Interview with John Dean

 
John Dean is an award-winning journalist, a writing tutor and mentor and the author of ten crime novels. He is also an administrator for The Global Short Story competition, run by Darlington company Certys.

John's website
John's Amazon page HERE 


Tell us about your proudest writing achievement.
That moment in 2004 when the letter arrived from Hale telling me that after all those years of trying, and all those rejection slips, someone wanted to publish a novel by me. Doesn’t get any better than that and I still get the same rush when I get something accepted.

What are your writing strengths and weaknesses? 
I like to think I am a good storyteller and am always learning my craft. The big weakness is I write too slowly, should just crack on with getting the story down. The intricate business of crafting and editing can come later. 

Do you use your own experiences in your books? 
Very much so. Life provides so many people, so many scenes and so many places that it cannot fail to inspire ideas.

How important is it to you to plot your novel? 
I plot them carefully in advance but I regard it more like a road map and there may be other routes to take as the story unfolds and the characters start to talk and act.

Who’s your favourite crime author?   
I’m a bit of a traditionalist on this one. Got to be Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for Sherlock Holmes, the finest detective ever.

Are there any more children’s books in the pipeline? 
Haghir the Dragon Finder, which deals with a group of hapless dragon slayers diversifying into rescuing damsels in distress, is part of a trilogy. Just depends how this one goes, I think. I love writing them. 

How did the Global Short Story competition come about and what is your role? 
Myself and colleague Gary Shove had the same idea at about the same time, a monthly competition that spans the world. Four of us are involved now, the two of us and Keith Blundy and Mark Etherington, and it’s been running for more than five years, has paid out more than £7,000 in prize money and has showcased some brilliant talent. 

I am the administrator, and novelist Fiona Cooper is our judge. If people wish to enter, they can do so at www.globalshortstories.net and we run a social networking site for authors at www.globalwriters.net (where you can find details of the ebooks we publish). 

Speaking as a writing mentor, what qualities must a successful writer have? 
Always be willing to learn, never be afraid to try something different and always bear in mind that good writing is good writing because of the detail it contains. Little lines, images, lines of dialogue can bring it crackling to life. Oh, and never ever write padding! And never use exclamation marks when they are not needed like there. 

What are you working on at the moment? 
Currently working (slowly) on my next DCI John Blizzard book, set as usual in the fictional northern city of Hafton. 

What advice would you give to an aspiring novelist? 
Never give up. 

John Dean, who lives in North East England, is a novelist with ten crime books to his name, all published by London company Robert Hale since 2005. The most recent were The Railway Man, To Die Alone and The Secrets Man. 

To Honour The Dead is due out in November 2012, published by Robert Hale. He also wrote children’s comic fantasy Haghir the Dragon Finder, published by Certys and to be found as a Kindle ebook on Amazon. John Dean’s personal site as a novelist is www.johndean.ning.com 

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John Dean was talking to Maureen Vincent-Northam, co-author of The Writer's ABC Checklist

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Interview with Rebecca Emin

Today, we’re chatting to Rebecca Emin. Rebecca specialises in writing flash fiction and books for older children. 
Her new novel, When Dreams Come True has just been published.

Rebecca's Website

Rebecca's Writing for Children & Teens Blog

Rebecca's Amazon page HERE

Tell us about your proudest writing achievement.

I don’t think I could pick just one. I am just happy to finally be doing something I always wanted to do, but the highlight of it is when people get in contact to say they have enjoyed something I’ve written.

What are your writing strengths and weaknesses?

I have been told by a couple of other writers that I write for 10-14 year olds with details that they wouldn’t think of. I think I’m lucky that I find it quite easy to write for this age group. My weakness is the time factor. With three young children, admin for our company and day-to-day life it is sometimes hard to find any writing time at all in a week.

Do you have a writing routine or any odd writing quirks?

I don’t really have a routine, I just write when I have the time and inspiration. I find I write better in the mornings though.

Is there a special place you like to write?

I either write at my kitchen table or in a local coffee shop. Both places have a view outside which seems to help me concentrate.

How important is it to you to plot your novels?

I don’t plot at all; I just write what comes into my head at the time. The only time I make notes is if I’m not near a computer and an idea comes to me – then I will jot it down to jog my memory later.

