It never ceases to amaze me how, quite unexpectedly, something comes along which completely changes the direction of one’s life! This time, it was an advertisement for a course on Creative Writing. To this day, I’m not sure what it was about the advert that attracted me, but curiosity got the better of me, so along I went to find out a little more. There were about a dozen people in the class, all of whom knew each other very well as they had been attending the course for quite some time. At first I felt a little intimidated, as I’d never undertaken any writing before, but everyone made me feel very welcome so I soon settled in.
After a couple of terms, the tutor retired, but I was not deterred. I joined another class where, once again, the other members were delightful and my new tutor was an hysterically funny lady who was full of encouragement. A couple of the ladies in the group had already written various articles and novels, which made my homework sound very amateurish. We were given a story to write, every week, which we then had to read aloud to the rest of the class. I found this very daunting!
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I decided to write a novel.
Being from the UK, I have always been interested in the English aristocracy, particularly around the 19th century. I always thought that the Victorian era must have been a very exciting time, with all its discoveries and inventions, but I wouldn’t have wanted to have been poor in those days! Little did I realise how much research I would need for such a novel, even for the slightest things.
Not knowing anything about the world of publishing, I decided to self-publish my novel on Amazon. Although I wrote the novel for myself, I must admit that I found myself secretly hoping that it would be a success. Of course, the thing that I really want to know is ‘Is it any good?’ Hopefully, this is where visitors to my website may help me.
Underneath the title of my book ‘The Destruction of Innocence’ I am posting free chapters, on which I would love to receive your comments. So far, I have uploaded chapters 1 – 3 and I would be truly grateful to receive any constructive criticism, either on the content of the novel or on my style of writing.
Sandra Boyle 