#Domevember #ReadySteadyBook! featuring J.D Fennell

It’s time for the last _-cue sobs-#ReadySteadyBook! of #Domevember and like the others which preceded it, it’s just a tiny bit special and wonderful.

Massive thanks once more to the amazing Emily Glenister of The Dome Press for putting me in touch with the fabulous J.D Fennell.

He is the writer of both ‘Sleeper’ and its sequel, ‘Sleeper-The Red Storm’ which I have lined up on my Kindle and will be reviewed in the near future.

For now, he is kindly sharing with us, his 5 ingredients which go into making a book…

”It is way past midnight and I am sitting in a dark front porch of a cottage overlooking a lake in the Kabini Wildlife Park in Southern India. I have no laptop and I am writing this article on an iPhone with a battery that is about to expire. Please, therefore, forgive any typos and other mistakes I might have overlooked.

So, I’ve travelled five hours by car and stopped at several temples and a palace on the way here. A further three hours have been spent on safari watching and photographing wild dogs, monkeys, birds and elephants (my personal favourite). The week before I was in remote North West Iceland for a wedding and the week before that I was in Belfast, spending time with my dad who has not been very well. I have been travelling a lot recently; life has been full on. This may seem out of context for an article about the five ingredients that go into making a book; but it’s really not. Trust me.

A disclaimer before we go on: these five ingredients are personal to me. They may not work for you and that is absolutely fine. Everyone has their own way of writing a book. This is a simple snapshot of how I like to work.

So, without further hesitation here are my five ingredients that go into making a book:

1 Ideas: The ideas behind a book need time to grow. Before I start a novel my characters and world will cook on the back burner inside my head. I will have an idea about my protagonist’s personality, perhaps a little about their physical appearance too, as well as an outline of the story. These three key elements alone are enough to start charting my hero’s path and for the writing to begin.

2 Environment: I write at my kitchen table overlooking the garden. I have a lot of light and a sleeping Labrador at my feet. I love the space however I don’t rely on it. A familiar safe place can be counter-productive. I know some writers who are superstitious and can only write at the same desk, drinking from the same coffee cup at the same time of day or night. I’m lucky in that I can write anywhere, whether it is a busy cafe, a train or an airplane, which enables to not lose focus in between writing gaps. My advice to new writers would be to learn to be flexible. Like I mentioned in my intro I can work anywhere – sometimes on an iPhone too.

3 Experience (or write what you know): Write what you know is the worst writing advice ever. I could not write about my life. I just couldn’t. It would be of no interest to anyone on account of my existence is mostly spent in front of a laptop. My interpretation of that advice is different. Here’s why: earlier I mentioned that I had been travelling a lot recently. I write crime and I write adventure. For the latter, I am always on the look out for new locations. I have been lucky to spend time in Iceland and India. The experiences I have had there are tucked away for future reference. For instance, driving through narrow country roads in India dodging rickshaws, tuktuks, cows, multi-occupied scooters and the odd bus hurtling toward you was the hairy of hairiest experiences. That said, driving in India has an odd sort of choreographed chaos that I will use in a future book. Another example was a heated conversation with an American who trashed the National Health Service, despite a) having never set foot in the UK and b) his experience amounted to a conversation with a British doctor who “didn’t like it (NHS)”. These examples are experiences (stuff that I know) that can be woven into the fabric of a future story.

4 Nerve: Nerve is a key ingredient to making a book. Writing is rewriting. It is a hard slog that may take several drafts to complete. All writers must hold their nerve and never give up.

5 Headphones: I listen to music when I write. Music that compliments a scene I am drafting or that helps me write at a certain pace. This is usually movie soundtracks or classical. Vocals are out of the question. Singing is just too distracting. My partner bought me a snazzy pair of sennheiser noise cancelling headphones which are bloody marvellous.

J.D Fennell can be found on Twitter @jd_fennell, or HERE and at the moment, it is half price! So treat yourself and buy both!

Links-https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/life/books/belfast-author-j-d-fennell-talks-writing-thrillers-and-winning-praise-36997435.html