Ask the Author: Mike Scantlebury
Answered Questions (9)
Mike Scantlebury
The biggest mystery in my own life is how I ever achieved anything. I was a total failure at school, never went to University and dragged my way through a series of dead-end, short-term jobs. So, imagine a loser like that - bound to turn into a serial killer, right? (Not an author of books about killers. Most unlikely.)
Mike Scantlebury
Ah, my Friend. This is England 2020 - no one has enough resources to put logs on the fire or coal in the stove to keep warm. Very soon I may be forced to burn my own unfinished manuscripts.
Mike Scantlebury
He'd been sitting on the bank of the river all day. When he eventually caught a fish, a tiny one, he swallowed it in one gulp, but he was surprised to find it didn't stop wriggling in his stomach.
Mike Scantlebury
The best thing about being a writer is knowing that I've just woken up this morning and I don't have to go out to a place of work and spend my time making someone else rich. It's just a focus on what I can do, and the people I can reach with my writing.
The other great thing is knowing that I can walk down the street, take a bus, sit on a tram, and at any moment I might get that great idea which is going to make my next novel really sing. I mean, it's Okay as it is, but if I'm ever looking for inspiration, it could be that next overheard conversation that's going to point me in the direction of joining the dots, dotting the t's and crossing the i's, and putting on paper something that nobody else has ever said, and nobody, but nobody, has ever read.
That's the really wonderful thing about being a writer.
The other great thing is knowing that I can walk down the street, take a bus, sit on a tram, and at any moment I might get that great idea which is going to make my next novel really sing. I mean, it's Okay as it is, but if I'm ever looking for inspiration, it could be that next overheard conversation that's going to point me in the direction of joining the dots, dotting the t's and crossing the i's, and putting on paper something that nobody else has ever said, and nobody, but nobody, has ever read.
That's the really wonderful thing about being a writer.
Mike Scantlebury
Well, I sure don't wait for inspiration! Mostly I look at the News and say to myself, 'Which bits of this would make good stories?' and 'How can I add my point of view in a way that would help the discussion?' Usually I think of something, because it's a myth to think that everyone has an opinion. Mostly people have opinions that they got from someone else. I want to be that 'someone'! Yes, I have a lot to say, but I like to think of myself as the Ring Master: I bring the characters into the play area, and then they just get on with it and fight amongst themselves. My opinion doesn't matter then. I write the words of the guy who's all in favour and the girl who's against it. My views are in there somewhere, but what's more important is that the sparks fly and some energy is generated. Then, I find, it can grow into a good read.
Mike Scantlebury
Writer's Block is usually something that comes to the author 'waiting for inspiration'. I avoid it by working on plotting, then, when I sit down to write, I have some notes on what to do next. Being faced with a blank sheet of paper is always terrifying, but if you have ideas already on a list beside you, then you have the reassure of somewhere to start
Mike Scantlebury
Unless you are one of those writers who only manages to complete one book every ten years, my advice is to think of each calendar year and invent yourself a programme. I work around 'National Novel Writing Month' in November. I have been doing the NanoWriMo challenge since 2012, which means completing a 50k new novel in the month of November alone. That leaves me two more segments of the year: February to May and June to October. I usually plan to either start or finish a project in those months. That gives me a target, and I don't have to stare at an empty sheet of paper and wonder what I'm going to fill it with. It means I have set myself targets, deadlines, and I'm the sort of person who likes to finish a task. It suits me.
Mike Scantlebury
I am putting together plans for a book to write in the first half of 2017. There is an election in May, and it is unique: it is for the new post of Mayor for the whole of the county of Greater Manchester. Never been done before! I shall start the actual process of writing in the middle of February and then will put out one chapter per week, going up on my website at teatime every Saturday, right up until the outcome of the election is known. When the votes are counted, the last chapter will be completed. I've done this sort of thing before, but only in terms of the election of Mayor of Salford. This is bigger! And, don't forget, it is a Crime Thriller, which means it isn't just about politics - that's the background. The actual story, in the foreground, will be a tense battle between hero Mickey and a strange new character, someone larger than life and twice as dangerous.
Mike Scantlebury
Straight out of the News! Britain has been convulsed by Brexit fever, the Referendum must decide. Now that we can see how the emotions were running so high, it seemed obvious that it was the ideal setting for a 'thriller', a 'mystery', something topical. Easy. It practically wrote itself. (I'll try and add an excerpt for free reading.)
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