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Monday 15 December 2014

2014 IP Rolling Picks Winners & Commended

This is Year 2 of our Rolling Picks competition that takes entries from February to August each year and awards winners in up to five categories in December.

Thanks to the authors who entered over the year, and a special congratulations to the winners and commended in their respective categories.

Winner, Best Fiction



Kafiristan by Ron Howard. The judges were impressed by Howard's successful transition from travel writing to fiction, and the depth of his insights into Afghanistan culture and political. Certainly a book for its time.

Winner, Best Creative Non-fiction 


A Compulsion to Kill by Robert Cox. Veteran Tasmanian historian created a real page-turner here, getting into the minds of our first serial killers, uncovering the past with a thoroughly researched and documented book.

Winner, Best Poetry



Second Thoughts by B N Oakman. In his second title with IP, B N Oakman showed a impressive scope of subject matter, while always remaining accessible to the reader.

Highly Commended, Best Poetry



Convent Mermaid by Rod Usher. Usher's work had a depth of subject matter and insight that rewards careful and multiple readings.

Winner, Children's / YA



The Handkerchief Map by Kiri English-Hawke. Originally crafted when she was in high school, this Holocaust novel in its second edition penetrates the psyche of people caught up in the horrors of World War II.

Winner, Best First Book



Furniture is Disappearing by Gemma White. In her first poetry volume, White impressed the judges with her mature eye and controlled craft.

IP Rolling Picks will be open again for entries in February, and, for the first time, authors world-wide will be eligible not only to publish with IP but to have their works considered in the competition.

We look forward to your entries in 2015, and wish everyone a healthy a safe holiday season and a very productive and creative New Year!



Sunday 2 November 2014

Kafiristan: Timely New Fiction

Ross Howard is author of Kafiristan, one of our latest releases. A distinguished travel author, Ross decided to turn to fiction for his latest book, set in Afghanistan. In the feature that follows, he explains why.

Kafiristan emerged from the experience of journeys to distant lands where my imagination was tempered by reality and the ability to see things as they are. These were places where power was often exercised by a privileged few. Some were secular dictators others comprised a religious elite. What they all had in common was the maintenance of structures designed to maintain their power. Often through a process of oppression against those who they perceived were a threat.

Kafiristan is also about the strength of the human spirit and the inability of those who thirst for power to extinguish that burning light. We may be of different lands and different cultures, have different beliefs and observe different rituals. But the basic needs of all are fundamentally the same: food, shelter and safety for ourselves and our families.



Those in prosperous nations are hardly conscious of such issues. Yet for most of the world’s people, the struggle to meet the basic needs is a struggle that repeats itself every day for most, if not all of their life. The storyline for Kafiristan emerged from observing such struggles and reflecting on the forces that contribute to their creation and perpetuation and the options available to the oppressed and dispossessed to achieve a better life.

Kafiristan draws upon a rich tapestry of experiences: needing to move on quickly due to the unfriendly preachings of the local religious figure, before emerging into the next valley and being entranced by the contrasting friendliness of those you meet. The refugee held in a desolate detention centre in a country they believed was a safe haven from persecution. The family living on less than $2 a day and the elderly couple crouched over the grave of their only son in a cemetery designated for martyrs. They all have a story worth telling and sharing.

The opportunity for the oppressed to speak of the iniquities and inequities is, in many places, limited to contact with the occasional foreign traveller. The contact is spontaneous and sometimes under the cover of darkness. They talk of the actions they would take if the opportunity arose. Sometimes it is one of violent retribution and sometimes it is one of flight.  Others look over their shoulder before speaking and simply say "there is little we can do."

It is said that writing a novel is an indulgence that contributes little to the benefit of mankind. On the other hand, it is possible that some issues are best canvassed in a novel rather than reduced to a self-serving sound grab. 

Kafiristan explores several controversial issues of social interest, particularly in today's world of conflicting religious faiths and extremist violence. The expression of these in a non-fictional forum, often leads to them becoming obscured by the outrage of those who believe their beliefs are being questioned or they are being asked for clarification of intent and meaning on matters they believe are truths beyond question. The schism between religious extremists and religious moderates is a case in point, where the latter see their peaceful beliefs in danger of being overwhelmed by vicious extremists.

Kafiristan also considers the other side of the equation; those who object to people seeking refuge from persecution by arriving uninvited to our shores. The exchanges involve issues the objectors often don’t understand and just as often don't wish to understand in case such understandings challenge their view of the world. Rather, they begin to act in a manner reminiscent of those from whom the refugees were fleeing. 

