As a writer, this is where I feel I ought to be most confident with telling everyone about who I am and what my life is about. I'm really not that good at self-publicising, though, so please excuse my rambling. As of May 2011, I'm 25, male, and living in the South of England with my wife, who's from North Carolina. By day I mostly work reception duties in local hospitals and my writing happens by evening/weekend/any free time when I'm not beating people up or being beaten up with swords, sticks and guns.
I've always loved stories, always, and from a very early age I was very discerning about what should or shouldn't happen in things I was watching. Even things like Muppet Babies and Visionaries weren't exempt, and these were two core programmes of my childhood. I didn't know anything much about production values or story arcs back then, but at the least I get incredibly frustrated with virtually flawless main characters who always had an answer for everything. I seem to remember these two being particularly bad for that, with Kermit and Leoric respectively the head honchos of their bands and always taking centre stage at the end regardless of who the rest of the episode was focussing on. And my favourites were usually secondary characters. So I've had a complex about being on the sidelines for a very long time, and various school experiences didn't help that too much.
Still, I'm not complaining. My family and my friends (as well as music) have always been the places I've found the greatest inspirations. My older sister used to write and illustrate stories for me when I was very young, and I remember being very fond of them. I think one or two still exist in the depths of our craft/games cupboard, but I'd need to dig under a lot of junk to try and find it.
My stories didn't really fit in with a lot of others' perceptions of what was acceptable. I remember getting so bored with other kids at primary school because they'd all be playing families and things, and I wanted to be some superhero thingy. Or I wanted to be characters from a book or animated series that I'd seen, and they wanted to be hulking great beat-'em-up characters. I was made fun of a lot for that. It didn't make me change what I liked, though. I didn't want to like the things that they did, and I was really happy enjoying the things I already held close to me. So I never begrudge that. But damn, I'd have some things to say to those kids now...
All that aside, my imagination would fly away with me more often than not. When I got into High School I started learning more about video game and anime franchises, and started forging, um... fanfiction. I say 'forging'- it was never as strong as that. More like papier-mache, flimsy and ragged (my papier-mache skills left a lot to be desired, also). I also discovered the internet, and realised that there were hundreds of people all having discovered exactly the same thing, and who'd been doing it for a lot longer than I had. They also had fans. Groupies, even. I was honestly pretty shocked, and rather disappointed in myself for having hoped for so much to be unique when I'd felt socially so unusual for most of my life. I think I stopped writing fanfiction after that for the most part. I still loved the characters, and everything I'd created, but somehow with everyone sharing their own interpretation of the same characters, some of their meaning to me had almost been diminished. It's... selfish, I know. I think everyone wants something they can call their own though, in some way; whether it's an opinion, or a character that's uniquely like themselves, even a secret pretence that something's dedicated entirely to them. The things that give us meaning will always be those we seek most strongly to protect, and for me, my dreams and imagination have always been a huge part of me.
Writing Legacy, my first novel, happened so gradually I can't even think where its origins were. Probably in my fanfiction, transplanting my own storylines into new, unique settings and characters. I was very inspired by the visual aspects of Japanese anime and watched that a heck of a lot in my late teens and early twenties (I still try to watch it now, time permitting), and with English subtitles, it was like reading a book with accompanying pictures and sound. That was a big motivation for me in finding my own narrative voice; even moreso when I became addicted to the soundtracks. The music collection I have at the moment is responsible for the vast majority of scenes within my stories, and I love losing myself in it. It's been really interesting to see the newer tracks mingle with the older ones and feeding off the different creative vibes they give out. Some really don't age well, mind you. But finding a new interpretation to a song you couldn't quite place a storyline to before is really rewarding.
So Legacy's available on Kindle, the brainchild of my overactive imagination and a rather mongrel visual inspiration. It might seem arrogant, but I'm really happy to be writing, and actually trying to feed my stories into the world, to show everyone how I'd forge a tale. I don't mean to say they're perfect- they're not, and I'd be the first to admit that. Even if nobody else thought they were any good, it's a great feeling to try. And suddenly being among the crowd of people all doing the same thing doesn't feel strange or alienating. I like that.
