What is your writing process like?
I have eased off writing now. That's because I think I need to catch up with myself, so to speak. I have had a couple of different approaches towards writing, but all in all, at my age, seventy-four, I think ten books since 2013, almost one a year, plus all my poems, is not bad at all. As I said at the beginning, I need to catch up. By that I mean, doing more interviews like this one, and marketing which is not easy if the writing is beckoning. We all love to write and as for the other stuff, well, someone else can do that. I think that approach can work, however, as the writer you owe a responsibility of finding the right person to do what we don't want to do--- and that takes time for the research.
How do you come up with ideas for stories and characters?
I was lucky to have a father who had an event-filled war! He came through North Africa and Sicily, ending up in Italy when that country capitulated before Germany surrendered. He was promoted to the rank of Captain and put in charge of a unit to interview captured Axis troops. At the end of the War in Europe, he was posted back to the UK to work in the War Department. In both those positions, he came across enough stories to fill my head with colourful antecedents. Sadly he died when I was still quite young and we never did get to finish most of what he had heard. I had better say that none of what he told me was top-secret but to me, almost fifty years on when I started to write, they were the beginnings of my writing life.
What do the words “writer’s block” mean to you?
Not being able to write, but thankfully I have never suffered. If I had experienced 'writer's block,' the only thing I can think of to get past it would be-- to write. Write anything. An article in a blog, a poem, a review, not necessarily on a book but something you may have purchased from Amazon. Write on your Facebook page asking for ideas. Does a friend need help with a project? Read a book then write a short critique for it if a review is not possible. On Goodreads, there is a 'Word Association topic' on Thriller Association. The idea is someone writes a word and others follow on by writing a word they associate with it. I do this first thing in the morning before I start. It wakes up my brain.
How do you process and deal with negative book reviews?
I don't read reviews now. I used to read them, and I've had bad reviews. I hated them but there was nothing I could do other than see if there was any truth to them. If it was, after all, just a person's opinion, then--- move on and forget them. But I decided not to read any reviews.
What is the most challenging part of your writing process?
Being distracted. For the last 5 years, or so, I have lived alone. The nights are quiet but by then my eyes are tired of the electric lights. During the daylit hours my phone rings and I can't turn it off in case it's important. The doorbell rings with deliveries. I have a carer but she is always distracting me. I say--"I bet Stephen King doesn't have all this to put up with," to which she replies-- "I bet he pays his help better than you do." I have no answer to that!
How long have you been writing, or when did you start?
Just over ten years. Not long, is it?
What advice would you give writers working on their first book?
Read it over and over and then, when you write those two words The End, put it away for at least two weeks, then read it again. When you are satisfied you've done your best work, send it to the very best proofreader you have found. It will cost money to have it proofread but it is the best money you can spend. If you can afford an editor then send a copy of the proofread manuscript to them before you ever think about having it published, or you publish it yourself. I don't believe you need an agent, or a publisher to get started, but your book must be proofread.
How do you develop your plot and characters?
Put yourself in the book. How would you react to the situation you have? Or, write some friends into your storyline, and use their mannerisms or habits. Try to think of places you have been to and what you have seen in your life and use your own experience to fill the plotline. I have always had a beginning. Not the finalised beginning but a beginning I can work with and then I think I must have been lucky because my mind won't stop there. I work the middle of the book from the beginning. I have never had an ending to a novel when I start. That way, I think it will come as a surprise to any reader if it surprised me!
How many books have you written, and which is your favorite?
I have written ten books and my favourite is the one I never wrote.
What part of the book did you have the hardest time writing?
That's a difficult one. I don't know.
What do you need in your writing space to help you stay focused?
I always have a storyline. That keeps everything in the right chronological order. It keeps the names spelled correctly, and those correctly spelled names in the right places at the right time. The spelling of names is especially important if those names are foreign. A storyline is using the same thing as when a serious crime has been committed in a film or in a tv show. The leading detective, you as the writer, pins photographs on a board and then looks for a connection. That's your role as the writer to connect the clues.