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John Roberts gives writing advice as well as general conversation in his weekly Substack blog which has now arrived on this website. To subscribe, visit JohnRobertsAuthor.Substack.com

Hello Substack world, 

This is a medley of some of my hints, tips, observations, general screw-ups and light conversation and I hope you gain some inspiration, or at least some amusement, from reading it.

I’m John Roberts, the author of the crime fiction series; The Blake Langford Adventures, author of the new Children’s series; Bennie Barrier’s Big City Adventures and co-author of The New Adventures Of Cornelius Cone And Friends with my friend, Steve Boyce. 

My newsletter is a regular ramble about writing, publishing, my inspirations, challenges, opportunities and my overall journey to being an author today. I’d love to hear from you all and I’ll answer as many questions as I can. Feel free to follow me on Facebook, TikTok and Twitter and I’ll share as many of your posts as I can. This whole experiment is a two way thing so interaction from you makes this newsletter a whole lot more interesting than just my general ramblings.

So, how did I start on my writing journey? I’m heading all the way back to the 1980’s when I was in Primary School in a small market town called Banbury in the UK. 

You’ve heard the nursery rhyme, unfortunately Banbury Cross is just a glorified roundabout in the centre of town but it definitely has a quirkiness about it. 

Anyway, in Primary School, my teacher at the time, started a writer’s workshop. This allowed all of the class to explore our imagination and write some fantastical stories about some far away lands. (Believe me, when you’re in a country that has rain most of the year, any far flung, sun drenched oasis is paradise!) 

At the end of the day, the teacher would read out somebody’s story to the class after each writing session. Just seeing the smiles, hearing the laughter and experiencing the joy that storytelling could bring to people, even at that young age, stuck with me for life. 

We all have our own version of the world that we live in. Some of us are more fortunate than others but wealth should not be measured simply by money or possessions. Whatever problems, challenges or difficulties people face, even if you’re having a really bad day, allowing yourself a few minutes of escapism in a good book can truly save lives. 

As our lives become ever busier, the advance of AI and the internet meaning that we are experiencing information overload. Choosing what and how we consume information is more important than ever. From a mental health point of view as well as physical health, we need to make time to slow down. Time to take a breath and get lost in the amazing fantasy world dreamt up by the talented pool of authors who paint pictures with words across the printed page or screen.

I hope this first venture into the world of Substack has piqued your interest and you’ll join me for some more ramblings very soon. Until next time, write on.

John Roberts 

So you came back… that’s great. I often get asked what made you start writing? 

Besides the inspiration I had from school, I’d always enjoyed the escapism of adventure books and films. The James Bond or Jack Reacher stories where one man travels the world and makes a difference to people’s lives. This led to the inspiration for my latest adult crime fiction series; The Blake Langford Adventures. The original Blake adventure, Where No I One Stands Alone, had its first draft written in 2007. Before that time, I’d never really fully committed myself to any kind of worthwhile writing project. Then, in the summer of ‘07, I had just come out of a long term relationship and found myself with extra time on my hands. Living in The New Forest, we have an amazing coastline nearby so I took a couple of notebooks with me and sat on the beach at Lepe and began noting down some ideas for a novel. Those ideas sprang into a relationship triangle between Blake, Paula and Rachael as I tried to work out my own emotions and feelings after a break-up and that played into the role that Blake finds himself in. He still holds on to the love he had for Rachael but it is always just out of reach. 

I wrote the first draft and several edits of Where No One Stands Alone over the following year or so before storing it away in a filing cabinet (remember those?) and forgetting about it for many years.

In 2018, my friend Steve Boyce, created a children’s series called Cornelius Cone And Friends. Being a father myself, the original story piqued my interest and I suggested a few further storylines that he could pursue in the series. To my surprise, Steve offered me the chance to create my own take on the series which has so far spawned 80 ebook adventures as well as 14 compilation paperbacks. 

Suddenly, my passion for writing had returned and even though I’d never originally considered myself as a children’s author, I was able to focus on that and see the world through the eyes of my 4 year old child at the time. What interested him? What magical adventures and how can the imagination of a child see the uniqueness of the world around us that, as adults, we tend to miss. An imagination where everything around us is alive. The plants, the roadside cones and barrier, a shopping trolley, a wet floor cone, a bus, a wheel clamp, a bin, what if they could all talk and interact with humans? What if they could have their own little community of friendships, relationships and even betrayal and deceit. What lessons could children learn from how these characters interacted and reacted? The list was endless and it opened up a whole new world of discovery.

This became the basis of building new adventures. What could a humble traffic cone who works in a Maintenance Yard on the edge of The New Forest do to make his world come alive? He could go to work daily and stand in line to make sure that the workers are safe from vehicles driving by. But that would only be half of the story. As adults, we tend to fall into a work, sleep, work, sleep, pattern that eventually leads us towards burnout and depression. Children view the world differently. There needs to be time to play. Time to explore. Time to enjoy conversations with your best friends. To tell jokes. Be competitive. Make a difference. This is where Cornelius Cone leads their imaginations including 4 Christmas specials where Cornelius Cone makes sure that Santa can get all of the presents to all of the children in time for Christmas Day. 

If you can find a way to tap into that imagination and include things that make the story feel real to the children who read it, you have a great platform to build your adventure on!

Catch up with me in the next newsletter as I discuss the effect of the pandemic, how Cornelius Cone found popularity in schools and how Blake Langford was finally published. Until next time, write on.

John Roberts

Ah yes, 2020, the start of a new decade, a new focus, a year of productivity, well we all know how that turned out. Surprisingly, the lockdowns of 2020 led to my most creative output that I’ve had in many years. 

I’d begun writing alongside my friend, Steve Boyce, a collection of short stories that became The New Adventures Of Cornelius Cone And Friends series but I felt that I needed to refocus on adult fiction again. After sorting through some old paperwork, I discovered the first draft of Where No One Stands Alone which I had written in 2007.

As with all first drafts, it was rough with more holes than the average UK road but it reignited my interest in writing again. After having relatively strong sales with my Children’s books, it gave me the confidence to try again at cracking the adult fiction market.

I learnt very quickly that quality over quantity is the way to go and I ruthlessly edited 120,000 words down to around 80,000 words. Making every word count and every interaction mean something to the final outcome was key. 

Growing up, I’d always enjoyed adventure stories in far away places that as a child, I often dreamed about and now I had the chance to take Blake there and put him in situations where he had to rely on his own initiative to survive. I didn’t want him to be a superhero. The Marvel franchise has saturated that market already. But I wanted to give him a human feel. The kind of guy you’d meet in the pub. Show his strong, aggressive, determined side whilst also encapsulating his vulnerability and his emotional journey too. 

We’ve all been in a situation where our love for someone has led us to make bad decisions. Blake has to find a way to look at things objectively whilst also battling the needs of his own relationships, especially after learning that he has an 8 year old son. 

Where No One Stands Alone was finally released in 2022 to a positive reaction amongst readers. Finding myself in a completely different writing niche gave me freedom to express things in the Blake Langford series that I couldn’t pursue as a children’s author. Following feedback from readers, I began considering a series of Blake Langford adventures which led to the 2023 release of the second novel, Underneath The Covers.

From the enthusiastic child who felt recognition at school when the teacher read out my short story to the class, through the years to rediscovering my writing passion after a relationship break-up and the subsequent great reset that Covid gave us; I’ve learnt that there is no linear path to becoming an author.

Turning 40 in 2022, my years of friendships, relationships and general life experiences seem to find their way into my writing. I always have my notes app ready to jot down any snippets that I hear in conversation or whenever inspiration strikes. I can almost guarantee that without making a physical note, these ideas seem to just disappear. 

You play an important role in the movie of your life and when the stage is set for you to shine, you need to have the courage to stand in the spotlight and make your mark on this world. As a good friend once told me, only I can tell my story my way and you never know who is reading or how you will impact their lives.

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts 

Life tends to throw challenges our way all the time. Some of them we rise up to, others take a little longer to resolve. In a world where mental health issues are becoming more and more recognised, finding time to take a breath, step aside from the realities and struggles in life can often be a great tool for finding your way out of a dark space.

The same is true in fiction writing. I find it an incredible escape into the world of Blake Langford or Cornelius Cone where nothing is impossible. The daily gripes, although needed to make fiction realistic, seem to take on a third party feeling. Problems you are working through in day-to-day life can be placed upon your characters and feel less personal to yourself. When faced with a difficult decision, reframing it into, how would X deal with this can create a surprising new perspective on things.

A lot of people ask how do I deal with writer’s block? We’ve all had those days when the words won’t flow no matter what we try. So I have what I call a scribble book. I allow myself 30 minutes to just write in my scribble book. It doesn’t matter what it is. If it doesn’t make any sense. If it’s a rant or just random words on a page. Just getting the words written down seems to declutter my mind. If, after 30 minutes, the words still don’t flow then I put it all aside and try again later. But 9 times out of 10, it works. I liken it to going into somebody’s attic. You have years and years of material things that you have kept just in case it’s needed. Boxes upon boxes of clutter. Slowly, you remove each box and decide whether it’s really worth keeping or not. That’s the job of my scribble book, it slowly removes the clutter from my mind, piece by piece until it finds the inspiration it’s looking for. Try it, I’d love to hear your experiences with it.

Recently, I have taken on a new project involving one of the main characters from the Cornelius Cone series, Bennie Barrier. After over 80 adventures with Cornelius Cone, I felt like it was time to pursue a different direction. Steve Boyce, my co-author for the Cornelius Cone series, is currently working on his third animated children’s book for the series so it felt like a good time for me to pivot into a new direction.

From reading the stories with children, a lot of the feedback was asking for minor characters to have their own storyline. This led to me writing Bennie Barrier’s Big City Adventures. The plan so far is for at least 12 new adventures with Bennie Barrier as the lead character, as he leaves Cornelius Cone’s Maintenance Team behind and moves into Southampton City Centre. Introducing new friends and enemies into Bennie’s life leads him into all kinds of situations in which he needs to use the lessons that he learnt with Cornelius to survive. Some of the new ebooks for this series are already available and there will be a compilation of the new Bennie Barrier’s Big City Adventures in 2024. 

Looking at the world around us through a child’s eyes can give you a whole new perspective on situations and ideas. Snippets of information and situations that you find yourself in can hide a mountain of clues for future storylines. For example, in my previous job, we had an older man in the team who always misheard people or pretended to mishear you just to make you laugh. He led me to create Grandad Cone who has the same characteristics as my colleague in the Cornelius Cone adventures. Likewise, Bertie Bin’s belching and farting is also based on another colleague who takes great pleasure in telling everyone that it’s “better out than in,” enough said.

So I guess my tip for honing your imagination and to try and avoid a writing block is to be curious. Make notes about everything you see and hear. You never know when that little snippet of information will pay you back in the future. 

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts

We’ve all been there haven’t we? “I just don’t have the time to write…” “I don’t have the money to follow my dream…” 

I guess the big question is what does success look like to you? We’re all different. Some people would just like to be healthy. Some people think that being a millionaire would fix everything. Excuses become our daily ritual that, if spoken often enough, becomes our reality. If you’re constantly talking negatively to yourself, how are you ever going to have the confidence to challenge yourself and achieve something extraordinary?

The busy streets of London are vastly different to, for example, the picturesque beaches of the Greek islands. The angry, depressed, steely focused glare of someone from the city can evaporate in the Mediterranean sun given the right circumstances. A lot of our limitations live in our own minds. We are the only limiting factor to success. Whether we are the stern focused Londoner or the one walking down the beach with grains of sand between our toes, our environment and the external forces around us dictate our feelings, emotions and how we present ourselves.

I’ve had some friends say they want to write a novel or even their life story, yet they haven’t even written the first paragraph. 

We all have responsibilities and demands on our time but how much time do we waste on a daily basis. Checking emails, posting on Facebook, scrolling on TwitterX or uploading our life highlights on Instagram? The average person loses up to 3 hours per day scrolling social media. What’s stopping you from taking 30 minutes off of social media and focusing on your writing or whatever project you want to pursue? When you feel the urge to pick up the phone, pick up a pen instead. The fear of missing out is turning everyone into mobile phone zombies. This was particularly highlighted in a recent holiday that I had in Rhodes. 

10 days with my family on a sun-soaked Greek Island with beautiful beaches, water parks, historical ruins and amazing traditional Greek Tavernas. Yet, people in the water parks, on the beaches and in the swimming pools had their phones in plastic bags so they could post live videos on social media rather than seeing what was directly in front of them. Their children were playing, people were laughing and fooling around, swimming in the pools, children squealing in delight as they slid down the water slides. But social media was more important than all of those things to a surprising number of people. Children would ask their parents a question but they were ignored because the parents were too focused on their phones. What kind of world are we heading into and creating for our children?

This is where we come to the excuses market. We are all in control of how we show up in this world and what we do. We have the gift of free will so why would we willingly give this up to the trolls of clicks, likes and hearts over our family?

For years, I said that I wanted to write an adventure novel similar to the James Bond and Jack Reacher adventures that I had grown up reading and watching on TV. In 2007, I started the process but it took until 2021 for the novel to be published. I was guilty of falling into the internet trap and it seems like the addiction to social media is getting worse. 

We all hold the key to whether or not, the actions we take, will make a difference in the future. What we prioritise will change our trajectory for what we achieve; so what’s stopping you from doing something amazing?

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts

We’re all guilty of it aren’t we? Oh, I’ll do it later. I’ll call them later. The trouble is we’re living a life where we don’t believe that we will die. That we have infinite time until suddenly, the reality of life hits us and we’re left to pick up the pieces that are left behind.

Controversial? Let me explain. As a child, I always enjoyed writing and often wrote stories for my parents and school teachers to read. I see the same enthusiasm in my son today as he proudly shows off the 15 pages he has written about a fantasy world from his own imagination. Through my teenage years, I encountered a lot of deaths in my family and it began shaping me as an adult years later to not let complacency get in the way of doing what I wanted to do; within reason. Yet, even with this determination, it took the pandemic in 2020 for me to realise that I needed to take my writing ambition seriously or I would forever regret at least not trying to follow my dream. 

Those who died today had plans for this evening. Their later never came so whenever I feel like I need to put things off until later, I question the reason why? Am I being lazy? Is the task not high enough on my priority list and if not, does it even need to be done at all?

I had this conversation with a friend a while ago and to put our daily struggles and our procrastination into context; in a hundred years from now, we will all be buried with our relatives and friends. All of our possessions and time spent arguing and putting off our joy will be meaningless. Strangers will live in our homes. Our cars will most likely be scrap metal and our grandchildren or great-grandchildren will hardly know us. At the end of the day, all that will be left behind is a photo in somebody’s drawer collecting dust until eventually, that photo fades away too. 

Some may argue with the rise of A.I. and the internet that in some digital context we will live forever, yet we tend to forget that we are all just part of a catalogue of millions of social media profiles, authors or statistics on a census.

Doing things later really means that you do not value the task or person in question. Taking the leap of faith that everything will work out as it should can be the difference between being productive and procrastinating.

When you’re laying on your own death bed, would you rather reflect on your life as an amazing ride where you followed your heart, took risks and made the most of everyday? Or will it be a moment of self reflection and regret for not taking the chances when they were available to you?

Nobody dies wondering how many likes this status will get on social media. Don’t let your own later become a never. Trust yourself and make amazing things happen. You are the author of your own story. Make it a good one.

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts

Back in 2018, my friend, Steve Boyce, created a children’s book called Cornelius Cone And Friends. It proved to be very popular and my son enjoyed the storyline so much that he wanted to discover more about Cornelius and his fantasy world.

After discussing ideas with Steve, he encouraged me to join him in writing some new adventures and from that, we now have over 80 ebooks of The New Adventures Of Cornelius Cone available to buy through Amazon. But who is Cornelius Cone?

