Ask the Author: James Stoddah
Answered Questions (7)
James Stoddah
The initial inspiration to write came from a dream (I told story on HuffPost here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-s... ). Since then, I accumulate ideas daily from events in my life and people I meet. I can't say it's something I always wanted to do, more a case of being happy that it's what I do now.
James Stoddah
It sounds clichéd to say the book wrote itself but after I wrote out the basic idea, everything else came to me during the research. The places on the geographical lines featured in 'A Parallel Trust' became obvious places to set the scenes. The idea to create a geocaching theme stemmed from my son's visit to California, where he went geocahcing with friends. I had never heard of it before then.
James Stoddah
Write. It doesn't matter if the idea needs to be restructured from the beginning. The more you write, the more you learn and the the more you will develop your own voice as an author. 'Ring of Conscience' was 90,000 words but it took over 500,000 words to write it, by the time I had rewritten, revised, edited, changed viewpoints, etc. It's hard work and mentally exhausting but worth it!
James Stoddah
Being able to express yourself creatively. I enjoy writing and I'm passionate about it. Being an introvert, it's hard to find a voice in such a vocal society, so this way I can be heard, quietly.
James Stoddah
It's something I've never had to deal with yet. What I find the biggest problem is which of many ideas do I work on next. With introducing Riley's Investigations I have to find a way of building them into the story, which is the tricky part. Other than that it's finding names for characters. With A Parallel Trust, all names were places along the geographical lines of relevance in the book.
James Stoddah
A book called "A Parallel Trust" which is another mystery (no spoilers!). I am excited by it because it's the kind of book I've wanted to write for many years. It has a young protagonist and a strong message running as a theme. I've found myself emotionally involved with the characters this time, I even made myself cry when writing a particular scene of intense injustice.
James Stoddah
It usually starts with the mystery focus (web-based treasure hunt in the case of "Ring of Conscience") and then think of plot, characters and location. I try to research as much as possible before I begin so that I can fully focus on the writing once I begin. The books I write tend to be the ones I still feel passionate about after I've done my research.
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