My holiday journal as source material for After The Storm

After The Storm is about two couples who set off together in a 37 foot boat after knowing each other less than 24 hours to sail to a paradise island in the Caribbean Sea called Roatan. But like most paradises it is not free of trouble. 
I made the sail of 138 miles from Belize City to Roatan and I was a complete novice at sailing. I could not have written After The Storm without that first-hand experience. Roatan is one of the Bay Islands off the Honduran coast and is ringed by the third largest coral reef in the world.

On my journey I kept a journal and took lots of photographs. I have always kept journals when I go on holiday and how very useful this one proved to be. It was full of descriptions of the food I ate, the fish I saw when I went snorkelling and the birds on the island. This is why conch stew, live lobsters, a battered grouper and pelicans landing on a mangrove tree make an appearance in the novel.
My photographs, now rather faded, were also invaluable in helping me create the atmosphere of the island. They reminded me of local details, like the duckboard jetties that lead to some waterside houses. I used just such a jetty in a key scene where one of the characters delivers a suspect package and ends up hiding in the water under that house!


This photo with the fishing boats moored right next to the houses show how closely the communities rely on the sea. You see working boats, shabby and much used, cheek by jowl with stylish yachts. Roatan is still a place of poverty and wealth and I worked this into the novel.




The photo at the top of palm trees and coconuts lying on the white sand is perhaps everyone’s image of a paradise island. Roatan has some glorious beaches and I wanted to capture moments of peace and beauty in the novel, although the Roatan my characters experience has a much darker side too.
The setting was starting to feel very real to me again. My task was to create four different characters each with their own fears and desires to put in this exotic setting. At an early stage I created character sketches for all four. There is Anna an English speech therapist who is scared of much in the physical world but is brave about emotional crises. Her partner Rob has a strong Robinson Crusoe fantasy and would love to find his own personal wilderness. The American couple Owen and Kim are less straightforward and you sense they are escaping from something. There is a frisson of sexual attraction between the two couples and there are secrets too.
It is when they reach the island that these secrets will emerge and challenge the four of them to the limit.
This piece first appeared on The Prime Writers website.
AFTER THE STORM and THE LIE OF YOU are published by Head of Zeus.