{"id":608,"date":"2020-12-08T13:03:50","date_gmt":"2020-12-08T13:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/?p=608"},"modified":"2020-10-30T14:50:48","modified_gmt":"2020-10-30T14:50:48","slug":"author-qa-with-richard-james","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/?p=608","title":{"rendered":"Author Q&#038;A with Richard James\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">Author Q&amp;A with Richard James<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>*This post contains affiliate links*<\/em><\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-609\" src=\"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/rjames_107-240x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/rjames_107-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/rjames_107-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/rjames_107-768x960.jpg 768w, https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/rjames_107-1229x1536.jpg 1229w, https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/rjames_107-1638x2048.jpg 1638w, https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/rjames_107-1140x1425.jpg 1140w, https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/rjames_107-scaled.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><\/h2>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">Richard James is an actor, author and playwright. He has appeared in many tv series such as The Mysti Show, Eastenders, Doctors and MI High and on the big screen with such names as Burt Reynolds, Helena Bonham Carter and Benicio Del Toro. On stage, he has toured the UK in adaptations of David Walliams&#8217; most popular children&#8217;s books.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">He has written almost thirty plays that are performed around the world, frequently winning awards in festivals and competitions.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">As an author, he has written a series of Victorian detective crime novels and short stories featuring Bowman Of The Yard. He has also written various novels and short stories set in and around the worlds of legendary tv producer, Gerry Anderson.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">Find out more about Richard&#8217;s career and books at <a href=\"http:\/\/richardjamesonline.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=http:\/\/richardjamesonline.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1604153622236000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGw9m1H3rfTw9_12PGjsc57Cu92QQ\">richardjamesonline.com<\/a> or <a href=\"http:\/\/bowmanoftheyard.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=http:\/\/bowmanoftheyard.co.uk&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1604153622236000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGoACz_GM4BRqkDe1fir_SmaR2bqQ\">bowmanoftheyard.co.uk<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><!--more--><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">1. Tell us about your writing\/ published book(s)<\/h3>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">My main series of novels and short stories feature Detective Inspector George Bowman of Scotland Yard and all take place in the year 1892. In fact, there is a different story, either a novel or short, for each month of the year. The first novel, The Head In The Ice, sees Inspector Bowman released from a lunatic asylum following the death of his wife &#8211; a death for which he blames himself. As the series progresses, we see how he deals with a succession of investigations while fighting the demons that haunt him. The Bowman Of The Yard series is published in ebook and paperback by Sharpe Books.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe style=\"width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"\/\/ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=GB&amp;source=ac&amp;ref=qf_sp_asin_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=elizabethholl-21&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=GB&amp;placement=B0874XC6Z4&amp;asins=B0874XC6Z4&amp;linkId=53347750be7d1bd32c591e6ba8687907&amp;show_border=false&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true&amp;price_color=333333&amp;title_color=0066c0&amp;bg_color=ffffff\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><br \/>\n<\/iframe><iframe style=\"width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;source=ac&amp;ref=qf_sp_asin_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=ehollandautho-20&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=US&amp;placement=B0874XC6Z4&amp;asins=B0874XC6Z4&amp;linkId=e78722839f182887d11a397cf6a5c9a6&amp;show_border=false&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=false&amp;price_color=333333&amp;title_color=0066c0&amp;bg_color=ffffff\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><br \/>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">2. Have you always wanted to write?<\/h3>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">As an actor, I&#8217;m very seldom in charge of my career. I take each job as it comes and tell someone else&#8217;s story as best I can. As a writer, I have complete control! I&#8217;ve found acting and writing go hand in hand. They seem to exercise the same muscles. My first written work was a surreal two man play called The Dreaming, where two characters in a play slowly realise they are just that. I went on to write almost thirty other plays before turning my hand to producing a novel.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">3. What advice would you give to someone wanting to write their first book?<\/h3>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">Don&#8217;t beat yourself up if you don&#8217;t make your word count for the day &#8211; play the long game! Even writing 500 words a day could mean a novel in six months. People often say &#8216;write what you know&#8217;, but I would say, write what you enjoy. Find yourself a set of characters you want to spend time with and pay attention to the closing lines of each chapter. Make your reader want to read on!<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">4. Do you do research for your books? If so, what kind of research?<\/h3>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">My Bowman Of The Yard series is set in Victorian England so there is a lot of research to be done for each book. Whilst I&#8217;m careful to be as accurate as possible, I don&#8217;t mind bending the facts a little to suit my story. There are lots of online resources available for Victorian times. My favourite is a map of Victorian London that lets you to &#8216;toggle&#8217; to a present day view, which enables you to see how much things have changed &#8211; or not!<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">5. How do you handle criticism?<\/h3>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">As an actor, I think I&#8217;ve grown a very thick skin! I always ask myself, where is this criticism coming from and what is the intent behind it? If it&#8217;s from a place of offering thoughts for improving your work, take it! I changed the ending of my first novel after a very trusted author friend advised me to do so. If I had ignored him, it would have been a much poorer story. Bear in mind, though, that not everyone will like your work, some people just won&#8217;t get it and some just want to cause trouble!<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">6. Tell me about your main character<\/h3>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">A reviewer of The Head In The Ice said, &#8216;A more interesting character could not have been conceived of than George Bowman&#8217;, which pleased me no end! He&#8217;s vulnerable and wracked with guilt over the death of his wife, but he&#8217;s still a professional detective, too. He plays by the book, knows right from wrong\u00a0and, whether in the dark alleys of Victorian London or in the open vistas of a country village, is tenacious in his pursuit of the guilty.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RichardNJames\">You can find Richard James on Twitter.\u00a0<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Author Q&amp;A with Richard James *This post contains affiliate links* Richard James is an actor, author and playwright. He has appeared in many tv series such as The Mysti Show, Eastenders, Doctors and MI High and on the big screen with such names as Burt Reynolds, Helena Bonham Carter and Benicio Del Toro. On stage, he has toured the UK in adaptations of David Walliams&#8217; most popular children&#8217;s books. He has written almost thirty plays that are performed around the world, frequently winning awards in festivals and competitions. As an author, he has written a series of Victorian detective crime novels and short stories featuring Bowman Of The Yard. He has also written various novels and short stories set in and around the worlds of legendary tv producer, Gerry Anderson. Find out more about Richard&#8217;s career and books at richardjamesonline.com or bowmanoftheyard.co.uk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":112,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Author Q&A with @RichardNJames","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[14],"tags":[9,17],"class_list":["post-608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-author-interviews","tag-book","tag-books"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Black-and-White-Beauty-Quote-Pinterest-Graphic.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=608"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":612,"href":"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608\/revisions\/612"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elizabethhollandauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}