Projects

I'm studying computer science and physics at uni, OK, OK, please don't close your browsers just yet. I'm not all that bad, honestly :-). The thing is, when people do software projects they often give them a codename which is unrelated to what they're doing. For example the next version of Microsoft's Windows is codenamed 'Longhorn'. So I've kind of borrowed the idea for my writing projects.

Redwall

In November 2001, I was doing my A'Levels at college. One Friday morning, I got up feeling drowsy and I had a sore throat. I had only one lesson that morning but I decided to go because I didn't want to miss anything, especially with exams coming up. After the lesson was over I began to feel very delirious and I nearly threw up in the street on the way home. When I got back, I lay down immediately. What followed was almost a whole week of fever. I've never been ill like that since.

Finally, it began to subside. One day, I was up most of the morning watching daytime TV. I saw a few cartoons and children's films. My thoughts began to turn to other things apart from college and everything else. I'd always wanted to write a book. I've loved reading from since I was seven years old and I read my first Famous Five book. I thought about it for a while, and a few ideas came and went.

Then later on the evening, when my sister and parents were out, I came back to think about the subject. Somehow, I fell into deep thoughts, and then suddenly I had a strong vision. I saw a shining lantern, and then three children appeared. Right away I knew what they looked like and what their names were. And I knew what was going to happen to them. I jumped out of bed and ran to my computer. I opened up a small file and typed in my ideas. I still have that file, over three years later. It's dated December 5th, 2001.

Over the next year and eight months I developed the story from that point, adding all sorts of ideas and inspirations. When I started uni in September 2003, I began to write. I took me five months to complete the first draft. When I began the second year, I worked through the second, third and fourth drafts, culminating in a final draft on 17 Feburary 2005.

Although I'm not revealing exactly what it's about, I can tell you it involves fairies. I have a healthy obsession with fairies, and mythology in general. Check my links page for some good web sites about these.

Excalibur

Redwall is over, and I've got the story ready to be published (hopefully). I'm not quite ready to announce what it's about, but I hope I can soon. Right now, I'm looking for an agent or publisher who's willing to work with a first time author. I'd prefer an agent because they have so much knowledge and experience of the publishing industry, especially business and financial affairs. Their advice is invaluable. Anyway, a lot of publishers now insist on only taking manuscripts via literary agents, so it really is the way to go.

Emerald

In the meantime, I'm working on my second novel. It's set near Loch Lomond in Scotland, and it's a ghost story and a love story. I've written about 20,000 words and my target is 50,000. Wish me luck!