AUTHOR INTERVIEW
Text of a recent interview of me as an author:
Q. Tell us a little about yourself and your writing journey.
A. I began writing seriously in the early 1990s when I was living and working in London. Until then I had wished I could write but kept telling myself I couldn’t. Eventually I convinced myself I should at least try. I sat at my computer, wrote a title, then a line, then another line until I eventually had what could loosely be termed a novel, though after hawking it around for a while and getting the inevitable comments from agents and publishers, I binned it. When I started on my next book, The Election, I’d learned a lot from my experience of the first. It ended up, I think, being a great story but I still couldn’t get published. Years later, I decided to self-publish that novel. I secured a publisher for my second novel, Calvus and upon the demise of that publisher I found another one which published my next three novels, Agnus Dei, Sleeping With Angels and A Dragon In The Snow. Not satisfied with the marketing side of what these publishers were doing for me, I decided to return to self-publishing. My sixth novel, Bounty was published last year. Earlier this year I published my memoir, …Passing Through… For the rest of 2020 I decided to spend a lot more time online marketing, though I am also writing a sequel to Calvus titled Zeno and, just for fun, I am trying my hand at writing a script for an eight-episode television series.
Q. What do you enjoy most about being a writer?
A. I love the research, perhaps a legacy of my 38 years as a lawyer. I also love the way it takes you away from your day to day problems and disappointments and deposits you in another place.
Q. What is the hardest thing about being a writer?
A. Marketing. There, I’ve said it – in a word.
Q What is your greatest writing achievement?
A. Being able to get seven books into print, one way or another. But I’d like to add that my latest novel, Bounty has been one of the most satisfying projects I have worked on. Most of it is set in countries I haven’t visited, namely Lebanon and Iran and it took years of research before I could pen to paper, as it were.
Q. What inspires you?
A. Things I’m passionate about. For example, Calvus is partially set in the first century in Roman times and I’m fascinated by the ancient Romans. I loved doing the research for the first half of the book which is set in what was then Judea and Britannia. Bounty came about because of my interest in the Middle East.
Q. In what genre do you write?
A. I break the rules a little and don’t always limit myself to the one genre. Given the “write what you know” rule, I should, perhaps, always write legal thrillers. I have in fact done so in Agnus Dei and Sleeping With Angels but The Election and Bounty are political thrillers, Calvus a historical thriller, A Dragon In The Snow a general thriller.
Q. Do you have any tips for new writers?
A. If they’re passionate about writing, they should never give up, no matter what comments they get from agents and publishers.
Q. Do you suffer from writers’ block?
A. No. I think that’s because I have various projects going at the same time so that if I run out of scenes for one, there’s something else I can be working on.
Q. Do you have a preferred writing schedule?
A. No.
Q. Do you have a favourite writing place?
A. I’m somewhat limited—I have to write at my computer in my home office.
Q. What is your greatest joy in writing?
A. Getting positive reviews and readers’ comments.
Q. Who is your favourite author and why?
A. I find it difficult to restrict myself to just one, given the myriad of great authors out there but the author whose books I believe I have read the most, is David Baldacci.
Q. What’s the greatest compliment you ever received from a reader?
A. “It’s absolute brilliant. It gripped me from the very beginning.” I love readers to tell me my book is a page-turner. That’s what I set out to write.
Q. What was the worst comment from a reader?
A. “Well, I have to say I enjoyed the read...” That was as much as I could get out of her and she was my literary agent at the time!
Q. Writers are sometimes influenced by things that happen in their own lives. Are you?
A. Yes.
Q. Other than writing, what else do you love?
A. Reading, cinema, theatre, music, walking.
Q. Describe your perfect day.
A. It would start with an e-mail telling me that Bounty had made Amazon’s best-seller list; then around lunch time I’d get offers to buy the foreign rights; around dinner time I’d get the call from Steven Spielberg!
Q. What would you say if you had the chance to speak to world leaders?
A. Give peace a go.
Q. What are your plans for the future?
A. I tend to take things one day at a time but I hope to keep writing for as long as I can.
Q. What five books would you take to Heaven?
A. (1) As A Driven Leaf by Milton Steinberg (2) In The Company of Strangers by Awais Khan (3) Preying in Iran by Eric Weitz (4) Les Misérables by Victor Hugo (5) Once We Were Brothers by Ronald H. Balson.
Q. Do you see yourself in any of your characters?
A. Yes. Good and bad.
Q. Does the publishing industry frustrate you?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you ever think of quitting?
A. Yes but only for a nanosecond.
Q. What was your favourite manuscript to write? Why?
A. Bounty because of the enormous amount of research required.
Q. How would you define “success” as a writer?
A. Being able to live exclusively on your income as a writer.
Q. What should readers walk away from your books knowing? How should they feel?
A. How much blood, sweat and tears that has gone into writing them. Hopefully, they’d feel elated.
Q. How much thought goes into designing a book cover?
A. A considerable amount of thought went into designing the covers all my published novels, though I did not do the graphic artistry myself. I knew what I wanted and others brought my ideas to life.
Q. What is your ultimate dream?
A. To be a household name as a writer.
Q. Writing is one thing. What about marketing you, your books and your brand? Any thoughts?
A. Marketing is the most difficult thing about writing. I’ve heard it said that getting a book “out there” is 10% writing, 90% marketing. Getting your book onto Amazon’s site is one thing but making it stand out from millions of titles is another. I found that starting small, giving author talks at libraries and clubs was a good way to start. However, during the pandemic, that is limited so I am spending much more time online marketing via various social media sites.
