What drew you to tell Billy’s story across such a long emotional and physical arc?

My desire in writing this novel was to keep things real and plausible. I have lived experience of Ataxia and strong connections with peers across a wide range of disabilities. To stay truthful to what many folk experience, it was necessary to have an arc where Billy loses everything. Or at least perceives he loses everything.

The beginning of the novel – Youth – is about the growth and making of the man. The second half of the novel is about diminishing abilities and the effects on the mind. The frightening thing about ataxia and all degenerative conditions is that they slowly chip away at you until there is nothing left. Often, the mental health side of this is not explicitly discussed. I wanted to change that.

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What is one thing you hope readers take away from reading your book?

My hope is the novel is entertaining, but also that it helps spread awareness and knowledge of a rare condition. I also hope that it conveys the mental health side of having to live with a chronic illness. The aim from the outset was to portray a plausible, real character. Inspiration porn was not the goal. By this I mean it was important all characters made mistakes, had flaws, and had mischievous thoughts, rather than paint them as some kind of saint or martyr. Hopefully the book balances vulnerability with agency. The idea was not to have characters as symbols or lessons, but to present flawed, authentic human beings. It was great to draw on my experiences and those of my peers to keep the story feeling as genuine as possible.

What creative projects are you currently working on?

As someone who suffers from the same debilitating condition as the main protagonist in my novel, I must conserve my energy. In reality, this means I can only devote around two hours of screen time every other day. This means progress is slow, especially when you’re launching and promoting a new book! However, I do have my next novel outlined; the key characters have their own bios and what links them fleshed out. There’s even a few draft chapters. The next one’s a revenge story, tinged with a hallucinatory edge.