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Q: What inspired you to start writing?
I started a film production company, Break-In Films, in the late 90s, and this led me to take a scriptwriting course. This spiralled into starting Break-In Publishing with my editor, a proofreader, and a professional illustrator. I have always written short stories, but in 2019, I decided to focus on writing fiction and journalism.
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Q: Can you tell us a little about your latest book?
The Devil's Right Hand: A Robin Hood Saga - is a fast-paced, highly cinematic genre mashup that blends gritty modern crime thriller elements with a time-displaced twist on the Robin of Loxley mythos. The narrative rips Robin Hood from his traditional medieval Sherwood Forest setting and drops him straight into the brutal mechanics of a modern criminal underworld.
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Q: How do you create your characters?
Some characters grow from people I have met on my travels, and some are unique. I tend to draw them first and then produce a profile, similar to D&D character generation. I initially concentrate on what they would 'not do' as a base personality framework and build them up from there. Voice and accent are important to me, as this is fundamental to their dialogue structure. The key is to understand why the character exists, what their core motivation is, and how they visually stand out.
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Q: What does your typical writing day look like?
Write for most of the day - review work at home that evening - get up - make changes to manuscript - continue the story - repeat!
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Q: What has been the most rewarding part of being an indie author?
There are many, but collaboration with my editor, proofreader, and illustrator has been very rewarding. It's a team effort to put out a work of fiction. Writing is a solo sport, so it's great to have the chance to work on plots and ideas with other people.
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Q: What’s one challenge you’ve faced in your writing journey?
I was subjected to a failed teaching experiment called the Initial Teaching Alphabet (ITA). Created by Sir James Pitman, it used a complex 44-character phonetic alphabet to 'simplify' English for young learners. It failed miserably and was phased out in the 1970s because children struggled immensely when forced to "un-learn" these phonetic rules and transition to the standard alphabet. This did not kill my imagination, but I lacked confidence in the English language for many years.
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Q: Do you have any favorite writing tools or apps?
MS Word + pen and paper!
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Q: What advice would you give to new or aspiring indie authors?
NEVER GIVE UP! NEVER STOP WRITING! Always remember that writing and publishing are two very different animals. Writing is a wonderful, rewarding, creative process, and publishing is hard-nosed sales. You will never get sick of writing, but you will get sick of trying to sell your work! Don't let a lack of sales success make you believe you are a poor writer, or think, 'this is not for me'. Just keep swimming!
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Q: How do you handle book promotion as an indie author?
Poorly! As an indie author, you are either writing or promoting. For the last six years, I have been concentrating on writing. This has yielded 20 original works on Amazon, and a plethora of short stories and competition wins. Improving the 'promotion' part is why you are reading this! I'm also a genre-hopper. I choose a genre that suits the story; this keeps the writing fresh, but it doesn't help your book promotion prospects.
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Q: What’s next for you? Are you working on a new book?
I have just completed a children's environmental adventure story. This was a follow-up to ORT: The Woodland Wisp, but for older readers. We are now working on the illustrations. I've got a Mad Max fanfiction story running on Wattpad - Tipping Point (guilty pleasure), and I will be starting a new novel in July - research is currently underway.
