Claire Sheldon is an author from Nottingham, who has written three novels. Releasing her first novel “Perfect Lie” in 2020 she has continued to release two other books “A Silent Child” and “A Burning Lie”. These novels form a series following Detective Jen Garner through a string of mysteries. Claire currently has a fourth book in the works that will continue the series further. I talked to Claire to learn more about what it is like to be an author and what her creative process looks like.

 

Claire was never a bookworm as a child but her love for books was ignited by a gift, “My husband bought me a Kindle for one of my birthdays and I went from there”. Since then Claire has reads lots of “psychological fiction these days. So Mark Edwards, Cally Taylor, big fan of Rebecca Bradley who also writes Nottingham fiction”.

 

Claire became an author later due to her multiple sclerosis, which is a condition that affects the nervous system. This gave her more time to develop a new skill. “I had my hours cut at work, because of my health. So I suddenly found having all of this free time and nothing to do with it. So I went on a writing course, an adult education writing course, and as they say, it all went downhill from there.”

 

Finding inspiration is a big part of being an author and finding the initial spark can be challenging. One of Claire’s sources of inspiration is TV police dramas such as “The Bill”. “I used to watch that [The Bill] a lot when I was younger and that’s very police procedural based and I think it’s all come from there really.” She also noted that she takes inspiration from programs such as “Spooks” and “Inspector Morse”. Another one of Claire's sources of inspiration is daydreaming, so all in all a “mixture of lots of police procedural programs and lots of daydreaming.”.

 

Authors can often be referred to as plotters or pantser. When asked where she thinks she falls Claire said “I’m defiantly not a plotter. My publishers would love me to be a plotter, but I’m definitely not.”. Despite this Claire sets herself deadlines to try to stick to and her writing software helps with this. “I put into my writing software when I want to finish it. For example, I want to write 80,000 words before the first of September so it tells me how many words I need to write a day.”. However, it’s not always very easy to stick to a schedule. “I try and stick to that but I’m not very good at it. It really depends when the mood takes me and what’s going on.”.

 

While the writing process can be challenging once the book is published it can be really rewarding. “I love it when people reach out to me and say, ‘Oh I read your books, really enjoyed reading them’”. Claire also commented on seeing her book being sold felt. “We were away in Cornwall and I went into a ‘Works’ and there was my little book. So that was quite bizarre.”.

 

Novels are a great way to indulge yourself in another reality for a time and get lost in a gripping tale. If you’re looking for something new to read check out Claire Sheldon’s series. You can find them on Amazon at this link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/author/B089N3J9KP/allbooks?ingress=0&visitId=198b5195-0ec4-4172-a966-5568b1655d13