Mo Fanning - British writer and comic

Rebuilding Alexandra Small

Writing: How to decide on the story I want to tell

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In the middle of promoting my recent book – Rebuilding Alexandra Small – (99p for the month of July at most eBook sellers) I’m also writing something new. It’s the weird way of the writing world that you truly want to put all your energy into a new project, but need to set a decent chunk of time aside to sell something that’s over a year old in your head.

I’m midway through the third draft of what I hope to share either later this year or early next and the story continues to twist and turn and bend into all kinds of new shapes. I was sure I knew what I wanted to say with this next novel, but it turns out I want to say more thing. With rebuilding Alexandra Small, I wanted to address recovery and making amends – and what happens when someone you forgot about sticks their head up and says ‘what about me?’ The central storyline deals with paying the price for not saying sorry.

For my (as yet untitled) work in progress, I have three key storylines. An older couple, a younger couple. A gay couple, a straight couple. Something nefarious involving the church. And it’s all set on a Christmas cruise to the Bahamas. I started with the focus firmly on one of the key players, allowing others occasional goes at speaking to the reader. Then I switched in the second draft, dividing time equally. It’s just dawned on me in the third draft, that my previous favourite character is actually quite safe. She takes few risks. She could even be called dull (but only by a close friend). And I wanted to explore why. It’s helped me focus the theme for the new book. One of the other key characters suffers from the weight of meeting expectations and feeling inadequate. Another struggles to make good for an impulsive argument that split his family. I thought I might have many things to say with this one, but now I see I have just one: being true to yourself comes with a cost, but it’s worth paying.

Pitching your writing

As a writer, it’s vital to distil your story into one or two lines. This lets you stay focussed on the end-game and kill any non-helpful darlings in the edit – taking out each and every fabulously written chunk of prose that fails to advance the story. Having this essence bottled makes it so much easier to talk about your book when you reach the marketing or pitch stage. It’s a way to be sure of meeting the expectations of your genre, your readers and that demanding inner critic – the one who keeps bleating on about imposter syndrome. For me, everything starts with one (or more) character(s). You might work differently.

I’ll aim to share some pages with my mailing list subscribers in the coming weeks. In the meantime, enjoy the sun. If you’ve never tried placing a bottle of frozen water in front of a table fan, do it now. You’ll thank me.

And if you can spare a pound/buck/yoyo, please buy an e-book this month. It’ll help make paying my mortgage that little bit easier.

Low cost ebooks

Truly a joy to read – Rebuilding Alexandra Small

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Rebuilding Alexandra Small

This is a review of Rebuilding Alexandra Small from ‘The Book Review Crew‘ as part of the launch blog tour for my new book – which in case I forgot to mention is on sale now in ebook and paperback from each and every bookseller in the whole galaxy. (perhaps)

Rebuilding Alexandra Small was truly a joy to read.  It evoked ALL the feels: happiness, anger, surprise, slight anxiety and…. did I mention anger?

The story centers around PR exec and WAG Allie, who, with her semi- famous athlete husband Jed, is trying to have a baby. I immediately got the DANGER vibe from the fertility doctor and instantly hated her. (I mean, I even surprised myself with the level of loathing I had for this woman, the moment I met her on the first page of Chapter 2.) I thought the story was moving one way, but Fanning tricked me a bit and it went in a whole ‘nother direction.

Suffice it to say, Jed is a pig and commits a piggish act.  And Allie is blindsided.  This story is truly how she rebuilds her life after an incredible betrayal. Mix in a ton of LOL moments and it was a really great read.

a bit of a roller coaster ride … But an enjoyable one, for sure!

The story moves fast; there are quirky characters and funny, funny one liners.  I had to remind myself a few times it was written by an Englishman so some of the slang cracked me up, where anyone living in the UK would probably read over it like we do with our popular swear words.  (To me, “I told him to get to f” is just hilarious. I don’t know why. I’ve never heard “f off” said like that.) Her family is funny and super supportive, even though the author lets us into Allie’s past where there were a host of bad decisions and dark times.  None of us are perfect, and Allie has some serious regrets of yesteryear. But unconditionally, her family loves her, even if her mother is a bit of a wild card.

