Today on the Open Book Blog Hop we’re talking about the backstory from one of our novels; why we wrote it, why we settled on the story, how we came up with the main characters, why we chose the setting that we did, and what research we had to do before we could start writing.
I thought I’d explain to you how I came to start writing ‘A House Without Windows’. To clear up a misunderstanding, it wasn’t because I’d just read ‘Room’ by Emma Donoghue as some readers have mentioned in the past; if truth be told I’d never heard of ‘Room’ until after I’d published my book and received a review. The inspiration behind the story stemmed from a news item I had seen on TV; three women had been rescued from a house in Lambeth, South London after 30 years in captivity, and one of them was aged 30. This got me thinking that one unfortunate woman had never seen the outside world at all.
I originally thought of telling it all from 9 year old Amy’s point of view as she gradually became aware of the world outside through reading Enid Blyton’s ‘Island of Adventure’, given to her by her captor Edwin Evans, but I decided that the book needed other characters as well. I added in Amy’s mother Beth, to provide an adult viewpoint, and then branched out to include Beth’s fiancée Liam who would obviously have been searching for her. This made me think that after 10 years of searching, Liam would have assumed Beth was dead and so might have started a new life. I therefore introduced Patti, Liam’s new partner, and their son Toby. Other viewpoints clamoured for a place too, and the last two additions were Edwin Evans’ perspective, and that of his son Joss.
I chose the settings of South London, Kincardine, and The Beaches, Toronto, because I had grown up in South London and knew the area like the back of my hand, and had also flown out to The Beaches and Kincardine for a holiday in the summer of 2013, and the visit was still fresh in my mind. I remember being quite amazed on seeing the Mennonites riding along the side of the main roads in their Victorian carriages, and wanted to include them in a small way in the story. I looked back at my holiday photos and came up with the Canadian settings, and wished I had made notes at the time. However, my 15 month old grandson was with us, and somehow I never got to write a word!
I’ve always been interested in psychology throughout my life, and enjoyed writing about how the trauma of incarceration affected both Beth and Amy. People wonder why Beth was affected more than Amy, and I can simply say that children adapt to their surroundings so much easier than adults.
I am surprised that the book has gained so much attention over the two years since it has been published. It gained a New Apple Book Award in 2014, and a Readers’ Favorite Gold Award in 2015. Readers either love the book and lavish it with five stars, or hate it, but thankfully the 49 positive reviews outweigh the 9 critical ones. There seems to be a shortage of in-between reviews. One of my WordPress friends called it a ‘Marmite’ book, and I think she’s right! It is still my best-selling book to date, and at the moment is being translated into German. It is also available as an audio book.
What is P.J MacLayne’s backstory? How did she come up with her main characters? Click on the link below to find out. A computer geek by day and a writer by night, P.J. MacLayne grew up in the rolling hills of Pennsylvania and sets much of her writing in that landscape. She currently lives in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. You can check out her Amazon author page here http://www.amazon.com/P.J.-MacLayne/e/B00HVE8WZI/ and her blogs here http://pjmaclayne.blogspot.co.uk/
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Stevie Turner 
I did enjoy reading the background to your book. Like P.J.Maclayne says above some of the stuff that happens in real life you couldn’t make up. And yes, all our ideas have to come from somewhere.
‘A House without Windows’ does sound like a good read. It’s now on my February list of books to buy.
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Thank you!
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Sometimes what happens in real life is far more unreal than what we can come up with as writers.
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Fascinating! Makes me want to read the book!
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This is an incredibly important story to tell besides. The reality of human trafficking is just dawning upon us, as we’ve pretended the end of slavery came with the close of the American Civil War. Too sad, that is very much untrue. An underground business is flourishing all over the world and many young women and girls disappear into it, never to be heard from again. Your book should be standard reading in high school, along with a long discussion on trafficking and that sordid word feminism.
Thank you for writing it. You well deserve those awards, and those still to come.
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Thank you for your support.
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I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one who has had an Amazon review that suggested similarity to something else.
Ideas can come from a variety of sources and news is available to all of us. Maybe the writer of the other book got their idea from the same source. Readers need to be aware that there is no monopoly on ideas.
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Too true!
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Reblogged this on aurorawatcherak.
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Thank you.
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