Novelist Vicky Ball: How a viral X post launched her Amazon bestseller status

Novelist Vicky Ball is the author of Powerless and Abandoned, both young adult thrillers. She is currently working on her third novel of the same genre. She lives in Colchester, Essex, south east England, with her husband and two cats. They have two daughters who have recently moved out. Vicky works at the University of Essex as a student administrator and is also halfway through a Masters in Creative Writing at that university.

Novelist Vicky Ball, writer of psychological thrillers for young adults.

Vicky posted on X that she sold two books at an event in December. The post was viewed 25 million times and received more than 740,000 likes. This single post helped propel Vicky's thriller novel, Powerless, to the top of Amazon's teen and young adult fiction chart. In addition, Vicky's talent and the four and five-star reviews from readers (many of whom are now die-hard fans) pushed sales higher.

Novelist Vicky Ball

On Creative Writing: Has your writing evolved over the years? If so, how has this happened? Through writing experience? By reading a lot?  From writing courses, writing communities, or something else?

Compliments from scary writing teacher meant you knew her words were genuine!

Vicky Ball: I have always loved writing. Even as a small child I would write stories in notebooks and on bits of paper. When I was in my twenties, I went on a creative writing evening class which I loved. I had positive feedback from the tutor which encouraged me to keep writing. For a number of years, I was then busy being a teacher and having children. When my children were a little bit older I went on another course, short story writing, where I met lots of lovely writers.

We had a scary writing tutor who would tell us very honestly what she thought of our writing, which was good in a way as you knew when she complimented you she meant it. As a result of this group, I and some of the other writers formed a little writing group and have been meeting ever since. We meet every fortnight to share what we have written.

During these years I started writing a novel which took me ten years to write. This first novel was all over the place plot wise and so I abandoned it when it was finished. I then started writing what became my first published novel, Powerless. In 2020, I had nearly finished Powerless but was struggling on how to end it, so I attended another course called ‘Progressing the Novel.’ This course ended up being online due to Covid but was a great help in helping me finish the novel. Through writing Powerless I developed my writing style. At the time I wasn’t sure what genre I was writing and didn’t intend to write young adult; but I began to realise that’s what it was. Since then I have embraced the young adult thriller genre and have loved thinking up new stories.

On Creative Writing: Which authors and/or types of books do you like to read?

Vicky Ball: I love reading thrillers. I love a shocking twist and suspense that keeps me reading on. I particularly love Cara Hunter, Karla Kovach and Lisa Jewell. Since being on X, I have discovered lots of indie authors whose books I have loved; in particular I love Morton R Leader’s books. He has written an unusual collection of different books which are all unpredictable which is what I love about them. I also really enjoy Caroline Rebisz’s books who writes in a mixture of genres, ranging from romance to thrillers. I also love MH David’s crime thrillers. I have read both of his books and loved them and am eagerly awaiting his next one to land on my kindle in a few weeks. As well as thrillers, I also enjoy reading historical fiction and sometimes go for a light- hearted romance novel if I’m in the mood.

Only a vague idea for a novel at first

On Creative Writing: Are you a plotter or a pantser?

I am definitely a pantser. I often only have a vague idea for a novel and start writing. The story then develops as I write which I find exciting as the twists then surprise me. The only downside to this method is that I can get halfway through and be wondering where I’m going with it. That long middle bit can be scary when you have no plan. Also, it can be very difficult to make it all make sense when I have finished it. My third book I have just finished was very complicated to start with and it took a huge amount of editing to sort it out so that it all worked together.

For my next novel, I am going to be writing another young adult story as part of my masters in creative writing that I am currently doing. I have already had to submit a plan of the novel—a synopsis—and I suspect I may have to do more planning for this one. So I could end being a plotter for a while. I will have to see if I get converted to that way of writing.

'Just write anything to get you started'

On Creative Writing: What advice/guidance would you give to writers?

Vicky Ball: My advice to start with would be just write. It doesn’t matter what you are writing, just write anything to get you started. Magazines and news stories are a good place to find inspiration for stories. Get an idea and develop it into a story.

I would also say to find a writing group or go on a writing course. It is so helpful to get feedback from other writers and it’s also useful to read out your writing in a group as you suddenly spot mistakes reading it aloud that you completely missed before. It sounds different. If you have supportive friends and family, ask them to read something you’ve written. It’s terrifying, like sharing your soul, but can also be helpful in seeing what others think. Don’t pick people you think may not like your style/genre or overly critical people as that might have the opposite effect and discourage you.

On Creative Writing: Do you edit as you write, or write and edit later?

Vicky Ball: I usually write the whole book and then edit later. I find that I just want to get the story out. It’s great to write that first draft as there is no pressure for it to be perfect. You can always go back and change things later. I’m not a massive fan of editing but I have recently found that if I read my book on my phone I see it in a different light and that helps me spot mistakes more easily. I then screen shot the parts where there are mistakes and I scribble notes on the screenshot. I will then later go back and fix those mistakes. My dad has started being a proofreader for my books. He is so good at finding those little typos that I have completely missed.