Ask the Author: Alan C. Williams
Answered Questions (8)
Alan C. Williams
Location brings the characters and plot to life. If I can, I base my books on real places where I've lived and visited. It's much more difficult to select a real place I've not been to, Loads of research about the place, the local people and their loves and accents. If I choose a fictitious local, I let my imagination run wild weaving reality into it to give authenticity.
As for which do I choose first? .Probably location but it can be either. Thinking about some it's like a package deal where both arrive together. Every novel begins differently and that spontaneity keeps me excited.
As for which do I choose first? .Probably location but it can be either. Thinking about some it's like a package deal where both arrive together. Every novel begins differently and that spontaneity keeps me excited.
Alan C. Williams
Interesting question Jill. I find a lot come from my school days, mixing first and last names, Checking baby names for d.o,b. in that country is a must. I'm very tempted to give all of my handsome heroes with their six-pack tummies the name of Alan (for some strange reason). If I hate someone like an author who irritated me, their name might accidentally become the villain of the piece. Ex-wives fit in that category too. Plus I have a list of names that intrigue me. because they sound exotic. Rarely a main character wants her name changed half way through a story (it's always a woman by the way). She wakes me up at night and says I don't want to be Jan. It's too ordinary. Call me November instead, pretty please." Being a kind hearted author I bow to her wishes and 'find and replace' alters 'Jan' to 'November' like magic. It also changes 'janitor' to 'novemberitor' but what the hell.
Alan C. Williams
I'm lucky. I don't have it. Every day my imagination runs wild and my trouble is keeping up. I've written 14 books in three and a half years. Book number 15 is half way done and the ideas are there for 16 and 17. I'm extremely lucky.
Alan C. Williams
Creating life, love and stories from nothingness. Then sharing them. Maybe with just one person, maybe thousands and hoping they enjoy what you've produced.
Alan C. Williams
Perseverance and a belief in yourself. Rejections happen in life so they happen with writers too. Maybe we take them more seriously as our stories are so person and come from our innermost thoughts. Irrespective you should persevere and trust in your developing skills.
Alan C. Williams
'A Leap of Faith'. Set in the Lake District of England, it's a romance/crime story where my heroine (a down-to-earth detective) meets a guy who has his share of secrets including what appears to be a psychic insight into crimes she is trying desperately to solve.j
Alan C. Williams
I guess I have a vivid imagination. Taking aspects of my life and the more than thirty countries I've visited and lived in, there's so many tales in my mind. I love to weave that imagination into reality to infuse my stories with something extra. Drama, fantasy, love, thrillers. I mix them all up to give my readers an experience which I hope they enjoy.
Alan C. Williams
Valley of Secrets is set around Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire in England. My wife had a shop there in the nineties and I always felt that it was a special place, Set on a canal and close to Bronte Country where Wuthering Heights was written, I felt there was scope to share that magic with a mysterious century old secret mingled with drama and romance.
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