Ask the Author: Philip Tucker
Answered Questions (8)
Philip Tucker
She had been warned by her new neighbours that the man next door was 'odd' but she knew only too well how cruel gossip can be and, when he'd offered to mind the house for her, she saw instantly that he was a victim of small minded prejudice.
Using the newly copied key, he limped into the house, heaved himself with considerable effort up the stairs and, grunting ever so slightly as he unscrewed the lid, he watched with fascination as the spiders hooked their legs over the rim and scuttled across the carpet into the dark corners of her bedroom.
Using the newly copied key, he limped into the house, heaved himself with considerable effort up the stairs and, grunting ever so slightly as he unscrewed the lid, he watched with fascination as the spiders hooked their legs over the rim and scuttled across the carpet into the dark corners of her bedroom.
Philip Tucker
Summer Reads - I'm writing my third novel at the moment and still will be during the summer. It's a terrorism thriller set in the UK, revolving around a Government conspiracy to undermine our human rights in the face of an unprecedented terrorist threat - a strange coincidence, given the statement made by the Prime Minister the day before the June General Election! Anyway, I'll be reading books about ex-military private security contractors working in the Middle East, as background for my novel. I'm currently reading The Circuit by Bob Shepherd (and thoroughly enjoying it) and I have lined up The Boys from Baghdad by Simon Low and Born Fearless by Big Phil Campion. Looking forward to them!
Philip Tucker
I don't know. It's in me. I always write. I have written songs throughout my life and wanted to be an author since I was child.
Philip Tucker
The Jasmine Sari was inspired by a raft of influences. Firstly, I was living and working in South East Asia when I read Orwell's magnificent Burmese Days, set around the European Club in a small town in Burmah during the British occupation. I was struck by the fact that these foreigners' clubs still exist and how little the relationship has changed between the wealthy Western expatriot and the locals since the days of colonialism. I felt that a novel based around a modern expatriot club would be a good idea. Secondly, I have for some time been interested in the concept of radicalisation and I was researching this for my master's degree and I wanted to get my own opinion across in a novel, to expand upon the essays I was writing. Then, finally, I was working with the police in Bangladesh when I read about a Bengali heroine called Pritilata Wadedar, a rebel during the British occupation of India. Her story inspired me to write a modern day terrorism novel based in Bangladesh and London.
Philip Tucker
Write and read a lot. Keep a writer's diary and use it to practise ideas - descriptions, dialogues. Write your own experiences in the third person sometimes.
Read a lot. Read books you don't think you're going to like as well as books that are within your normal genre. Read modern books as well as classics. Read and review books as a writer, it focusses and hones your own writing skills. Note when you like something and when you don't; identify why.
Share your drafts with other writers. If you don't know any, then join a writing circle. You MUST do this - never forget that you're writing to be read. Get used to being commented on by your critical friends. Comment on their work too. Study your craft. It's a job - work at it, get better at it.
Write the bloody book - don't keep putting it off. Everyone's got an idea; you're different - you're turning your idea into a novel. So write it! Don't worry if you can't write it in chronologcal order. Just write the sections you feel inspired to write, then pull it together into the correct order later. After all, it will chnage many, many times before it gets published.
Read a lot. Read books you don't think you're going to like as well as books that are within your normal genre. Read modern books as well as classics. Read and review books as a writer, it focusses and hones your own writing skills. Note when you like something and when you don't; identify why.
Share your drafts with other writers. If you don't know any, then join a writing circle. You MUST do this - never forget that you're writing to be read. Get used to being commented on by your critical friends. Comment on their work too. Study your craft. It's a job - work at it, get better at it.
Write the bloody book - don't keep putting it off. Everyone's got an idea; you're different - you're turning your idea into a novel. So write it! Don't worry if you can't write it in chronologcal order. Just write the sections you feel inspired to write, then pull it together into the correct order later. After all, it will chnage many, many times before it gets published.
Philip Tucker
The best thing is the rush of creativity, the coming together of an idea, a wonderful dialogue, a realistic, breathing character who leads you furrther into the story. The excitement of it all. I'm a writer! And a good one at that! At the end of it all, if you're industrious and if you persevere, comes the next best thing: your book, your name, your work, your new paperback. If someone likes it, so much the better, though I think that you learn to accept that not everyone will love your work. When I got a good review from the Morning Star for The Jasmine Sari, which took me about three years to write, beginning to end, I actually shed a tear. It made all the self-doubt worthwhile. It's the self doubt that's the worst bit, but I won't go into that here!
Philip Tucker
I'm currently working with the publishers on the marketing of The Jasmine Sari, to be published at the end of January 2017. Additionally, I'm working on my third novel, a terrorism thriller set in England. I'm enjoying it. After the long slog of re-drafting and editing and proof reading, it's great to be back in the creative phase again.
Philip Tucker
Whereas some authors recommend writing 500 words a day, every day, I have long gaps where I don't write and then I go away for a dedicated writing session. I spend a week on my own, writing every waking hour and aim for 5000 words per day! I find that the pace that this generates brings the characters to life in my head and they do a lot of the writing for me. If I'm stuck, I get up from my desk, pace around the house, make a cup of tea and the characters talk for me. There's another reason why these sessions work: giving myself a whole week alone is self-indulgent and expensive; I feel I must produce some writing if I'm to justify such luxury! Once I've done a big session like this, I lay the wriyng down for a few weeks before reading it again, then I re-draft it. When I'me ready for the next creative burst, I go away for a week and continue the story...
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