Steve and I both worked together as postmen in a small village called Hythe which is situated next to The New Forest National Park on the south coast of England. With continuous developments in the area, roadworks seemed to be endlessly causing tailbacks on the local roads and with that came the idea of what if that traffic cone had his own adventure? What if all the other cones and barriers that were situated alongside the cone were actually friends or relatives. This then led to other ideas such as visiting the supermarket. What would a shopping visit look like from the point of view of the shopping trolley or the wet floor cone? 

Add into the mix some of the local characters that we engaged with in daily life such as Postman Pete, Mr Mullet, the less than honest shopkeeper, Dave, the head of the maintenance team as well as less obvious characters such as the park bins, Bertie, Bella and Rita Red Bin and you soon begin to create a little community who often get themselves into amusing and somewhat confusing situations.

Each individual character then began resembling people we encountered in daily life too. A man from our local area had a habit of belching and farting loudly in public and generally had poor hygiene so this became the ideal character trait for Bertie Bin. One of our colleagues often came into the office calling out “What’s happening then?” and when you told him, he often pretended to be confused with what you had said to him. This gave us the idea for Grandad Cone who was hard of hearing but also very mischievous. Taking ideas from real life situations and people enabled us to make the fantasy characters have a realistic feel to them.

When I was a child, I always enjoyed writing stories and creating my own worlds and during the chaos of the lockdowns in 2020 during the pandemic, Cornelius Cone was a great distraction. I could disappear into his little world where anything was possible. He could compete in a triathlon to raise money for charity. Stop a shady entrepreneur from ripping off the supermarket manager. Take advice from Postman Pete about only driving cars and vans made on a Wednesday because it was the only day the manufacturers and builders were completely focused on the job of making the best vehicles they could. Or just sitting down with his friend Bennie Barrier to have a deep and meaningful conversation about mental health. The possibilities are endless; and with a Bennie Barrier series now complementing the Cornelius Cone story, the series continues to go from strength to strength. 

If you’d like to find out more about Cornelius Cone, follow the links below; 

The Whole Cone: The Adventures Of Cornelius Cone And Friends Based On The Characters Created By Steve Boyce And John Roberts (The New Adventures Of Cornelius Cone And Friends) https://amzn.eu/d/dqlFlYA

The New Adventures Of Cornelius Cone And Friends: The Whole Cone 2 - Above The High Visibility Belt https://amzn.eu/d/5v8Xpoi

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts

Blake Langford, you may have heard the name, you may have read the series of novels but who is he? 

Growing up I used to love adventure stories such as the Jack Reacher novels and Ian Fleming’s original James Bond stories before they were later made into movies. They depicted a character who was far from perfect. He had his own opinion. His own flaws. And most importantly, he had a gritty realism to his character.

As much as I enjoy sci-fi and other genres, I didn’t want to remake Superman or any of the Marvel characters, I wanted to create the character of a middle-aged man in the kind of stories that I would want to read.

So, Blake Langford arrived. Finding a love of writing in school led me to pursue writing a crime novel for many years. After a long term relationship ended in 2007, I found myself with extra time on my hands as I worked through the motions of being single again. I sat on Lepe Beach which is on the south coast of England with a notepad and pen and looked out at the waves of the sea. There is an old house on top of the cliff that overlooks the beach and it gave me the inspiration to use that house as Blake’s holiday home when he wasn’t working in London. A place to get away from everything. Somewhere to relax and refocus. I guess that was what I was trying to do when I started writing the first novel too. 

Gradually, the story which became the first adventure; “Where No One Stands Alone,” built up in my mind and the first draft was written in just over three months. I never really gave the idea of being an author another thought for several years until I began co-writing the new Cornelius Cone adventures alongside my friend, Steve Boyce

Becoming a father and the effects of the lockdowns during the pandemic led me to stop making excuses for why I couldn’t pursue a writing career. I’d always said that I didn’t have the time, yet I would mindlessly lose hours scrolling social media or watching videos. Channelling that time into constructive writing not only delivered the opportunity to write the Blake Langford and Cornelius Cone stories, it also gave me a sense of fulfilment and joy. They say, if you do something that you love you’ll never work a day in your life and that’s true with my writing.

So, after many years, I found the original handwritten and typed first draft of “Where No One Stands Alone” in the drawer and began to read through what was written back in 2007. Of course, a lot of the material needed work doing to it, but the essence of the story is still the same. If you had one chance to make amends with the love of your life, would you take it? That was Blake’s dilemma. He had emotionally closed off his feelings for Rachael and tried to move on with his life. Then eight years later, Paula, Rachael’s sister, arrives to tell him that she is in trouble and needs his help. Blake’s need for answers sends him on a personal mission into America and Mexico to find out what really happened when Rachael disappeared. 

After receiving positive feedback for the first novel, my family and I flew up to Edinburgh for a long weekend visiting the sights and of course, Holyrood Palace and Edinburgh’s Castle and dungeons. This triggered an idea of how would Blake react if he was here? What shady side of the Scottish capital could I create to bring Special Branch and Blake to Scotland? I was scratching around for ideas until later that same year, I watched the fireworks on TV on New Year’s Eve which showed the Hogmanay Celebrations in Edinburgh. What better cover for a murder and a kidnapping under the cover of fireworks and drunken celebration. Blake was still reeling from how things worked out with Rachael and this would be an ideal time to begrudgingly bring him back into work again and this led to “Underneath The Covers” uncovering the underbelly of city life with a Scottish touch.

If I was to sum up Blake in a few words, I think he would be determined, occasionally reckless, family orientated but fully aware of his flaws. This will become more apparent in the new adventure, “In The Shadow Of My Life” but I won’t leave any spoilers here. 

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts

I often get asked this question. Storytelling has been part of human communication for many generations. Even before the books that we know today were even thought of, groups of people would gather around campfires to share ghost stories and folk tales of yesteryear. The ancient Egyptians even scribed them onto the wall. So what does it take to write a story?

Many of the best stories are based, or at least partly based, on true events with some artistic licence thrown in for dramatic effect. The characters in my children’s books are often taken from the characteristics and sayings that people around me use on a daily basis. Making people and places seem real can often be easily achieved by making them about real life.

What we fail to realise, especially with the rise of artificial intelligence, is that we are in fact writing our own stories online for the world to see. That Facebook post which shows you at the beach with family and friends. That Instagram post that shows you enjoying a meal at an Italian restaurant. That song by Elvis Presley that you listened to on Spotify. That Twitter or X post that shows you meeting a celebrity at a nightclub. You’ve just written the story that John Smith has gone to the beach with his wife Jane, his son Mason, his daughter Emily, he enjoyed Risotto for dinner, that you are a fan of Elvis Presley and you met with an A-list celebrity whilst dancing the night away at the Java Club. See how easy we are making it for AI to build up millions of stories about every single one of us. You can do this too.

So this is how I build up a character profile when writing a story. The first question tends to be, are they an essential part of the plot or are they just background noise. If they’re not a stepping stone from one scene to the next scene then they are rejected and the story runs in a different way. From reading crime novels for many years, I tend to write my novels like a puzzle. There are usually three or four stories simultaneously happening to build up to the climax of the novel. In the Blake Langford adventures for example, it is told from multiple viewpoints. In “Where No One Stands Alone,” the viewpoints are firstly from Blake, then Rachael, then the Turner Family in Miami and finally Jason Price and his team from the CIA. In building these four worlds and letting them cross over and occasionally clash slowly builds a picture that ends up being the final showdown at the end of the novel. Like building a puzzle, you build the edge first and then slowly work on the prominent features of the picture before drilling down into the final few details to complete it. 

Dialogue can be fun too. Whether writing for children’s books or adult fiction, everyone enjoys overhearing a good argument or a humorous anecdote from someone. A lot of times we experience confrontations in life or witness it happening on TV. Having dialogue that really crackles as you write it can be a dream for the author. If I’m not sure if the dialogue will flow or fit well in the story, I occasionally ask someone to read the lines of the protagonist with me as the antagonist and by reading the exchange aloud, you can easily hear whether the exchange will work or if it’s too scripted or stilted.

I guess my biggest takeaway from this newsletter is, if you want to write a story, first you must stop, listen and observe. See what is happening around you and make notes. Be curious around new people. What are their habits, their traits. Do they have a catchphrase that they always use? Also, take a look at social media. There are literally millions of stories waiting to be discovered there. Oh, Amy went to London and got caught up in the train strikes. How, where, why, when? What could Amy’s story be? You want to base a story in London? Go visit it. Take the tube, see the sights, explore areas of London that you wouldn’t necessarily find on a tourist brochure. The world is awash with ideas and inspiration. Do you have the spark to ignite it within you? Take a notebook or use an app on your phone, you never know when something extraordinary might pique your imagination.

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts

Every November, budding writers around the world tackle the annual tradition of NaNoWriMo. Some of you may ask, what on earth is that? 

NaNoWriMo is an abbreviation of National Novel Writing Month where people who have had a desire to write a novel but have never had the chance to put pen to paper, commit to writing X amount of words everyday throughout the month of November. No editing, just free flowing writing for an entire month in the hope that by the end of the month, they will have around 30,000 words which will represent a significant part of a novel.

But why do they do it? And does it work? Let’s dig in a little deeper. Generally, it is accepted that you need to do something consistently for 28 days to form a habit. That is what this is. You are forming a habit of writing, say for example, from 8pm to 9pm every day for a month or perhaps 2,000 words per day, every day for a month. By doing this consistently, you are arming your brain to believe that you can do the task in hand, consistently, and are achieving results. Where before the TV, social media or other distractions would take up your time, you are making a conscious effort to allow yourself the time to do what you enjoy, write. But does it work? Am I just going to scribble a load of rubbish and then look back at the end of the month on a pile of paperwork that I’d rather set on fire than publish? Well, perhaps. But before we go down that route, let’s talk about intention and the role our unconscious mind plays in this.

Whenever you read a novel by your favourite author, you rarely read the entire novel in one sitting. You may read a few chapters each night before bed or on your lunch break at work and then put it down for a while to sleep or carry on with day-to-day life. When you return to that novel, within a couple of paragraphs, your subconscious mind has picked up where you left the story from the last time that you read it. Almost as if you had paused the DVD of your life, the mind manages to put the pieces together so by the end of reading that novel, you have a very strong understanding of what it was about. This is similar to how NaNoWriMo can help you kick start that project that you have had in the back of your mind. You are frequently revisiting the same material. Like reading a novel, your story line is taking you with it on the adventure. You are the captain of the ship and it’s up to you whether you take it into choppy waters or calm seas. 

So what happens if I hit a writing block during NaNoWriMo? It happens to us all. We decide at 8pm that we are going to sit down and write for an hour. Throughout the day, we’ve had several amazing ideas that are going to turn our writing into the next Lord Of The Rings trilogy, we sit down to write and then…. Nothing. Not a single word or idea comes to mind. As I discussed in a previous newsletter, I have my own scribble book which is literally a cheap little notebook from the local newsagents. When I have that dreaded block, I take out this book and write. Just write anything that’s on your mind. Unpack everything. Swear. Argue. Express everything that’s bothering you from the day. That person annoyed you. You wish that person noticed you. You want to kill your boss. Whatever it is. Even if it makes absolutely no sense, get it written out in that scribble book. Believe it or not, when you have scribbled down all of the things on your mind, ideas will appear. Sometimes, I can even use some of my scribble rants as parts of a future project so nothing is wasted. When you can unclutter your mind from the day’s events, you’ll be amazed at what you can achieve. 

Since becoming an author, I have discovered that the ideas seem to come into my mind at the time when I am not in front of the laptop. Therefore, I use either the notes app on my phone or I always keep a notebook nearby to scribble down any idea that forms in any scenario. Sometimes this is key and other times, it’s a lot of nonsense but ideas can literally spring from anything. Taking the dog for a walk and seeing two elderly women dancing in the field. What’s their story? Watching someone in their car waiting at the traffic lights singing along to whatever song was playing on the radio at that time. What’s his story? There are a wealth of opportunities around us everyday to explore someone else’s life for our own literary gain. By no means do I tell everyone to stalk that person, check their mail, peruse their every social media post, but let them be your inspiration. If you were in their shoes, how would you react to scenarios? Why would you react that way? Is it right or wrong? And who has the right to judge?

This year, I am embarking on my first NaNoWriMo adventure to kickstart the fourth Blake Langford adventure, Wheel Of Deception. So far, I have a basic outline of how I would like the story to develop, some plot-points carried over from the third book to ensure continuity and a synopsis. Other than that, I am looking forward to seeing how my 2,000 words per day can develop this story throughout November. This could be inspired, it could be a complete disaster, but it will be fun to find out. I will share my progress and challenges along the way in future newsletters so please keep a look out for those.

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts

I never thought that I could write a children’s story. After all, at almost 40 years old, my childhood was a lifetime ago and what was cool in the 80’s and 90’s is generally considered lame by today’s standards so how do you bridge the gap to be cool with the kids once again?

Becoming a father for the first time in 2014, I soon realised the responsibility of being a parent far outweighed the majority of my daily concerns as my wife and I try our hardest to make the best life possible for this new life that we’ve brought into the world. This often leads to a return to childhood imagination and removing the mask that we display to the world in everyday life.

When was the last time you could let your inhibitions about the world around us go in favour of a cartoon, an animated film or even something as basic as nursery rhymes, counting numbers or adding significant meaning to letters of the alphabet? As adults, we become so consumed in our fast-paced, social media heavy, world that we forget the little things that mean so much. A scribbled drawing on a sheet of paper. The happy smile and dance when your child fits his/her blocks into the right shape sorter. What happened to that enthusiasm for the simple things in life? When did we lose that innocent abandonment of real world issues? Did we become bitter about the world around us not giving us what we expected or did we just get old?

I pondered these questions until my friend, Steve Boyce, produced his amazing idea for a local traffic cone named Cornelius Cone. Cornelius and his friends went out on adventures in this fantasy world with seemingly no limitations or expectations. Basing the storylines in the little village of Hythe, where we both worked as postmen at the time, seemed to give the characters a realistic setting for where their lives could unfold. My son who was 5 years old at the time, absolutely loved the concept and this in turn, led to my creative spark coming back after years of being locked away. I began adding bits and pieces to the original story and coming up with ideas that my son enjoyed. Soon, the Cornelius Cone stories were being read in the local schools and that was when I suggested my ideas for future adventures to Steve. 

To my surprise, Steve offered me the chance to pursue these extra storylines as a co-author to his series and from this, several new compilations of Cornelius Cone were written. From my own experience, the easiest way to discover what is going on in the minds of children today is to simply engage with them. Ask them what they like to read about. What their interests are and you would be surprised about what they tell you. Several of the Cornelius Cone adventures were based on stories that had been told to me by the children. In The Tale Of The Naughty School Teacher, for example, the children were meant to be playing rounders at school but the teacher only had three cones for the game. There were several cones outside the school gate where some roadworks were happening so the teacher used one of their cones so the game could go ahead. This gave me the idea of; what if that cone didn’t want to go into the school? What if that cone was indeed Cornelius and he felt like the teacher had taken him away from his friends? The storyline soon developed from here. Likewise, The Tale Of The Talking Postbox was inspired by one of my son’s parents who accidentally dropped their mobile phone into a postbox when they went to post some letters. The wealth of inspiration around us can inspire so many storylines, if only we stopped for a moment to recognise them.

Now in 2023, the Cornelius Cone adventures continue to inspire the local children and I have now begun a spin-off series called Bennie Barrier’s Big City Adventures where Cornelius’ friend leaves the quiet village and tries to make a new life in the big city. Whether I am writing for Cornelius or Bennie, the thought process is the same. What challenge can I place in front of them? How would my child react to this challenge? Is there any way that the main characters can interact with those around them to overcome the challenge? And what learnings can be taken away from this storyline? If you can answer these questions, you’re well on your way to creating a world of escapism where you, and the children, can disappear into whenever you like and shut out the worries of the real world around us. That would be nice wouldn’t it?

