An Unexpected Sequel

On 19th November, my second novel was published. It’s a very exciting time but it’s not the second novel I planned on publishing.

When I wrote Bird, my first book, it was only ever meant to be one story. My blog “My Fantasy World” tells you more about how I came up with the idea. There are parts of the story that echo my own life (not the bits with the feather, though, you’ll be pleased to hear!) but as I starting writing, the two main characters, Beth and Simon, developed in ways I never thought they would. As with all characters, they took on a life of their own and they led me in a direction I hadn’t seen coming.

The way Bird ended wasn’t as I originally intended. Beth and Simon developed a much stronger connection than I’d expected and it became apparent as the story went on that Beth had traits I hadn’t envisioned when I wrote her profile. I could see far more to their story than my notes had prepared me for. However, even at this stage, I still hadn’t considered a sequel.

When I did settle on the ending, it was never meant to be a cliffhanger, I just didn’t see it that way. I saw it more as the only way the book could end. Beth had to have more to her and I wanted to give readers some insight into why she had such a strong connection with Simon and why she’d managed to deal with everything in the way that she had. But it was meant to be an extra detail that readers could then make their own minds up about, not a sudden tangent that would lead to a new novel.

It was only when people starting reading the novel and I was getting feedback, that the idea of a sequel first entered my mind. I knew I had a lot more story to tell and I loved the way that readers had started to care so much about Beth and Simon and were eager to find out more. So I decided it was only right to myself, Beth, Simon and my readers that I continue their story.

Planning for the second book was easy. I knew exactly what was going to happen, it just felt
completely inevitable. Then, as I wrote book 2, the story seemed massive. I knew there was a third book that had to be written; a third part to Beth and Simon’s story that would naturally finish their adventure.

So The Birds is the sequel and the final book in the trilogy, which is already well under way, will be released in 2017. Then I’m back to the other story that I’d already started to work on before Beth and Simon opened up my world. So hopefully there will be a brand new story coming out in 2017 as well.

I’d be more than happy to answer any questions about my books, please just send me a Tweet @l_d_woodward using #birdnovel and I’ll get back to you.

The A to Z of Me

As my blog is still fairly new, I thought it might be nice to introduce myself properly. So I’ve put together an A to Z poem all about me.

I’m going to start this poem with a fear,

So aeroplane has to be my A.

I really don’t like flying

But I do love my holidays.

B is for my love of movies,

I would call myself a film buff.

Comedy, drama, thriller, romance,

I just can’t watch enough.

C is for Cadbury’s chocolate,

It really is divine.

My biggest weakness comes, though

During Cadbury’s Crème Egg time.

Speaking of obsessions,

D has to be for Dune shoes.

I particularly like my stilettoes;

Pink, brown, silver, grey and blue.

E is for efficiency,

Or ‘control freak’ as it’s sometimes called.

And F is for my family,

I love them so much, one and all.

G is for stinky garlic

That’s used so much in cooking.

I wish that I did like it

But I find it quite disgusting.

H is for a special man,

My husband, my true love.

He’s so supportive of all I do,

Though he loses me when I write a book.

I is for Italian food

My favourite cuisine in the land.

Spaghetti Bolognaise is my weakness

(the garlic bread for my husband).

June is my birth month for J.

I wish spring could last all year long.

K is for karaoke,

How I do love a good old sing-song.

L is for my friends

Who live such a long distance away.

I love you all very much

And I miss you every day.

Musicals is my letter M.

Singing and dancing and magic.

I enjoy going to the West End

And I used to do amateur dramatics.

N is for my love of the night;

A night owl is definitely me.

I’m totally useless in the morning,

Although better after my cup of tea.

O is for the Oscars.

The Academy Awards are my dream.

I have this secret longing

To see my winning script on the screen.

There’s no question about my P:

Pink is my favourite colour.

Whereas Q is for the word quiet;

I can’t stand it I’m more of a talker.

R has to be for romance,

I have such a soppy side.

S is for my cat Sparkle,

The cuddliest thing in my life.

T is for my two books written.

I really couldn’t be prouder.

U is for my utopia:

Florence, my husband, Prosecco and pasta.

V is for Back to the Future

And my vast knowledge of the trilogy.

I must have seen it all thousands of times.

One is my favourite, then two, then three.

W has to be for words

And how much I love to write.

X is how excitable I am

(it’s the best I could do, all right!)

Y is reserved for yuletide,

My second favourite time of the year.

I love the festive season,

It really does bring good cheer.