Kafiristan seeks to place the competing issues within a recognisable social context, drawing on challenges both current and in the recent past. In such circumstances the novel can be a potentially countervailing force that increases understandings.  The novel allows the reader to consider the merits of what they read and make judgements without the issue being obscured by the voice of ignorance or vested interests. 

Kafiristan tells of how the exercise of narcissistic power can disrupt the fine balance within a peaceful village.  How a sequence of events leads to violence and the triggering of a response that takes a maturing boy to the other side of the world and the creation of a man who questions the substance of previously unquestioned beliefs, combined with a desire for retribution.


Each element contributes to the mosaic that is Kafiristan. 

Monday 29 September 2014

Meet Robert Cox: A Compulsion to Kill



A Compulsion to Kill is like no other! Investigating the lives of the murderous and heinous, Robert Cox brings Australia’s earliest serial killers to life in a gripping page-turner.

Cox sat down with Editorial Assistant Sarah Trapski to have a quick chat about his new book.
Sarah Trapski: With your previous work, Baptised in Blood, and now A Compulsion to Kill, it’s obvious you’re not one to shy away from historical research. What, in your opinion, is the big draw? 
Robert Cox: History has always fascinated me. In Tasmania it’s all around you; you’re standing in it or leaning on it or living in it; it’s very unlikely to have disappeared under concrete and steel. But I’m a reader rather than a historian, so my interest isn’t in the dry old stuff of formal histories, like policies and administrations and economic fluctuations, but in the people, the personalities, especially the lesser lights, the ordinary people whose flame briefly flared in some way: convicts, bushrangers, Aboriginal people. And serial killers, of course!
ST: A Compulsion to Kill is about Australia’s earliest serial killers. Researching the history and lives of Charles Routley, Alexander Pearce, and John Haley, just to name a few, would have been a monumental task! How did you go about it?
RC: I’d written about the virtually unknown Charles Routley, Tasmania’s worst serial killer, in a previous book, which got me to wondering whether there’d been other serial killers in the state who’d also been forgotten. Alexander Pearce has been much written about and his story’s also been filmed a couple of times, so he was fairly easy. For the others, I had to rely on books, contemporary newspapers, historical documents, and, in a few cases, websites. It’s quite fascinating when you start with just a name and perhaps just a detail or two but nothing else to go on, then eventually manage to build a picture of a life or an event, bit by bit, through assiduous research.
ST: Any tips for budding historians out there?
RC: I have to say I don’t consider myself a historian; I have no qualifications or training in that discipline. I’m just a writer who happens to like historical subjects. Like Autolycus in The Winter’s Tale, I’m a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles, which isn’t a bad thing, given what I do. Like a patchwork quilter, I gather a scrap of fabric here, a scrap of cloth there, and stitch them together into what I hope is an interesting whole. All of which is a rather verbose way of saying: leave no stone unturned. Cast the widest possible net. Accumulate scraps large and small. Send Google on wild and imaginative searches. But where possible, rely only on original sources.
ST: Out of the list of serial killers you documented in A Compulsion to Kill, who did you find the most fascinating?
RC: Probably Rocky Whelan, not least because he operated in areas near Hobart that I know well. Also Thomas Jeffrey. Jeffrey was a warped individual, a sadist, a sexual predator, a killer and cannibal. But Whelan was simply a fairly minor career criminal who underwent a horrific 20-year brutalising in the Norfolk Island penal colony, which hardened him and probably turned him into a killer. When he was transferred to Tasmania, he absconded and in just 24 days killed five men in cold blood.
ST: A Compulsion to Kill is your sixth book. Is writing compulsive for you? Or do you enjoy the research more than the writing?
RC: I do enjoy the research, especially when it rewards me with something new or unexpected. But writing … I don’t know whether compulsive is the right word for me. I just do it — I write every day — and it’s fulfilling and hugely enjoyable, even when it’s not going well. Then it becomes a challenge to get it right, and I enjoy that too. I rewrite constantly —compulsively, even!
ST: What are your thoughts on Jack the Ripper? How does he compare to Tasmania’s killers?
RC: Jack the Ripper was insane; I don’t think anybody would dispute that, especially anyone who’s seen post-mortem photographs of his victims. But I wouldn’t readily say that about Tasmania’s colonial serial killers. They nearly all seem to have had clear motives for what they did: Brown and Lemon killed for revenge, Pearce and Broughton and McAvoy to avoid starvation, John Haley through losing his uncontrollable temper. Routley, Jeffrey, and Whelan, although they killed to prevent being identified by men they’d robbed, all seem to have increasingly enjoyed exercising their power over their victims — the power of life or death. The more they killed, the easier it seems to have become. Jack the Ripper, probably fuelled by an insane rage whose cause we’ll never know, seems to have found murder easy right from the outset.
ST: Do you think reading this book will affect the way Tasmanians view their State?
RC: I hope so. Tasmanians, especially those who come from pioneer stock, are very protective of their history, but all too often they see it through the rose-coloured glasses of hearsay and ignorance and don’t want to face uncomfortable facts. Some terrible things happened here in the early days, but there’s a part of the population that simply doesn’t want to know about them. My last book, the first history of the town of Sorell, which took me six years to research and write, was traduced by so-called historians with local roots who claimed I had it all wrong, but none of them has yet produced an iota of evidence to support the claim because none of them has ever bothered to do any real research. I can’t see A Compulsion to Kill being on their reading list. Too much truth!
ST: What’s your next project?
RC: One’s already with the publisher: Behind the Masks, a collection of friends’ reminiscences about the late and much-esteemed Tasmanian poet Gwen Harwood, which I co-edited and contributed to. My other projects are a New and Selected Stories, which is nearly complete, and Broken Spear, a biography of the Aboriginal leader Kikatapula, or Black Tom Birch. After being raised partly in a wealthy Caucasian family, he went bush, started and led Aboriginal resistance in Tasmania’s Black War of 1823-32, then changed sides to work against his own people, yet the great majority of Tasmanians have never heard of him. His story has never previously been told, and he’s wholly absent from a truly astonishing number of history books, even those about the Black War.

