Over the last few months I've imposed on the good will and generosity of friends and family by asking them to proof-read The Testing of Archie Rathbone for me. They have done this without complaint, and have also been brave enough (at my insistence) to give me feedback, even when it might not have been what I wanted to hear.
It occurs to me though that without realising it, they have also provided another great service, in that they have asked me questions along the way - some of them ones I would have expected, and others that caught me a little by surprise.
So, for anyone who looks at my book and wants to know more, perhaps these questions and answers will help. If however there are any questions you'd like to ask (that aren't covered here) then feel free to ask me by commenting on this blog, or on my GoodReads Meet the authors thread Alex Hunter thread.
Where did you get the inspiration for The Testing of Archie Rathbone?
I started writing this book in 2007, so it's difficult to remember exactly, but two things stick in my mind - firstly, I have a clear memory of sitting at my desk, gazing out of the window and thinking 'what would happen if you woke up one day to find yourself somewhere completely alien to you, with no memory of how you'd got there? What would you do? How would you go about getting back home?' That starting point begged loads of other questions about who was responsible, what their motives were and so on. The other clear memory I have is of a flash of inspiration for some character names - Bolt, Upright & Clench. I don't think I even had a clear idea as to who these characters would turn out to be, just that they would be important to the plot. The rest of the story all followed from those starting points.
Do you have your plots planned out before you start to write?
No, or at least not in detail. I've read about writers who approach writing in that way, but I find that too much planning gets in the way of the creative flow. That said, although as I say it doesn't come naturally to me, there are times when you have to plan your plot structure very carefully. Although The Testing of Archie Rathbone doesn't have a particularly complex plot, there are a number of twists and turns, and interdependent strands that needed to be introduced at the right times, and linked in the right ways. It's also really important to drip-feed little hints and clues about what's going on beyond the obvious in order to pose questions for the reader to want to answer, to increase tension, to sustain interest and so on. I don't know if anyone could to that effectively without some careful planning, as you need to know where the plot's heading in order to judge which clues to introduce at which points.
When I started writing the book I'm working on at the moment (The Watchmaker's Chain) I wrote the first sixty or so pages straight off, and then felt compelled to write the very end of the story as I realised how important it was to the rest of the plot. Having done that, the remaining plot will be formed by the beginning and the end! I suppose that for me, no two books require the same approach.
Which writers/books have influenced your writing?
I suppose that's not quite the same as which writers do you particularly like?... Well, my sense of humour has been influenced by Monty Python, but I don't think there's much evidence of it in my writing. I was a teenager when the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy was first broadcast on the radio, and I suspect that there are hints of that influence in The Testing of Archie Rathbone (one of the book's reviewers flatteringly commented that Archie Rathbone was "...very much the Ford Prefect of the twenty-first century...", but I certainly didn't set out to creat something in someone else's style). I also loved the Reggie Perrin novels of David Nobbs, but again I'm not conscious of being influenced by him. Although The Testing of Archie rathbone wasn't the first humorous novel I've written, I've written in other genres too - The Watchmaker's Chain is much more of a science fiction novel. On that side, I suppose I read quite a few sci-fi writers when I was younger - Isaac Azimov, Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, John Wyndham foremost among them.
Your writing is full of characters with amusing names - what's the thinking behind that?
I suppose I'll have to blame Charles Dickens for that. His writing depends on the use of names that in some way tell yuo about the character they belong to. Sometimes he used these to provide humour as well, but even in his non-humour fiction he seldom missed an opportunity to use a character's name to add colour. I don't set out to be quite a calculating as that, but if I'm writing something that I want to make the reader smile then my characters' names are a good place to start.
Did you set out to write this book for a particular age group?
No, but then in most cases I write a story because it gets inside my head and won't leave me alone until I give in. I did once set out to write a chidren's story, but that was the exception. I suspect that whatever age group(s) The Testing of Archie Rathbone appeals to is largely accidental, or at least a product of my own tastes.
Do you plan to write a sequel or a prequel?
I have thought about it. Although I did try t make sure that most of the loose ends were neatly tied up at the end of the book, it wouldn't be difficult to envisage a little judicious unravelling. There are also lots of questions that could be asked about the lives some of the characters lead before the book starts. That said, I have no plans at the moment.
What do you find easiest and hardest about writing books?
Easiest - thinking of ideas for stories, particularly the start of the plot.
Hardest - being objective about what I've written (able to tell how it is likely to appear to others), dealing with writer's block.
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