Location, location, location

One of the hardest things I find when writing is getting the balance between fact and fiction just right. Of course the characters and the storyline are always fictitious but I always find myself pulling locations and settings from my own life. When I was in the process of writing Tied to You, I decided I wanted to set part of the novel in Perth in Western Australia. I spent fourteen months living there and instantly fell in love with the place; I made so many friends and was fortunate to live a twenty minute drive to some of the most pristine beaches in the whole world with dazzling white sand and turquoise water.

For me, writing about the place was almost cathartic; I was feeling really homesick for the place so being able to remember my favourite places and put them in the story made me feel a little like I hadn't even left (even if the reality was that I was freezing my butt off during the British winter).

This post was originally published on http://houstonhavens.wordpress.com/ on 11 November 2014