WHERE THE IDEA FOR ALL EXPENSES PAID CAME FROM

I heard rumours of influencers being paid to do degrading things by rich men at lavish parties in Dubai. These rumours featured mostly on YouTube and Reddit and were fairly underground. I won't go into the details here as they're pretty extreme. I started thinking how it would feel to be degraded in the worst possible ways, and then pose at the pool or at a designer mall a couple of days later for an Instagram snap, acting like nothing had happened and you're having the time of your life, with all your followers liking the post, showering you with comments and attention, not having a clue what's really going on. The disparity between real life nighmarish degradation and the glossy fakery of social media really interested me. I tried to imagine what it would do to a person's soul, how they'd feel, and what that kind of trauma would be like.

I get certain fixations that lodge themselves in my mind (the idea of what would happen if your courier stalked you for example- which inspired my novella Courier) and this idea started to linger. I considered writing something, but I felt the topic might be too extreme and I couldn't think of a way of writing about it without going too far.

Then topics around sexual exploitation and human trafficking became more and more mainstream, with P Diddy and Jeffrey Epstein in the news, and the themes seemed incredibly relevant. Also, on a personal level, I'd been reflecting on how, as you get older, you realise many people are faced with a similar crossroads, encountering situations in which they have to choose between their dignity and integrity, and monetary reward. Such situations may not involve sexual exploitation; they could be a shady business deal or screwing someone over to get yourself ahead. In a society in which corruption is rife, and material success is placed on a pedestal, people choosing monetary reward at the expense of higher values is becoming more and more commonplace and normalised. And I think that's worth writing about.

I started thinking about how I could approach the topic. I did more and more research into the Dubai stories, soaking up the gritty details. I came up with the idea of writing about two influencers from Essex (a bit like TOWIE girls), who get invited on an all-expenses-paid trip by the owner of a luxury hotel. The trip seems like a great opportunity: extremely luxurious, offering fun activities, and great for their feeds. But when the girls get to the hotel, things start to take a darker turn. They're invited to a party in the middle of the desert where they are completely vulnerable. They don't have phone reception and are stranded with no escape. At this party, they're offered substantial amounts of money to take part in degrading acts.

By writing about two influencers, I explored the mindsets of a girl who refuses to get involved, and of a girl who does participate. I'm very interested in psychology, so I like to imagine the mindset, trauma, and thinking processes that make people act in certain ways.

My novella focuses more on Debbie, the girl who does allow herself to be degraded for money. I explore her character, her weaknesses, her life experiences and childhood trauma and the desperation of her present circumstances which make her susceptible to exploitation, and the impact of the experience on her life going forwards. I ask the question, was it worth it? Debbie ends up with a lot of money, but she also experiences unimaginable trauma and her life and psyche is changed forever.

All Expenses Paid is without doubt my darkest book, but I'm incredibly proud of it. I think when you are living in a dark society, it's only natural that your writing gets dark, and it is arguably the responsibility of artists and writers to examine the most challenging and confronting topics and to make people think about them, even though doing so may also make them squirm.

Tragically, a week after All Expenses Paid came out, news broke out about a 20-year-old OnlyFans model who had been found dumped in Dubai with broken bones following suspected exploitation by rich businessmen at a party. You can read about it here: Ukrainian model Maria Kovalchuk missing for 10 days after Dubai ‘sex party’ found broken, bloodied on side of road