About the Author!

First and foremost I think it's best that I introduce myself.

My name is Steph and I'm twenty four years old. I could talk about my family and friends or my pets or my current employment status etc. But, since this blog is mainly reserved for writing, I thought I would instead focus on the point at which I decided I wanted to write for a living and how things have progressed from there, so here goes: 

I first realised I loved to write back in high school. I found I was always at my happiest when I was scribbling away at a plot or developing a new character in the back of my maths book. I hated school, passionately, and I only ever enjoyed English and Drama. My teacher for both these subjects, was a fiesty, funny, energetic lady by the name of Ms Mezzone. She became a real insperation to me and always encouraged my writing.

Back then, though, my dreams were a slightly different shape, I focused my energy on acting and really wanted to build a career out of that instead.
Drama gave me such a thrill and I loved the idea of learning a script and then shaping it to fit into a performance. I think the task of having to ensure the right emotion was present when delivering lines was one that I found particularly attractive. On reflection it's obvious to me that although I did love acting, the writing stayed with me. I never stopped doing it, but it became a hobby and performance arts became my career choice.

Naturally, when I left school I went on to study Performing arts at college and it was on that course that the writing bug bit me hard really.
One of our assignments was to write a short script, I can't recall why we had to do it, but I'm so glad we did because the form tutor offered me the opportunity to flesh out my written piece, cast it, direct it and put it on for one night, I didn't take much convincing and immediately got to work on my script. It was a comedy, based around a park bench and the unusual (and often eccentric) individuals that used or passed the bench in a single summers day.
The play was entitled 'Bench Life' and the audience reaction to it gave me a bigger adrenaline rush than I'd ever experienced. I did act in 'Bench Life' but the fact that it was my own material recieving applause was much more exciting than simply performing.

All this time I had continued to write in my spare time, and having realised after 'Bench Life's success that I had enjoyed it so much, I changed my mind about my career. I decided I wanted to write novels.

I've always been quite a creative person and I love writing fantasy.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's powerful and effective when the entertainment industry challenges a viewer or reader with a harsh reality or something to make them think, and I'm not denying the true genius (and importance) of films such as "Schindler's list" or books like "To kill a mocking bird", that said I've always been a firm believer in just entertaining the audience. I've never really wanted to 'challenge' a reader, instead I wanted (and still aim for) them to be able to dive into the lives of my fictional characters and just escape their reality while they read. I think fantasy is perhaps the best genre for this, basing a book in a land where the possibilities are endless and magic is as real as you or me, demands that the reader suspends reality for a short period and that, in turn, offers escape.

Based on this I turned my attention to a short story that I had first started writing in school. The title of which (at the time) was "The Black Music Box" and all I really had at that point was a talking cat, a young girl and a black music box that had some sort of sinister secret. It was only a few pages long but once I began plotting it out it grew and grew. Now it's title is different, it's characters are developed, familier and have grown in numbers and the plot (which is almost completely different to that first draft) has been split into three, turning what was once a short story in the back of  a work book, into a trilogy that I hope will be well recieved. As I write this, I am in the editing process of book one in the trilogy and am seriously considering Kindle publishing as the way forward but only when I am absolutely certain that I've done the best I could.

I've also returned to scriptwriting and am working on a mini series that I hope to post onto Youtube towards the end of this year.
And that's not all, the recent offer of an opportunity to ghost write an autobiography was just too good to pass up on and hopefully that process will begin in the next few months.

It's odd when I think back to the choices I made in school. Strange that I didn't really ever think about writing as a career move and now, it's pretty much all I think about. But I guess you live and learn. All I know is that reading fantasy captured and expanded my imagination and writing it allows me to build on that. The beauty of a book you write is that you really can make anything happen, create any outcome, change anything you like and in a world where it's possible (and frequent) to feel a complete lack of control, writing fantasy provides my escape and I wouldn't change it for a million pounds (that said if you would like to offer me a million pounds to test the previous statement, I would like to point out that I retain the right at any time to go back on my word)

Steph