#MeetTheBoy

Top things to love about THE boy.

Not that there’s anything to dislike about hot gypsy boy, Dylan. But I feel like celebrating THE Black-Eyed Boy. My book is all about him, of course.

Hey, I may as well begin by stating the bloody obvious. He’s gorgeous. Look at him. LOOK. AT. HIM. I seriously wonder how I ever get any work done. ‘He was tanned and toned, and was wearing only a pair of black shorts and some tatty trainers. He was tall and ridiculously handsome. His bare chest and confidence made me lose composure. Suddenly I felt much too hot.’

He believes in romance and is quite old-fashioned in his chivalry. “I think this is the bit where I lean in for a kiss,” he said. I beamed at his romantic movie analogy as his lips tormented me, promising to kiss mine but teasingly moving away at that last minute.

He may not have had the practice but he certainly knows how to kiss his girl. ‘At once, Dylan climbed on top of me and kissed me hungrily. The fact that we were in his bed and lacking our usual amount of clothes wasn’t lost on me. My whole body throbbed, and I could feel that he was excited too. A little moan escaped my lips as I felt the familiar pressure building up, and the need for all of him. This was becoming more tempting every time. I don’t think my moaning helped, because he let out a frustrated sigh and rolled off me, back on to the bed.’

He has an army of teenage girls lusting after him but he only ever has eyes for Emily. “You also have beautiful legs,” he said. “Do I?” I asked, surprised. I’d never really thought about my legs before, they were mostly just there so I could walk to school. “Oh yes, you definitely have beautiful legs.”

He’s spontaneous and fun. He seizes the day, making him a perfect match for an over-thinking Emily. “For you, my lady. Not exactly diamonds, I grant you, but here is a small token of my affection,” he said, going down on one knee, in front of everyone in the tiny amusement arcade. Once again, I knew I was blushing. “Please stand up,” I whispered, “Everyone is looking.” “So what? They’re just jealous of this magnificent treasure which I bestow upon you.” I could see that people were watching us, but the comical charm of Dylan soon made me realise that I didn’t care either.

Dylan is just so utterly charming. He rolled his eyes at me and grinned. “You’re going to make me say it, aren’t you?” “Say what?” I asked, genuinely puzzled. “Pretty,” he said, never taking his gaze from mine. My usually high levels of self-consciousness turned up another notch and I could feel that my face was burning scarlet. “Don’t be daft,” I said, turning away, and beaming a secret smile.

He makes Emily see the positive side of things; things she should be thankful for. “What a lovely place to live. I don’t think I would ever get bored looking out at that.” He was really making me see my home town, properly, without the mist of the everyday. I knew he was right. It was as though he was handing me back a series of joys which I hadn’t experienced for a while. I vastly appreciated that.

He’s protective and supportive. “I’ll take care of her,” said Dylan. I admired the authority in his voice. He wasn’t going to let anyone tell me what to do. It probably helped that he looked slightly older than his years, I thought, as they didn’t question him.

He’s patient and understanding. “You’re being very brave,” Dylan told me. I didn’t feel like it. With every minute that went by I felt increasingly more like a helpless toddler. I needed him to hold my hand just to help me function.

All in all, he is just so lovable. The crowd shivered with tales of shadows of hanging corpses and the ghosts of one-armed fishermen. But my goose-bumps were caused not by that, but by the growing excitement that I was feeling, brought to me by this mysterious and delicious boy. I felt glad when the walk came to an end and the people dispersed. I wanted it to be just the two of us. I tried not to think and hope how the evening may end; for now I was wrapped up in living the moment, happy to be in his company.

If you haven't met him yet, here's a link to Black Eyed Boy:

Buy Black Eyed Boy

 #MeetTheBoy

And they all lived happily ever after ...

And they all lived happily ever after.

Or did they? How is that even possible? They lived happily until she realised that she would have to spend the rest of eternity picking up a trail of his stinky socks and ignore the eye-watering Google internet history? Until he discovered her penchant for lies and her acidic, nasty barbs if she was even in the same room as a gin and tonic? I don’t know. I’m quite new to this romance lark. Yet, I have a book out very much in that genre category. I notice that the vast majority of publishers demand a HEA (Happily Ever After) ending or, at the very least, a HFN (Happy for Now). Black Eyed Boy sits within the latter. But, I did know that I was writing the first book of a series of three so it seemed preposterous to try and tie everything up too neatly.

