This is the page to come and find out what I’m up to long-term. Of course for more up to the minute information, do visit my blog, as that is my first place to post.
I’m only going to talk about current and future projects, as old work is just that, old. The past is all well and good, but the now is all that we can really be involved in directly and from this we can plan the future. Okay, that’s my moment of armchair philosophy over with, for now...
A word about the way I work.
I get ideas, plots and situations, but I write in a very organic way. Like a gardener planting seeds and allowing them to germinate and grow. Nourishing them, feeding and tending them, but letting them do what comes naturally to them. That is my method of writing. I create characters and basic settings and storylines and then my characters grow and develop into real people. To me, each of them is real and when I leave the writing and walk away, the story carries on in my absence. When I return the story might not be quite how it was when I left it. Working this way, I’m often as surprised as the reader to learn what’s happening in my story. Take conversation and I love dialogue. I tend to write it very quickly, because the words tumble from the character’s mouths and I sometimes find it hard to keep up. I don’t have set guidelines and templates. I just write.
Short Stories
I am working on a new collection of short stories, these are loosly tied by being based in the fictional town of Hobbsley. Like my firsdt collection Twelve Shards of Glass, these tales are mostly twist in the tale.
Novels
Harry Royle
I am currently working on the third and final Harry Royle thriller, A Mission Too Far, which is taking longer than I'd have liked, but these things seldom do as expected.
Other novels
I have two novels waiting in the wings and if Harry Royle takes a breather, these might see the light of day one day soon. One is set on a commuter train and consists of a group of travellers and two British Rail staff. Each chapter will look at one character’s story and also be a month in the year. So twelve characters, twelve months and a concluding chapter set at a Christmas party. This will be a collection of interlocking tales, culminating in a surprise ending.
The other book is set in a hotel room and tells the story of the occupants of the room and the hotel through time and will be a collection of twist in the tale stories. This is not a time travel story, but different stories set during different time periods from 1900 to 2016.
TV & Radio
I currently have a sitcom script Under the same sun, which is waiting for a home and a radio play titled Bingo.
