Scattered lies and falling skies

Seventeen-year-old Carter seems to have it all…but appearances can be deceiving. Juggling new responsibilities at school, old troubles at home, and an unexpected friendship that’s turning into more, Carter’s life is splintering under the strain.

Holding Up the Sky is a young adult contemporary novel and my very first attempt at a story that has absolutely no paranormal or fantastical elements whatsoever. It was surprisingly difficult to write, probably because inside the mind of my main character was not exactly an easy place to be.

Carter is in his final year of high school. His grades are near-perfect and he is well-liked and respected by his peers, but internally he is struggling—struggling with his mother’s expectations, with his increasingly dark and sombre moods, with his sexuality. Carter is struggling to reconcile who he is with who believes he should be.

I started planning this story in August 2014, and after a number of false starts, the writing of it finally took off in December 2015. Eleven months later I had a finished first draft—and forcing myself to sit on it for six weeks before launching into the second draft was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done! I’m now about to start the micro-editing phase, inching slowly closer to a finished product.

You can read the full blurb of Holding Up the Sky here, and stay tuned for an excerpt!

Rebecca Alasdair