Uncovering the extraordinary in everyday life

I’ve been writing my whole life, from writing “books” for my toys to winning writing competitions at school, to training as a script editor with The Script Factory, but when I decided to really focus on it, I applied for and got onto a Faber Academy Course in 2020, to make me start writing the novel that had been in my head for many years.

I find people and why they do what they do endlessly fascinating, and I find myself asking “what if” questions about various scenarios all the time. It is this that drives the idea of a story or a character arc, and some what ifs refuse to go away, and these are the ones that tend to make it to a book. I like writing about the extraordinary in the everyday-the domestic family dramas that make or break people’s lives. Every family has their stories.                                                       

I am Cambridge-based so I have known about the prize for a while. A friend of mine made the short list a handful of years ago and I went to the presentation dinner with her, so it’s been on my radar for a long time. I first decided to enter in 2019, when The Cuckoo Sister wasn’t quite finished.  The Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize accepting unfinished manuscripts is great as it can be a wonderful indicator of whether you’re going in the right direction, or not, and a fantastic motivator to keep going. I wasn’t listed in 2019 but it kept me going to finish the book, and I re-entered it in 2020, after I cut and re-wrote the opening, and made the longlist.        

Having not been selected the previous year, I was over the moon when I was longlisted. It gave me a boost to know that the work that I had done on the book was taking it in the right direction, a real encouragement that perhaps this just might go somewhere.                                  

Undoubtedly being connected with the Fiction Prize has helped my writing career in a number of ways. Firstly, it gave me the confidence to query agents with the book, and some agents contacted me directly after the longlist was announced. I think that the kudos of being listed in a major prize does help you stand out in the querying trenches as well as giving you the self-belief that you’re not a complete imposter! Also, the amazing community that the Fiction Prize creates has helped as well, with connecting with fellow writers and the college and the support and encouragement that this generates has been a great help. 

I think the best advice that I was given that I like to pass onto other writers, is to give yourself permission to write, and to make and ringfence time in which to do it. It can feel self-indulgent to take time to “write your novel” but the reality is that unless you make time to write it, sadly it will not write itself. You need to show up for your writing and give it the time it deserves, and you are allowed to do that.

In terms of the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize, I considered entering it almost part of my process for my debut novel. It gave me a deadline, which I always work well to having, it gave me another goal to aim for which helped in making the idea of querying agents less intimidating and it gave me an idea (when the first time I was not listed) as to what perhaps might be working or not, which is especially useful as you can enter before you’ve a completed draft. The community that the prize has surrounding it, also made me feel less alone in the dark as I might otherwise have felt and since being listed, this has only grown. There are subsided places for writers who may not otherwise be able to enter and so I absolutely recommend entering to anyone who is considering it. After all, really, what is there to lose?

In 2022 I signed a three-book deal with Boldwood Books. My debut novel, The Cuckoo Sister, was the novel that was longlisted by Lucy Cavendish in 2020 and it was published in February 2023. It made the Kindle Top Ten in its first month which was amazing. My second novel, The Silent Friend, was published in July 2023 and made the UK and US Kindle Top 20 Crime chart. My next novel, The New Girl, is due out in April 2024 and at the moment I am in the last editing stages for it.

I have since signed a subsequent three-book deal with Boldwood and I am working on plot outline and plan for book four-which started as a what if during Summer 2023. I will start writing the first draft of this book in the early part of 2024, with others to follow in 2025 and 2026. It’s very exciting!

Enter the 2024 Fiction Prize

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