Do you ever base your characters on people you know?

I don’t totally base a character on people I know although my friend Helen did help with the creation of Chloe in New Beginnings quite a lot. I did tell her and she was okay about that. And there was a certain celebrity cameo in that book! But in When Dreams Come True, none of the characters are based on real people.

How much of you is there in the characters you write about?

There is a little bit of me in both of my main characters. Sam was bullied in New Beginnings, and some of those experiences were from my school days. And some of her achievements were things I would have liked to have done but never have. In When Dreams Come True, Charlie has a lot of vivid dreams. That is the only thing that I borrowed from my own experience.

What’s the biggest hurdle you’ve had to overcome when self publishing?

Well I thought the perceptions of others would be the biggest hurdle, and I suspect in the wider scheme of things this may still be an issue. But I was delighted when I approached a number of book bloggers I have got to know, and quite a few of them, (I just counted and it’s actually seventeen) said they would like a review copy of the book. I am now waiting to hear what they think of it, and I have to admit I’m ever so slightly terrified.

It was my aim to create a product that is of similar standard to a traditionally published book. I can only hope I have achieved this.

Who is your favourite author and why?

I honestly don’t have one favourite author. My recent purchases have been books by writers I’ve got to know online or at literary events. When I was growing up my favourite author was Enid Blyton for many years.

What are you working on at the moment?

I am trying to write more flash fiction at the moment as my collection of short stories for adults A Knowing Look has been received so much better than I had expected. I actually created that book as a project to see if I could self publish. It didn’t occur to me at the time that people might actually want to buy it.

I am keen to keep working on that style of writing. I am also writing another novel for 10-14s, which will be more of an adventure story.

Rebecca Emin lives in Oxfordshire with her husband and three small children. Her debut novel, ‘New Beginnings,’ was published by Grimoire Books on 23 January 2012. Her second novel, ‘When Dreams Come True’ is also for older children aged 10+.

She enjoys writing flash fiction and short stories and has had several flash fiction stories included in fundraising anthologies. ‘A Knowing Look and Other Stories’ is a collection of Rebecca’s short stories which was published in November 2011. 

Rebecca is also an author for Ether Books who publish short stories and essays to mobile devices via the Ether app.

Rebecca Emin was talking to Maureen Vincent-Northam, co-author of The Writer's ABC Checklist (Secrets to Success - Writing)

Interview with Myra King

A huge welcome to Myra King, prize-winning short story writer and author of the novel Cyber Rules.

 
Myra is aiming to raise $10,000 for Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), an independent international medical humanitarian organisation that delivers emergency aid in more than 60 countries. 

All royalties from her latest novel, Cyber Rules, published in 2012 by Certys UK, are being donated to Médecins Sans Frontières.

Cyber Rules

Anthea Stevenson is a farmer’s wife, midlife-challenged and living in isolated rural Australia.
For many years, she has harboured a dark secret. Now caught up on the addictive side of the Internet, she holds another secret, one which ultimately may prove to be far more deadly.

Buy on Amazon UK or Amazon.com

Tell us about your proudest writing achievement.

My first article in 1980, published in Rider Magazine. Seeing my ideas in print and knowing what I write could make a difference in the lives of horses and people. My article was about how the voice is such an asset when riding, how one need not rely on harsh bits or indeed, bits at all, but can have a horse working kindly with just the tone of a few words, or sounds, along with the other more gentler riding aids.

What are your writing strengths and weaknesses?

Weaknesses: Getting the commas in the right places. It’s so important to making a sentence mean what you want it to mean. Setting the intonation. Take that old example: What is this thing called love? What, is this thing called love? What is this thing called, love? Same words, totally different meanings, all with the shift of a comma. 

And sometimes I need it pointed out that a story requires a little more. Luckily I have an in-house editor - my husband. I rarely argue with him, I knuckle down to finishing it completely. He’s usually right.

My strengths: a strong work ethic. When I start on a piece, I write every day (even if it’s only a few sentences) without fail, until it’s finished. I’ve also been told my stories and characters seem real. 

Is there a special place you like to write?

