Ask the Author: Colin Garrow
Answered Questions (5)
Colin Garrow
Stephen King's advice is the best yet - if you want to be a writer you must do two things: read a lot and write a lot.
Colin Garrow
I love playing around with words, and creating stories is the best way I know to do that. I try to inspire myself by coming up with titles that I can explore, for instance, with one of my children's books, The House That Wasn't There, I had to write the book to discover what the title meant. It's not always that straightforward, of course.
Colin Garrow
At the moment, I'm working on three books - the next mystery/thriller in the Christie McKinnon series (currently titled 'The Phantom of Fiddler's Lane'; the third volume in my spoof Sherlock Holmes series, 'The Watson Letters', and the Inverness-set thriller 'Ariadne 7'. (The last one has become a bit of an albatross around my literary neck, which is why I have the other two books on the go to keep me sane!
Colin Garrow
Hi Steph,
That's a great question, so I'll try and give you a great answer.
A few years ago I got interested in Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes books again (having read 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' many years before) and I embarked on reading all the stories and novels from start to finish. I enjoyed them so much, I set up a website (called The Watson Letters) for all things Holmesian - books, movies, TV series etc, and also included a sort of spoof blog. Now, the blog began as a series of emails between myself and a pal and purported to be letters between Holmes and the good Doctor. They were generally silly stories packed with puns, fart gags and innuendo and were only intended to make us laugh.
After a while, the cost of running the website became too much, particularly as it wasn't attracting much traffic, so I restarted the blog as a separate entity. In the latter part of 2015, my friend gave up her role as Sherlock and I decided to continue alone. And that's when the fun started!
I began working on adventures that were longer and more involved and which allowed me to explore Watson's character (since he's really the star). At the same time, I started thinking about putting some of the earlier blog posts together in book form. This was nothing more than an experiment to see if there was any interest - I didn't really expect people to actually buy it.
I think it's fair to say the second book (Not the 39 Steps) is much more structured (in a slightly unstructured way) and I'm now less happy with the first volume than I was. However, I like the way the characters are developing, and throwing Mrs Watson into the fray has set things up for a bit of rivalry between Watson's best pal and his wife.
The thing I really like about 'The Watson Letters' is that if makes me laugh, and so as long as I'm laughing, Johnnie and his gang will continue their adventures.
That's a great question, so I'll try and give you a great answer.
A few years ago I got interested in Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes books again (having read 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' many years before) and I embarked on reading all the stories and novels from start to finish. I enjoyed them so much, I set up a website (called The Watson Letters) for all things Holmesian - books, movies, TV series etc, and also included a sort of spoof blog. Now, the blog began as a series of emails between myself and a pal and purported to be letters between Holmes and the good Doctor. They were generally silly stories packed with puns, fart gags and innuendo and were only intended to make us laugh.
After a while, the cost of running the website became too much, particularly as it wasn't attracting much traffic, so I restarted the blog as a separate entity. In the latter part of 2015, my friend gave up her role as Sherlock and I decided to continue alone. And that's when the fun started!
I began working on adventures that were longer and more involved and which allowed me to explore Watson's character (since he's really the star). At the same time, I started thinking about putting some of the earlier blog posts together in book form. This was nothing more than an experiment to see if there was any interest - I didn't really expect people to actually buy it.
I think it's fair to say the second book (Not the 39 Steps) is much more structured (in a slightly unstructured way) and I'm now less happy with the first volume than I was. However, I like the way the characters are developing, and throwing Mrs Watson into the fray has set things up for a bit of rivalry between Watson's best pal and his wife.
The thing I really like about 'The Watson Letters' is that if makes me laugh, and so as long as I'm laughing, Johnnie and his gang will continue their adventures.
Colin Garrow
I've written quite a lot about writer's block on other sites (mainly Hub Pages), but basically, I don't believe it exists. Writers are a strange breed and a few of us seem to relish putting ridiculous barriers in the way of creativity. Some people even enjoy the vexation of not being able to write!
When I first started trying to write stories, I'd often stare at my blank pad trying to come up with an idea (this was in my pre-laptop days) and a lot of times I just couldn't get started. Now, of course, I know that all I need to do is to start writing - doesn't matter if it doesn't always make sense, it's just the old sit-down-and-do-it routine.
When I first started trying to write stories, I'd often stare at my blank pad trying to come up with an idea (this was in my pre-laptop days) and a lot of times I just couldn't get started. Now, of course, I know that all I need to do is to start writing - doesn't matter if it doesn't always make sense, it's just the old sit-down-and-do-it routine.
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