Last week I was interviewed by author Sim Alec Sansford for the author news blog on the Chasing Driftwood Books website. Chasing Driftwood Books is an indie collective some like-minded indie authors have set up to help support and promote each other and I’m thrilled to be a part of it!
Here is the interview:
“When Tom Lane was born, he accidentally killed his mother and in the process, his father’s love.
Determined to protect Tom from their father’s criminal business, older brother Alfie must become Tom’s father, mother and protector. It’s the two of them against the world until the day Tom chooses a life of crime over Alfie’s dream of a normal life.
Ten years later the estranged brothers are reunited when a violent gang bring Tom to Alfie’s door with a gun to his head.
Tom’s partners in crime have turned on him and he needs his brother to save him one more time…
A darkly brooding story of brotherly love, belonging and the beginnings that shape who we become.“
Buy here: https://books2read.com/u/mBy7DZ
Your latest release is connected to your five-book series, The Boy With The Thorn In His Side. Can you tell us more about that?
Yes! The Boy With The Thorn In His Side Part 5 introduced two characters, Tom and Alfie Lane. They become unwittingly involved in Danny’s (the main character in The Boy…series) struggle to escape his crime ridden past. He helps them and they help him. As I wrote these scenes, I fell so in love with the characters I knew they had to have a story of their own. I was curious about their past, specifically their childhood and wondered what had happened to them to lead them to this point. For example, when Danny first meets Tom Lane, he is tied to a chair, about to be tortured by a violent thug Danny has tangled with before. But what led Tom to that chair? I saw a very troubled and co-dependent sibling relationship between Tom and Alfie and really wanted to explore that.
What is it about Tom and Alfie in particular that made you want to write their story, opposed to other side characters?
Good question! I have to be careful because I think all my side characters would like their own book one day! But these two did really catch my imagination. I think I was interested in the brotherly relationship and how Alfie had to be a father and brother to Tom. I was interested in that very specific dynamic too, one of co-dependency and how damaging that can be to both individuals. I wanted to examine it from both of their points of view, so I did. They love each other deeply and fiercely, which is incredibly beautiful, but they also hurt each other a lot over the years. Their family background was really interesting to me too. How sometimes you cannot escape your family, even if you don’t want to be like them. How some children hero worship abusive parents, while others see them for what they are and try to break free. Tom also has Tourette’s Syndrome which was something I was researching a lot at the time as my youngest child displays many of the symptoms. Tom is based on him, just a tiny bit. His energy, his optimism, his intelligence!
This book explores many dark themes as do your other stories. What is it about the genre that you particularly enjoy?
I think I am just drawn to the dark side of life and everything that means and entails. There are so many layers to humanity and being alive and it’s fun to pick them apart and see what flows out. I like gritty stories, topics you can get your teeth into. I like writing about outsiders and rebels, people who don’t fit in and don’t want to. I think there is so much to be explored there! I suppose it comes back to writing what I want to read. I want to read books with relatable flawed characters and dark themes, so that’s what I enjoy writing too.
You’re well known for your passion and dedication to writing, but what keeps you so inspired?
I suppose life itself and all it’s mysteries, all it’s ugliness and beauty, everything! I love the quote that reading is breathing in, and writing is breathing out. It feels like that for me. Writing is me exhaling everything I have learnt, felt, seen, observed and wondered about life and people and society and families… Writing to me is pure magic. It feels incredibly exciting, like a natural high. People inspire me, families inspire me, the endless possibilities for stories inspire me! I don’t know how to live and not write.
Are there more books coming for The Boy With The Thorn In His Side universe? What can we expect?
It certainly is a universe, full of inter-connected books. Characters pop up in each-others stories and the locations used are familiar. I have two more books to release in this universe and then that will be it. Those two books should tie up everyone’s stories. I am releasing the sequel to my debut novel, The Mess Of Me in January 2025. The Mess Of Us is set two years after the dramatic events of the first book and see the characters Lou and Joe trying to come to terms with what Joe’s criminal brother Leon did to them, as well as dealing with an unexpected pregnancy, among other things. In The Mess Of Us we get to explore Leon a bit more. He was very much the mysterious boogey man in The Mess Of Me, and the main character and narrator, Lou, absolutely despised him, and quite rightly. But she sees another side to him in the sequel, and then he reappears as a main character with his own storyline in the final book in this universe, The Dark Finds You. I aim to release this summer 2025. This will unite many of my characters from other books! Lots of them already know each other so it was not hard at all to draw them all together for one storyline, which also helps conclude their own personal ones. It involves Leon from The Mess Of Me and The Mess Of Us, as already mentioned, Joe also appears from those books. Elliot from Elliot Pie’s Guide To Human Nature, plus his mother Laura and friend Leah are also main characters in The Dark Finds You. Danny from The Boy With The Thorn In His Side is now in his 40s, so fans of that series might like to see how he’s doing now! And Bill Robinson from The Holds End trilogy is another main character. I wrote the first draft in six weeks – it was that addictive and exciting and I can’t wait to share it!
