Guest Entry by Brooke Holme (Author of Dangerous Jungles, Masks, Times Apart and In The Middle of Things)

“I’ve got a strong background in social sciences, so my background creates the twists and plots in the story. I often get worried that I include too much of the more technical in my books, so I try to hit a balance between the actual story and what I think the characters need to do or say that is technical. Otherwise, inspiration is everywhere for me. I’m the type of writer that gets up at night with a new idea in their head. I always have something I can scribble on nearby and I very often do.

There are several books of mine that Gold Orchid Publishing has accepted – Masks, Dangerous Jungles, Times Apart and In The Middle Of Things.

I tend to write quite fast when I do (I always use my computer, apart from for scribbling, due to many cases of repetitive strain injury on my hand when I tried to write on paper as a teen), and I tend to have a lot of novels and half-finished novels lolling about.

Dangerous Jungles was my first book that I decided was ready for publishing (it’s an exciting, but a frightening step, deciding to get published) and that was mainly inspired by the what ifs of research in jungle. I like adventure films, even if I tend to write romance rather than pure adventure (you’re free to file this under “a hopeless romantic deep down”) and I tend to think about things getting more exciting all the time.

That’s what forms the plot in Masks, as well… but Masks were actually inspired by someone I know and their research in Africa, so a lot of data is based on facts.

Times Apart is a hopeless romance novel, and that was inspired by many stories of a character or characters ending up in a different time. I watched a documentary on the Templars shortly before the idea popped into my head, so I blame that one on the documentary. Also, it was quite interesting to study the ideas people have on time-slides. There’s quite a lot of people who apparently have had a similar experience, and it is actually studied by a lot of science orientated people (ref), not just people who like to scare themselves or are prone to believe odd things. So, while I personally remain a sceptic, I still think that it is perfectly reasonable to say – wouldn’t it be nice, if.

In The Middle Of Things is the first book of what is hopefully going to become a crime/mystery series featuring a character called Thora Greywater. The original Thora was actually based on myself, out of spite. I don’t tend to let a lot of people read what I write, but I got sick and tired of them asking if a character was me, so I decided to make one that was (apart from the fact that I’m not nearly as fit and as pretty as her). So she’s got emotional problems, and she’s a sort of tetchy, very sciency character that doesn’t do personal life very well, something I tend to think I can relate to.

In the end, though, a lot of Thora’s work and ideas come from a different person, and that by pure chance. I really don’t want to say anything more, because the work I mention is as yet unpublished, but I still feel it’s enough of an inspiration to have completely changed Thora’s character in many ways.

Inspiration, therefore, tends to change us, and the way we write.”