I'm a Welshman, 42 years old, living in North Yorkshire, England. I'm an IT consultant by trade (between jobs), a rock drummer by inclination (between bands), and a debut author by optimism. Basically I had an idea about twenty years ago for a book about a young boy who discovers that he has magical abilities and is sent to a school for wizards. I was a little slow getting going on that plan, and obviously decided some years ago that I couldn't write that any more. I amended it to be a young copper in London who discovers he can talk to ghosts and joins the Met's wizard police department. Then I read the excellent Rivers Of London and tore my hair out. So now I have amended the plan again and decided not to wait for somebody else to write it. I'm only about 10k words in, but my daughter is loving it so far, and I'm pretty sure she'd tell me if she hated it.
I'm aiming at the young adult contemporary fantasy genre. To be honest the plan was originally just contemporary fantasy, but switching to YA and making the protagonist a teenager meant I could read it to my daughter as I go along, which I'm enjoying
Fave authors - sheesh, far too many to list. Terry Pratchett has been at the top of my list since I was about 15, with a David Eddings affair morphing into Raymond Feist as I matured (and I recently met Ray, which was pretty inspirational). More recent authors include Mark Chadbourn, Jasper Fforde (another one I met recently, but I'm not always a fanboy/stalker, I promise) and Ben Aaronovitch. I'd also have to include Neil Gaiman, James Herbert, Dean Koontz, Richard Laymon, Stephen Leather and Shaun Hutson. And Frederick Forsyth, Mike Gayle, Mil Millington, Robert Harris, Ben Elton, Jen Cole, Charles Dickens (occasionally) and I really enjoyed Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy. Enough authors for now?
What I'm really hoping for out of the Water Cooler (and other, closer to home kind of sites - you know who I'm looking at) is moral support through those dry patches and practical guidance a little further down the line when I (theoretically) start looking for agents and/or publishers.
Cheers m'dears
Gareth
I'm aiming at the young adult contemporary fantasy genre. To be honest the plan was originally just contemporary fantasy, but switching to YA and making the protagonist a teenager meant I could read it to my daughter as I go along, which I'm enjoying
Fave authors - sheesh, far too many to list. Terry Pratchett has been at the top of my list since I was about 15, with a David Eddings affair morphing into Raymond Feist as I matured (and I recently met Ray, which was pretty inspirational). More recent authors include Mark Chadbourn, Jasper Fforde (another one I met recently, but I'm not always a fanboy/stalker, I promise) and Ben Aaronovitch. I'd also have to include Neil Gaiman, James Herbert, Dean Koontz, Richard Laymon, Stephen Leather and Shaun Hutson. And Frederick Forsyth, Mike Gayle, Mil Millington, Robert Harris, Ben Elton, Jen Cole, Charles Dickens (occasionally) and I really enjoyed Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy. Enough authors for now?
What I'm really hoping for out of the Water Cooler (and other, closer to home kind of sites - you know who I'm looking at) is moral support through those dry patches and practical guidance a little further down the line when I (theoretically) start looking for agents and/or publishers.
Cheers m'dears
Gareth