Until next time, write on!

John Roberts

Swearing can often divide readers. Obviously, the age appropriateness of books can be a big factor in where your target audience is. The big question is how can you convey a realistic situation, albeit in dialogue or the reaction of something extraordinary, when swearing is so commonly used in day-to-day life?

It doesn’t seem that long ago when any expletive in a novel would be frowned upon and often send readers away from the book they were reading. Fast-forward to 2023 and the majority of books have swearing included in the opening pages and then repeated frequently throughout the storyline. 

In a world where we are more divided than ever before, how can you as an author tread the path of what is right and what is real? Some may say that we have become too cautious in our analysis of genders, race, sexuality and many types of discrimination and the end result is a “woke” mess that nobody fully understands or wants to engage with anymore.

With the increased spotlight on these issues, I tend to aim towards what I feel is the right balance of adventure and escapism whilst being aware of the circumstances and empathising with the characters in order to try and not fall foul of the “cancel culture” that exists today. So why is it such a thorny issue if the main character swears his way through the novel? Let’s delve in a little deeper…

When you pick up a book in the library, download it to your e-reader or buy it from a bookshop, what are you looking for? We buy groceries because we need to eat. We buy juices and water because we need to drink. Why do you buy books? The overwhelming answer is one of escapism. With the advance of the internet and our 100mph lives that we now live, we are looking for that little moment of escape. To slow down. To live in someone else’s life. At least for a little while, until the treadmill of life calls us back to reality again. 

Social media is seen as the killer of the reader. How many people would be more likely to pick up their phone to look at Facebook, X/Twitter or Instagram than to pick up a book or even a magazine or newspaper? (Remember those) We have become so embroiled in wanting up-to-date information at our fingertips that we go online to search for one thing and end up down a rabbit hole of something else completely unrelated before realising that half an hour has passed and we need to get on with whatever it was we were doing before we were interrupted.

So do books still hold a place in today’s world? Of course they do. We become so intoxicated with social media and the world around us that the need for escapism will always be needed. Even back centuries ago, our ancestors would gather around the campfire to hear folk tales from long ago to escape their current plight. So why is swearing in these circumstances a contentious issue? 

Swearing tends to be a hallmark of the world we are looking to escape from. Like a jump-scare in a movie, it can shake you out of the scene and make you reconsider what you originally thought to be true. Although in today’s world, swearing can be often used in every other sentence, especially in male-dominated areas, there is a fine line between what’s real, what’s right and what’s accepted in escapism fiction. 

Throughout the Blake Langford novels, I have tried to use swearing as sparingly as I can. Yet, without it, would a torture scene or a heated argument in a police station seem staged rather than realistic? I always consider if an F-bomb is needed or whether the point of the drama can be diverted elsewhere. Some will love the gritty realism, some will hate it. That’s a matter of choice to the reader and who the author is aiming their book towards. There are many words that can cause offence and they are not necessarily classed as swear words per se, but I always remember what the great Billy Connolly once said; “A lot of people say that it’s a lack of vocabulary that makes you swear. Rubbish. I know thousands of words but I still prefer f**k!” And on that note, I’ll escape into my next novel.

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts

As with a lot of things in today’s world, certain subjects can make people feel uncomfortable, knowing that a single innocuous comment can inevitably lead to the cancel culture taking aim at them. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is the impact that mental health is having on us and why it shouldn’t be ignored.

Male suicide especially is at an all time high and the older view of being told to “man up” and the stereotype that it is weak to show emotion still shows itself in male dominated environments today. This suppression of emotion slowly builds up a volcano of pressure that, if not released at some point, can lead to addiction, violence, depression, anxiety and in some cases, death. So why is mental health such a taboo subject in literature? If we want our stories, our characters and their scenarios to be realistic, surely we need to take into account their emotional needs as well as their physical desires and insecurities.

In a recent adventure that I wrote for the children’s series that I co-author with my friend Steve Boyce, The New Adventures Of Cornelius Cone, there is a point in the story where Cornelius feels lost. Like there was no point in carrying on with the task and he removed himself from the job and went into the forest to sit alone with his thoughts. His friend, Bennie Barrier, noticed that he had left and followed him to where he was sitting alone looking out at the night sky. Instead of interrogating him, Bennie just sat with him and supported him in his moment of contemplation. Just being there whilst his friend worked through his own thoughts and troubles. The aim of this story was to show children that, on those days when you don’t feel yourself, it’s okay to take a moment to figure out what is going on in your mind without fear of intimidation, judgement or to even have all the answers to what is happening. It’s okay just to feel human and to be yourself.

In my adult fiction, the main character, Blake Langford, is carrying the guilt from the first novel where he was unable to save the life of the woman he loved. Now, he has to adapt to a new life bringing up his son and adapting his professional life with his personal life. This juggling act can often lead to him acting irrationally, becoming frustrated and making snap decisions that he, at times, regrets later but this is his journey through the emotional rollercoaster of life that has been set out before him. 

Even in our AI dominated world that we are living in, what connects us all is that human desire to be seen and be heard. Love, hate, anger, adoration, pleasure, pain, we feel it all so why hide it away? Do we think it’s abnormal to have human emotions and challenges? When something annoys us, rather than bottling up the anger, is it unnatural to retaliate even if we regret our actions later? At the end of it, we’re all human. We all do good and bad things. We achieve amazing feats and we also royally screw things up from time to time. That’s life. To hide that from view due to the fear of being judged, cancelled or challenged can have devastating consequences.

Of course, I’m not condoning hate and malicious targeting of individuals who are different from each other. Everyone has a right to live the lives they choose. I believe that nobody wakes up in the morning with the sole intention to hurt somebody else. But having a more empathetic view of the people around us, the circumstances they have found themselves in, their journey up to this point and how they react to those things, can tell us a lot about who they really are. So, should mental health be discussed and explored in popular fiction? For me, if we ignore this, we are ignoring what it is to be human. Should I be cancelled for that viewpoint? I’ll let you decide.

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts

How much time do we spend on our phones, tablets, PC’s and laptops per day? When was the last time you sat on a bus, train or as a passenger in a car and just looked out at the world as you passed by? More importantly, how many times have you sat at the dinner table with your family and rather than engage in conversation about their day, you felt the urge to update social media instead?

New technology that was meant to bring us all closer together has instead, made the world we live in, become more lonely than ever. In a doctor’s waiting room or at a bus stop, everyone is staring at their phones. Nobody is willing to start a human conversation that doesn’t involve screens anymore. Even phone calls are now reduced to short sharp text messages. We are losing the art of conversation and in this 24/7 information world, perhaps we’re losing our minds too.

Over exaggerating? Let’s dig a little deeper. Way back when we used to live in caves with our tribes, the average person would probably engage with up to 100 people in their lifetime from their local villages. They wouldn’t have travelled far and there was no such thing as the internet or even newspapers back then. All the news came from hearsay. Somebody’s aunt’s second cousin heard that Dorothy from the end of the street has just given birth to twins. Whilst looking back on this as just being very restrictive, basic information, that has no bearing on today's world, even though technology has radically changed over the years, our brains have stayed the same.

We were never created to store millions of lines of information like today's modern systems are. We were never created to engage with thousands of people on a daily basis yet your social media post is viewed all over the world. Filters on our handpicked photos of the best moments of our lives make the world believe that we are all living our best lives. But the reality is, we’re not. Those photos are the highlights amongst the ordinary, mundane life that the average person leads yet social media displays us as if we are famous celebrities looking for appreciation and acceptance. The problem is, a lot of the time, we get it too. 

So, why is that a bad thing? In the modern day world, suicidal ideation and mental health issues have massively increased. Current statistics show that 1 in 8 of us will encounter some kind of mental health crisis in our lives. Why is that? Because everything is about comparison. Young impressionable men and women see these perfectly edited highlights clips online of how this person or that person is allegedly living their best lives. Then they look around and see the reality of their own lives forgetting that the video doesn’t show the full story. 

Life is for living and some have more or less privilege than others and that’s okay, but we need to find what is right for us in our own circumstances to be the best version of ourselves in this world. Comparing yourself to a World Cup winning footballer when you’ve barely kicked a ball around a playground is always going to lead to disappointment and disillusionment. But being the best you can be, whether that is the best parent, the best cleaner, the best accountant, the best shopkeeper, the best author, whatever fulfils you in life, should be your aim and not the picture perfect life that is displayed on social media because, guess what, it’s all a lie.

So, is our 24/7 online world burning us out? From the evidence we see on a daily basis, we seem to be in the pressure cooker already. It needs to be our own conscious decision whether we step out of it or not. 

The reality is we are becoming a generation of online zombies. We’re not robots and no matter how much artificial intelligence is interacting in our world, we will always be a human soul with our own needs, responsibilities, emotions, behaviours and quirks. We need to find a way to get back to being human again. When we find our connections, our hobbies, the things that bring us joy in this world and most of all, when we just sit down, take a breath, maybe drink a cup of coffee and ask the person next to you, how are you today? You’ll be surprised how good it feels to, in a way, step back in time and have a real conversation with another human being. 

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts

November is a magical time of the year, the build-up to Christmas, the fireworks lighting up the night sky and it’s the month where writers like you and I knuckle down for a daily ritual to produce 50,000 words in 30 days. 

For many years, I have planned to participate and for one reason or another, I have failed to stick to it but, despite life’s best efforts to send in the distractions, 2023 will be the year for my NaNoWriMo experience. This would be the chance to write without restriction and to create a solid base for the fourth Blake Langford adventure, currently titled; Wheel Of Deception. 

So, I set up a writing area in my spare room with the intention to write on November 1st when I hear a call from downstairs. When I go down to find out what’s happening, I discover that someone has slashed one of our car tyres with a screwdriver. Despite the NaNo God’s conspiring once again, I was able to change the tyre and finally settle in for day 1 later that evening, writing 1667 words. So far so good.

Then came day 2, November 2nd and storm Ciaran swept across the area. The grand plan of dropping my son at school and then settling down to write goes out of the window when an email from the school explains that it’s too windy for the school to open. Somehow, I managed to control my scepticism as when I was younger, some wind and rain and even a few inches of snow was considered just a winter’s day but again, the writing session was pushed back until the evening. Feeling a renewed focus on my NaNo project, I was now up to 3333 words after 2 days.

Day 3 comes along and we wake up to no running water after a landslip at the local water treatment centre led to supplies of water for the entire area being shut down until they could purify the water once again. Looking at my emails once again, the school has closed due to no running water and day 3’s planned writing session has now turned into visiting local water stations to collect bottles of water for family and friends. Looking at this objectively, it gives me some great ideas and content for future projects but I’m beginning to think that this new NaNo project is jinxed. Thankfully, after a day of distractions, I finally managed to settle down and write, finishing day 3 with 5374 words so far.

Day 4 and 5 continued in the same vein. Collecting water, homeschooling and keeping the family entertained whilst my head is screaming at me to write. By the time everyone has gone to bed, the dreaded blank screen is in front of my eyes and do the words flow? No. Off to the scribble pad to declutter the brain and see if there is actually any gold at the end of this rainbow. Do us writers get a free pass for procrastination or is it just the role we have to endure? I’ll let you decide.

So, why am I telling you all this? We all try to justify the reasons why we don’t have time to write but the fact is, life will always throw a curveball into the mix of how we think our day will pan out. I once heard the quote; man plans, God laughs. Just because things don’t always turn out the way we expect them to doesn’t mean that this is necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes, the bad things that happen often set us up for good things further down the road. All we need to do is be aware of them and make the best of a bad situation.

I see the NaNoWriMo as an opportunity to create a new writing habit amongst a community of writers all aiming to either produce a finished piece of writing or at least, take significant steps towards a bigger project. Whether you write 20 words, 200 words, 2000 words or even 5000 words per day. Progress is progress, no matter how big or small. The important thing is that you do it.

For me, I finished writing my third Blake Langford novel several months ago and have been going through the editing process with the vain hope that the novel, In The Shadow Of My Life, will be ready to publish in time for Christmas. During this process I’ve become so familiar with the series again in 2023, it seemed like the obvious choice for NaNoWriMo to continue the series with the fourth Blake Langford novel. So, how to start? The fourth instalment follows on from the third book so, thankfully, a lot of the groundwork is already in place. 

My Blake Langford adventures tend to range between 60,000-90,000 words so the 50,000 target for NaNoWriMo will be a significant step on the first draft of book 4. Whether any of what I have written so far will make it into the final book in 2024 remains to be seen. 

So, after rambling when I should’ve been writing, my verdict is: don’t give up! Even when life gives you lemons, you’ve got this! 

My progress so far: Day 7 and 8375 words (17%) of my 50,000 words target. I’ll see you again next week with the hope of a significant leap forward.

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts

Those of you who are familiar with the Children’s books that I have written, alongside my friend Steve Boyce, as part of “The New Adventures Of Cornelius Cone” series will have often heard of Cornelius’s friend, Bennie Barrier.

As Steve puts the finishing touches to his latest animated story, we wondered how we could add a new dimension to the series without alienating the current audience who have enjoyed the Cornelius Cone adventures so far. That was when my son asked, what if Cornelius Cone’s friends had their own adventure too? 

This sparked the idea for Bennie Barrier’s Big City Adventures and a whole new spin-off series incorporating the same themes as the Cornelius Cone series. But how can you make a series that moves a minor character into the central role of the story without losing the interest of the reader?

We decided that we had to take Bennie Barrier out of Cornelius Cone’s Maintenance Team on the edge of the New Forest, where he had his own friendships and was well known in the community, and move him into the city centre where his only connection to the world he left behind was his friend, Bruno Bus who occasionally gives us updates from Cornelius Cone’s world. This allowed a new kind of adventure, taking advantage of all of the sights and sounds of Southampton City Centre and the busy nature of city life to completely immerse Bennie Barrier into his new world. 

So, who is Bennie Barrier? Steve and I always wanted the stories to have a strong emphasis on recycling and being responsible members of the community. Therefore, Bennie’s backstory is that he was originally made into crisp packets at a factory in Leicester and was recycled many times before he finally was made into a roadside barrier. His introduction to the series was far from the loud, expressive characters that populated Cornelius Cone’s world. When he arrives in “The Tale Of The Missing Cone,” he hides away in the corner of the yard, trying not to be noticed by anyone, just like the new kid in school.

Cornelius Cone then asks him to join in on an adventure to get Wet Floor back to the supermarket after he ended up at The Maintenance Yard by accident. Along the way, there are lessons in road safety, stranger danger and friendships that will hopefully strike a chord with many young children going through their primary school years today. 

Most of all, we wanted Bennie Barrier to be real. That shy kid in the new class who feels awkward. A bit of an outcast. Maybe not quite as intelligent as those around him but his persistence and willingness to learn and try his best in all situations show that hard work and making the effort does pay off. This made him a strong and regular character in the Cornelius Cone series.

Bennie Barrier is the one, out of all of us, who has a heart of gold but often gets overlooked and pushed out of situations. The one who is a thinker. Methodical and analytical in his approach to life. A loyal friend, enjoys a joke or two and often finds himself in situations that he is uncomfortable with but manages to make the best of the situation regardless of his knowledge. Most importantly, in a world of fantasy where children can escape to from time to time, Bennie Barrier experiences what it is like to be a child again. Innocent, inquisitive, fun, energetic and occasionally the odd one out as well as being the hero. 

Bennie Barrier’s Big City Adventures are available now from Amazon and all good bookshops worldwide. 

