When I was about 15/16 (that’s going back a long time since that’s 20 years ago!). I picked up a book. I can’t even remember how I came across it but I had always had a thing for vampires, something about them just fascinated me. Across the cover was the title “Interview with the Vampire” boldly written in gold and by one of my now beloved authors Anne Rice. It instantly drew me in.
From that very first page I was hooked! I lived and breathed that novel for the next three days. Anne Rice just had a way with words and the characters just felt so real to me and I connected with them on some level. Within a year I was writing myself and of course at the time it was vampire fiction. It was the very first time I took writing seriously enough and spent many evenings cross-legged on my Grandmother’s loungeroom floor with a notebook and pen whilst I wrote the words that flew from my hand. Months later I had saved up enough for my very first typewriter although I have no idea whatever happened to it after I moved out of home into my own place but at the time I remember happily clacking away on those keys. The work in progress was nothing at the time but it did give me that enjoyment of story telling and the excitement of getting those words down on paper. Unfortunately I destroyed the work I had done (80 A4 sized pages of handwritten work) mainly because I felt it was too alike Anne Rice’s work (looking back it probably wasn’t the same story but it had the same sort of theme and feel to it) plus I felt the story itself had no real plot and was dwindling. I decided I wanted to tell my own tales, not fan fiction of another writer. We learn and continue on don’t we? It’s the way we grow.
So here I am…20 years later, life got in the way and I met my wonderful husband over 16 years ago and we had three beautiful children who we love and adore and so my time of writing had come to standstill. That was until three years ago, I picked up writing again. This time in front of a computer screen and this time I followed the high/epic fantasy path as it seems I have a love of both Vampire fiction AND Fantasy works. This time the characters were my own (if not pieces of my own life) and so was the tale I had to tell and I have lovingly crafted it for the past 3 years with now a completed first draft. So no it’s not quite completed yet but in my heart, part of the tale is told with just some adjustments to make. It does seem though that my characters have not finished with me yet, they still have maybe one or two more books to go…yes I have just let that little secret slip…
For now I’ll let you stew on that for just a bit, whilst I continue to edit this current work in progress of Book One.