Will Hadcroft

MY NEW TEEN NOVEL The Blueprint

2012-01-15T00:04:00.008Z

Friends,

I am pleased to announce that my new teen novel The Blueprint is due to be published. If you pre-order a signed copy, you will receive a signed postcard (which will make a great bookmark!) in advance. When you receive your book, you will get a second card along with it.

You can pre-order the book by downloading a PDF form from this web site:

https://sites.google.com/site/fbspublishing/shop-for-books

Here is the back cover blurb:

"Liam Creedy is in the final year of school at Patrick Freeman High. It has not been the best of experiences and this time the bullies have gone too far; one push too many leaves him unconscious.

When he wakes, he finds himself in a strange parody of school life – the building has no main exit, the classrooms have become work places, the prefects are police, and no one ever mentions their parents.

Now everything is in black and white, everything except Liam and Mr Samson, the boy’s aloof and mysterious guide in this nightmare world.

But what has happened to Liam? Has he slipped into a parallel world? Is he really in a coma lying on a hospital bed? Or is he dead and in some place of limbo?

As tension builds and the school moves nearer and nearer to all out war, Samson presses Liam to find the blueprint and change it – only then will he find the way out.

Will Hadcroft weaves a tale that dares to confront one’s right to be an individual in a world that demands conformity and uniformity. He questions the education system, the roles we are
pressured to play in society, and the need to challenge accepted norms before it is too late."

26 January 2012 UPDATE: SIGNED COPIES CAN NOW BE ORDERED ONLINE WITH A CREDIT CARD. IF YOU HAVE A GOOGLE ACCOUNT, PLEASE VISIT THIS PAGE:

https://sites.google.com/site/fbspublishing/home/buy-books

I'm an Autism Star! (well, an Asperger one anyway)

2011-12-15T21:36:00.005Z

December 2011 sees the release of the book Autism All-Stars, edited by Josie Santomauro. I was approached by Josie a couple of years ago to pen a chapter on my TV series fixations. I jumped at the chance, wrote the piece, and forgot all about it.

I'm thrilled to see that the book is now being published. Looking at the other contributions within its pages, I can tell you this is a heart-warming and life affirming tome. I'm proud to have been a part of it.

Autism All-Stars is available from all good bookshops and online stores as of this month.

Meeting Grace Again!

2011-10-14T17:44:00.006Z

On Wednesday 12 October I made a second visit to Birmingham, courtesy of Autism West Midlands, to talk to parents of children with Asperger's syndrome at the Four Dwellings unit in Quinton supervised by Max Tolley.

I regaled them with my own experience of growing up on the spectrum, read some excerpts from The Feeling's Unmutual as well as some of my song lyrics. I also got to meet young Grace again, who is now a big fan of Anne Droyd.

I was told afterwards that my presentation had been "inspirational" and that the parents were raving about it.

I'm glad I've done some good.

Ladybridge High School

2011-10-13T19:02:00.004Z

Above is the interview I did last month for Ladybridge High School and Sports College in Bolton. Under the supervision of Mrs Peachman, I chatted to students Mithun Kerai and Saeed Atcha and they made extensive notes. The piece has been written up from those notes and from memory. I think we have two promising journalists in the making!

Farewell Sweetens

2011-08-28T18:24:00.005Z

I'm deeply saddened to learn that Bolton's independent bookshop Sweetens has closed for good. Proprietor Stella Morris gave me much support over the years and I'm going to miss the signings at her shop. My letter, recently published in Bolton News, is posted above.

Picnic in the Park with Autism West Midlands

2011-07-30T21:17:00.007Z

I had a lovely time today signing books in Birmingham as part of the initiative organised by Autism West Midlands.

One lady came over and was keen to let me know that she already had The Feeling's Unmutualand that it had helped her understand her son's reasoning and behaviour, he having been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome.

Another lady told a similar story about her son and bought the book.

Younger readers (and one or two older younger readers!) found my Anne Droyd books interesting. The young lady pictured above, Grace, was keen to read Anne as she loves the Famous Five adventures and thought Anne Droyd and the House of Shadows sounded as exciting!

I signed her a poster too. She was so thrilled, she came back over to tell me when she was going home.

It was nice to talk to people who either had Asperger's in the family or managed the condition themselves.

Thanks to Holly for inviting me, and to Theresa Cutts for representing me throughout the session.

www.autismwestmidlands.org.uk/

TALKING TO POST-GRAD STUDENTS AT CASTLE HILL

2011-04-07T22:18:00.005Z

Today I visited the Castle Hill Centre in Tonge Moor, Bolton, to speak to post-graduate students about how Asperger's syndrome has affected my life.

I talked about my primary school years and how I struggled not only with sports at school, but with the concept of competitive spirit (Why should someone get a medal for being better than someone else?). I talked about my struggle with the transition from primary school to secondary school, and again from secondary school to the working world. I covered my tendency to obsess, my visits to a clinical psychologist, and my success as a writer.

I was keen to highlight that while those who have severe autistic traits might not secure employment, those who have Asperger's and those who are borderline like me might struggle in the working world but can still succeed. Indeed one's 'specialist subject' (one's obsession) can be channelled into a career.

The resulting question-and-answer session threw up some interesting points.

I wish the students well in their endeavours, and I thank the two Debbies for inviting me to participate. I'd definitely do it again.

WATERSTONE'S BOOKSHOPS STOCK ANNE

2011-03-18T22:18:00.004Z

FINALLY, we have succeeded in getting Anne Droyd and Century Lodge onto the shelves at Waterstone's bookshop in the Trafford Centre, near Manchester. The branch in Manchester Deansgate is keen to stock my books, so is the one at the Arndale Centre. Our nearest branch, Bolton, will stock it if we support it with an event. Well, it goes without saying that we will be doing!

We are waiting for Anne Droyd and the House of Shadows to surface on their Phoenix system, and then we will press ahead. Shadows is the one we need to highlight at the present time.

If you haven't yet bought the books, and you live in the Northwest of England, go and ask for them at Waterstone's.

Episode Two Ready to DOWNLOAD

2011-01-13T15:31:00.002Z

Gareth Preston of Fine Line Productions has released Episode Two of The Chattath Factor, my not-for-profit tribute to Doctor Who. It runs for 26 minutes, is a full cast drama with sound effects and music, and stars Joe Binks as the Doctor, Amy Elizabeth as Jenny, with John Ainsworth as Dr Joseph Winston.

As Winston struggles to control his biology, the Doctor is astonished to discover another humanoid creature on the prowl. Meanwhile Jenny has her hands full when villagers begin acting out of character...

MY DOCTOR WHO RADIO PLAY

2010-12-19T17:58:00.007Z

I had always wanted to try my hand at scriptwriting. After the publication of Anne Droyd and Century Lodge in 2002, I approached Gareth Preston, who ran an amateur dramatics group called Fine Line. Over a ten year period, Gareth's little company of amateur and semi-professional actors had produced a series of Doctor Who audio plays and put them online for free download.

Of the adventures already produced, I enjoyed Present Infinite by Lawrence Ahlemeyer, Trick of the Light by Gareth Preston and Second Chance by Adrian Hudson. The last adventure of that 'season', Final Frame by Lawrence Ahlemeyer, saw the Doctor (Joe Binks) parted from his male companion, the mysterious Raman (prn Rah-man).

Gareth secured actress Amy Elizabeth to play female companion Jenny in a second season of adventures, which meant the next batch of stories would feel more like 'proper' Doctor Who.

Jenny is introduced in Walkabout by Adrian Hudson (a good jumping on point if you're new to these fan tributes). The second story is Madhouse by Zoltan Dery, and the third in line is The Chattath Factor by yours truly.

Concerned that my play would be weak compared to those that preceded it, I deliberately endeavoured to mimic the best of the classic TV series. I set it in the 19th century and indulged in my preoccupation with man's dual nature and the spirituality-versus-reason debate. So if my dialogue turned out to be awful, the play could at least fall back on the sounds of clip-clop horses' hooves, a posh clergyman and a nutcase scientist.

I completed the three 20-minute episodes in 2003, but it wasn't until 2006 that Gareth Preston assembled a cast and recorded it. Both he and I were thrilled when John Ainsworth agreed to play Dr Joseph Winston.

My only bugbear with the stories that preceded mine was that they were at times a little too light on background music. This was because the composers were producing the music free of charge in their own time and would supply Gareth with stock tracks (fast paced, slow paced, eerie, gentle, etc) for him to drop in. The trouble with this method was certain themes repeated a bit too much, and, on occasion, a scene that needed music to underscore an emotion was left bereft.

So, for my story, I asked if we could try Peter Dudley, who thought he might be able to write to the drama scene by scene and mimic the style of the classic series incidental scores.

It is the music that has held up the story's release for the last year, as Peter has had to take longer than usual to consider each scene.

Thankfully, Episode One is now available to download. I think it sounds terrific. Episode Two will follow in a month or so.

To hear Episode One, go here: www.westlakefilms.co.uk/fineline

A full write-up of the story's production is there to read too.

The above artwork was produced by Bill Hollweg. Doesn't it look stunning?

November 2010 Signing

2010-12-01T21:15:00.008Z

On Thursday 18 November 2010 I signed copies of both my Anne Droyd books for my workmates. It was a successful day. My agent and I shifted 60 copies in total, with 30p per sale going to the charity Childline.

We also visited Waterstones in Bolton and Manchester, and both shops expressed keen interest. They are hoping to arrange signings in the new year.

Feedback from the November signing has already started to trickle through. 10-year-old Olivia, daughter of security guard Mike, read House of Shadows in a week, and when Mike asked what she thought of it, her review consisted of two words: "Well cool!"

That'll do me :-D

Anne Helps Cubs Achieve Their Book Reader Badge

2010-10-11T20:03:00.008Z

A while ago, my agent Theresa Cutts asked if I would visit her Cub Pack and talk to the children about what inspired me to become a writer and help them to complete their Book Reader badge. It wasn't really practical for me to do this, but I did offer to record a CD and explain my motivation and read an excerpt from Anne Droyd and Century Lodge, leaving it on a cliffhanger so they could finish the story off as a competition.

Well, they played the CD and were spellbound by it. Theresa produced order forms so the children could request personally signed copies of either Century Lodge or House of Shadows, as well as button badges and A3 posters.

News of the concept spread, and I'm pleased to say that a number of Cub Packs and Scout groups have requested the CD (the introduction to which is re-recorded to address the relevant pack/group) and they have enjoyed a lively evening as a result.

The top photograph shows Theresa's group, Wayland Cub Pack in Norfolk, and the second one shows the winners from 2nd Seaton Delaval with their signed posters. Many thanks to Alan for running the presentation.

If you lead a group and would like to make use of the CD, you can contact Theresa at waylandscouts@gmail.com.

Anne Droyd Video Online

2010-07-09T18:07:00.004Z

The video Theresa Cutts and I made exhibiting the real life locations that inspired Anne Droyd and Century Lodge is now online.

The wastelands are in Mosley Common/Tyledsley, and the railway embankments and den are in Walkden - both areas are in Greater Manchester. Century Lodge and mill are in New Bury, Farnworth, Bolton.

