TV, film, now Triona is successful writer

HAVING made the switch in her forties from a successful career as a film and TV producer on projects for children and young people to writing young adult books, Triona Campbell says she “absolutely recommends taking on a new challenge” in mid-life.

“We’re never too old to make a change. I remember talking to somebody who said if you stop innovating and you start to feel as if you’re stagnating, then it’s really time to get out and do something different.”

In Cork recently to sign copies of her second thriller, The Traitor In The Game, we caught up with Triona in a city hotel. A three-time Emmy-nominated producer, she has an impressive back catalogue. She was the creator of Ireland’s first TV series on video games, Gamer Mode (RTÉ) and produced the iconic UK teen drama, Sofia’s Diary (Channel 5/ Sony Pictures Television).

But Triona, a mum-of-two, always wanted to write, to tell stories rather than produce other people’s stories.

“My sister was born with physical disabilities. From an early age, I wondered how you communicate and tell stories to somebody with different needs, who is non-verbal,” she said.

“I was still producing a show when I went to Trinity College to do the masters in creative writing. As I was there, we went into lockdown. And suddenly, I had time. I can’t bake banana bread. And I was lucky to get mentorship from Words Ireland with the writer Louise O’Neill. I would send her pages and she’d send me back notes and somehow, during the process of lockdown, I wrote my first book, A Game Of Life Or Death.”

The second book is part murder mystery, part cat-and-mouse thriller. It’s described as being perfect for the TikTok generation and “any reader who loves a twisting, edge-of-your-seat thriller”.

Following her sister’s mysterious death, Asha Kennedy uncovers the dark secret at the heart of virtual reality game, Shackle. The journey in the new novel involves going deeper “into a dangerous world of corruption and greed at the heart of the destroyed Zu Tech.” The question is, who is the puppet master of the game and what is their ultimate goal?

Set in New York where Asha travels to investigate the video games company her sister worked for, the quest turns into a game of life or death. As Asha proceeds, “she uncovers all sorts of nasty dark things that happen inside the company. It’s basically a company that’s too big to fail,” says Triona.

“No one wants to question it. I think that happens a lot. We want to see the best in people.

Sometimes, we hope that bigger corporations have our better interests at heart. But not always. Asha’s sister knew too much.

This is a fast-paced mystery with romance in the mix.

“Asha’s enemies may be closer than she could ever imagine.”

Triona says her two books have the same resonance at their heart “which is that one person, no matter the obstacle, can make a difference. That’s something I really believe. I think it’s an important message to have out there.”

The two books are part of a three-book deal with Scholastic publishing company. Triona’s agent, Marianne Gunn-O’Connor, brokered a great deal in an auction with five different publishers. Triona got a six-figure advance to write her books.

“I think my books are on the crest of a wave. It’s like Ready Player One meets Hunger Games or even ‘ Tales of the Unexpected. There’s a twist you don’t see coming.”

With video games in her books, reflecting her own interest in them, Triona says it’s a “massive industry. People have been looking for content that crosses over from one medium to the other.”

But whatever the platform, Triona believes that thr “story is king”.

“ There are different rules for each platform in storytelling. In books, you get the internal dialogue of characters, their monologues and how they feel about certain things. 

You never have that on a film screen because it would involve a clunky voiceover the whole way through. You have to know what you really want to say in your medium.

Triona is working on her final book in the series, she is writing a feature film, and she’s working on the third season of a podcast for children. It’s about the adventures of the pirate queen, Granuaile.

Clearly on a highly creative trajectory, Triona is attuned to the zeitgeist and believes that AI is “the next industrial revolution”.

“I did a lot of research for the books, talking to cyber security experts. They feel that AI will change everything.”

As far as authors are concerned, “a lot of people have been complaining that their work has been mined without their consent. There needs to be legislation protecting people in terms of their copyright... You can’t put the genie back in the bottle. We need to figure out how to legislate for it.”