted as a catalyst for the plots within all three of my YA Mystery/Thrillers. I imagined what would happen if fictional teenagers were placed at the centre of dark situations, (unexplained teen suicides in Follow Me; possible miscarriage of justice in a media obsessed teen murder case in Promise Me; the unveiling of an elite group who kidnap young people from the care system to extract their pure plasma to stay young in Young Blood) My teen protagonists start to uncover hidden truths that adults have been oblivious about, endangering themselves in the process. It’s not until my characters start to form, that the full story will start to unfold.

What do you do to get into a ‘creative headspace’?

Once a book starts to take shape I like to create a playlist for it on Spotify, choosing music which fits the ‘mood’ of the story. To this day there’s one particular Silversun Pickups album that I just need to hit play on and it takes me right back to the emotions I felt when I started to write Follow Me. Finding the right tone and ‘voice’ for a book can be challenging, and music helps me switch off the over-thinking part of my brain. When I’m thinking too much about a story I know it’s not working yet. You need to feel it.

What new book are you working on?

I’m attempting to write a middle-grade magic realism type story. I also have an idea for an adult thriller which might start to take over, so who knows which one I’ll finish first. At this rate it’ll be neither.

What do you think about the concept of AI written books?

Honestly I find it infuriating and worrying. About three years ago we started to talk about AI in work (in my day job as a careers adviser) and the impact it might start to have on certain careers. The topic was brought up on a regional staff day online and a colleague in another region flippantly said, ‘My friend has just written a children’s book with AI and is now selling it on Amazon’. I had to hold myself back as he was actually boasting about it; like it was an amazing achievement. There’s a lot of people out there who I think love the idea of writing a book, and saying they have done so, and love the idea of making money from it (ha, they’ll soon learn). The magic of writing for me is when your brain unlocks almost a super-power you don’t understand yourself; when characters form, ideas and words flow, and it all somehow connects together into a story. Often stories fall flat and don’t work out, and that’s important too. Trying, shaping and learning, and re-writing, and tapping in to your imagination. We’re already being brain-washed by algorithms and dopamine rewards online, which is disrupting our attention spans and the ability to feel ok being bored or at peace…and that’s when we do our best daydreaming and tap into our imagination. (I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I do some of my best thinking these days in the shower or bath!). I don’t want AI to steal our imaginations. It kind of feels like something from the plot of the Never Ending Story when Fantasia is threatened by ‘The Nothing’.

What do you find difficult subjects to tackle?

I shy away from writing anything which involves high-concept epic world-building (think space sci-fi series where characters have unpronounceable names.) I get bored reading this kind of thing, so I know I’d get bored writing it too, and I’d be really bad at it.

What do you enjoy writing about?

I love writing mysteries where I often don’t really know what has happened so I enjoy seeing the plot unfold as my characters develop. That’s the best kind of writing, where you feel like you’re the reader and the plot master rolled into one, and it’s amazing how much you can trust your subconscious to fill in blanks you haven’t even seen. (It’s often why I need to go back to re-write my endings as my characters take over and take me by surprise).

Where can we find your books? (click on highlighted links)

Young Blood: Amazon (paperback and kindle) on worldwide Digital platforms Order into: Waterstones Foyles

Promise Me: Amazon (paperback and kindle) on worldwide Digital platforms Order into: Waterstones Foyles

Follow Me – please contact me direct for a signed copy