All budding writers take note: Anything and anywhere can be turned into a story!

GO TO YOUTUBE AND TYPE "ANNE DROYD" TO WATCH THE VIDEO.

Five Minute Documentary in Production

2010-07-04T19:52:00.004Z

On Wednesday 30 June 2010, my PR Theresa Cutts and I visited the main real life locations that inspired my writing Anne Droyd and Century Lodge, with the intention of making a little documentary film.

We went to "Brickie Lodge", "Devil's End" and the coal wasteland at Mosley Common in Tyledsley, Greater Manchester; then to the disused railway embankment and the site of the air raid shelter den in Walkden; and finally to Century Lodge itself in New Bury, Farnworth, near Bolton.

When we reviewed our recordings at the end of the day, we found that a tiny insect had landed on the lense during one of the sequences and it looked as though it was crawling up my nose! Thankfully we were able to re-shoot that bit the following afternoon.

Once the film has been edited together, we will upload it to YouTube.

In the meantime, here is a new publicity photo taken at the mill lodge.

COLIN BAKER & HIRST BOOKS

2010-05-15T16:48:00.003Z

Saturday 15 May 2010 saw my visit to the Who shop in Blackpool to meet the hero of my teens, Doctor Who number six, Colin Baker (whose endorsement of The Feeling's Unmutual can be seen to the right) and publisher Tim Hirst.

Tim's company, Hirst Books, has published a couple of memoirs by Anneke Wills (companion to Doctors one and two in 1966), a collection of fanzine articles, and an ensemble of Colin Baker's newspaper articles for the Bucks Free Press. His book, Look Who's Talking, has been described as "Jeremy Clarkson but with a brain".

My PR Theresa Cutts met with Mr Hirst a couple of weeks ago to pitch some of my work. At Blackpool, it was a delight to meet him face-to-face and discuss my plans for world domination. Hirst Books will definitely be publishing a couple of titles of mine over the coming year, and we have also discussed the possible future of Anne Droyd.

Things are looking good.

Ladybridge High Get a Two Hour Session

2010-03-27T16:22:00.009Z

My school presentation "Writing is Exciting" was given to pupils of Year 7 at Ladybridge High in Bolton on Thursday 11 March 2010. It was exhilirating to talk to the whole year this time. There were 165 students present and I held their attention for two periods.

Continuing the format as before, I spoke of my early achievements and how I wrote for fanzines and semi-professional magazines, how I went on television, and how eventually my books were published.

It was nice to discover that some in the audience had already achieved some of these things.

One girl asked how easy it is to create a story. To illustrate just how easy it can be, I directed the class in divising a plot there and then. I'm sure the process will have inspired some.

The new element to my presentation was the use of a Powerpoint slideshow. In this I highlighted the real life locations that were incorporated into my Anne Droyd stories.

Pictured above are the winners of the cover art competition. Each recieved a signed A3 poster.

NB. My visit to Wayland has now been covered in the Mid-Norfolk Times. Go to their web site, and you'll find it on page 21.

My Visit to Wayland Community High

2010-03-10T21:06:00.004Z

On Friday 5th March 2010 I visited three classes of Literacy students at Wayland Community High School in Watton, Norfolk.

I talked about how writing can open doors to opportunities that otherwise remain closed (highlighting my Blue Peter badge once more!). I showed them my name in Doctor Who Weekly and related how it felt at age 10 to see my name in print.

I then explained how I came to have Anne Droyd and Century Lodge published in 2002 by CK Publishing, my journey to Jessica Kingsley Publishers in 2004, and self-publishing Anne Droyd and the House of Shadows in 2008.

I finished each session with a reading from chapter seven of my upcoming novel The Blueprint.

All three teachers showed great interest; one asked if she could create a story writing competition and forward the entries for me to judge.

Some of the students were keen to get a look at the copies of my books bought by the school. One boy in particular kept asking the librarian if Shadows was ready to loan.

I look forward to returning to Wayland when The Blueprint has been published.

THE FIRST TIME I SAW MY NAME IN PRINT

2010-02-20T21:12:00.004Z

The first time I saw my name in print was when I entered a competition in Doctor Who Weekly (published today as the more mature Doctor Who Magazine). Entrants had to come up with a gun noise for their comic strip. I couldn't think of anything, so my Mum suggested "Zweeeeeesk!"

I've no idea if the strip's writers ever used it, but I was one of a hundred winners. The prize was BBC Records' Doctor Who Sound Effects LP. It was designed to be used by amateur radio and film makers, but on receiving it I played it as a regular album!

Once I'd come by a tape recorder I began making my own Doctor Who plays, radio style, with the sound effects record and Geoff Love's orchestral arrangement of the theme music.

But at age ten, seeing my name in print had an impact. And even as an adult it's a warm feeling.

I now use the comic in my "Writing is Exciting" presentation when I visit schools to inspire youngsters to pick up the pen.

MY VISIT TO MORE HOUSE SCHOOL

2009-11-08T17:09:00.006Z

On 6 November I ventured down to Surrey to visit More House School. This school can support any boy of average ability, who would benefit from an individualised learning programme but it has particular success with boys who have specific learning difficulties. Many of the children who attend experience variations of Autistic Spectrum Disorders, including ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder), Dysphraxia, Dyslexia and Asperger’s syndrome. Some also have speech and language problems. I was invited to go and talk to them because of my own teenage troubles coping with Asperger’s and my success as a writer.

The school complex itself is incredible. It is set in an area with plenty of greenery, has lovely wood buildings, a heated outdoor pool, a drama building, a music centre, and impressive live-in apartments.

Some of the children have experienced great difficulty fitting in at a mainstream school being classed as disruptive or difficult to teach. I really didn’t see these traits in the children I had contact with, and this is largely thanks to the approach taken by the teachers. They recognise that each child is an individual with specific requirements. Their teaching methods reflect the individual needs of each child.

When I arrived, the children in the Juniors had been prepped. Miss Gordon (Head of Lower School) had already taken them through the prologue of Anne Droyd and Century Lodge and the bit in chapter three where Anne breaks out of the box. Inspired by this, the youngsters had drawn book covers and their own android. They are to feature in a display in the library with photos of my visit!

Upon arriving, I was spotted by a boy and he shouted, “He’s here! He’s here!” The excitement was tangible.

Fifty boys were assembled in a small hall and I spoke to them about my own school experiences and how I would have thrived if I’d have gone to a school like theirs. I also showed them the benefits of writing in a way that they would grasp. I showed them Doctor Who Weekly (still published today as Doctor Who Magazine) and my competition entry at the age of nine. I showed them my Blue Peter badge and highlighted that these cannot be bought in shops. One has to write into the programme to stand a chance of being awarded one. And I finished by telling them about my appearances on television, which again were achieved by writing letters.

Accompanied by Miss Gordon and my PR Theresa Cutts, I had lunch with the children, one of which sat at our table and told me the history of Lego! Another spoke to me about the Doctor Who comic strip he’s been writing. I was then given a tour of the school’s impressive grounds.

After lunch, while waiting to do my first lesson, I was mobbed in a corridor by children wanting autographs. It was quite an experience. It was also very humbling, that I’d had that much of an impact on them.

In the first lesson I chatted with and read to 25 youngsters, aged eight to ten. The second lesson involved slightly older children. Both groups were enthusiastic and full of questions about the book, writing and what Anne gets up to in the story. They loved the bit where Anne deals with the school bully!

The day finished with Miss Gordon handing out certificates to those who had achieved a high standard of learning and/or good personal character development that week. I presented the certificates as each child came forward. The boys that had produced the best book covers and had made a great contribution to the day, were awarded signed Anne Droyd posters, while all the children received Anne Droyd badges. Then I signed autographs for those children who had not reached me when I was mobbed earlier! It was a joy to see how thrilled the winners were and how pleased for them the other pupils were.

Throughout the day, I sensed that things were going well, but didn’t realise how well until the very end. A teacher told me I’d caused quite a stir and that one of the boys who normally showed little interest in reading had asked to order my books. It was a fantastic feeling to know that along with Anne Droyd, I had inspired those not normally interested in reading into wanting to discover more.

Letters have been sent to parents explaining that their child can have a signed copy of one or both Anne Droyd books if they order.

There has already been talk of me possibly going back and doing it again. I feel honoured to have made such an impression and would welcome the opportunity for a repeat visit.

I would like to thank my PR for organising it!

Here is a link to the More House web site: http://www.morehouseschool.com/

And here is a link to my TV appearance from 1998: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsJL56FDefA

RBS World magazine interview

2009-07-16T12:48:00.007Z

I was interviewed by RBS World magazine (my day job is working in a customer service centre for said bank) ages ago with a view to featuring in its third issue. The article never appeared in the paper magazine, but it has since manifested in the online version.

UPDATE: The editor has been in touch to say the article will be going in the next issue of the paper version. Yipee!

You can read it by clicking on this link: http://world.rbs.com/issue_3/content/people-news/bestselling-author/

"The Pool of Fire" Told in Music.

2009-05-02T14:43:00.007Z

The Tripods was a BBC television serial adapted from John Christopher’s trilogy of novels about a future earth stripped of technology, and a society of humans that has had its creativity, ingenuity and rebellious nature suppressed by a skull implant called a Cap. Four boys avoid the Capping ritual imposed by the alien Tripods and join other free thinking un-Capped humans hiding in the Swiss Alps.

While some viewers felt the pace of the series was painfully slow, all were in agreement over the major plusses, namely the principle actors, the Tripods themselves (realised by cross cutting between model shots and full sized Tripod legs) and Ken Freeman’s superb music score.
Ken was not just a composer who worked with synthesisers, he was an inventor, and built his own keyboards. He supplied the synths for Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of the War of the Worlds (1978). The strings you can hear on that iconic record aren’t the strings of an orchestra, but the keys of Ken Freeman’s synthesiser. What he was engineering was way ahead of the regular pop music of the day.

The Tripods TV series was aired across 1984 and 1985, and then, in an attempt to save money, the BBC chose the axe the filming of the third and final book.

Fast forward 25 years, and BBC DVD has released Series One and Two, alongside a BBC4 documentary entitled The Cult of The Tripods as a limited edition set. A booklet has been thrown in describing how the third book would have been realised on screen, and Ken Freeman has composed and recorded new music for the unmade third segment.

Entitled The Pool of Fire Suite (named after the book), the seven track album authentically recaptures the style and mood of the television series while telling the final third of the story in music.

The opening track, “A Plan of Action” is, for me, the weakest, because it doesn’t quite do what it says on the can. It’s supposed to conjure up the boys returning from the Tripods’ city to the Freemen’s destroyed mountain camp (which is where Series Two climaxed) and then finding the relocated community and drafting up a plan to destroy the enemy. I think it would have been better for the track to start by recapping the feeling of doom, perhaps using the same music from the Series Two climax and then build the new composition from there. As it is, this track serves more as a taster for what’s to come. There are recognisable sounds and established melodies – if anything, it’s saying, “The Tripods is back!”

