The Interview - Wallace Briggs
What inspired you to become a writer?
My story telling arose from the necessity of having to keep four holiday friends of my young son, entertained for an hour or so, in the confines of a beach tent, one very wet annual holiday in Great Yarmouth. The stories grew over the course of the following showery afternoons as my son and his new-found friends sought shelter until the rain clouds passed.
Do you now or have you ever considered using a pen name?
I don’t use one but had considered writing as Ed Wallace –
What are the best and worst bits of being an author?
The best bits and my raison d’tere is to see the wonderment on children’s faces as a tale unfolds.
The worst bits – getting stuck! Rare but I think all writers hit a wall, however briefly, when writing a story. Particularly if, like me, you don’t work to a pre-planned plot.
Who are your favourite authors and how did they inspire you to write?
My favourite adult authors are Tolkein and Rowling followed by Wilbur Smith and then a plethora of adventure writers of the ilk of Pattinson, Brown, Baldacci, K Slaughter, etc
In children’s literature: Rowling may be the greatest living author but at the top of my list would be Enid Blyton and Rupert Bear stories in verse.
Enid Blighton’s Magic Far Away Tree brought enchantment to both my sons and I so wished that I could entertain in the same way.
What does a typical writing day look like for you , and do you have any rituals to help you to get into the right frame of mind or anything like that?
I’m afraid there’s no such thing as a typical writing day. So much depends on the needs of my disabled wife. There are no rituals. When the spirit moves, as they say, you have to obey, at the earliest opportunity. “It” is a very ethereal, almost religious, bidding. When I first started getting my stories onto paper it was during long train journeys between Durham and London, over the course of product training for a new career.
Do you plan your story or do you go with the flow and let the story write itself? If you plan it, could you talk us through how you do it please?
I don’t have a plan! Sometimes it’s just the merest idea that grows almost unbidden into a new story. I am often amazed as a plot develops on the page in front of me.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I always loved writing and kept a quite detailed daily diary for several of my late teen years. But I didn’t become a writer of children’s stories until approximately fifteen years after that holiday in Great Yarmouth.
Other than writing, how do you spend your day?
My life revolves around looking after Pat. We have recently celebrated our Diamond anniversary. But I doubt if we would survive quite as well without the great assistance offered by my widowed sis – in law, Denice.
Which was your favourite chapter to write and why?
Almost always it is the last chapter of whichever book I am writing at that time. To conclude something that has occupied me during the preceding weeks or months or even longer. And then to begin either the next adventure with that character or to begin with a completely different set of characters who can only come to life if I can capture their essence on the written page.