It has made me think about book endings, generally. When I write horror, I almost always have to have a dismal end. The monster usually wins. The dark power rises and the poor, pathetic human rarely stands a chance. But, that wouldn’t really work for romance would it? People might be upset if I went round killing off the couple that the story revolves around.

Then it got me thinking about some truly abysmal book endings. Once, I was so angry that a book ended with the clichéd it-was-all-a-dream theme that I launched that paperback right across the living room in contempt and disgust. You can’t take a reader through such an intense journey and then piss in their face at that crucial moment at the end of the book. No. You just can’t.

The same applies to films, of course. I have lost count at the amount of times that I have felt utterly robbed and cheated by the final scene. I openly wept a year or so ago when I didn’t remotely get the ending that I was hoping for. I had watched that bloody film on the edge of my seat, completely absorbed with the storyline and the main character. And they just let him die. It can, of course, work much the other way. Sometimes I want the bad guy to get away with it. Sometimes I root for the bank robbers instead of the cops. But that rarely happens either. Because of morals, lessons to be learned and a twee longing for the right thing to happen. Law and order must prevail. Even if the cop is a massive jerk.

So, yes, I am a mess of mangled contradictions. Sometimes everyone should snuff it. Sometimes I want it all to be sealed up, nice and pretty with a silky bow on top; no unanswered questions. Sometimes I want it to be open to my own interpretation. I want to have my cake, scoff it, down a bottle of wine and sink down a whisky chaser, with the promise of more cake after that. I want it my way, which is irrational as what I think I want changes, depending on what I am reading or watching.

What do you think? What kind of ending makes you pull your hair out? What do you prefer?

For anyone interested, this was the book that went for a flying trip around the living room:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Queen_and_I_%28novel%29

And this was the film that had me wailing about life not being fair:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buried_(film)

Looking Back. Looking Forward.

A week has gone by. Black Eyed Boy, my first novel, was launched on Good Friday. And what a fabulous, exciting and emotional Good Friday it was. The day was filled with constant Facebook notifications. There were so many messages of congratulations. People wanted me to know that they had bought the book. Some were even reading it immediately. That made me nervous. You see, I love Black Eyed Boy. That’s good, I did write it. In some ways, it has become more than just a story. I have been living alongside these characters in my head for a while now, they are familiar friends and I can’t let them go. Not that writing the sequel has been calm and easy sailing. Though, perhaps that is for another blog post, another time.

The online launch party was fantastic. I laughed and cried through the entire time. From touching replies from an old friend from primary school to hilarious banter with some of my writing friends, it was a blast. Friends I have never met were encouraging their friends to buy a copy. I have never felt so much support and love from such a huge group of people before. I was amazed. However many times I could thank everyone, it would never be enough.

Then the first reviews started coming in as I bit off all my fingernails in a nervous anticipation. As silly as it may sound, I genuinely wept. I couldn’t believe the things that people were saying. They got it. I’d got what I wanted; readers rooted for Emily, were smitten with Dylan and completely went with the story I had created. Their words on Amazon have made me the happiest of all. That’s what it has all been about. I wanted to tell a good story that would capture the imagination. I wanted to create characters that felt real and that people would care about. Here are the reviews that have left me so emotional:

Reviews of Black Eyed Boy

More. That’s what the reviews are asking for. Now, that I can do and I am more than happy to oblige. I love my characters very much and I am editing the sequel right now. Fans of Black Eyed Boy: fear not; they are coming back soon. I will just leave you with this … if Black Eyed Boy was the emotional one … then Green Eyed Girl is the intense one. *Super Vague Teaser Alert* Hee hee hee hee!

The Black Eyed Boy Reading Companion.

I created this soundtrack as the perfect partner to read my book with. As I wrote the first draft, the scenes played like a film in my mind. I could visualise everything that the characters did and said. I associated various chapters with specific songs. My brain kept thinking … if this part of the story really was a film, which song would be playing?

Even the title of my book is a song by Texas, music very much went hand in hand with my words from the start.

Here is the playlist:

The Black Eyed Boy Reading Companion

I have recently completed a first draft of the sequel and I have written this much in the same way. So, you can expect a Green Eyed Girl Reading Companion music list in the future. Of course, I can’t give much away at this early stage but you can certainly assume that another eclectic musical mix is coming your way.

Acknowledgements

I wrote a book. I wonder if anyone would be reading it now if I hadn't have submitted it to Crooked Cat Publishing? I have to say a huge and heartfelt thank you to husband and wife team, Laurence and Stephanie Pattison. They said yes. Having a publisher behind a story is something that I had always dreamed of. THANK YOU.

