As I’ve said before, novels like mine which have first person narrators, mean you really have to get under their skin.  The story has to be told in the character’s voice, not mine, so I have to get deeply enough into her soul to know how she’ll feel and react, how she regards herself and others, how confident she is, how her sense of humour works and so on.

Until recently I only had two narrators: Hazel Fauld and Tina Burns.  They are best friends, closer than many lovers, but they are also two very different women.  Hazel is a bit of a mischief: a giggler.  Her self esteem is rather fragile, so she’s given to self-deprecating jokes.  In particular, she’s convinced that she’s ugly.  She envies her friend’s good looks and is always amazed if anyone finds her attractive.  She all but worships her big sister, Roisin, and tends to see herself as the junior in more than just age.  Yet others see a lot more in her than she often does herself.

Tina on the other hand is a more serious, more academic young woman, with firm career ambitions.  She is kind, loving and generous, but there is a lot of steel to her nature beneath the gentle surface.

My first four Saltbury novels were all narrated by Hazel, with ‘Haze’, ‘Annie’, ‘Daughters’ and ‘Rachel’.  Then Tina took over for ‘Red’ and ‘Carol’, before Hazel returned for ‘Sisters’ and ‘Roisin’.  Since then, however, she’s taken a definite backseat.  ‘History Girls’ took us back to Tina, and I have another Tina book, called ‘Fracture’ half written.  But since then I’ve branched out a bit.

‘Saltbury Tales’ let me give some of my other characters a voice: from Yvonne Wright, to Ruth Guptah and Chantel Barham.  Even shy little Rosie Drymen took a turn.  My next book, ‘Martine’, features a teenaged Debbie Stewart as narrator and in the meantime I’ve written the first draft of a sequel to the main series with a grown-up Sofie Fauld (Monster) at the helm.

In short, it’s been a full year since I last wrote as Hazel.  But the book after ‘Martine’, called ‘Debbie’s Gift’, will be another Hazel book.  The result is that I’m finding myself in the position you sometimes get in real life when an old friend comes back into your life and you have to get to know them again.  And, of course, getting back close to Hazel also means getting to know her family and friends, and above all her beloved Annie.

At the moment, then, I’m reading my way through the Hazel parts of the ‘Saltbury Chronicles’ and I must confess I’m enjoying it.  By the time I publish a book it’s usually dominated my life for months and I can get rather sick of the sight of it.  But when I’ve had a bit of time to forget, I can read the books more in the way an ordinary reader might and just enjoy them for what they are.  I have to confess I’m really coming to love Hazel again.  She might be irreverent and cheeky, and just sometimes a little too self absorbed, but she’s kind, loving and loyal, not to mention a lot more talented than she realises.

Right now I’m getting towards the end of reading ‘Sisters’, with its dramatic hospital dénouement.  Then there’s just ‘Roisin’ to go before I can return to writing ‘Debbie’s Gift’.  I’m looking forward to it, and hopefully it will come out in time for Christmas.