Breathing Fire into a Spark
Before Hexed was published, I wrote about what inspired it. It wasn’t just my past job at Madame Tussauds, childhood trips to Butlins, interactive history days or watching the market sellers in Oliver! It was all of those ingredients simmering together in one creative cauldron.
There’s a belief that stories arrive fully formed and completely original. But creativity has never worked like that. Inspiration is a thread. It weaves through history, music, people we meet, conversation and memory.
I was fascinated to learn that the lyric “You remind me of the babe” from Labyrinth, sung by David Bowie, wasn’t conjured out of nowhere. It came from a vaudeville-style routine later used in the 1947 film The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer. Bowie didn’t hide that influence; he transformed it. He filtered it through his own voice and made it unmistakably Bowie.
People often ask where the idea for my new story came from.
I explain that it didn’t arrive all wrapped up in one parcel. It started as a spark while I was playing Mordred on stage in a panto. Something special happens when an actor inhabits a role; you begin to build a private history for a character that exists far beyond the lines on the page. I found myself putting a specific, personal spin on him - not just as a performer, but as a storyteller wondering what lay beneath the surface. But the story itself didn’t start truly forming until two months later. I was sitting in Colchester Arts Centre waiting for a sea shanty gig on my birthday, I looked at the stage and said to Luke, “Imagine Mordred and a band up there. Shall I write a story about that?”
That was it. Not a plot. Just an image - a stage, a frontman, a feeling. I took a mythological name, a performance experience, a vibe and built an entirely different universe
From there, it grew through Camden visits, live gigs, conversations with musicians, research into addiction and recovery. Mordred wouldn’t stop talking to me. So I put the sequel to Hexed on hold and listened to what he had to tell me.
When I met Barry Cunningham, of Chicken House Publishing, recently, he reminded me that the Arthurian legend has been retold countless times, each version different in tone and purpose, yet rooted in the same mythology. My story grew in much the same way.
Inspiration is breathing fire into a spark.
This story became about consequence, vulnerability and the possibility of redemption. Working at St Vincent’s has deepened my understanding of how fragile and resilient people can be. They told me that connecting with the guests will help me understand Mordred’s story.
If this story resonates with someone, or reminds even one person that asking for help is not weakness - then the spark was worth following.
Stories aren’t traced. They’re re-forged.
And, at the heart of it all, I feel this is what Mordred was trying to tell me:
“I want to live, but I don’t know how to do it safely.”
He needed help, and I’m here to guide him xx
