A New Year, A New Novel—How It All Began

Hello lovely readers and writers!

Just over 6 months ago, I published my debut novel with Mardibooks, ‘A Perfect Place of Secrets,’ as an e-book. I’ve had adventures within adventures over the last 4 years in developing my writing skills, persistence, patience and excitement of being a published author.

The idea for my novel was right on my doorstep, as I walked around the streets where I live. Why not write a fictional saga set right here, in a period of history which I was already immersed in on an Open University degree. And so began the ‘birth’ of ‘The Triangle,’ in 1890. My mind was bursting with characters and drama, I felt as though the story was already inside me, but now, the starting gun had been fired and I was off, on a writing marathon!

My protagonist had to be someone I could become, when writing. In fact, I enjoyed ‘being’ all of the characters I created inside my head, in my notebook and on the screen of my laptop. I always write down my work in a notebook first, it allows me to be messy, re-arrange words without entirely deleting, scribble, draw, doodle and annotate, while drafting chapters and scenes. Go to bed with your notebook, the best idea might come to you in the night!

Soon, I could step into ‘The Triangle’ and its adventures the minute I opened my notebook, driving along and whenever I could catch a moment while being a full time working mother. You will surprise yourself for being daring enough to describe a seductive scene or villainous act…a little bit of us in everything we write, perhaps?

When I think about the creation of my place and characters in this novel, I remember the painstaking period of editing and being critiqued, pushing me to re-write, remove and develop many aspects of the manuscript. I know it’s a loose connection to the theme of re-birth, but honestly, every version of ‘A Perfect Place…’ was an improved incarnation of the original idea, a better read, another layer of polish over the pages. This is a feeling and process no ‘tips on writing’ can truly capture, until you’ve been through it and everyone is different, though we all want to reach the same goal, which is where providing editorial support to other Mardiwriters has been a valuable experience for both the writers and myself.

Now that my first novel is out there, everyone has the opportunity, if you’ve a spare 99p to read my fictional adventure, set in ‘The Triangle,’ where Poppy, Charlie and their families are entwined in Imperial society, in a place nourished by friendship, beer, desire and secrets. I hope you’ll enjoy their adventure, if you’re also writing your own.

See you again soon on Mardiblog, please e mail me if you have any questions about ‘A Perfect Place of Secrets,’ I’d love to hear from you or read reviews of my work.

Clairey