I often write an opening line or two in bed, after waking at three in the morning. At other ungodly times, when I’m working on a story, I will be jolted awake with useful edits in my head such as: Myra, you blithering (insert stronger word) fool, you can’t have angora sheep! There’s no such thing. What were you thinking? But mostly I work in my office with the door closed. I need quietness and, if possible, no interruptions.

What do you think makes a good short story?

Holding the reader’s interest with pace and most importantly, voice. Voice goes way beyond dialogue. It’s that indefinable quality of character, which gives the story its authenticity.

Conveying the feel, or sense of place without over-description. Opening paragraphs that entice the reader whether by conflict or seduction.

Believable characters and storylines. These are especially necessary in fantasy, sci-fi, magic realism etc, where a writer must work harder to convince the reader. All genres can shine and, if character driven, be literary fiction as well. A good story should move us in some way, either make us inwardly nod or make us cringe, make us cry, even make us see the world in a different light. Or, and often this is the hardest of all, make us laugh. And to finish it off, a top story should have a satisfying ending.

Are your characters ever based on people you know?

My characters are often a composite of what I know about myself and others I have encountered, but not exclusively one or the other, and I don’t consciously bring these to mind. Sometimes, they are people I have never met. Snippets of conversations I have heard, or things people have done, can set off my character building imagination. And then those characters reveal themselves as I write.

How did the idea for Cyber Rules come about?

Like most writers, I need to write. It’s not an escape, it’s a necessity and a different reality, especially when the writing is flowing well. I began writing Cyber Rules ten years ago, in between jobs. My business had collapsed, due to the insurance debacle that was raging in Australia at that time. I’ve written two sequels to CR since.

There are similarities between me and the MC, Anthea Stevenson. Back then I was new to the Internet and learning the ways and whims of the computer age. Chatrooms were a big deal and it wasn’t long before I thought that all too common writers’ question: What if? 

I only realised how attached I was to Cyber Rules when my then husband (now ex) accidentally deleted the manuscript when it was two chapters from the finish. And yes, he’d emptied the ‘trash’ as well. Being pretty computer inept at the time, I hadn’t saved it correctly on memory stick, either. Luckily I had a hard copy and a daughter who’s a speed typist and who loves me.

Who is your favourite author and why?

Amongst many others, Robert Louis Stevenson. I’m not usually one for rereading stories or books, but I never tire of Kidnapped and Catriona. A master storyteller, his characters not only have flesh and bones, but soul as well. I can feel and hear the Scottish highlands and lowlands, and the pipes of Alan Breck.

What are you working on at the moment?

A YA novel, starring fourteen year old Kaleen Pingelly and her best friend Velvet Brown, named after the heroine of National Velvet fame. Sadly, unlike the character in the film, Velvet is horseless. But she has a gift, a unique ability only Kaleen knows about.  

Myra King is an Australian writer living on the coast of South Australia. She has written a number of prize-winning short stories, including a first prize in the UK-based Global Short Story Competition, and has a short story collection published by Ginninderra Press. In 2010 her short story, The Black Horse, was shortlisted for the US Glass Woman Prize. And in 2011 her story, The Trousseau Box, was selected as story of the week in Short Story America.

Among other print journals and magazines, her work has appeared in Boston Literary Magazine, The Valley Review– Meat For Tea, Orbis, Eclectic Flash, Herons Nest, Red River Review, Little Episodes, Fast Forward Press and The Foundling Review. Myra is also a regular contributor to the e-magazine The Pages.

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/myra-king/17/b38/751
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Tracing Your Characters’ Roots

 
Author David Robinson explains how using a family history book can help writers dig deeper into their fictional characters' pasts.

All writers keep some research books to hand. I have a brace of dictionaries, an ageing and dog-eared copy of Roget’s Thesaurus, and the ever-present The Writer's ABC Checklist, all within easy reach. 


Because some of my work borders on the paranormal and sci-fi, I also have handy reference guides to science and the occult to hand. But why would a writer of fiction keep a copy of Trace Your Roots nearby?

Tracing my family history has never been of particular interest to me, so when Maureen sent me a copy of Trace Your Roots, I thumbed through it out of friendship and tried one or two of the suggestions. Behold: within the space of an hour or two, I’d tracked down both sets of grandparents and their respective weddings, my father’s birthplace which had always been subject to some doubt, the births and marriages of several uncles and aunts, my own birth record in the parish registry and my brother’s.

