I’ve never set out to write any particular kind of book. If someone came to me and said ‘Pamela, here’s a million bucks! Write me a *Insert Some Kind of Book Topic Here*’ I’d probably faint. Then whenever I came around I would have to respectfully decline. Unless of course, the *Insert Some Kind of Book Topic Here* could be applied to a book idea I already had, then not only would it be an awesome payday, but it would be a severe stroke of luck.
My first book was written aged six. I asked my mum to make me a book. She cut up some A4 paper, taped it together and voila! I had somewhere to put my words. I wrote a story about a little girl who wandered into the barn beside her house one morning to discover her parents had bought her a horse. Really, it was a happy, but utterly fictitious, story. I’ve never liked horses. Their size terrifies me. But I like giraffes, so go figure.
As a teenager I wrote a lot of crap-tastic stuff. Mostly romance stories centred around which boyband I was obsessed with at the time and how the entire band met this one cool girl and they were all friends and she ended up dating most of them at some time or another. Except that one guy that no one ever had a crush on.
Enter adulthood. Well, I was twenty-two. Can I count that as adulthood? Probably. I’m twenty-eight now, married with a child and I still don’t feel like a proper grownup. Anyway, there I was: twenty-two and bursting with ideas. My first ‘proper grownup’ book was a historical romance fiction. Then came a few contemporary romances. My next three or four books were YA, a product, really, of falling in love with the genre for the first time. I was discovering authors like John Green and Maggie Stiefvater and I loved their work.
Then one night I had a dream.
A lot of my books start, or get their jumpstart this way. I think my mind relaxes and lets me see what I’ve been straining to during the daylight hours. Anyway, this night I had a dream. In a roundabout way, it was a pack of vampires at Britain’s Got Talent. A girl worked behind the scenes and met the vampires, posing as an act. She falls into this heady and bloody affair with the lead vamp and gives up her life for him. A friend read it and recommended that I up the sex.
Up the sex?
I’m not a prude by any means. I’ve always enjoyed romance novels, and definitely like the steamy, sensual ones. But me write one? What the hell did I know about writing believable, and tasteful, sex scenes? Don’t get me wrong, I’ve written about sex in plenty of my books. Just not, you know, graphically. My first attempt was pretty awful. Too technical ‘he touched her here, his hand went there, she grabbed his,’ kind of stuff. I just needed to get out my head. Write it like I write everything else – by my characters. Forget the ‘what-goes-where’ side of it, just write it, the sensations, the feelings, the emotions. From there I was golden.
It was my first book that didn’t get a rejection letter.
From that moment on I stopped being afraid to go places with my writing. Nothing was forced, if it didn’t fit, I didn’t write it. Some books called for a more vague scene, others flat-out and pulse-racing.
It’s fun to let go of restraints and just go with the flow. My latest book, Now You See Me, is pretty much as free as it gets. My main characters, Jo and Nate, have some big problems. But in their physical relationship, they have no boundaries. Anything goes and where in the rest of their lives things are uncertain and can be on shaky ground, in the bedroom (or any room) they are sure, confident and free.
My family couldn’t be prouder of this book. Cousins, aunts, parents tell anyone who will listen that I have a new book coming out in the way that only proud family can.
My mother assures me she will never read it. But she still tells everyone about it.
Blurb for Now You See Me, the newest addition to Totally Bound’s What’s her Secret? imprint
Invisible. A ghost. No one sees her. No one knows her. Until him.
For the last seven years, Jo Carpenter has been a ghost in her own life. No friends. No permanent address. No long-term job. And that is exactly the way she wants it… Until a typing error lands her on Nate Harding’s doorstep in the city of Edinburgh, answering his ad for a roommate.
Nate and his luxury house are a different world for Jo. Tall, rugged and with a voice that seems hardwired to Jo’s sex drive, Nate is a distraction Jo can’t afford, but neither seems able to fight the growing tension between them. Nate’s touch brings Jo back to life and every encounter leaves her craving more. As they grow closer and intimacy creeps its way around them, Nate knows there are things Jo isn’t telling him. What he doesn’t realize is the less he knows about Jo and her past, the safer he is.
For years Jo has been careful—hasn’t let her guard down, got too comfortable or let anyone get close enough to see the person beneath her protective armor. Soon it isn’t just Nate that Jo has fallen for—it’s his whole family, from his adorable niece to his eccentric sister, Suze, who quickly becomes the best friend Jo has ever had. Against her better judgment, Jo let’s herself believe she can have a normal life. In Nate’s arms she forgets the things that haunt her, and the reasons she should leave that innocent family become all the reasons she can’t.
Reader Advisory: This book contains scenes of physical abuse and a reference to enforced undressing.
Like the sound of Now You See Me? Buy it here.
About Pamela L. Todd:
Pamela has adored books since she can remember. There was no greater pleasure than discovering a new world to venture into, a new character to fall in love with…until she created her own and realised there was something even more magical.
When she isn’t locked away at her computer, or scribbling in a notebook, Pamela can be found as her alter ego—namely wife to Matthew and mother to Todd. They also share their home with a schizophrenic cat and two greedy goldfish.
Enter Totally Bound’s competition for the chance to win Now You See Me and three What’s her Secret? Titles.