Search This Blog

Friday 1 February 2013

"Eureka!" Moments in writing - Rodney Dearing


Dammit! I really can't put my finger on any Eureka! moment that led me to write a book. I find I sort of drift around picking up ideas as I go. I find I'm happy at the moment to continue to write sequels to the Cadet Willie McBride and Brilliant Mr Badger stories both of which give me sufficient scope to indulge in my fatherly military and political fantasies. I think violence should be avoided wherever possible, so the central  guiding philosophy for my stories is,  'Combat power wins battles, Diplomacy wins wars'.

I think I may be some sort of closet educationalist for boys and young men and this inclination probably started me off to stitch a few words together. Throughout my military, museum and civil defence careers I've had to train/teach a lot of people, young and old, and so had to knock up some suitable scenarios at the drop of a hat. I do a lot of research for each story and map it out chapter by chapter. I get a lot of inspiration from films. I loved the earlier Harry Potter films. The idea of being transported off to another magical world really appeals to me and so I built that idea into my Cadet Willie McBride stories.  I'm also an admirer of Roald Dahl and where possible  try to emulate his style. Dahl's' Fantastic Mr Fox' inspired me to write' Brilliant Mr Badger' with my trademark Army Cadets twist. I read the New Scientist magazine for new inventions and science discoveries for the Cadet Willie McBride books.
 
I'm happy to write fictional military adventure stories for military cadets. That's my genre and comfort zone. It's a small market (about 100,000 in UK, 20,000 each  in Australia and Canada , about 500,000 in the US and just 4000 in NZ). but that's my market I write for. My websites are http://www.coloneldearing.com/ and http://www.brilliantmrbadger.com  (for very junior cadets!)


What about you? Have you had any 'Eureka' moments?'
 
 

 

No comments:

Post a Comment