Author Debbie Hood has released her debut novel Jackson King and the Morpher’s Heart- today she shares with us ten things she’d like us to know about the author behind the book.
Debbie Hood
One
I always knew I would write a book one day. As a child I used to write short stories and my own comic stories with little pictures. I’ve always liked words and the way they sound, particularly rhyming words, so I have also written a few poems over the years as well, although I have never let anyone read them!
Two
I came up with the idea for Jackson King and the Morpher’s Heart while driving to work. I used to work for a high street cosmetic retailer at their head office as a Cosmetic Technologist. The drive from my house was about an hour and fifteen minutes each way so I had some time to think. I took redundancy after working there for nearly twenty years, to give myself some time off to finally write my book. The story was fully formed in my head before I wrote a single word.
Three
My characters names have mainly come from friends and family names that have been changed around. The name Jackson is my sister’s married surname.
Four
I chose to give Jack a heart condition needing a transplant because I wanted there to be a stark difference between his early life and the life he got after the transplant. Before the transplant he was weak and sick, unable to play sports, skinny and not having many friends. Life after the transplant Jack is energetic and healthy and of course, a Morpher!
Five
The places in my book are mostly made up but the names are similar to real places, for example Jack lives in Ashfield which is not a real place, but it’s near the Ashdown Forest so I took the first part Ash, and then added field because a few places near the Forest end in field – like Hartfield, Uckfield and Heathfield. Tenbridge is not a real place either but it sounds similar to Tonbridge which is not far from I live.
Six
Apart from Jack, one of my favourite characters is Demetria, Victor Bang’s girlfriend, we only meet her briefly in Jackson Hall, she has one brown eye and one half brown / half green eye, (one of my friends has these eyes) but we may meet her again in book two!
Seven
Mine is a fantasy novel aimed at young adults, these are my favourite books. I love Harry Potter and Twilight and The Hunger Games, where the heroes are all teenagers and good triumphs over evil. I like a gripping story and I always like a happy ending.
Eight
I got the name for my villain, Victor Bang, when I saw a car with the number plate 8ANG.
Nine
Some of the words I used came from English words translated into other languages, for example DEALLUS is Welsh for intelligent.
Ten
I work full time as a Product Technologist for another large high street retailer at their head office. I now get the train to work so plan to use that travelling time to write book two.
