5 mOrE sLeEpS...

...until I see my story on this shelf.

I've always wanted to immortalise my work. Some piece of myself. But the inspiration, for the protagonist of #facevalue came from, not just the obvious role models of horrific and thrilling storytelling, but from a deep-seated fear of mine. An insecurity of which I imagine a lot of us might relate: that everything about your life will fail.

I feared becoming all of the things - suffering all of the things - that make up Neville Pike. I have feared ending up alone, meaning so little to family, that love would not at all work out and that I would remain unwanted. I feared I would become a parent, only to end up separated from my family. And I have feared getting trapped in the most dead-end job, that life will have passed me by, and that I would never be able to pursue my dreams, or worse - that I would have no dreams at all...

So I wrote this story to see where the person I feared becoming would go, and how he would end up. And, funnily enough, I don't think I was that far off the mark...

I suppose Neville Pike, to me, is simply an unchecked version of myself further down the line. Although, I would seriously consider that he is perhaps an unchecked version of all of us. I am biased and have a stake in this story, but this could be exactly why you should give it a chance.

What are we when we don't have the chance to be ourselves? Frustrated, for one. And if we are constantly met with adversity when we are being ourselves, it can be so invalidating. De-humanising, on the worst day.

So please, feel free to take this journey with Neville, who thinks one thing and is forced to say another, as he is met with a crisis that turns his repressed self inside-out...

...and the growing pains that come with it.