This whole writing lark, beginning with Naked Truths, came about because I told my hubby that I needed a hobby and he asked me what I’d like to do. Without hesitation, I said, “Write a book.” He shrugged, “Why don’t you do it then?” He had a point. I had absolutely no reason in this world not to sit down and do what I said I’d always wanted to. So I did.
Then I paused, panic stricken. “What if it’s no good?”
Later that same afternoon I booked on a summer school, Swanwick and stopped writing until I’d received some validation. As soon as I returned, I was off and the book was finished in draft form two months later.
Then I launched it in May 2017 without the foggiest idea what I was doing. I thought I’d had an editor, because someone had looked over it. It turns out that editors have different types of editing, and what I’d had was not what was needed.
So, I took it off the shelves and rehashed it over the summer with a kick-ass editor who actually looks at words and stuff! And here we are today. Naked Truths, v2 as I like to call it.
People ask me about my inspiration for Naked Truths and the entire Naked Series. That’s simple.
It’s real life. But, that’s real as in, no holds barred. Not the kind of life we tell people we live on social media, but what’s actually going on under the façade we all project.
Lucy is a massage therapist and so am I. It means I hear a lot of stories that are personal to my clients. Very often a client will tell me about their most private thoughts, hopes and fears. When I’m mulling over how I can best help them later on, it will trigger a plot line that I’ll have to scurry off to write down.
For instance, we’re not sure whether Giles killed his wife before he met Lucy. The whole process of what happened to him happened to someone that I know. And here’s the interesting thing. Beta readers have commented that some of the police work isn’t realistic. I am here to tell you it absolutely is.
The process which I describe happening to Giles is 100% as it has been described to me from real life. And while that is shocking, I decided to keep the story authentic rather than changing it because people couldn’t believe what would happen.
Likewise, the undercover work that we read about in both the Naked and Love series, are all based on fact.
Whether it’s how these situations are meant to play out, well that’s a different story.
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