Phoenix
I thought for the next few posts I’d write a retrospective on my previous novels.
Phoenix was my first. This idea began to form when I was working as a journalist. My main female character was a reporter. To begin with. Then as the plot unfolds, she becomes someone else.
The title is based on the myth. It becomes almost literal in the story. The myth is that the phoenix is a bird that dies when it bursts into flames. A new phoenix rises from the ashes.
I won’t go into how the myth fits in the story. What I will tell you is that it is an exploration of sorts. Of what happens to your psyche when you become someone else. When you basically turn your back on everything you were and become the opposite.
This in essence turns what I think is a nice, normal girl into someone who is, well, not so nice. Yet as the plot unravels, she eventually struggles with it. Fighting against her true nature.
There is a part in the book where something happens to her that is unforgivable. I hate the scene, but as much as I hate it, I also felt it was necessary. There was a lesson she needed to learn from it.
The main male character is one of the good guys. But when you first meet him, at least in the part that delves into the past, he’s angry. He’s hurting from things that have happened to him.
In the beginning of the flashbacks, where you meet him, he uses a lot of profanity. I don’t really like using gratuitous profanity. At least, not without good reason. And the reason is as I say above. He’s angry. His cursing becomes more tempered later on, which is used to show he’s changed for the better.
Out of all the novels I’ve written, this is still my favourite. And the one I could see being turned into a tv series or movie. If it was ever offered. It’s one of those genres that tend to work well as police procedural type dramas.
But I suppose I’m biased. After all, this novel was my ‘firstborn’. Haha.
About The Author