Finally we have Z.

Zones 1 – 6 it stands for.

London is my favourite place,

I’m a city girl, that’s for sure.

That was twenty-six things about me,

A little bit of insight.

I hope you enjoyed my poem,

It certainly was fun to write.

My Fantasy World

I have no idea whether this is true of other writers, but I do tend to sometimes live in a bit of a fantasy world. I can’t help but drift off at times and imagine wonderful or dramatic things happening that lead to exciting adventures, taking me away from the mundanities of everyday life.

These little dreams I have are more often than not where I get ideas for stories from. Without exception, they’re all fundamentally built with the purpose of escapism.

Just as I get lost in a daydream (or night dream) and it takes me away from the world for a bit, I hope to entertain readers in the same way, helping them to get lost in someone else’s story.

When I say fantasy world, I think it’s important to note, however, that there is a strict rule to my dreaming: I like everything to exist within the world that we live in. There’s just something so much more exciting to me about fantastical things happening but with the hint that they could, possibly, just maybe be true.

Two of my favourite stories of all time are The Picture of Dorian Gray and Dracula. I find them utterly inspiring. I was so drawn into these stories and they’ve always stayed with me. It’s so interesting to imagine that a simple cat statue could change your life forever. It’s simple yet exciting and it all plays in the world that we know and love.

It may sound bizarre but I also think Vampires are logical. You never know, they could actually exist, and just the idea of that makes stories like Dracula spark my imagination. I love the idea that the premise of True Blood, with Vampires ‘outing themselves’, may be just around the corner. Ridiculously unlikely, but never say never. After all, Vampires have a human foundation, and so their reality isn’t too far a stretch.

With my imagination illuminated when I come across a bit of the unknown in the safety of our known world, that’s what I always end up writing about, and that’s what you can always expect from my stories. I like to make the world that we live in just a little bit more fantastical.

Bird

My debut novel is called Bird and the story is very typically me: two people in London with jobs, cars and houses, but magical things happen that send them on an adventure like nothing they’ve encountered before.

I came up with the idea of Bird when I was a teenager. I had a horrid nightmare one night about a man who turned into a Bird. I remember this red bird, a truly unique bird, sitting on a window sill. It looked around at me and a tear trickled down its cheek. Not long before, this bird had been a man but his life was never to be the same again. I knew there was no way to ever turn him back.

I couldn’t let go of this dream, it had been so vivid. As always, in such cases, I grabbed my notebook and starting to turn it into a short story. I’ve recently published the original story on Scriggler if you were interested.

About twenty years later, clearing some stuff out, I came across the short story typed out on yellowing paper. It was my dad who suggested that it might be interesting to work on and expand in to a novel and so, from there, using a few other daydreams along the way, I turned my little story into a full length adventure.

Obviously, being my debut novel, I am very proud of it. I’ve had great feedback from other people too. If you wanted to take a look, it’s available on the Kindle or in paperback from Amazon.

I never originally intended to write a sequel, but there was one that naturally came from the story and I had a lot of people tell me they wanted to read more about Beth and Simon. So Book 2 called The Birds will be published on 19^th November. I’ll keep you posted.

Lindsay the Writer

The first book I ever fell in love with was “No One Knows Where Gobo Goes”. Gobo being Gobo Fraggle of Fraggle Rock.

As a young child (and still now, actually) I absolutely loved the Fraggles. Alongside Gobo there was Red, Boober, Wembley and Mokey - all distinct characters with colourful lives. The book poetically took you through one of Gobo’s amazing adventures and it instantly captured my imagination. This wasn’t just because I loved the story in itself, it was because I loved the idea of Gobo going on adventures. Going to places unknown where thousands of different things could happen to him.

Me with Red Fraggle

I couldn’t help it, as soon as I could pick up a pencil and form words of my own, I was writing my own Fraggle tales. I didn’t want to read any more about where Gobo goes, I wanted to write about it myself. And so I did.

I don’t remember much about the stories. The only thing I do remember is having this overwhelming urge to write. Reading became dull as every time I read the book the same thing happened. By writing my own stories, I could create brand new worlds for Gobo and his friends and there were infinite possibilities. I loved it.

Back then was no different to now, I just wanted to write all the time. Even at a young age it was my favourite pastime. But I wasn’t really conscious of it. It was something that I did; but as far as I knew, it was what everyone did.

The big turning point for me came when I was ten years old.

The hunger to write has been within me all my life. It’s like a pleasant ache inside of me that won’t go away until I put pen to paper or open up Word on my laptop and start typing.