“The Green Man” is good, capturing the scene where the boys send out a green man on a green horse to attract the attention of a Tripod, with the intention of seizing the machine and its occupant. Some of this track is used on the menus to the DVD and is quite stirring.

“A Drink With Ruki” starts with a flowery piece, featuring a very pleasant melody on the flute. It makes me think of Austria in the summer (or any countryside scene, really). There a few sounds later on that suggest the improvised chamber housing the captured Master. It gets a bit too poppy for my liking towards the end, but on the whole it’s a nice track.

The alien winds put you in mind of “The Pool of Fire”, the heart of the Tripods’ City of Gold, in the track of the same name. I would have preferred a few more sounds from Ken’s Season Two score to confirm that we are back in the city, but this track does let you know you’re in a dangerous place. Again, it concludes with something akin to 1980s pop music, which doesn’t feel part of The Tripods somehow.

“Summer Wind” is as pleasant as the title suggests.

“Freedom” is the big one as far as the story is concerned. It charts the Freemen’s attempts to drop explosives from hot air balloons onto the dome of the Tripods’ city to shatter it. In the end, Will’s cousin Henry has to land his balloon on the dome and detonate his bomb directly. The dome is shattered and he is killed in the process. The sound of the explosion is built into the music and I shudder every time I get to this bit, as I imagine Henry – as played by Jim Baker in the series – blown to smithereens.

When Ken released some remix CDs in the 1990s, I was disappointed to find that although he had produced two new versions of the catchy Opening Theme to the TV series, he hadn’t done anything with the rousing Closing Theme, with its stirring trombones and addictive da-da-da da da-da da rhythm. But in the last track on this MP3 release, “The Conference of Man”, he has more than made up for it. This is my favourite piece of music on the new album, and it sets the whole thing off perfectly.

As with the original soundtrack CD, I lament the omission of the Tripods’ hunting call, because it’s their signature in a way, and while technically being a sound effect, for me it’s part of the musicscape and should be in there.

The composer went to great lengths to make sure these new compositions can sit comfortably alongside his Series One and Two scores, even renting an old Synclavier II synthesiser to recreate the main sounds.

Anyone who loves Ken’s other Tripods albums will love this. Anyone who loves classical music realised electronically will love this.

I highly recommend it.

My Literary Hero: JOHN CHRISTOPHER

2009-04-04T19:55:00.006Z

I've been enjoying a John Christopher month these past thirty days. Two items worthy of mention were released in quick succession.

One was a book entitled The Death of Grass, a re-issue of John Christopher's 1950s dystopia novel where all grass based foods die out, leaving the world half starved and the populace desperate. I'm half way through it and held captive by it (though, it's not for children).

The other was a DVD entitled The Tripods, a BBC television adaptation of John Christopher's trilogy of novels for young people where the world a hundred years from now has been stripped of its technological advances and people live in quaint villages under the rule of alien Tripod machines. Sadly, because of the BBC's attitude (in particular the attitudes of BBC1 controller Michael Grade and Head of Series and Serials, Jonathan Powell) towards science-fiction in the 1980s and a need to save money, the final book of the trilogy was never filmed.

I was introduced to the Tripods trilogy (The White Mountains, The City of Gold and Lead and The Pool of Fire, published in 1967/8) through the BBC series in 1984. I fell in love with the books and obsessed about meeting Mr. Christopher many times over the years that followed.

I'd heard about The Death of Grass, and saw it praised by author Brian Aldiss on a BBC4 science-fiction documentary in 2006. I'm so pleased that Penguin have re-issued it as a "Penguin Modern Classic" after all this time. It certainly deserves it.

I was astonished when John Christopher - real name Sam Youd - endorsed my autobiographical book The Feeling's Unmutual in 2004, and felt deeply honoured when he later invited me to visit him at his home in Rye, East Sussex.

Sam signed a deal with Disney's more adult film making arm Touchstone a few years ago with a view to turning his Tripods trilogy into a series of movies. Director Alex Proyas (I, Robot, Knowing) is now attached to the project, and I can't wait to see the end result.

As I write, I'm doing the rounds with the literary agents. To date, three British agents have turned down my Anne Droyd books (one saying, "it is indeed a very enjoyable series, but I don't have any contacts that would be interested in it"), and an agent in the United States has yet to respond.

It has occurred to me that America might be the place where Anne succeeds. They would be less concerned about the real life issues in the stories (in fact, they would likely embrace them) and less bothered by the brief questions about God therein. Time will tell. If they do get in touch, it might mean transposing the characters and stories to the U.S., something I would have to weigh up when the time comes.

FAN MAIL!

2009-02-11T20:05:00.003Z

This is my latest piece of fan mail. It's from ten-year-old Kiera Bayliss and it's a genuine expression from the heart. I imagined that her mother had helped her out with the wording of it. But no. Kiera asked if she knew me to talk to, and when the answer came back in the affirmative, she gave her mother a sealed envelope and said, "Well will you give that to him, then?"

It's lovely when children approach me and tell me they really enjoyed the book and that they can't wait for the next one. It's lovely when parents inform me that their son or daughter has done a presentation about it before their class at school. But there's something really heartwarming when one receives a letter like the one above.

Thank you Kiera (and Alex Cain, who sent me something similar recently). It is very much appreciated.

Love,

Will.

AN EXCELLENT REVIEW!

2009-01-31T21:55:00.003Z

The first online review of Anne Droyd and the House of Shadows has appeared on Amazon UK. It is written by Adrian J Andrews. He gives the book five stars and heaps on the praise.

Adrian writes;

"This is a superb second outing for the little robot girl, Anne Droyd, and her chums (The first installment being "Anne Droyd and Century Lodge"). It's time for a winter holiday and the gang take a coach trip to Whitby where they stay at a peculiar and spooky guesthouse run by an equally peculiar family.

Part of the magic of these stories is that every single location used actually exists in real life, and Mr. Hadcroft's descriptions are so complete that it would be a doddle to organize Anne Droyd tours for the kids if you were stuck for something to do over a long weekend.

The author has really done his research too. Without giving too much away and spoiling the story, chemicals are mentioned at one point and the information being put across is accurate (very handy if a young reader is going to sit a science exam!) The style of writing has changed slightly from the first book which is completely befitting the subject matter, and now we are familiar with the characters, Will Hadcroft wastes no time throwing them into this new situation and takes us with them on a very pace-driven ride.

This is a much deeper story than the original and has been given a 'no messing' approach. All-in-all this book carries a lot of weight and leaves you champing at the bit to get your hands on the third installment (Anne Droyd and the Ghosts of Winter Hill) which, as I write hasn't even been written yet!

There are going to be ten Anne Droyd novels which, if the present offerings are anything to go by, are going to give a certain young wizard a run for his money and, like him, are crying out for a film producer to get his hands upon."

Thank you, Adrian, from the bottom of my heart.

I know a lot more people out there feel the same way about the book, but haven't written an official review. I'm grateful for all the positive comments received thus far, but I really do need them in writing to offer as evidence to the big name publishers.

At the top of this entry is one of the real life locations from Whitby. It's the building on Khyber Pass which served as the starting point for the House of Shadows of the title. The house in my story is situated on the grassy verge to the left. In the distance, you can just make out St. Mary's church and the ruined abbey.

Whitby Gazette

2009-01-02T20:22:00.011Z

When I was three-years-old, I went with my parents, my grandparents, and my cousin Tracy to Whitby. There, I fell in love with the miniature railway situated on the North Promenade. Every morning before breakfast, I "helped" the driver test the track and run the engine round the track.

Three years later, I returned with my parents and younger brother, and there was the train again. I loved it!

Fast forward some twenty years. I persuaded my wife to visit Whitby. Everything was how I remembered it, barring one detail: the train and track had been replaced by a tractor pulling carriages around a now railless track. I was gutted.

When I knew I would be setting Anne Droyd and the House of Shadows in Whitby, I determined to reestablish the little train, if only in fiction, and have Malcolm and Sophie "help" the driver test the track before breakfast as I once did. And you never know - should the series take off and provoke many a fan to visit the town, the council might be pressured into putting the little attraction back where it belongs!

Caroline Gough at the legendary Whitby Gazette has published a nice piece about it, which you can read here http://www.whitbygazette.co.uk/whats-on/Author39s-fondness-for-Whitby-inspires.4793832.jp

And the book is now stocked by the equally legendary Whitby Bookshop, presided over by Sue Keates, and located on Church Street.

The above photograph shows me aged 3 with cousin Tracy and Granddad on the platform to the much missed miniature train on the North Promenade, Whitby, 1973.

Sweetens Success

2008-12-14T19:39:00.003Z

The official signing held at Sweetens bookshop in Bolton on Saturday December 6 was a success. Friends and family came along to support me. Thanks friends and family! The photographer from the Bolton News was conspicuous by his absence - but then he had been given the wrong date. The lovely Bolton News, whose support I've enjoyed for six years now, told everyone I was doing the signing on November 29, which led to one young man turning up a week early. He bought the book there and then (he being a big fan of Century Lodge) and returned on the 6th to have it signed.

Signings are a strange phenomenon. You sit at your little table, your books laid out in an eye catching presentation, and most who come through the door do their level best not to have their eyes caught. I've done a few of these now, so I was expecting it to be like that. At the very least, passersby have seen the name Anne Droyd and are aware of what I'm doing. It has a culminating effect. Those who don't buy now might do when I'm more established. So there's nothing to lose.

I once saw an interview with Lynda La Plant (author of the TV series Prime Suspect and Trial and Retribution), and she said she hates book signings because people look at you with scorn, or worse still, pick up the book, read the back cover blurb, check the price, and then put it back down before moving on.

It appears I'm in very good company!

The Signings

2008-11-29T18:51:00.004Z

My book signing on Thursday 27th of November at my place of employment went very well, I must say. I sold 30 copies in total. The deal was a signed copy for a fiver, with 50p from each donated to the Childline charity. I was touched by how many seemed to be genuinely looking forward to reading it, they having read and enjoyed the first one.

The Bolton News have been in touch to say they have diarised my upcoming signing at Sweetens, and my wife received a phone call from the photographer confirming the details.

Early reaction to the book has been good. The 16-year-old daughter of a friend stayed up half the night to finish it. She read it in a couple of days, which, I'm told is a record for her. A few others have said it betters the first one and that they are looking forward to the third.

My wife told me last night she's in the final chapters and is reading it a bit at a time so it won't be over too quickly. That's devotion for you!

The office magazine Centrepoint, which covers two centres of bank operations, in Bolton and Manchester, has put a nice little ad in their latest issue (see cutting at top). A bigger feature is set to appear in their worldwide publication early next year.

So, next up on the schedule is my signing at Sweetens bookshop, 86 Deansgate, Bolton, on Saturday 6th of December. I'll be there between 2 and 3 pm. If you're in the vacinity, do come along!

AVAILABLE NOW: Anne Droyd and the House of Shadows

2008-11-06T21:50:00.006Z

I am delighted to announce the release of my second Anne Droyd novel, Anne Droyd and the House of Shadows.

