The Author
The author is David Kavanagh. (Update July 2023)
I had my first attempt at writing a novel in 1992. It followed a dream about Prince Charles involved in a light plane crash off the Dublin mountains – and being helped by a local man out walking his dog. Leading to a crazy weekend sightseeing around Dublin in disguise – on a very different tour to the guided ones. It is called ‘Charlie’s In Town’. Although I finished it & still have the original handwritten one, my third draft which was a lot more detailed, went missing when sent for typing. When I wrote it – Prince Charles had never visited Southern Ireland. Obviously that has changed. I’ve had to alter the story a little for a 2023 release – though set in 1993. A new first draft is done of the altered version. A few more edits will have it on track for release this year. A lot of research was needed to visit all of the places included in the tour (which has been done). Also as its set in 1993 I had to backtrack how Dublin was back then.
After being made redundant, I decided to take writing a lot more seriously and bring an idea the whole way to publishing – whether it made money or not. I would never know unless I put them out there to be judged. I had a lot of stories in the drawer at different stages of completion – when a scenario hit me of two people arriving at the same place at the same time – to commit suicide. I wrote Billy & Lisa a few years ago. It is set in Southampton on the south coast of England. Draft one was over 220,000 words (300 + pages) which was far too long – and in present tense – but relieved to get it from inside my head onto paper. I have two drafts to go to have it ready for beta readers. Current word count in July 2023 is 175,000 words. It is taking a lot longer than I obviously intended as I plan to release two books at the same time (Billy & Charlie).
So my outline plan is Billy & Lisa is part of a trilogy. Charlie’s In Town is a stand alone story. The follow up to Billy & Lisa is called (working title) ‘Lisa & Mary’s Titanic Adventure’. Lisa & Mary are first cousins. Also set in Southampton – A first draft is almost complete & it involves Southampton in 1912 when the Titanic was docked there. They accidentally slip between 2019 & 1912 – yes a Time Travel adventure. In 1912 the miners were on strike, The Suffragettes were very active and Bras hadn’t been invented. A lot of research has been done there too – including a visit to Southampton and a return visit planned.
‘Project Billy’ is the third one in the trilogy. In Billy & Lisa – Billy is the subject of Lisa’s project, and she finds out about his missions and his life after returning from capture. In the story we only read about some of this – and ‘Project Billy’ will be a lot more detailed and ruthless with more things he told her not mentioned in Billy & Lisa.
I will be more active on this page as I guide them towards completion.
I you or anyone you know has suicidal thoughts PLEASE SEEK HELP & Talk To Someone. There is so much help out there. Billy & Lisa is fiction but her scenario is unfortunately quite common. It hurts so many people. HELP IS OUT THERE
