A TEENAGER from Wirral is celebrating literary success after self-publishing her second novel.
Liv Bratherton from Moreton released her first book titled The Lives We Left Behind in June 2021 when she was just 16 years old.
Writing the LGBT historical fiction novel began as a form of escapism for Liv who was suffering from severe anxiety at the time.
She also used the themes in the novel to tell her parents about her own sexuality.
READ: Teenager from Moreton writes novel to help anxiety
Now 18 years old and about to receive her A-level results, Liv has self-published the sequel titled The Lives We Found.
Liv told the Globe: “I wrote the first book within two months during lockdown but the second one was more difficult because I had gone back into normal life and had to do well in my A Levels so I couldn’t write as much.
“I think with the first book I already knew where the story was going to go so it almost wrote itself.”
After the success of her first book which sold more than 100 kindle copies and 1,000 paperback copies, Liv said she wanted to make sure she did what “felt right” for the characters when it came down to writing the sequel.
She said: “Quite a few people have read it and I’ve got people depending on me, so I wanted to make sure I did the right thing with these characters.
“It’s the balance of doing what I feel is right and what feels realistic as opposed to making everything happy ending which is how it was with the first book.”
She added: “I think with the second book after spending more time with the characters I felt like they were the two different sides of my mind.
“One character was caring and loving and putting others first whereas the other is a lot more focused on herself and preoccupied with her own issues.
“The second book is about them growing and seeing they can exist with two very different personalities and still love each other.”
Since releasing her novels, Liv has attracted an online audience of more than 60k on her Tik Tok account.
She said: “I really didn’t anticipate the reaction. We sold 100 books within a few days it’s been amazing.
“I was a bit nervous about publishing the second book because I didn’t know if people wanted to read it, but the audience has been very engaged with the characters.”
Since releasing her second book, Liv says she has been inundated with online messages.
“I get people telling me that the characters I have written about are the first that they’ve been able to relate to.
“I want to carry on writing in the woman-loving-woman genre because not only is it so close to my heart but it’s also so underrepresented in mainstream media.”
Liv is set to receive her A-Level results this month and plans to continue her writing career while studying English literature at university.
She said: “When I stop writing it feels like a big part of my life is missing but I replace it with the feedback I get from the book.
“Seeing people buy it and appreciate your hard work is very rewarding.”
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