I was suddenly interested in tracing the family line, but… I’m a writer. Somewhere along the line, I have to turn out the words. Hobbies like genealogy must take a back seat, especially when you’re sitting dangerously close to publication deadlines and you still have another 20,000 words to find.

It was only later, as the pressure eased, that I realised Trace Your Roots had another possible use.

The mainstay of my work is crime fiction, usually from a private detective point of view. How many times has Joe Murray needed to make a link between characters A and Z? How could Alex Croft have dug out the descendants of The Great Zepelli and narrowed down his search for The Handshaker? How can Martin and Saga set about finding TT in BBC 4’s excellent serial, The Bridge... Well they’re Swedish/Danish, but I presume those countries have their equivalents of the National Archives and parish registers.

Frances di Plino’s excellent thriller, Bad Moon Rising, involves a search for… let’s just say, someone. How do you conduct that search? To be honest, until I read Trace Your Roots, I wouldn’t have had a clue. Now I have. I know how that person can be traced, I know how Joe can track down the heir to the fortune he’s stumbled across, and I know how Alex Croft can tackle the search for Julius Reiniger in post war Britain.

Taking a wider view of the matter, there have been novels written where the hero/heroine specifically searches out family history in an effort to come to terms with present problems. How much easier is it to produce that kind of work when you have all the research to hand in one volume, and I could see this working in most genres from romance to horror.

Maureen didn’t produce Trace Your Roots as a handbook for writers, but as a handy guide for budding genealogists, but like thrifty, “waste not, want not” devotees, we scribes can turn any book into a useful tool for our researches.

David lives and works as a novelist on the northeast outskirts of Manchester, England. He is a prolific author, having produced works in cosy crime, psycho-horror, sci-fi and humour. 

Visit David’s Amazon page HERE

David's WEBSITE




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Interview with Laurie Clayton

For her new poetry collection, Encounters, Laurie Clayton has taken inspiration from personal experiences and observations. The poems, which tackle some dark emotive issues, are balanced with a mix of sensual, erotic and spiritual offerings along with a few playful digs at life's minor irritations.

Find Laurie's blog HERE

What was the first thing you had published?

A short poem entitled ‘New Birth’. I had entered it into a contest organised by Writelink, an online writing community. It didn’t win, but thanks to a public vote, it gained enough support to be included in the anthology ‘A pocketful of spring’.

What inspires you?

Anything and everything. Sounds cliché, but it’s true. It can be something simple like a butterfly flittering past, a piece of music, a comment or an incident that causes me to ask ‘What if that was me, how would I feel, how would I cope, how would others react?’

What are your writing strengths and weaknesses?

Aside from the obvious answer, imagination, I consider my main strengths to be observational skills combined with a strong sense of empathy; an ability to immerse myself into different situations and emotions.

I think my biggest weaknesses revolve around punctuation and the occasional spelling mistake, but with dyslexia running in the family to varying degrees, the latter is probably not surprising. I can read a word that is spelt correctly, yet be convinced that it is wrong. My biggest bugbear, by far, are the apostrophes.  Just when I think I have a handle on them, they start to appear in all the wrong places. The more I consider the rules, the more confused I become. (Slippery little blighters in my opinion.)

Do you have a writing routine or any odd writing quirks?

Once an idea strikes, my natural routine would be to sit at the computer and work away until a natural completion; whether that be as little as ten minutes, ten hours or longer. However, since the birth of my daughter, I have to make do with whatever time I can snatch, which is not always conducive to the artistic flow.

I never know where or when my muse is going to kick in, although true to form, it is usually within the wee small hours and at the most inconvenient moments. That said, some of my most emotive creations began this way. Once awake, my brain takes over and sleep becomes a lost cause. At this point, I usually end up firing up the laptop, just to get things down before they disappear into the ether, never to return. Apparently, there is nothing like a touch of sleep deprivation to sharpen the creative process, especially where poetry is concerned.

Is there a special place you like to write?

I would love to say yes; that I have this perfectly tidy get-away cabin ,with an enormously spacious desk, a haven in which to be creative, alas I cannot; for now I have to make do with wherever I can lay my laptop.

