I’ve always wanted to write, and started writing from a young age. 

Specifically, writing was what I enjoyed rather than telling stories. Storytelling came later.

I started writing for an audience when I discovered science fiction and fantasy (SFF) fandom. That was the 1980s, when I hit teenhood. I wrote fanfic based mostly on Dr Who, Blake’s 7 and V, with dashes of the Hitch-hikers’ Guide to the Galaxy, Twin Peaks and pop music to spice it up. As for the quality of my writing at the time, all I’ll say is that readers enjoyed them for what they were. And I enjoyed writing them… but objectively, they weren’t well written.

I learned a lot about writing-as-craft when I wrote fanfic for fanzines. I also learned a lot about writing-as-craft when I edited stories sent to the fanzines I produced. That dual perspective is an interesting one, and immeasurably useful.

Fanfic writing is pleasurable in its own right. If I had the bandwidth to write original material and fanfic, I would simply because it’s fun. 

My writing trajectory did follow the learning while writing fanfic to writing for money path. It wasn’t intentional.

My first writing critique group were Dr Who fans. We wrote and edited Dr Who material, albeit not exclusively. Most of us wanted to be published in the then new range of original Dr Who novels, and one of our number was successful. It’s hard to believe that was about thirty years ago now… Anyway, I got close to getting a commission for that range, but it wasn’t to be. 

I learned through experience how things work in publishing. I also learned the differences in practical storytelling terms between fanfic and licensed tie-in works. One is more constrained than the other; both are fun in their own ways. Oh, and quality isn’t inherent in one and missing in the other. I’ve read some astonishingly good fanfic in my time, and some dire tie-ins, and vice versa.

The connections I made back then did lead to my first commissions: short fiction for licensed anthologies of Dr Who stories published by Big Finish. That eventually led to me pitching for the Candy Jar Lethbridge-Stewart series of books and successfully having two novels and a few short stories published in their range. 

While I published several pieces of non-fiction over the years, my main career at the time meant I couldn’t spend the time and energy on writing fiction for publication. 

That career has given me much to explore in creating stories and characters — nothing is wasted! I recently read Ray Bradbury’s Zen in the Art of Writing and his essay about a lengthy stay in Ireland unexpectedly prompting numerous stories is exactly about this soaking up of experiences that later feeds writing. My original spec fic novel, The Disinformation War, draws on my previous career a bit.

I also wrote stories that didn’t end up seeing publication. I’m content with that. I’ve repurposed a few of the better ideas in work that was published. It’s all practice and learning. Nothing wasted.

As I wrote at the start, I’ve always loved writing. I’ve always felt the need to put pen to paper and scrawl down words. Of sharing stories and creating worlds. Of exploring complex human things — emotions, thoughts, actions — through people who are not me. I’m not sure what I’d do if I no longer could write in some way. By write, I mean thinking of a story and then choosing which words to use in which order to convey that story. That process can happen using pen or pencil on paper, typing, or dictating to software that transfers spoken word into text. It doesn’t work with the current crop of so-called AI that’s being shoved everywhere against people’s will.

I kept in contact with professional publishing. It helped that many of my friends are writers and editors, forging their own careers.

About eight years ago I thought seriously about how to turn a vague idea into a strategy. I wanted to shift from full-time civil service career to writing for as much as a living as I could. One significant consideration was money. I planned to leave full-time employment when I had enough saved up to live frugally for a few years at least. Then my parents died and I ended up with a bit more money than I’d planned for and sooner. Now, I’m not rich and need to be careful with spending, but I’m okay. I note this because too often people don’t and other people get the wrong idea.

Mentioning the money angle is uncomfortable, but necessary. I knew for a long time that novel and short story writing doesn’t earn enough for people to live on, unless their work hits runaway bestseller success, and consistently so. There is a huge difference between the fantasy of writing life and reality… which is worsening for most writers.

The money situation is also a reason for me joining Ko-Fi. It’s one of the few venues that’s set up in a reasonable manner to pay writers in ways that won’t bankrupt readers. If you like what you read here, or on my pages there, then please do consider “buying me a coffee” or whatever — but don’t if you’re struggling. It’s just that maintaining a presence on the web costs money and any assistance given will be gratefully received.