Interview With Author M. S. Saxon
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Making people smile is just the best feeling. Even from an early age and despite being incredibly shy, I wrote friends silly letters, drew them fun pictures. Writing & illustrating was always easier than stand-up. It was much later though when my own children brought the creative side out again, and I illustrated a few rhyming stories – on paper at first, then transferred them to the desktop. The outline of my first novel followed, and it was filed away on a floppy disk (yes, it was that long ago), resurrected 30 years later when the children had left home and after completing a writing course.
I’ve written and published a total of five books in all, two novels and three cartoon-illustrated rhyming jokes & stories books.
My life has not been easy, and I couldn’t have got this far without the humour. Spreading that around makes it all worthwhile.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
A Nose for Murder – A Sylvie Broadstairs Mystery.
A friend with a similar sense of humour on Twitter’s Writing Community encouraged me. I needed that push. We exchanged a few mad plot ideas and I just began to write.
The book is set in my home town with the addition of a few fictitious places by way of artistic licence. This helped me focus much better. I’m easily distracted, so had to discipline myself to at least 500 words a day. Can’t say it was plain sailing, but the persistence paid off eventually, and I published within six months.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m a methodical (some say obsessive) person, having to edit as I go along. Leave it until the end and the task becomes too over whelming. I often pause to do housework, eat and watch TV – sometimes ideas will come when I’m not thinking of the problem that made me stop.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love Belinda Bauer’s writing styles and her novels are superb. Rubber Necker is one of my favourites. Tom Sharpe’s Riotous Assembly is a laugh-out-loud book, in fact I love all of his novels.
What are you working on now?
I haven’t started it yet – procrastination again, but I’m throwing around ideas for Book 2 in The Sylvie Broadstairs Mysteries series. Book 1 was a pantster (beginning a book with no outlined plan), which is not quite me, so I want to plot the next one in detail, scene by scene.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I always find promotion difficult. I’ve only recently begun using social media, which can be useful if you know where to post your work for the best exposure. I’m more familiar with Twitter, having made a decent though small following. I’ve tried Fiverr, The Fussy Librarian, Facebook, and recently engaged a publicist but it’s too early to tell which is the most successful or favourite.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
No matter how much you believe in your own story telling ability, it’s useful to read widely in the genre you wish to write and to take a good writers course, both of which I have found invaluable.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
To listen and observe more than you speak. Studying real life characters is good grounding for becoming a decent writer.
What are you reading now?
A murder mystery : The Next Girl by Carla Kovach.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Set the plot for Book 2.
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?
Probably as many of Tom Sharpe’s books as possible to keep me smiling through the bad times.
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