Bennie Barrier's Big City Adventures - Volume 1: 12 Unmissable Adventures https://amzn.eu/d/cHgXAjo

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts

We all had that dream didn’t we? I’m going to pour my heart and soul out onto the paper, it’s going to be beautifully bound in a paperback and hardback cover that’s going to fly off the shelves, soon it’ll be television deals and sipping champagne with famous authors, it’s only a few clicks away and then….. no one buys it. You look at your sales figures on a daily basis and find 0. A big fat zero. Not even John down the road who said you were going to be the next superstar has parted with his cash to put a smile on your face. Family members who promised they would buy your book as soon as you released it are suddenly ignoring your calls. Social media posts that were previously getting 100 likes are now barely registering anything. Then the questions fill your mind as you look over the masterpiece that has dominated your every thought, your every waking moment of the past few years and you ask yourself, why? 

Sound familiar? Believe me, you’re not alone. In a world that is more technologically advanced than at any point in our history, we are left with two realities. Firstly, it is easier than ever to get your work published but secondly, it is harder than ever to have your work read by the public. Contradiction? Let’s see…

In 2023, the amount of people reading for pleasure has dropped significantly. Today, we have more distractions than ever and multi-million pound/dollar companies are working tirelessly to capture any bit of your attention that they can grab. Why? Because eyes on their prized possession equals money. Money from sponsorship and advertisements mean that for companies to be successful, they have to gain and keep your attention. Before streaming services such as Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime arrived on the scene, if you were enjoying a TV series, you had to wait until one of the TV channels decided to show the next episode, (usually a week apart) before you could discover what happened next. Now, thanks to these streaming giants, you can watch an entire series in one day if you choose to. That choice, whilst great for the consumer, has a knock on effect to other activities that we do in our daily lives. As a consequence, the average consumer would more often than not, decide to settle in and binge watch the latest drama on their streaming services before going to bed than settling down to read a couple of chapters of a favourite or new book. 

So, how do self published authors compete for the attention of their readers without the financial clout of the streaming companies or the marketing power of an established publishing house? The answer, make something different. Something that will capture the limited attention span of your reader, make them put their phone down for a while and keep them coming back for more. Grab them with an enticing opening paragraph and never let them go until the satisfying conclusion. J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series was rejected several times before it became a huge success. Likewise, a lot of the latest dramas and films are at least inspired by new authors and screenwriters creating something new. Something exciting. Something inspirational that will leap out and grab the limited attention that is available out there now. Only you can tell your story your way. Nobody else has lived your experiences or has your take on a situation. For example, if there was a group of four people who had an argument about something. You would have four different opinions of the same argument and all of them would be true. The individual perspective of every one of us dictates what we believe is true in our everyday world. 

The main barrier new authors find is the lack of exposure, especially after you have published your first book. A lot of this is down to advertisement and most new authors struggle to find where to start. Granted, you won’t sell many books if you include regular advertisements within the pages of your novel, but the exposure you can create through social media, attending book promotions at your local bookstores, libraries, schools, local markets and creating your own website can all help to bring attention to your work. The main question is; how can anyone buy your work if they don’t know it exists? Scream and shout it from the rooftops, be proud of your work and engage everyone you meet into knowing about it. You never know who’s listening.

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts

It’s November 1st and you decide to tackle this year’s NaNoWriMo with all of the enthusiasm, bravado and blind faith that no matter what life throws at you, you’ll work it out along the way. By the way, does this post count towards my 50k? I guess not. Let’s just put this down to procrastination then.

So, after oversharing my perils and pitfalls of week 1 of my NaNoWriMo journey for 2023 and my word count of 8375 words (17%) of the 50,000 words target, I was feeling hopeful that I could make significant steps forward in week 2 and guess what, it half worked. On day 14, I had achieved 14155 words (28%) of my 50,000 words target. Then week 3 turned out to be a disaster as a grand total of zero words were added to my total. This in turn, made me wonder, why we are so hard on ourselves when life gets in the way of our creativity.

After all, writing a novel tends to be a marathon rather than a sprint and this time of year tends to throw up many obstacles including preparing for Christmas. Therefore, even with the best will in the world, I am conceding defeat for the month of November but NaNoWriMo has still proven to me that I can commit to a way of writing and still make significant progress despite the challenges of daily life interfering with my writing schedule. The first draft of Wheel Of Deception, the fourth Blake Langford novel will still be written but realistically, the 50k words will now be completed throughout December and January too. 

So rather than be disheartened by the failure to complete NaNoWriMo in November, I’m taking the opportunity to reset and start again. 2024 promises to be busy with several writing projects on the horizon and the community around NaNoWriMo has given me the enthusiasm to start venturing outside my current writing genres. 

As well as adding to the word count, growing the awareness around the Blake Langford series, the Bennie Barrier’s Big City Adventures series and the Cornelius Cone adventures is just as important as writing them. You can write the best stories in the world but if nobody knows they exist, you will find very few sales coming your way. 

So, for those of you who are well on your way to your 50k, I salute you. Well done and I hope your endeavours will ultimately end up with the finished draft being published in the new year. For those of us who fell short of our lofty target, don’t despair. Reset and start again. You’re already a long way forward than where you were on November 1st. Remember, only you can write your story and your unique tale needs to be told. 

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts

You’ve released your first book and are looking for marketing opportunities but which way do you turn? A good option is a cheap, easy to setup and maintain website. With the onset of AI, it has never been easier to get yourself online and the majority of businesses would not survive if they never had an online presence. So how can you make an author website work for you?

Social media is a massive opportunity to gain followers to your website and regular promotion on these platforms with interesting previews or taglines can often help with your sales too. When I launched my own website; www.CorneliusCone.co.uk on the GoDaddy platform in 2020, I was instantly engaging with people who were interested in the Cornelius Cone series and they found value in the extra blogs, updates and little snippets from the series that I uploaded regularly.

The key to maintaining your website and your audience is consistency. You need to make a conscious effort to consistently update the website to keep people engaged. Why do people love scrolling through social media? Because there is a new feed of information constantly recurring and your website should be no different. 

When I launched the Cornelius Cone website, it was primarily for the co-author series that I was working on with my friend, Steve Boyce. However, over time, I’ve also been able to offer some promotional space to other writers as well as include my own writing journey on there too. Even though the domain has remained the same, the website now also includes my other projects, Bennie Barrier’s Big City Adventures and The Blake Langford Adventures too.

The most important thing is to make the website work for you. The options are endless. If you have merchandise, you can create an online shop, advertise local book signing events or promote a preorder for your next book. Steve and I currently have three preorders that will land in the coming months; Cornelius Cone And The Earth’s Crust, Bennie Barrier’s Big City Adventures - Volume 1 & In The Shadow Of My Life - The Third Blake Langford Adventure. All of these are promoted through the website as well as social media and it does make a significant contribution to the end result.

So, is an author website worth the hassle? Like our community here on Substack, the website is what you make of it. If you just upload your original content and leave it there, it is likely to grow stagnant and nobody will give it attention. But, like when you plant seeds, if you water it regularly, (keep it updated) and let it have sunlight, (exposure to the world via social media and word of mouth) then it will bloom into a beautiful flower.

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts

Have you ever thought of using real life conversations and incidents in your writing but worried in case someone recognised themselves in your work?

The reality is, whether we realise it or not, we are picking up subtle cues from the people around us, those we watch on TV as well as our friends and family. If you sit in a coffee shop and look around, you have the business man in the suit, the mum who’s trying to keep her child entertained, the young teenage couple on what was probably one of their first dates together and the two elderly ladies in the corner who have seen it all before. Just in those four examples are a multitude of storylines. What brought them to that coffee shop at that moment in time? What are their family lives? Do they work? If so, where and what do they do? Are they escaping a toxic environment at home or at work? Are they avoiding someone or waiting for a loved one to arrive? The possibilities are endless.

So, how can you encapsulate all of this into your stories without blatantly singling out someone who will recognise themselves in your work? Some people will happily be involved and will love being part of your project. Others will hate it. 

When I used to work as a postman, we had two people in our office who really enjoyed the Cornelius Cone series that I was writing with my co-author, Steve Boyce. When we asked if we could include them in the stories, they were happy to be part of it. Soon after, Postman Pete and Grandad Cone were created. Postman Pete with his bad jokes and clumsiness as well as being part of a local band. Grandad Cone with his pretending to be deaf and mishearing what people are saying as well as his catchphrase, “What’s happening then?” The same catchphrase that our work colleague used to always say when he entered the office. 

Basing your characters on real life examples can often help make them feel real to the readers of your work. After all, they are real people to you in real life so you can use all of their traits, characteristics and mannerisms to add a realistic feel to your storyline. There is obviously a catch to all of this though. What if your opinion of somebody is less favourable and paints them in a bad light? 

In Bennie Barrier’s Big City Adventures, Jumpstart Jo, the city jumplead is identified as a chatterbox who constantly complains about everything. Rather than base her on a single character, I have used the traits of several characters to make this hyperactive individual come to life. Unfortunately, if someone identifies themselves with these traits, this can obviously have a bad knock on effect and you could potentially land yourself in hot water if people, places and scenarios are identified as being the obvious traits of someone you know. The best way that I can find around this is to make your characters have multiple quirks and mannerisms so that there is some wiggle room for creative licence to get you out of any potential trouble.

Some of the ways to use the tools that are around you is to sometimes manipulate the situations to serve a purpose without victimising anyone. For example, two people that I know, will happily belch and fart in public with no shame whatsoever. Rather than encapsulate that in a character that they would recognise, Steve and I based the mannerisms of Bertie Bin from those people but also gave Bertie a childish and jokey characteristic to dilute the crudeness and make the character more fun. 

On a more serious character trait, my first Blake Langford adventure; Where No One Stands Alone, features Blake’s struggle as he comes to terms with the loss of the love of his life. I had recently come out of a long term relationship before writing this novel and looking back now, a lot of Blake’s emotional turmoil in that storyline was partly taken from my own situation at that time. With the wealth of subject matter surrounding us, sometimes, we can also find fascinating details if we just learn to look at our own lives objectively too.

So, is it worth using real life scenarios and people in your writing? You decide, but make sure that those you do engage with are happy with your interpretation of their character and for your own peace of mind, piece together your characters with small snippets of several people so if anyone is offended or recognises themselves, you have the creative excuses ready.

Until next time, write on!

John Roberts

As a thank you to everyone who takes the time to read my Substack each week, I would like to share the Prologue and first chapter of the latest Blake Langford adventure with you. If you’ve read any of the Blake Langford adventures previously, you will notice that this book follows on directly from the second adventure; Underneath The Covers. 

The synopsis of In The Shadow Of My Life is;

When  a  London  Underground  Train  makes  an  unscheduled  stop  at  a  disused  station,  Blake  Langford  realises  that  something  is  not  quite  right.  

As  he  follows  the  abandoned  staircase  up  into  a  rundown  building  above  the  station,  he  discovers  the  body  of  a  young  girl.

As  Blake  pursues  the  case,  London’s  cruel  streets  provide  little  explanation  of  who  the  girl  was  or  how  she  was  killed  until  a  surprise  confession  from  his  sister  changes  the  case  completely.

When  blood  runs  thicker  than  water,  Blake  is  left  with  two  women  wanting  answers  and  a  brother  in  need  of  an  alibi,  but  who  can  he  trust?

Intrigued so far? If so then enjoy this exclusive preview of the novel before it’s publication and I’d love to hear your thoughts on it so far.

Prologue

“So  you’ll  be  there?,”  Jenny  asked.

“On  my  way,  just  make  sure  Paula  doesn’t  suspect  anything,”  came  the  reply  as  the  phone  call  ended.

Jenny  Langford  took  a  deep  breath  before  heading  into  the  lounge.  It  was  a  cold  Friday  evening  in  January  and  snowflakes  were  falling  softly  outside  124  Alfredson  Road  in  Kensington,  the  family  home  of  Blake  Langford’s  mother,  Emily  Langford.  Blake’s  sister,  Jenny  and  Paula,  his  partner,  were  there  whilst  Emily  played  games  with  her  grandson,  Michael.  After  returning  from  his  previous  assignment  in  Edinburgh,  Blake  had  some  business  to  attend  to  in  the  city  before  returning  to  the  family  home.  

Michael  was  sitting  at  the  dining  table  painting  a  sword  and  shield  cut  out  of  a  cardboard  box  alongside  his  grandmother.  Emily  was  glad  to  have  the  family  back  home  again  after  they  had  been  caught  up  in  Blake’s  recent  investigation  involving  a  corrupt  Scottish  Police  Detective.

“Are  you  two  okay  whilst  Paula  and  I  nip  out  for  a  bit?”  Jenny  asked.

“Of  course,”  Emily  replied  as  she  helped  Michael  wash  off  one  of  the  paint  brushes.

“Only  if  you  bring  some  donuts  back!”  Michael  replied.

“Deal!”  Jenny  laughed  before  leading  Paula  out  towards  the  hall.

“Where  are  we  going?  I  thought  Blake  wanted  us  to  stay  here  until  he  gets  back,”  Paula  asked  as  they  slipped  on  their  coats.

“Come  on  Paula,  we  need  to  relax  and  have  a  bit  of  fun.  I  know  this  really  nice  bar  near  Waterloo  Station.”

Paula  looked  back  at  Michael  happily  painting  at  the  dining  table.

“He’ll  be  fine.  Mum  will  look  after  him,”  Jenny  continued  before  opening  the  front  door.

“Okay,  one  drink,”  Paula  sighed  before  heading  out  of  the  door.

They  wandered  down  towards  the  London  Underground  station  and  took  the  Circle  Line  towards  Embankment  before  emerging  near  Westminster  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  River  Thames  from  Waterloo  Station.  The  London  Eye  lit  up  the  night  sky  and  reflected  off  of  the  river  as  they  crossed  Westminster  Bridge.

“I  forgot  how  magical  the  city  could  be  at  night  time,”  Paula  said  as  they  looked  across  the  river.

“Do  you  regret  moving  away?”  Jenny  asked.

“Sometimes.  It’s  hard  to  build  any  friendships  when  you’re  isolated  in  the  countryside.  My  judgement  of  character  is  obviously  floored  too  as  proven  by  Simone.”

Simone  Shaubena  had  been  involved  in  Blake’s  recent  investigation  which  led  to  Paula,  Jenny  and  Michael  being  held  captive  in  the  dungeons  of  Tallon  Castle.  

“That  was  an  exceptional  circumstance.  Blake  has  a  lot  of  enemies  and  they  used  his  family  ties  to  get  to  him.”

“And  that’s  just  it.  I’m  constantly  having  to  look  over  my  shoulder.  Constantly  having  to  vet  everyone  I  come  into  contact  with  in  case  there’s  an  ulterior  motive  to  their  interest  in  me.”

“Blake  will  never  let  anything  happen  to  you  or  Michael.”

“I  know.”

“I  feel  there’s  a  “but”  there.”

“When  Andy  was  taken  away,  I  vowed  that  I  would  never  let  a  man  dictate  my  life  again.  My  writing  and  my  art  were  my  escape  from  that  world.  I  always  wanted  to  be  the  hero  of  the  story.  Live  happily  ever  after.  I  often  would  come  out  at  night  and  look  at  the  lights  and  people  rushing  from  place  to  place  in  the  city.  I  wondered  what  their  lives  would  be  like.  Their  worries,  their  ambitions,  their  relationships,  I  craved  to  be  out  of  my  bubble  and  to  see  the  world.”

“Then  Rachael  changed  that.”

“I  love  my  sister  but  I  hated  what  she  did  to  Blake.  He’s  a  good  man  and  he  loved  her  with  all  of  his  heart.  Mum  and  dad  would  never  agree  to  their  relationship.  Thought  Blake’s  job  was  too  dangerous  and  she  was  too  young  for  him  to  be  involved  with.”

“They  didn’t  trust  him?”

“We  all  made  mistakes  when  we  were  younger.”

