Ask the Author: Colin Ward
Answered Questions (6)
Colin Ward
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Colin Ward
Usually it is a combination of strong feelings about real life issues that I want to explore in a fictional world. I'm also inspired a lot by music. At the centre of it, emotions drive me to write: I need to really feel something about what I am writing in order to make me passionate enough to spend a year or so researching it and writing about it. Above all, I seem to want to write about things that require me to learn something new - I love to research, to go on a journey as a writer and take my readers with me.
Colin Ward
I have a number of projects on the burn, I always do.
My second novel is creeping towards the initial full planning phase, and I'm really excited about that. The second novel in what will be at least a trilogy, possibly a series. My debut, "To Die For" is a crime thriller that is based on the idea of how far hatred can push humanity to the depths of the most depraved killing. I know the main issues of the next book, and it will shine the light on different characters, and explore new themes - possibly child trafficking and so on. (Yes, I like to go after the hard topics.)
I am also working on a poetry collection called "Ripples" which is all about how our lives affect the world we live in.
My second novel is creeping towards the initial full planning phase, and I'm really excited about that. The second novel in what will be at least a trilogy, possibly a series. My debut, "To Die For" is a crime thriller that is based on the idea of how far hatred can push humanity to the depths of the most depraved killing. I know the main issues of the next book, and it will shine the light on different characters, and explore new themes - possibly child trafficking and so on. (Yes, I like to go after the hard topics.)
I am also working on a poetry collection called "Ripples" which is all about how our lives affect the world we live in.
Colin Ward
There are two things that aspiring writers must always do.
Read.
Write.
Don't worry about writing rubbish - write anything, all the time. Write on the back of envelopes. Carry tiny notepads in all your coats, with a little pen or pencil you've nicked from Argos. Above all, always remember that for every fantastic idea you have, there will probably be 99 bad ideas you have to get past. Don't worry about that.
Just write. Write some more. And if you write something rubbish and you get stuck - write about how rubbish it is, in character as a critic, if you like. Just write.
Read.
Write.
Don't worry about writing rubbish - write anything, all the time. Write on the back of envelopes. Carry tiny notepads in all your coats, with a little pen or pencil you've nicked from Argos. Above all, always remember that for every fantastic idea you have, there will probably be 99 bad ideas you have to get past. Don't worry about that.
Just write. Write some more. And if you write something rubbish and you get stuck - write about how rubbish it is, in character as a critic, if you like. Just write.
Colin Ward
Creating the world of the story and its characters. I love it when I am deep in the flow of writing and creating story when the pace of ideas just carries me away. In the earliest stages of writing bigger works like stories, or my novel, or full length plays, I love the planning phase. I plan with arrows and boxes and doodles and phrases and research and cuttings. I toy with etymology and explore new words and phrases. Above all, I love the constant challenge and the need to learn more all the time.
Colin Ward
Firstly, I submit to it. I put down whatever it is I am trying to write, and I approach something else. Or I take a part of the topic and go and do some research around the topic. What I personally find is that writers block, for me, is often a warning sign that all I am doing is padding, and actually the block is coming FROM me, not happening TO me. So it is there because there is something wrong with the idea. That's why I make a conscious decision to be pragmatic for a while. If nothing else, it helps to feel constructive, which reduces stress, which releases some of the block.
Or I eat.
Or I eat.
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