COMING FULL CIRCLE!

  

Part of the old manuscript

When I was between eleven and twelve years old, I wrote a children's adventure book. At the time, I was living with my parents in Buckingham, England, where they owned and operated a watchmaker and jeweller's shop.

My father gave me an old accounts ledger in which to write the book. It was quite thick and had a hard cover. I carried it everywhere I went for a whole year, scribbling my adventure story every chance I had in school recesses, lunch hours and after school.

At the end of the year it was finished, but I had no outlet for it. I didn't even have a typewriter (there were no computers or internet in those days).

During the school term after that I lived in the hostel of Wolverton Grammar School. The housemaster, Mr. Hodge, who was an author, read my book, to give me his opinion. He gave me a little review with suggestions for a few changes. I was thrilled when he told me it was very good and I should try to get it published.

However, the book still didn't go anywhere. I carried on writing the poems and stories I had written since the age of nine and took my book with me when I moved to Devon, Canada and finally, The Bahamas.

I still have some of the first pages from the book, but sadly the rest of it was somehow lost over the years. I believe it may had been eaten by insects when stored on Long Island for a while!

Anyway, reading over what I have of the book, I realize that I have actually come full circle. I started off writing mysteries and dramas and now I am working on Book Three in my Buchanan Mystery Romance Series, which is also full of drama!

MANIPULATING CHARACTERS IN A NOVEL!

The original manuscript for "Dangerous Devotion"

(formerly "Love at Sunset") before it was published!

I'm sending Violet and Gordon to Long Island again! They are the main protagonists in my Buchanan Mystery Romance Series. I am currently working on Book Three of the series. Violet and Gordon appear throughout. They love Long Island and have a little beachfront cottage there. They also love Scotland, where Gordon is from.

We authors enjoy manipulating the characters in our books. We can send them anywhere we want and navigate their lives! 

You can purchase Book One (Dangerous Devotion) and Book Two (Deadly Deceit In Paradise) by clicking on the book cover links to the left of this page. You can also go to Amazon and put my name Fay Knowles in the search box. It will come up with all of my books on my Amazon author page (as e-books and in paperback). You may be able to special order paperbacks through your local bookstore as well. 

"UP THE GARDEN PATH" - GARDEN THEMED COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES BY PATSY COLLINS

British author Patsy Collins’ Collection of 24 short stories, “Up the Garden Path”, is available to download free until July 16th.

Patsy, the author of four novels and working on a fifth, lives on the south coast of England with her husband, photographer Gary Davies. When she's not writing, she says she travels with her husband in their campervan acting as his photographic assistant. She sometimes gives talks to writing groups.

Her short stories (500+ published to date) have appeared in a range of UK, Irish, South African, Canadian, Swedish and Australian publications. Some of her stories are available to download from Alfie Dog Fiction. Patsy's website is http://patsycollins.uk

CLICK HERE FOR "UP THE GARDEN PATH"

PATSY COLLINS’ LATEST COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES “NO FAMILY SECRETS” NOW AVAILABLE!

British author Patsy Collins’ latest collection of short stories “No Family Secrets” is available NOW on Amazon as an e-book and in paperback! Patsy is the author of four novels and is working on a fifth. Her short stories (500+ published to date) have appeared in a range of UK, Irish, South African, Canadian, Swedish and Australian publications. I have her excellent book of short stories “Not A Drop to Drink” and thoroughly enjoyed it.

NO FAMILY SECRETS BY PATSY COLLINS

THE CRAFT OF SHORT STORY WRITING

I’m getting back to my short story writing again and submitting stories to magazines in the U.K. and U.S. 

As bestselling author and master of short stories Stephen King said in one of his videos that I watched the other day, the short story is a special art form and you can get out of practice with short stories if you just write novels. 

Of course, many writers only want to write novels and that’s okay. But if you’re a lover of short stories, which I am, you don’t want to lose the touch! I won't neglect my next novel though!