Andrew R Williams AUTHOR Contact details for yourself in case media / fans wish to keep in touch. (See below) Email: andrew@andrewrwilliamsauthor.co.uk Website https://www.andrewrwilliamsauthor.co.uk Gateway https://arwilliamsgateway.com/ https://www.facebook.com/ArcadiasChildren/ @arcadiaschildre INTERVIEW QUESTIONS WRITER AUTHOR – ANDREW WILLIAMS What inspired you to start writing? My first books were technical. A Practical Guide to alterations and extensions started life as an in-house manual for my draftspeople. I then wrote Domestic Building Surveys in 1993 (Published by SPON) How long have you been writing? Since 1993 Have you always wanted to be a writer? Once I got the “writing bug” after the two technical books I wanted to write Scifi. What advice would you give a new writer, someone just starting out? Get yourself a copy of Grammarly and link it to your word processor. This will help avoid major linguistic traps. How do you handle writer’s block? I try to write every day and write through it. What, in your opinion, are the most important elements of good writing? It depends on the genre. Technical books use formal English. Novels are more flexible. What comes first, the plot or characters? Usually, its an incident in real life that sparks a plot. For instance, Jim’s Revenge was incident driven. How do you develop your plot and characters? I like to develop characters using speech. If you meet a real person, you form an opinion of them by what they say and how they act. I try to keep characters general details vague so that the reader can paint their own image of each character. EG I try to avoid race, religion, social class, sexual orientation unless its relevant. Superior was an exception when drugs and sex were central to the plot. How do you come up with the titles of your books? More or less by trial and error. Once I am “sold” I use it When did you first consider yourself a writer? After I had published A Practical Guide to alterations and extensions. I then wrote Domestic Building Surveys in 1993 (Published by SPON) Describe your writing space. At the moment nothing more than a boxroom but I have a timber office , my “man den”, which I intend to use when the weather improves. Describe a typical writing day. I like to start writing in the morning, around 7 to 8 am. I usually write for approximately three to four hours per day, but it varies. Life very often intrudes. What is the most difficult part about writing for you? Growing a fan club. Hopefully dear reader you will join my fan club. Do you hear from your readers much? What do they say? I have a number of loyal readers. As they usually ask me when my next book will be available, I take comfort from the fact that they buy and read my work. How do you do research for your books? I use the internet a lot to ensure that my sci-fi ideas aren’t too whacky. I also check characters names to avoid someone coming along and being offended. What are the tools of the trade? Nothing exceptional. Jusy a computer with word processor and Grammarly. Are you on social media and can your readers interact with you? I most certainly am on social media. My gateway https://arwilliamsgateway.com/ provides access to all my social media. I can also be contacted on Email: andrew@andrewrwilliamsauthor.co.uk Website https://www.andrewrwilliamsauthor.co.uk https://www.facebook.com/ArcadiasChildren/ @arcadiaschildre How do you deal with poor reviews? Luckily, most reviews have been good. I did have a someone give me a one star on one of my books but as they did not post a reason I could not respond. Not everyone will like any book. You can please some of the people some of the time but you can’t please all of the people all of the time. How much ‘world building’ takes place before you start writing? It depends. My first sci-fi novel Arcadia’s Children: Samanth’s Revenge took a great deal of mental modelling. The rest of the series followed the same model. Is there lots to do before you drive in and start writing the story? Currently, I am working on several series so one story follows on another. When writing a series how do you keep things fresh, for both your readers and also yourself? I try to invent a new sci-fi gismo Describe your perfect book hero or heroine. Mick Tamy, Allus Wren and Claire Hyndman are my favourite characters.

FRICS
FCIOB
Dip HI

Published works:-

Domestic Building Surveys

Practical Guide to Alterations and Extensions - Spon

Arcadia's Children - Wings- Fantasy novel 2017