National Author's Day

1 November is National Author’s Day, and to mark the occasion, we are celebrating one of the many talented authors within our Stamford community, Danielle Redding (OS 06). Her self-published debut novel, Spiritchild, took to the shelves in early 2022 under her pen name Danielle Lauren, with sequel, Earthchild, soon to follow.

Danielle left Stamford with fond memories in 2006, after seven years of education here from Year Seven to Upper Sixth. At A-Level she studied maths, further maths, chemistry and biology, with the goal of becoming a vet. “When I was a kid, I used to watch all of these tv shows with vets and I thought, that’s what I want to do. It wasn’t until I was in my final year at university, and we were doing placements, that I realised the job didn’t fit with me, so that’s when I started branching out and trying new things.” Danielle has always enjoyed writing, but she commented that when she committed to becoming a full-time writer, “it was quite scary because it’s one of those things, like a lot of arts, that don’t necessarily pay straight away, they take a long time and a lot of effort to start seeing the rewards.”

Talking about her writing process, Danielle said; “I try and use the computer as much as possible because if I write on paper then I’ll just have to type it up. But if I get stuck, I will often revert to paper and pen. If I’m really stuck then I’ll try and sketch out the scene, and I’m terrible at drawing, but that different format of visualisation helps to push past whatever it is that’s not working.” She also manages every step of the publishing process herself; from communicating with editors and beta readers for feedback, to the cover design, advertising and finding stockists.

At the beginning of November, Danielle will begin her latest project, a series of writing workshops at The Blonde Beet café, a characterful 17^th century building here in Stamford, where she often spends hours writing. There will be a weekly meetup for six consecutive weeks, each covering a different part of the writing process. Danielle hopes to “create a little pocket of writers” with whom to share ideas, encourage and inspire; “I realised how much there is that I’ve learnt in my process that I think a lot of people who want to write creatively would benefit from knowing. There’s a lot to learn.” Booking for these workshops can be found here.

Reflecting on her time here at Stamford, Danielle recalled how her school experiences help her to write today; “the sport tours, the world expeditions, DofE – all these other things that you have the opportunity to do, are experiences that you draw from when you write.” “One thing I find hilarious though”, she added, “is I hated English, it was my least favourite subject, and I gave it up as soon as I could. Yet here I am. The biggest thing I would say to students, is what you choose to do at school does not necessarily shape your whole life. I did veterinary medicine, and I now write fantasy books.”

Danielle’s debut novel, Spiritchild, is an adult fantasy set in a natural world of lush forests populated by elves. The plot follows Fae, a human raised amongst elves, as she learns that she was rescued as a child from the distant burning human villages. We are taken on a journey as Fae ventures from the safety of her elven city into the outside world, learning what is so wrong with the human side of their world, and how they’re impacting the natural word, along the way. Spiritchild is available to purchase online, with stockists listed on Danielle’s website, danithewriter.com