I am well on the way with my new novel, The Return Policy which could be best described as Magical Realism with an unusual romance. The story line is complete and I have started writing in earnest, 26,000 words so far. The story will change a bit with the writing as new ideas come to mind. One of the locations is Whitby, particularly the area around the churchyard of St Mary’s on the East Cliff. As part of my research, I read Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ knowing that Whitby played a vital role in his influential novel and was excited to find he had used some of the same locations, and folklore, I had already put into my novel’s storyline.
I’m also developing the imagery. Next time I’m in Whitby, I’ll take more more photos and replace some of the stock images I’ve used.
Here is a quick extract to give you a flavor of what’s to come.
‘Funerals are dreadful affairs, but this one was a little different. The deceased had not died. Of course, only I knew that. For everyone else, it was real. After all, everything was as it should be; there was a death certificate, a body which was undoubtedly Callie’s and now a church full of mourners.‘
I estimate I’ll publish in November with my current progress. As with my previous novels, Out of Humanity and The Ironstone Bible I am aiming to make the story addictive reading whatever genre you usually read. I was very pleased when one of the Amazon reviews described The Ironstone Bible as ‘Unputdownable!’