For more information, please visit: http://ipoz.biz/Titles/CTK.htm

Meet Michael Cohen: A Place to Read

Editorial Assistant, Sarah Trapski, had a chat with veteran essay writer, lecturer, and author, Michael Cohen, about his latest work, A Place to Read. 

A Place to Read is a collection of essays reflecting Cohen’s life and inner thoughts. He poses difficult questions and shed light on subjects that are otherwise overseen. Prior to this collection, several individual essays have been published in Harvard Review, Birding, The Humanist, and The Missouri Review with rave reviews.

Michael Cohen’s essays on the reading life are a treat to read. Relaxed, personal, wide-ranging, they contain fascinating nuggets of information and lively assessments of hundreds of books, as well as a whole life’s worth of thoughtful rumination on time, love, travel, and family, as well as what it means to be, almost existentially, a reader.
– Christina Thompson, Editor, Harvard Review



Sarah Trapski: What are your favourite essays in A Place to Read?
Michael Cohen: I like the turn away from the personal and back again in “My Hypochondria.” And the sudden turn into the personal at the end of “The Place Where It Happened.”

ST: You write about some very personal topics, for example your father’s murder, and your experience with hypochondria. How do you feel about sharing such intimate experiences? And have you had feedback from readers about these subjects?
MC: “Amusing notion,” writes Montaigne, “many things that I would not want to tell anyone, I tell the public; and for my most secret knowledge and thoughts I send my most faithful friends to a bookseller’s shop.” It is a surprise what gets dredged up when you begin writing about yourself; the form, as Montaigne proved so convincingly, is a method of self-exploration. Not that I approve of essay writing as a confessional exercise.I even have mixed feelings about those I called the Agonists in a Missouri Review essay a few years ago. 

Nancy Mairs and the Joan Didion of The Year of Magical Thinking are examples of people performing their suffering. It may be a compulsion, but I don’t think it’s a consolation, and it’s difficult to make it into art. C. S. Lewis said all three of those things in A Grief Observed. My friends who know me as somewhat reserved have expressed surprise at what I have revealed about myself in these essays. Most readers, I think, have come to expect that sort of thing.

ST: Did you have an overall book or set of themes in mind as you wrote the individual essays, or did the book form organically?

MC: I did not see the book coming. That the essays I had published in little magazines formed a kind of memoir was as much of a surprise as that the theme of reading gave them a sort of unity.

ST: Collecting essays in book form is not as popular as it used to be. Do you see this as an endangered species?

MC: There are mixed signals. Robert Atwan’s yearly Best American Essays series has been going strong since 1987 and attests to continued or renewed contemporary interest in good examples of the form. I believe you have a comparable Australian series started by Black, Inc. and continued by Penguin. And creative writing programs are devoting more attention to nonfiction. But the ubiquitous journalistic and political essays that infest the web and print media often lack any sense of form and even logical sequence. 