In my final year at Primary School, much to my delight, we used to have Creative Writing lessons. I was given a legitimate reason to indulge in my passion. It was in one of those particular lessons where, for the first time, writing became an ambition, not just a hobby.

We’d been given some story to write. I can’t remember the detail, but I know that, as usual, I’d got lost in my imagination. Characters, scenes, plotlines, they all came pouring out of my mind, down my hand and out through the HB pencil I was scribbling with. I was having to write so fast so that I could keep up with my thoughts.

Taking a moment to consider a sentence, I looked up and suddenly noticed how all of the classmates around me had not only finished drafting up their stories (which were of a far more appropriate length) but they’d also transferred their creativity into their neat, official exercise books ready for the teacher to collect. I was still composing my masterpiece, already about six pages into my rough book.

I looked at my little blue watch. It was nearly morning break and I’d spent far too much time in the fantasy land I’d created. I know the story had a dog in it, that’s all I can remember about the plot. The most vivid memory I have is of the panic I suddenly experienced as I became painstakingly aware that I needed to get the story, not only finished, but also written up neatly in my exercise book by the time the bell went. With very little choice, I needed to bring the story to a close, and fast. I halted the characters

mid-action, with some incredible tangent to the plot, and I brought my tale to a very abrupt ending.

There were just minutes for me to write up my work before break time began, and there were two very important reasons why I couldn’t miss the fifteen minute interval between lessons. One, of course, was that I wanted to go and play with my friends. The second, and far more vital reason, was that my wonderful mom had packed me a tasty bag of crisps to eat as my mid-morning snack. No break meant no scrumptious delight to keep me going until lunch. I loved to write, but there were only fifteen minutes a day for me to eat my crisps. They were probably something delicious like Walkers Snaps, tomato flavour, and they were very much a highlight of my day.

I picked up my neat exercise book, grasped my pencil firmly between my fingers and I scribbled faster than the speed of light to get the task completed. The irony was lost on me that the final piece looked like a car wreck, with my rough book version being the far neater of the two.

The bell went and I was scrawling away with no time to breathe. ‘Oh Lindsay,’ Mrs Collins said, looking over my shoulder, ‘you’ve written so much. Just get it written up in your neat book and you can go for break.’

I was cursing myself. I made a pact with myself that next time I’d write no more than one page. What had I been thinking? Why hadn’t I thought it through?

I could hear my Snaps calling my name, taunting me from my bag just outside the classroom. This felt like some awful punishment for disappearing off into a make-believe land instead of just completing the task as requested.

Now totally on my own except for the teacher, I blasted through to my very brief finale, my hand now throbbing with pain. I stood up quickly to hand in my messy neat work. The teacher had already read over my shoulder to find out what my story was about and I prepared myself for a telling off.

I’d written far too much, I hadn’t completed the work on time, and my handwriting was an absolute disgrace. Staying in at break time was never something good children did and I awaited the lecture off the teacher. However, as I looked up at her she had a massive smile across her face. I wasn’t expecting the smile, and I absolutely wasn’t ready for the words that followed.

‘Well done, Lindsay. This is great work. You’ll be an author one day,’ she said. It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. She wasn’t asking me if that’s what I wanted to do, she was telling me as if she’d realised my destiny.

A moment of pride surged through me, I remember it so well. It sounded so grown up, so professional. I could be an author. No, I was going to be an author.

From that moment on my love of writing became an ambition to be a writer. As I scurried to my bag to relieve my desperately lonely bag of Snaps, I’d also scurried on to a new pathway in my life. I knew what I wanted to do. I knew where my life was going. I wasn’t sure how it would all turn out, but I was going to be a writer.

The idea was in my head and it’s stayed firmly there. Although I’ve written relentlessly for every year since, I’ve always been afraid of calling myself a writer. I thought that until I was published then I couldn’t make such a claim. I am published now, but in hindsight I realise I’m no more a writer now than I’ve ever been. If you do something all the time, think of it all the time, and love it more than anything else in the world, then it’s only right to see yourself as just that.

So this is me: Lindsay the Writer. My debut novel, “Bird”, was published earlier this year, and I’m very close to publishing my second novel now.

I hope you’ll join me again. I won’t be discussing my writing every week, I love lots of other things too. There are also a fair few things I don’t so much like that might be worth a mention.

Right, I’m off now to see if I can dig out my Fraggle toys. I might see if Gobo fancies starting a new adventure. Well, you’re never too old for a Fraggle tale.