Work in progress…
It’s taken 8 long years to finally tell the story of The Titan and the Trainer.
Callum and Julian’s characters are still very much in my headspace.
If you want to read more about that 8 year development period - check out the Additional Content section on this website.
Before I’d finished writing The Titan and the Trainer, I already had a good idea about where I could go with their continuing story, to make it book 1 of a series.
Book 2 of the series is already more than half written. I finished writing book 1 in February of 2026, and then immediately mapped out book 2 and continued writing these characters. I did this as a distraction after finishing the first book, to give me some time away from that manuscript before returning to it, and beginning the endless rounds of editing.
For book 2, I had strong ideas for the first two acts, but I wasn’t happy with the third, so I put it on the shelf for a while to think about. I was in Spain in July 2026 for a month, a mixture of working and holiday at my husband’s family home, and it was there I had an idea. The story I’d thought about telling as book 3 of the series, would actually make an action packed act three of book 2. Are you keeping up? So, I swapped out my planned act three, for a new outline. It gives a more condensed overall book 2 in the series. I need to now pick that up, refresh myself with a read through edit of acts one and two, and then plan out and start writing in detail, act three. I think that’s what I shall do next, now that book 1 is finally published.
I’m also developing several other ideas which would be standalone stories, again in the M/M romantic fiction space.
Without giving too much away, the one I’m most excited about, let’s refer to as ‘Project Baker’. For starters, I love my title idea so much, I don’t want to spoil it by giving it away at this early stage. The story centres around Jake, a handsome ex-rugby playing baker, with broad shoulders, flour dusted hands and smudge of buttercream on his cheek.
His hair is dark brown and curly, and he always has a five o’clock shadow of stubble on his face. Jake is disillusioned by the London life. He works long hours, his boyfriend has cheated on him and he wants a fresh start, so walks away from his whole life and buys a small derelict shop in a tiny village. Imagine cover art with lots of detail, rich colours - a welcoming cafe with a lot of scrumptious cakes and dashing Jake as the central figure.
The story follows Jake as he gets his dream venue setup, but having given up on love, he’s then caught off his guard by the hot, flirty sports teacher at the local school. Alongside that, there is the gay couple who move into the big house on the hill…
Lots of temptation causes old feelings to resurface. Combine all this with Sally, the ‘white witch of the high street’ who runs the shop next door, and you have all the perfect ingredients for a cute, funny and delicious romantic comedy.
Whilst on holiday in Spain, I started working on another story that I’d made a brief note of on my phone. Can you guess where it’s set - ‘Project San Francisco’. This had been floating around in my head for a while and started in quite a different way.
I wrote an opening statement about the main character and it was from there, the rest of the idea flowed:
“Diego is a pool boy, no more, no less, a happy one-man band. His uniform - flip flops, budgie smugglers and a pair of RayBans. He’s a guy who knows exactly who he is. Gym fit body, cropped skin fade with a mess of unruly black curls on top, confident attitude and a thick dick he’s more than happy to show off in his tight white Speedos. He loves his job maintaining his clients’ pools, and they love him too - a little too much sometimes.”
Just formulating that statement, led me down a whole thought process about the character and the story, which I have loosely outlined and drafted the first act. I have the overall structure, but need to further plan acts two and three. I subsequently had a very touching late idea, which I also need to weave into the story when I return to it.
There’s also ‘Project Ocean’ which is at the early idea with a shaped act 1.
Imagine, dance captain for the theatrical performances set aboard an ocean liner. Leading man breaks his ankle a week before they are due to set sail. All the complex West End style shows have been rehearsed for weeks. Last minute replacement in the form of a handsome and talented leading man. They end up sharing a cabin. What could possibly happen…
This is only at the formation stage at the moment, but I just sat down one day in Spain in July and started writing and the words flowed. Over a few days I found I had written over eighteen thousand words which is probably half of act 1. That’s definitely an idea I will develop in the future.
I have a few other ideas floating around at the moment that aren’t written yet, including a ‘normal’ fiction story about a couple on their honeymoon where things go drastically wrong for them as they hike through a dangerous gorge. There’s also a story about a gay guy who gets attacked on the street, and all the people who contributed in some way to what happened. There’s a story about Michelangelo’s David in Florence, there’s an AI story in my head at the moment, along with another called ‘Do Trees Grow from the Top or the Bottom'‘.
