Ask the Author: Joss Sheldon

“Ask me a question.” Joss Sheldon

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Joss Sheldon What novel?
I don't understand your question. Are the pages in your edition not printed correctly?
Joss Sheldon Hey Louise,

My answer is to separate your moments of inspiration from your moments of perspiration. That you have ideas and experiences is a great thing, you need to embrace that. But as long as you write those ideas down as notes, to remind yourself of the concepts and events you'd like to include in your book, that's enough. Those notes will grow and grow until they become the structure/plan of a book. Only then will you be in a position to turn those ideas into prose. And that's not something you can just sit down and do with a click of the fingers - it takes time. You'll do one draft, come back to it, edit it, cut bits out, and mould it like a piece of clay, but eventually you'll get there...

Good luck!

Joss
Joss Sheldon Don't just aspire - do!

When I decided to write a novel, I quit my day-job with a few grand in the bank, and went to live in India. You can live out there for about £5 a day, so my money lasted well over a year, and I was able to write full time without being distracted by work.

Where there's a will there's a way.
Joss Sheldon A Premier League footballer, James McClean, refused to wear a red poppy on his Sunderland jersey in November 2012. His decision led to a flurry of criticism across the mainstream press.

The red poppy is a tribute to soldiers who have fought in wars for Britain, and the money raised from their sale goes to war veterans. Some people think it is a great thing, others do not. Because not everyone in Britain likes British soldiers, or the wars they fight in. That two million people marched against the war in Iraq shows this.

Yet critics of James McClean seemed to imply that such opinions were not valid. They stated that every single person in Britain should honour soldiers, and be grateful for their contribution to society.

I found this discussion biased, and so I went in search of balance. Eventually I found the Peace Pledge Union's website.

The PPU are behind the white poppy, which is an alternative to the red poppy. Whilst the red poppy celebrates soldiers, the white poppy celebrates anti-war activists and conscientious objectors. Whilst the red poppy pays tribute to fallen soldiers, the white poppy remembers the innocent victims of war.

On the PPU's website there is a section about the WW1 conscientious objectors. Reading through it, I was inspired by their brave stand for peace, and so I decided to bring their story to life in the form of a novel.

I'd recommend that you check out the PPU's website once you've read 'Involution & Evolution', but not before. It does contain spoilers!

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