You tease a lot of your work on your social media. What can you tell us about Black Hare Valley?
Well, mainly that it’s another universe that has totally sucked me in and is currently holding me captive! I am seriously addicted to this at the moment! Black Hare Valley was first created during lockdown, 2020. I had just re-read my favourite Stephen King book, ‘IT’ and wanted to write something similar as a sort of homage, I guess. I envisioned a close-knit town with a dark secret and a band of misfit kids drawn together to solve a mystery. That was all I had. However, me and my son, who was 12 at the time, designed a huge map of the town just for fun. We created a valley town set between two Iron Age Hill Forts, with farmland, forests and rolling hills, rivers and streams. We added everything they would need from schools and theatres, to pet shops and garages! I also created some character bios. It was a lot of fun. I left it alone for a few years while I was working on other books. Two years ago we had a prolonged power cut and no WiFi so I ended up writing Black Hare Valley in long-hand into five notebooks. I didn’t really know what I was doing. It just happened. I just let it flow. As I wrote it, I had to ask myself more and more questions and the story slowly unraveled. I then typed it up and left it alone again. When I’d finished The Boy… universe books, I could finally turn my attention back to Black Hare Valley and it sucked me in and wouldn’t let go. Essentially it’s going to be a three book series with the first book set in 1996, the second in 1966 and the third in 2026. It’s a very dark folk horror story about this very strange town tightly controlled by a well-meaning Neighbourhood Watch Committee. They are not what they seem however, and children, in particular, have a habit of going missing, never to be seen again… That’s all I want to say but if you love folk horror, creepy towns, misfit kids, and quirky traditions such as May Day celebrations, fairy rings, leylines, hill forts and more, you might just want to visit!
Who are some writers that influence you and what books do you enjoy reading?
I’m a huge fan of Stephen King, Charles Bukowski and Chris Whittaker, to name a few quickly. But generally I love reading anything dark and gritty with wonderful memorable characters. It’s all about the characters for me. As a teenager I was very influenced by Stephen King, and SE Hinton.
What made you decide to create Chasing Driftwood Books?
I’ve been writing and independently publishing since 2013. I’ve published with indie collectives three times before, but each one eventually folded. They were all different, but essentially they were all allowing authors to self-publish for free and keep their royalties, but belong to a bigger community of authors who can support each other and help promote each other. I wanted to take all I had learnt from those platforms and create our own. We are very small at the moment but will open for submissions in due course! What I have realised since I started publishing was that it’s very, very difficult to land an agent and get a traditional deal these days, and also that the traditional deals are not always what they are cracked up to be. I’ve learnt that indie authors who do well are in the most enviable position of all. They have full creative control, retain full royalties and can very often earn enough to give up their day jobs. But to achieve that, they often have to pump a lot of money into their books. Paying for editing, proofreading and professional covers, goes without saying, but to really succeed they also need to be paying for advertising. Low income authors, disabled authors and other under-represented groups, are simply not in a position to do this. I’ve been an avid reader of indie books for some time and have read some truly extraordinary books by incredibly talented authors who should be selling far more and getting far more success and visibility. Money is so often the problem. What we are hoping to do here is draw quality authors together into a community that can help support and promote each other. That is just the start but the long-term aim is increased visibility for all our authors!
You have a prominent cast of male protagonists throughout your books. What is it about writing through their eyes that inspires you to do so?
I think I once sat down and worked out that by the time I have written and released all my works-in-progress plus all my vague ideas for books, I will have an equal amount of male and female protagonists! But I get what you are saying. With my published books at the moment, there are more male protagonists than female. I think partly this is pure accident, in as much as the characters just come to me and I can’t often control their gender. But also I think in the past at least I have been more curious about the male view and experience, simply because I am not one! So, that made it just a bit more interesting to explore.
Finally, what more can we expect from the world of Chantelle Atkins?
Two more books in the interconnected The Boy With The Thorn In His Side universe, as already mentioned, followed I expect a year later by the full Black Hare Valley trilogy. I have also started a fifth book in The Day The Earth Turned series, though that is taking a back seat at the moment! Works-in-progress involve a half-finished YA zombie apocalypse story told in a diary format, a family mystery called The 7th Child, and a story about two dysfunctional young adults who get bored of waiting for the apocalypse so decide to try and start one themselves… I am also planning to write a crime book with my oldest child, Daisy! She is about to start her Masters in creative writing and we have come up with an excellent serial killer plot set on a university campus! I have another YA post-apocalyptic story that has been planned with character bios done…. I think that’s it!
If you’d like to follow me and keep up to date with my books news, here are the links:
Website/blog: https://chantelleatkins.com/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/chantelleatkinswriter
The Glorious Outsiders 