Several different story lines orbit around Allie and Jed; the media who want the scandalous story and the bottom feeders who dig up dirt to keep Allie and Jed the front page’s headline. The relationships she has with her family play out, including  her father’s story and how it connects to her. She is forced to face past errors in judgement and coming to terms with what she really wants out of life.  Sometimes it takes hitting rock bottom to make you see where you want to go.

Fanning does a GREAT job of throwing us into ALL our emotions within these two hundred and sixty eight pages.   It really is amazing. I could be ready to reach into the pages of this book to throttle Jed and then someone drops a one-liner that almost makes me wet myself from laughing. (It’s a thing folks. I’m 46. It happens). He also does a great job of making Allie accountable, not simply a damsel in distress. So many female characters are “rescued” and that is so old and boring.  Allie falls on hard times, and it is hard for her to pick up.  She is betrayed and lied to, but doesn’t run right into the arms of someone else to feel better.  (Although there is this one guy….there is ALWAYS a guy….) The price of being a famous athlete’s wife is high and  when things goes awry, she is thrust into the unknown. She handles it with grace but also a little bit of grit, and gives a bit sour-tasting medicine right back to a couple  of mean, mean bitches. (You know who you are, but no spoilers here so you remain anonymous for now).

I think the book ties up nicely at the end and comes full circle, although it takes us on a bit of a roller coaster ride to get there. But an enjoyable one, for sure!

A solid, funny 5 star read! I will definitely be checking out his first book, “The Armchair Bride”.

Genuinely lovely reading – another review for Rebuilding Alexandra Small

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Rebuilding Alexandra Small

This is a review for Rebuilding Alexandra Small from Handwritten Girl’s blog, as part of my book launch blog tour.

Six years sober, Alexandra Small has it all… and then one day, she very publicly doesn’t. When her perfect world crumbles, a face appears from Allie’s drunken past, hell bent on revenge. Can she rebuild her life before a stranger destroys it forever? And should she spend three weeks in an overheated shed having colonic irrigation with daytime TV’s Megan Macmillan? In this laugh out loud treat of a novel, Mo Fanning tackles the difficulties and misadventures of work, love, and being seen for who you really are.

Can I just say, that I loved this book!

a fun and witty story about new beginnings, love and facing new challenges that is genuinely lovely reading

I started reading it late on a Sunday evening which was a big mistake and spent most of Monday looking longingly at when I couldn’t read it.

The story is seen through the narrative of recovering alcoholic Allie, who’s life has fallen apart when her marriage to a famous footballer ends, she’s loses her job and someone is selling stories about to her the press.

All these things happen to Allie in a short time and not once does she give up. She keeps strong and is determined to reinvent herself and start a new career owning the childhood cafe that her and her best friend Izzy went to. She hires a handsome Polish solicitor called Tomas to sort out her divorce and like her, I found myself falling for the sweet character who’s like Allie in many ways.

I loved the characters in this book, they were vibrant, bitchy and strong females all out for justice and independence. Another character who was great was Megan, who was the face of daytime telly and is determined that Allie works with her to get both their careers back on track with her own failed marriage. She’s outspoken and ballsy and made for hilarious reading in parts.

The story is also written in the past tense in some parts, as Allie reflects on how she became an alcoholic and reliant on drink. This makes for sad reading at times, as her childhood was far from perfect with her own father battling depression.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, but I did have one small gripe. There was one character who was particularly vile to Allie and I would have loved to have seen more of her getting her comeuppance. Apart from that issue, this book was a fantastically uplifting read.

‘Rebuilding Alexandra Small’ is a fun and witty story about new beginnings, love and facing new challenges that is genuinely lovely reading.