“I  know  what  it’s  like  to  have  a  father  that  disapproves  of  everything  you  do,”  Jenny  admitted.  “Steven  moved  away  to  escape  Dad’s  judgement.  Blake  was  always  out  on  missions  with  Special  Branch  and  I  was  left  to  be  the  dutiful  daughter  tending  to  our  parents’  needs.”

“Your  Mum  seems  to  have  things  under  control  now.”

“When  Dad  became  ill,  things  were  hard  for  her.  She  turned  to  alcohol  to  block  things  out  but  she  worked  her  way  through  it  and  rebuilt  her  life  after  he  died.”

“Did  you  ever  want  a  relationship  or  your  own  little  family?”  Paula  asked.

“I’m  too  close  to  forty  for  all  of  that  now.”

“That’s  not  a  no.”

“There  was  this  one  guy,  Tom.”

“What  happened?”

“He  was  in  the  forces  and  was  killed  in  Iraq.”

“I’m  sorry,  I  didn’t…”

“It’s  okay.  We  were  only  together  for  six  months  but  in  that  time  I  felt  like  I’d  never  felt  in  my  life  before.  I  can’t  even  describe  the  feeling.”

“It’s  just  special.”

“Yes,  special,”  Jenny  smiled  as  she  began  leading  them  along  the  path  towards  the  London  Eye.  “Is  that  how  Blake  makes  you  feel?”

“That’s  deep.”

“It’s  honest.”

“We  have  history…”

“I  know.”

“For  so  long  I’ve  been  in  Rachael’s  shadow.  Her  disappearance  and  reappearance  in  America.  Her  relationship,  if  you  could  call  it  that  with  James  Turner.  She  always  was  adamant  that  her  and  Blake  would  be  together  in  the  end.”

“You  gave  them  both  that  opportunity  when  you  asked  Blake  to  go  to  Miami  and  save  her.”

“And  when  he  couldn’t,  he  was  destroyed.”

“Even  the  roughest  of  diamonds  can  still  shine.”

“Meaning?”

“If  you  were  on  your  deathbed,  would  you  rather  have  regrets  for  not  doing  something  or  the  knowledge  that  even  if  it  didn’t  work  out,  you  gave  it  your  best  shot.”

Paula  looked  up  at  the  London  Eye.

“Rachael  has  gone  Paula.  No  matter  what  we  do  or  the  circumstances  we  find  ourselves  in,  we  can’t  change  that.  Michael  looks  upon  you  as  the  mother  figure  in  his  life  now.  Blake  is  his  father.  You  have  the  chance  to  create  something  beautiful  here,”  Jenny  continued.

At  that  moment,  Paula  looked  at  the  metal  platform  in  front  of  The  London  Eye  and  saw  Blake  dressed  in  a  suit  holding  a  bouquet  of  roses.  He  beckoned  for  her  to  join  him.  Paula  turned  to  Jenny  who  gently  pushed  her  forwards.  A  crowd  of  people  had  gathered  nearby  as  Paula  walked  up  the  steps  to  join  Blake  on  the  platform.  He  led  Paula  onto  one  of  the  glass  capsules  and  the  operator  closed  the  door  before  they  began  to  slowly  rise  up  into  the  night  sky.

“I’m  sorry  Jenny  had  to  lead  you  astray,”  Blake  smiled  as  he  handed  the  flowers  to  Paula.

“You  certainly  are  full  of  surprises,”  Paula  smiled.

“I  remember  one  time  when  I  was  working  and  I  saw  you  sat  on  the  opposite  side  of  this  river  looking  up  at  the  eye  and  the  lights.  It’s  amazing  to  think  that  we’re  so  busy  in  our  everyday  lives  that  we  forget  to  notice  the  beauty  of  who  and  what  is  around  us.”

“London  lights  used  to  be  my  escape  from  reality.  My  hope  for  a  better  life…”

“I’ve  made  many  mistakes  over  the  years.  I’ve  gone  head  first  into  situations  that  I  shouldn’t  have.  I’ve  been  reckless  and  stubborn.  I  guess  I  get  that  from  my  parents.  In  my  job,  a  split-second  decision  often  is  the  difference  between  life  and  death.  I’ve  been  running  for  too  long.  Running  away  from  things  that  scare  me.  Things  that  force  me  into  making  rash  decisions.  I’m  not  going  to  run  away  anymore…”

“What  do  you  mean?”

“I  mean  that  I  want  to  write  a  new  chapter,  build  a  new  future,  with  you…”

Blake  placed  his  hand  inside  his  pocket  and  pulled  out  a  navy  blue  box.  He  knelt  down  on  one  knee  and  opened  the  box  to  reveal  a  sapphire  and  diamond  ring.

“Paula  Evans,  will  you  marry  me?”

Tears  stung  her  eyes  as  she  looked  at  the  ring  and  then  at  Blake.

“Yes,  of  course,  yes!” 

Blake  stood  up  and  wrapped  his  arms  around  her.  Paula  held  him  close  for  what  felt  like  an  eternity.  She  had  found  the  love  and  security  that  she  had  craved  for  so  long.  When  they  parted,  Blake  slipped  the  ring  on  her  finger.

“Why  now?”

“I  had  a  lot  of  time  to  think  when  we  were  in  Scotland.  When  I  thought  I  was  going  to  lose  you  both  again,  it  ripped  me  apart.  I’ve  made  so  many  mistakes  Paula  and  now  I  need  to  start  making  choices  that  I’ve  been  too  afraid  to  make  in  the  past.  That’s  starting  with  commitment,  to  you  and  to  Michael.  No  matter  what,  you  two  are  my  life  now.”

As  the  glass  capsule  arrived  back  at  the  platform  and  both  Paula  and  Blake  stepped  out,  a  small  group  of  people  applauded  as  they  walked  down  the  exit  ramp  hand  in  hand. 

Jenny  rushed  over  and  hugged  them  both.  “Congratulations  to  you  both!  Sorry  for  misleading  you.”

“I’ll  forgive  you  just  this  once,”  Paula  teased.  “So  what  now?”

“Well  I  know  a  place  in  Leicester  Square  that  we  can  go  to,”  Blake  suggested.

“I’ll  head  back,  I  don’t  want  to  be  a  third  wheel…” Jenny  began.

“No,  no,  come  with  us,  we’re  family  now,”  Paula  insisted.

They  wandered  over  towards  Waterloo  Station  together  before  heading  down  the  escalators  towards  the  tube.  The  train  whooshed  into  the  station  and  they  climbed  aboard  before  the  doors  closed  and  they  were  on  their  way  again.  Three  other  passengers  glanced  in  their  direction  as  they  sat  near  one  of  the  doors.  They  passed  through  Embankment  and  Charing  Cross  underground  stations  before  heading  off  towards  Leicester  Square.  As  the  train  left  Charing  Cross  station,  they  heard  a  loud  screeching  metal  against  metal  sound  before  the  train  came  to  an  abrupt  stop. 

“What’s  going  on?”  Paula  asked. 

“I  don’t  know  but  I’m  sure  we’re  better  off  out  than  in,”  Blake  replied  as  he  walked  over  towards  the  door  and  used  the  emergency  exit  release  to  open  the  door.

“Hey  man!  What  are  you  doin’?”  one  of  the  passengers  called  out.  “That’s  suicide  stepping  out  there!”

“Blake!  What  are  you  doing?”  Jenny  gasped.

“It’s  an  old  disused  station.  There’s  no  point  waiting  an  hour  for  the  rescue  team  to  come  down  here.  Come  on!” 

Blake  jumped  down  from  the  train  before  helping  Paula  and  Jenny  down.

“Are  you  sure  this  is  safe?”  Paula  asked.

Blake  held  his  phone  torch  out  in  front  of  him  and  headed  towards  the  back  of  the  platform.  “This  is  the  old  freight  line  that  used  to  be  in  service  during  the  war.  Come  on,  this  way!”

“This  is  not  the  romantic  evening  I  had  planned  for  you  two,”  Jenny  sighed.

Blake  found  the  staircase  and  began  climbing  up.  “This  will  get  your  steps  in  for  the  day.”

“Seriously?”  Jenny  complained.

“It’s  only  about  two  hundred  steps  to  the  top,”  Blake  laughed.

The  metal  stairs  spiralled  round  and  round  from  the  depths  of  the  underground  network  all  the  way  back  up  to  the  streets  of  London  above  them.  After  a  couple  of  stops  and  some  swearing,  Jenny  and  Paula  finally  caught  up  with  Blake  at  the  top  of  the  stairs.

“Don’t…  ever…  make…  me…  do…  that…  again!”  Jenny  snapped.

“Haven’t  you  had  enough  of  running  around  underground  lately?”  Paula  asked.

“I  think  we’ve  got  bigger  problems  than  a  huge  staircase,”  Blake  replied.

As  Blake  shined  the  light  from  his  torch  at  the  far  corner  of  the  room,  Jenny  and  Paula  both  screamed.  Staring  back  at  them  was  the  dead  body  of  a  young  girl.

Chapter  One

The  Brother  And  The  Dead

Two  Weeks  Later

“Fractured  skull,  neck  broken,  signs  of  sexual  assault  although  we’re  still  running  tests,”  Sergeant  Shaun  Bryant  confirmed.

“Do  we  know  who  she  is?”  Joe  Knight  asked.

“We  found  her  student  card  in  her  purse.  Everything  else  was  taken.”

“Convenient.”

“Quite.”

“This  is  the  second  one  we’ve  found.  Have  they  informed  the  next  of  kin?”

“Eric  Gordon’s  arranging  that  once  the  ID  has  been  confirmed.  We’re  looking  for  one  seriously  messed  up  son-of-a-bitch  here.”

Joe  sighed.  “What  type  of  person  would  rape  and  kill  a  student  and  then,  rather  than  hide  or  bury  the  body,  they  throw  it  off  of  a  bridge  on  to  one  of  the  busiest  roads  in  the  south?”

“To  send  a  message?”

“To  whom?”

“That’s  what  we  need  to  work  out.”

“This  can’t  leak  out.”

“With  all  due  respect,  Sir,  the  media  are  all  over  it.  We  need  to  give  them  something.”

“They  have  their  story.  A  young  girl  commits  suicide  on  the  A34.  That’s  all  they  need  to  know.”

“And  what  about  the  trafficking  of  foreign  students?”

“No  comment.”

“The  CIA  are  starting  to  get  itchy  feet  already.  It’s  only  a  matter  of  time  before  they  come  over  and  investigate  for  themselves.”

“That’s  where  you  come  in,”  Joe  snapped,  walking  over  to  his  desk,  pulling  a  blue  folder  out  of  a  drawer  and  handing  it  over  to  Sergeant  Bryant.  “That  is  the  file  of  mugshots  for  all  the  missing  students  across  the  country.  Now  whoever  is  behind  this  has  given  us  one.  He’s  obviously  one  for  melodrama.  We  need  to  find  the  others  before  he  pulls  another  stunt  like  this.  Speak  to  their  families  again.  Gain  as  much  knowledge  as  possible  on  them  whilst  Special  Branch  work  on  taking  this  group  down.”

“And  what  makes  you  think  they’ll  say  anything  to  me  that’s  not  already  on  record?”

“Because  I  have  an  eighteen  year  old  American  girl  in  the  morgue  who  needs  justice.  Gordon’s  pulling  the  strings  to  get  our  men  in  place.  Until  we  get  a  formal  ID  on  this  girl,  it  remains  classified.  Am  I  understood?”

Bryant  nodded.

“Good.  I  need  those  statements  yesterday.  If  we  can  find  any  kind  of  pattern,  we  might  be  able  to  find  out  where  they’re  going  to  strike  next.”

Sergeant  Shaun  Bryant  left  the  room  as  Joe  Knight  sat  back  in  his  chair,  feeling  the  weight  of  the  case  heavy  on  his  shoulders.  He  couldn't  help  but  think  about  the  dead  girl,  who  was  just  a  year  younger  than  his  own  daughter.  He  shook  his  head  to  clear  the  thought  and  focused  on  the  task  at  hand.

He   flicked  through  a  scattering  of  paperwork  before  filing  it  into  the  bin.  He  pulled  his  phone  out  of  his  pocket  and  scanned  through  his  contacts  list.  He  stopped  at  Langford  27942.  He  jotted  the  phone  number  down  onto  a  notepad  before  locking  his  phone  and  returning  it  to  his  pocket.  A  photo  of  his  wife,  Patricia  and  his  daughter,  Carla,  stared  back  at  him  from  beside  his  laptop  screen.

“It’s  time,”  he  said  before  picking  up  his  suit  jacket  from  the  back  of  his  chair  and  walking  out  of  the  door.

***

The  early  spring  sunshine  sparkled  on  the  morning  dew  that  clung  to  the  grass  of  the  old  cemetery  on  the  edge  of  The  New  Forest.  Blake  knelt  beside  a  newly  erected  headstone  and  placed  some  fresh  daffodils  into  its  rose  bowl.  As  he  stood  once  again,  he  took  in  a  deep  breath  and  sighed.  The  gold  writing  inscribed  into  the  marble  stone  had  a  sense  of  finality  about  it.  For  the  past  few  months,  he  tried  to  dismiss  the  reality  that  Rachael  was  gone.  That  it  was  some  kind  of  bad  dream  that  he  just  needed  to  wake  up  from.  Seeing  her  name  on  the  stone  however,  cut  him  deep  once  more.  

“I  hope  you  understand,”  Blake  said  softly,  his  hand  brushing  against  the  top  of  the  gravestone  as  he  walked  by  before  heading  back  towards  his  car.

As  he  arrived  at  the  cemetery  gates,  Blake  noticed  a  man  standing  by  his  silver  Ford  Mondeo  wearing  a  dark  suit,  white  shirt,  black  tie  and  perfectly  polished  black  shoes.

“I’m  sorry  for  your  loss  Blake,”  the  man  said  as  Blake  approached  his  car.

“Joe  Knight,  they  finally  let  you  out  from  behind  a  desk?”

“Briefly,  you  caused  quite  a  shitstorm  up  north.”

“If  they  wanted  Ramon’s  soul  they  should  have  sent  a  priest.  Unfortunately  too  much  was  left  in  the  hands  of  amateurs.  So  what  brings  you  down  here?”

“We  need  to  establish  protection  for  yourself  and  your  family.”

“Frank  Jackson,  the  agent  that  Gordon  sent,  is  already  here.  My  family  are  fine.  We  live  in  a  quiet  little  village  by  the  sea,”  Blake  replied.

“And  yet  your  son  and  partner  have  almost  become  collateral  damage  in  your  previous  two  assignments.”

Blake  sighed.  “I  take  it  this  isn’t  a  social  call  Knight  so  what  is  it?”

“We  need  you  in  London.  Something  big’s  going  down.”

“Gordon  has  my  number.”

“And  he’d  have  used  it  if  it  was  his  case.”

“I’m  not  for  hire,”  Blake  replied  as  he  opened  the  driver’s  door.

“Eliza  Lewis.”

“What  about  her?”

“Old  friend?”

“Irrelevant.”

“Scottish  student  murdered  ten  years  ago  and  then  mysteriously  turns  up  at  a  local  newspaper  as  a  journalist  uncovering  a  major  news  story.  I  understand  she  got  under  your  skin  too…”

“Get  to  the  point.”

“Twelve  students  have  disappeared  in  the  past  six  months.  You  stumbled  upon  one  in  that  old  underground  station  and  we  found  one  of  them  tossed  from  a  motorway  bridge  on  the  A34  overnight.”

“How  has  this  been  kept  out  of  the  media?  Twelve  students,  surely  they’ve  been  missed  by  families  and  friends.”

“You’d  think  so  but  so  far  we’ve  come  up  with  nothing.  The  only  thing  found  on  her  was  a  student  card,  Victoria  Louise  Dawson,  eighteen  years  old  from  Shreveport,  Louisiana,  attending  Kings  Cross  University,  London.”