Tell us about your proudest writing achievement.

When my short story ‘Going Solo’ was selected for inclusion in the charity anthology ‘100 stories for Queensland’. This was the first time that my writing was considered to be of a publishable standard on its own merits – by writers, editors and publishers from around the world; people who didn’t know me from Adam. This was the point that I finally realised how much my writing had improved.

Regarding poetry, what’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

Learn the rules but don’t be afraid to break them.

Who is your favourite poet?

In all honesty, I don’t have one. I tend to like poetry for itself, not for the person who wrote it. Like many of my age, I have some fond and not so fond memories of the war poets Sassoon and Owen. I enjoy the classics of Keats and Shelley and some of Carol Ann Duffy’s work strikes a chord, but I have no definitive favourite.

What was the hardest thing about putting together a poetry collection?

The first thing was collating enough material with a central theme. It surprised me just how many poems that made the original cut, didn’t make it into the collection.

The second was choosing the title and style of the cover. I wanted simple but eye catching.

With the main theme leaning heavily towards emotions evoked by various human interactions, Encounters seemed to fit the bill for the title.

For the cover, combining the stark contrast of a red rose against a black background gave a perfect visual whilst subliminally representing the beauty, pain, colour and darkness of human emotion.

What are you working on at the moment?

I am currently formatting the manuscript for Encounters ready for the e-reader market, something that is proving to be quite a challenge where poetry layout is concerned. I never consciously set out to write poetry as it has a tendency to interrupt me when working on something else, so the plan of action is to concentrate on my novels and take it from there.

Laurie Clayton lives in the South of England with her family. Whilst her main interest is poetry, she also writes short stories, non-fiction articles and currently has two novels in the pipeline. One of her stories was chosen for the charity anthology:

100 Stories for Queensland

Laurie Clayton was talking to Maureen Vincent-Northam, co-author of The Writer's ABC Checklist (Secrets to Success)
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The Scourge of Chubby Writing

Today, Writers’ Checklist extends a warm welcome to bestselling novelist, Michaelbrent Collings.

 
Let's talk about our activity levels, shall we?

Obesity, as I'm constantly being reminded every time I turn on my radio, is one of the top problems facing America's people today. It comes largely from a sedentary lifestyle, a passive engagement in activity.

Okay, then let's talk about the darker side of that problem: fat writing. Fat writing, like fat people, suffers from inactivity more than anything. Just as an obese person lives on a diet of junk food, fast food, and various things you can find fried at the county fair, so chubby writing exists on a steady and corroding diet of passive tense. Tossing back any form of "to be" adds ten pounds to your sentence, making it slow and clunky.

Check out these two paragraphs. The first one is from my book, The Haunted, which at the time of this writing is in its second straight month on amazon.com's bestselling horror:

Then, just as he felt himself about to give in, about to lose himself in the irrational fear (and what other kind of fear was there but the irrational, for rationality fled in the face of terror, the ability to be a thinking human being ran before the onslaught of horror), his fingers felt the cool links of the chain.  He grabbed it like a man about to fall off a high cliff would grab a tethering line.

Nice, huh? It moves forward, actively and resolutely. It's a decent example of perfectly weighted writing. But add just a few junk-food "to be" words, and see what happens:

Then, just as he was about to feel like he was about to give in, about to be lost himself in the irrational fear (and what other kind of fear was there but the irrational, for to be rational was something that would flee if it was faced by terror, the ability to be a thinking human being would have run before terror which was like an onslaught of horror), his fingers were able to feel the cool links of the chain.  He was going to hold it like a man who was about to fall off a cliff and was going to grab a line that would tether him.

Wow.  Chubby writing. Worse, this writing is downright riddled with lard and excess weight.

Writing should involve the reader. It should activate the reader's passions, and engage the audience's senses. This cannot occur if the writer insists on turning verbs into adverbs or nouns by overusing various forms of the word "to be." Passive writing is good for one thing: to avoid blame. Thus, when my mother burst in on me as a child and asked what had happened to the cookie jar, my answer was, "It was broken." Not "I broke it." No. "It was broken." That way the facts were presented in the dullest manner possible, and there was no specific actor -- and thus no one who could be grounded or have dessert rights taken from him.

