Author Bio:
I live in Cardiff, Wales, home to castles, mountains, rugby, Doctor Who and Torchwood, with my partner and three little mad dogs and I work for a well-known TV broadcasting company. I love living in Cardiff because, for all its modernisation, there are still remnants of an old Victorian city. I love writing and will always base my stories in Cardiff because it has such character. When I can, I go out to the coast and take photographs, we have a lovely castle in the city centre and a fairytale one just on the outskirts, so when I feel I can’t write anything, I take a ramble to those locations and it clears my head.
I have a TV production background. I used to be a professional photographer and decided to move into the TV world. I started off working on our local news programmers’ and then moved on to Arts, Factual, Drama, back to Factual, back to Drama (Torchwood, Dr Who and a few regional shows). Now I work for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and we produce some of the music for well-known TV shows, Doctor Who for example! I’ve learnt so much from working there about Marketing and Promotions. It’s been an absolute blessing.
My first full-length novel is called Judgement of Souls 3: Kiss at Dawn and is the first in a trilogy. But I wanted to do things a little different; so I began by writing the ending to the trilogy in the hopes that it will tease your curiosity into knowing how they all got there. The club in the novel is real. While writing Judgement of Souls 3, I got all my club material and clientele from there; I wouldn’t have finished that section without it. JOS2 involved over 300 years of mortal history including the French Revolution – did you know that a vampire started it? I have also visited most of the locations that I use in the novels so I have first-hand knowledge of the locations I place my characters in. It’s been extremely fascinating. I’ve also visited one of the main synagogues in London to talk about the Hebrew Bible that I use ‘loosely’ in the trilogy and it’s worked out really well. JOS1 takes place in the time of the Crusades and promises blood and gore. It’s the back story that lends a true understanding of the vampire community.
I’ve written a few short stories that I am very proud of too. They’ve been getting some great reviews on Amazon. Ordinary Wins is about how ordinary women can win and find their dreams – which in this case happens to be a famous drummer in a rock band. Trancers will have you jump out of your seat when a holidaymaker takes a wrong turn after an accident and ends up at a creepy hotel – or is it?
The Decoys is an erotic comedy about two hapless girls and two handsome jewel thieves who are hoping to get the girls to smuggle a rather infamous necklace out of the country – but really, who’s fooling who?
Check them all out.
What inspires you to write?
It's the beauty of escapism. To be able to create a new world that you can share and that others will associate with. It brings an inner peace that you can only find when you create a new world and you enjoy the company of the friends that you have brought to life.
Tell us about your writing process.
I have a rather strange process. I usually know the outcome, so the very last chapter. I may even know the beginning and that's it. I will sit down and type what the first page should be about. Then a new page will put my character in a certain place, it may describe another character they've met or a new situation. I go through that process until I have a basic outline and then I fill in the blanks. It may be as many as 30 pages but it's my basic outline. I have a notebook with me at all times, there's never a time when I'm not thinking about the plot or perhaps character dialogue. I'm a researcher too. If I can, I will visit the locations and take notes and pictures. I will read books in the library or search the internet for information. JOS1 involved the Crusades so it was a lot of reading to get the battles, the uniforms, the main tribes correct. JOS2 involved the French revolution plus 300 mortal years of an organisation so dates, places, times all had to be accurate.
My latest ‘Rhiannon’ is about a Welsh witch. It starts with her in 16th century Wales and her spells are recited in old 16th century Welsh so I employed a translation company here in Wales to help out. It gives it more authenticity.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
Oh, I talk to them all the time. If I give them an important line to say, I say it to myself several times and wonder if the character would actually say that. Or would they say it another way? Or would they say it at all? Sometimes I call my character foolish for what they just did, they may have walked in on an obvious trap or I laugh at the way a character may think they've got one over on another. They are very much alive and in my head 24/7.
Who are your favorite authors?
I am a lover of paranormal horror. I will read Anne Rice (Vampire Chronicles/Lestat is my favourite) and Stephen King (pretty much anything).
Anne Rice is almost poetic in her writing and she's given me lots of advice of the years. She's a friendly approachable person. I had a review years back that compared my work to hers and I was so honoured.
Stephen King knows how to make you jump just at the moment when you think all is well. I am hoping to do that in my novels and have sort of used his magic in my short story The Trancers.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
It was inevitable that someday I would write a novel. My teachers at school used to limit me to no more than ten pages. I was a reporter on the school magazine and later became its Editor. When I left school, I paid my way through college by writing short stories for magazines; I later took a course in scriptwriting and came third in a BBC writing competition. I have pretty much-written stories all my life and one day I had an idea for a story and I began to write, it took ten years to get it the way I wanted and I searched for a traditional publisher but got rejected each time. Every author goes through those rejections, but the trick is to never give up. If you have a story, then tell it. I did a little more research and found Books To Go Now and submitted the synopsis to JOS3 and they asked to read the whole thing. That was 2012 and I've not looked back.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
There has to be a happy middle ground. Traditional publishers should widen their scope and seek out new authors, if not they will be by-passed and authors will self publish and own the entire rights to their story. If it carries on then traditional publishers will die out. I have no problem with any of the outlets, traditional, self publishing, if it gets books out there to readers. But I have read so many disheartened authors who have been knocked back and want to give up. You just have to carry on; you owe it to your characters!
What genres do you write?
Paranormal Romance, Gothic Horror, Paranormal Horror, Erotic Comedy, Chick Lit.
What formats are your books in?
eBook, Print
Website(s)
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Author’s Social Media Links
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All information is provided by the author and is presented as it was submitted so you the reader get to hear the author’s own “voice” in their interview.
