Let me tell you a story. My wife and I had trouble getting pregnant. We thought it would be easy. Who doesn’t? After all, we’d grown up believing fertility was like a tap you could turn on or off whenever you wanted. It turns out someone forgot to tell the tap.
We tried everything. Medical intervention. Herbal supplements. Even some of the weird and wonderful old wives’ tales that seemed to have been passed down through generations of mythology, whispers and questionable science.
But beneath all the advice, treatments and suggestions was a question we couldn’t shake.
Were we the only ones going through this? And if we weren’t, how had other people managed?
We didn’t need another bumper-sticker slogan about staying positive.
We needed stories. Stories from people who’d walked the same road. People who’d asked the same questions, faced the same uncertainties and somehow found their way through.
Their stories didn’t necessarily give us answers but they gave us something just as valuable: a different perspective.
Over the years, I’ve known people who’ve had mountains to climb. Difficult truths to face. Unhealthy addictions to confront. Relationships to reconsider. People who’ve relied too heavily on themselves, made questionable choices or kept digging when they were already standing in a very deep hole.
You might have seen that with those around you. You can see something so clearly in someone else’s life, but they can’t. Or won’t. No amount of advice or reasoning seems to make a difference.
But sometimes a story can ask a question that advice never could.
That’s where good fiction comes in. My books are designed to entertain, but there’s more going on beneath the surface, exploring questions I think are worth asking.
The Baggage Handler asks what are you carrying?
The Camera Never Lies asks what are you hiding?
Where the Road Bends asks where are you heading?
I want readers to enjoy the characters, the humour, the unexpected turns and the journey. And then, perhaps, find themselves thinking about something they hadn’t considered before.
So if you know a friend, family member or colleague who might enjoy a compelling story that raises a few interesting questions, lend them one of my books.
Not because you’ve decided they need to learn a lesson. Nobody enjoys being handed a novel that comes with a diagnosis.
But because a good story is worth sharing. And you never know what conversation might begin after the final page.
