I did start my A-Levels; English Lit, Geography, and Information Technology but I dropped out after about six months. I guess that I decided I'd had enough education, although of course I regret that decision now.
6. What is your favorite song?
Radiohead - Street Spirit (Fade Out)... that's my all-time favourite track and will definitely be my funeral song. However, the list of bands that I listen to is endless. You can pretty much guarantee that if it falls beneath the broad 'Rock' genre, then I have it on my iTunes playlist.
The beauty of music is that there is always more to discover, whatever your genre of choice might be. A year or so ago I was introduced to Viking Metal, and bands such as Turisas, Amon Amarth, and Týr, all of whom are excellent to write to.
7. In your Half-Light series, you take a large group of fantasy elements and throw them into a sci-fi setting and add water. What gave you the idea to try that?
When I write, I generally go in with no plan and no direction, just a truck-load of ideas. When I wrote the Prologue to Half-Light: Vol. I, I really did have no idea that it would spiral into what, five complete volumes now?
As for the fantasy elements, it was pretty much the whole 'what if?' scenario. What if I put vampires and werewolves into great hulking space ships? What would they do in that scenario? What if there were four sisters who just happened to be witches? What if there was a guy just like any other who had the balls to pick a fight with anyone and anything?
If I have an idea, and I do have many, then I write it into Half-Light.
8. Are your characters based on real people that you know? If so, do any of them know that you wrote them in?
The original group of ten characters are all based on people that I know, and yes I actually asked their permission before I wrote them in. As the series has grown I've developed more of my own characters, but there are a few of the newer characters who, again, are based on real people.
I actually had one girl at work ask me to cast her in the story, so look out for Kally.
9. Which of the stories in the Half-Light series was the hardest for you to write, and why?
Half-Light: Vol. V - Remnants of Time, the most recent addition to the series. That was definitely the hardest for me to write. I suffered more writer's block during the four or five months it took to write that than I ever have before. All the time whilst writing it, it felt disjointed and no matter what I did or how many times I rewrote it, I couldn't work out why. I do think that it came together nicely in the end though, and with only one or two loose ends to tie up in the next volume which has to be my personal best!
Even with the difficulties I had whilst writing it I still had bloody good fun doing so, and it set me up nicely to write Vol. VI which, without wanting to give too much away, is looking to be my most adventurous project to date.
10. Do you do a lot of research to make the scientific and technologic aspects of your writing sound plausible?
Do the technological aspects of my writing actually sound plausible? Well that's a relief I must say! I do research a little, though; Wikipedia is probably my most visited site (next to Wattpad of course). I do try to make all aspects of what I write as believable as possible, which is no mean feat especially when one considers the subject matter.
11. What is your favorite book and why?
This is definitely a difficult question to answer, there are so many books that I could class as my favourite. However, about eighteen months ago I read 'The Underspace War - The Complete Trilogy' by Velerion Damarke, which is an excellent sci-fi read that I'd definitely recommend to any Wattpad user.
Terry Pratchett's 'Soul Music' is also a great read, hilariously funny and yet gripping at the same time.
12. What author had the biggest influence on you in your life, not just on your writing?
I suppose that would have to be Enid Blyton, she certainly kick started my love of reading. When I was a kid I read them all; The Famous Five, The Secret Seven, The Magic Faraway Tree, and many other series that I really can't remember the names of, but I remember thoroughly enjoying each and every one of them!
13. You've said before that you think that technology is turning people away from reading for pleasure. Do you think that with the advent of sites like Wattpad, that trend can be reversed? Also, do you think that the rapid development of technology is causing a decline in people's awareness of the Humanities and Arts that could lead to the premise of your Half-Light series becoming a reality? (I'm talking about the end of the world part, not the vampires, werewolves and witches, oh my!)
I would certainly hope so. It is refreshing when you look around on Wattpad and see just how many people actually do enjoy reading and writing, most of them in their teens. That alone should give us all hope that the future may not turn out to be quite so bleak as it could have.
Now I'm going to completely contradict myself with the second part of my answer to your question because I do remember the thought going through my mind whilst writing the Prologue to Vol. I; We're going to end up here if we're not careful, and I stand by that. I mean one day we're going to have to look to the rest of our Solar System, if not for our homes then at the very least for fuel and for building materials. After that, who knows? Perhaps we will go out into the Big Wide Universe. It is a shame however, that none of that will happen in our own lifetimes.
As for the vampires, werewolves and witches... well haven't you heard? They've been here for years!
14. You've published all of your books on Lulu.com. Do you think that was a good way to get your books published or do you wish you had gone the traditional way?
I think that yes, it was and is a good way to get published and I still could go the traditional way too.
I'd only written maybe the first thirteen chapters of Half-Light, and at that point it was only going to be the one book, and for Christmas that year my wife published those first thirteen chapters through Lulu and presented me with that as a Christmas present. I'm not ashamed to say that it brought more than a single tear to my eye, not only seeing my work in print but the gift itself. It was at that point that I knew I was going to self-publish.
15. What do you enjoy most about using Wattpad?
As with most users, the thing I enjoy most about Wattpad is the sense of community, the way that there is always someone around to offer words of encouragement when needed. I have made a great many friends on the site, and have met several fantastic writers (no, I'm not going to name-drop), who inspire me to carry on doing what I do.
16. What advice would you give to other writers out there who are thinking about publishing online?
Do it, don't even hesitate. At the end of the day you have nothing to lose and the feeling that you get, or certainly the feeling that I get, when you look across at your bookshelf and see your own books there mixed in with your favourite authors. It's a feeling akin to playing on the same stage that Slipknot played the previous week (Nottingham Rock City's Basement, if you're interested).
That said you have to do the research part too. What's good for one is not necessarily good for another, and there are a lot of companies that offer self-publishing now.
Number One Fan! Interview with DeathRage
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