“Very  convenient,  has  the  university  been  contacted  for  a  formal  ID?”

“A  formal  ID  isn’t  possible  considering  how  she  was  found  but  every  avenue  is  being  explored.”

Blake  shook  his  head.  “I’m  not  your  guy  Joe.  My  team…”

“I  know  all  about  Mo  and  Peter.”

“I  can’t  attack  a  case  like  this  alone.  I  need  specialist  people  I  can  rely  on  and  bounce  ideas  off  of.  People  who  I  can  trust  to  have  my  back  when  the  shit  hits  the  fan.”

“Then  we’ll  form  a  new  team.  Get  your  stuff  and  meet  me  in  the  blue  room  tomorrow  morning,”  Joe  replied,  handing  Blake  his  card  before  wandering  over  towards  his  own  car.

Blake  looked  at  the  card.  The  blue  room  was  Special  Branch’s  undercover  offices  in  Vauxhall,  London.   He  watched  the  dust  cloud  rise  and  fall  on  the  gravel  track  as  Joe  Knight  drove  away  before  he  climbed  into  his  car  and  headed  back  to  Aunt  Mary’s  holiday  home  at  Lepe  Beach.  Blake  had  inherited  the  house  after  her  death  and  he  wanted  it  to  become  the  family  home  for  his  new  life  with  Paula  and  Michael.  As  he  parked  his  car  on  the  driveway,  he  saw  Paula  standing  in  the  doorway.

“Where’s  Frank?”  Blake  asked  as  he  approached  the  front  door.

“On  the  beach  kicking  a  football  around  with  Michael,”  Paula  sighed.  “You’re  going  back  in  again  aren’t  you?”

“You  spoke  to  Knight?”

“He  asked  where  you  were.  Frank  said  he  used  to  work  with  you.”

“I’m  sorry.”

“For  what?”

“Not  being  here.  I  should  be  kicking  a  ball  around  with  Michael.  You  shouldn’t  need  a  bodyguard.  How  are  we  meant  to  have  a  normal  family  life  when…”

“We  don’t  have  a  normal  family  life.  It’s  the  job  Blake.  I  knew  what  I  was  signing  up  for.  When  shit  happens,  you  have  to  deal  with  it.”

Blake  leant  against  the  wooden  post  at  the  entrance  to  the  porch.  

“Why  don’t  we  come  with  you?”  Paula  asked.

“To  London?”

“Yeh,  the  change  will  probably  do  us  all  some  good.  We  can  see  a  few  friends.  Michael  wants  to  see  Arsenal  play  and  you  won’t  have  to  worry  about  us  being  isolated  down  here.”

Blake  moved  forward  and  Paula  leant  into  his  chest  wrapping  her  arms  around  his  waist.  Her  long  blonde  hair  brushed  across  his  face  in  the  breeze  as  he  held  her  close.  His  mind  was  transported  back  a  couple  of  weeks  to  that  cold  January  night  when  they  were  alone  on  the  London  Eye  together.  After  overcoming  his  doubts  and  fears,  he  finally  gathered  up  the  courage  to  ask  Paula  to  marry  him.  Since  that  day,  both  of  them  had  felt  a  closeness  that  they  never  had  experienced  before.  A  renewed  focus  that  no  matter  what  life  was  going  to  throw  at  them,  somehow  they  would  make  it  through.

“Okay,”  he  said  as  they  headed  inside.

***

Later  that  night,  a  loud  knocking  on  the  front  door  of  124  Alfredson  Road  woke  Emily  Langford  out  of  a  deep  sleep.  She  looked  at  the  clock  on  her  bedside  table  before  staggering  towards  the  bedroom  door.  She  slipped  on  her  dressing  gown  and  wandered  downstairs  towards  the  front  door.

“Who  is  it?”  she  called  out  as  she  lifted  the  key from  the  hook  in  the  hallway.

“Mum,  it’s  me!”  

“Steven?  For  goodness  sake,  it’s  three  a.m.”

“I  know,  I’m  sorry.  I  locked  myself  out  and  didn’t  have  anywhere  else  to  go.”

Emily  opened  the  front  door  and  gasped  when  she  noticed  her  youngest  son  standing  there  with  blood  all  over  his  hands  and  t-shirt.  “What  on  Earth  has  happened?”

“Nothing,  there  was  a  fight  at  Renda’s  Bar  that  got  a  bit  out  of  hand,”  Steven  replied  as  he  entered  the  house.  “I  just  need  to  get  cleaned  up.  Is  it  ok  to  sleep  here  tonight?”

“Yes,  of  course.  I  think  Blake  left  a  couple  of  shirts  in  the  spare  room  that  should  fit  you.  I’ll  make  some  tea.”

Steven  disappeared  upstairs  whilst  Emily  wandered  into  the  kitchen  to  fill  up  the  kettle  and  prepare  their  drinks.  When  he  returned,  he  noticed  his  mum  was  sitting  at  the  kitchen  table  staring  outside  at  the  night  sky.

“Mum?  Are  you  okay?”

“Oh  Steven,  I  never  heard  you  come  in.  Would  you  like  some  tea?  she  asked.

“Yes,  it’s  okay,  I’ll  make  it…”  Steven  replied  as  Emily  began  to  stand  up  from  the  chair  before  losing  her  balance  and  falling  back  into  the  chair.

Steven  quickly  moved  to  stop  the  chair  from  overbalancing  and  steadied  her  once  again.

“Are  you  sure  you’re  okay?  I’m  sorry  if  I  woke  you  from  a  deep  sleep.”

“I’m  okay,  it’s  just  a  headache  John.  You  go  back  to  bed.  I’ll  be  fine.”

Steven  pulled  his  phone  out  of  his  pocket  and  scrolled  down  to  his  sister  Jenny’s  number.  It  rang  several  times  before  going  into  her  answerphone.

“Jen,  it’s  Steven.  I  think  mum’s  ill,  call  me  as  soon  as  you  get  this!”  Steven  said  before  cutting  off  the  call.

Emily  sat  in  the  chair  looking  out  at  the  night  sky  as  he  prepared  two  cups  of  tea  before  sitting  beside  her  at  the  kitchen  table.  

“Oh,  hello  Steven,  I  didn’t  hear  you  come  home.  Make  sure  Jenny  lets  Milo  out  in  the  morning  before  she  goes  to  work,”  she  said  before  reaching  for  her  cup  of  tea.

Steven  held  the  cup  to  assist  her  as  she  took  a  sip  of  the  tea.

“I’m  not  incapable  of  drinking  a  drink!”  she  snapped.

Steven  moved  his  hands  away  slowly,  not  taking  his  eyes  off  of  his  mum’s  face.  He  noticed  the  right  side  of  her  face  was  starting  to  droop.  He  was  about  to  speak  when  Emily  dropped  her  cup  spilling  the  hot  tea  across  the  table.  

“Oh  now  look  at  what  you’ve  made  me  do!”  Emily  snapped  as  she  tried  to  stand  up.

“It’s  ok  mum,  wait  there.  I  will  sort  it  out!”  Steven  replied  as  he  rushed  over  to  pick  up  a  cloth  to  clean  up  the  spillage.  

As  he  began  cleaning  up  the  spillage,  his  phone  rang.  He  answered  it  without  looking  at  the  caller  ID.

“You’d  better  not  be  drunk!”  Jenny  snapped.

“Jen, I  think  Mum’s  having  a  stroke,  get  an  ambulance  to  the  house  quick!”

In The Shadow Of My Life will be released in December 2023 and will be available from Amazon and most bookstores worldwide.

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts

There has been a lot of talk lately regarding the publication of AI books that are flooding the market and making it even more difficult for first time authors to break through and get themselves noticed. Whilst the progress that has been made in the past few years has been immense, the general opinion of AI work has been lukewarm at best. Many stories that AI has published have been repetitive, lacking any emotional depth and have left a lot of readers underwhelmed. So, can or more importantly should AI be used to help to assist authors as they create their masterpiece?

The reality of today’s world means that we interact with artificial intelligence on a daily basis. The google search on your phone, your satnav, your Alexa, the self service checkout at the supermarket, various types of AI are all around us. Recent studies have shown that AI bots are now learning from various writing programmes used by authors and are in some ways, plagiarising their work. Does this mean that your copyright is worthless?

I can see the advantages of using AI programs such as Grammarly for punctuation and general grammatical improvements on the author’s manuscript after the first draft has been written. However, when it comes to generating ideas, writing whole sentences, paragraphs or chapters, we get into the minefield of what is your own work and what is the work of AI? 

For me, the personal touch from an author using their own style, their own voice for their characters and giving them a fully rounded personality and believability is something that, I personally believe, AI cannot replicate. Being a huge fan of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series and Ian Fleming’s original James Bond series, I believe that those authors had the fully rounded character in their mind when making decisions on the scenarios that their protagonists would find themselves in. Having that human touch and a realistic understanding of how each of us will likely react in any given scenario is what puts the human authors ahead of their AI equivalents.

Yes, AI will have trillions of lines of data. It will have a super intelligence of the like we have never seen before but bigger and bolder isn’t always better. When the ebook was launched, it was feared that it would be the end of the line for paperback and hardback books. Yet, most bookstores are now more popular than ever. When I go away on holiday, having my Kindle with me so I can access a whole library of content is both convenient and saves a lot of space and weight in the suitcase. Yet, opening a brand new book by my favourite author, the feel of the spine, the smell of the pages, the staying awake to read just a couple more pages to finish the chapter before going to sleep, that’s the real world experience and as far as I’m concerned, that is one area that AI will never reach.

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts 

As writers, we can often become demoralised when the dreaded writer's block hits. When the words don’t seem to flow. When your brain just can’t seem to formulate any ideas and you’re left wondering if there is anything new or original left to write about.

After all, storytelling has been a staple of human life since the dawn of humanity when people would gather around the campfire and share their stories and experiences with the rest of the group. So, is there anything new to write about and what makes your take on a tale unique?

The answer lies within you. A group of four people could have an argument about something and when the story is retold to people who were not there, it will have four different tales of the same argument. How? I hear you ask. Because we all interpret things differently. The instigator of the argument will always think that he/she/they are right and the person with the opposing viewpoint will often think that they are right and the instigator is wrong. Whichever way the argument goes, all four people will have different biases of the same argument and therefore, their viewpoint will be skewed one way or another.

The same can be said of storytelling. We may well have exhausted the majority of the stories in today's world. The traditional love story. The police procedural. The child horror. The Sci-fi adventure. But none of them have been told by you with your unique characters, quirks, amusing tales, outrageous comeuppances or dialogue. Only you can write your story from your perspective. 

In the James Bond film Skyfall, James Bond blows up his old family home after setting traps for the villains to walk into. A lot of people called this film James Bond meets Home Alone after the Christmas movie starring Macaulay Culkin. Skyfall is a completely different movie to the family friendly Home Alone, however, comparisons were drawn due to the similar content. But when does similarity roll into plagiarism? 

Plagiarism is generally seen as the use of another person’s work, words or ideas without their permission or attribution however, as shown in the Skyfall example, ideas used in other films/books etc can be recycled providing you can give the idea your own twist with enough differences to make it unique. After all, how many stories involve the character traits of well known characters that we know in everyday life? The ideas have to come from somewhere and no matter how much we try to create our own unique ideas, authors will be subconsciously influenced by the books they read and the media they consume. 

So when the writing block hits and you need to find a spark of inspiration, don’t despair. As a writer, I tend to let my characters go and do whatever they want and then write down what I see. For example, if I’m sitting in a coffee shop, I can observe character 1 is scrolling on their phone, character 2 is reading the newspaper, character 3 looks fed up and just wants to be anywhere else but here and the waitress is rushing around in a vain attempt to keep everyone happy but is she really in the zone or just counting down the hours until she leaves? 

There is inspiration everywhere. If you can’t go out and observe people, turn on your TV. What’s the story behind the newsreader’s blank expression as they read the headlines? How would you react if you were in the jungle on that nature programme and came face to face with a leopard dissecting its prey? Does the quiz host secretly think that the contestant has no chance of winning the top prize? If so, how do they feel about that? 

The statement that there are no new ideas to write about may, in part, be true. The initial idea may be the same but you have a unique viewpoint on this idea, don’t waste your time thinking it’s all been done before, think, what if I did things differently? What if person X reacted this way? What thoughts and feelings are they hiding within? That’s where the magic happens.

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts

I have discovered on my writing journey that inspiration is all around us. Whether it be a selection of people sitting in a coffee shop and you examine what their life story could be, to the man who regularly visits the supermarket every morning for his basket of groceries, or the faces you see on the early morning bus ride to work. Everyone and everything has a story behind it. I found inspiration for a section of my new Blake Langford novel by walking through a cemetery in The New Forest and wondering, how would Blake react to an arm hanging out of one of the graves? Morbid I know but it gave me a hook for the fourth book.

The same kind of idea sprung up when we visited London a few years ago and the Underground Train stopped for a couple of minutes between stations before continuing on to its destination. Again, I thought how would Blake react? Would he get out of the train? What would he find down here? That became the synopsis of In The Shadow Of My Life, the third Blake Langford novel.

But what role does local history play in our creation of fiction novels? The part I enjoy about writing fiction is the fact that you can use creative licence to enhance the storyline and make it more interesting, confrontational, even more outlandish than the everyday world we see around us. However, if you are setting your work in the past, you need to remain true to the people, the languages, the surroundings and the way of life that our ancestors lived. After all, you wouldn’t expect the characters on programmes such as “Downton Abbey” to be using mobile phones or calling an Uber to take them to different places would you? 

In today's world of having the internet at our fingertips, any inaccuracies in your historical piece will stick out like a sore thumb. Likewise, our thirst for knowledge also means that we are more drawn into historical storytelling than ever before. Knowing where you are going is just as important as knowing where you are from. My next Blake Langford novel will be set in 1948 and 2008 so research is key. How did people talk in 1948? Where did the children play? What games would they play? How different were people’s lives in post-war Britain?

As the years pass and the older generations begin to pass away, a wealth of history dies with them. Sometimes, those stories that grandparents often recite about their younger years can contain gold mines of ideas and information. Likewise, in my local area, we have the oldest working Pier and train that is over 100 years old. Using little pieces of history like this can give your writing authenticity as people today can actually visit and see what you are describing in your novel.

So, can local history give you some new inspiration for your novel? The stories are there if you make the effort to dig deep enough into your research and confirm that your account matches that of the time you set your work in. Don’t try to be the smartest person in the room and fall short, absorb information like a sponge and learn from those who were there at the time and your historical fiction will hit the right tones.

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts

The old adage of writing about what you know is well known but sometimes, our own knowledge can become a limiting factor when writing fiction. Sometimes, you need to allow your imagination to run away with itself, especially on the first draft. Who knows, that crazy idea that you thought was ridiculous may find a plausible way into your final story.

A lot of fiction writing I find tends to be autobiographical. What I mean by that is, subconsciously or otherwise, you will tend to take your own thoughts, feelings and emotions into account when writing your character’s plight. How would you react if a terrorist suddenly corners you? How would you react if a family member died? How would you react on the birth of your first child or their first day at school or if they went missing? All of your thoughts, feelings and reactions will bleed into the characters that you are writing. Whether that be from personal experience of those scenarios, whether you’ve witnessed a friend or relative in that situation or it can even be from watching a similar drama unfold on TV. Everything around us influences how we write, how we build our characters up and how we attempt to make them human to us, to the reader, as if we could walk down the street, meet them for the first time yet know everything about them.

So why is research so important if we can just base our characters on ourselves? When writing your novel, characters tend to move the story forwards but the locations, the mannerisms, descriptions of circumstances which the main protagonist finds themselves in are equally important to making your reader believe they are there. A story set in Victorian times will have a vastly different feel to one that is written in the present day. 

