Lucy Lyons is the Author of The Finding Machine!
Lucy Lyons worked in London as an editorial illustrator before realising she loved writing novels so much, she wanted to do that full-time.
She now lives in leafy Surrey with her illustrator husband, two grown-up boys and a bearded dragon called Pancake. When she’s not at her desk writing, she loves to escape into the garden and other worlds.
Lucy writes page-turning mystery novels with a sprinkling of magic.
Have you ever cried at a book?
It takes a lot to get me weeping, but two books immediately spring to mind - The Time Traveller’s Wife, by Audrey Niffeneggar, and The Light Between Oceans by M L Stedman.
Have you ever met your writing hero? If so, what were they like?
I met Peter James, the UK’s bestselling crime novelist at the Hay Literary Festival. He was charming, personable, and he took my first three chapters of one of my novels and actually critiqued it!
Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?
My recently published novel, The Finding Machine, is set in 1998, when Amazon, eBay and Google were just around the corner. I loved the 90s nostalgia and it seemed a natural progression to write the sequel the year later. My current work in progress is set in 1999. Everyone’s looking towards the new millennium – but the Millennium Bug is troubling computing experts world-wide. When 31st December turns to 1st January, many computers will fail, including the finding machine. My main character’s quest to future-proof the machine is one of the threads running through the novel.
If you had to do something differently as a child or teenager to become a better writer as an adult, what would you do
I wish I had taken a degree in Creative Writing or Journalism after A levels. Looking back, however, I’m not sure Creative Writing degrees existed! I also wish I had had a broader circle of critiquers earlier on, but back in the 1990s, everything had to be done either in person, or post, so my options were rather limited.
What’s the worst advice ever given to you as a writer?
Write what you know. I advise writers just starting out to throw this advice out! Instead, write what you love. Write about things that interest you. These days, it’s easy enough to research unfamiliar jobs and scenarios convincingly. For example, I once wrote a fantasy battle, and several of my critiquers asked if I had served in the army, or trained as a trauma surgeon! I took their comments as a wonderful compliment, and it reassured me I could write things I didn’t know well, if I was careful to get the facts right.
Find Lucy's work on Amazon!
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