Velocity

Velocity (2015)

Cassica and Shiara have grown up in an outback settlement far from anywhere. Life’s hard where they live, but these two girls have a dream. They want to take on the Widowmaker: an off-road rally through some of the most dangerous places on Earth. It’s their ticket to fame and fortune. But it just might be the death of them…

If Silver was a siege thriller, Velocity is my sports movie. Except it’s a post apocalyptic sport which is highly dangerous and often fatal. Well, you gotta have stakes…

The idea came to me from an article on Susie Wolff, an F1 Driver who’s been battling to get into the top tier of the sport all her life. I wanted to tell a story about the relationship between two best friends, two girls battling to be recognised in a man’s world, I wanted to talk about fame and how it’s idealised and corruption in sport and all that good stuff.

It’s become almost de rigueur to have a strong female protagonist in YA books these days, but I find it remarkable how many times that ‘strong’ protagonist is the only female of note in the book and they spend all their time worrying about if Boy A or Boy B fancies them more. Cassica and Shiara? Not like that. It’s all about their friendship.

Every time I start out a book I make a decision on the kind of style I’m going to write it in, how long or complicated the sentences will be, that kind of thing. Silver was quite clipped; with Velocity I loosened up and played about with language more. It was a lot more fun to write, and a lot easier to read. But after the Ketty Jay books and now this, I am so done writing chases. No one is gonna chase anyone in any kind of vehicle for a long, long time in my books…