Research is key to giving your storyline a believable timeline but a lot of authors tend to delve in too deeply with their research as it is easier to glean facts, figures and information from the internet rather than recycling that knowledge in the form of a novel. A lot of authors fall into the trap of creating a list of ten or more facts from their research and they then use this list as a tick-box exercise to make themselves look intelligent. Whilst the facts and figures are needed for a non-fiction book, a work of fiction is just that, fiction. You have researched the context for your book, for example 1980’s crime drama, you have your main characters, some idea of the scenario they are getting themselves into and what the end result will be. Having a rigid ten item checklist is going to stifle creativity here. You need your characters to get from point A to point B but it doesn’t need to be a rigid format. Experiment a little. On your first draft, go for the most extraordinary, crazy, outlandish thing you can think of. This can always be edited and pulled back in the second or third drafts. Use your research as a guideline to help you get your story from start, to middle and then to a satisfactory conclusion at the end but don’t let it turn into a paint-by-numbers exercise, it will bore you and in turn, it will bore your readers.

So, is research really important when writing your novel? I’d give the answer of partly yes, partly no. Realism shouldn’t get in the way of your creativity and imagination but likewise creativity and imagination shouldn’t lead you to describing the inner workings of social media to Henry VIII. Your research is your all you can eat buffet at the development stage of your novel. Eat too much and you’ll feel bloated, the story will become a stagnated checklist that will lead to boredom and eventually abandonment of the idea. Eat too little and you’ll still be hungry and needing to supplement yourself more. This will lead to you missing opportunities to develop your story and give your reader a realistic wow factor where they can’t picture themselves in your protagonist’s shoes. Find the balance in between these two extremes and you have a nice, well rounded hearty meal that your readers and you as an author can really sink your teeth into and enjoy. Bon Appetit.

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts

How much time do we spend on our phones, tablets, PC’s and laptops per day? When was the last time you sat on a bus, train or as a passenger in a car and just looked out at the world as you passed by? More importantly, how many times have you sat at the dinner table with your family and rather than engage in conversation about their day, you felt the urge to update social media instead?

New technology that was meant to bring us all closer together has instead, made the world we live in, become more lonely than ever. In a doctor’s waiting room or at a bus stop, everyone is staring at their phones. Nobody is willing to start a human conversation that doesn’t involve screens anymore. Even phone calls are now reduced to short sharp text messages. We are losing the art of conversation and in this 24/7 information world, perhaps we’re losing our minds too.

Over exaggerating? Let’s dig a little deeper. Way back when we used to live in caves with our tribes, the average person would probably engage with up to 100 people in their lifetime from their local villages. They wouldn’t have travelled far and there was no such thing as the internet or even newspapers back then. All the news came from hearsay. Somebody’s aunt’s second cousin heard that Dorothy from the end of the street has just given birth to twins. Whilst looking back on this as just being very restrictive, basic information, that has no bearing on today's world, even though technology has radically changed over the years, our brains have stayed the same.

We were never created to store millions of lines of information like today's modern systems are. We were never created to engage with thousands of people on a daily basis yet your social media post is viewed all over the world. Filters on our handpicked photos of the best moments of our lives make the world believe that we are all living our best lives. But the reality is, we’re not. Those photos are the highlights amongst the ordinary, mundane life that the average person leads yet social media displays us as if we are famous celebrities looking for appreciation and acceptance. The problem is, a lot of the time, we get it too. 

So, why is that a bad thing? In the modern day world, suicidal ideation and mental health issues have massively increased. Current statistics show that 1 in 8 of us will encounter some kind of mental health crisis in our lives. Why is that? Because everything is about comparison. Young impressionable men and women see these perfectly edited highlights clips online of how this person or that person is allegedly living their best lives. Then they look around and see the reality of their own lives forgetting that the video doesn’t show the full story. 

Life is for living and some have more or less privilege than others and that’s okay, but we need to find what is right for us in our own circumstances to be the best version of ourselves in this world. Comparing yourself to a World Cup winning footballer when you’ve barely kicked a ball around a playground is always going to lead to disappointment and disillusionment. But being the best you can be, whether that is the best parent, the best cleaner, the best accountant, the best shopkeeper, the best author, whatever fulfils you in life, should be your aim and not the picture perfect life that is displayed on social media because, guess what, it’s all a lie.

So, is our 24/7 online world burning us out? From the evidence we see on a daily basis, we seem to be in the pressure cooker already. It needs to be our own conscious decision whether we step out of it or not. 

The reality is we are becoming a generation of online zombies. We’re not robots and no matter how much artificial intelligence is interacting in our world, we will always be a human soul with our own needs, responsibilities, emotions, behaviours and quirks. We need to find a way to get back to being human again. When we find our connections, our hobbies, the things that bring us joy in this world and most of all, when we just sit down, take a breath, maybe drink a cup of coffee and ask the person next to you, how are you today? You’ll be surprised how good it feels to, in a way, step back in time and have a real conversation with another human being. 

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts

Dialogue is an essential part to storytelling. You can tell a lot by how a person talks, the language they use, the slang words included in the conversation and their reactions to what others say to them or about them.

Dialogue or conversations if you prefer, can often lead your story to progress at a faster or slower pace. Short snappy one word answers. Quick exchanges of questions and answers. An argument. All of these can lead to the pace of the story being fast. Likewise, long descriptive monologues can slow the story down. 

There has to be peaks and troughs when writing an engaging storyline. You can’t continuously run at 100mph all the time. Likewise, if you have an old man who is telling their story in monotonous monologue form for five pages, you’re going to bore your reader and they will close the book. 

I liken writing dialogue to a thunderstorm. You have the anticipation before, the slow build-up, rain pattering on the window before the clouds gather and you get the forks of lightning and then the clap of thunder overhead. The storm gathers momentum until it rages with all of its might and then leaves a calmness in its wake with a clear open sky. If you don’t have ups and downs, rights and wrongs, good versus evil, argumentative versus placid, your dialogue will struggle to grip the reader’s attention.

In real life conversations, our voices change tone. We can be aggressive, emotional, happy, sad, angry or calm and it is important that these things are addressed as all of these emotions and feelings can be expressed through dialogue. After all, you can’t physically see the person like you would in real life or on TV so their body language is difficult to convey without changing the tone and structure of the sentences to show how they are feeling at that time.

How a person reacts in any given situation can add new dimensions to your characters. If they’re angry, they will likely be giving short, sharp, aggressive answers. Words may become hyphenated or abbreviated as they aim to get the words out as fast as possible. Ain’t, Don’t, Feelin’, Can’t, Lovin’, Know-It-All, etc. 

If they’re upset, you’ll have the longer, drawn out answers with half complete sentences that get lost in their emotion. “I can’t believe you did….” “What were you thinking? If only I…” 

If they’re calm and composed, you’ll find words are articulated clearer and more precisely than if they were arguing. “I appreciate your concern.” “Whatever happened here?”

However you structure your dialogue, the way your characters interact and speak to each other as well as their own internal voice are vital ingredients towards your reader having a deeper understanding and connection to who they are. Strong dialogue can take the reader and your characters to places that pages of description can only scrape the surface of. If you want to walk the walk, let your characters talk the talk.

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts

We’ve all done it haven’t we? That foot in mouth moment that we cringe about every time we think of it. That brief lapse of concentration when we let words escape our mouths when really they should have just stayed in our head instead. But has political correctness gone too far? Are we obsessed with being offended for the sake of being offended? And where will it end? Should we be worried and have to consider every word we say before we say it? And if so, what kind of world are we living in today?

There are some subjects which are considered taboo and for good reason. Throughout history women, children and people of different origins, sexes and backgrounds have been subjected to horrific discrimination through racism, sexism and abuse. These subjects are justifiably unacceptable in today’s society, yet historically, they still create a bias that seems to seep through into today’s world despite our best intentions. However, there is an argument of whether political correctness has gone too far. 

I recently watched an old episode of the British comedy “Only Fools And Horses” which was apparently edited for outdated views and content. This was a product of a different generation and to censor things for outdated views and content leads to a whole new generation being unable to make decisions for themselves about what is right or wrong. Likewise, the James Bond films of the 1960’s and 1970’s have recently come under fire from people who believe that the character of James Bond was a sexist, misogynistic, arrogant and overly aggressive character in those films. 

There are some scenes in the film, Goldfinger in particular, where Bond is receiving a massage and when Felix turns up he tells the young lady to leave because it’s time for “man talk” and smacks her bum as she leaves. Likewise, when engaging in a judo fight with Pussy Galore in the barn later in the same film, it can be seen that Bond forced himself onto Pussy without her initial consent. In today’s world, both of these acts would see men brought to account for sexism and potentially sexual assault but how can erasing everything from the past help our future selves make the right decision? These films were a product of their time. Outdated? Yes. Sexist? Yes. But in today’s world where we have millions of TV channels and streaming services at our fingertips, do we have to watch the films that we disagree with? No, we have freedom of choice for a reason.

So, whilst I do not condone the acts from the past, I also don’t see who should be nominated as the judge and jury of what gets erased from history and what doesn’t. If you don’t like a book, film, TV series or whatever other media you engage with, you turn it off. You close the book. As humans we have evolved to learn from the mistakes of the past. To simply erase those mistakes so that future generations do not witness them is immoral and can lead to a dangerous precedent being made. How long before everything you say, see and do has to go through a censor before it is deemed to be allowed?  And who makes that decision.

The same thing can begin to seep into the writing of your novels. If you write a historical piece, would you remove any scenes from that storyline in case it offends a reader even though it was proven to be a part of everyday life in say, Victorian Britain for example? Would it devalue your work if it was or was not included? 

Novels and stories are the imagination and inspiration of the authors from whatever time they were written. From Shakespeare to the modern day classics, it all started from an individual’s initial imagination of an idea they had at the time. This can often lead to their work becoming dated. A novel is dated from the day it is published. No one else would have come up with that idea on that particular day, at that particular time, in that particular way and in some cases, things change. Morals change. Outlooks change. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. Sometimes we need to be censored to save ourselves from ourselves but to completely erase any kind of historical text because it doesn’t fit a modern day agenda is simply ludicrous. A story is a concept of its time, warts and all. If you don’t like it, close the book. Read something else. But don’t let ego get in the way of allowing people to learn from past mistakes. 

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts

How many of us check our social media profiles everyday? How many of us respond consistently to the beeps, vibrates and pings whenever they occur? How many of us feel that more people are likely to read our social media posts than our books? Unfortunately, with the onset of the internet and the ability to have an electronic encyclopaedia in your pocket known as Google, our attention spans are becoming shorter and shorter. 

So, what’s the point of spending months, sometimes years, writing a 300+ page novel if nobody is going to read it? Surely it would be better to update social media every hour with cute photos of kittens and selfies hashtagged with “living my best life” whilst hiding the train wreck of my life behind a series of filters. Aren’t we meant to give the people what they want?

Well, yes, modern technology has turned the majority of us into phone zombies who can barely go ten minutes without responding to that little dictator in our pockets but there is hope. The constant fear of missing out or FOMO as its acronym has become widely known, means that we are seeing mental health conditions becoming more and more apparent. Anxiety is at an all time high and employers are seeing hours upon hours of productivity lost in the workplace due to workers addiction to their phones. This rumbling volcano is bound to erupt sometime isn’t it?

It already has. People are beginning to realise that there is more to life than staring at a screen for 8 hours per day. (Check your screen time, you’ll be surprised how quickly it adds up!) Just like when we go to the cinema to see the latest films, more and more people are looking for escapism. A way to escape this relentless 24/7 on the go lifestyle that the 21st century demands of us. We are realising that occasionally, our bodies need time to recharge, to calm down and relax and there are few better ways to do this than with a good book.

More and more people are turning to novels to disappear into the minds and worlds of their favourite characters as they heroically save the day in whatever scenario they find themselves in. Sometimes it’s fun, scary, emotional, adventurous, twisted, mysterious, whatever genre we enjoy, most of all, it is an opportunity to connect to a life outside of our own. A moment of fantasy, of escapism and joy. From the days of cavemen and women gathering around the fire through to the instantly downloaded ebook on your tablet, storytelling is what unites us all whatever media we read it through.

So, is social media a friend or foe? It can be both. A lot of the time, it is a distraction from what we are attempting to achieve in our day; however, used correctly, it can be an amazing marketing tool for up-and-coming authors to advertise their work to potential readers. The theft of the reader’s attention can also be the gateway into gaining their attention so, as much as you want your readers to only engage with your story, don’t dismiss the power of advertisements to complete the full circle. After all, how did your readers discover your book in the first place?

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts

A lot of people ask how do I become an author? Where do you get your ideas from? I tend to give them the same answer. Anybody can become an author. Whether you’re 18 or 80, you have a story within you that needs to be told. All you need to do is to allow the words to flow from your mind onto the paper or screen. Everyone around us is living their own lives. They are the lead character in their own life story. Everyone around them, everyone they encounter on a daily basis, from the waitress in the coffee shop, the bus driver, their office colleagues, their boss, they all have their own stories, troubles, thoughts, feelings, fears and emotions.

Then I stumbled across the BBC Maestro series which included two writing courses by my favourite authors Harlan Coben and Lee Child. Being so focused on writing my own novels and short stories, I dismissed the idea of a writing course as it seemed to be taking me away from what I wanted to do, which was to write. How wrong I was. When there was a special offer on the courses just before Christmas, I decided to give it a try and have been hooked ever since. The amount of knowledge, experience, inspiration and guidance in these two courses alone made it worth the subscription fee. Most writers would have read hundreds of books in their lifetime and from that, you would have understood the structure, the plotting and the flow of writing a book from the genre you like. These courses go further in depth and afterwards you realise that what they were telling you, you already knew but failed to acknowledge it. It was like opening the author’s eyes and making them realise that there is no supernatural power behind it. Anyone can write, all you need to do is to pay attention to everyone and everything around you. Write the story that you would want to read is the mantra and it is true. 

So, are writing courses worth your time? You need to find one that will give you what you need in regards to what your new writing project is about. For me, writing crime thrillers, the BBC Maestro courses were perfect but likewise, if you were writing a film script, a TV series or theatrical play for example, you are better off targeting courses that deal with that specific area. You can read all of the “how to” books and listen to all of the podcasts you can find but the most important part of making a writing course work for you is to write. 

My misconception that taking these courses would prevent me from writing has actually had the opposite effect, I’m writing more than ever! Let your words flow no matter how outrageous they may seem. You can always edit it later however, it is impossible to edit a blank page. Sometimes, you just need to let go of that hyper-critical editor in your head. Save them for later when you’re perfecting your second/third/fourth draft. Initially, just let it flow and you’ll be surprised by the results.

Foolishly, I thought that I’d learn nothing from writing courses and that they were just a distraction from completing my work-in-progress and moving onto the next project. I’m happy to say that I was wrong. You never stop learning. When I look back at my first attempts, I can see so many things that, if I were to embark on that project again, I would do things significantly differently to how it was done back then. If a writing course can help you broaden your knowledge and improve your craft then I would definitely recommend the investment. For me, it was worth it and I’m looking forward to devouring as many courses as I can in the next 12 months. 

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts

Confused?  So am I. And that is what you want to prevent when you write your novel. We have all seen films, soap operas, TV dramas, they all have lots of characters populating their scenes. The problem with reading a novel, short story or even at times a screenplay is, the reader only has a certain amount of absorption in your plot and storyline. 

As an author, you may know that your 27th character is Aunt Bette from the hairdressers who is a man-eating, overindulging, mutton-dressed-as-lamb, gold-digger who loves nothing more than sushi and hot-tubbing. The problem is, your readers will be constantly flicking back through the pages trying to keep track of who is who, leading to them eventually becoming confused and giving up on your novel altogether.

