Interview With Amanda James

Behind The Lie by Amanda James

Today, I have Amanda James here to talk about her new book 'Behind The Lie'. Here's the blurb.

Holly West has turned her life around. She’s found a successful and loving husband in Simon and is expecting twins. She is definitely a woman who has taken back control of her future.

Until she gives birth, only for one twin to survive. Holly can’t let it go.

Holly’s world is in a tailspin and suddenly she can’t trust herself or anyone else. No one believes her, not her husband or her best friend. Because she thinks she knows the truth…her son is still alive and she won’t stop until she finds him.

Tell us about your new book, Mandy!

Thanks for inviting me, Helen! Okay, Behind the Lie is about a young woman, Holly who’s had a difficult few years. She left a small Cornish village for the bright lights of London to be a model. Unfortunately, she got caught up with the kind of lifestyle that sometimes surrounds a career like that. She became addicted to drugs and sank into depression. Then she met handsome and wealthy doctor Simon West. Holly soon fell for him; they married and she hopes to live happily ever after.  When she falls pregnant with twins she is over the moon, but then tragedy strikes. Only one of her babies survives. She’s so distraught that she refuses to believe that her son is dead and friends and family begin to fear for her sanity. But Holly is determined to find her son and the story is about her quest to do so.

Where did the idea for the plot come from?

Often ideas for stories just appear as if by magic. Sometimes I wake in the night with a whole story in my head, sometimes they come from a title – A Stitch in Time arrived in that way. I was thinking of a catchy title for a novel and the story followed it in six weeks! But for Behind the Lie, one day I was walking on Crantock beach about twenty minutes from my home, and I looked up at one of the gorgeous houses on the side of the hill overlooking the sea. A dream of mine is to live in a house overlooking a beach, but I’m afraid it will remain just that. Anyway, I wondered who might live in a house like that. The answer came back in the shape of Holly West.

How does it make you feel when you have to make bad things happen to your characters, like you do with Holly?

I feel sorry for them of course, but at the same time know that they will eventually overcome their problems. All the nice characters have happy endings in my books. It’s just the nasty ones that meet their comeuppance, I like making bad things happen to them!

Was there much research involved, and how did you do it?

There wasn’t an awful lot of research really, though of course I researched medical aspects of the story and also the grief of losing a child. People I know have sadly been in that position. Then I wrote the book in about 6 months. Three months after that, it was set to be released into the world!

To what extent is this a departure from your previous novels?

Apart from the two time travel books of mine, there isn’t really a departure. As a reader, I love to try and figure out what is going to happen in a book, what the secret is, or who done it etc. I was inspired to write by Dean Koontz, the wonderful American suspense writer. I gobbled up his stories and he certainly influenced me. He often has a romantic element in his stories and so do I. Koontz often has a paranormal angle also and I enjoy writing those too. Summer in Tintagel and Dancing in the Rain are examples of those. I like reading straight suspense novels, but the added excitement and freedom to go ‘outside the box’ which is afforded by the paranormal is very liberating as both a reader and writer.  Behind the Lie has no paranormal element however, and not as much romance as some of my other books. There is a bit though.

What response from readers to Behind The Lie are you most hoping for?

I’m hoping they like it! Even though this will be my seventh published novel, I still get really worried and nervous every time about how the next book will be received.

What’s next for you in your writing career?

I have another suspense set in Cornwall that will hopefully be out before the end of this year. Watch this space.

What advice would you give to anyone who wants to follow in your footsteps and get a novel published?

I would say, never give up; even when you have been knocked down so often that you don’t think you can find the energy and self-belief any more. Perhaps take a writing course and defiantly get someone that’s impartial to read your work. Determination to succeed is paramount. I have been knocked down and battered to a pulp over the years, but I have had reconstructive surgery and managed to keep finding publishers who think I’m not such a bad writer after all, and lovely readers who seem to enjoy my books.

Thanks so much for the chat, Helen! I really enjoyed it x

Thanks, Mandy. It's been really interesting finding out more about you and your work. 

You can buy 'Behind The Lie' here. 

Amanda James has written since she was a child, but never imagined that her words would be published. Then in 2010, after many twists and turns, the dream of becoming a writer came true.
Amanda has written many short stories and has five novels currently published. Her time travelling debut - A Stitch in Time was published in April of 2013 and has met with great success.
Amanda lives in Cornwall and is inspired every day by the beautiful coastline near her home. Three of her novels are set there, Somewhere Beyond the Sea, Summer in Tintagel and Behind the Lie - April 2017 pub - HQUK ( HarperCollins)
Amanda can usually be found playing on the beach with her family, or walking the cliff paths planning her next book.

Author links – Amanda's blog - http://mandykjameswrites.blogspot.com/
Twitter - @akjames61
Facebook mandy.james.33