Can you believe that it’s already been a week since my brand new YA sci-fi novel ‘Frost Hands’ released. It still feels a little surreal to think that my third book is out there in the world and people I don’t personally know are reading it. Everyone has been so kind, and so excited about ‘Frost Hands’ , and I’ve even seen a copy of it out in the wild already! I can’t wait for my own print books to show up so that I can complete the whole set of my published works. Curse you slow shipping from America! In honour of all this, I thought that today I might share a list of seven interesting facts about ‘Frost Hands’.
Being a mutant has never brought Eric anything but trouble. When a new law is proposed requiring all mutants to register their abilities, he’s determined to fight it any way he can. His stepfather’s protests feel like a step in the right direction, but to his horror, Eric quickly discovers that they’re not as innocent as they seem.
Nicola is thrilled when she and her team are given their first real mission; investigating the recent attacks disrupting the protests. At last, she can prove she has what it takes to be an agent. But mistake after mistake leaves Nicola and her team scrambling as they chase a target who always seems to be one step ahead.
As things take a deadly turn, Eric and Nicola must join forces in a desperate attempt to stop the final protest. In a battle of mutants against mutants, doing what’s right means sacrificing everything.
1) At the very start, ‘Frost Hands’ was originally based on the fairy tale Snow White. It was meant to be the first book in a whole series loosely based on fairy tales, from Rapunzel, to the story of Swan Lake. After a few drafts though, it strayed away from its roots and became its own thing, but elements of the original inspiration are still there if you look for it. I still do want to write a proper fairy tale retelling one day, but I don’t think this series will be it.
2) For the longest time, I struggled to find the right title for this book. I find naming books difficult in general, but this one was the hardest so far. In fact, right up until we were designing the cover, it went by the working title ‘Snow’. The name I finally decided on wasn’t even my own idea in the end. My amazing family pooled their collective creativity, and eventually my wonderful mum came up with the perfect name: ‘Frost Hands’.
3) For the longest time, ‘Frost Hands’ wasn’t my main project, but it was my most consistent passion project. I wrote a LOT of stories between the time I first wrote ‘Frost Hands’ and now, include during the period when I finally got serious about editing and finishing my first book ‘The Crystal Tree’. However, tin between all these other projects, the one book I kept coming back to as a break from more series writing was ‘Frost Hands’. Eventually I figured it was probably time to give it the love and attention it deserved and finish it off, because it’s been the project of my heart for such a long time.
4) It’s the first book I’ve ever written with dual points of view. And let me tell you, that comes with a whole host of new challenges. I connected instantly with main character Nicola. In some ways, she sprang to life fully formed and ready to rumble. I understood her motivations, knew her personality, and had real fun writing her scenes. For the other main character Eric, he was such a closed book for a long time. I suppose it does reflect his personality as a person who doesn’t trust easily, or share much, but I was hoping that as his author, he’d at least trust me. I spent a long, long time figuring him out, but in the end, I think he’s one of my favourite characters I’ve ever written.
5) I got to use my real life experience as a waitress while writing this book, and it was so much fun. I’ve never been the sort of person who believes that you have to write only from life experiences. It’s been my favourite piece of writing advice to ignore, honestly. But there was something just so enjoyable about taking my day job and using my first hand knowledge to craft a believable scene set in a cafe. It’s a surveillance scene, and having first hand knowledge made it so much easier to write authentic problems, as well as letting me explore the possibilities and poke a little fun at the same time.
6) This is so far, the only book where my initial cover design from six years ago was actually the design we chose for the real book. I am not artistic in the slightest, but back when I first wrote this book I threw out some ideas for how the cover could be designed (younger me was apparently very ambitious about my skills at that time). The ideas changed a lot over time, but somehow, almost incredibly, we found our way back to the very first concept, which I scribbled on a piece of notepaper with my horrendous art skills (which somehow haven’t improved after all this time). My incredibly talented sister then took that little scribble and turned it into this amazing cover.
7) ‘Frost Hands’ is The first part of a much longer series. Unlike my Song Magic duology (which you should absolutely check out if you haven’t already), The Mutation Files is hopefully going to be a long series. More than two books at any rate! I’ve got Ideas for multiple books, and an overarching plot line mapped out for the whole series. It’s going to be quite the adventure writing this story, and I can’t wait until I can share more of it with you!
For now though, if you haven’t checked out ‘Frost Hands’ already, I hope this post has given you some extra motivation to give it a look. You can add it on Goodreads, or treat yourself to a copy in print or ebook over on Amazon right now!
