About Aidan J. Reid:
AIDAN J. REID is a writer and freelance blogger originally from Cloughmills, Northern Ireland.
His debut sci-fi thriller, PATHFINDERS, was released on March 1st 2016. Advance reviewers describe it as ‘Inception’ meets ’28 Days Later’.
The theme of lucid dreaming as well as what is hidden in the deep, dark subconscious parts of our mind are explored.
Aidan’s first lucid dream was in 2003 which prompted him to start writing this novel. Inspired by the works of Richard Matheson and Carlos Castaneda, his interest in alternative states of consciousness has grown exponentially and seen him travel to over thirty-five countries across five continents in search of new wonders.
Documenting those experiences in his blog, he enjoys putting those episodes and characters onto paper, lest they run amok inside his head!
What inspires you to write?
I’ve always had stories to tell. Crippling shyness when I was a teenager meant that my only outlet at the time was writing, something I found that I enjoyed enormously.
I’ve been writing in some form or another for two decades – firstly short stories, before getting my teeth into writing novels where I can really let my imagination run wild.
Tell us about your writing process.
I write every day. It may not be fiction, but it will be something (blog post, book review etc.) My writing schedule when I am locked in fiction mode looks something like this:
Find the nearest coffee shop. Park myself there and crank out 2-3000 words daily. This can take 4-5 hours. At the moment I’m living in Colombia and freelancing so I have flexible working hours, although I feel most productive either early in the day or late at night.
I have a general idea of the ending before I start to write. The main characters have usually kept me awake before I even put pen to paper, so it’s easy for me to give birth to them on the page. Generally speaking, I don’t think more than 3-4 chapters ahead. I let the characters guide me although the final destination is always clear.
I want the path to be uncertain. Plotting it ahead well in advance is predictable. I want to be carried away in the journey too, characters springing surprises as I write them.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I have no choice. Working through my second novel, I have a Catholic parish priest from Ireland who won’t stop talking. A librarian called Stephen Breagal has been locked in my head since 2003 when I first dreamed him up. Sometimes writing is the only way I can silence them, although they aren’t always happy with the results!
What advice would you give other writers?
Do it for the love. Not for the money. If you’re in it to get rich, you’ll fail. If you do it for the right reasons, it’ll help you deal with the inevitable rejection, dust yourself down and keep going.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
Self-Publishing is a route I wanted to explore. Like most indie authors, I received my fair share of rejection letters. Traditional publishing may be a route I look at for future novels, but I was so desperate to tell my stories, and with a sales and marketing background already, I felt self-publishing would be a more fitting route to market.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
Greater choice for readers. I’m worried about the low levels of entry and general quality of self-published books at the moment. It seems like every indie author is a Bestseller although the criteria they use to justify that title is shady at best. I think it would help if books on Amazon were better weighted, namely that those reviewed by Power Reviewers held more weight than those reviewed by someone who downloaded it for free and left a short comment.
That being said, it’s harder to get noticed now as a self-published author. Writing a good book is no longer enough. I fear that a bad author/ good marketer will beat a good author/poor marketer and something has to change to correct that.
What do you use?: Professional Editor, Professional Cover Designer, Beta Readers
What genres do you write?: Science Fiction / Thriller
What formats are your books in?: Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Aidan J. Reid Home Page Link
Link To Aidan J. Reid Page On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
All information in this post is presented “as is” supplied by the author. We don’t edit to allow you the reader to hear the author in their own voice.
Thanks for the opportunity!