Set six months after the events of Book One, Gezz, Malcolm, Luke and Anne are treated to a winter break in the coastal town of Whitby. Something very strange is going on at Lanyon guesthouse. What is the secret of the Stevenson family? Who are the hooded creatures that roam the streets at night? And what is going on in the attic? The three children and their android friend are about to find out...

The book is listed on Amazon UK and European equivalents. It will filter through to the USA and elsewhere in time.

If you live in or near Bolton in the UK, you will be able to buy it from Sweetens bookshop as of Saturday 8 November.

I will be signing copies of the book at Sweetens from 2pm on Saturday 6 December.

Alternatively, if you want to order signed copies directly from me, you may do so using the Paypal system that I've implemented top right.

I have priced the book at £5.99.

So, come and get it!

N.B. If you find it difficult getting to the Paypal page (as some have done), then re-enter this site via http://hadcroft.blogspot.com. You should then be able to access the Paypal facility.

She's Here!

2008-10-29T20:58:00.006Z

Well, I got home tonight to find a parcel waiting for me. It was addressed to my publisher name Nordic, so I knew straight away what it was. Boys and girls, ladies and gentleman, Anne Droyd is here.

I wrote the first one, Anne Droyd and Century Lodge, between October 2000 and January 2001. It was published by CK Publishing (now WebGuild Media) in June 2002. At the back of that first edition, it said, "Coming Soon - Anne Droyd and the House of Shadows."

Then, in 2003, I discovered Asperger syndrome, and was caught away writing my autobiographical book The Feeling's Unmutual and a fresh edit of Century Lodge. Both titles were published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers in 2004.

When JKP let it be known they wouldn't be doing any of the Anne Droyd sequels, I had to find a way of publishing House of Shadows and keep the flame alive.

It was at this point I reestablished contact with Darryl Sloan. He, like me, had written for Gavin Wilson's superb paper zine RQC in the 1990s. Amazingly, he had ventured into the world of self-publishing and had enjoyed modest success with his children's novel Ulterior, and was working on a second title called Chion. He pointed me in the direction of American artist Laura Diehl and inspired me to knuckle down on Anne Droyd II.

With the arrival of my proof copy today, I am moved to express my gratitude to Laura, who produced that stunning cover painting, and to Darryl, who not only served as my editor over the last few months, but designed the book's title and arranged the layout of the text and created the PDF document so I could simply upload them to the printer's web site.

Next up is the launch of annedroyd.com and the modification of my Paypal account so that it will accept payments in. I need to visit Sweetens bookshop in Bolton again and organise a date for the signing, arrange a signing at the office where I work in my day job, print up the press releases, and order enough copies of the book to cover demand.

I am so excited!

Anne Droyd and the House of Shadows will be available to buy sometime within the next week.

PRE-ORDER "ANNE DROYD & THE HOUSE OF SHADOWS" NOW.

2008-09-03T22:06:00.007Z

Anne Droyd and the House of Shadows will be published September 2008.

Pre-order your signed copy now by E-mailing me at hadcroft@gmail.com, or, if you live in the Bolton/Manchester area, call into Sweetens and reserve it there.

The text is edited, the back cover information is done, the promo pieces are written up, shops have been contacted, the ISBN number has been allocated, and Sweetens bookshop in Bolton have put up a poster in their window. My thanks as always to Sweetens proprietor Stella Morris for her loyal support.

My editor has sent me a PDF version of the text, and I can tell you it looks great. Once I've finished proofreading it, the book will be ready for release.

When the book is available to buy, the first thing I will do is order copies to be mailed out with a press release to the local media. I am likely to generate interest with newspapers in Bolton, Blackburn and Manchester areas. BBC Radio Manchester might have me back (I having been interviewed by them three times now). It would be lovely to get coverage on regional television news. BBC Northwest Tonight and Granada Reports are watched by millions. While I have appeared on programmes like Channel Four’s Right to Reply and the BBC4 documentary My Science-Fiction Life, news programmes have yet to feature me. Press packs will be going out to them, all the same.

The next job is to modify my Paypal account so that it can accept payments in. I will also be accepting payments by cheque. If you would rather buy the book from an outlet, Amazon.co.uk and Play.com will be stocking it, as will Sweetens bookshop in Bolton. And if you want to order a copy from a shop that doesn’t have it on the shelves, you will be able to do so using the ISBN.

In another couple of weeks, you will have the second instalment of Anne Droyd’s story in your hands.

The Last Lap

2008-05-25T11:07:00.004Z

The manuscript has come back from my editor and there is a ton of work to be getting on with. He has been as meticulous and uncompromising as I knew he would be. It can be tough as a writer to have one's work picked to bits like this (which is why many a would-be author will avoid putting himself through it), but there is a purpose, and the purpose is worth it in the end. I want the work to be the best it can be. I cannot deny that I'm nervous about wading through the two hundred and odd pages, all scribbled on with red pen, but I know the final result will be a tighter book.

It's the last big job before I prepare for publication.

The press releases are written up (I'll put them through a final edit nearer the time), as is the back cover blurb.

The new Anne Droyd logo (a variation on the JKP Century Lodge one), the story title and my name have all been added to the cover. Double click on the image above for a closer look.

Next time I post, I should be nearly done.

The New Cover!

2008-04-30T21:08:00.002Z

OK, here it is. American artist Laura Diehl has delivered her final version of the cover art, and what a stunning piece it is.

I am hoping to use the Anne Droyd logo from the Jessica Kingsley edition of Century Lodge (seen to the right of this page) on House of Shadows, or something very close to it.

Initial reactions from the handful of readers who have seen the picture have been very positive. Indeed, the art is already having the desired effect: it is provoking a strong emotional response.

Some have said it is by far the best cover I've had to date. I can't argue with that. Laura has done me proud. It will look great on the actual book.

If you want to see more of Laura's work, or hire her, visit her web site: http://www.ldiehl.com/

Next up for me is a major final edit on the text.

A daunting prospect...

First Edit Complete

2008-03-09T11:51:00.003Z

I have now completed the first edit of Anne Droyd and the House of Shadows, and while the word count has gone down a bit, the number of pages has gone up! This is because I have been rearranging paragraphs, and in some cases splitting them in half.

I have been pleasantly surprised by the story, reading it through from beginning to end for the first time. It has now gone off to my editor. No doubt he will find plenty wrong with it, but that's all right, since that's what I am hiring him to do.

Next up is the acquisition of ISBN numbers (you have to purchase a minimum of ten from Whitaker's). If I was publishing through Lulu.com, they would get the ISBN number for me, which would be fine. However I don't want HOS logged on Amazon and elsewhere as a Lulu book. I don't want to put off potential mainstream publishers by showing them an obviously self-published work. So I'm using Lightning Source to produce the books, and by assiging an ISBN purchased separately, I can list my own little imprint as the publisher.

Also this month I will be commissioning American artist Laura Diehl to do the front cover. You should see the quality of her work. If what I get turns out anything like the examples on her web site, this new cover will be the best one I've had to date. Here's a link to her site: www.ldiehl.com.

In the next hour or so, I will be shooting off to Blackpool with my wife Carol for a five day break. It's pre-spring season, which means there won't be many people about (always a good thing for the Aspie!). I've worked so hard juggling Anne Droyd with my day job and other commitments, I am ready for this rest. All that said, I will be taking my laptop with me and will be writing variations of the press release (one for local media, one for local shops, one for the media and bookshop in Whitby, the town where the new story is set).

I have a few weeks respite, and then when the manuscript comes back, it's the big final edit. I am really looking forward to it, but I'm a bit scared too. It will be a mammoth task.

A Fair Review

2008-02-14T17:29:00.004Z

Darryl Sloan, author of the excellent Chion, has posted an honest review of Anne Droyd and Century Lodge on his site. I'm very happy to know he thinks it would translate well to children's television, because those Children's BBC/ITV dramas of the 1980s have exactly the kind of mood I was hoping to evoke when I was writing it.

Here's the link to Darryl's site: http://darrylslibrary.wordpress.com/category/authors/will-hadcroft/

On the House of Shadows front, I'm two thirds of the way through my first edit. So everything is going the way I had hoped. By the end of February I should have the manuscript ready to give out to my assigned readers and editor.

First Draft Now Complete

2008-01-09T21:03:00.000Z

I'm pleased to report that I have at long last completed the first draft of Anne Droyd and the House of Shadows. Currently it stands at 84,000 words, which is 290 pages in paperback form.

During the editing period this will fluctuate, but I'm confident that the final version will be over the 250 page mark at least.

Like all writers, I improve with each piece I produce, and am confident that you will like what I have done with the characters. It's a natural progression and probably a better read than the first book.

I have been quite ill this past week with a virus. A really bad irritable cough has kept me up most nights and I have found that the best time to write is three o'clock in the morning! Once I have become a writer full-time it might be a good idea to work like that always.

Next up is the editing process, which will take a few months.

Still on target for a summer/autumn release.

HOS - Only 3 or 4 Chapters to Go!

2007-12-08T16:36:00.000Z

Another week in the coastal town of Whitby, this time with laptop to hand, has proved very useful indeed. For, not only did I manage to relax and de-stress, I managed to get some writing done. I am now up to page 217 of Anne Droyd and the House of Shadows, with only three or four chapters to go.

I am likely to reach my goal of completing the first draft before this year is out, and that means I am on target to have the published book in your hands by summer/autumn 2008.

Here is the plan for the next few months;

Do a major edit in January, looking for errors in grammar and plot consistency, making sure I flesh out descriptive passages along the way (I’ll be having a list of the five senses in front of me as I write).
Print a few A4 copies and hand them to assigned proofreaders – two or three youngsters, pre-teen and early teen, to get responses from the target audience – and a couple of adults.
Commission an artist to work on a cover painting.
After feedback on the text has been collated, hand a freshly edited manuscript to my assigned editor (who will then pick the whole thing to pieces!).
Based on feedback from my editor, work on one final draft.
Prepare the text and cover art for the print-on-demand service.
Prepare a publicity plan and write a press release.

Some of the above will take place simultaneously. I am really looking forward to publishing this new book. I believe it to be a worthy successor to Century Lodge and I’m confident you will find it worth the wait.

Once it is in the public domain I will get to work on a treatment for Book Three. I am determined to produce that within 18 months/two years of HOS hitting the market. With the existing fan base gasping for more, I cannot afford to leave it so long again.

"Go and Have Your Lovely Beans On Toast."

2007-11-10T16:57:00.000Z

In light of my last couple of postings, just to readdress the balance, I thought I would wax lyrical about the things I do like about Russell T Davies’s 21st century reimagining of Doctor Who.

I wasn’t so sure that the Doctor should have very short hair and a leather jacket (he looking more like a Little Hulton drug dealer than any of his Edwardian styled predecessors), but once I heard him dismiss Rose in the first episode of this revived series with the quip, “Go and have your lovely beans on toast,” I knew I would like him.

