Teasing readers is one of the perks of being a writer. Not only does it give readers a sneaky look into some part of the author’s existence, but it’s a great way for writers to connect during the period between releases. I know I’m not alone in feeling disconnected from readers while I’m working on different projects, so I thought it was time to give my readers a little glimpse of the WIPs I’m working on.
As I’ve got more than a dozen projects in the pipeline right
now, I won’t bore you with all of them. However, these are snippets from some
WIPs that I wanted to share with you. Bear in mind that these are rough and
ready, but hopefully they give a little flavour of what’s to come.
Such Crooked Wood – Release Date: 2019
Premise: A broke furniture restorer hopes to change her
fortunes but finds herself embroiled in events beyond her control.
With my orange juice in one hand and my satchel teetering on
my other shoulder, I made my way towards the staircase. I’d done this hundreds
of times, but something went wrong this time. My left foot seemed to jam into a
crack on the floor and I fell forwards. Gravity was taking both me and my glass
towards the staircase headfirst, though it was my satchel I tried to save by
throwing it to the side. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw it whipped out of
the air then an arm wrapped itself around my waist and tugged me upright. The
orange juice went flying, but my skull was intact.
‘Whoa, there,’ an Irish voice murmured into my ear. ‘You’ll
damage the stairs.’
I let out a chuckle and turned around, acutely aware of the
arm still circling my waist. I ended up nose to nose with a tall woman in a
leather jacket and trousers. My stomach dropped as I realised it had to be the
woman who’d been eyeing me up the other night. Now I understood what Sal had
meant by her sort not coming in here very often – if we working on the
assumption that she was single. Most of the women who came in here dressed like
they were at a casual rodeo were either loved up or out for a quick night of
something. The fact that I hadn’t noticed her before suggested she was passing
through town. We got a lot of tourist lesbians who found Spectrum online and
thought it’d be worth a visit while they were in the area. This woman had to be
of that ilk – there was no way she was local.
Nights at the Majestic – Release Date: Potentially 2019
Premise: Following a theft at an old cinema two very
different women are joined together by a desire to save the Majestic and,
perhaps, themselves.
It was freezing sat inside the bus shelter, but Lizzie
hadn’t made her mind up which way to go yet. Two buses had passed, one of the
drivers slowing down and peering at her as if she was casing the place. It
didn’t look like many people caught the bus around here, not with all the fancy
cars parked in the driveways. She stuffed her hands into the sleeves of her
coat and tried to decide what the hell she was doing here anyway.
For the first time in twenty minutes or so, she heard
someone coming. Footsteps were walking towards her and she stiffened, unsure
whether she should pretend she was still waiting for a bus or if she should
keep her head down and ignore whoever it was. She could always walk off, though
she was shivering so much that she thought she might look like an idiot. She
elected to just keep still, hoping the person would walk on past. That didn’t
happen.
‘I doubt it’s a coincidence, you sitting at the end of my
road.’
Lizzie licked her chapped lips and looked up. Eve was stood
just outside the bus shelter, tucked up in a coat that seemed a lot thicker
than the thin jacket Lizzie had on. Not only was she cold right now; she also
felt pathetic.
‘You look frozen to the bone,’ Eve continued. ‘I suppose
you’d better come in.’
Lizzie opened her mouth to argue, but her throat was too
cold to bring her voice out. Eve had already turned away and was walking along
the road, expecting her to follow. Short of staying where she was, Lizzie
didn’t feel as though she had a choice.
12 Blackberry Crescent was a huge detached house, just like
the others along here. The whole placed reeked of money, though this one at least
didn’t have a Mercedes in the driveway. It looked like Eve was the only person
on this street who didn’t drive.
Lizzie followed her up the path and watched as she unlocked
the door. There was something about the way she did it that got Lizzie’s interest
– it was her house and she didn’t look comfortable turning the key. That idea
grew even more when the front door closed behind them and they were stuck in a
thin hallway. Eve put her keys down and walked straight along the corridor
through to a room at the end that was probably a kitchen. After a few seconds,
Lizzie followed her.
“Stevie” – Release Date: TBC
Preview: A journalist is on the scene when a gruesome
accident shocks a small town, but was it accident or something more sinister?
From her usual stool, Stevie could see the length of the
street and hear the rattle of the tray behind her. It was since the new
waitress had started that she’d started hearing her coffees arriving. At least
it gave her chance to clear her papers away. Last week there’d been a spillage,
right over the chapter about feminism in the office. Then again, it hadn’t
exactly done it any harm.
The flat white appeared beside her and she shot Grace a
smile. ‘Cheers.’
As usual, all she got was a little nod and she rolled her
eyes and went back to her text book. A couple of minutes later, Toby began
clearing the counter closer to the door. He sidled closer and closer till he
was leaning over her shoulder.
‘Haven’t you got any proper work to do?’ he asked.
Stevie chuckled. ‘There’s not really much going on in this
town. Did you see last week’s front page?’
‘It was a cat, wasn’t it?’
‘Not just any cat,’ she answered, popping on the lid to her
pen and grinning at him. ‘It was Yorkshire’s fattest cat. Well, actually, it
wasn’t. I’ve had twenty letters since – with pictures, I might add – proving
just the opposite. We might have to print all of them to fill the space this
week.’
“Fran” – Release Date: TBC
Preview: A chance meeting in the supermarket brings
together two women battling their own versions of hell, but secrets linger
beneath the surface.
It was lucky that self-service checkouts couldn’t comment
when you went to the supermarket at 1am wearing Disney pyjamas underneath a
suit jacket. Fran swiped through the jumbo jar of peanut butter, paid by
contactless and was back on her way to the car less than five minutes from when
she’d left it. She strode through the lobby and turned left to the car park –
‘Oh, damn, I’m sorry.’
Fran grimaced as the jar of peanut butter cracked open on
the floor, spewing chunks of mustard-tinged glass across as far as the basket
racks. She barely heard the woman’s apologies and didn’t even look at her.
Instead, she turned on her heel, intent on repeating the process and obtaining
more peanut butter. She didn’t even care that the sharp congealed lumps
constituted a safety hazard. The security guard was outside having a cigarette;
he’d slip on it when he came back.
‘Hey, wait a minute. It was my fault. I’ll pay to replace
it.’
‘No need,’ Fran muttered.
‘Please, I’d like to,’ the woman continued as she grabbed
her elbow.
Fran yanked her arm away and spun around. ‘Do you always
touch people when they’re clearly not interested in having anything to do with
you or am I just lucky in that respect?’
The voice had sounded like it belonged to a twenty-something
with no sense of personal space. Instead, Fran found herself face-to-face with
a short-haired woman in her mid-thirties who looked decidedly green. It was
almost endearing to see someone so apologetic over a jar of spilt peanut
butter, especially as it was financially of no consequence to anyone. In fact,
rushing out here to get it suddenly seemed absurd and Fran let out a snicker
which she instantly realised would sound as though it was directed at the
apologetic woman.
Lots of Fun Ahead
As you might be able to tell, all these projects are vastly
different and that’s great from my perspective. My writing process means I go
through maybe half a dozen drafts for each novel, so it helps that I’ve moving around
projects that are so dissimilar.
Now all I have to do is write and release them, right?
