"It was too complex to explain in a few words, which is partially why I wanted to write about it and make people think about what we do to each other online"
Give us a brief synopsis of your book…
Flash cars and country house, but all is at stake. Just one click is all it would take for thirty-something mother-of-two Nicole Hollis to remove the sexy ‘what-if’ man she lusts after from her Facebook but she just can’t do it. Instead she allows his word games to undermine her relationship with older, sophisticated Richard and her sanity spirals when events she can’t fathom escalate. Nothing in her life is what it seems, and who is really in control?
Past, Present, Future explores the negative effects of social media on mental health - where did this idea come from?
Firsthand experience. When you are sat with a psychiatrist practically begging him to diagnose you with some kind of psychological disorder so that you have an explanation for events only to be told that there is nothing wrong with you, you know there is a problem somewhere, and that problem ultimately stemmed from Facebook that then crept into my everyday life. To me the whole experience was like a form of Gas Lighting, and to this day I still don’t have the answers to what exactly happened between 2008 and 2011.
Do you think more should be done to highlight the potential effects of social media to the public?
There is definitely more being done to educate the younger generation than there was in 2008. My son’s school held an evening for the parents last year outlining the dangers of social media but it wasn’t really groundbreaking information. The problem is that the way the sites are used is continually evolving and this throws up brand new issues on both the psychological and legal front – the professionals trained to protect and help us are always working one step behind. I was unable to seek any redress for what happened to me, it was too insidious and complex to explain in a few words, which is partially why I wanted to write about it and make people really think about what we do to each other online. What I will say is that my local police gave their spare time freely to help with aspects of the novel.
Tell us about your main character, Nicole.
Despite her perfectly edited Facebook profile, Nicole’s life and behavior are far from perfect. Her actions and emotions for the most part are based on my own. So if you dislike Nicole, you will dislike me as the writer – I make no apologies for that. But the story in the final chapters becomes the ‘what could have been’ when Nicole as my alter ego starts doing what I wouldn’t dare to do and has to deal with the consequences.
How easy did you find writing about events that were based on a true story? How do you decide what to keep and what to leave out?
By no means easy! When I set out to write the novel I wanted to write the absolute truth to get to the truth. Unfortunately the law doesn’t let you do that, and as a media lawyer pointed out to me, once you change individual identities it’s no longer the absolute truth and it is more accurate to call it fiction. So you could say I was a reluctant fiction writer and once you move into writing fiction you’re hit with so many annoying conventions. But my manuscript was picked up by LBA in London and the agent had me chop loads from the earlier chapters, pushed up the twists and turns to compound Nicole’s paranoia and had me take events much further than I would have dared venture. She wanted the story to be a pure psychological thriller, as she said to compete with the likes of SJ Watson’s Before I go to Sleep. But because we were working with so much truth it didn’t bend well into such a rigid genre and some of the changes didn’t sit comfortably.
As a new writer, to have got that far with a leading agency in the current climate, I was given the confidence to push forward with the book and I took up another contract I’d been offered earlier. But as a reader you have to accept that the story isn’t conventional fiction; if you don’t then you will have problems with it because it is far more constrained than pure fiction for moral and legal reasons. That at times can leave you with a sense of frustration as you try to get to grips with Nicole and the events, but in some ways I suppose that means you are really sharing the same problem I had writing the story.
As a new writer, to have got that far with a leading agency in the current climate, I was given the confidence to push forward with the book and I took up another contract I’d been offered earlier. But as a reader you have to accept that the story isn’t conventional fiction; if you don’t then you will have problems with it because it is far more constrained than pure fiction for moral and legal reasons. That at times can leave you with a sense of frustration as you try to get to grips with Nicole and the events, but in some ways I suppose that means you are really sharing the same problem I had writing the story.
How did you find self-publishing?
I didn’t know anything about how to publish a book and John Hunt Publishing’s Roundfire imprint fitted my book perfectly. It removed a headache, and it still makes me smile when I see my book has been picked up in libraries as far away as Australia.
Given the personal nature of your story, how have you found marketing the book?
Oh the joy of marketing! I don’t think it matters which publishing route you go down as there is no escaping the marketing and I’ve had some real ups and downs with it. Pre-launch I took up three pages in the Daily Mail, got debated on Loose Women and had This Morning wanting to send a car to pick me up and chat with Phillip and Holly on the sofa – this related to a very small but significant part of my life mentioned in the book and it caused an unexpected but massive stir across the globe. I turned down the TV appearance, then after the book release my PR lady wanted to get me on This Morning to talk about the actual novel. The powers that be emailed back to say they didn’t do interviews for straightforward fiction, and because there hadn’t been any actual criminal charges, lack of corroboration meant they couldn’t have me talk in depth about my real life experience either. I was effectively falling between two stools and once again feeling like my right to free speech was being violated, still leaving me no choice but to tell the tale from behind the veil of fiction. Secretly I was relieved at not feeling obliged to appear on TV as there is no hiding and I have tried to protect my family.
And given the themes of your book, have you turned to social media to promote it?
As for social media – I do have a Facebook and Twitter page for the book. But I would say that seeking new reviews, journalistic articles and book readings - I’m too shy for these and the book is far too personal - along with good old fashioned word of mouth recommendations work better in converting passing curiosity into an actual purchase. The social media aspect simply means that the information gets shared around even more people.
What next?
I definitely have the writing bug and there’s another book in the pipeline – but pure fiction based around an insurance claim. Just don’t ask me for a completion date though as life is just a little bit busy at the minute.
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