As a young adult, I loved nothing more than escaping between the pages of a book, so it was a natural progression for me to start writing my own stories. My first story, Intergalactic Heroine for Hire (IGH), featured a teenage heroine who was transported to another planet to fight brain eating aliens, while the second was Dr Who fanfic that I wrote with a friend. Neither of these stories were fit to be published, though IGH still holds a special place in my heart and is now languishing in my filing cabinet awaiting a rewrite.
Angel Fire was the third story I wrote, by hand as I didn’t own a typewriter or a computer back then. That manuscript, all painstakingly written out, was shoved in a folder and forgotten about as shiny new ideas arrived. Fast forward two decades, and while going through my filing cabinet I came across the folder containing the original version of Angel Fire. The ink was faded, making it hard to read, but I spent hours deciphering the words I had written many years earlier.
The writing was bad, but the story was good, and it rekindled the spark inside me. I sat at my computer, took the bones of the story and used everything I had learned about writing over the years to craft new life from it. From that one story, the idea for a series grew, and Arcane Awakenings was created. Six stories, six young women and the extraordinary abilities that make them a target for unscrupulous scientists.
I still love to escape between the pages of a book whenever I get the chance, whether that is through creating my own stories or reading one of the many wonderful books waiting in my TBR pile. I live by the motto, ‘You can never have too many books’ and know that being an author is me living my best life.
If you would like to find out more about Angel Fire and Arcane Awakenings, visit my website shelleyrussellnolan.com or find me on Facebook or Goodreads.