Ask the Author: Ian Wingrove
Answered Questions (3)
Ian Wingrove
There are three different sources for my ideas all mixed in.
The characters are partly based on people I know, or have known, along with generous amounts of backstory. They each have emotional drives and end goals they want to reach. All of that has a big impact on what happens and how they interact.
The world they inhabit is an extrapolation from what we have now, but with a focus on one of two technologies, or trends. This makes it familiar, but unpredictable.
I have an image of key events and where I imagine the characters will end up, but the journey is theirs. For example, I had always assumed that the ‘will they’, ‘won’t they’ relationship of the two main characters in Feel.it, Roxanne and Tom, would end badly. Even if they got together, I never assumed that they, or the relationship, would survive to the end of the book. In actual fact, I found that what happens, in the end, is partly down to them and partly down to the motivations and actions of those around them.
The characters are partly based on people I know, or have known, along with generous amounts of backstory. They each have emotional drives and end goals they want to reach. All of that has a big impact on what happens and how they interact.
The world they inhabit is an extrapolation from what we have now, but with a focus on one of two technologies, or trends. This makes it familiar, but unpredictable.
I have an image of key events and where I imagine the characters will end up, but the journey is theirs. For example, I had always assumed that the ‘will they’, ‘won’t they’ relationship of the two main characters in Feel.it, Roxanne and Tom, would end badly. Even if they got together, I never assumed that they, or the relationship, would survive to the end of the book. In actual fact, I found that what happens, in the end, is partly down to them and partly down to the motivations and actions of those around them.
Ian Wingrove
A short story for an anthology being put together by the Redwell Writers group in Norwich. It's called "That crazy girl with the shotgun on Youtube". It is about Alexandria (Lex) a young woman who features as both devil and angel in my first two novels. The story concerns events at her 14th birthday. I wanted to explore what made her such a high functioning, sociopath.
I had some good ideas, but an aversion to getting inside the head of a teenage girl (too daunting a leap). So it is written from the perspective of those close to her. The story originally lacked purpose and that essential thing - an emotional drive. Several months later and after a lot of rethinking, I think I've nailed it.
I had some good ideas, but an aversion to getting inside the head of a teenage girl (too daunting a leap). So it is written from the perspective of those close to her. The story originally lacked purpose and that essential thing - an emotional drive. Several months later and after a lot of rethinking, I think I've nailed it.
Ian Wingrove
Since I started writing a few year ago, I've never had enough time to put down on paper all the things I want to say, so I've never experienced 'writers block'. My approach used to rely on the cycle journey to and from work to generate the plot lines, dialogue and resolve any issues with the book. Those thoughts would be hastily put into notes on my phone at the end of my journey and they would act as the prompts for when I started work on the book at 5 am, before the kids woke up.
It's unclear what my new system for writing will be now that my days are mostly taken up with childcare, networking and promoting the newly published book.
It's unclear what my new system for writing will be now that my days are mostly taken up with childcare, networking and promoting the newly published book.
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