The Knock 'em Down Boys - a coming of age novel with a twist!
Who you really are is not always the person that your closest friends want you to be. Rat worried about that before – he’s terrified of it now.
A novel without an audience is like a body without a pulse - it isn’t alive.
I want my characters to be alive. For that to happen, I need you to read my work and see if Rat, Sparky, Robin - and their friends and enemies - can be as alive for you as they have been for me.
The Knock ‘em Down Boys is a coming of age novel centred around: ambition, a culture of violence, masculinity and confused sexuality. I have set my novel in the macho world of football violence - in an average town in England.
I want my vibrant and visceral young characters to come to life in the minds of readers who enjoy an exciting and a challenging read. For this to happen, I would like you to read my book and to tell me what you think.
Why this, why now?
I am launching this space to expose my novel “The Knock ‘em Down Boys” to as wide an audience as possible. I want to share my novel and take feedback from readers. I have been given very positive feedback by publishers and agents on the quality of writing - but I have often been told by the same publishers and agents that they do not see an audience for my work.
The positive feedback is encouraging. However, a book without an audience is not really a book? It is certainly in no way “alive”. I have been inspired by the variety of content and readers on Substack and feel that my work may be of interest to the readers on this platform.
I have written for an audience interested in the challenges and difficulties young people face each day understanding who they are, their sexuality and the worlds they live in. My characters are young adults - but the difficulties that life presents them will interest many ages groups.
When writing the book I observed and talked with young people in order to ensure that my writing was credible and that the problems faced by the main characters were as realistic as possible.
What kind of community am I looking to build here?
I intend to publish chapters of my book on Substack and I hope to develop a readership who enjoy my work and who also offer feedback on what I have written. If my work is received well, then I would look to continue to develop my characters and storylines into further novels exploring challenging issues for young people.
How will you see my work?
Initially, I intend to release most of my work subscription free. My focus will be on the opening of my novel “The Knock ‘em Down Boys”. However, I will also release short stories and poetry if there is interest.
I will look to release chapters each week or so and take feedback on the quality of writing, how engaging my story and characters are, and how frequently that readers would like me to release further chapters/other content like short stories/poetry.
Should my work be received well and an audience develop who want to read more, then I would look to gain subscribers and release:
My novel in full.
Short Stories with a variety of content.
Poetry.
The ideas I have for a second novel following on from The Knock ‘em Down Boys.
Requests for feedback and advice on where you as readers think I should take the characters and storylines of the second novel.
Podcasts and conversations around my writing and writing in general: fiction and non-fiction.
Content from my book about a life on the inside of the world of boxing which I wrote with a world class boxing trainer.
