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What is the background to this What is the background to this Novel?Novel?I lived in Sarawak in the mid 80’s and

was fascinated by everything going on at the time;

Logging wars, elections etc.I hasten to add the story is not my

personal experiences although some events are based on things that did happen.

All the characters are fictitious of course. I really enjoyed my time there and met some lovely people.

This is your first novel - Did This is your first novel - Did writing this produce any writing this produce any surprises?surprises?

I wrote millions of words in business but was surprised how little I actually knew about writing.

My grammar was shocking. I had to learn about, plotting, dialogue, description and many other things.

I edited the book myself. Writing 90,000 words is not difficult. Rewriting, editing and copywriting are much harder.

You had a stroke – does this pose You had a stroke – does this pose any problems for your writing?any problems for your writing?

Not really anything I can’t overcome. I type with one hand which slows me down a . I

still do 7000 words in my writing day which is about 4 hours.

I have slight word blindness, (my excuse for poor spelling) I miss spelling mistakes and duplicates and other issues.

Mentally my imagination and creativity are higher than before. Since my stroke this has been a trend – I have done some reasonable drawings as well.

I enjoy the technical side of book marketing but I am impatient. I hurry and as a result I am careless

I am really lucky to have my wonderful wife Mel – who is now, editor, proofreader etc.

What was your experience of What was your experience of Miri?Miri?I lived in Miri in 1986 – working for Shell.Darren’s house is the house we lived in.

It was a happy time, my daughter was 2 and we were able to enjoy a lot of family time I had missed in the very busy preceding years.

We had ducks not dogs .They were called `Snoopy and Belle except by me, I called them ‘crispy fried’ and ‘a l’Orange!’

Beach barbeques were a real highlight.

What was you experience of the What was you experience of the Jungle?Jungle?

We had a trip into the jungle to visit a longhouse which was fascinating.

I climbed Mount Kinabalu in Sabah which was a terrific experience.

We had plans to see more of the jungle but that was when we had to leave.

How did you create the How did you create the characters?characters? I used the snowflake method to plot.

By writing from the perspective of each character plot and characters developed.

Cheryl/Xin became much more significant, that was not my plan but she became interesting.

Kirsty developed when the dialogue came to me as I sat in the car outside the vet when my wife took our old Labrador in to be put down. Poor Indy.

Other characters had to be rewritten a lot to avoid any connection with real people. Next novel everything will be fictitious – the world has far too many coincidences, no matter how hard you work to avoid these.

I chose photos of each character which I write against.

What made you chose these What made you chose these locations?locations?The story chose its own locations.I visited Raffles en route to Miri.It was a different set of caves we

visited in the jungleThe Triad lodge is invented, as is the

hotel.Real locations are Darren’s house (we

had the nicest neighbours there), the GCM, various Oil Company locations and restaurants are derived from real places

And I did not like the suspension bridges I went over…..

Rape is a sensitive subject – how Rape is a sensitive subject – how did you decide to cover it?did you decide to cover it?

I made a hash of it in my first draft. My poor ARC readers describing my too graphic descriptions as ‘disturbing’

So thanks to them for their honesty. I did a 100% rewrite, avoiding the act other than by implication, it was much much better I think.

Sand violence I struggled to write. Less can often be more. I realise that my readers have vivid imaginations and want to develop their own images of what is happening.

Are you a committed Are you a committed environmentalist?environmentalist?I do believe that we desperately need to

protect the rain forests.I am not an activist in any way. I was an

oil man but interestingly, most oil men I knew were also committed environmentalists.

I do believe in Sustainability – I do not think we are on top of the complexities of these issues, I hope some parts of this book make people think.

It was not written as a campaigning book.

How did you market this novel?How did you market this novel?I did my own marketing

relying on generating followers for my Facebook page and my Blog- this is slow work.

I have a reasonable Twitter following but too much sales pitch – turns people off. It is friends you need not victims.

I did my own video and audio trailer which I enjoyed. This slideshow is of course another marketing tool.

Are you working on another Are you working on another novelnovel

Yes, I am working on my new Novel currently entitled ‘Ledgers’

It is set in Victorian Aberdeen and is about a boy who’s mother is killed.

He maintains a ledger listing all those who have wronged him and the penalty he will exact on them

I have almost finished the plot and am enjoying the research.

What are your future plans for What are your future plans for Darren and Kirsty?Darren and Kirsty?

I do plan a second Darren and Kirsty novel when sales justify this.

It is called Majlis and set in the Middle East – more problems with smugglers, counterfeiters and Iran.

Yes…I did the cover first. I have done half the plot.

How can I buy the Novel?How can I buy the Novel?

Amazon Kindle

Paperback

ePUB (Nook, iPAD, eReaders)

What are your Top 7 What are your Top 7 learnings for your next booklearnings for your next book1. Plot in more detail2. Write a better first draft3. Start marketing now4. Get ARC readers started early and

give them time5. Work on getting reviews6. Develop Blog and Facebook

community7. Write a better novel every time

THANKS FOR THANKS FOR READINGREADING

I hope you enjoy the book.