michael nye talks about his new (and older) books...

I’ve said that I thought “Mayfly” was my one book that we’re all supposed to have in us. I’m not sure how the latest one “Counting Freckles” has come about if that is the case because it’s number eleven in the Mayfly family. I call the books a family rather than a series because they are each individual stories that can be read alone or in the context of the other tales.

This latest book focusses on a brand new character that wasn’t born or even thought about when Jim and Amanda set off on their ongoing adventures. In fact even her mother was not alive back then. Coleen Phillips is the daughter of Astra who is the only child of Paul and Miranda, the couple who took the young Jim in when he had nowhere to go before the Mayfly adventure started. You with me so far? All of these new characters occupy space in my mind and seem to be telling me their stories a little at a time so that when I finish one book, I can’t just put my feet up because there’s more to tell. After Lois Turner (main character from “The Reed Cutter”) had told her story, it was time for Jim and Amanda’s daughter to have her say. She has a lot to say too and chose to do it in first person style, which presented a few problems for the writer… me! Next came a whole crew of people that appeared in “Maze Days” and other books who set about righting wrongs in their own special way. The older (and not much wiser) Jim and Amanda even took the newly refurbished Mayfly to sea as part of the adventure. Next came “Vee,” the life and times of Jim and Amanda’s long standing friend Vera Potter (who first appeared in Mayfly). Doing that in first person was one hell of a challenge but I did love seeing the world through Vera’s eyes. “Askatasuna” was a complete other kettle of fish, seeing the introduction of two new characters (Ella and Casey) who both have an unknown connection to Jim and Amanda’s original adventures. You’ll have to read the book to find out just what that is.

As always, the writing of each new book gets more complicated as the timelines and characters from past books interact with new ones. Each one has to be both in character and in keeping with the history of the (unrelated) clan of folk that I appear to have created over the past fifteen years since I wrote the first words of Mayfly. I started out with two main characters (plus a handful of supporting ones) in Mayfly and this number has now gone to more than I can count (with even more supporting roles) and a timeline that spans over 90 years.

When I was sufficiently into the writing of Mayfly, I decided that I was going to do pretty much all of the work myself (apart from some proofreading and final printing). I chose watercolour as a medium and all covers are done larger than life (usually A2) using old Reeves and Winsor & Newton paints. Yet again each cover tells its own story by taking references that can be found in the text of the book. Once finished I stick the paintings to the side wall of the house on a day when the light is just right, and then photograph them with a halfway decent digital camera. Originally this was just to see if the images would be suitable when I sent them to the printers, it being my intention to have them professionally copied somewhere. When the word came back that they were absolutely fine as they were, I set about adding titles etc. and enjoying each part of the cottage industry feel that had come about.

Once Mayfly was out, I did wonder, “What happened to Jim and Amanda next?” Cue “Here we Go!” and all the rest. I’m now kind of comfortable with the idea that I could still be writing about the escapades of this curious gang until I finally drop off my perch. Apart from the odd villain, I do like the people from the books and find it hard to kill any of them off. As an author you’re supposed to be able to terminate your characters with ease but I’ve only visibly bumped one of them off in an unpleasant way, and he was irredeemably horrible so he doesn’t count! In short, I have a whole clan of friends stomping around my brain and I’d miss them if they weren’t there. I do sometimes think I should charge them rent but they are mostly quite tidy people and they do pay me back with their stories. I sometimes feel that my characters are actually dictating the tales to me, which is just a tad worrying (on account of the fact that they don’t exist). I remember one episode of Mayfly which unravelled itself in a far different way that I’d got planned because Jim and Amanda had other ideas. After eleven books I should be used to this but when Lois, on the spur of a moment, made what amounted to a major decision in “The Reed Cutter,” I was pretty much completely blind sided by it. Each time I read through during the edit process I thought “Did I actually write that?” but was put off changing it by Lois (who, let’s remember is a fictional character) peering menacingly over my shoulder. But it’s OK, Lois, it’s still there as you dictated it to me and as, no doubt, it really happened in the space that you occupy in your world! Likewise when Coleen steps up to the mark to honour a promise, it was pretty unexpected. I just went with the flow on this one, deciding that it wasn’t such a good idea to annoy Coleen who seemed to have enough on her plate. Such is the case with each of the other books, which could well end up sending me completely bonkers. Then again maybe I always was.

The “Mayfly” family of books so far are; Mayfly, Here we Go! Emily’s Journey, Nearwater, The Ballad of Masie and Linda, The Reed Cutter, Maze Days, The Mayfly Children, Vee, Askatasuna and now (Just out) Counting Freckles. All of the books have river, canal and even a little bit of seawater flowing through the thread of the story, but I do hope that their appeal goes beyond their being books for waterways enthusiasts. They are available from my website www.michaelnyewriter.com (which has links to the Lulu independent online bookstore as well as Amazon and Kindle). I chose to point the website towards Lulu as the main store because they are such a helpful company both in sales and publishing my work.