Sunday 20 October 2019

Meet the Author - Andrew Marsh

Today I'm delighted to be joined by fellow Swanwicker Andrew Marsh, who is launching his latest book, Jack Janson and the Storm Caller. He has come to the Writer's Block to answer some questions.

1) First of all, tell us a little about yourself and your writing.
I'm a 55-year-old former geologist who worked in the construction industry, and now spend my time writing and speaking.

I self-published my first two novels but I have had a change of emphasis in my writing and now write fantasy for young adults and teenagers, although adults will enjoy them too.


When I was 51, I was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome and this has bought great clarity to my life and made sense of a lot of things that happened as a child and adult. I now speak on my Asperger’s Syndrome and want to share my experiences and what benefits and skills that people on the spectrum can bring to the community.

2) Tell us about your new book.

Jack Janson and the Storm Caller is the first in a series of books. It tells the tale of Jack, who is unloved at home and bullied at school. Things improve when he goes to his grandmother's home for the summer holiday, where she treats him like an adult. They bond over her garden and baking until one day when she takes him to a cave at the bottom of her garden. There, a booming voice causes the rock walls to reverberate and looming over him is Winfred Storm Caller, a large friendly giant.

This begins Jack’s adventures with the giant which leads to great discoveries and secrets. The book explores the relationship between Jack, his grandmother, Winfred, and Jack’s neighbour Sarah-Jane at this critical time in his life.

3) Do you prefer to plot stories or work it out as you go along?
I generally have an idea of plot, characters and setting before I start writing, although when in the zone, it is as much free writing within a framework.

4) What are your ideal conditions for writing in?
I use the spare bedroom as my study and have most of the things I need around me, especially writing aids, reference books, files, printer/scanner and so on. I usually write in the quiet, although I sometimes listen to rock music. I am usually left to my writing and this allows me to make good progress daily.

I am very focussed and organised when writing and these are some of my Asperger’s traits which I find very helpful in the creative process. 

For the editing and reviewing phases of writing a book, which I find the most difficult part, I need peace and quiet and to be left to my own devises. 

5) Was there anything in particular which got you into writing?
I first became interested in writing in my thirties when I was part of or was told funny stories about things that happened on construction sites or in the design office where I worked. I started to keep notebooks on me and wrote all of these things down. I soon got the idea for a significant event that would be a good start for a book and started that in 1996. I soon became hooked and have developed my writing over the years since.

I also attend the Writer’s Summer School, Swanwick, where I have made great writing friends and learnt a great deal about the craft of writing. 

6) Are there any authors you’d like to meet, and why?
I would love to have been able to meet J.R.R Tolkien and chat with him about world building and how he was able to create such an epic story. I would have to get him to show me his maps and how he created them, they are works or art as well as useful information to help the reader understand the story.

Also, David Eddings. He wrote the Belgariad and Mallerion series of books and I started reading those when I started to develop my own writing. Like with Tolkien, the ability to write long tales and books that told a bigger story is a great art.

7) Finally, what’s the best piece of advice anyone gave you?
Be true to yourself.

Thank you for joining me today. I wish you every success with Jack Janson.

You can find Andrew Marsh's website here.

Jack Janson and the Storm Caller is available from Amazon here.

Happy writing.

Saturday 12 October 2019

Savage Worlds

Tools of the Trade
I've said before that tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons & Dragons are partially responsible for getting me into writing in the first place. I've even joked that I originally went to university so I could play it again. While Dungeons & Dragons is probably the most well-known of these types of games, I like to run my games with Pinnacle Entertainment's Savage Worlds roleplaying system.

Savage Worlds is a generic universal system which is readily adaptable. Unlike Dungeons & Dragons, in which you roll a 20-sided dice (d20) for every skill and the other dice for damage, in Savage Worlds you have a die type for everything. For example, a player with a d8 in the Fighting skill will roll an eight-sided die whenever called to roll Fighting. They also roll a six-sided die alongside the d8, and take the better result. Additionally, if the maximum result is rolled on a die, it's rolled again and the results stack. This often means that a lot of Savage Worlds games tend to be more action-packed than other roleplaying games.

I especially love the array of settings which have been released. Pinnacle's biggest franchise is a setting called Deadlands, a dark fantasy and steampunk roleplaying game which takes place in the American West. In fact, one of the first things I wrote was a Deadlands fan fiction. This spawned several sequels, such as Deadlands Noir, which shifts the setting to 1930s New Orleans but still retains the dark fantasy and science fiction elements. I'm actually running a Deadland Noir campaign, and was surprised how there seemed to be a greater focus on the mystery than action, yet it still flowed.

Other settings which use the Savage Worlds system include: Lankhmar: The City of Thieves, a swashbuckling fantasy based on the works of Fritz Leiber; Rippers, a Victorian gothic horror reminiscent of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen; and The Savage World of Flash Gordon, based on the characters created by Alex Raymond (and that guilty pleasure 80s cheese).

Last year, I backed a new version of Savage Worlds on Kickstarter; Savage Worlds Adventure Edition, commonly known as "SWADE". There's a cafe in my area which caters to the roleplaying game crowd, so I volunteered to run campaigns there one day of the week. Unfortunately, this had a rough start, as most players are more accustomed to Dungeons & Dragons and seemed intimidated by the character creation process. Fortunately, I'm getting all kinds of ready-made adventures from Pinnacle as part of my pledge, so I plan to run one of those using characters I've made myself.

I look forward to running all kinds of campaigns, and introduce more players to the system.

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