I can't reveal anything about the reason for the location being in the book, because it would give too much of the story away to those who haven't yet read it. However, it does play a small, but significant part.
Location number seven is Tunbridge Wells in Kent, somewhere I haven't visited myself. I can't reveal anything about the reason for the location being in the book, because it would give too much of the story away to those who haven't yet read it. However, it does play a small, but significant part. Spent a lovely day revisiting old haunts from my childhood in Hampshire. Took my fourteen year old to see two of my old schools, in Winchester, and he was amazed they were still open! Not quite sure what he was expecting, but I think it may have involved slates and dunces hats. :-)
Didn't actually visit any of the Storm Rising locations today, but came pretty close. Location number seven coming up tomorrow. Location number six is Newbury, in Berkshire, the town where Abi and Gideon grew up and went to school
This is not somewhere I know well, although I must have passed through it, and near it, many times. I just wanted a fairly normal, southern English suburban town, and Newbury seemed to fit the bill. It is quite centrally placed which made it easy for the characters to travel to other parts of the country. On Abi's sixteenth birthday, she, Gideon and Judy went to the New Forest for the day. They sat under the huge yew tree on Bolton's Bench, in Lyndhurst, and ate chocolate cake that Gideon had brought.
This is a location that I know really well. When I was tiny my grandmother lived just down the road from here and we spent many holidays in the New Forest. Lyndhurst was a particular favourite for the whole family and I can still remember going horse riding there when I was about four. The pony was ridiculously fat and my legs pretty much stuck out straight on either side! It's a beautiful spot and absolutely teeming with New Forest ponies. Take care if you take a picnic there though, because the ponies are very friendly, and not above pinching the odd sandwich! Location number four is another one I've never actually visited myself. Pretty much the only part of New York that appears in the book in any detail, is Central Park, the venue for NightHawk's last concert. I hope I made it sound believable, having researched it on the internet and used a very detailed map. I should be interested to hear from anyone who has visited the park whether or not I did a good job!
Just to show how pedantic I am, I actually managed to find out the weather for that particular day, so when Simon sits in the sun and enjoys his cappuccino and cheese-almond Danish, it really was an unseasonable 20 degrees, even though it was November. I've wanted to visit New York for a long time, and would dearly love to jog, (well, maybe walk) around Central Park. Hopefully I'll get there one day. My print copies of Storm Rising have arrived from The Wild Rose Press!! It's so exciting to hold your own book in your hand. They smell nice too. :-D
Number three in my Storm Rising locations posts, is Sennen Cove in west Cornwall. This is where Abi lives, in a little cottage overlooking the bay. She has converted the garden shed into a studio, and spends a lot of time painting views of the bay to sell to tourists.
In this case I am writing about what I know well. I first visited Sennen way back when I was twelve, on holiday with my best friend and her family, and instantly fell in love with it. You might be forgiven for thinking I'm obsessed with the sea - so far all three locations have involved it - and I guess you'd probably be right. A walk on the shore in any type of weather, a leisurely swim on a hot day, or an exhilarating hour playing in the waves can all prove both relaxing and stimulating. My imagination can run riot by the sea, and it has fueled quite a number of my best story ideas. Today's location is definitely not one that I know personally. Up until I wrote Storm Rising, my knowledge of Martha's Vineyard was gleaned entirely from Jaws films, and Linda Fairstein novels! So I had to do a bit of research for this one. It's somewhere I've always wanted to visit and I was very glad I could find a way to introduce it into the book. I love the name. It really conjures up a beautiful place to go and relax - and eat lots of clams, washed down with white wine.
Although Gideon only spends a short time on the island in Storm Rising, I do use this location again in the third and fourth books. I hope I got it all right - I even took a lot of time working out how long the flight to England would take in a Learjet. Hopefully one day I shall be able to visit Martha's Vineyard myself and see if it's how I imagine it to be. When I was younger I was always hearing the words, "write about what you know." This led me to think I needed to set all my stories in places I had actually visited and knew well, and give my characters jobs and life styles I had experienced. Time has told me that although this can be good advice up to a point, if you stick to it too rigorously it has a tendency to stifle the imagination. Obviously it's very annoying when you read about a place in a book that you know well, but that the author has clearly not researched very well, and makes some heinous errors! I can be very pedantic about stuff like that - ask my family! But with the advent of the internet it's far easier to set your story somewhere new and exciting without making any crass mistakes. I hope I've managed that with my scenes in New York. Hooray for Google maps!
Having said all that, one of the important locations I used in Storm Rising is somewhere I know very well. The caravan/camping site that Abi and Gideon visit, is one that my family has been staying at for many, many years. My husband used to stay in the area as a child, and we've been taking our own children there regularly for the last fourteen years. It's set half way along the beautiful Rhossili Bay, in South Wales and is the perfect place to fire the imagination and set stories running around in your head. Very excited to report today that I've received the contract for the second book in the NightHawk series, Rhythm of Deceit. Following so closely after last week's publication of Storm Rising I really don't feel my feet have touched the ground! Going round with a big grin on my face!
No more details yet of course about a release date for Rhythm of Deceit, but I shall post them here as soon as I know anything. In the meantime, Storm Rising is available in e-book or print form from most major online outlets. See the purchase information page for more details. |
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July 2019
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