Been a while again, I know. Bit hectic, this struggling novelist game. In short, I have had to go back to hotel work, since the copywriting business has all but fallen flat. It has, however, allowed me to focus on the only thing that really matters, which is the writing career.

I have a couple of pieces of news to give in the coming days – I won’t spoil the surprises just yet – so in the meantime, I will just give an update on what I’m working on.

Last time I wrote on this blog, I gave you a bit of info on my wartime mystery-thriller, You Can Hear Chopin from the Attic. That is still in intermittent progress, but is more on the back burner now. And that’s because I have been persuaded to put the revisions into the sequel to my first novel, The Berylford Scandals: Lust & Liberty. I said at the time, I was a bit sick of the characters and the setting and, indeed, a couple of people have told me to work on what I want to work on. But, it is otherwise just sitting there and, after a couple of months’ work, it might be ready to publish.

So, I’m hereby announcing that the sequel to Lust & Liberty, The Berylford Scandals: Sin & Secrecy is forthcoming.

It will take place twenty years after the events of the first book, showing Lady Vyrrington, Abel Stirkwhistle, Mrs Urmstone and Mrs Haffisidge et al. in their fifties and sixties (though a number of young characters will be introduced too). And the story, much of which revolves around Abel and his tyrannical sister Rebecca, is much more a mystery than the first book, with little-to-no romance involved at all. A murder in the opening chapters serves as a catalyst for Abel’s past schemes coming back to haunt him, straining his mutual loyalty to Lady Vyrrington and leading him to question just who he can really trust. All the while, protecting his secrets by any means necessary.

Sound good to you? I’d love for me to tell you your thoughts, or indeed if you’re disappointed that You Can Hear Chopin from the Attic will be taking a little longer than planned.

I’m going to be providing some in-depth profiles of some of the characters of The Berylford Scandals in upcoming posts — let me know what sort of stuff you’d like to find out!

I realise it has been quite some time since I was last seen updating my novelist blog. But things have been a bit hectic with episodes of depression, writer’s block and also my temporary return to salaried work.

The monotonous nature of being a receptionist has finally reawakened my creativity, and I finally put fingers to keyboard on an idea I have been mulling over for the best part of a year now. It isn’t the only new book I have started — it has been one of many things I wanted to work on but haven’t had the inspiration to do so. These also included a foray into fantasy which I have been working on for my writer’s group, as well as the romantic crime drama I mentioned before. And, of course, there’s the next instalment of The Berylford Scandals, which is entitled Sin & Secrecy. That is already written, for the most part, it needs a proper read-through and editing to make total sense and tie in with its predecessor.

But writing about the lives of Lady Vyrrington, Mrs Urmstone, Mrs Haffisidge and Abel Stirkwhistle can wait for a while — in truth, I’m still sick of the sight of the characters. Instead, may I present my new, work-in-progress title:

Just in case any of you are wondering — no, it isn’t a rip-off of The Pianist. The title seemed fitting, that’s all.

In my first jump into thriller writing, I’m transporting you out from Regency England over to Berlin, 1943, in the heart of World War II. To one of the only still-functioning hotels in the capital, whose guests have no shortage of intrigue. And neither do the staff.

I developed the characters over the course of the last year, taking inspiration from the appearances and personalities from the people around me at the time. I hope they won’t mind my saying so — this time, it was my colleagues at Nationwide who inspired the looks and moods of the characters in You Can Hear Chopin from the Attic. 

This is only five chapters in, so far, so I won’t give away too much. But it will deal primarily with the persecution of the mentally ill by the Nazis at that time (one of Hitler’s own relatives among them). It also discusses the largely undocumented subject of the hotel industry at that time. Surprising as it is, business was often booming! It will be fun to research.

Chapter samples and more will follow, as well as other writer-related news.