Novels such as thrillers and mysteries have an element of confusion within them to keep the reader guessing until the end. Many stories go off on tangents earlier in the novel which either reappear later as a vital clue or are just red herrings leading the reader’s mind elsewhere. This is confusion of plot rather than confusion caused by complication. When you confuse by complication, you are frustrating your reader with too much “filler” content and not getting straight to the point. 

The same can be said for so-called “info-dumps” in your novel. If you’ve set your novel in London for example but have never visited, you may have been doing extensive research online to gain knowledge of how people who visit or live in London experience things. The transport system, Buckingham Palace, The London Eye, The Houses Of Parliament etc. The reader doesn’t need to know every minute detail of your protagonist’s visit to London and everything they saw along the way. 

Here is where less is more comes into play. You are overcomplicating the plot with an info-dump of walking over Westminster Bridge with the London Eye on your right and seeing Big Ben and trawling the markets on your way to Waterloo Station which by the way has a clock in the middle where couples like to meet… Stop! You don’t need all that. Simply saying that your protagonist walked across the bridge and noticed the lights of the London Eye reflecting across the river will give the reader enough for their imagination to fill in the blanks.

Falling in love with your hero or heroine can also lead to further complications. If you are adamant that your protagonist has to look a very specific way, always dress a certain way, always react the same way in certain circumstances, you are overcomplicating the world in which your character’s live. People change their minds constantly. There is generally very few occasions where consistency is key. The readers pick up your book for an element of escapism and part of that escapism is to imagine in their own mind what the main character looks like. Of course you would want to give basic details, hair colour, build, possibly their age, but don’t overcompensate or overcomplicate things to the point that the reader has no input.

Let them fill in the blanks for themselves. After all, what’s more important, your vision of your hero or the readers? Don’t overcomplicate things for the sake of complication. You want to keep your readers engaged from the first to the last page, don’t turn them off midway through.

A great quote that always sticks with me when I try to simplify things; “The first chapter sells this book, the last chapter sells the next one.” Don’t lose your reader along the way. They came on this journey with you for a reason, you can still make your writing intriguing, authentic and gripping without creating unnecessary speed bumps along the way. The smoother the ride, the less chance complication has of overcomplicating your already complicated plot. 

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts

As a writer, I get asked these questions a lot. Is it important to plot your entire book in advance? How do you plot your storylines and bring them all together at the end? Do you have to know every detail of the story before you write it? I know some writers that do but for me, I plan very little of my stories in advance with the view that it will come to me as I write. From the first sentence to the last, I have no idea what is going to happen to get from A to B. The characters seem to take on a life of their own and I’m there furiously writing about what they are doing as the story progresses. 

Let me explain, spoiler alert, if you haven’t read The Blake Langford Adventures yet, go away and read them before carrying on here. I usually have an idea of what I would like to happen in a story but very little development happens until I begin writing. For a story such as Where No One Stands Alone, my first Blake Langford adventure, it was going to be a love story about Blake being reunited with his fiance, Rachael, who disappeared 8 years ago. That was all I had when it started out. It ended up being an adventure involving diamond smuggling and murder which started out in Italy in 1999 and then spread via London, Miami and Mexico. Was Blake going to be reunited with his fiance in the end? Partly yes, they did see each other again but this storyline began to create new ideas for adventures in the future so the happy ending turned out to be of a different kind which continues through the rest of the series.

If I had meticulously planned this storyline out, Rachael and Blake would have been reunited and that would be the end of the series tied up in a paint-by-numbers way that may well have ended up boring the readers. There would have been no room to explore the adventures of the other characters and how their actions in turn would affect the plot or any future storylines. I find that by simply having a start and finish point with little or no plans in between, it allows me to have creative ideas as the story progresses. So, does it always go to plan? To be honest, no. Sometimes I tend to go down rabbit holes and the story comes to a grinding halt. That’s the joy of having a first draft that can be edited over and over again. You can make these mistakes and then, if needed, take a few steps back and turn right instead of left at a certain point and have a different ending. I’ve always had the mindset that it is easier to edit 30 pages that went in the wrong direction than a blank page of procrastination and fear of failure.

The open-ended conclusion of Where No One Stands Alone led into the second book in the series, Underneath The Covers, becoming a sequel to the first book. Again, very little planning went into this book. At the time, I had recently visited Edinburgh, in Scotland, with my family for a few days as a city break to see the sights. Looking up at the huge Edinburgh Castle and seeing the dungeons gave me an idea of where Blake needed to go next. He was still reeling from the loss of Rachael at the end of the first book but now he had the new responsibilities of being a father but he still needed closure. Being able to explore other characters in Where No One Stands Alone, allowed me to reintroduce some of the characters in Underneath The Covers and in a way, continue the saga from the first book but in completely new surroundings. The readers enjoyed the first book so it was a case of bringing a similar but different formula to book 2. The only planning for Underneath The Covers was that I’d like to set it in Edinburgh, Blake struggles to balance his personal and professional life after grieving Rachael’s loss and he needed closure on the people who betrayed him in Mexico. From that came a plan to steal jewels from Holyrood Palace, the Royal Family’s residence in Scotland, murders in the castle and a high speed boat and helicopter chase in the north sea. Again, don’t let your original plan make you believe that there is only one way for your story to go. Be brave and take the path you least expect to work and see how it goes.

So, my thoughts on planning a novel, yes, you do need a rough idea of who your characters are and what their objective is, however, don’t trap yourself into a corner. Don’t restrict yourself with a rigid idea that you had 2 years ago and it has to be done that way with no wriggle room. The best stories that I find interesting are the ones where I don’t know what happens next. I’m experiencing it as I’m writing in the same way that your reader will experience it on the first time they read it. After all, nothing in real life goes to plan. Very few things stay the same and nothing is predictable. You always need to go into your writing with a “what if?” question hanging over every scenario. Most of the time you will have at least three different ways that you can tackle a storyline, whether you choose A, B or C is up to you, but make sure you’re fully invested in it and you enjoy the process. If you enjoy it, there’s a good chance your readers will too.

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts

When you stare at the blank screen in front of you, willing the words to come through to create your next novel or short story, the one focus that should remain front and centre throughout your creation is your reader. After all, if nobody reads your work, are you a successful writer?

A lot of the advice that new writers receive is to write for a certain genre of readers but trying to please everybody will lead you to create a mediocre mess that will please nobody. We are all very similar as humans and you will generally find that the books you personally enjoy reading, will heavily influence the books you end up writing for others. If you enjoy a certain genre or series, the chances are someone else will too. If you read a book and think to yourself, “I could have written something better/as good as this,” now is the time to prove it. But how much does an author need to focus on his/her/their readers? How much do we need to take them out of everyday life and into the lives of the characters we create in fiction? The answer lies in the suspension of belief and of everyday constraints. After all, how many of the characters in modern fiction will be struggling to pay their bills each month, vegging out in front of the TV with a share size bag of Doritos and ten cans of lager? Or how many will be dutifully completing their housework, walking their dogs, tidying up the kids’ bedrooms or shouting at the idiot causing a traffic jam on the morning commute to work. Very few.

Readers tend to pick up a book for a moment of relaxation. Maybe to read a couple of chapters before bed, to pass the time on a commute or even to read on their break at work. The things these scenarios and many others have in common are knowledge and escapism. Some people will read self-help books, educational literature, almost anything to help them learn about how to improve themselves,  their well-being or to improve their chances for a promotion at work or maybe training towards a new job. Others are just looking for an escape from their daily lives. To dream of a world a million miles away from where they currently are. A world where the daily mundane cycle of life doesn’t exist and the reader can escape there for a while. That is where a fiction writer can make or break a relationship with their potential reader.

We are all caught in the hamster wheel of life and with remote working becoming more popular and with the reliance on social media to keep in touch with people, we are becoming more lonely, isolated and depressed than ever. With the advance of the internet, shops, cafes, pubs and bars are closing down all over the country. This is leading to less and less social opportunities for people to have real life conversations and connections. For a lot of people, the latest updates on their social media feed tend to be their only knowledge of an outside world that is becoming less and less social.

So, how do authors take advantage of this situation and help their readers firstly discover their work and secondly, take the chance on their new novel and transport themselves into this new fantasy world?

With the digitalisation that has happened in the past twenty years, we have come a long way from storytelling around the campfire. Streaming services, DVD’s, films and TV series are all striving to grab the attention of people as they plague their devices with advertisements and special offers to gain their attention. As an author, it is your responsibility to make the difference. You may not have the million dollar/pound budgets that the big companies have but in your 300 or so pages of prose, you have the opportunity to distract, delight, intrigue, question, surprise and humour your reader. Done well, this will keep your reader coming back again and again. If you create a series, the baseline is already there. If they know your consistent recurring character is going to return in new surroundings and scenarios, chances are, you are going to hook your reader and leave them wanting more. 

Is it important to take your reader out of everyday life with extraordinary characters in a changing world? Absolutely. You have the chance to make a difference in someone else’s life through the words you create on the page. Surely you’d want to do that wouldn’t you?

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts

Some writers enjoy the freedom of standalone novels and short stories. The ability to change your characters, places, scenarios, practically anything and everything from one novel to the next. And then we have the series writers. We all enjoy series whether it be Jack Reacher, James Bond, Poirot, Morse, Miss Marple or any that you can mention. Readers can often prefer stories that are contained in a series because they already have an idea of what they are getting.

Using Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series as an example. You know Reacher is going to be a loner travelling from town to town across the United States helping those in need and dispatching the bad guys. It’s the same formula each time but different. And different is the key here. You wouldn’t necessarily read the same book twenty times yet you’ll read twenty different Reacher novels with the same structure, the same through line and the same result.

TV, streaming services, films and even podcasts now compete for the attention of those who read novels and give them several options for the escapism they crave. What is going to make them pick up your book rather than their phone/tablet or TV remote? The answer, a consistent, thrilling, adventurous, intriguing story. Whatever media you consume, whether it be a TV series, film or book, the key is the same, give the people what they want, make them want to know more and keep them interested from start to finish.

So, by that margin, if every writer thought that they needed to write the most incredible, best ever prose of their life every time they opened their laptop or picked up their pen, would they even start? The millions of books, stories and films out there tell us a resounding yes! But don’t let intimidation stop you from entering this world. Nobody ever publishes their first draft! Especially when writing a series, consistency is key. You need to know your world and your characters inside-out. To do that, you need to do two things; firstly, write with complete faith that your organic storytelling will come from your subconscious. A combination of the life you have led, the books you’ve read, the films you’ve watched and the stories you’ve heard from others throughout your life. All of this will be amalgamated into your first draft. Secondly; edit. 

That second point is intentionally vague. If you want to work in a series, you need to edit like this world you have created is happening around you right now. You know the name of every character, their appearance, their quirks, their smell, what they had for breakfast, their pet’s name, their family relations, their secrets, and then as everything happens around them, you write it down in as much detail as possible leaving no stone unturned. When you’ve encapsulated this world, edit, edit and edit some more. Keep the world consistent, make sure every character is distinct enough that you automatically know who is talking, how they will express themselves and how they will react in any given situation. Only then, will you be able to create the confidence that the reader needs to trust that this series is worth their time, effort and money. In a world full of a million distractions, you need to make sure that you are at least in the top 10. The book that the reader will stay up until 4am reading just because they have to know the ending. They have to know what happened to the main protagonist, how the secondary stories are all tied up and what has been left for the reader to decide or for what could potentially be the next book in the series.

I often refer to the old BBC sitcom, “Only Fools And Horses” when discussing series writing. You knew that Del and Rodney were bound to get themselves into some kind of hilarious situation that almost always was going to end badly and this comes to the same but different point that I made earlier. You always knew that Del would have bought some dodgy merchandise that he would make Rodney go and sell down the market, mostly to his own detriment, yet there was still enough expansion, improvement and diversion of storylines to withstand 64 episodes of the sitcom. Regular subtle changes to scenarios, building on the character arcs made the series engaging and this is what you need to achieve if you plan to write a series of books. Learn from previous storylines. What worked. What didn’t and why? Keep the stories unique but based in the same formula and you have the chance to make your series a success.

Taking my own series of books into account, the adult fiction series, The Blake Langford Adventures, has now run into three full novels with a fourth due out later this year. Despite Blake being an agent of Special Branch and travelling all over the world, he still has a family unit at the heart of the storyline and this dynamic is repeated throughout the series. In the children’s series; The New Adventures Of Cornelius Cone And Friends, that I co-write with my friend, Steve Boyce; Cornelius and his friends are based in the community of Hythe Village. Throughout the storylines, Cornelius and his friend, Bennie Barrier, often engage with the locals such as Tricia Trolley, Postman Pete and Trevor Traffic Light as they go on their adventures and this community holds the series together and makes each character accountable for their own actions. This year, I have now released another children’s series; Bennie Barrier’s Big City Adventures, where Cornelius Cone’s friend Bennie decides to move out of the village to live in Southampton city centre. After a tricky start where he is unwelcome by the city Maintenance Team, Bennie works on building up his friendship circle and working on his initiative to earn his place in the new city Maintenance Team. Again, we come back to the “same but different” scenario where taking Bennie Barrier out of Cornelius Cone’s world could have worked against the series but it has now created a new series to run and sometimes overlap with the original Cornelius Cone adventures. Consistency is key and if you can find a way to keep your readers coming back for more, you’re on to a winner!

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts.

If you’re an author, you’re already aware of the need for your work to be read by people who enjoy the genre you write in. After all, you wouldn’t have decided to become an author at all if you hadn’t read your fair share of books in the genre you write in. There is a good chance that several books that you have enjoyed in the past have influenced how you approach your current and future writing projects. 

You know what worked for you in those novels. You also know what didn’t work for you too. And that leads us on to the question, how important is it that the author is 100% happy with their book?

We often hear the phrase, “fake it until you make it.” That doesn’t apply when you’re spending months, sometimes years, honing, editing, perfecting the manuscript for your current/next novel. You will have spent hundreds, sometimes thousands of hours creating that initial idea, that first draft and several re-writes of that same story to make it the best it can be. If you can’t stand the sight of what you have written. If you’re not interested, intrigued or engaged with what you are writing, it will stand out like a sore thumb. If you hate what you’re reading, the chances are, your reader will too.

A lot of people believe that getting your work noticed and into the hands of people who want to read it is like solving a rubix cube. There’s some huge complicated method that only certain individuals know. Many years ago, traditional publishers and agents were the gatekeepers to the industry. To get past first base, you had to produce something extraordinary that appealed to the agent before it went anywhere near the publishing house. Then, along came the internet and with it, the opportunity to put yourself out into the world like never before. Blogs, videos, social media, podcasts, your own website; creatives have never had it so good. So why was there a stigma around Self Publishing?

For a long time, self publishing was the black sheep of the family. The drivel that anyone could type out onto a word document that would be published with no questions asked often leading to books that were of substandard quality in terms of look and content. With the advancement of AI, people looking to make money fast have been trying to flood the market with algorithms where they give the AI and initial prompt and expect it to write a 60,000 word, 250 page novel for them instantly. This has catastrophically failed. Maybe in the future, the AI programs such as ChatGPT, Sudowrite or any of the others on the market may have the ability to write prose good enough to last for a full length novel but there is one thing that AI does not have, the human touch. Every story/novel you have ever read had a human with emotions, challenges, needs and ambition behind every story. No matter what AI can come up with, it cannot fake human emotion. 

And that is why the author should be 100% happy before sending their book out into the world. Of course, editors will have their say of what they recommend to improve your first draft. Ironing out inconsistencies, grammar and punctuation along the way but the core story should still belong to the author. If you let your editor change a significant percentage of your story, is it still your story? I’m not saying that you should disregard the advice of your editor and publisher but in the end, the work that has your name attached to it is still yours. Whether you sell 1 copy of 1 million copies, the storyline is yours and you need to own it 100%.

Until next time, write on.

John Roberts