The detached alien quality of the Doctor is there, and it shines through the rest of the first episode. When the TARDIS transports them from a restaurant to the River Thames, the Doctor impatiently barks, “It disappears there and reappears here. You wouldn’t understand.” This is reminiscent of the First Doctor’s retort in the very, very first episode An Unearthly Child (1963), “It’s not clear, is it? You don’t understand. And I knew you wouldn’t. Never mind.”

And this is what the Doctor should be – alien.

It’s interesting that once he’s spent a period of time alone, as he has in the Series Three debut Smith and Jones, he has lost his humanity again. There’s a scene where Martha closes the eyes of a dead man and covers his face with a blanket, and the Doctor is completely dispassionate. I like this about the 21st century Doctor. He is only human-like when he’s in the company of humans. Once that influence is absent, so is his humanity.

In the second episode of Series One, The End of the World, Russell T Davies presents us with a situation we all learned about at school, and one which I’d always thought would be interesting for the Doctor to visit, namely the death of our planet as it gets engulfed by the expanding sun. It was a treat to see it realised with breathtaking special effects.

The first of the scripts by contributing writers took the form of Mark Gatiss’s expertly crafted The Unquiet Dead. The BBC has always done costume drama particularly well, and so has Doctor Who. Think The Talons of Weng-Chiang (1977), The Visitation (1982) and The Curse of Fenric (1989). Gatiss’s story is up there with them, his taste for the language of the 19th century and Charles Dickens is well cultivated. It goes without saying that Simon Callow’s performance as Dickens is sublime.

Paul Cornell’s Father’s Day has real emotional impact. My dad died in 2003, and I have often fantasised about going back to the 1970s and meeting him as an adult, and he not realising who I am. So this episode mirrored the fantasy for me.

I was thrilled to know that Robert Shearman’s radio play, Jubilee, starring Colin Baker (a straight to CD release by Big Finish Productions) was going to be adapted to television. The idea of a lone Dalek being tortured by humans and then pretending to be vulnerable until it can assert itself was a truly chilling one. The bare bones of the idea surfaced in Shearman’s Dalek and served as the perfect way to reintroduce the metal monsters.

The voice of the Dalek being supplied by a man who has obsessed about the creatures since childhood, namely one Nicholas Briggs, was inspired casting. The writer/producer/voice artist knows all the subtleties and nuances of the Dalek range, he having analysed and assimilated the best performances of his predecessors.

Russell T Davies gives us a cheap filler episode in The Long Game (a simple set dressed differently to double up as two places), and yet, thanks to some stellar performances from the guest cast, especially Simon Pegg, it doesn’t seem cheap at all.

Possibly the best story of that first series is The Empty Child by Steven Moffatt. The little boy in the gas mask constantly asking, “Are you my mummy?” as he wanders around war torn London is the stuff nightmares are made of. John Barrowman puts in a great performance as new semi-regular Captain Jack too.

In the series finale, The Parting of the Ways, Russell gives us a number of fan fantasies come true. Those of us who grew up on the original Doctor Who often dreamed of legions of Daleks swarming across space, but had never actually seen it realised on screen until now.

We had been mesmerised by the idea of the TARDIS materialising around another object so that it appears inside the craft (a trick first performed in original series stories The Time Monster and Logopolis), and we had often fantasised about it materialising around a person. Again, it is in this story that we actually see it, as the Doctor chances materialising his ship around Rose to save her from the Daleks – the police box forming around her, and from the interior perspective, Rose solidifying in the control room. Superb!

We all imagined the Dalek Emperor from The Evil of the Daleks (1967) to be of godlike proportions, but only in Parting is it actually realised as such.

And as the Doctor triggers the regeneration process within himself at the adventure’s climax, he actually tells Rose what is going to happen, that he is going to change, that he will never look at her through those eyes again and not with “this daft old face”. He prepares Rose, and the audience, for the shocking change of appearance and persona just ahead. The transformation itself is stunning, the metamorphosis for the first time in the series’ long history taking place while the Doctor is standing up.

Davies’s The Christmas Invasion is a riot, but my favourite aspect of it is the way Rose deals with the loss of her Doctor. The man in the bed (David Tennant) is nothing like him, and at one point she breaks down, lamenting, “He left me, Mum. He left me.” This again is Davies’s writing at its best, and demonstrates admirably why it is good to have a fan of the original show at the helm of the 21st century version. He is someone who has thought long and hard about the conventions of Doctor Who, the changeover of one leading man to another being one of the prime examples, and he gives them an emotional context that was rarely seen in the 1963-89 series.

My favourite stories from the second series are New Earth by Russell T Davies, School Reunion by Toby Whitehouse (great to see Sarah-Jane meet the Doctor again – and as with the regeneration, it’s an emotional reaction that we get), Rise of the Cybermen by Tom MacRae (adapted from Big Finish radio play Spare Parts, by Marc Platt), Steven Moffatt’s The Girl in the Fireplace, and The Impossible Planet by Matthew Jones.

Of Series Three, I love Smith & Jones and Gridlock (the latter being very similar in style to the kind of oddball adventure we might have seen in the Sylvester McCoy era, but with a few quid spent on it) by Russell T Davies, Daleks in Manhattan by Helen Raynor, Human Nature (the Doctor becomes human in wartime Britain and falls in love) by Paul Cornell, Blink by Steven Moffatt and Utopia by Russell T Davies.

Of the Doctor’s companions, Billie Piper did a great job as girl next door Rose Tyler (I love her reaction to the inside of the TARDIS when she first goes in), but it’s Freema Agyeman who has really won me over as Martha Jones. She’s contemporary, but smart with it.

I’m not sure what I think of Catherine Tate’s character Donna Noble, she having only appeared in the one adventure to date (The Runaway Bride). I guess I’ll have to wait for the 2008 series to form a proper opinion.

As for the two Doctors, David Tennant looks more like the Doctor of old with his suit, trainers, and World War Two trench coat, but I think Christopher Eccleston was probably more in key with the original character.

There are a good number of things that I don’t like about modern Doctor Who. But I shall save those for another time.

I await the 2007 Christmas special, Voyage of the Damned, with bated breath.

Russell Thief Davies - or Just Coincidence

2007-10-06T18:38:00.000Z

One of the things new writers worry about when submitting their material to various agents and publishers is having their work plagiarised in some way. How do they know that the editor or publisher won’t steal the core ideas and rework them in a piece of their own?

It is a basic truth in the world of writing that authors are regurgitating themes, ideas, set pieces and characters that they have been exposed to throughout their lives. Some of their material might be culled from their own experiences or the experiences of people they know. Some of it might be an affectionate nod towards the fiction they themselves grew up on.

Working writers (that is, writers who are making a living from their work and go from one commission to another) are on the lookout all the time for fresh ideas to prevent their output drying up. Television script writers plunder newspapers and magazines for inspiration. Very often a popular theme or a striking news item finds itself reworked and presented as a storyline in a soap opera. It’s conveyor belt drama for the mass market, and that conveyor belt must not under any circumstances be permitted to stop.

When I was writing The Feeling’s Unmutual in 2003, I had the double thrill of learning that the BBC had invited top TV scribe Russell T Davies to be Head Writer and Executive Producer of a revived and reinterpreted series of Doctor Who. I knew that my book was featuring classic Who quite prominently and that the Six Doctor himself, Colin Baker, was going to endorse it.

Very excited, once my book was published (September 2004), I mailed a copy to Mr Davies courtesy of BBC Wales. Needless to say, I did not receive a reply. This bothered me a bit because I felt that Russell would have enjoyed reading it from a fan’s point of view. I knew we were very different people in some ways, but in the Doctor Who way we would be very similar.

I also sent Christopher Eccleston a copy. He had grown up in Little Hulton and had attended Joseph Eastham High School, the secondary school I went to. I knew he would be interested in the book, not only because he was filming the new Doctor Who, but because he would recognise the Little Hulton and surrounding areas described in the book. Needless to say I didn’t get a reply from him either.

The Feeling’s Unmutual not only details my life and the way Asperger syndrome has affected me, but covers the creation of my little robot school girl Anne Droyd.

In just a few months I began receiving emails from Doctor Who fans (one a prominent member of the Appreciation Society, another a fan in Canada) who were also readers of my book Anne Droyd and Century Lodge alerting me to the fact that Russell T Davies was going to include a robot of television presenter Anne Robinson in the episode "Bad Wolf" and call her Anne Droid.

When the episode aired in the summer of 2005, a number of people approached to ask, “Do you think Russell Davies has read your book?” I could not help but ask the same thing myself.

But – I also knew that Russell had grown up watching the same programmes I’d watched, and that his influences would be very much the same. I later learned that I was not the first to think of the pun “Anne Droyd”. An author in the 1970s had included a character with that name in a Star Wars novel. So Russell might have been influenced by that.

Nevertheless, it did irritate me enormously when the scribe declared that his Anne Droid was the funniest thing in the whole of the 2005 series.

Other similarities started to show through, such as organisations having secret bases beneath derelict buildings and ordinary streets. But – again – there were examples of this in many a sci-fi/adventure series in the 1970s/80s.

And so I dismissed the idea that my work was being ripped off.

Until January 1 2007, when The Sarah-Jane Adventures debuted. Davies executive produced that too, and oversaw the writing of the episode with long-time Doctor Who novelist Gareth Roberts. I had been a big fan of Roberts’ 1990s “Missing Adventures” The Romance of Crime and The English Way of Death, and had written to him to tell him. This time I did get a reply, along with a signed copy of his then new book The Plotters (which was as equally well written and absorbing as his previous titles). To return the gesture, in 2002, I sent Gareth a signed copy of my original Anne Droyd novel.

I cannot say for definite that my autobiography and children’s novel have been mercilessly reworked, but I do believe that Davies and Roberts know of my writings.

The Doctor Who series goes from strength-to-strength in terms of popularity, and I’m glad it is enjoying a much deserved renaissance. Russell T Davies has received BAFTA awards for his involvement. But one rarely hears him crediting other writers or admitting that he has sourced existing material.

For my sanity’s sake, I will not be sending him, or indeed any other writer not known to me, manuscripts or even published books in future. All material is up for grabs and re-working. So if you are a fledgling writer, don’t show your work to anybody unless it is a trusted friend, an agent or a publisher.

Below are the similarities I have noted between my works and that of Russell T Davies since the revival of Doctor Who in 2005...

Anne Droyd

There is a character called “The Anne Droid” in Bad Wolf.

Secret Bases Under the Streets

Rose, The Christmas Invasion, The Runaway Bride (Thames floods the base as Century Lodge does the Foundation),Torchwood, SJA: Invasion of the Bane.

Sarah-Jane Adventures

I worked in a pop factory for seven years – there is a secret base beneath a pop factory.

I obsessed about Dr David Banner and The Incredible Hulk, my book references them frequently – Sarah-Jane lives on Bannerman Road.

Anne Droyd and Century Lodge features an ice cold villainess – Invasion of the Bane features an ice cold villainess.

In Century Lodge’s underground bunker, the villains are creating an android girl. She is like a blank slate, she doesn’t know anything, she has superhuman abilities (memorises a school register instantly), but she doesn’t understand social conventions. One of the human children in the story is called Luke – in Invasion of the Bane’s underground bunker, the villains are creating a hybrid human child. The child is like a blank slate, he doesn’t know anything, he has enhanced mental abilities (learns to read instantly), but he doesn’t understand social conventions. They name him Luke.

