the thread: Flow by Clare Littlemore > Likes and Comments

Welcome to our Reader Discussion of Flow by Clare Littlemore!

Hello everyone, and welcome!

We're delighted to have Clare Littlemore, author of Flow, with us today. Thank you so much for taking the time to join this discussion and connect with your readers. We truly appreciate your willingness to share your experiences and the story behind your work.

Flow takes readers into a fascinating dystopian world shaped by devastating floods, where courage, survival, and the search for truth are at the heart of Quin's unforgettable journey. It's a pleasure to have the opportunity to discuss this compelling novel with you.

Before we begin talking about Flow, we'd love to get to know you a little better. Could you please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your writing journey? We'd love to hear what inspired you to become an author and what led you to write Flow.

Hello, Clare! Welcome, and thank you for joining us today.
Flow has such a vivid and immersive world. What was the very first idea or moment that inspired you to write this story?

It's wonderful to have you with us, Clare!
Quin is a courageous and memorable protagonist. Which part of her character did you enjoy developing the most, and why?

Welcome, Clare we're delighted you're here!
Flow explores survival, truth, and rebellion. Which of these themes do you hope resonates most deeply with readers after they finish the book?

It's a pleasure to have you here, Clare!
Without giving away any spoilers, what scene or chapter in Flow was the most exciting or perhaps the most challenging for you to write?

Hi everyone! It's great to be here.

I am a British author and have been writing seriously since around 2013. I began writing a kind of thriller when I was on vacation in Menorca and scribbled around 7000 words whilst sitting on the beach! I'm an avid reader and replaced my reading that vacation with writing. When I got home I typed up what I had written and decided to have a go at finishing it. My husband encouraged me to publish it and the rest came from there.

Struggling to reply to individual messages here, so I will comment to reply and direct each reply to the person who asked the question. I hope that's ok with everyone.

Clare wrote: "Struggling to reply to individual messages here, so I will comment to reply and direct each reply to the person who asked the question. I hope that's ok with everyone."

yes go on

Hi Thomas, I was first inspired to create the world of Flow when I watched news coverage of flooding in the UK and other countries. I was fascinated by the causes of flooding and wondered what would happen if we took the idea of flooding to the extreme and had people struggling to find liveable areas of land. That's where the idea for the world of Flow was born. I have always been a huge fan of dystopian fiction so writing it was something I was very excited to do.

Thank you for sharing your wonderful journey with us, Clare! It's amazing how a holiday in Menorca led to the beginning of your writing career. We also love hearing how your husband's encouragement gave you the confidence to publish your work. Stories like yours remind us that inspiration can come from the most unexpected places.

Our next question is: The world of Flow feels so vivid and immersive. How did you go about creating The Beck and its unique rules, and what was the most enjoyable part of building this fascinating dystopian world?

Hi Brooks, I'm so happy that you like Quin. It was very important to me that her character was naive and ignorant of the driving forces behind the world of the Beck at the beginning, and that the reader experiences her confusion and growing horror as she realises that she has been lied to for her whole life. I wanted to try and develop a balance between her being brave and fierce but also not create a teenager who essentially 'saves the world', which would not be very realistic. I wanted to build characters around her who supported her and who she supported in return, and it was vital to me that her friendships grew with her so the novel wasn't just about her romance with Cam. I didn't want her to appear 'all good' either, so I worked on making sure that she had moments where the reader could see she didn't always make the right decisions nor did she always know what she was doing.

Hi, Clare! Thank you for joining us today.

Flow is such an engaging and thought-provoking novel. Does this book have an official reading guide for readers or book clubs who would like to explore the story in greater depth?

Welcome again, Clare!
Has Flow been added to any Listopia lists?

Great question Mark! I think dystopian fiction should always mirror elements of the world around us and show readers how close we are to worlds like the one in Flow potentially becoming a reality, at least in part. I want readers to come away with a sense that it's important to stand up and be counted when you feel there is something wrong with the society you're living in or the people who run it. I'm not a very rebellious person myself, but I hope that I would speak out and try to make a difference if I felt something someone was doing was wrong. I also fervently believe in telling the truth and being open about things with people. I don't like liars and always try to tell the truth myself.

Does Flow have an official Reading Guide? please let us know.

Also, has Flow been added to any Listopia lists?

Hi Cynthia, I'm trying very hard to avoid spoilers here, but the section towards the end of the book where Quin and her friends visit Clearance and discover the truth about it was one of my favourites. From the moment I started writing the book, I knew what was going to happen there, and writing those incredibly tense moments when Quin realises what's happening and struggles to come to terms with it was very exciting. I also very much enjoyed creating Chapter 10 when Quin and her friends sneak out of their sector and the character of Cam is introduced. His character was a central one for me and I love the way I bring him into the story.

