It gives me great pleasure to introduce author David John Griffin. David has come along to Patricia’s Pen to chat about his writing in the form of an interview. Enjoy.
My Writing
David John Griffin
About my Books
My first book is The Unusual Possession of Alastair Stubb. The genre is gothic with supernatural elements. It is set in an English village at the turn of the last century, populated by quirky characters. The story is full of mystery, suspense and intrigue.
The second novel, Infinite Rooms, is literary and psychological. It is quietly experimental in nature. It involves a young man called Donald Clement whose fragile mind is tortured by unrequited love.
My third book, Two Dogs at the One Dog Inn and Other Stories, is a novella with short stories.
The novella is a magical realism/paranormal story, based on emails between two women who work for an animal rescue centre, interspersed with journal entries from a fictional science fiction writer. The twelve short stories range from magical realism to sci-fi.
My fourth book is a science fiction adventure, Abbie and the Portal. “Help me, I’m trapped” is the plea from a young woman named Abbie Concordia, written as a mysterious note found inside a Victorian book. Terry Bridge, a reporter for The Charington Echo, takes up the challenge to save her…from the past.
My fifth book, Turquoise Traveller, is an urban fantasy novel. It is a strange tale of a young man who wakes up on a bus and doesn’t know where he is going or where he has been. He comes to realise that reality has been overlaid with dream elements.
Where do I find inspiration?
A lot of my ideas just pop into my head, although I also gain inspiration from my dreams. Sometimes, I press the Random button on Wikipedia and that can lead me to surprising places, offering inspiration.
Tips for anyone wanting to write their first book.
I’d recommend that if you’re going to delve right into writing without any planning, at least know how you’re going to start, a rough idea of the middle, and definitely know how the novel is going to finish.
Write your first draft from start to finish without going back to edit/amend/add anything. This all happens in your second and subsequent drafts.
Who is my favourite author?
I don’t think I have a favourite – I like and admire so many – but to mention three of them would be Mervyn Peake, Angela Carter and Haruki Murakami.
My favourite book/s
I still love Mervyn Peake’s The Gormenghast trilogy, as well as Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus, One by Colin Kapp, The Moustache by Emmanuel Carrere, Twilight Journey by LP Davies, and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Murakami.
My Favourite Place to write
I have a writing desk in my shed at the bottom of the garden – I love to write there but only when the weather is warm.
Otherwise I write on the computer in a spare bedroom which we call the studio. This harks back to the day in the 90s when I actually did have a small recording studio.
What am I working on now?
I am busy writing my sixth book, another novel, called Hotel Pseudo.
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About David John Griffin
David John Griffin is a writer, graphic designer, music composer and app designer. His first three books were published by Urbane Publications: a gothic novel called The Unusual Possession of Alastair Stubb, a literary/psychological novel, entitled Infinite Rooms, and a magical realism/paranormal novella with stories called Two Dogs At The One Dog Inn And Other Stories. He has stories published in four anthologies, one of those stories shortlisted for The HG Wells Short Story Competition 2012. In 2018, he self-published a science fiction adventure called Abbie and the Portal, and has a fourth novel called Turquoise Traveller published in 2019.
Links
Details of all David’s books can be found on his Website
Patricia M Osborne 
Found this fascinating Tricia. Genres here I would never even have thought about! Pretty cool👍x
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I’m glad you enjoyed it, Brian. Thank you for reading and commenting.
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