From a very early age I thought I might become a writer. But after university in Scotland, where I studied History and English Literature, I went to drama school and for some time couldn't really decide if I wouldwrite or act. I then got a job as House Manager in The Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park in London. Then I became a travel writer.
Though I live in smelly old London I spent many childhood holidays in Wales and, as a travel writer, wildlife and the outdoors were naturally what I gravitated to, though it is hard to make a living as a journalist if youonly do what you enjoy. But a few years before, I had written the first few pages of a story which later turnedinto my first novel, Fire Bringer. I had spent far too long worrying about the purpose of writing, whether itwas wrong to try and make money from a novel, whether I was any good at it and so on. So one day I simply sat down and got on with it. I believe that is the step that transforms the scribbler into a writer, commitmentand self belief. You'll soon find out if you can or really want to write.
Fire Bringer is set in ancient Scotland among a herd of red deer. The challenge I set myself was to createan enchanted, mythic world while addressing truths about people and perhaps why we need to tell stories,to put people and animals together in a meaningful way, that I hope has never really been done before. The writing was a bit of a struggle at the time because I had got a job filing in the basement of a London solicitor's office, which can kill off the spirit pretty quickly. But thankfully it worked and now I have justfinished my second novel, Sight, which is set in Romania where I have also travelled, among a family of grey wolves, and involving a strange power to see through the eyes of birds and to look into the past and future. This author has been recommended by 50 other readers. | |
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