The Inspiration Behind My Novel

In the many rounds of editing The Merry Players and even now, when the book has been published, I’ve had several small revelations about where the story came from. Experiences and culture soak into us as we grow up and in my writing I’ve found myself reaching back to all of the places that made me feel comforted and cosseted. I wanted to share some thoughts on this as it may help you when you’re writing. I read this advice from playwright and screenwriter Lucy Prebble in an article by David Nicholls about how he wrote his novel One Day.“Write backwards. Start with the feeling you want the audience to have at the end and then ask: ‘How might that happen?’” If I could give even one ounce of the feeling I have from the below influences to my readers I would be a very happy writer. So maybe think about the books, films and experiences that have given you the feeling that you want to leave your readers with. Wouldn’t it be magical to give that to people?

Being behind the scenes

The Merry Players is the story of a boy whose world is turned upside down but he finds comfort in the magic of his home, a theatre where he has grown up. I remember first going to the theatre when I was about nine and being totally swept up in the wonder of it all. I can feel how it felt sitting in those red velvet seats with my legs swinging, watching the young girl who was playing Annie on stage, wondering how on earth she had the courage to do it. We saw her at the stage door and I remember looking at her in awe.

I’ve always been a ‘behind the camera’ kind of girl. To the point where my day job for almost twenty years has literally been that, being part of a team organising televised and corporate events. I am the one who is never seen. My lead character Jackson is the same in spirit. He is me looking at the actors on stage from the very first page, wondering how on earth they have the courage to perform. Jackson’s challenge is that he will have to find a way to get past his fear to save his home. This resonates with me on a creative level. Being *seen* is part of being creative and it’s the piece of it that I (and so many creatives) find the most difficult.

From another angle, my job has given me the immense privilege of being in venues when they are empty. Such a rare and special treat, that I completely savour. There is something so thrilling about being one of only a few people standing in a completely silent Royal Albert Hall or being in the grounds of the Chelsea Flower Show before it opens. I never ever take it for granted. I’ve translated this feeling into Jackson’s awe at his home, the Merry Theatre, when he is in there alone. It is when he has the place to himself that he discovers its real secrets and the true magic that is hidden in its history.

Back To The Future

This film had such an effect on me. It was the first movie I remember seeing at the cinema and remains one of my favourites to this day. My Dad took me and my sister to an afternoon showing and from the very first scene of Marty being blown away by the sound of his guitar I was transfixed. Being honest, I think it was a combination of the thrill of the cinema and the excitement of the plot. Whatever it was, it felt like a real ‘moment’. And I remember so vividly watching George McFly at the end of the movie, opening a box of his newly published books as I thought, “That’s going to be me.” I’ve no idea where the thought came from but I just knew I wanted to feel like George in that moment. I wanted to write.

But apart from that, I loved the element of time travel. I can’t tell you how, as it would be a complete spoiler, but time travel plays an important part in The Merry Players. And again, I can’t reveal how yet but it will play an even bigger role in the sequel.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

I studied this play at school and since that time, I’ve watched many incarnations of it. An amateur production sitting in folding chairs in some gardens in Oxford. A version where the whole cast was in pyjamas at the Globe Theatre in London. A completely spellbinding retelling with Sheridan Smith as Titania. It’s a play to get completely lost in and actors and directors always bring something new to it. I wanted this sense of complete escapism to find its way into The Merry Players, so one of the actors in the story plays Puck and invokes this mischievous spirit throughout. And on a literal level, the book features ‘a play within a play’ which always intrigued me. It was so much fun creating the story, within the story and seeing how I could use it to enhance the themes of the book.

The Hideaways

Until recently, I had no idea what this film was called, I just knew that I loved it as a child. And the reason comes back to that feeling of having a space that is usually full of people, completely to yourself. The Hideaways is based on a book called From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (not the easiest title to remember!) and the part I loved the most is that the two children hid in the MET Museum in New York overnight. They hid from the guards and slept in the beds featured in the museum’s displays. They took coins that people had thrown into the fountain so that they could to buy food. As a child, I found their adventure so thrilling. I wanted my main character Jackson to be this daring and resourceful.

The Enchanted Wood

This last one is about the feeling. I had this book when I was little, the picture book version of The Enchanted Wood. And goodness, I loved it. Most of all, I loved how it made me feel. It was warmhearted, exciting, safe, magical, escapist, adventurous. I could get lost in its pages for hours. I found myself completely transported. When I wrote my book, this is the feeling that I really wanted to give to little readers, and to you! I hope that in The Merry Players, I have invoked even a little bit of the feeling of wonder that this book gave me.