In the last few months since I
published The Light, The Dark & The Blood, the feedback I have received
from people who have actually read the books has been overwhelming. The series
of books sprang from my love of all things religious and mythological. As I
have said before I pulled together a few stories in order to write this series.
This was not a simple process and took some thought in order to make what I had
written link together and still flow as a story worth reading. I'm hoping
people will see that this is a fable worth looking at.
I recently had a long conversation with
a good friend of mine about the whole 50 Shades/Fan Fic issues & what she
said made a lot of sense. I have started to read 50 Shades and while I fully
accept it is potentially addictive reading, for me it wasn't. I think there are
better developed characters and story lines on FF, but that is my personal
opinion. I could also see that the switch from FF to original fiction hadn't
taken an enormous effort; again my personal opinion. I don’t personally know
the author and have no idea how long her fiction took her to write.
But none of that can take away the fact
that the books are massively popular and have a whole new fan base of their
own. Let's face it; we'd all love that to happen to us. I am happy to admit to
being a very green eyed monster J
From a former Fan Fic writer's point of
view though this has made it hard for me to break through. On one website in
particular writers like me are dismissed as being 'untrustworthy' (whatever
that is supposed to mean) and 'not real writers'. I'll be honest; it is
extremely hurtful and infuriating to be described in such a way by people who
generally haven't even read what I (and other authors who started on FF) have
actually written. I fully accept not everyone will enjoy my books and that in
terms of writing there is a lot I am happy to learn.
But my work is my own, the fruits of my
own labour. I am inspired by other writers most definitely, having always been
an avid reader. Twilight, Anne Rice, Bram Stoker, Joanne Harris, Charles
Dickens, Emily Bronte, Terry Pratchett, CS Lewis, Roald Dahl, myths and legends,
The Bible are just a few examples of books and authors that have inspired me. I
think most books take their roots from another idea. For example Cupid &
Psyche, Beauty & the Beast, Beastly, Hunchback of Notre Dame & even
Twilight could all be seen to borrow from the basis of the same basic foundations.
Phantom of the Opera is most definitely a Beauty & the Beast tale and is
enormously popular on the stage, not to mention Terry Pratchett's Masquerade
and any number of sequels, prequels, erotic versions that are available to buy.
For truly original fiction you have to go back millennia and even then no doubt
you will recognise the themes.
Of course the difference in being
inspired and stealing ideas is a great void and one which can lead to legal
issues etc for authors. I am happy that
my own work is what I say it is; the work of my imagination with characters who
I created and who others are now enjoying, if the feedback and reviews I have
had are anything to go by.
I really hope that the whole FF/50
Shades debate does not stop other writers from putting their material out
there, because there is some enormous talent to be read. And if you have
commented on books you haven't read, maybe you should think about reading first
and commenting later. No one minds constructive criticism, but at some point
elements of the reading community have descended into name calling and
labelling. I think it’s very sad because most of us read and write for fun. It
does not need to be this serious drama. So good luck to all the writers out
there and if you're a reader who has either downloaded my books for free during
a promotion or who has parted with money to buy them, I sincerely hope you
enjoy my work. It is a pleasure for me to write and to know others like to read
what I have done makes it an even greater joy and personal achievement.
And below are just a few pictures to show you how my mind works when I am writing. My husband bought the very beautiful exercise books for me and who knows, maybe they inspired me too :-)
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