Tell us about Ice Diaries

I’ve imagined living in London under a lot of snow for years, ever since reading Fred Hoyle’s book Ice predicting a new Ice Age, and wondered how I would manage as the rising snow lapped my window sills. Finally I wrote this story about it.

What genre is it?
Tum te tum te tum…. Oh look, a squirrel!

Deep breath.

Ice Diaries is a post-apocalyptic romance/thriller, written with humour. I’ve never yet managed to write a novel that fits squarely into a genre, even when trying. So shoot me.

Okay, but what kind of readers will it appeal to?
Readers who like a well-written page turner with believable characters.

Complete this sentence for us: If you like__________, you’ll love Ice Diaries.
Nick Hornby’s About a Boy.

We’ve all read post-apocalyptic novels before. But Ice Diaries is a little bit different, isn’t it?
It’s not all grim conflict. Tori and her friends cope much like the average reader would. They are the sort of people you might meet at an Islington dinner party, and given their lack of manual skills, they manage reasonably well. They dig down to shops for supplies, get together for a ceilidh once a month, and run a book club. Dealing with the arrival of Mike and his gang is out of their comfort zone.

Why did you choose to set Ice Diaries in the near-future, rather than in 2091 or thereabouts?
I wanted to make readers consider what it would be like, now, to survive the collapse of civilization. I didn’t want it distanced by setting the story in the far future. And we’ve been having some terrible extremes of weather lately – supposing the rain, snow or droughts didn’t stop, just carried on? Civilization is more fragile than people think. My daughter learned Jiu Jitsu at university, and that might be as useful as anything else she studied there.

You mention a daughter, tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m a designer jeweller/silversmith, and work for myself. This meant that self-publishing was less of a stretch for me than for most people – I’m used to doing everything and taking responsibility. Plus jewellers are precise and work with fine detail, handy for proofreading and formatting, and I have transferable artistic skills for cover designing. I love Adobe Photoshop with a passion, though it was a tempestuous relationship in the early days and we still throw plates occasionally. The good thing about doing everything myself is my ebooks cost me nothing to produce. From the first sale I’m in profit.

You’re self-sufficient, sounds like you would survive if the country was under 20 metres of snow.
I really, really hope I never find out. The main worry would be ill health or toothache, though I’d hate to live on tinned food, but I’m adaptable when I have to be and good at improvising. And there’d be an upside – no more petty regulations, no tax, no celebrity chefs, no politicians…

Have you been too busy with new work, or have you had a chance to reread Ice Diaries since publication? What did you think?
I’m sure some people think enjoying reading your own books is as bad as laughing at your own jokes – but if you don’t find your own joke funny, why would anyone else? I’m currently formatting for the print edition of Ice Diaries, which involved rereading. I think it’s pretty good.

Do you write according to a strict schedule or do you have to wait on inspiration?
I’ve tried waiting for inspiration, and it’s a mistake – although it’s fantastic when an idea full of potential pops into your head. Normally a book takes me a year, but with Ice Diaries I set myself six months to write it – perfectly possible if I wrote 500 words a day. I only managed 400 because I had to rewrite some bits – one chapter I wrote three versions of – but my first draft is always highly-polished. From start to finish, beta readers, formatting then loading on Amazon’s KDP took six and a half months. I made the cover when I was a bit stuck at one point.

Have you got a site where readers can keep up with your work? Do you use social media?
My website is www.lexirevellian.com. I have extracts from my writing, and links and photos to do with my novels so people can see what the places and things I describe look like. Readers can contact me from there; I love getting reader emails and always answer them. (It distresses me unduly if an address is wrongly typed and I can’t reply.)
I am on Twitter and Facebook, but moderately clueless about both. Especially Facebook. Everyone seems to get it except me.

Where can we buy Ice Diaries?
Amazon UK and Amazon US for the Kindle version. I’ll be bringing out a paperback shortly, available from Amazon. Signed copies from my website.

What’s next?
So many readers ask me for sequels that, if I possibly can, I’m going to write a series next. But I’ve no idea what it’ll be about yet. Except ever since Remix
I’ve been wanting to work in a scene where a car chases a bicycle, and maybe I’ll manage it in the next book.