The essay’s strength in the past has come partly from the conscious, formal awareness of its so-different kinds of writers on topics from every discipline and field of interest. Good models train readers before they train writers. And right now there are not enough readers who like essays to push many publishers into taking a chance with essay collections. Before David Reiter took a chance with mine, I hate to tell you how many publishers said, “Wow, these are good essays and they’ve appeared in really good magazines. But we can’t take them. The market’s too soft for essay collections.”

ST: A link to your blog is posted on A Place to Reads mini site. Do you feel blogging is a new form of essay writing?

MC: No. But blogs can be the raw material of essays.

ST: Some writers of fiction work organically rather than with a systematic plan in their composing? What is your preferred method, and do you see the essay as a form better suited to one strategy of composition than the other?

MC: Rarely an essay comes out of my mind and onto paper in a single sitting. Strenuous revision may not change its initial structure and flow. Other times I collect thoughts and scenes that seem to have a topical or thematic connection and then sit down to see if they can be made to cohere into an essay. Except for those rare spontaneous essays, I never work initially from a plan but try to find it in the material. When I put things together, expand, refine, I usually find the plan has to be modified and the structure changed. An essay is like a poem in that it has to convince you that its particular form is the one the subject demands, but other than that observation I can’t make comparisons because I have written very little fiction or poetry.


For more information about A Place to Read or Michael Cohen, please visit: http://ipoz.biz/Titles/APTR.htm

Friday 22 August 2014

Rod Usher's Convent Mermaid wins praise from American author Barbara Taylor





American author Barbara Taylor has high praise for one of our new releases, Convent Mermaid by Rod Usher:

Rod Usher reminds us why we care about poetry--why it remains relevant and vital--in his third poetry collection, Convent Mermaid. A multi-talented writer with an impressive background in international journalism and several published novels to his credit, Usher's poetic work is imbued with candor, wit, depth, and tenderness. He engaged this reader with his considerable powers of observation, surprised with rhyme schemes, and inspired with his appreciation of the stuff of life we so often take for granted. Through the beauty of language and the lens of experience, the poet communicates the wonder of it all from the perspective of a citizen of the world who remains accessible. Poem after poem, I found myself thinking, 'Yes--that's how it is.' Beyond reaching the heart, mind, and funny bone, Convent Mermaid illustrates the potential of poetry to not only enrich but to transform.


Rod currently is living in Spain, where he plans to promote the book with the assistance of the Australian Studies Centre at the University of Barcelona.

He won't be back to Australia for a while, but you can sample the book from its mini-site.

Convent Mermaid is available in physical print and various eBook formats and can be ordered directly from IP Sales or its various distribution partner sites, as well as from bookshops worldwide.

Sunday 18 May 2014

We couldn't help but post this entire review of Bringing Down the Wall by Kathy Creamer of Kids Creative Tales:

A beautifully written, gentle and sensitive story about how barriers of resentment and anger can grow between family members, due to isolation and a lack of understanding or communication. Bringing Down The Wall reveals how the strength and innocence of a child’s love can have the power to break through even the most stubborn barriers of misunderstanding.

David P Reiter tells the moving story of a little boy named Joshua, who goes to visit his grandfather, even though his mother has forbidden him ever to do so.

Joshua’s grandfather celebrates his grandson’s visit with the sharing of ice cream and conversation about the past. They explore the reasons why people all have different ways of reacting to difficult life changes, such as illness and death, and the range of emotions that people go through in the process of grieving and trying to move on with their lives.

The reader is able to empathize with Joshua and his grandfather, as they both begin to gain an understanding and acceptance of each other’s feelings, and Joshua is finally able to appreciate the reasons for his mother’s anger and resentment against his grandfather and his step-grandmother, Riva.

Joshua begins to realize that although he’s just a little boy, he is actively ‘bringing down the wall’ between his mother and grandfather, with the enormous power of love he has for his family.

Sona Babajanyan evokes the feeling of warmth and security with her beautiful tonal and textured illustrations of the timeworn and comfortable interior of the house of Joshua’s grandparents. The old-fashioned telephone and ornaments, photographs of family, faded wallpaper, cluttered shelves and big comfy chairs all convey the feeling of the well loved, well worn, safe and familiar.

