Hi and welcome to my stop on Stephen J. Willis’s Spirits of the Dead blog tour with Love Books Group Tours!

Interview with Stephen J Willis…..

For those who don’t know already, could you tell us about yourself and your book(s) please?

My interest in the arts started in the acting world, wherein I had a few TV spots, like a pilot in the TV series Mile High on Sky One, and was even in an award-winning short film called Casting Call. I have written books in different genres. I have two novellas, based on true stories, a thriller and a very short ghost story. This current teen series is: The Christopher Daring Adventures, book1: Spirits of the Dead, book2: The Forest of Riddles. Other books in the series shall follow next year.

My website is: http://www.stephenjwillis.com

Where did/do you get your ideas from?

They come from various aspects of life and have built up from over the years. I read a cross-section of books and am interested in all sorts of films and documentaries. I constantly make notes for things to use in the future.

Are any of your characters based (however loosely) on anyone you know?

Yes, a mixture normally. But I’d never say incase the people found out…

How do you pick your characters’ names?

Some names just seem to site nicely, whereas others I need to use deeper meanings for. I may use names with deeper meanings depending on the persons ethnic background too.

Can you share your writing process with us, in a nutshell?

1) I work out an overall story

2) I list key moments/scenes/scenario/characters/plots/interests/worries/etc

3) I bullet-point each chapter, then add sub-subjects

4) I then begin to write each chapter. Although not necessarily in order

5) I then review if further layers or sub-plots are needed

Who are your top 5 favourite authors?

1) James Herbert

2) J.K. Rowling

3) Dan Brown

4) Christopher Fowler

5) M.C. Beaton

If you could meet any author, who would it be and what would you ask them?

James Herbert (back in the day) and ask where he got all his intel. Some of the stuff he wrote about was so secret I wonder how he found out.

Were you a big reader as a child?

Not really. Just the odd Roald Dahl or Enid Blyton. But in my mid-late teens I became more interested in positive business mind-set, and so would read and listen to constructive books and tapes all the time. Only in my twenties did I start back in to literary books.

When did you start to write?

I wrote my first basic story when I was 14 years old. It was called Liberation, but it was never finished. I wrote various bits and bobs over the next twenty years, but never took what I was doing seriously.

If you could re-write the ending to any book what would it be and what would you change?

Only one of my own shorter ones. I’d add a final twist, that I always wished I’d added.

Is there a book you wish you had written?

The Harry Potter series I suppose.

If you wrote an autobiography, what would your title be?

Lies aside, let me tell you the truth

If you could invite any fictional character for coffee who would it be and where would you take them?

Robert Langdon, (Dan Brown novels) and I’d take him to Brighton for a walk around the Lanes and sea front, before sitting down for a coffee at one of the wonderful coffee bars on the actual lower promenade.

What are you working on right now?

The current book I am working on is a psychological drama based on a true event. It is 90% done. I have been working on this. on an off, for about ten years actually, but I never felt happy with it. But I think I am practically there now. I’ll probably send it off to my editor for a first read sometime in November.

Tell us about your last release?

I released two books together: The Christopher Daring Adventures, book1: Spirits of the Dead, book2: The Forest of Riddles. Throughout the series, Christopher and his friends must overcome various despicable foes as they battle with riddles, codes, creatures of the night, deathly spectres and secret orders, as they go in search of Christopher’s missing brother and father. Other books in the series shall follow next year.

Do you have a new release due?

Nope, the new books are now out on Amazon or can be bought through any book seller.

What do you generally do to celebrate on publication day?

I have never celebrated actually. I just was so engrossed in getting the last release done that I was too tired to even think about a celebration.

How can readers keep in touch with you?

They can subscribe to my Newsletter on my website and get a free audio book in the process. As well as all the latest news, they will get the short ghost story: The Figure in the Mist sent to them. http://www.stephenjwillis.com

Is there anything else you would like us to know?

I drink too much tea and have a weakness for salted-caramel chocolate!

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions, Stephen 🙂

Blurb

Throughout the series, Christopher and his friends must overcome various despicable foes as they battle with riddles, codes, creatures of the night, deathly spectres and secret orders, as they go in search of Christopher’s missing brother and father.

Through the darkness of a starless night a tall shadowy figure rode silently along the long wet road. His black cloak flapped about him like the wings of a great vampire bat. Christopher Daring looked on from his bedroom window, both intrigue and suspicion forming the seed of a new adventure.

Once accompanied by his best friend Jason, they embark upon a ghostly trail into the unknown. They soon find themselves fighting for their lives as they become unexpectedly entwined with both the living and the dead.

Upon Jason becoming spiritually trapped and in danger of being lost to the clutches of death itself, Christopher takes up a quest to find a missing golden pocket watch, that should restore balance to the dark forces that surround them all. But, the twisted greed of the local ghostly priest and his demonic hound, Satan, have other ideas.

With an unusual mix of science, technology, cosmology, fantasy fiction and a dash of the spiritual self, the Christopher Daring Adventures is a thrilling ride into the impossible.