Author Adam Howorth on his journey from Big Tech to creative writing . . .
I have spent much of my working life in the tech industry, really by accident. When I left university, I applied for a job as a staff writer. I had no idea what I wanted to do beyond writing, and it sounded perfect. The office was a short drive from home and they were recruiting for graduates. It turned out to be a tech PR agency and staff writer was the lowest rung on the ladder. Over time I climbed up to a consulting role before quitting to play in a band.
Upon reflection, escaping tech’s shackles in favour of more creative pursuits became a familiar pattern. When the band folded, I couldn’t bear the idea of going back into PR so managed to blag my way into doing music interviews and reviews, with the help of Glen Campbell. I was a big fan and the great man was touring the UK. Unfortunately, I couldn’t afford a ticket, so tried my luck at telling his publicity team I was a reviewer. Amazingly, they put me on the guest list but first asked me to fax his management in the US. After I did this, they replied asking if I’d like to interview the country star before the show. Of course I did! But now I was in real trouble as they wanted to know who the photographer would be. Fortunately, I put in a quick call to Andy Willsher, who had shot my band for the NME, and he agreed to do it. He loved Glen as well and Andy thought it was too crazy not to be involved.
I was able to place that first interview and live review with an online publication before picking up more commissions, which eventually led to freelancing for The Times, Guardian, Independent and Billboard. I loved being a professional writer, but it was always a struggle to make ends meet. So, when Napster asked me to help them launch as a newly-legal streaming service in Europe, I jumped at the chance. Once the company was up and running and bringing in subscribers, I decided to step back and put together a girl group, signing them to a major label, and picking up a songwriting deal. When the money ran out, Apple came calling.
I wasn’t sure about joining a company that we had regarded as enemy number one at Napster but ended up staying there for 18 years. In that time, I was lucky enough to meet Steve Jobs and work on the European PR launches of some of the most iconic consumer tech products of our time, from the first iPhone, iPad and AirPods to the App Store, Apple Pay and Apple TV+.
A colleague in the US who had joined around the same time, told me when she was introduced to Steve, he asked her: “Can you write?”. That struck me as hugely significant. The one skill the greatest business leader of our times valued in a PR was their writing ability. He understood the power of the written word and knew it was essential to any storyteller. In business, a PR also lacks credibility with journalists if they can’t write well and, of course, a well-crafted pitch is essential to piquing press interest and generating coverage.
Writing has always been fundamental to my working life and, although it took a while to get there, I’ve now finally found my purpose. I simply love writing fiction, creating new worlds and imagining dialogue between the characters that inhabit them. I enjoy the research needed to make events convincing and I delight in those little moments of serendipity when plot twists and synchronicity fall into place almost by accident.
When I started Fallen Feathers, I was still working at Apple and had to write it in snatched moments, often while commuting. In fact, the long jaunt to the West Coast was one of my favourite times to write. It afforded such a long period of uninterrupted quiet that I was able to complete significant chunks of the manuscript six miles up. I’ve always been lucky that I can write pretty much anywhere and, thanks to the Ulysses app that syncs across devices, Fallen Feathers was written on boats, planes, trains, in cafes, at home, as well as outdoors in various different places.
When I started the novel, I wanted the prose to be simple but poetic. I imagined myself as an impressionistic painter creating dreamlike scenes that slipped in and out of our subconscious, between the present and the past. It’s a story about faith and parental love and the darkness that lurks at the back of our minds. The plot revolves around a girl who goes missing during a lunar eclipse and the race to find her before the moon rises and she is lost forever. Those that have taken her believe she is special and a golden child and have waited generations for her. It involves different timelines, centuries apart, which gradually converge in the present day in a life and death struggle. It was important to me for it not to be restricted by genre or age, so I hope readers find it easy to read as well as a little unsettling.
(c) Adam Howorth
About Fallen Feathers:
Elizabeth Fairchild loved the moon. For as long as anyone could remember, she knew instinctively when it had risen and where it was in the sky. But when the south of England experiences a rare super blood moon, Elizabeth goes missing and the race is on to find her before the eclipse is over and she is lost forever.
A priest tells Elizabeth’s father about another local girl who went missing years before and was never found. They discover a number of other similarities, including a strong physical resemblance between the two girls. As they start to piece together what happened, they find they are not the only ones searching for Elizabeth.
A stranger visits the church and tells the priest the clues to her disappearance lie in an ancient prophecy from a book found in a house in the middle of the woods. The prophecy states that Elizabeth is special, a golden child, and generations of people have waited for her, she is their messiah. But to save them she has to die. When the past collides with modern-day life, the hunt for Elizabeth begins.
Fallen Feathers is a spellbinding, epic contemporary tale of family, love, and dangerous secrets.
Fallen Feathers by Adam Howorth is published by Troubadour in hardback at £14.99 and ebook at £6.99. Order your copy online here.
