Since I can remember, I have always had a passion for writing; I have always enjoyed it; conjuring up new characters, new plots and everything in between. I have found creating these stories therapeutic, I feel like I can lose myself in these alternative words and channel my emotions into my stories.
Along with channelling my emotions and mindset into my stories, I often build plots of my stories on similar situations to my own and base my characters on people I have encountered in my life. Being able to write about some difficult situations in my stories, it has helped me work through things and vanquish some inner demons I have been in battles with.
There have been time where I have so many ideas in my head that I’ve not known what to do, I have taken steps back and not forced the ideas into the story and instead, I’ve written all of my ideas down into my notebooks and put that notebook to one side, keep your headspace free to keep those ideas flowing. I go back to my stories and continue to write as inspiration hits and then without overthinking it, I often discover that one of the ideas I’ve recorded in my notebooks work in a particular place in my story that I hadn’t realised before.
I have already had one book published ‘Love & Love – A Collection of Short Stories’ where I have written two short stories ‘Victims’ and ‘Emma’s Inner Torture’. The two of these stories have dark themes of violence and death.
Having now finished my Creative Writing & Journalism degree at De Montfort University (DMU), I am now working on some old stories that I’ve had to put aside but can now use the skills I have developed in my course to my advantage.
One of which is creating a story surrounding disabled students who benefit from using the facilities at a specialist school but can study at a mainstream level and has strong carer goals, combining two words, drawing on my own experiences into the characters as well. I am planning to write this from the headmistress’, who has been through the difficulties and prejudice herself and now wants to make a different point of view as she helps other students.
A second story has come to my mind thanks to a project at University, it is based around a character who has been the victim of sexual abuse and violence at the hands of her stepfather and telling a story around this idea. I’m not sure if I want to write it in the form of a novella or the form of a script, but I’m going to try both and see what my creative flares show up best in.
I also want to rediscover my love for fantasy-fiction writing; I love losing myself in the brand-new words each of my fantasy-fiction creations builds. One of the fantasy-fiction novellas I am defiantly writing is ‘Maria’s Mysteries’. My main character must go on a journey of self-discovery and make an impossible decision that will change everything, but no other spoilers.
One of the biggest projects I have underway is writing my first fantasy-fiction novels called ‘Middle Earth’. I started this novel with I was young and wrote the basic outline of the story with all of the components a fantasy-fiction novel has, I was able to build up a strong foundation for the story which I can now use. This project has been in the works for years and I’ve always had to push it to the back of my mind, but instead of harming the novel, I think it has benefited it. Now having completed my University degree, I can give it the attention it deserves. While staying true to the fantasy genre and telling a story of magic and mystery, I will combine it with other elements of threat and drama, a love triangle into the mix. I cannot wait to get started.
At the moment, these are the only projects in the works and this is the way it will stay. Oh, don’t worry, there will be future stories, but I am serious about pursuing a carer as a professional writer and novelist and I want to make my current projects up to professional standards and worthy of publications, even if it 30+ drafts each before I move on to my next stories.
What I’ve learnt over my years as a writer is people can criticise your writing and give you advice based on what they think and feel and make suggestions on elements of the story, but what they can’t criticise is a writer’s individual style and the way individual writers see the world and how they interpret it and use it in their stories.
My advice to any writer, and even to myself sometimes is get the basics down and don’t let anyone squash your dreams and your writing, it is yours and no one can take that away from you. Write. Write. WRITE!
The Life of Sophie 