Sona’s characters are softly painted with gentleness, but they avoid any of the mawkish sentimentality that could so easily have crept into the sequential illustration of this kind of theme. Joshua is presented as a fresh faced, wide-eyed and thoughtful child, whilst his grandfather and step-grandmother are drawn as quietly care worn.

This is a picture book story that would be best shared with a parent, grandparent or teacher, and I can imagine it would bring about a great deal of interesting classroom discussion.

Children need more picture stories like this one; stories that address family relationships, and stories that also help young people to understand their own unexpressed personal emotions in our modern, high tech, fast-paced world. [emphasis: Kathy's]


Friday 16 May 2014

Terracotta Me: China, 2014





Break out the popcorn and slushies for David Reiter's film on China, with highlights of the Australia-China Publishers' Forum and touring stops in Beijing, Datong & Xi'an!

Monday 21 April 2014

SMOKE & MIRRORS & eBook DISTRIBUTION

Recently, we were approached by a Sydney publishing consultant who had a client with a book he wanted published via print-on-demand in a hurry and in eBook formats in not so much of a hurry.

Our consultant friend wanted to see if she'd given her client the right advice about how best to proceed, so she shared a quote she'd received from a Sydney eBook publisher that she'd already accepted on behalf of her client, admitting that in retrospect she probably should have asked us about it in the first instance.

To the naked eye, the quote seemed reasonable enough – if you didn't know what questions to ask.

There was a component for layout & design, leading to the printing of 100 POD copies.

Plus a dollar figure for eBook conversion.

And another one for distribution to online sites.

Over and out. Rather minimalist, eh?

I let my consultant friend know the questions she should have asked before signing on the dotted line. Add these to your toolbox before venturing into this arena yourself.



Let's assume the publisher is experienced and has done this before. And is up on the latest methods and software required to produce a professional result.

Quality Control (editorial). Do you proofread the work before it goes to press, or before it's uploaded to your eBook distributors? If mistakes are caught after the fact (yours or mine), who pays to get them corrected?

Print-on-demand (POD) publication. Who will print the book? Do they simply print books for you, or do they have a global network? If your POD company is global, your book will gain access to a larger market. Do you offer volume discounts if I order more than a few books? Does the POD company archive the book master? Is there a service charge for reprints?

eBook conversion. How many formats will you produce when you convert my file, and what tests do you run to ensure the file will work on the most common reading devices (eBook readers, tablets and smartphones?) Do you meta-tag (keyword) the file to improve its "discoverability"?

Distribution. Who do you send the eBook file to? How do you account for sales – and when? What are the royalty / revenue sharing arrangements?

Don't be shy – ask the questions. Your publisher should have answers at the ready. If they don't, you might want to shop around.

Wednesday 9 April 2014

Award-winning illustrator Gay McKinnon heads overseas for IP!

An illustration by Gay McKinnon from The Smallest Carbon Footprint in the Land & other eco-tales has been selected to showcase at the Book Illustrators Gallery (B.I.G) exhibition in Singapore during the Asian Festival of Children’s Content!

The Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC) is a collaborative event of creators and producers with parents, teachers, librarians and anyone interested in quality art and literature for children. The Festival offers various workshops, masterclasses, professional conferences and public events for writers, illustrators, editors, publishers, teachers and children to learn and develop their craft.
AFCC impacts over 1.5 billion children, as well as their families, teachers and professionals involved with their development.

AFCC runs from 30 May- 4 June, 2014 at the National Library Building in Singapore.

Gay McKinnon is a freelance writer and illustrator, as well as a glass artist and lecturer. She currently resides in Tasmania, where she sells her work through galleries and markets.  The Smallest Carbon Footprint in the Land & other eco-tales is Gay’s first children’s book. She is thrilled to have been included in the B.I.G Exhibition in this years AFCC.

Gay will be joined at the Festival by international award-winning authors Sally Gardner, Andrew Weale and Gillian Torckler. A big congratulations to Gay for this brilliant opportunity!



For more information on The Smallest Carbon Footprint in the Land & other eco-tales, visit 


or to learn more about AFCC, visit http://afcc.com.sg/2014

Tuesday 25 March 2014

Meet the Author - Children's author Lindsey Little talks about her adventures with James Munkers

Lindsey Little took time out of her busy schedule in rainy Tasmania to chat with us about her crazy adventures in creating James Munkers, the unlikely teenage hero of James Munkers: Super Freak, due for release in April!


http://ipoz.biz/Titles/JMSF.htm

James Munkers’ world is changing. New town. New school.



New hallucinations of bright blue animals wreaking havoc.



