SUBSCRIBER SPOTLIGHT

Share your writing success stories. If you subscribe to Writing Magazine and would like to feature here, email Tina Jackson, tjackson@warnersgroup.co.uk

Tara‘s daily life of crime

‘I ‘ve loved writing and creating stories since I was a young girl, but I never believed my books would be good enough to publish, ‘writes subscriber Tara Lyons.

‘I found it easy to find reasons not to write and, despite studying English Literature at university, I pushed away my love of reading to concentrate on “normal life “.

‘However, it was in 2012 my “normal life “ changed dramatically – I became a mother, and it had a domino effect on my world: after my maternity leave, I accepted redundancy from a career I‘d been in for eight years and my grandad was diagnosed with cancer. My “normal life “ soon revolved around my family, and nothing else.

‘Sadly, in February 2015, my grandad lost his battle and I was hit with grief – I finally understood the pain of loss that I‘d watched so many others go through. Reading, again, became my pastime, and I delved into the lives of fictional characters. It wasn‘t long before I was jotting down my own notes, letting the darkness of my sorrow seep into the characters I was creating.

‘I turned thirty later that year, and my friends gifted me with a laptop – knowing it had always been my dream to write. With my son approaching nursery age, I suddenly had the tools and the time to do what I really enjoyed.

‘Thanks to the friendship and encouragement from admirable indie author MA Comley, I self-published my solo crime/thriller debut novel, In the Shadows, in March 2016. Since then, I have co-authored a novella (Web of Deceit) and the first novel in a new crime series (The Caller) with MA Comley, had my short story (Never Tell a Lie) published in a crime charity collection called Dark Minds and was nominated in the Metamorph Publishing Indie Book Awards 2016.

‘But my dream really came true in August 2016, when I signed a book deal with the formidable Bloodhound Books. With their help, In the Shadows was made into a crime series, and they published No Safe Home, book two in The DI Hamilton series, in January. I‘m currently working on the third in the series, which will be published later this year. This is now my “normal life “ and I‘m so thankful for every opportunity I ‘ve been given in order to follow my ambition. ‘

Website: www.taralyonsauthor.blogspot.co.uk

‘Digging deep

After my retirement I knew the time had come that I did something about all the words that filled my head, so opted for a Creative Writing Course with Writing Magazine where I received great encouragement from Sue Johnson, ‘ writes subscriber Trudy Smith.

‘Writing my memoirs was very cathartic and I soon discovered there was a lot more to tell the deeper I dug, so a trilogy developed.

‘As Sue said, I would one day hold my book in my hand with my name on the cover.

‘My story is based on times of my childhood and young adult life which was full of turmoil and confusion, coming from bullying and cruelty at boarding school, which blunted everything I tried to do in life because the fear that was born from it followed me about right up to retirement.

‘When the time came to send off the manuscript I prayed for a lot of help before taking the plunge! Then I even pushed the boat out by sending it to an agent, just because I liked the “sound “ of the person who I was sending it to, as well as a publisher. Novum Publishing showed interest within days and took me on. The agent also responded some weeks later with a no, but encouraged me to keep trying. Thank God for such a swift boost to kill that fear and just do it.

‘Finding Love on a Farm is available from Novum Publishing, Amazon and Waterstones.

‘My second book is almost complete with the third still in the early stages. ‘

Website: www.trudysmithauthor.Com

Setting a fast pace

‘From an early reading age I ‘ve always been interested in fastpaced fiction, ‘ writes subscriber Paul Howard.

‘Slow-paced books that take too long to get going don‘t do it for me. I remember books like The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin, with an intricate plot and page-turning action. James Patterson and his Alex Cross books, and Lee Child and his Jack Reacher novels, are all books that should be read by any aspiring thriller writer if they want to learn from the best in their field.