10 Things I want my readers to know about me by Mairi Wilson

by Lucy Moore | 13 November 2015

I thought my luck had run out. At the age of ten I won four Christmas cakes in different raffles, a fancy dress competition and a goldfish at a fair, and then nothing. But earlier this year my luck turned dramatically when I won the Sunday Mail Fiction Competition 2015 with my debut novel, Ursula's Secret. The prize was publication. I couldn't believe it and had to keep getting up during the night to re-read the email that notified me. Even now the book is out there on the shelves, it feels pretty surreal. But exciting - so, so exciting - and the experience has reminded me never to give up on a dream.
I live in Edinburgh, and love it. For me Edinburgh is to writing what Nashville is to country music. You can go to a book launch or a writer event or a workshop every day of the week if you want to, and there are plenty of fellow writers around to give moral support and encouragement when things get tough. If we saw the sun just a little more often, it would be perfect.
I grew up abroad and have always moved around a lot. I lived in Turkey, Denmark and Spain when I was younger and I think the experience of being an outsider in terms of language and culture helped me hone my observation skills - invaluable when it comes to writing - and bequeathed me a pair of itchy feet.
I still love to travel - but love coming home again just as much these days. Most of my stories are set, at least in part, somewhere else. I think it's the escapist in me and it certainly makes research an absolute joy.
I have never been to Malawi. I was planning to go but events overtook me when I won the Sunday Mail Fiction Competition so the research for the Malawi scenes in Ursula's Secret had to be done from guide books, history books and, of course, the internet. Thank goodness for Google Earth and the generosity of bloggers around the world. I may yet get there though, as I'm considering a sequel to Ursula's Secret. I'd thought the story was finished and I was done with the characters but early feedback from some readers suggests not and has got me thinking... An excuse for a trip to Malawi if I can manage it, anyway.
I love reading and always have done. It's what made me want to write. I try to write the sort of books I'd like to read myself, preferably lying in a hammock under a palm tree on a beach somewhere, with a frivolous cocktail close at hand. I want my stories to be as beautifully written as possible, and if there are any life-changing moments for readers in them too then that's fantastic, but first and foremost, I set out to tell the most engaging story I can and to entertain.
I'm a hopeless romantic - and by that I mean a useless one, which is a large part of the reason Ursula's Secret took me three years to write. I'd originally thought I'd try my hand at writing romance but that's a lot harder than it looks, and because pure romance isn't something I read, I was rubbish at it. Gradually my story took on a darker tone and eventually I hit my stride as the twists and turns, skullduggery and deception that enthrall me as a reader kicked in.
I've been chased by an elephant, waded barefoot through a piranha-infested river, and nearly sat on a scorpion. Really. Makes me sound a bit like Bear Grylls, but believe me I'm not. If I'd suspected for one second any of those things would happen, I'd have torn up my plane ticket and stayed tucked up at home. But they were all extraordinary experiences, after the event at least, and each episode is stored away in my memory waiting to appear in a story.
I don't believe age is a barrier to anything. When I was thirty I went backpacking round the world on my own, when I was 40 I went back to university and did the degree I'd really wanted to do first time round, and a few years ago I turned my life upside down so that I could make the time to write without starving or going stir crazy through spending too much time on my own chained to my computer screen. We only get one shot, so I'm doing my best to make the most of it.
And finally, I write fiction. None of my characters are me, relatives, friends or enemies of mine, or anyone I've ever met. Neither are any of the hotels or businesses mentioned in my stories real. I'm saying that very clearly because I don't want to be sued, stalked or banned from anywhere because of misunderstandings...