Hello and welcome to the first of my blog posts relating to my first novel, Under The Skin. I hope in the weeks leading up to it's release, to give you an insight in to the process of coming up with the story of monsters in Cumbria, what influences helped mould this unique setting and so much more.
So, where to begin... Those of you who know me personally will know I have spent a number of years racing go karts. It was my hobby and passion at the weekends. When Covid-19 began and lockdown happened, it took it all away as it took a lot of hobbies and so on from everyone else. During lockdown I have to admit over time it did get to me. I struggled with my own mental health and to do so much for my family, while trying to keep myself going day to day. So, what helped me keep going..?
Well, I bought a £500 gaming PC and set myself a new hobby and a new passion. Extreme I know. As an ex-games development student I wanted to get back to something I could put my creative passions to and from the comfort of my ever developing office space at home. Wait, isn't this about a book I hear you say? Well you're not wrong. The bigger picture was to create both a computer game and a novel, both which would feed in to the bigger story being developed and each with it's own dynamic story telling elements. The game would follow the male lead character, where as the book would and does follow the female lead. That idea was ambitious and I realised that the more time I spent on it. Below are a couple of low-resolution pictures of my gaming environment;
The story itself takes place in the fictional town of Grayton, which is actually the town of Barrow in Furness. I wanted to use the local area as the setting because it was home, it was what I had known for the last 20+ years and I felt would be a fitting location to tell a story of family survival... in a pandemic style story. With monsters.
As unusual as that sounds with the idea of me struggling to get by, I kind of had this Stephen King approach. Why not take what you fear and make something of it. And thus, the storyline began. Unfortunately I struggled with the initial development and learning everything on my own was very time consuming and decided I would start writing the book as a way of taking a step back from the frustration.
At the moment the game is still in it's most basic form but one day, I hope to go back to it and who knows what the future might hold now? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my insight in to the developing world I have created and look forward to sharing more with you all next time.
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