Author Bio:
Darren Lewis was born in Cardiff in 1975 and now lives with his wife and two children in Norfolk.
After twenty years in the print industry he has seen many books and magazines being produced around him, and although an avid reader of many genres, it wasn’t until his daughter Ellie, aged 6 at the time, asked for a story of her own that inspired him to put pen to paper.
“Ellie and I would like to make up bedtime stories, mainly about a kangaroo that travelled the world and have adventures. Then one day she quite calmly asked me for a book of her own!”
Bedtime stories and his daughter’s request would lead to the first book in the Seren trilogy. ‘Ellie and the Rabbits’ in which our young heroine meets a group of talking rabbits.
“My main goals were to induce a sense of wonder for my daughter, a sense of purpose and the importance of helping others.”
A short book of poems for children followed and the sequel ‘Ellie and the Dragon’ was released in August. The trilogy was completed and published in December 2013 with ‘Ellie and the Battle.’
“One of my proudest moments was completing ‘Ellie and the Battle’, reading it to my daughter and she understood the message I was trying to convey.”
What inspires you to write?
I’ve always loved reading when I was ten my parents owned about 1,000 books. My very first reading memories are of Dean Koontz, Stephen King et al. I never found them scary or too much and I was just entralled at what I was reading. I remember not being scared but being spooked by a passage in Dean Koontz’s Phantoms and even though I was reading with my back to a wall it made me look over my shoulder! I’ve always been intrigued into how writers can do that and of course illicit many other emotions.
My writing started in earnest when firstly my daughter asked for a book and my brother basically told me to get on with it. The spirit has always been there but for many years I think I was intimidated by reading other authors I admire and thinking how can I ever get close to this? But once I started I couldn’t stop!
Tell us about your writing process.
I combine seat of pants and a bit of planning. I usually sketch out what I want to write about the night before but I hardly ever write it down. I know a lot of people say you should write down your ideas if they happen at night but it doesn;t work for me when I’ve written ideas down that I thought were amazing I think they’re awful the next morning so I’ve found if I have an idea its best to sleep on it and if its good I’ll remember it.
If I do need to map out a few plot lines then I use a flow chart or just columns with the main characters names, I then write very brief sentences of what they’re up to and how it relates to what’s going on in general.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I become them completely and switch sides if a conversation is going on. It’s a bit disconcerting for my wife as I carry on these chats in my head afterwards while we’re having. I’m very easily distracted!
What advice would you give other writers?
There’s no such thing as bad writing.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
Self publishing is a very useful tool and is quite easy to do and is something that I am proud of doing but being picked up by a publisher does give you that confidence to keep going and going and working with mine, Creativia, has been a great experience.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I worked in print for twenty years and have watched the decline of all print markets and like all markets it seems to be the drive to get things done cheaper. On the flip side I think this has driven the self publishing market in a positive direction with ereaders, kindles, tablets et al.
What do you use?
Professional Editor, Professional Cover Designer
What genres do you write?
Children’s fantasy
What formats are your books in?
Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Darren Lewis Home Page Link
Link To Darren Lewis Page On Amazon
Your Social Media Links
http://www.facebook.com/ellieandtherabbits
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