Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have lived in Kent, England for my whole life and initially chose to study horticulture. I managed to get a Diploma, at which point I realised there was virtually no work to be had in my chosen field.
So, I turned to landscaping for a living, which might sound like a good job but more often involved cutting grass, cutting grass and cutting grass. I trimmed the occasional hedge and planted thousands of trees over the ten years I was a landscaper.
The mind-numbing boredom which driving a tractor with a mower attached brings was only relieved by being able to use my imagination. I created scenes, characters, plot- and story-lines, all to the droning buzz of a petrol brush-cutter/hedge-cutter/lawn mower/chain saw.
Eventually my work dried up with the economic downturn and I needed to find a new career. I’d always loved reading and wanted to become a writer since being a teenager, but never believed I was good enough. I enrolled on an Open University English Degree course and started writing.
So far I’ve written one novelette which has been published, I’m about halfway through the sequel to that and have another book on a website called Newbbay.com, titled Carjin’s Revegne. My biggest project at the moment is a novel which I’ve been working on, in various forms (including hand written!) for about twenty years and it’s still not finished.
I have written two serial stories for Serealities.com, the first twenty part series is also the basis for my novelette and the second twenty parter will be the bones for my second.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
It’s called The Spaces In Between, and was based on the twenty part serial story of the same name which can be found at Serealtiies.com.
Inspiration wise, it could be said the readers provide much of the inspiration. Serealities works by offering readers the option to vote on a number of choices at the end of each episode. Once all votes are in, I write the next episode based on the option they have chosen. Technically I suppose each author comes up with the actual choices so it’s still down to the writer how things go in their particular story.
Inspiration, for me, comes from any number of sources. Often if I’m reading something my mind will wander off and begin to wonder “What if something like this happened?” From that point I can come up with a range of responses characters might have, or what the knock on effects might be.
Other times things come to me from that place between being awake and asleep. I’ll just be dozing off and a dream like scene will start to play in my mind, usually I wake up and remember them later. I don’t have a notebook or anything by the bed though. Maybe I should!
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I tend to come up with scenes first. So the pivotal or most emotionally charged sections construct themselves and I then have to go back and invent a way for character A to reach and deal with scene J, whether that’s in time, space or both.
Another possibly quirky thing about me is I don’t really plan much. I have a (really) basic idea of beginning, middle and end, plus a scattering of scenes which have just appeared from nowhere which I work into the tale. I’m sure there a re people reading this who are screaming at the words I’ve just written, but it works for me.
With The Spaces In Between, I had the twenty part serial to work from and it was mainly a case of expanding the story, characters and scenes. Serealities has a five hundred word limit per episode, so I have to keep to the story without much embellishment or background info until it comes to the novelette when I can have a little more expression and add a few more characters.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I clearly recall reading The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings when I was around ten or twelve, both of which led me into a thousand different realities and worlds. I would read and play those Fighting Fantasy books like Deathtrap Dungeon or Wizard of Firetop Mountain, over and over again until I eventually won through.
In my teens I migrated to David Gemell books, every one of which I love. from the Drenai stories with Druss and Waylander to the Troy series which was published posthumously. From then on I’ve read as many fantasy stories as I can, David Eddings’ Belgariad and Malloreon anthologies are particular favouries of mine as are the Incarnations of Immortality series by Piers Anthony.
I’m also an avid fan of horror, being most entertained by Stephen King, Richard Laymon, Dean Koontz and Shaun Hutson.
I also enjoy a wide range of sci-fi tales along with the odd romance too!
What are you working on now?
The follow up novelette to The Spaces In Between, called The Plight of Lavash. I’m just about to pen the final installment on Serealities.com and the book will follow. I’m about to submit a new idea to Serealities for another episodic story, so I’ll be working on that too. Plus if Carjin’s Revenge, on newbbay.com becomes a hit, I’ll be expanding the twenty-four chapters I’ve got on there too!
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
With this being my first published book, I’m on Amazon for sales and Goodreads at the moment (which is where I found this interview). Apart from these, I’m still in the process of marketing where I can find places.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Never doubt yourself like I did. I put off trying properly for years before I took the plunge properly and now I’m a published author!
You might be absolutely awful, BUT, let other people tell you that. If you never put anything out there to be read, how do you know you are/aren’t any good?
Plus you might have a unique tale or idea as I did with The Spaces In Between, where the main character can ‘see’ negative space. Unless you allow somebody else to read and criticise your work, how can you grow and learn?
Get people you trust to be truthful with you to read your work, these tend to be friends and family, (although none of mine have ever read anything I’ve written) although professional editing services should tell you what’s right and wrong.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write something every day. It’s about the only advice I’ve ever had and it was on a generic writing site I can’t even remember now.
Even if you read it back and, of ten pages, only three sentences make any sense, you can use those three sentences to build upon.
Writing is fun and I love it but it’s also, sometimes a pain in the proverbial, hard work and a thorough slog. Anyone who tells you differently is either some kind of savant or slightly bizarre.
What are you reading now?
The Girl In The Box Set by Robert J. Crane. I’ve just begun Alone and I’m hooked already!
What’s next for you as a writer?
I’ll be finishing The Plight of Lavash serial before developing it into a novelette for Serealities. Hopefully they’ll accept my next idea and I’ll be working on a ten or twenty part series for the site too.
After that I’ll be starting on a level three module for the Open University and working on the clunky, massive novel I’ve been trying with for twenty years!
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?
In no particular order
1) The Stand by Stephen King. His best ever, in my opinion.
2) The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien. For the reason below.
3) War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. Because I’d have a lot of time
4) Anything by Bear Grylls which could teach me how to live by eating sand and how to construct a home from my bodily excretions.
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