Ask the Author: Alec Hepburn
Answered Questions (5)
Alec Hepburn
Find what works best for you. Advice from other writers can be helpful but can also make you feel under pressure to either achieve something that is unrealistic or that you are in some way inferior for not being able to do what others do. Write when you can write and if you can't, try to find a way to be ok with that - flexibility is important.
Alec Hepburn
I get inspired by music, there are some fantastic lyricists who paint such vivid pictures with their words and feed my imagination. I also find a lot of inspiration in what people might think of as mundane, everyday events and conversations.
I don't watch a lot of television, other than sport, and as much as I would like to read more, time doesn't always allow me that luxury. Some of my inspiration comes from ideas that have lain dormant in my mind for some time with a word or a thought sparking me off and unleashing ideas. Since finally committing to writing, it's like somebody has turned a tap on in my brain and a flood of ideas are now swooshing around the sink of my life and I'm desperately trying to capture them all before they gurgle down the plughole into nothingness!
I often make notes on my phone while I'm out and about. Recently, I copied up all of my notes and found more than I expected, probably enough for several novels, poems and short stories! I'm also very interested in people, what makes them tick, what motivates them and why they make the choices they make. I'm not very good with friendships and relationships as I have a tendency to overthink things, I'm a bit of a natural worrier. So I guess that the motivation behind events in my life is a big source of inspiration. I had quite an unhappy childhood and it has been very therapeutic to commit some of those memories to paper. Indeed, Stand Against The Dark could easily be called semi-autobiographical as a lot of myself has gone into the characters and events that transpire.
I don't watch a lot of television, other than sport, and as much as I would like to read more, time doesn't always allow me that luxury. Some of my inspiration comes from ideas that have lain dormant in my mind for some time with a word or a thought sparking me off and unleashing ideas. Since finally committing to writing, it's like somebody has turned a tap on in my brain and a flood of ideas are now swooshing around the sink of my life and I'm desperately trying to capture them all before they gurgle down the plughole into nothingness!
I often make notes on my phone while I'm out and about. Recently, I copied up all of my notes and found more than I expected, probably enough for several novels, poems and short stories! I'm also very interested in people, what makes them tick, what motivates them and why they make the choices they make. I'm not very good with friendships and relationships as I have a tendency to overthink things, I'm a bit of a natural worrier. So I guess that the motivation behind events in my life is a big source of inspiration. I had quite an unhappy childhood and it has been very therapeutic to commit some of those memories to paper. Indeed, Stand Against The Dark could easily be called semi-autobiographical as a lot of myself has gone into the characters and events that transpire.
Alec Hepburn
I'm currently working on a children's fantasy novel, with a view to it being a 'jumping on point' for a series. I've got a couple of short stories in the pipeline that I'll be submitting to competitions during the summer. Anyone who has enjoyed Stand Against The Dark will be pleased to know that there are more adventures in store for those who made it to the end of the story (avoiding spoilers again!). I'm also considering releasing a collection of poems in Ebook format, some of which are currently on my website.
Alec Hepburn
For me, the minute that something isn't working on the page, it's a sign that I need to step away. It doesn't necessarily mean that I stop thinking about what's happening in the story, I just let it play out in the back of my mind while I get on with other things. If I'm struggling to get my ideas down, it means they're not ready and they need more time. It took me a while to be ok with this approach and it might not be something that comes naturally to a writer.
I think it's also worth remembering that it's ok to have writer's block. It's easy to spend time fretting about not writing or all of the things that you need to be writing about rather than allowing the ideas time to breathe and giving your subconscious mind time to fill in any gaps. As bizarre as it sounds, I have my best ideas when I'm on the school run in the morning (or afternoon), when I'm focussed on driving and I'm just playing around with plots or characters in the back of my mind. Don't underestimate how important it is to have mental space - as important as your story is, it doesn't have to take over your life.
I think it's also worth remembering that it's ok to have writer's block. It's easy to spend time fretting about not writing or all of the things that you need to be writing about rather than allowing the ideas time to breathe and giving your subconscious mind time to fill in any gaps. As bizarre as it sounds, I have my best ideas when I'm on the school run in the morning (or afternoon), when I'm focussed on driving and I'm just playing around with plots or characters in the back of my mind. Don't underestimate how important it is to have mental space - as important as your story is, it doesn't have to take over your life.
Alec Hepburn
The overall idea had been 'cooking' for a number of years. I was very keen for it to take place in a 'village under siege' setting. Other elements came together much later, such as setting the story around Christmas and the links to World War One and Two. As a parent of two children on the autistic spectrum, I was keen to explore how somebody who faces the challenges that we go through on a daily basis would react when faced with something outside of the norm. It wasn't just a case of writing the character of Danny as one of my children, although I have taken elements of their personalities and tweaked them to fit with Danny's worldview.
The story is set in the village where I grew up, although there were a couple of geographical additions that were needed for the story. The overall 'flavour' of the village has been retained, imbued with a few choice memories from my younger years.
I don't want to give away too much about the story as spoilers, but I was also keen to explore the idea of 'good or bad' being a choice and the propensity of mankind to create its own demons at times. While these elements haven't been explored as fully as I would have liked I will be looking to weave them into the next book or two in this series.
So to sum up, I guess that the ideas for Stand Against The Dark were borne out of my childhood and what surrounds me on a daily basis. I've had an interest in horror stories since I was seven years old as I lived in a haunted house before moving to the country! Therefore, I think that it was only natural that my first completed foray into writing was a horror novel.
The story is set in the village where I grew up, although there were a couple of geographical additions that were needed for the story. The overall 'flavour' of the village has been retained, imbued with a few choice memories from my younger years.
I don't want to give away too much about the story as spoilers, but I was also keen to explore the idea of 'good or bad' being a choice and the propensity of mankind to create its own demons at times. While these elements haven't been explored as fully as I would have liked I will be looking to weave them into the next book or two in this series.
So to sum up, I guess that the ideas for Stand Against The Dark were borne out of my childhood and what surrounds me on a daily basis. I've had an interest in horror stories since I was seven years old as I lived in a haunted house before moving to the country! Therefore, I think that it was only natural that my first completed foray into writing was a horror novel.
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