But though good for avoiding blame for broken cookie jars and (in extreme cases if you are BP) for pumping millions of gallons of oil into otherwise clean water, overuse of passive voice absolutely wrecks prose. Particularly when you are writing a thriller or horror piece, you want your prose to be a driving force, to push the reader from page to page, to grab them and drag them mentally through the book without releasing them for so much as an instant. Your goal should be for your readers' loved ones to find your readers' dead bodies, dehydrated, malnourished, and with exploded bladders because they just couldn't stop reading.

Passive tense doesn't do that. Passive tense is more like a butler standing at your side as you read and asking in a polite and insistent voice if perhaps you might not be better suited doing something else. Something more active. More interesting. Like fixing the garbage disposal, perhaps. Or going to the bathroom.

You get the picture, right? If not, I'll just sum it up for you here:

Passive voice = bad.

Active voice = good.

Thus endeth the lesson.

 

Michaelbrent Collings is the #1 bestselling author of RUN, The Haunted, The Loon, and many other international bestsellers. His website is http://michaelbrentcollings.com and he welcomes visitors. If you liked this article, consider checking out one of his books. They're cool. Like "integrated robot arm" cool.

FOREIGN ENCOUNTERS ANTHOLOGY 2012

If you're an ex-pat writer, here's your chance to get your short story, poem or non-fiction piece published.

Writers Abroad are looking for submissions for their third anthology, 'Foreign Encounters'.

Submissions are sought on the general theme of relationships around the world. The anthology will be print published and later available as an e-book. Your short story, non-fiction piece or poem can encompass people, animals and places. An encounter or alliance, a connection or kinship, love or liaison written from an ex-pat view point.

This year Writers Abroad will be donating all profits made to charity, Books Abroad. Books Abroad believes that education is required to solve the world's problems and is therefore helping educate school children worldwide by providing free, carefully chosen school books. Books Abroad is currently working in 84 countries and serving 977 educational establishments. This includes Africa, Asia, Central & Southern America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

Author, Julia Gregson, whose best-selling novel 'East of the Sun' won the prestigious Prince Maurice Prize, will be writing the foreword.

Contributions: Expat or former ex-pat writers, or those writers who are living outside the country of their birth.

Word Count: Fiction – up to 1700 words (flash fiction is welcome) Non-Fiction – up to 1000 words. Maximum of 30 lines for poetry.

Deadline is 31 July 2012
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Interview with Richard Hardie

Publerati Publishing of America is publishing the first volume in a planned Young Adult fiction adventure ebook series called Leap of Faith, targeting readers ages 12 and up.

The Temporal Detective Agency's first case since relocating to the 21st century from Camelot involves the theft of the world's biggest diamond, the disappearance of Lord Nelson's statue from the centre of London, and a battle against a gang of ship wreckers and smugglers based in the year 1734. With the help of Sir Galahad, the Agency faces death and defeat in their first real case when they meet the evil Black Knight and the cliff where he kills his enemies... by throwing them over a cliff called the Leap of Faith.

Leap of Faith is available now at Amazon UK and Amazon US

By the end of May it will also be available on Barnes & Noble and Gardiners.

Richard has his own website at www.rhardie.com

What was the first thing you had published?

Leap of Faith is my first book published on the worldwide stage, though it did have a predecessor called A Leap of Faith that was published by a small company in New Zealand. Unfortunately, it was only available on their own website so it had very little market visibility. I have to thank Caleb Mason, CEO of Publerati Publishing in America for believing in me and taking a chance on a relative unknown.

Tell us about your proudest writing achievement.

I was an Assistant Leader in the Scout Association for 15 years and for the last 10 was very much involved with the Scout & Guide Gang Shows. I co-wrote the 2000 Millennium show and then wrote and produced the one in 2002. Writing a show for 80 people on stage and another 80 people behind scenes and front of stage was a wonderful experience.

I also managed to get Terry Pratchett to agree to be filmed being kidnapped by the cast from Ottakar’s bookshop in Salisbury. He co-wrote the scene with me and we showed it as part of the story every night. I think co-writing with Terry and having such a phenomenal success in 2002 is my proudest writing moment. Incidentally, Terry remains a friend and he appears by name in book two of the Temporal Detective Agency, which is called Trouble with Swords.

