Promise fulfilled

‘I have been a subscriber of Writing Magazine for many years and I always find it inspiring when reading about other members’ writing journeys,’ writes Victoria Gemmell.

‘My love of writing started young, my confidence growing when my shorter fiction slowly started to get accepted for publication in journals and anthologies.

‘My debut stand-alone young adult mystery novel, Follow Me, was released in October 2015 by Strident Publishing Ltd. I decided to request the rights back for my second YA mystery, Promise Me, delving into the world of indie publishing.

‘Promise Me centres around seventeenyear-old Darcy who writes to local convicted teen, Christian, convinced witch-hunt style social media coverage on the run-up to his trial led to a miscarriage of justice. When Darcy starts to uncover secrets from the night of the murder threats begin and she doesn’t know who to trust.

A big theme of Promise Me is the way in which press coverage and social media has the power to portray a certain narrative during high profile, emotional murder cases. One of the inspirations of this story was my memory of the sensationalist press coverage of convicted Scottish teen Luke Mitchell and the demonising language and character assassination used in reporters’ narratives. Promise Me is a work of fiction, set in an affluent fictionalised Scottish village, and is not about this case, but I hope my book makes people think about how damaging media narratives can be.

‘My writing journey has definitely taken a lot of twists and turns, but thanks to many inspiring and encouraging writers and readers I’ve kept on the rollercoaster, enjoying where my imagination might take me next.’ Website: https://victoriagemmell.com/