Rip-off or just coincidence? I can’t tell anymore. Am I just that bit too paranoid? Very probably. But it’s best to be safe.

Taboo or Not Taboo?

2007-08-27T22:03:00.001Z

When reading a novel or watching a television drama, do you find yourself second guessing what the author of the piece might be getting at? For example, if you know that the writer has certain political leanings, do you think when you hit upon a scene, “Ah, I think he’s making a point here”?

Sometimes it’s pretty obvious that a writer is deliberately attempting to influence the reader/viewer/listener. The 21st century version of Doctor Who is moulded and shaped by Russell T Davies. He is a prolific and much respected scribe and what he has achieved with Who is remarkable. But he’s also a staunch atheist (on record saying he would like to see all religion banned) and a keen promoter of homosexual rights.

Have these themes found their way into Doctor Who? They surely have.

In the second episode of Series One, “The End of the World”, as a shuttle approaches a huge space station, an announcement is broadcast forbidding the practice of religion. Later in the same episode we witness the Holy Order of the Repeated Meme, which is a clever pun on what Davies believes religious attachment to be (no doubt influenced by the writings of one Professor Richard Dawkins). And in the final episode of that season, “The Parting of the Ways”, when the Daleks have harvested Earth’s waifs and strays and developed religious feelings, the Doctor says they have inherited the stink of humanity.

Viewers with religious feelings of their own might be troubled by these sentiments.

With regard to homosexuality, the first obvious attempt at planting the concept in the minds of the children watching is the scene in “The Parting of the Ways” where Captain Jack, about to go off into war against the Daleks, kisses Rose on the lips, and then kisses the Doctor in exactly the same way.

In the Series Three episode “Utopia”, Jack is seen to chat up a girl, then a man, then a blue insect creature! The anything-goes approach to sexuality and relationships is sprinkled discreetly throughout. In “Gridlock”, the Doctor jumps onto a campervan occupied by an elderly lesbian couple, and then onto one inhabited by a humanoid cat and an ordinary woman – with their kittens occupying a straw basket. In “42”, Martha asks one of the male characters if he has a girlfriend. When he replies in the negative, Martha inquires if he has a boy friend.

Now, some would say this is a fine thing, that equal rights are being promoted – while others would be disturbed by what is being sown in young fertile minds.

Of course, whenever RTD is challenged about preaching atheism or promoting homosexuality, bi-sexuality, and sex between different species to his impressionable viewers, he laughs raucously and suggests that the question itself is outrageous.

Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.

But now, as I publish stories of my own, I find that some readers see in my work patterns of thinking and philosophies being expounded. Or do they…?

Readers do tend to read between the lines.

A much respected university lecturer told me he admired the way I pre-empt the great ordeal Gezz, Malcolm and Luke would later face in Century Lodge by in the first instance showing Malcolm having to overcome his fear of the foreboding railway bridge. He thought the bridge and the fear associated with it was a metaphor for what was to come. I had to tactfully explain that no such device was at work. The disused railway and that low bridge really exist. They are from my own childhood. Malcolm’s reaction to the bridge mirrored my own at that tender age. It was as simple as that.

On another occasion, I had a literary talent scout read Century Lodge in the hope that she would recommend me to a big name publisher. The lady in question took great exception to the apparent statement made in the book, that religious families are good and wholesome and that non-religious families are less so. She also had a problem with me “lecturing” the reader about the dangers of smoking cigarettes.

I felt obliged to explain one or two things.

First of all, while I was deliberately contrasting Gezz’s family with that of Luke’s, I was careful in constructing the characters to make sure they were not stereotypes. So, Gezz’s parents have got rid of their television, but Gezz goes round to Luke’s to watch Grange Hill. Gezz’s mother is very devoted to her religion and regards the Luke’s family as uncouth, but Gezz’s dad chooses to watch the movie Blade Runner with Luke’s dad because they have a shared interest in science-fiction.

It was my intention to expose Anne (and the reader) to conflicting information. Having a religious family, a secular family, and a boy with independent philosophies seemed the best way to show it.

As for the smoking issue, I do not believe that the scenes in which Gezz and Anne try a cigarette lecture the reader in any way. If they make the reader think twice about starting smoking, that can only be good. If they make adult readers feel awkward about their own smoking habit, then I cannot apologise. They probably feel awkward when their children come home from school and tell them about the posters they’ve seen depicting tar oozing from blackened lungs or list the lethal ingredients of cigarette smoke. Should the school apologise for showing their pupils these things? Hardly.

The feelings of guilt and shame experienced by Gezz reflect those of my own. When I tried smoking, I couldn’t wait to get my clothes into the washing machine and have a shower – mostly because I was terrified of my mother picking up the foul odour from me.

Recently, a reader in Germany got in touch, first to tell me easy Century Lodge is to read (and that’s a great compliment from a person who does not read English as her first language), and then to tell me how disturbed she was by the implication that Gezz’s family is better than Luke’s because Gezz’s family is religious. What fascinated me was how this reader was re-evaluating her own family life as a result of noticing the differences between the families in my novel.

And maybe that’s the crux of it. The readers are applying what they read to their own lives. And that is a tremendous thing for an author to contemplate. They are made to think by what they are reading.

I advised that my new German friend read the book to the very end before she drew any conclusions. She did so, and about two thirds of the way through it, sent me an email reporting she had been “happy to spend an afternoon at Luke’s house” (and thus seeing more closely what makes those characters tick).

Of course, there is another thing at work here too. Dennis Potter once said it is sometimes the job of the writer to make people think about things they don’t want to think about. I find this interesting. Have I touched a raw nerve in some of my adult readers? (I say “adult” because no child has ever complained about the way I depict characters, nor have they accused me of lecturing them). Am I making atheists think about God when they would prefer to forget him? Am I raising awkward questions about God that religionists find disconcerting? Are the smokers angry with me because I’m pointing up their addiction?

I’m not setting out to make anyone feel uncomfortable, but I am intending through the character of Anne to ask questions. Maybe some don’t want them asked.

As for my reader in Germany, she cannot wait to get her hands on Anne Droyd and the House of Shadows, and she’s bringing her copies of Century Lodge and Feeling’s Unmutual with her to the UK for me to sign when I attend the Tripods gathering in Brighton on Saturday 22 September.

It’s a privilege to affect people so profoundly, but I am now inclined to think twice before reading too much into the writings of others.

My Brain!

2007-07-25T22:49:00.000Z

One of my very worthy pass times is doing searches on the Internet for my own name and the titles of my books to see how I’m fairing. It isn’t quite as egotistical as it sounds, as I need to keep on top of how well I’m doing in the publishing realm. Sometimes I come across reviews of my books that I otherwise would never have known about.

This month I came across an academic paper by Donna Stevenson that looks into how my brain works! I was utterly astonished when I stumbled across this piece. She has read a number of autobiographies written by people professing to have varying degrees of autism. Since Asperger syndrome is at the low end of the autistic spectrum, and I am at the narrow end of that, exhibiting the secondary traits of the condition, my account has been included.

As you will see if you follow the link, Donna has researched it well and draws some interesting conclusions about trends in my thinking and behaviour and how my brain may be functioning (or malfunctioning, depending on how you look at it).

I have had many a fantasy about where my writings may lead me – publishing a bestseller, creating heroes for children, having my books adapted for television, walking down those famous stairs on Parkinson - but having the biological mechanisms of my brain analysed was never one of them!

What a fascinating and unpredictable journey mine is turning out to be.

Here’s the link: http://homepage.mac.com/dgstevenson/quadrants/Research.html

150 Pages In

2007-07-13T18:15:00.000Z

Carol and I recently went for a week in the coastal town of Whitby. It is located on the north east side of England, if you’re located outside the UK and wondering, and it’s lovely. I went there when I was about three or four years-old with my mother, father, cousin, and grandparents. Then, after my middle brother had been born, I went back with just him, Mum and Dad.

A few years ago I persuaded Carol to come and have a look at the place, and she fell in love with it. The fishing harbour, the swinging bridge (which parts in the middle to allow boats to pass through) the old part of town with its vintage buildings and cobbled street, the 199 steps stretching up to St Mary’s church, and the old ruined abbey. It’s all potent stuff.

Little wonder, then, that Bram Stoker was inspired to write Dracula while he was there, and that other writers like GP Taylor (author of Shadowmancer, which started out as a self-published novel before being picked up by Faber & Faber and becoming an international hit) have followed suit.

One of the things I learned from The Writers Bureau correspondence course is how to make a story feel authentic, how to make it feel true. One way is to thoroughly research your subject so that reader discerns that you know your subject. Another way is to write about things you know from personal experience. With Anne Droyd and Century Lodge (CL), I employed the latter method. I combined the essence of the things I loved in childhood (Stig of the Dump, The Famous Five, The Bionic Woman, The Incredible Hulk, The Red Hand Gang, Grange Hill and Doctor Who) with the way I felt during my early teens (I was a combination of Gezz, Malcolm and Anne, and envied the self confidence I saw in youngsters who were like Luke), and set it in places I had known (the school I went to, the den on the railway embankment and how I wished it could be, and the housing estate near where I was living at the time).

This time around, with Anne Droyd and the House of Shadows (HOS), I am utilising my memories of family holidays, travelling by coach, and the town of Whitby. Thrown into the mix is a particular theme I want to explore and a plot device that has always fascinated me (you’ll find out what they are when you read it!). Additionally, there are one or two things that were present in Whitby when I was a child that no longer exist.

One of these is the miniature railway which I adored. The layout is still there, but the train track has gone and a train shaped engine pulls two carriages on wheels across smooth concrete. Talk about cost cutting! Well, I was so annoyed that they’d got rid of the little train when I returned to Whitby as an adult that I have reintroduced it to the setting in the book.

That’s one of the pleasures of fictionalising a real place.

While I was in Whitby I took time to wander about, note book in hand, and get the names of the streets and the dimensions of the place. I also knuckled down with the writing, and I’m pleased to announce that I am now 150 paperback sized pages into HOS.

Even before I started writing this new book, I had a feeling that it was going to be fun. I have set the story just a few months after the events of CL, and the adventure picks up where the first one left off. The characters develop in a very natural way, and Anne is now central to their lives. It’s a lovely thing, having introduced Anne to the three main characters in CL, to be able to have her there from the very first page of HOS.

I estimate that I’ll have the whole story completed by the end of summer. After that, I will be farming out copies to see what people think. Then I’ll be doing an edit. Then it’s off to my editor, who will find everything that’s wrong with it, and then it will be the big one – the major edit.

It’s unlikely now that the book will be ready for November. I think February’s half term holiday is a much more realistic projection. One of the pluses of having complete control over a project like this is being able to set your own deadlines. If there are setbacks, all I need do is announce a fresh release date.

At the present time I'm on target.

Man From PFD, He Say, "No!"

