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Vicky has been a teacher for fourteen years and is currently teaching English at a school in Suffolk. She lives in North Essex with her super supportive family: husband, David and two teenage daughters, Hannah and Megan.<\/p>\n
She has always loved writing and has been on numerous writing courses. Powerless is her first novel and a dream come true.<\/p>\n
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My debut novel, Powerless, is coming out on 12th November 2021. It is a thriller with hard hitting themes. The idea for my novel came one day when I was thinking about what it would be like if a missing teenager returned many years later. A lot of books cover how the parents feel but I thought I wonder what it would be like for the siblings. What if the child who returned had a younger sister. How would she feel having this virtual stranger in her house? What if everyone had secrets about why her sister went missing that they weren\u2019t telling her?<\/p>\n
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My favourite place to write is in the lounge. My brother recently bought me a lap desk which has really helped. It is generally very relaxing in there. I mostly tend to write on my days off when the family are all at school and work so it is peaceful.<\/p>\n
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I am not much of a huge planner. When I start writing a new book, I have a vague idea in my head and I love to let the creativity flow and see where it takes me. Later on I will create a rough plan and fill it out as I go along.<\/p>\n
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I love reading thrillers, in particular crime thrillers. It is like a puzzle trying to piece together the story. I especially enjoy books with multiple twists that seem to come out of nowhere.<\/p>\n
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I have always loved writing ever since I was a small child. I used to write down stories in notebooks or scraps of paper. Until recently though I never believed I could actually be successful in it.<\/p>\n
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If I am stuck on an idea or a scene I often find going for a walk or having a shower is very helpful. Sometimes I just need to step away from the story to get a different approach on it. Occasionally I will leave a section blank in a chapter, to be filled in later, just so I can move the story on.<\/p>\n
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My original book had an extra chapter at the end which I can\u2019t really say too much about as it would spoil it for anyone who hasn\u2019t read it. It was perhaps a twist too far and far too unexpected for readers to accept.<\/p>\n
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Generally I do but I do read a lot more genres than I could write. For example I also enjoy historical fiction but I think it must involve a huge amount of research and I would worry it wouldn\u2019t be accurate enough.<\/p>\n
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My novel is called Powerless. I choose the name because it sums up a lot the character\u2019s in my book. Most of them are powerless in different ways.<\/p>\n
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I would say go for it. Don\u2019t think too much about it, just write. If it turns out that it doesn\u2019t make sense in places you can always change it later. I have learnt so much from writing a novel. You definitely pick up tips as you go.<\/p>\n
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For Powerless, I did some research on the internet to make some details more authentic but it is mostly from my imagination.<\/p>\n
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Being a part time teacher, I don\u2019t have the time or energy to write everyday. I write best in big chunks on my days off, at the weekends or in the school holidays. I write better in the morning. I am fortunate that my children are teenagers now so they are often in bed in the morning.<\/p>\n
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I have recently started writing a new novel which is about a teenager called Maddie who has an alcoholic Mum. As well as the challenges she faces from that, she finds out a huge secret that everyone has kept from her. I am about 22,000 words in at the moment.<\/p>\n
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Absolutely. Who wouldn\u2019t? I can imagine my book as a TV drama, much like the ones I watch. One of my beta readers, who I work with, was actually discussing how she could see my book as a TV drama and was suggesting who would play which character. It\u2019s great when you find someone so invested in your novel.<\/p>\n
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Far too many to count but it would be more if I had the space. We have lots of book shelves in our house but they are all over flowing. I would love to keep them all but I sadly have to donate some of them to make room for others.<\/p>\n
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I have learnt a lot from following other writers on Twitter and have picked up so many good pieces of advice but the one thing that has stood out to me is the way that people market their books on Twitter. People like B Fox (author of Paper Castles) create beautiful banners and posters with their reviews that make you want to buy it and talk about it in such a personal way. Then everyone is talking about it and you feel like you are missing out. I think this works a lot better than just sharing links.<\/p>\n
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For book updates you can follow me on:<\/b><\/p>\n