Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Growing up I always had a love for movies, video games and writing. I previously worked as a camera assistant in TV before joining a company that manufactures digital cinema cameras.
Writing has always been a big hobby of mine and I started writing my own short stories and screenplays for several years before I self-published my first novel back in 2016.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My debut novel is called Forgotten Liberty. It is a dystopian adventure tale that follows Frank and Annie, a worldly couple who find themselves laboured with the task of smuggling an escapee child soldier through the raider infested self-sufficient land of Autark.
The story came from my fascination with people around the world leading self-sufficient lifestyles in the modern era, as well as my interest and opinions on history. I always like to question and study the human race from the perspective of our actions and decisions throughout history; why people did a certain thing in time, is history written by the victor, does it repeat itself, those kinds of things.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Its not so much a writing habit but I work closely with cameras in my day job and have a fascination with studying cinematography and writing in movies which puts me into the habit of visualizing everything through camera angles and moves. I’ll sometimes bullet point each imaginary ‘shot’ in short phrases in the hope that I pinpoint the key beats and moments I want to hit in a chapter. It takes up a bit more of my time but I it seems to help me decide whether a particular chapter is really needed for the story or character development to progress.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I found inspiration in the novel and movie adaptations of ‘The Road,’ and ‘No Country For Old Men,’ written by Cormac McCarthy, as well as ‘The Revenant’ by Michael Punke. Strong writing and narratives in video games such as ‘Metal Gear Solid,’ (Hideo Kojima) and ‘The Last of Us,’ (Neil Druckmann) also had a massive impact on me. I like to think that I adapted my writing style from my openness to observing how narrative is structured outside of just books and how movies and video games have the ability to tell stories from their own unique and stylistic standpoint.
What are you working on now?
I’m currently in the early stages of developing a crime novel told through first person narrative.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I personally have found Instagram to be a great way of promoting and communicating with fellow readers and authors.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
This isn’t the same for everyone, but for me, planning ahead is everything. I originally started the first draft of Forgotten Liberty without really having an ending in mind and to be honest it was terrible… I mean it really sucked. I didn’t know where I was going with it, I wasn’t hitting any key moment because I never really got to know who my characters were. I scrapped the whole thing and returned to it a few years later. Before I wrote a single word I made sure I knew who my characters were and knew how things were going to end.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Drama is conflict.
If a chapter doesn’t either progress the story or develop the character in the some way, scrap it.
What are you reading now?
I am currently reading ‘I Heard You Paint Houses’ by Charles Brandt. It is a True Crime story about the mafia hitman Frank ‘The Irishman’ Sheeran and his connection to the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa.
Netflix recently bought the rights to the movie adaptation ‘The Irishman’ which will be directed by Martin Scorsese who is one of my favourite directors so I thought I’d delve deeper into the history.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I’d like to keep working on novel writing as much as I can in my spare time but I’d also like to focus on returning to writing screenplays and seeing if there’s anything to be made of that. For now though I am focusing on a concept for a new crime novel.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
World War Z by Max Brooks, sadly I didn’t feel the same way about the movie on this occasion but the book is fantastic.
You get a first person account from all these different characters from all over the world that piece together the history of a ten year zombie crisis. It is incredibly detailed and the descriptions of the political and social collapse of the world are so believable that you almost forget that it all stems from something as fictional as a zombie apocalypse.
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