Guest Post: A. Finlay talking about "Shadows of Light"
March 31, 2015
My story didn’t begin the way most author’s
do. Not that most authors start in the same manner, but you get my drift.
It all started with a cult. I call it a
cult because that’s the easiest way for you to understand what I’m talking
about, without me having to list every rule I was bound by. Also, I’m
dramatic and it sounds punchier.
Sitting at church every Sunday, Wednesday
night and Saturday, bible on lap I found myself reading further on than was
being spoken about. The bible has so many spiritual wars and awesome storylines
that never get referred to, it’s sort of bizarre that they keep remaking Noah
movies over and over again. Demons, devils, angels, sniveling beasts and
ethereal warriors are scattered throughout the bible. I’d say “Lord of the
Rings eat your heart out,” but this is not an Indiana Jones movie and
consumption of hearts is not encouraged. Unless they are chocolate hearts, then
carry on. I digress.
So therein lies the interest that seeped into the pages of my trilogy, the ultimate good versus evil, except with some characters who are not quite good and others who are only mostly evil.
I didn’t write creatively when I was younger. In fact, I barely did homework. I quit school after year ten, moved out of home and got a job in a skateboard shop. So no one expected me to become an author.
But maybe that’s exactly what they should have expected. I was that kid who got left alone a lot. At school I was the weirdo who went to church, at church I was the younger sister who was nowhere near as cool as her older sibling. I remember being on church camps, which went for an insane amount of time, and I’d end up down at the river by myself, trying not to cry and just hanging out with the nature around me. Looking back, those are some of the fondest childhood memories I have. In a really good way.
I was also a dreamer. When I was only about five years old, I found it really hard to get to sleep. One night my mum told me to think of a story, so I did just that. Every night. But I’d get so into the stories that I would have even more trouble sleeping. There was always a boy, a dangerous situation, and me being the hero.
In real life though, I was shy. Being an insecure extravert is a torturous personality trait to have (especially when your are boy crazy but painfully awkward).
I married young and divorced, well, pretty young too. I’m unsure if there’s a record for the youngest divorcee, but I’m a keen contender. Thus ended my religious upbringing, as divorce is a sin (but being encouraged to marry at eighteen to ‘avoid fornication’ is not). I’m not bitter, just theatrical. I’d moved states for the guy, so most of my family were miles away, my friends weren’t allowed to talk to me (in case they caught my sin I think), and I found myself in one bad relationship after the next (No offence to any of my ex’s, I’m sure they mutually think I’m barking mad).
So there I was, twenty something, living with the worst guy I’d ever dated, confused about life, on my way back to my dead-end job after four weeks off, and I decided to write a book. Shadows of Light, my first novel, my soul piece is about a girl trying to figure out who she is and what she wants. It starts at a similar place in her life to where I was; isolated from friends and family, miserable in my job, no direction. I tell people that the story changed as I added demons, angels, fantasy, but if I’m honest it didn’t really. In a lot of ways they are metaphors for things I was dealing with… minus the boyfriend. The fact that I wrote him out of my book should have hinted me to get out of the relationship, but he made an appearance in other ways. Did I mention there are demons in the story?
I then took it one step further and wrote a gorgeous man into the book who was absolutely nothing like the man I was dating. He changed my life. Every girl knows what she deserves, she just doesn’t believe it exists. Or she’s bored or something. But writing about my ideal man helped me realise what I wanted. So I left my horrible boyfriend.
Only months after writing Shadows of Light, it happened to me. I met the man that not even my dreams could fathom.
So therein lies the interest that seeped into the pages of my trilogy, the ultimate good versus evil, except with some characters who are not quite good and others who are only mostly evil.
I didn’t write creatively when I was younger. In fact, I barely did homework. I quit school after year ten, moved out of home and got a job in a skateboard shop. So no one expected me to become an author.
But maybe that’s exactly what they should have expected. I was that kid who got left alone a lot. At school I was the weirdo who went to church, at church I was the younger sister who was nowhere near as cool as her older sibling. I remember being on church camps, which went for an insane amount of time, and I’d end up down at the river by myself, trying not to cry and just hanging out with the nature around me. Looking back, those are some of the fondest childhood memories I have. In a really good way.
