Prequels are fun. There’s no denying it. Characterisation is undoubtedly my favourite thing about writing fiction and it’s fascinating to delve into a character’s past where you can really show what made them into the people they became in the original books. Perhaps they used to be sweet and gentle and a traumatic event turned them into something very different and infinitely more frightening. Or could it be the other way around – they’d gone off the rails, were set on a path to self destruction and something occurred or perhaps a person came into their life to get them back on the right track. The experiences we have mould us into the people we are, and this can really be explored in prequels. Also, prequels are usually set in an earlier time period. For instance, Wicked Girls begins in the late eighties then continues in the mid-nineties. At those times, I was approximately the same age Toni and Valerie are in the book, so writing this story was a rather nostalgic experience for me, although thankfully my upbringing was very different to theirs! Prequels allow an author to develop an even deeper understanding of their characters because as you write their story you experience it right alongside them.
I felt a little bereft when I’d finished writing the final book in the Gallowburn series because I’d really become attached to the characters, so it was wonderful to revisit Valerie and Toni and explore what turned them into the wicked women they are.
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