Thank you to the lovely Sue Barnard, an excellent editor. She did a brilliant job and she is also very friendly and supportive. THANK YOU.

Thank you to Glenn Kilpatrick who kindly allowed me to use his beautiful photographs of Whitby on my launch page. Glenn is an extremely talented photographer with such a generous spirit. THANK YOU.

To my partner, Elliot, who has had to put up with my endless Black Eyed Boy related chatter ... my word, you are a patient man. THANK YOU.

Finally, to everyone who has attended my online launch party, showed interest, been happy to retweet, has liked my quotes, has bought the book or provided advice and support ... AN ABSOLUTELY MASSIVE THANK YOU.

Secrets.

I’m currently writing the sequel to Black Eyed Boy. Black Eyed Boy isn’t out for over a month. And you know what? It’s a pretty lonely world. You know why? Secrets. And trying to keep them all to myself, locked in the vault. That’s quite hard. Because I am massively excited about, well, EVERYTHING!

Black Eyed Boy is bulging with secrets that I just can’t tell you about. People ask me about the book a lot and I find that I have to monitor my words very carefully. My brain has to adopt a special filter to ensure that I don’t give anything away. This would work better if I was gagged, I expect. I am bursting to reveal all and tell you everything but I have to, somehow, maintain the mystery and only let you see the tiniest of glimpses.

Writing the sequel is both brilliantly fun and an isolated, solitary pursuit. Things are happening. It is a tense story filled with, yep, you guessed it: more bloody secrets. And it’s killing me. None of you have read my first novel yet. You don’t know what happens at the end. So, I have to completely shut my excitable big mouth with the plot of this novel. I can’t even tell you about the bit where … No. You won’t believe it when … No. AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!

April 3^rd can’t come quick enough. I think I will feel a lot better when people have read the book and I can actually discuss it. Also, I can’t write this next book quick enough either. I need to type until my fingers drop off and send it away to the publisher as soon as is humanly possible. Then, I can start the third instalment: I see it as a poignant and touching end to the story. Another story full of … secrets. Oh dear. This is going to be a testing time. Must. Shut. Mouth.

What kind of writer am I?

I’m a horror writer. I write about vengeful vampires, almost human zombies, sadistic witches, evil scarecrows, spiteful soul-stealing dolls; you get the idea. And I am about to have my first novel published. What is it about? Well, that’s the funny thing. I think that I accidentally wrote a romance instead. That isn’t what I necessarily set out to do. I simply wanted to tell my story. And it just so happened to have a heartfelt (albeit unusual) tale of love at its centre. Nobody is more shocked about this than I am.

So, how on earth did that happen?

I would like to investigate this further. And, it being Valentine’s Day, it seems an appropriate time.

·        I already had my leading lady in mind. A young, pretty and sensitive redhead. I wanted her to experience love and affection because she didn’t get any at home.

·        As soon as I created the character of Dylan, there just had to be romance and tingles and yearning. He is rather a romantic figure, he is quite old-fashioned in some ways and his gypsy lifestyle is just one starry-eyed element of his life.

·        Whitby. I knew that I wanted to set this book in the quaint old Yorkshire seaside town. It is known for its gothic links and eerie ruins but I also think that there is something dreamy about the place.

·        Teenagers in love. God, I was once one of those forlorn creatures too. I can (all too easily) recall that all-consuming feeling, that boy I met on holiday, being apart from the person was painful. I think we can all identify with falling in love and the associated hormonal emotions.

·        I once read that a good romantic novel should contain as many obstacles as you can manage to wedge in there. It absolutely can’t be easy for that couple to be together. The harder it is for them, the sweeter and more satisfying the eventual happy ending will be for the reader. Hmmm, I guess I like a challenge.

·        Love is angst. I may be new to romance writing but certainly not to angst, fear and dizzying emotions – all these things are mighty handy if you’re writing a horror story too.

I like to think that Black Eyed Boy manages to capture the essence of several genres within one book. There is some darkness and hardship at its core. There is also an epic teenage love story. But there isn’t much fluffy about this story. I still feel that it was a happy accident that I have created such a romantic book, but now I see that all the pieces were there, ready and waiting for me.

You know, I think I do feel a little mushy this Valentine’s Day. For my characters, who I continue to write about as I am not quite ready to let them go. I can imagine them in my mind. Shyly swapping cards for the first time, toe-curling kisses, lost in the tornado of hearts and happiness. I suspect that I may be more of a romantic than I thought …