I’d like to welcome author, Robert P. French to the blog today for #ThisorThatThursday!

Things you need for your writing sessions: My laptop of course but more importantly the tools I use on it. I use SimpleMind to keep track of all the story ideas and the general flow of the book. I also have developed a spreadsheet that tracks each chapter and scene. It shows the date, time and location for each scene and all the characters who appear or are referenced in the scene and who is the point-of-view character. Other essentials are a thermos of good coffee and my writing playlist which is seven and a half hours of classical music.

Things that hamper your writing: Getting started. But once I start writing, I’m in the zone and nothing gets to me until I run out of steam.

Things you love about writing: The feeling I get as a new book starts to take shape and ideas pop into my head. I don’t plan my books in detail and let the writing and the characters take the book where it needs to go. This approach brings some wonderful surprises and plot twists. In my first book, Junkie, I didn’t know who the killer was until I was about seventy percent into the book. I also love the joy of expressing something in a really interesting way; sometimes, I will chew over a single sentence until I get it just right. But by far the best things are the emails and reviews I get from my readers after the release of a new book.

Things you hate about writing: Three things: getting stuck, getting stuck and getting stuck.

Hardest thing about being a writer: The constant worry that the book you are currently writing is not going to be as good as the previous ones.

Easiest thing about being a writer: People often ask me, ‘Where do you get your plot ideas?’ Getting plot ideas is the easiest part of writing. They pop into my head all the time. The trick is to spot that some random thought which has appeared, unbidden, in your consciousness is a potential plot line. Just make sure you write it down because it can pop out of your head just as easily as it popped in.

Words that describe you: Friendly, cheerful, humorous, logical, fair and not quite as intelligent as I like to think I am.

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Stubborn and sometimes dogmatic.

Favourite beverage: I love craft beer. When I first emigrated to Canada, I really missed the beer of my native England. When the craft beer revolution started I was an instant fan. I am lucky enough to now live within a seven-minute walk of seven excellent craft breweries.

Something that gives you a sour face: Any drink with a cherry flavour. I love to eat cherries, they are one of my favourite fruits, but somehow, the taste of the fruit in a drink gets morphed into something I gag on.

Things you always put in your books: Unexpected twists and turns in the plot and in the lives of the characters.

Things you never put in your books: Long descriptions of a character’s physical characteristics. As a reader, I like to create the characters in my mind the way I want to see them, so I give my readers the same choice.

Things to say to an author: “Why do you write?” “How can I become a writer?” Where do you get your inspiration for plots and characters?” and of course, “Where can I buy your books?”

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: “I’ve never read any of your books because I only read literary fiction.”

Favourite places you’ve been: New York, New Orleans, San Francisco, Hong Kong, London as it was in my youth.

Places you never want to go to again: Prison… just joking. Hong Kong as it descends into becoming an oppressed city.

Favourite books (or genre): I enjoy crime fiction (I am a huge Michael Connelly fan) and sci-fi (my favourite sci-fi book is still Asimov’s Foundation trilogy). My favourite author of all time is John Steinbeck. Although I am not a huge fan of fantasy, I have read Lord of the Rings twelve times over the years.

Books you wouldn’t buy: Books where the protagonist is perfect. Paranormal fiction.

People you’d like to invite to dinner (living): Philosopher and neuroscientist Sam Harris, physicist Bryan Cox, astrophysicist, Neil Degrasse Tyson, actors Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Coleman, author Michael Connelly.

People you’d cancel dinner on: Anyone who is famous for being famous, for example a Kardashian or a Jenner or any reality TV personality.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: “Getting lost in your book gave me a wonderful respite from the worries of being a caregiver for my sick father.”

The craziest thing a reader said to you: Confusing me with my protagonist, Cal Rogan, one reader asked. “Have you stopped using the heroin now?”

About Robert:

Robert French is a software developer, turned actor, turned author. He is the writer of the seven (so far) Cal Rogan Mysteries crime-thrillers about a drug-addicted ex-cop who fights his way from living rough on the streets to being a much-sought-after PI. The series, set in Vancouver, Canada, reflects the best and worst of the city. He is passionate about having the right words on the page and with every new book, his goal is to make it better than the previous one. His loves are his family, science, language, certain elements of philosophy and craft beer.

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