Writing was on the wall after competition win

A creative graduate has published her first novel after receiving inspiration and support from one of the country’s most celebrated writers.

Victoria Brown, who graduated from Teesside University with an MA Creative Writing, has just released her book How My Life Became Chaos.

The mum of two, from Ingleby Barwick, won the support of established author and Teesside University Honorary Graduate Adele Parks after being chosen as the winner of a short story competition set by Adele last year.

Victoria said: 'Adele Parks was very inspirational – she has given me so much support and encouragement to help me finish my novel.

'She gave me invaluable advice, not only on my writing but on the publishing industry as well. Adele read over the first few chapters of my book and we then had an hour long phone call discussing it. I redrafted my work, resent it to her and we spoke again.'

How My Life Became Chaos is about a woman who falls pregnant after being with her boyfriend for six months. She runs her own beauty salon and is responsible for looking after her alcohol dependant father. The character struggles to get on with her boyfriend’s family and becomes unsure about whether or not having the baby is such a good idea.

The book is the first in a series of Chaos novels and excitement is already building for the second instalment. Victoria admits the novel was a struggle to write and she had to make sacrifices in order for it to be the best it could possibly be.

She added: 'I do most of my writing on an evening and late into the night. The first draft took me years to complete. I kept coming back to it and changing parts, but once I put my mind to it and established the outline, the plot and the characters, it only took a few months from then.

'I’ve always enjoyed writing and the MA at Teesside University helped me to understand the art of writing and the structure needed. I’m so glad I completed my degree as I believe it gave me the confidence to complete my first novel.'

Originally from Eaglescliffe, Adele Parks went from working in advertising to become a top-ten bestseller with her first novel Playing Away. She went on to have ten top-ten bestsellers in ten years. One and a half million copies of Adele's books have been sold in the UK and her work is translated into 25 different languages.

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