I was also a dreamer. When I was only about five years old, I found it really hard to get to sleep. One night my mum told me to think of a story, so I did just that. Every night. But I’d get so into the stories that I would have even more trouble sleeping. There was always a boy, a dangerous situation, and me being the hero.
In real life though, I was shy. Being an insecure extravert is a torturous personality trait to have (especially when your are boy crazy but painfully awkward).
I married young and divorced, well, pretty young too. I’m unsure if there’s a record for the youngest divorcee, but I’m a keen contender. Thus ended my religious upbringing, as divorce is a sin (but being encouraged to marry at eighteen to ‘avoid fornication’ is not). I’m not bitter, just theatrical. I’d moved states for the guy, so most of my family were miles away, my friends weren’t allowed to talk to me (in case they caught my sin I think), and I found myself in one bad relationship after the next (No offence to any of my ex’s, I’m sure they mutually think I’m barking mad).
So there I was, twenty something, living with the worst guy I’d ever dated, confused about life, on my way back to my dead-end job after four weeks off, and I decided to write a book. Shadows of Light, my first novel, my soul piece is about a girl trying to figure out who she is and what she wants. It starts at a similar place in her life to where I was; isolated from friends and family, miserable in my job, no direction. I tell people that the story changed as I added demons, angels, fantasy, but if I’m honest it didn’t really. In a lot of ways they are metaphors for things I was dealing with… minus the boyfriend. The fact that I wrote him out of my book should have hinted me to get out of the relationship, but he made an appearance in other ways. Did I mention there are demons in the story?
I then took it one step further and wrote a gorgeous man into the book who was absolutely nothing like the man I was dating. He changed my life. Every girl knows what she deserves, she just doesn’t believe it exists. Or she’s bored or something. But writing about my ideal man helped me realise what I wanted. So I left my horrible boyfriend.
Only months after writing Shadows of Light, it happened to me. I met the man that not even my dreams could fathom.
I’m now married with an eight-month-old
daughter, and life is great. I’m also only chapters away from closing out the
Shadows of Light trilogy.
So you see, becoming an author was not that much of a stretch. Had I have known at school that I’d have a passion for writing, I might have passed English. But what is the point of success if it’s all you’ve ever known?
Some people run away from the past, but Aaliya’s past is running away from her. The friends she could always count on are breaking ties and she can’t fathom why.
As her summer holiday from work draws to a depressing close, she wakes to find a creature watching her in the night. She attempts to pass it off as a hallucination, only to come face to face with an ethereal being telling her to run.
Aaliya is left questioning the spiritual realm.
Her path crosses with a mysterious guy from work, and she can’t get him out of her mind. But something isn’t right. He’s always around when the dark creatures are watching.
Aaliya soon discovers she is more than human.
She has abilities.
As Aaliya uncovers her dark ancestry, she comes face to face with her own demons. She learns that the line between good and evil is sometimes a matter of perspective, and war can be declared from a simple lack of understanding.
Shadows of Light dares to play in the Christian genre without advocating religion. The story and its characters, honour the origins of angel and demon legends with biblical quotes that may just have you wondering if the creatures are real.
So you see, becoming an author was not that much of a stretch. Had I have known at school that I’d have a passion for writing, I might have passed English. But what is the point of success if it’s all you’ve ever known?
Some people run away from the past, but Aaliya’s past is running away from her. The friends she could always count on are breaking ties and she can’t fathom why. As her summer holiday from work draws to a depressing close, she wakes to find a creature watching her in the night. She attempts to pass it off as a hallucination, only to come face to face with an ethereal being telling her to run.
Aaliya is left questioning the spiritual realm.
Her path crosses with a mysterious guy from work, and she can’t get him out of her mind. But something isn’t right. He’s always around when the dark creatures are watching.
Aaliya soon discovers she is more than human.
She has abilities.
As Aaliya uncovers her dark ancestry, she comes face to face with her own demons. She learns that the line between good and evil is sometimes a matter of perspective, and war can be declared from a simple lack of understanding.
Shadows of Light dares to play in the Christian genre without advocating religion. The story and its characters, honour the origins of angel and demon legends with biblical quotes that may just have you wondering if the creatures are real.
Where can I get my copy?
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