After a year of having this book bubbling in my mind and another six months while it was written and edited, it is amazing that it is now set free into the world. It wouldn’t exist without the support of many different people.
First and foremost, my family. Mum, Dad and Annalise, thank you for everything, without your support things would be immeasurably harder. Mum, I will apologise now for the swearing. I won’t take it out but I will apologise.
I have the support of a great agent at a fantastic agency. Felicity Trew at the Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency is a true ally and partner. Thank you for having faith in me and I’m glad you love Gee as much as I do. And thank you to Caroline Sheldon for your support and encouragement.
My lovely editor Clio Cornish at HQ Digital for trusting me with where I wanted Emma and, especially, Gee to go. Thank you for your support! And a shout out to Victoria Oundjian for originally buying Emma Ever After. I hope you enjoy where I took it.
Liz Fenwick, there aren’t enough words to say how much your support helps me. Thank you for your friendship and pep talks. Also, I very much appreciated you letting me take over your dining room table to write part of this book and ferrying me to Penzance to finish the rest of it. No more clashing deadlines!
Julie Cohen and Anna Louise Lucia, I miss you both. Now I’m no longer on this ridiculous schedule I’m hoping we can get together soon. You refill my creative well.
Matt Turner – friend, driver, platonic soulmate. Thank you for taking me out for ‘airings’ to Starbucks when I’d locked myself away to wrestle with this book. I’m sorry we missed our annual Christmas lunch because of the ‘bloody book’. Easter good for you?
Danielle Whitney – desk mate and friend. Thank you for all your support and for helping me find time between the work madness to write. Also for letting me have the grand title, Head of Storytelling. Just remember to yell ‘PLOT TWIST!’ when things get “exciting”.
Cassandra Charles-Baggott, thank you for all your love and support and for letting me into the Victoria and Albert Museum Members Room. It definitely helped.
And Louise Veale, thank you for letting me borrow your Tate membership. It was much appreciated.
However, this book would not exist without fandoms. In fact, this story is my love letter to them in all their wonderful, crazy, and dysfunctional glory. It took me awhile to realise that I had been writing fan fiction since I was a teenager, I just didn’t realise that was what it was called. When I wrote that story based on The Scarlet Pimpernel back when I was sixteen, little did I realise that I was setting a precedent. This book is first and foremost a re-imagining of Jane Austen’s Emma. Which puts it firmly into the Jane Austen fandom. Some eagle eyed fellow fandom dwellers will spot that there are at least three other fandoms intimately woven into this story.
First and foremost, the One Direction fandom. This story wouldn’t exist without them. And I wouldn’t even have ended up down that rabbit hole if it wasn’t for Keris Stainton… so thanks for that! Can’t wait to finally go see Harry Styles with you. Thanks also to Katey Lovell for the support and the fellow boy band love. I so enjoyed our concert experience.
Anyone slightly acquainted with the fandom will know that the rainbow bears were a real phenomenon. Although one of the bears was seen in 2014, it wasn’t until the On The Road Again Tour in 2015 that there were two. Many concert tableaux and tweets later, they are part of fandom history with many a conspiracy theory attached to them. I confess to having taken one of those theories and applied it to my boy band.
I’d like to thank the Tumblr friends I’ve made in the fandom including Sheena (conscious--ramblings) and Maya (droppingtheveilofmaya) who have had to listen to me mutter about this book. Also thanks to the gang over on the ‘1D for olds’ slack, including Ally, Sacha and Joslyn.
One of the other fandoms woven through the story is Teen Wolf. Not the 1980s film and programme but the latest one. I will now confess that I don’t really watch the programme itself but I am an avid consumer of fan fiction written about it. In my mind, Gee has a passing resemblance to Tyler Hoechlin who plays Derek Hale in the show and is one half of the ship, Sterek.
And the last fandom? Well, there is a brief allusion to Skam, a glorious Norwegian TV show that changed the way I thought about storytelling. So, thank you to Julie Andem for creating it and to the young stars; including Tarjei Sandvik Moe, Henrik Holm and Iman Meskini, for bringing it to life.
Music is a huge part of my life and this book was written to a soundtrack that wove its magic around me and kept me in the world I was creating. You can listen to it here . Keir was a particular revelation to me, he’s played Glastonbury and I think we’ll see more of him soon.
I live in a very cosmopolitan city where people’s sexuality and gender identity are, in most cases, accepted. However, not everywhere is so accepting. There have been many instances of people being closeted in the Entertainment business and we should never judge anyone for that choice. But we do know that, especially in bands or shows that are supposed to appeal to young women, being LGBT has not historically been seen as something positive. It leads to an industry that encourages young men and women to hide this part of themselves if they want to be successful.
Bi-phobia is an issue that doesn’t get discussed either by the straight or the gay and lesbian communities. Bisexual people are traditionally seen as greedy, promiscuous people who can’t make up their minds. Because bisexuality isn’t visible, those that identify as such feel overlooked and mistaken as gay or straight depending on who they date. Gee being bisexual was almost the first decision I made in this story and I’m so glad I did. Does it matter who someone loves? As long as they are honest and love well?
And finally, although I have played around with fandom conspiracy theories, obviously this story is fictional and does not depict any actual person or event. Obviously.