So here’s something I wouldn’t have believed a few years ago: I can now announce the release date for my very own hit single. On the 12th of September the song Imogen Imagine by Carl Denby will drop on Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music, and pretty much all the major streaming platforms. It’s the final stage of a long process that has featured a large cast of talented individuals.

One of my favourite images for the way writers produce novels (at least, the way I do it) is that it can be a bit like building a dry-stone wall. Sometimes there’s a gap in the wall created around the stones you’ve already put in place, and you have a clear idea of the rough size and shape of what is required to fill that gap. The song Imogen Imagine was a vitally important stone in the wall that grew into the finished novel of the same name. Writing the song was a case of making sure that it fitted into the story in the way I needed. By the time I was finalising the lyrics, I had a clear sense of who Carl was as a character, a very clear sense of how his relationship with Immy (the book’s main character) came to an end, and an awareness of how differently they would each see things in retrospect. With all that to draw on, I found that the words flowed fairly easily. Certainly, I’ve not felt remotely able to write any other songs without that literary context since then.

Turning those words into an actual song was a long process. First my good friend and now co-writer Olly Hopper-Pay put them to music, crafting a wonderful catchy tune with the kind of hookiness that – to my ears – makes it at least believable as a massive hit single (which, in the book, is precisely what it is). Then he recruited a fabulous team to turn that song into something really special. The following roll-call of all-stars have my undying gratitude: Ben Jones produced and engineered, Olly himself played acoustic and electric guitars, Chris Payn – something of a legend on the Bournemouth music scene – played the striking piano part that underpins the track, while the rhythm section of Mic Harrison (drums) and Duncan Petrus (bass) played with real sensitivity and awareness, enabling the song to swell and fade with a genuine dynamic pulse. Lee Rasdall-Dove stepped up to become the voice of Carl, delivering precisely the kind of assured yet vulnerable lead vocal that, in the world of my book, has schoolgirls everywhere swooning (on legal advice, I hasten to add that I’m making no allegations against Lee concerning swooning schoolgirls!). Hannah Gadsby joined Olly on backing vocals, and her distinctive tone adds so much depth and character to the final version of the song.

Having witnessed the recording sessions and having lived with the result for so long, I now find my ear being drawn variously to the different parts, and it’s no exaggeration to say that I take pleasure in all of them. There are so many special moments, and each instrument (including the voices) has its share of them.

Obviously, my hope is that the song will be helpful in drumming up some extra publicity for the book, but even if it doesn’t it’s still the source of huge pleasure and pride for me. I’m not really a songwriter, despite having loved music all my life. But at least I got to play at being one, and the results will soon be out there in the world for everyone to hear. To borrow a phrase from some of my more esteemed songwriting, ahem, peers, I got by with a little help from my friends.