And when you add a leather-clad maniac who haunts the back garden, the loopy girl at school with her messages of doom, a cryptic prophecy and a bunch of shadowy strangers intent on murder, it looks as though James won’t even make it to Christmas.


Anna Bartlett interviews Lindsey Little, author of James Munkers: Super Freak.


AB: One of the aspects of James Munkers that has always stood out to the IP Picks judges is James’s voice: cynical, irreverent and very convincing. Now, James is a 15-year-old boy. Given that you’re not, and never have been, how did you make his voice so authentic?

LL: I think it helped that James is a big girl (with no offence intended to James or girls). If I’d been writing from the point of view of a macho kind of guy I might have struggled with it, but James is in turn cowardly, whiney, pathetic, shy and physically inept. I’m sorry to say I can relate to all of these things, and remember with painful accuracy the awkwardness of being fifteen.

I think the real reason he works for me, though, is because his motivations aren’t gender-specific. He wants to be happy, have friends, not be embarrassed by his family every second of the day, and not be killed by maniacs lobbing daggers at his head. These are things we can all relate to.

AB: Were there any tricks you used, when writing James Munkers, to help you tap into his voice?

LL: Sorry, no tricks. I actually find it easier to write in James’s voice than in my own. He seems to have stronger opinions than I do, and a lot more happens to him, so there’s been many a time when not only can I tap into his voice but I can’t get him to shut up.

When I started writing James Munkers I did so without planning anything: no plot, no voice, no idea. James is just what happened. His voice comes very naturally to me.

AB: James Munkers is exactly the sort of book teenage boys will love: packed with fights, escapes, magical explosions and a healthy dose of humour. What was the inspiration for the story?

LL: I wrote what I thought my sister would like to read, which was easy, because that’s what I’d want to read myself. My only preparation for the book, in the absence of a detailed plot or character assessments or any clue at all, was to write down a list of things I wanted to include. At that point, I thought it might be the only book I’d ever write, so I crammed in all the elements I loved in other people’s books: the fantasy of Harry Potter and The Dark is Rising; the adventure and excitement of the Cherub books; the modern, funny narrative of Nick Hornby; the big, crazy family of Gerald Durrell and The Dark is Rising again. That’s what I read, so that’s what I wrote.

AB: The cast of characters you’ve assembled around James – siblings, friends, leather-clad maniacs, teachers – stand out as being both original and quirky. Are any of them drawn from real life – or aren’t you allowed to say?

LL: Just the twins. I don’t usually approve of twins in books – they are so often used as plot devices and are rarely portrayed properly – but seeing as I am a twin, I decided I could break my own rule. Interestingly enough, though, it’s not a case of my sister being one of the twins and me being the other. I’m neither of them. She’s both.

I tell you what, though – I found one of my characters in real life after I’d written him. When I met my supervisor for my masters’ thesis, I kept thinking, “I know you. Where do I know you from?” It wasn’t until a few weeks later that I suddenly went, “Oh my god, you’re Mr Lancer!” Exactly as I’d pictured him. So there you go.

AB: What’s the most useful thing you’ve learnt about writing, throughout the whole writing-and-editing process?

LL: That you can’t fix your book until you’ve written the words first. I used to check and recheck every word I wrote as I wrote it and, consequently, did not get very far. It was only when I eventually thought, “Screw you, words, I’m writing you anyway,” that I started to make progress. Now I write my first drafts in a frenzy, not thinking about plot or characterisation or anything, and often find that my instinct will kick in and the plot will develop naturally on its own. The first draft is about your guts; put your brain on hold until the editing begins. You’ll definitely need it then.

AB: And what did you find the hardest part about writing James Munkers?

LL: Starting, and stopping. I’d wanted to write a book since I was little, but it was such a daunting task that it took a proper kick up my arse to get me started. Once I got started, though, I couldn’t stop, which is my current problem. He’s being published soon, and I can’t keep tinkering about with him, as has been my habit for the last, oh, nine years. He’s a habit I have to break, and it honestly hurts.

My comfort is that he’s too good a character for me to just leave hanging, and I already have more adventures for him up my sleeve. But that first adventure? It belongs to my readers now, not me.

AB: James Munkers: Super Freak will be released in April. To find out more about the book, visit its website. You can also check out Lindsey’s blog and Facebook page. And James Munkers is so talkative that he just had to have his very own Facebook page, too.
 

Stay tuned:  James Munkers: Super Freak will be released in April 2014.