Q. Tell us a little about yourself and your writing journey.
A. I began writing seriously in the early 1990s when I was living and working in London. Until then I had wished I could write but kept telling myself I couldn’t. Eventually I convinced myself I should at least try. I sat at my computer, wrote a title, then a line, then another line until I eventually had what could loosely be termed a novel, though after hawking it around for a while and getting the inevitable comments from agents and publishers, I binned it. When I started on my next book, The Election, I’d learned a lot from my experience of the first. It ended up, I think, being a great story but I still couldn’t get published. Years later, I decided to self-publish that novel. I secured a publisher for my second novel, Calvus and upon the demise of that publisher I found another one which published my next three novels, Agnus Dei, Sleeping With Angels and A Dragon In The Snow. Not satisfied with the marketing side of what these publishers were doing for me, I decided to return to self-publishing. My sixth novel, Bounty was published last year. Earlier this year I published my memoir, …Passing Through… For the rest of 2020 I decided to spend a lot more time online marketing, though I am also writing a sequel to Calvus titled Zeno and, just for fun, I am trying my hand at writing a script for an eight-episode television series.
Q. What do you enjoy most about being a writer?
A. I love the research, perhaps a legacy of my 38 years as a lawyer. I also love the way it takes you away from your day to day problems and disappointments and deposits you in another place.
Q. What is the hardest thing about being a writer?
A. Marketing. There, I’ve said it – in a word.
Q What is your greatest writing achievement?
A. Being able to get seven books into print, one way or another. But I’d like to add that my latest novel, Bounty has been one of the most satisfying projects I have worked on. Most of it is set in countries I haven’t visited, namely Lebanon and Iran and it took years of research before I could pen to paper, as it were.
Q. What inspires you?
A. Things I’m passionate about. For example, Calvus is partially set in the first century in Roman times and I’m fascinated by the ancient Romans. I loved doing the research for the first half of the book which is set in what was then Judea and Britannia. Bounty came about because of my interest in the Middle East.
Q. In what genre do you write?
A. I break the rules a little and don’t always limit myself to the one genre. Given the “write what you know” rule, I should, perhaps, always write legal thrillers. I have in fact done so in Agnus Dei and Sleeping With Angels but The Election and Bounty are political thrillers, Calvus a historical thriller, A Dragon In The Snow a general thriller.
Q. Do you have any tips for new writers?
A. If they’re passionate about writing, they should never give up, no matter what comments they get from agents and publishers.
Q. Do you suffer from writers’ block?
A. No. I think that’s because I have various projects going at the same time so that if I run out of scenes for one, there’s something else I can be working on.
Q. Do you have a preferred writing schedule?
A. No.
Q. Do you have a favourite writing place?
A. I’m somewhat limited—I have to write at my computer in my home office.
Q. What is your greatest joy in writing?
A. Getting positive reviews and readers’ comments.
Q. Who is your favourite author and why?
A. I find it difficult to restrict myself to just one, given the myriad of great authors out there but the author whose books I believe I have read the most, is David Baldacci.
Q. What’s the greatest compliment you ever received from a reader?
A. “It’s absolute brilliant. It gripped me from the very beginning.” I love readers to tell me my book is a page-turner. That’s what I set out to write.
Q. What was the worst comment from a reader?
A. “Well, I have to say I enjoyed the read...” That was as much as I could get out of her and she was my literary agent at the time!
Q. Writers are sometimes influenced by things that happen in their own lives. Are you?
A. Yes.
Q. Other than writing, what else do you love?
A. Reading, cinema, theatre, music, walking.
Q. Describe your perfect day.
A. It would start with an e-mail telling me that Bounty had made Amazon’s best-seller list; then around lunch time I’d get offers to buy the foreign rights; around dinner time I’d get the call from Steven Spielberg!
Q. What would you say if you had the chance to speak to world leaders?
A. Give peace a go.
Q. What are your plans for the future?
A. I tend to take things one day at a time but I hope to keep writing for as long as I can.
Q. What five books would you take to Heaven?
A. (1) As A Driven Leaf by Milton Steinberg (2) In The Company of Strangers by Awais Khan (3) Preying in Iran by Eric Weitz (4) Les Misérables by Victor Hugo (5) Once We Were Brothers by Ronald H. Balson.
Q. Do you see yourself in any of your characters?
A. Yes. Good and bad.
Q. Does the publishing industry frustrate you?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you ever think of quitting?
A. Yes but only for a nanosecond.
Q. What was your favourite manuscript to write? Why?
A. Bounty because of the enormous amount of research required.
Q. How would you define “success” as a writer?
A. Being able to live exclusively on your income as a writer.
Q. What should readers walk away from your books knowing? How should they feel?
A. How much blood, sweat and tears that has gone into writing them. Hopefully, they’d feel elated.
Q. How much thought goes into designing a book cover?
A. A considerable amount of thought went into designing the covers all my published novels, though I did not do the graphic artistry myself. I knew what I wanted and others brought my ideas to life.
Q. What is your ultimate dream?
A. To be a household name as a writer.
Q. Writing is one thing. What about marketing you, your books and your brand? Any thoughts?
A. Marketing is the most difficult thing about writing. I’ve heard it said that getting a book “out there” is 10% writing, 90% marketing. Getting your book onto Amazon’s site is one thing but making it stand out from millions of titles is another. I found that starting small, giving author talks at libraries and clubs was a good way to start. However, during the pandemic, that is limited so I am spending much more time online marketing via various social media sites.
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