Author Q&A with Vince Stevenson

I have written a few non-fiction books. The Fear Doctor and Anxiety Quick Wins, the latter written in April-June 2020, hopefully, published in the next month.

I’ve also co-authored (with 32 other people a Leadership/Management book – The Successful Mind, out in October.

However, my travel book, The Truck 1995 has just been submitted for publication and I’m really proud of it, as I’ve been sitting on the story for 25 years.

In the meantime, there are excerpts on https://www.thetruck1995.com if you have a moment. Be careful it’s 18+ material.

Vince is also co-author of the International bestseller The Successful Mind Book on the subject of leadership, management and personal success. 

1. What advice would you give to somebody wanting to writing their first book?

Naturally, it would depend on the nature of the book. I write non-fiction because I use the books as lead-magnets for my training courses. I’m a researcher first and foremost who studies extensively and then produces course content around my studies. My books are about overcoming fear and anxiety, and leading a better life on your own terms.

Advice – have a clear idea of what you want to achieve from each chapter. Are there any dependencies in the content? Work them out so that you take the reader on a progressive and coherent journey. When you finish the journey, the reader needs to feel ideally that they’ve been educated and entertained and have arrived at a better place. Your characters must be credible and relatable so that the reader can empathise with them. In my books I talk about my failings and mistakes and my occasional successes. I may well have some peculiar ideas on some subjects, but there is no life-template for 35 or 60-year-olds, or ages before or after. We all experience life through a different lens. If the audience can relate to your toils, the better your connection.

Writing a book is a huge undertaking. Stick with it. Even if you can only manage an hour per day writing, keep writing and building your creative muscles. Keep backup copies and email them to yourself and never throw a good idea away. It could always be recycled for something else.

2. Tell me about your current work

I have just submitted my book entitled The Truck 1995. It’s about a trip from Ushuaia in Argentina to Mexico City in 1995. 28 wackos on a broken-down truck for four months. Drink, drugs, sexual frustration – the rest of the guys had their problems too. The composition of the group was interesting in the context of dysfunction which caused daily amusement, animosity, and heated argument. Numerous factions emerged – the vegetarians and carnivores were often at each other’s throats most days. I describe it as Stockholm Syndrome meets Animal Farm. A great trip with many adventures and I wouldn’t change anything.

3. Have you always wanted to write?

No. But because I was a reasonably successful footballer, I felt that my artistic side never had a chance to shine. I was always articulate and sharp-witted and could extract a laugh on most occasions. In 1987 I moved to London and lived alone for the first time in my life. I seemed to have a lot of time to myself, in peace. So, I started to read Graham Greene, Hemingway, Conrad, Marquez, EM Forster, Oscar Wilde, Thomas Hardy and others. Then I read A Year in Provence, and that stirred my creatives. I started writing short stories for computer magazines and about 80% of them were accepted. I did a few writing classes at local colleges and thoroughly enjoyed meeting artistic people for the first time. In 1997, I met my wife and all creative writing energy ceased. Perhaps writing was a therapeutic love substitute. Because there was a lot of personal issues on my South America trip (I had three exercise books of notes), I let those issues, good and bad, lie.

 

4. Tell me about your main character.

This is from my book The Truck 1995

I met Breeze at a Classics reception in Santiago in 1995. She’s Canadian, early thirties.5’10” and she’s dressed casually in ripped jeans and a sweat top while all her academic friends are in their cocktail dresses. I saw her smile and listened to the way she spoke; sexy accent, highly educated and articulate, funny, charming and self-deprecating humour. She’s with her partner Emma, but I didn’t know that at the time. I had two minutes to introduce myself and grab her attention, so I told her a Latin joke, in English. It got a groan of a laugh and a group date the following evening. But that was a disaster because Emma wrecked it. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. However, the following day, Breeze comes to find me and tells me that she’s broken up with Emma and she’s flying home tomorrow morning. We spend an afternoon together where I’m just having fun and entertaining her, and suddenly she drops the bombshell that she’s bisexual, on the break and is entitled to go a little crazy. So, she wants a date, romance, seduction etc. Those are half of the details. As the evening progresses Breeze’s ulterior motives become apparent and we discuss sex and heterosexual relationships in detail – because her bisexual status was in her words, a teensy-weensy exaggeration. After that it’s funny, crazy, unforgettable. She’s the woman I’m looking for, but I met her in the wrong place in the wrong circumstances. But we both took a lot away from the experience – is that not the purpose of travel?

 

5. How do I handle criticism?

Criticism is fine when somebody has the courage to say it face-to-face. No problem. People hiding their comments behind fake social media handles is disappointing. I have a group of friends /colleagues who I know and trust will give me objective feedback. Their comments are invaluable. Writing/literature is hugely subjective. Some people love you and your genre, some people don’t. So long as you keep working on it and trying to improve, you’re heading in the right direction and it shows integrity. I have three brothers and I’ve told them about my writing interest over the years and they’ve never once asked me about my books. That’s worse than criticism – being blanked by your family. However, once you come to terms with it, don’t be deterred. Keep going – don’t let their issue become your issue.

 

6. How do you fit writing into your everyday life?

Although the pandemic dessimated my training business, it’s given me an incredible platform to become more active as a writer. I have three key interests. Writing, gardening and walking with my wife. The days flash by. I like writing early morning – between 6:30 and 10:30. Then my wife and I go for a walk and stop off for a coffee. Then we go home, take lunch and weather depending, we’ll spend the afternoon in the garden. We tend a huge communal garden in London and have about 50 rose bushes and plenty of other plants, shrubs, flowers and trees to attend. Watering takes two hours. In the evening, I come back to my writing. Do some Twittering and tidy things up for tomorrow. If there’s time, my wife and I watch a gardening or nature programme before going to bed. If I wrote all day non-stop, that would feel like hard work.