Firstly, thanks to everyone who has gotten in touch after I released my debut novel, Forbidden Fruit. It means a lot.
If you haven’t checked it out yet it’s available for purchase now as a paperback or kindle eBook on Amazon here. (It would be great if you leave a review after you’ve read it!)
Ahead of release, I thought long and hard about how to visualize the story. There was a method to my madness.
Firstly, I’d put a lot of time into thinking up settings and locations where the action would take place. I thought it would be amazing to have someone look at what I’d written and visualize it themselves.
Secondly, I also thought having some designs wouldn’t hurt when it came for promotional purposes! You might have some of them on my Instagram or YouTube.
To make these, I contacted storyboard artist Pascal to create images representing three of my favourite scenes in the novel.
I was pretty nervous about getting them back. I had faith that they would be good, but seeing something that had been inside your head for several years…well, not scary but certainly it would make it all seem real.
Any doubts I had were washed away by what I received.
Enjoy - I’ve also put in a few lines from the corresponding chapter.
(Note: I’ve made these un-downloadable and I’m thinking about selling them as prints at some point. If that interests you please let me know on my contact page!)
The arrival at Camp Greenwood
The familiar sights of Camp Greenwood revealed itself as we drove up the main road, the car bouncing on the odd pothole no one had ever bothered to fill in.
A few people kicked a soccer ball around on the field next to the driveway, too far away for me to figure out who they were.
The driveway opened up onto a larger sealed area, where dozens of cars parked up as families pulled over-sized suitcases out of car trunks. A group of teenagers wrestled a BBQ off a trailer which would've been loaded up at the church earlier in the day. A boy screamed as his mother tried to rub sunscreen over him, despite it being cloudy with no risk of sunburn.
The first sermon - where it all goes to hell
Pastor John loved how fast his flock had grown. A miracle, he claimed. A sign God must’ve been happy with our work and wanted us to do more. Be bigger. Be better.
I wasn’t so sure, but anything in my mind was quickly ripped from my head by Jacob arriving with Sally through the door that we came through a few minutes earlier.
Sally hung on his arm, like when they welcomed people at the front car park earlier, waving at people as they walked down the steps to the front. She wore a yellow summer dress that flowed around her. Jacob was Jacob, his leather jacket back on—all signs of whatever was going on earlier gone. ‘Jacob the pastor’s son’ was switched back on.
Even so, something seemed off. Like the picture was too perfect. I racked my brain trying to figure out what it could be.
The couple came down the remainder of the steps, almost royal-like, walking past our row before sitting in the front.
The lake - where fireworks fly
I grabbed his hand and he pulled me up the last few rungs of the ladder.
The view was even better from the top. The lake spread out further than I realized, the far bank lined with pine trees that ran up steep hills until they disappeared into the mountains. Snow dusted the very tops of them. A flock of birds flew across the lake in a perfect formation. It was like we were nowhere near Camp Greenwood, with no other humans in sight. Our own little world.
Jacob went back to tying the lantern to the branch. A moth already danced around one of the lanterns. Not knowing what to do, I sat down at the edge of the platform facing the lake, my legs dangling over the edge. I gazed out over the lake in front of me. It was beautiful.
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