So I wrote Trev when I was doing my MA in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University a few years ago. I was lucky enough at the time to get representation by Felicity Bryan Associates and Trev did go out to a small group of publishers in the UK and a larger group in the US (curtosey of the Rights People who were handling my US rights). Unfortunately, my agent in the UK changed careers so Trev was sort of left in limbo. I do have the complete draft so if there is interest I can post it up here.

One day while doing the MA, I woke up with this opening chapter in my head. Nearly word for word. Trev’s voice was so clear, it was like he was in the room, which kind of freaked me out if I’m honest. I submitted two chapters for a class assignment and was surprisingly encouraged to keep writing it. My main concern was that I didn’t want to sound like I was trying too hard, that it seemed unbelievable and fake. The inciting incident of the story was based on a real event, and it was really important to me to get it right. To do this I spent about 160 hours on research, speaking to young people in London, chatting to social workers in the area, watching films, reading books and articles which dealt with similar storylines and I was even lucky enough to get in touch with an ex-offender. We spoke for two hours about what his life was like, and he was a firm champion of what I read. I was also similarly lucky enough to have a long conversation with a Met police detective about their side of dealing with young people like Trev. All of the people i spoke to said that his story was sadly not uncommon.

I hope that this makes sense and do let me know what you think.

All the best,

Val