2007-05-22T21:29:00.000Z

I received an email from Simon Trewin’s literary agency PFD a few days ago. The email thanked me for sending the sample chapters of my manuscript (I didn’t send them sample chapters or a manuscript, as it happens. I sent a book, some Amazon reviews, a couple of fan letters, a CV and a covering letter), and that, after giving it some consideration, they have decided it is not for them.

Given the volume of submissions they are likely to receive on a weekly basis, I do not mind the standard rejection letter – or email, as it was in this case.

There was one line in it that gave some encouragement, and I took it to heart. It said, “There are as many opinions [in the publishing world] as there are agents prepared to read your work, so please keep going.”

I will do just that.

A Lovely Anecdote

2007-05-12T12:14:00.000Z

I approached one of my work colleagues a couple of days ago with the news that I am now 70 pages into the new Anne Droyd book. I thought her son would be especially pleased to know it, since he has read and re-read the first adventure so many times.

My colleague engaged me. ‘Did I tell you what he said about the sequel?’

I shrugged and smiled.

She continued, ‘Well he asked me, “Mum, when is the next one coming out?” and I said, “I think Will has to find another publisher first.” When he asked why, I explained that it costs quite a bit of money to print the books and that’s why the author uses a publisher, because he can’t afford to print them all himself.’

I felt genuinely touched by her son’s interest.

Then she related, ‘But that didn’t satisfy him. He said, “Mum, how much money does Will need to do it?” I said, “I think it’s quite a lot, love.”’

The boy’s final question really hit me.

‘He said, “Is there enough money in my bank account to do it?”’

What a lovely thing to say. Experiences like these keep me motivated.

ANNE DROYD II: Now 70 Pages In.

2007-05-08T21:11:00.000Z

Well, friends, I have at long last started to knuckle down on Anne Droyd and the House of Shadows. I actually wrote the first two or three chapters many months ago, but due to my being despondent about my future as a writer, and my general low self-esteem, I just couldn’t get motivated.

Then, last year, a man took a job at the office where I work, and it turned out that he was none other than sometime editor-producer-director John Ainsworth. He had worked in the media in different roles and was now between jobs. He took the office job to give some structure to his day and enable a little social interaction. Amazingly, and entirely by coincidence, it became my job to train him up.

John was astonished that I knew of him. He asked if I’d heard of Big Finish Productions (the BBC licensed company that make Doctor Who radio plays with the original series actors), and when I conceded I was a bit of a fan, he revealed that he had considerable involvement with them. Indeed he had directed some of their plays.

Over the next six months or so, John gave me a few pointers about writing and publishing, and put me in touch with a friend of his who worked as a talent scout for a major publisher. His friend’s advice was to shelve Anne Droyd (because the first book has been published twice already, once by a tiny company, once by a well known publisher catering for a niche market, and has “failed” both times (or at least that’s how the big boys will see it)) and start on something completely fresh.

Write something completely fresh I did. A novel for older readers was penned in three to four months, I created my own soap opera and wrote a half hour script with a view to submitting it to various producers and script editors (John told me soap is the way into television writing, but they cannot look at a prospective episode of their own soap for legal reasons. You must create one of your own, and if they like what you do, they might commission you to write for their show), and I wrote a two hour pilot episode for a young adult TV series of my own devising.

None of the above have as yet seen the light of day. But I was fired up and ready to go again, and it’s all thanks to meeting and getting to know John Ainsworth. John left my place of employment a few months later to take on a full time position at Big Finish Productions, directing the likes of Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy (not to mention David Warner and Derek Jacobi).

I never felt comfortable with the idea of shelving Anne Droyd, though. I had sent Century Lodge (CL) off to a couple of literary agencies a while ago. One said my book had nearly made it to their list, but they felt the presence of real life issues hindered the story rather than helped it (not the view of my readership, it has to be said) and the other informed me there was no market for the series (again my steadily growing fan base implies that there is a market).

So the plan now is this: Write and publish Anne Droyd and the House of Shadows through POD and give the fans something new to read, put my young adult book through another edit and release that under a pseudonym (I don’t want children and parents assuming it’s a book for youngsters, and publishing under “Will Hadcroft” would certainly lead them to think that it is), and submit my soap script to a few producers and see what feedback I get.

House of Shadows (HOS) is turning out to be a joy to write. As I say, I had done the first couple of chapters and worked out a general plot as early as 2002. Recently, I summoned up the treatment from my computer, read through it, broke it down from 12 long chapters to 30 shorter ones, and got started on a revision of the existing text.

Something that has helped encourage me enormously is downloading the paperback template from Lulu.com. I am writing the novel on paperback sized pages rather than A4. Doing it this way has really boosted morale. Instead of thinking, “Oh, I’ve only managed to do five A4 pages today, it’s going to take forever,” I find myself getting excited and saying, “Hey, I’ve done ten paperback pages today!”

Writing it in this format is something I would encourage all authors to try. You see your baby taking shape as you go. Once I’ve reached page 100, I will know I’m a third of the way through the book.

I am currently up to page 70 and loving it. One of the real joys is having the situation between the three human children and Anne already in place. The vast majority of readers will have experienced Book I, so there’s no need to write lengthy paragraphs explaining who everyone is in Book II. I think it will be more intriguing for newcomers as well, since Anne is there with Gezz, Luke and Malcolm right from the first chapter of HOS. Her behaviour and rigid speech patterns will fascinate and amuse those who discover the character on her second book.

There is a one line explanation stating that she is an android left in the care of the children, and a brief mention of the professor who created her, and then it’s on with the new story. I’ve put in an asterisk and a footnote, which reads, “See Anne Droyd and Century Lodge”. That’s something I used to love about Terrance Dicks’ Doctor Who TV story novelisations. If he referred to an event in a previous adventure, the title of that story (if it had been published in book form) would be in a notation at the bottom, which, of course, made me want to buy that book next.

As with CL, I have found that the most mundane experiences seen through the eyes of this emotionless robot school girl become fascinating and, more often than not, amusing. And those who praised CL for capturing life as an 11-year-old will be pleased to know that HOS continues the trend.

It took me a while, too, to remember how I wrote the first novel. With the new one, I was going over every scene with a fine tooth comb and finding it very laborious, when it hit me: On the first book I just wrote the story. I kept going and going, intent on getting the thing out of my head and onto the computer, with a view to returning to it later to embellish the descriptive parts and check the grammar. Now that I have remembered the approach, I’m doing it again on HOS. The editing and embellishing process is a real pleasure, whereas the writing of the story, even in this sketchy way to start with, is the work.

I’ll let you know when this, the hardest part, is done.

How To Get Published - According to the London Book Fair Masterclass

2007-04-19T12:55:00.000Z

The Masterclass “How To get Published”, held as part of this year’s London Book Fair, was a bit of an eye opener. Much of what was discussed I already knew, which boosted my confidence, but there were one or two pieces of information that I felt contradicted general received wisdom.

The class was attended in the hundreds, and the four speakers formed a panel on the stage, each giving a talk and taking questions from the floor.

First up was literary agent Simon Trewin. A lot of what he had to say was standard stuff – treat your approach like a job interview, list your previous successes, demonstrate that you really want to write (he even advised listing any writers courses you have been on), really sell yourself, present your work on one side of A4 with double line spacing and number the pages. It was refreshing to hear him say he would consider anyone from any background provided their writing is exceptional.

Something that had been bothering me for a good while was having to submit my work to agents and publishers one at a time because it’s considered bad form to pitch to a few in one go (in case they ring up saying they want to publish and you say you’ve already got a deal thanks). I learned from Simon that you can pitch to four or five agents at once, provided you tell them that that’s what you have done. It was such a relief to hear it, because the commonly accepted method would mean having to wait weeks and months just to hear from one organisation, and it would take a great many years to approach them all.

Another encouraging piece of advice (for me, anyway) was to send off your already published book to the agent and explain what your game plan is for sequels or your next book. Needless to say, Anne Droyd and Century Lodge will be going in the post to him and a handful of others this week!

My good friend and fellow author, Darryl Sloan, might be surprised to know that Mr Trewin cast publish-on-demand companies in a highly favourable light and specifically named Lulu.com as a good example. He also welcomed the idea of self-published authors who have had modest success backed up by sales and reviews sending in their POD book. He said they are easier to read on the tube than a lot of loose paper (i.e. manuscript). So, Darryl, my advice to you is stick a copy of Chion in the post as soon as you can.

Another thing I learned was that “no unsolicited manuscripts” does not mean you shouldn’t bother trying at all. It simply means don’t send in your submission. However, you may write the agent/publisher a one page letter describing your novel and ask if they would like to see it.

Following Simon Trewin was a representative from publisher Little, Brown, a lady called Antonia Hodgson. The most memorable thing she said (from my perspective) was that publishers tend not to look at unsolicited manuscripts. They use the agencies as a filtering system and consider what the agents pitch to them. And not everything pitched is taken on. So, for me, the focus really should be agents rather than publishers.

Tim Lott, author of The Scent of Dried Roses and The Seymour Tapes, was quite a dour fellow, but amusingly so. He said he didn’t enjoy writing at all (picking up on what Simon had said earlier – “Do it because you enjoy it”). He said having to sit down for four, five, six hours a day and try to write thousands of words is not enjoyable – it is work.

I was also surprised to find that even a successful author with a few well received books under his belt and a reputable literary agent plugging his work could still have a proposal rejected. The Strange and Somewhat Sad Story of Sadie Strongheart, a novel developed from a story he told his god daughter was turned down by several publishers before Walker Books took it on and published it as Fearless.

He was refreshingly honest and said that when his first novel was repeatedly turned down he did consider giving up and focusing on a different avenue of his life. I took some comfort from this, as I too have often seriously considered giving up. Trouble is, it only takes me to have a great idea while soaking in the bath, and then I’m saying, “I really must write that down. It would make a great book!” So, I guess I’m a real writer – I cannot stop.

Mr Lott made an interesting distinction between genre writers and original storytellers. He said if you want to make a lot of money become a genre author and just mimic whatever is popular at the moment.

He told a funny story about a well known genre writer who admitted that all he does is buy the Top Ten books on the current New York Times bestseller list, read them all, and then take the best bits an amalgamate them into a plot of his own. It’s downright plagiarism, but he gets away with it. He’s writing pap for the masses and earning a fortune from it.

But if you want to tell a story that means something special, if you want to make a point about something you see in the world, or make your reader think in a profound way, you may not make a lot of money at all. Most novelists who are committed to telling original stories never give up the day job.

The final speaker was bestselling writer Joanne Harris, known largely for authoring Chocolat. As with Tim Lott, that book was not her first venture into publishing. She had done a couple of other projects; she had a mainstream publisher and an agent to help place her work. And yet Chocolat was rejected by several companies on the grounds that British readers won’t want a book set in France. Of course, eventually it was published, and was then optioned as a movie. The movie actually got made and various aspects of the film were nominated for the prestigious Oscar award. The work is now world famous, much loved, and Joanne Harris is a household name.

She said she felt obliged to challenge Tim’s view, that writing is not enjoyable, that it is just hard work. Harris said that to her it is very enjoyable indeed. She loves it.