My greatest thrill has yet to come, I hope, when the Temporal Detective Agency series becomes a best-seller!

What are your writing strengths and weaknesses?

Like many authors I occasionally go off on a tangent, and need to do ruthless editing to bring the story back on track. An agent friend of mine, Sarah Manson, advised and nurtured my meagre talent (?) but the one piece of advice I’ll also hold dear is her instruction to have a piece of paper above my PC with the letters GOWTS on it. It stands for Get On With The Story and is the best advice I ever had. Other than that I give thanks for spelling checkers and for people like Sarah who help people with no expectation of a return!

Do you have a writing routine or any odd writing quirks?

When I first started writing I worked for a computer company and ran their AsiaPac sales operation. That meant (luckily) lots of Business Class flights and plenty of time to relax and write. Now I mostly work in the UK and frequently from home, so tend to take an hour at lunch time mostly to do editing. In the evening I find I’m at my most creative and will usually spend a couple of hours. Maybe more at the weekend.

Is there a special place you like to write?

I have a large study at home, equipped with chair, settee, TV, business phone, fax, stereo and coffee. More often than not, it’s also equipped with a cocker spaniel called Benji, who is threatening to be in book three of the series!

How important is it to you to plot your novels?

I love writing for Young Adults, or to put it another way, anyone from the age of 12 to 80. The plot is everything and knowing the route of the novel is critical. That comes back to GOWTS! I have to admit sometimes I don’t know what is going to happen next, though I find the characters always know. I always know the main plotline and how the story is going to end and why. The “why” of course is most important, both for me and the reader.

Are your characters ever based on people you know?

Terry Pratchett is a name only in my second book, but other than actual characters from history that feature in all my books, I may occasionally use the personalities of people I’ve met, but never their names. In fact Tertia’s character was very much based on someone I know.

How much of you is there in the characters you write about?

There’s nothing of me in any of my characters, either by characteristic, or name. I’m not interesting enough.

Who is your favourite author and why?

I have two favourites. Terry Pratchett has been a consistent favourite of mine and I re-read his books like old friends. His high standard has never dropped and each new book is a joy, full of humour and pathos. He found a treasure-trove in Discworld that hopefully will never end. I also love Bernard Cornwell. I’ve read all the Sharpe novels, but have to admit his Saxon series and the King Arthur books are wonderful. They’re so realistic and well researched.

What qualities do you think writers should have?

Always write for the reader, not for themselves. Persistency... rejections come all too frequently, so remain positive and remember that all the agents who wrote those rejection slips will be kicking themselves one day! Above all, always take advice and act on it if it’s good. Read out loud what you write and if it doesn’t sound perfect, then it isn’t.

What are you working on at the moment?

I’m editing the sequel to Leap of Faith in the Temporal Detective Agency series. It’s called Trouble with Swords and takes the characters on an adventure trip to Camelot, ancient Rome and Egypt. We’re hoping to release it in August or September this year. I’m also part way through the third book in the series, with a working title of the Big Bang Theory. Book four’s plot is already mapped out.

Further down the line Marit Meredith and I are going to be working on a rather special celebrity chef recipe book, but more of that nearer the time. Those who read Leap of Faith will understand!

What advice would you give to an aspiring novelist?

Terry Pratchett gave me an excellent piece of advice when I told him I wanted to write a book. He told me to keep the day job. I have, but I still hope that one day I’ll be able to support my family by writing about the Temporal detective Agency.

Having said that, keep trying. A good author thrives on rejection. I did, and so did someone called J K Rowling!

Biography:

Richard Hardie lives near Southampton, is married with two grown-up kids and a cocker spaniel. He has mostly worked in IT sales and still does while he achieves his ambition of becoming an independent writer. He has been a leader in the Scout Association for more than 15 years, which has given him great insight into the humour and story likes of children. He has written five stage shows called “Gang Shows” for the Scout Association, which have been performed as far afield as New Zealand. Richard second book,  

Trouble with Swords will be out in the autumn.

Richard Hardie was talking to Maureen Vincent-Northam, co-author of The Writer's ABC Checklist (Secrets to Success)
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