Please be aware that the following blog has spoilers for my Dimensions series. If you want to avoid these spoilers, please be sure to read my books and then come back to this blog. You can find copies of Dimensions and the rest of the series by searching for them on Amazon or by looking in the ‘My Books’ tab on my website.
I’ve always wondered what motivates someone, why certain people do or say things I probably would never even dream of. I’m easily intrigued, endlessly questioning. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only person like this out there in the world, so this blog is for those people – or for anyone who wants to know a bit more about why I write about the books I do, what I’m currently up to with my writing, and what my plans are for the future.
Hopefully most of you know that I’m the author of the Dimensions series. I wrote the first draft of Dimensions back in the summer of 2017. I had just passed my GCSEs, and had gotten into the college I had applied for to study English, History and Criminology at A-level. I was sixteen, a very big nerd, and had no friends to talk to. So, I spent the summer before college writing out Dimensions – I’m pretty sure it was my third proper book I’d written however this time I was determined to publish the series.
I don’t have any inspirational reason as to how I got the idea for Dimensions, in fact it came to me while I was in the shower one early evening. It also started out as a completely different idea. It was originally meant to be set here, on earth, and Leah’s dad was going to be her ex instead of her dad. But as I toyed over the next few months with the idea it developed more into what I wanted. I planned it out, properly, and was very stuck on the idea of maybe everything not working out for the protagonist. I wanted a very nontraditional twist on fantasy fiction; something that would kind of make the readers hate me, to an extent, but still make them enjoy the story enough to read on.
I came up with this whole new dimension which I could make my own. A whole world that was completely within my control, with characters I had created – who, admittedly, were not always within my control (it’s hard to explain – it’s almost like I became my characters. Emily usually took a backseat while I was writing).
Once I’d published Dimensions, in April of 2018, I got two main questions asked:
Why have you written such a dark book?
Is your dad like Leah’s?
I can firmly say to everyone, as I did back then, my dad is one of the most supportive people I have ever been around. He has helped me with so much ever since I was a child, he is my hero, and Leah’s dad was not based off him. There are so many different portrayals of parental figures in today’s media that most fictional creations are not based off the writer’s own life. As for the other question, a more in depth explanation is probably required.
Mostly, I wrote this book while I was in a bad place mentally. I was very, very vulnerable, and writing this book helped me find a way to express that side of myself at a time when I felt like I had no voice. While Leah’s situation is so different to what I was dealing with at the time, I was hurting and it felt like the world was against me. Leah and I had that in common.
I wrote Dimensions for many reasons, but the main was to set myself a challenge, and to be able to express myself. I needed a voice, and writing felt like the only way I had one.
Along with this voice came the desire to be loved and to experience and explore love when it felt impossible. I focused on this when writing the relationship (spoiler warning) between Leah and Celso and also George and Mick. This is why some of the relationship experiences in these novels are sometimes unrealistic, or a little YA cliché. They were based off of how I had seen teenage relationships portrayed in the fiction I was reading as well as the fiction I was watching online. I over romanised the idea of messy teenage relationships, but who could have blamed me?
Being in an actual relationship has helped switch my view on life, and I think has definitely helped me mature as not just a writer but also a person. You can clearly see that my writing has matured in some of the newer pieces I am writing.
I think I have always hoped for more out of life. I have been held back a lot, by anxiety and worries and with situations surrounding life in general. Dimensions was definitely an escape I created to help me work through a lonely summer that I knew all my school peers would be out enjoying. I felt like shit, I didn’t know how to express myself and so I channeled all my emotions into writing.
My Dimensions series is quite a dark series. I based a collection of novels around some of my loneliest moments in life and maybe that’s why I have had to take a break. While it helped me create something I was super proud of at the time, now all I can think about when I look at my draft of the fourth books is, woah, this really isn’t what I want to write anymore. And maybe that’s okay. Getting that piece of information off my chest helps me breathe a little easier, as silly as it sounds.
