I'm blogging again and this time it's because I have a new book out. Last time it was my son's brilliant thriller, Recursion, that prompted me to post.
Most of you know me through my Jenny Parker crime thrillers. My new book is completely different. It's Fantasy. Why the change?
My favourite genres are Fantasy and Science Fiction. They are what I prefer to read and what I set out to write. However, my first attempts were, unsurprisingly, extremely poor. I wrote three SFF novels before I got the message that, although I had a story to tell, my execution was too dire for any reader who hadn't been threatened with violence to persevere.
In order to improve my technique, I decided to change from third person past tense to first person present tense. This made the writing more difficult and more emotionally charged. Adding in a female protagonist pushed my boundaries to the limits.
My initial intention was only a writing exercise but the storyteller in me became engaged in the awful suffering of my protagonist, Jenny Parker. I had to find out how things resolved for her. I wrote four full length novels before I could leave her in a relatively safe situation.
Because I knuckled down, learned to write from the heart and managed to express Jenny's tribulations in a way that engaged readers the series was published and has sold far more copies than my most optimistic expectations.
The Tyrant series has been seven years in the making. I wrote all three volumes then went back and rewrote the first book from scratch having learned an immense amount about my characters during their subsequent escapades.
I'm immensely proud of it and have dedicated it to my older grandchildren. It's a story that I'm convinced they'll enjoy reading and solves the Christmas and birthday present conundrum for a couple of years at least.
Don't worry about Jenny Parker, though. She has three new adventures being prepared for publication.
Happy days.
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