What are you working on next?
I'm working on my nineteenth and twentieth books right now.
Nineteen is the third of a trilogy about a dystopian world where people are sent off to sleep on the day after their sixtieth birthdays. The main character, Lock, discovers someone is ageing people down to give them a longer life, while ageing others up to take their place. The trilogy plays out with Lock and other characters working to change the system.
My twentieth book is the second in my new series - Cramping Chronicles - which is about a teen girl who has the ability to feel other people's emotional and physical pain. She also sometimes gets "film clips" that show her the cause the pain. Jessie is fifteen and newly chronically ill. The first book dealt with learning how to deal with her empath abilities and the second book follows her as she feels a stranger's pain, and wants to stop the worst from happening.
Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
I grew up - and still live - in the south-west of the UK. I lived most of my childhood in a richer part of town than I do now. My parents separated when I was thirteen and eventually as I got older (and sicker) I moved out on my own and lived with my best friend of many many years. We all now live in a historic part of town and it has inspired me to write a book about the area and the history of it. It has inspired my writing because I feel like when I write, unless otherwise mentioned, the town used is based off the town I live in. There are times when it's come in handy to have lived all over town because it means I know the places that only someone who has lived pretty much everywhere in the town would know about.
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