Don’t give up hope, though. I’ve heard that my nan wants to read the fourth book so much that she’s trying to get a hold of the very rough third draft of the book from my lovely uncle (who has helped me edit the books). So, if I can find the time and motivation to come up with an entire new ending and plot for the fourth book – and find a way to nicely transition my writing style – I am going to try my hardest to power through the re-write and publish it for her. This is mostly so I can make sure the original draft never has to see the light of day again, but maybe it will also be so I can finally finish and retire the series. However, I do not want to make any promises – as much as I love the characters I’ve created there, I have grown out of them a lot, and I think I’d struggle to put myself back into their shoes.
At the moment, there are so many different directions I can see my writing going in. I’ve got quite a solid idea of what I would like to do with my website, and with my blog platform. I’m trying to find an audience again after taking almost two years off and I’m planning to write quite a few blogs based around this new path I want to take with my writing.
So, let’s have a look into the future of @emilybrownauthor…
The future I would like to see for my writing is something more mature than what it was when I was a teen – and maybe branching off a little more into writing New Adult fiction. I would like to get all of you readers more involved with my future work as well, I really want to hear your feedback.
On this platform, alongside my blogs, I would love to release snippets of world-building from my new world I’m currently trying to write. This is not only to get you all familiar with the world – through special releases that won’t be seen anywhere else (until maybe the books become published) – but also so that I don’t have to sit on this idea all by myself when I am so stupidly excited to get my new ideas out there.
These little snippets involve descriptions of certain continents in the world I’m building, along with sneak peaks of a map I’m creating of the world, and also stories explaining the myths and legends of the Realm.
I also want to slowly release short stories from the point of view of different characters from within each region of all the different continents I’m creating. This is to help me get an understanding of how each part of the world works and connects with each other. I’m not sure if I want to just release them all here, on my blog, or also as a collection of short stories for people who read my future books based on this world and want to find out more.
I currently have two novels in planning. One is a novel based on a side character from the main series, which I’m really, really enjoying writing. The other is the main story line based around a prophecy created about two different Realms – one being Earth and one on a shadow Realm called (at the moment) Maupo. Once I have finished and finalised the draft of these novels, my plan is to take them to a publisher and see if they are interested in professionally publishing the works for me – obviously under my name.
This would mean that the process is longer, but it would mean that I have a whole other team alongside me backing up my idea and helping me create a piece of work that I am extremely proud of releasing into the world. However, while this means you’ll have to wait a while to read the finalised novel, you would get sneak peaks through descriptive texts, character profiles and maybe released excerpts of the novel such as sneak peaks at the first drafts of the first chapters – or just of pieces I am proud of.
I would release these snippets through here – my website – which will hopefully have a bit of a different image over the next few months (if I can figure out how technology works). I have a new plan for my website – to make it look more modern and a little more up to date with me. I am hoping to also break down my sections on my Dimensions series and maybe turn it a little into a case study, if that makes sense. This is where I would speak about not only what the book is about, but go into more detail about character profiles and the bones of the books. This is to help me take a step back and reevaluate my previous published work and view it in a different light – one that I perhaps need to help me feel proud of what I’ve done once more.
This might also help me find the motivation to re-edit my books and republish them – this would mean that the base of the novel would stay the same, but I would tidy up loose ends, maybe edit the language slightly and get a whole new look for the books. This would also include a whole new cover, and maybe a new sizing so that my books feel more like a normal bookshop book and not something from Amazon.
This is only a rough draft of what I’m planning for my future as an author. I also want to emphasise that I have other dreams outside of writing when it comes to my life that I will also be spending time focusing on – which might slow down the progress of my writing. Nothing in this blog is set in stone, and I might choose to do one thing and then not do another. Either way, I am excited for my future, and I am glad that I now know how to get to where I want to.
If you’ve made it this far, I just want to thank you for taking the time out of your day to read a little bit about where I want to go. Hopefully, in this blog, I have answered some of the questions you have had and you have a better understanding of who I am.
Now, time for the future…
While I’m not blogging you can probably find me on Facebook or Instagram. You can also find my books on Amazon. You can click the little buttons below to find out more!