For me getting to know your characters and seeing them develop into fully rounded, if at times eccentric, individuals is one of the great pleasures of writing. They become friends (is that strange?). This is especially the case with the three Inspector Kirby books (I’m now working on a fourth). But where do those characters they come from?
For the full blog - follow this link.
When you read a book the setting is like another character. It’s important, you want to picture the characters in their surroundings, even if your version of that picture is different to everyone else. I’ve written before on how I see describing settings as a balance between giving enough information to convey something of my vision of any given place while still leaving enough room for the reader to form their own picture. It’s like I provide the outline and the reader colours it in. For the Inspector Kirby books this was an interesting and evolving process.
For the full blog follow this link
The prompt for this post was a film I watched recently, Salmon fishing is the Yemen. I knew it had good crits and it’d been on my “to see” list for a long time. From the first few minutes to the end I enjoyed it. It was a gentle tale, with an element of humour and even a bit of romance. There was some violence, however basically it was a “nice” (and I know as authors the word “nice” is something to be avoided) story well told.
For the complete blog follow this link
Inspector Kirby, Jonah to his friends and 'old school' to his junior colleagues, wandered out of the cottage. He crossed the road and headed down the lane, with thorny hedge rows either side, that led to the sea. He’d put this off for days, wondering how it would make him feel. Still there was nothing quite like a walk along the coast with its prevailing North East breeze and the smell of salt and rotting seaweed in the air to clear the mind. And let’s face it there was a lot to clear.
To meet Inspector Kirby follow this link
My latest project, Inspector Kirby and Harold Longcoat, due to be launched in a few week’s time, was great fun to write. Possibly, because it’s a change from my normal diet of science fiction, set as it is in the present day, more-or-less. It’s a detective, mystery story, again something new for me, although not quite that straightforward. If you’ve read some of my short stories you’ll understand. It’s also allowed me to play with the humour in my writing. However, I think one of the keys to getting that part of it right was developing sympathetic characters who would play off each other.
For the full blog follow this link
For me getting to know your characters and seeing them develop into fully rounded, if at times eccentric, individuals is one of the great pleasures of writing. They become friends (is that strange?). This is especially the case with the three Inspector Kirby books (I’m now working on a fourth). But where do those characters they come from? 
When you read a book the setting is like another character. It’s important, you want to picture the characters in their surroundings, even if your version of that picture is different to everyone else. I’ve written before on how I see describing settings as a balance between giving enough information to convey something of my vision of any given place while still leaving enough room for the reader to form their own picture. It’s like I provide the outline and the reader colours it in. For the Inspector Kirby books this was an interesting and evolving process.
Inspector Kirby, Jonah to his friends and 'old school' to his junior colleagues, wandered out of the cottage. He crossed the road and headed down the lane, with thorny hedge rows either side, that led to the sea. He’d put this off for days, wondering how it would make him feel. Still there was nothing quite like a walk along the coast with its prevailing North East breeze and the smell of salt and rotting seaweed in the air to clear the mind. And let’s face it there was a lot to clear.
My latest project, Inspector Kirby and Harold Longcoat, due to be launched in a few week’s time, was great fun to write. Possibly, because it’s a change from my normal diet of science fiction, set as it is in the present day, more-or-less. It’s a detective, mystery story, again something new for me, although not quite that straightforward. If you’ve read some of my short stories you’ll understand. It’s also allowed me to play with the humour in my writing. However, I think one of the keys to getting that part of it right was developing sympathetic characters who would play off each other.