Before He Was Famous
by Becky
Wicks
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Falling
in love with your best friend isn’t always a great idea, especially when he’s
Noah Lockton - the sexiest, most famous new talent on the planet. When
21-year-old small-town photographer Chloe Campbell is offered the chance of a
lifetime – to join her celebrity childhood friend Noah on tour as an exclusive
blogger for a New York magazine – she’s certain both have put what happened
four years ago behind them. But his eyes still burn; his voice is still a
jackhammer to her heartstrings; all his songs are about her. Is it possible
that that night still haunts them both?
The
music industry is a machine, spinning hype and rumors as much as his records.
It’s not just Noah’s girlfriends who’ve got it in for Chloe (there’s no
stopping the Twitter-obsessed, cat-loving pop-star Courtney Lentini for
starters). Pretty soon, the jealousy and media frenzy surrounding these
so-called-friends takes a life-changing turn and it seems making love means
making enemies at every turn. When tragedy threatens to pull the final curtain
on their relationship, both Chloe and Noah must make a choice. As much as this
world leaves them starstruck, is living their dream really worth living without
each other?
Excerpt: Noah. Chapter 21
I study her face; the gashes, the bruises darkening her
skin. I reach for her Tinker-Bell necklace, run my fingers over the tiny silver
wings. Our eyes meet and I don't look away and neither does Chloe.
I get another flashback, from out of nowhere, of when we
were kids at aunt Madeline's house in The Bronx. A huge thunderstorm kept us up
in the middle of the night and I crept into her room to find her lying there,
eyes wide open, raindrops thrashing at the huge brown-house windows. I knew she
was waiting for me to arrive because without me she was too scared to get out
of that bed. That house is so old and creaky. We switched places without
speaking and she started trying to capture the lightning with her camera.
She spent more than an hour in the window, working silently,
determined, clicking the camera over and over. Something about her was
mesmerizing. I watched her from the bed and wrote a song in my head about how
she lit up every time the lightning struck, and when she climbed in beside me
she was wriggling under my skin as much as the covers. Chloe became the
lightning then, for me at least, lighting up every room. And so began the storm
in my head.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Becky Wicks is a
HarperCollins author turned indie with her new adult romance, Before He Was
Famous (out now on Amazon.com). She gets asked a lot about how exactly
she became a writer, so we’ve asked her to answer a few questions on the topic!
So why did you become a writer?
You know
what? There really wasn’t a precise moment when I thought ‘I’m going to be a
writer!’ because it’s just something I’ve always done. When I was a kid I would
fill those little notebooks with stories – mostly about talking animals and
magical worlds – and my school teachers would be quite surprised at how much
I’d write! Sometimes I’d fill half a book with one homework assignment. I
actually found some recently and put them on my blog, haha! They’re not as good as I probably
thought they were at the time…
How did you get your first
publishing deal?
I got
pretty lucky, I think! I lived in Dubai for a couple of years as a digital
editor for an online magazine and I wrote a blog while I was there about how
crazy it was to live amongst such madness – it was a totally different world,
watching a city being built around me. I moved to Sydney and turned those blogs
into a manuscript, and I emailed an agent to ask about representation. She
signed me on the spot and within a month I had a deal with HarperCollins
Australia for Burqalicious. That book sold in other countries, and I did two
more after that about Bali and South America! I’m kind of over moving about
though – my real passion is fiction, so I’m seeing how all this goes right now
in the world of self-publishing.
Do you need a mainstream publisher
behind you to be successful as an author?
Absolutely
not. There are some brilliant and inspirational people out there making a great
job of going it alone and these days we have so many amazing tools and
resources at our disposal. Self publishing can be extremely rewarding and
satisfying. I haven’t been signed by a mainstream for Before He Was Famous
because I wanted to see what I could do on my own. It’s a lot of work, being
your own marketer and promo-girl, but it’s so much fun and you really do learn
a lot as you go along!
When it came to the world of
writing, who were your childhood influences?
Oh, Enid
Blyton played a huuuuuuge part in my wanting to write. I would sometimes get
told off by my parents for walking down the street with my nose in one of her
books – you just couldn’t drag me away! I was obsessed with The Magic Faraway
Tree, The Wishing Chair and then later, Famous Five and Mallory Towers. She had
such a captivating tone and even though it might seem dated today, she has a
way of pulling you into her worlds so hard. She was really an amazing talent.
What advice would you give to
anyone looking to write and publish a book?
Well obviously
you have to have a story. It has to be rich and compelling and your
protagonists should be likeable, but other than that, it should be a work from
your heart. I think readers can tell what an author enjoys writing. If you
don’t love your book, chances are no one else will. Set yourself some writing
time every day to keep up the momentum but make sure you’re active on social
media too. You’re going to want to shout about what you’re writing before
you’ve finished it to keep the momentum up. When you’re done have a big glass
of wine and congratulate yourself… and then start looking into marketing! For a
writer, the work literally never ends.
Before He Was Famous is out now on
Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KKS2TQU
Becky Wicks is a HarperCollins author going indie! Itchy feet has
led her to live and work all over the world since leaving England at age 21,
including NYC, Sydney, Bali, South America and Dubai. Right now she’s
scribbling the second book in the HotFlush series in Vietnam, and will soon be
in Vancouver if any hot Canadian men want to make her a cup of tea?
Becky has also written three funny travel books about her time in
Dubai, Bali and South America (HarperCollins). Her first book, Burqalicious -
The Dubai Diaries, her second book, Balilicious - The Bali Diaries and her
third, Latinalicious -The South America Diaries are out now as ebooks.
Becky has also written a comedy romance with author Sarah Alderson
under the name Lola Salt, called The Extraordinary Life of Lara Craft (not
Croft) which should raise a giggle or two... think Bridget Jones if Jackie
Collins had written it!
Follow her on twitter at bex_wicks and her blog www.beckywicks.com
LINKS
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