A point that came over quite forcefully from all four speakers is that the publishing world cannot predict trends (although they do often capitalise on existing trends). They advised prospective authors to just work hard on their books. An agent/publisher will often make their decision based on the strength of the opening paragraph. Simon Trewin said that if he reads beyond the first paragraph, he carries on until either there comes a point that he’s lost interest, or he gets so lost in the story he forgets where he is. Naturally, if your submission induces the latter frame of mind, you might well receive that much anticipated phone call.

I came out of the class with a clear plan. I will try to cultivate interest with literary agents by sending off Anne Droyd and Century Lodge, and in the interim continue with my plan to self-publish Anne Droyd and the House of Shadows if no one takes me up. There are too many people out there asking when the next one’s coming out for me to stop. And Anne is not the only card up my sleeve. There are other projects that simply must be put in the hands of the reading public.

So it’s onward and upward.

Will Aspie: "Is It Me?" (A trip to the recording studio)

2007-04-04T21:44:00.000Z

Those of you who have read The Feeling’s Unmutual will know that I tried my hand at song writing during the mid-1990s. Inspired by the music and lyrics of Hue & Cry, the Moody Blues and Gary Numan, I began writing personalised verses and set them to simple but catchy synthesiser chords. Heavily into early-to-mid Gary Numan at the time, I reasoned that with a keyboard, an acoustic guitar, live drums and a girl backing vocalist, I would be able to knock out something half decent.

Unfortunately, all I had access to at that time was my own abilities as a writer, my voice, and a cheap synthesiser which I could barely play. Between 1992 and 1996 I wrote about twenty songs. My method of recording was to learn the chord patterns on the keyboard and play them with a selected sound (say piano or synth-strings) onto a cassette, play the cassette through a karaoke machine, and sing the vocal over it into a tape recorder placed by the loud speaker. The result was a very rough recording of the bare bones of a song.

While most said my lyrics were rather obvious and juvenile (and I concede that some were), there were people who actually appreciated what I was doing. The latter were usually musicians themselves.

For example, I attended a radio course, and the tutors, who loved mucking about with sound and played in a band, were very enthused by my attempts.

A few musical types on my wife’s side of the family were also motivated by them. A nephew asked if he could make the songs available to friends who would respect what I was trying to do, while another told me, “You can’t read or write music, you can’t play a keyboard properly, and you have no gear to do a decent recording. But you did it anyway. And that’s what we love about it.”

Personally, though, I was disillusioned. It aggravated me that I couldn’t even achieve what I knew were only the basic ingredients, namely keyboards, a bit of guitar, drums, a backing vocal, and a decent mix. And so, when, in October 1997, I wrote Is It Me?, I decided I wouldn’t record it until I had the means to do a good job.

Ten years elapsed before I saw a flyer on the notice board in the office where I work advertising the Quax Studios in Huddersfield, north of England. Consisting of Stuart Comins on guitars, Gary Collins on keyboards and associated electronic tricks, and Phil Brown on drums, Quax toured the local pubs playing a live set, and offered their talents for a fee in the recording studio. Bands were invited to go along and record their demo, folk singers could make a CD to distribute at their gigs, and singer-songwriters could go in with little more than a lyric and a melody, and the band would create it from scratch, layer by layer.

I sent Stuart a very rough copy of Is It Me? to give him some idea of what I wanted to do, and told him I imagined synthesisers, an acoustic guitar, live drums and a girl backing vocal. He said it could be done for £120.00 (a day’s session with musicians supplied – a day with your own band being mixed by Stuart is £80.00), but I would have to provide the girl backing vocalist. And I knew immediately who it should be.

Kelly Fry worked for a few months on my team in the office, and I discovered that she used to be the lead singer in a local band. Then one day I heard her singing to herself as she passed me on her way to the photocopier – and I knew instinctively that she would be the person I would approach, should I ever be able to record my songs properly.

She jumped at the chance, she having missed singing generally, and being more than a little curious about the recording process. I gave her the very rough demo on CD and indicated which bits needed the backing. We actually worked out the details over the phone.

Saturday the 24th of March 2007 was the big day. I arrived at the studio in Huddersfield at 9 am to find Phil Brown setting up his drum kit. He had been listening to Gary Numan’s 1980 Top Ten hit We Are Glass to get an idea of what I might want. Stuart Comins arrived at 9.30, followed by Gary Collins, his keyboards and box of tricks, at 10. Again, Gary Numan was the template for the style, but after a little experimentation it became clear that what suited the song was more New Order than Gary Numan.

I stuck to my remit of electronics and acoustic sounds blended together. Sadly we didn’t have time to put on some acoustic guitar. However, the rest of the piece was in place by midday. Phil had created a very catchy beat on the drums, and Gary had found the chords of the song, supplied a funky synth-strings sound (a combination of sounds he had programmed the night before) and even created an extra little melody to make the melody a bit more varied.

Then Kelly Fry arrived. The afternoon was spent going over and over the vocals until we got them as good as possible. Stuart was concerned that I was concentrating too much on the words and not enough on the tune. Phil agreed, observing that I was virtually talking the vocal. Favourable comparisons were made with Leonard Cohen.

As recording was finalised, Gary said it didn’t sound like anything else around. It was a bizarre mishmash of electronic music, folk lyrics, and Leonard Cohen vocals. He also felt it was unusual to have a pop/rock song in the key of C. For better or worse, I was pleased that the band thought it odd, because that meant it was uniquely mine.

When I got home I suffered a bit of self-confidence failure, believing that my contribution as singer ruined the excellent job everyone else had done. The following morning, though (after a good night’s sleep, the session was great fun but very hard work), I decided it wasn’t half bad, and by the third day I was prone to playing the record nice and loud whenever I was left alone.

A friend of mine emailed to say he had played his copy several times over, and my step-daughter liked it straight off.

For anyone interested in music and song writing, and who lives within reasonable distance of Huddersfield (and especially if you’re in a band – it will be significantly cheaper if you share the fee among yourselves), I would recommend that you spend a day with Quax.

I went in at 9 am with little more than a melody and some lyrics, and came out at 6 pm with a record. I consider it £120.00 well spent. I’ve just got to find a way of doing the rest of the album now!

Is It Me?

Written and sung by Will Aspie
Keyboards by Gary Collins
Drums by Phil Brown
Backing Vocals by Kelly Fry

Hand claps by Will Aspie, Phil Brown and Shirley Ridings

Produced by Stuart Comins

Recorded at Quax Studios, Huddersfield. 24 March 2007.

You can download the track from the Quax web site here: http://www.qwax.co.uk/electronic.html

The Most FAQ: When is "Anne Droyd and the House of Shadows" coming out?

2007-02-28T22:26:00.000Z

The plot for House of Shadows was formulated soon after the first edition of Century Lodge was published by CK Publishing in June 2002. Editor Calum Kerr put in a little trailer at the end, reading, “Coming Soon – Anne Droyd and the House of Shadows”, and asked me to write a version of Chapter One that could go in as a teaser. By the time of publication, though, it was decided that the teaser shouldn’t be included because it would be necessary to gage sales of Book One before we embark on a second title.

Century Lodge featured in North West newspapers, and I was interviewed on two separate occasions by Diane Oxberry and Becky Want at BBC Greater Manchester Radio. As a result, the book topped the Bolton chart (thanks to Stella Morris and Sweetens of Bolton). Sadly, though, CK Publishing was unable to establish a national presence and decided not to pursue a sequel.

By late 2003 I was casting my net over greater waters in the hope of interesting big name publishers. At the same time, I was investigating the condition Asperger syndrome, believing the diagnostic criteria held the key to certain behavioural traits and thought patterns within my own psyche and explained a number of situations in my own life that had been puzzling me over the years. It was in 2003 that I diagnosed myself as being on the lower end of the autistic/Asperger spectrum.

During my research, I came across Jessica Kingsley Publishers, who specialise in the behavioural sciences, and submitted my autobiographical account The Feeling’s Unmutual. Almost as an afterthought, I sent them Anne Droyd and Century Lodge, believing that the central character possessed many of the traits exhibited by AS children. Jessica Kingsley agreed, and, in addition to publishing The Feeling’s Unmutual, commissioned a new edition of Anne Droyd and Century Lodge as ‘an Asperger adventure’.

The new version of Century Lodge was published in late 2004 and exhibited a photomontage of the real Century Lodge on the cover. The text was tightened up, and a Contents page was added, but generally the story remained unchanged.

The plan, as before, was to see how it sells, and if it sold well, a second adventure would be commissioned. JKP sent out books to a number of local and national newspapers, as well as various TV chat shows like Richard & Judy, in the hope that Anne would get that much needed exposure and be catapulted into the public eye.

However, it was not to be.

I received letters and emails from a steadily growing fan base. My creation was praised on a number of Asperger related web sites, as well as Amazon. But generally, the media did not respond at all. They didn’t even say it was rubbish.

And so, for a second time, my offer of a sequel was turned down. From then on I grew despondent, wondering if I shouldn’t just call it a day.

But Anne wouldn’t die. For, every now and then, an individual would email me, or a youngster would write me a letter, and each time it would close with the same question: When is House of Shadows coming out?

This, and my good friend Darryl Sloan (author of the newly released children’s adventure Chion), spurred me on to find a way of publishing the sequel without the backing of a mainstream publisher. It was Darryl who put me on to print-on-demand.

Print-on-demand companies are not publishers. They are printers. Technology has improved to such a point that it is no longer necessary to print hundreds of books and store them in a warehouse. An author can upload his latest book via the company’s web site, have it converted into a paperback template, design the cover, and make it available on demand. So, if one hundred people order the book, the company can print one hundred copies and mail them out. But, by contrast, if only two people want copies, just two copies can be printed and mailed out.

I am still hopeful that I will be able to attract a mainstream publisher. Until I do, I am ever mindful that the fans of Anne Droyd have had nothing new to read since 2002. This is a situation I feel compelled to address.

I recently created an account with print-on-demand company Lulu.com/uk. I have formatted the existing House of Shadows material (the first three or four chapters) to the standard paperback template. During the next few months I will be going over what I already have, and then I will write the rest of the book. I’m discussing what kind of cover it should have with an artist, and a designer based in the United States has found the font that was used on the second edition Century Lodge logo, which will be good for uniformity.

Assuming I can get the book written, proofread, and edited by the summer, we could be looking at an October 2007 release.

You have waited long enough!

Will H.

WELCOME!

2007-02-28T22:06:00.000Z

It is with great pleasure that I announce the launch of my very own blog. My good friend and fellow author Darryl Sloan had been suggesting it for a while. I had a good look round his site and concluded that having a blog would be a significant step forward in promoting my books and keeping my readership up to date on all things Will Hadcroft.

If you've read The Feeling's Unmutual and want to carry on where the book left off, this is the place to be. If you've read Anne Droyd and Century Lodge and are waiting for news of the first of the sequels, this is where it will be announced.

I have a few projects in the pipeline.

Keep watching this space!

Thanks for dropping by.

Will H.