Difficult to put down …

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Rebuilding Alexandra Small

This is a review for Rebuilding Alexandra Small from Ceri’s Lil Blog, as part of my book launch blog tour.

I was drawn to this book as I was intrigued by the emoji style cover and the title. I wondered how each fitted into the plot, and how Alexandra Small goes about rebuilding her life as this was something I had to do, to a certain extent, a couple of years ago.

My thoughts:

I do love a revenge story, so I was taken in by the blurb. However this revenge story focuses almost solely on the experiences and difficulties faced by the victim, and this definitely helped me build a connection with the character of Alexandra, or “Allie” as she is known to her friends.

I definitely identified with Alexandra and in some ways I admired her as well. She is brave and hopeful following the upheaval in her life, and she is extremely strong when it comes to facing her demons and remaining on the right path.

However, I am aware that that description makes it sound like a far more serious book than it is. It does cover some sensitive subjects including suicide, alcoholism and infertility, but I think it is definitely accurate to describe it as laugh out loud and humorous at times too, as well as being dramatic and serious.

I really enjoyed this book and found it difficult to put down. I think Alexandra is a character that will stay with me for quite some time. I enjoyed following her journey and meeting the wonderful support network she finds around her. I would recommend this book to fans of Jessica Redland, Lucy Diamond and Milly Johnson.

Buy my latest book here

Think of the neighbours

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Neighbours

It’s time for the Fannings to leave Brighton and float up the country. Hopefully coming to land somewhere in the middle – far, far from neighbours.

Like Alexandra Small in my upcoming book, we’re moving from the home we’ve never really loved enough to want to make it forever. While Allie’s hand is somewhat forced after losing her job and her husband all in the space of a few hours, the need for quiet guides our hunt. I’m dread invites to ‘supper’ from former public schoolboys wearing red jeans. I end up sat next to a skinny branding consultant called Justin. We’ll chat about hot yoga, Tom Hiddleston, the hazards of buy-to-let, and the novels of Elena Ferrante. There’s always some woman crying about an imaginary problem she won’t remember in the morning. We don’t fit in.

I’ve had neighbours most everywhere I lived. In Amsterdam, we were crammed in tight, under a hockey teacher who made vigorous love each Sunday afternoon at 3pm to her otherwise placid looking companion, and next door to a man who wore very little in the house, but surely should have. We overlooked one of the five most fascinating places … to pass out wasted. Smoking strong Dutch weed is perfect if you need psychological help, but have made a conscious decision not to get any.

Cigarette stealing spaniels

Years ago, in Manchester I lived next to lesbians whose King Charles Spaniels made it their mission to steal my Marlboro Lights – I was drinking a lot back then, and found it charming.

Our temporary bolthole is my late mother’s house. Or ‘the money pit’ as I like to call it, with a leaking roof, dodgy heating systems, rising, falling and ingress damp and taps that refuse to switch off. Or on again. New neighbours have made matters worse. They have five cars between the two of them and an addiction to solar lighting. I swear the lady of the house is on a mission to create the summer version of those Christmas houses that were all the rage a few years back.

Anti-vaxxer neighbours

And they’re anti-vaxxers. It’s tempting to pass comment as they stage yet another family barbecue on people who’ll eat sausage but decline a vaccine … because they don’t know what’s in it.

Mr Fanning has used the lockdown well. He’s learned how to plaster a wall, plumb in a sink, move electrical sockets and lay paving slabs. I’ve reorganised my spice collection and reupholstered a chair. Badly. And lost most of a fingernail. Something they seldom mention in those smug YouTube videos.

There’s one month to go before we put the place on the market. By a curious twist of fate, that’s when ‘Rebuilding Alexandra Small’ hits the shops for real. I’m expecting to have the audio book on sale around about the same time, so that’s three ways to show you love me more than any of those dreadful neighbours.

Rebuilding Alexandra Small by Mo Fanning