I’ve been busy all summer working on my second book as Eva Carter: it’s another intense and bittersweet love story – featuring three people brought together by a very determined terrier. Now – the research for the terrier character has been pretty easy - living with our amazing little dog, Vesper (named after the Bond girl in Casino Royale) has provided endless material.
The other storylines - there are dramatic themes and topics covered, as there are in How to Save a Life - involve going outside my comfort zone. I always approach factual research in a pretty intense way – as an ex- TV journalist, I like to get it right.
How I choose a setting for my novels
But atmosphere is another important aspect of each book - and choosing a setting is a big part of that. As a kid, I moved house a lot and I have lived and worked around the UK and in Europe too - lots of potential locations! I’ve written two books in Brighton where I live now as well as novels in London, Birmingham, Cheshire and Barcelona. Sometimes I also invent places that are
For the new book - no title yet! - I chose Bristol in the west of England. I lived there when I was just 21, in my first ever TV job, working for the BBC on the regional Points West TV programme. That is – ahem – a few years ago, so in September I booked to go down memory lane.
Bristol felt like the perfect setting for my book – dog-friendly, lively, full of fascinating people. and sights. Being back there felt like dreaming: I would be walking down a familiar street and then suddenly there’d be a huge new building or bar. Disorientating but exciting too.
Going back to my twenties…
The experience was packed with nostalgia – so many of the places I loved are still there, and I even had a quick peep at the outside of my first flat (more faded than I remembered but then so am I). I was quite a different person, then - very insecure, often struggling with my weight and the pressure of working in a pressured environment.
It is half a lifetime ago: and going back helped me understand how far I’ve come. Writing has been part of that - discovering what I was meant to do. I know how lucky I am to do what I love for a living.
The city felt different too. When you return to childhood haunts as an adult they often seem smaller, but Bristol was the opposite, it felt huge. And it is bigger now, the area around the harbour is brilliant but unrecognisable.
I took literally hundreds of photos but also people-watched and relaxed and caught up with old friends. I also aimed to see the place through the eyes of each character – from a 12-year-old girl to the canine hero. It was - as Bristolians say - GERT LUSH*
*very nice.
A Fitbit record - and food to keep us going…
If I hadn’t been able to travel, I could have done research using Google Maps, and I have done that in the past. But there’s nothing like exploring on foot. Talking of feet – I did 26,000 steps in one day. My FitBit was as tired as I was. Luckily, we didn’t exactly go hungry… my favourite meal was at Bravas, round the corner from where I used to live in Cotham. Look at their signature Patatas Bravas, bottom right in the collage! I also went to the Mud Dock, which is a Bristol institution.
I’m now adding the sounds, sights, smells and emotions to the first draft of the novel before I send it off to my editors in the UK and US – wish me luck!
If you’d like to see more of the photos – and lots of Vesper the dog – do follow me on Instagram - I post lots of lovely things and would love to see your world too.
