My Writing Process – Blog Hop

So, I’ve grasped the baton from Michaela Miles and will try to match the excellent posts so far. As you know, I’m such a shy, retiring type I find it sooo difficult to talk about myself, really I do. Yeah, well.…

If you’d like to check out Michaela’s writing processes, you can visit her here. Go on, it’s really worth a view and is even more informative than this one …

Q. What am I working on?

Now here a leading question. Those of you following my Facebook and Twitter pages will know that a load of my current spare time is being spent on the launch of my new book, THE TRANSITION OF JOHNNY SWIFT. More of that later…

I’ve started working on the sequel to Johnny Swift. And I haven’t forgotten my DCI Jones Casebook series.

I’ve self-published two in the series: The DCI Jones Casebook: Raymond Francis Collins, and The DCI Jones Casebook: Ellis Flynn.

I’ve nearly finished the sequel to Ellis Flynn, (tentatively entitled Allen Smithee), which follows directly on from the end of Ellis Flynn. I’m also part-way through an early prequel, which sees a young Constable David Jones on his first solo beat. The story is set in South Wales in the long hot summer of 1975—the year before the big drought!

Q. How does my work differ from others of its genre?

Not sure really. I guess my background has a load to do with my style of writing. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, I earned a crust as a furniture designer/cabinet maker. This has given me an eye for detail and the ability to ‘see’ things before they are created. Does it help my writing? Dunno – can’t hurt though, eh?

In 1993, I returned to full-time education and eventually earned a doctorate in Sport and Exercise Science, with a specialisation in Respiratory Physiology. This gave me a solid background in anatomy and physiology and enables me to bring my science background into my plotting. I also use it a great deal in my police procedural Casebook novels. You have to know how the body works before you can write about tearing it apart – mwahaha!
Another thing that brings colour and difference to my work is my advanced age – I’ve been around a long, long time and bring every one of my life experiences to bear in my fiction. Hope it shows in the end product – you’ll be the judge of that, I guess.

Q. Why do I write what I do?

My muse varies. I’ve always loved whodunits and started writing crime thrillers in the mid-1980s, although none of the books ever reached the publications stage. It takes time to learn the art of writing. The DCI Jones Casebooks are ‘traditional crime thrillers’ – whatever that means. They err on the side of the character-driven police procedural.
The Transition of Johnny Swift is a complete change of pace and genre for me. At this stage, I’m calling it a Sci-fi/Fantasy/Thriller, although my publisher is loath to create a new genre. The book began life as a doodle on a scrap of paper – I promise you. I was playing around with titles and came up with Transition, because it sounded intriguing, even though the name, Johnny Swift sounds a little like a motorcycle stunt rider. From the title sprang the 96k word novel, but not without a great deal of heartache and a load of damned hard work. I wrote the title in September 2013, and finished the first draft on New Year’s Eve.

Q. How does my writing process work?

Writing process? I’m supposed to have a writing process? Hell, nobody told me that.
All I do is sit at my keyboard and play with words. That’s it. I rarely write a plot outline and I never stick to the plots I do outline. I’ll write for about eight hours a day, Monday to Friday, and longer at the weekends. My wife loves me being out from under her feet, so that’s not a problem. I live in a rural backwater in the heart of Brittany – idyllic and tranquil. What more could a man ask but a bottle glass of wine and a baguette. 🙂

Q. Who will you meet next week?

You have a real treat in store next week, I’m handing you over to my mate, Ashley Capes.
Ashley is an Australian poet (purveyor of fabulous words), fantasy writer (owner of an exceptional imagination), and all-around nice bloke. Over to you Ashley!