Clare wrote: "Hi Cynthia, I'm trying very hard to avoid spoilers here, but the section towards the end of the book where Quin and her friends visit Clearance and discover the truth about it was one of my favouri..."

Does Flow have an official Reading Guide? please let us know.

Also, has Flow been added to any Listopia lists?

Hi Paul, I'm not aware that Flow has been added to any Listopia lists. Please let me know if you hear otherwise!

There is no official Reading Guide for the series, I'm afraid. Perhaps I should create one!

Hi, Clare! We have a fun question for you

If all the characters from Flow surprised you with a celebration after the book ended, which character do you think would be the funniest to spend the day with, and why?

I see there are multiple people asking about a Readers Guide. Is this something lots of people would be interested in? I could definitely look into creating one at some point.

Thank you for your question, Clare!

To learn more about what a Reading Guide and Listopia are and how they work, we recommend reaching out to one of our moderators. They will be happy to explain everything in more detail and answer any questions you may have.

Clare wrote: "I see there are multiple people asking about a Readers Guide. Is this something lots of people would be interested in? I could definitely look into creating one at some point."

kindly reach out now to the moderators and ask her to explan the mean of this reading gaurd and listopia for you

Hi Susan, creating the world of Flow was both thrilling and also very frustrating! World-building can be fun, but it's also very difficult to ensure that it all hangs together properly and that there are no flaws or loopholes where the world doesn't work. I started by dividing up the jobs that would need to be undertaken to ensure that the Beck could function and its people survive. From there, I named the sectors, deliberately keeping the purposes of some of them vague, so I could flesh them our in later books. I hinted at the Minors sector, and left the Meds sector (where the Beck procreation takes place) at a couple of mentions so that I could write more about them elsewhere, using them to bring in new characters, settings, or to further develop a minor character. I wrote the first book in the series without much of a plan - it just flowed (excuse the pun!) from my fingers on to my laptop. It did mean that when I came to write later books I had a few issues because I had set certain things in stone and couldn't alter them, or that I had to create additional rules or elements to ensure the plot could progress in the way that I wanted.

Clare wrote: "Hi Susan, creating the world of Flow was both thrilling and also very frustrating! World-building can be fun, but it's also very difficult to ensure that it all hangs together properly and that the..."

Hi, Clare! Thank you so much for your thoughtful response. It was fascinating to learn about the amount of planning and creativity that went into building the world of Flow. We especially enjoyed hearing how you carefully developed the different sectors and left room to expand the story throughout the rest of the series. And we definitely appreciated the "flow" pun! 😊

We have one more question for you. Would you like to see even more readers discover and enjoy Flow? If so, what do you hope new readers will experience or take away when they pick up your book for the very first time?

Hi Sandra! What a great question. As the book is dystopian, very few of the characters are funny. I think lighter moments are harder to come by in the genre, but it's important to try and include a few. I think that my favourite character to spend time with would be Cass because she's a bit of a rebel and doesn't like to follow the rules. I feel like she'd encourage me to be bolder than I usually am!

And thank for your reply about Readers Guides, Sandra - I will certainly reach out to a moderator and ask for further explanation.

Hi Thomas, Yes I would definitely like to see more readers discover the Flow Series. I hope that new readers would experience the thrill of losing themselves in the world of The Beck the way that I always do when I read a great new book. I would also like them to take away the themes I mentioned earlier, such as the importance of truth and not being afraid to stand up for what is right.

Clare wrote: "Hi Thomas, Yes I would definitely like to see more readers discover the Flow Series. I hope that new readers would experience the thrill of losing themselves in the world of The Beck the way that I..."

Hi, Clare!

Thank you so much for joining our discussion today. We are truly happy to have had you here and appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts, experiences, and insights about Flow with our readers.

It has been wonderful learning more about your writing journey, your creative process, and the fascinating world you created in Flow. We hope our readers enjoyed getting to know more about you and your book.

If you would like to learn more about the Reading Guide and Listopia, please feel free to reach out to the moderators, who will be happy to provide more information and assist you.

Thank you again for being part of this discussion, Clare. We look forward to meeting you again in our next discussion!

Thanks for having me! It's been a pleasure.

Clare wrote: "Thanks for having me! It's been a pleasure."

Nice Thank you for taking your time kindly go and message moderator now about what readers right away