M. A. PHILLIPS
"I had nothing
meaningful to say.
So I left it."
Author
Reiki practitioner
I'm M. A. Phillips, an author based in Brighton, UK.
I always wanted to try writing. My first attempts came in my late twenties; needless to say, nothing substantial came out of them. Then, in my thirties, I tried again — more seriously this time — but every time I opened the file, I found myself staring at the blank page, waiting for something to emerge. Occasionally, I managed to squeeze out a few sentences, but then I would suddenly stop, unable to continue. It frustrated me to bits, but I believe the reason was simple — I didn't have anything meaningful to say. So I left it.
Unexpectedly, when I turned 40, a current broke out of me, and inside my mind a story of a woman began to take shape.
Finally, I had something to say.
At first, it was hard to navigate the language. I never wanted to write in a classically accepted literary style. I wanted to write how thoughts and feelings formed in me, without beautifying them. I wanted to create something that was felt, easy to read, and something that lands and stays.
My heroine isn't me; she isn't a projection of my inner world. She is someone who lives in many of us. She isn't polished or perfect. She makes mistakes, she gets into trouble, she hurts, she rages, she cries, she feels jealous, she curses, and she loves, wholeheartedly to the point it nearly breaks her.
Certain parts of her emerged from my own experiences — I'm not going to pretend otherwise — but a greater part of her formed through meeting countless wonderful women.
And after all the treatments, honest conversations, painful releases, and heartbreaking tears, I began to see that beneath all our different stories, we were struggling with the same thing — wanting to connect deeply with someone, while being frightened of rejection.
Her fears, her anxiety, her realisations, her entire transformation. How she spirals, suffers, recovers from trauma, but also rediscovers her own feminine truth and sensuality through love — a love that learns how to listen, understand, care, and be patient.
Inevitably, it opens a space for something beautiful to blossom — a harmonious union between two beings, without shame or the fear of being judged by the other.
The main purpose of my romance fiction is to introduce an unusual tone that differs from conventional structures and narrative styles.
I wanted to write from the nervous system — from how the body perceives, reacts, and induces thought before the mind begins to interpret. I wanted to narrate how feelings and emotions actually live inside her.
I write romance fiction, but to be more exact, I write Somatic–Soul Fiction because I place the body at the baseline. In my writing, it is the first material gateway between inner and outer perception. It is where instinct, feelings, and emotions arrive raw and unfiltered.
That is why I decided to call it Somatic–Soul Fiction: the body and soul move as one narrator.
I also think there is something very intimate about writing in first person. It creates an immersive experience, inviting the reader to enter the character's inner world. And by deliberately choosing simple, everyday language — even through lengthy inner monologues — the writing stays close to how we actually think and feel.
Although I'm shamelessly open when it comes to talking about myself, I'm actually very shy. So, if you would like to know more about me, you'll have to follow me into my world on Instagram.