John Reid

Actually, I am still very much a tour guide, although I am beginning to wind down so as to have more time for writing.

That's an interesting question. Maybe you should book a private tour with me on the island of Tenerife one day! Evidently my knowledge of the island, and especially of its amazing history, has added flavour to my short stories set in the islands. It also works in reverse. My short stories about travellers to the Canaries, as well as my historical blog articles in "Travel Stories in Tenerife and the Canary Islands", have often enhanced my dialogue with my tour clients.

That is the most difficult part. I need more time to write, but I also require more tours to make a decent living. Running my business involves getting up at the crack of dawn to pick up my clients, sometimes fighting traffic jams to get to the cruise ship port or to a hotel. It means a tour of anything between 6 and 8 hours long. By the time I return to base, I am exhausted. But, as you can imagine, it isn't all about having fun with my clients and being on the road or hiking all day. It also involves lots of paperwork; accepting orders, sending quotations, organising transport, invoicing, etc. Like any other small business. It sounds as if I am moaning. Don't get me wrong. I love my work, and get a massive kick out of meeting people from all over the world and enjoying wonderful times with my clients. I am very lucky. My writing process, for the moment at least, means dedicating any spare time I have to adding another paragraph or two to a manuscript, in between work, in the quiet evenings, at weekends, and so on. It means putting on some Debussy music, or similar, in the background, and then just letting the ink flow. Music always helps my pen dance, and sometimes I vary the music to fit in with a particular scene and mood of the storyline. One more thing, it isn't just work that gets in the way of writing! I have a lovely wife who requires love and affection. I also have fox terriers who don't always appreciate that I need to sit down to write!

Indeed it is a thriller, apparently a very good one too. What drew me into that genre? Actually, I had wanted to write "The Journalist" since 1983. I happened to go to the movies and watched "Local Hero". Obviously the genre of that movie and "The Journalist" have nothing in common, although, if one reads between the lines, there are similarities in the romantic, mysterious side of things. I came out of the cinema wanting to write my own story, thinking it might one day become a movie. I was a student at the time and decided to spend any spare time down in Cornwall and in the Isles of Scilly, where a part of "The Journalist" is set. Other aspects that drew me to write a thriller include my short military background, as well as my studies in law, politics and international relations.

My latest thriller is a sequel to "The Journalist". For those of you who have read "The Journalist", you will realise that I left several doors open; one for my protagonist, Jamie Ryder, to be recruited as an agent for the Secret Service; for there to be a continued threat from Ryder's terrorist enemies; and for his love affair with Ruth to develop. In my new thriller, the second of my Jamie Ryder series, the new MI6 agent is asked to cooperate with Spanish Security forces and the CIA in South America. The mission is to investigate how Colombian drug cartels are using Venezuela as a convenient base from which to filter cocaine into Europe, often via the Canary Islands.

I am a great believer in undertaking thorough research before writing a thriller. For example, in order to set the different scenes for "The Journalist", I investigated anything from the IRA to the Basque Separatist backgrounds, methods and history to Spanish and British politics at the time. I also read about Spanish fishing activities, and searched for a convenient port in northern Spain from which illegal arms shipments could be made to Ireland. The elements specific to the Canary Islands did not require such a lot of research. I live in the Canary Islands, and am very familiar with every aspect. Having said that, don't forget that my story is fictional and therefore my pen had free reign to entwine as it wished.

Oh, yes. I have been told that my short story collections have a touch of Lawrence Durrell in them. But I always like to feel I was influenced by authors like F Scott Fitzgerald, whose stories really got my imagination going. With regards to thrillers, I don't know whether they have influenced my style in any way, but Frederick Forsyth and John Grisham books stand out on my bookshelves.

I have always said that my stories come by letting my pen flow, and my imagination run free. I therefore don't make any particular effort to develop my characters in any way or another. Nor can I describe any specific approach to how I develop my characters. They develop themselves as they grow, and as the storyline eveloves. The second part of your question is quite amusing, if only because more than one person has suggested I write a book around my experience as a tour guide. I have met some extraordinary characters as a private tour guide, and I have occasionally had my wife in stitches describing them over a glass of wine, but alas, I have not yet used any of them to inspire a character. Maybe I shall one day.

The biggest and only challenge I have, and have not yet overcome as a self-published author is to generate more sales. I have great reviews, but little to show for them in terms of book sales. I am an absolutely hopeless salesman. That is why I keep on trying to attract a literary agent so that I can at least get the ball rolling with a traditional publishing company.

Everyone has a story in them. So, let the pen flow and see where it goes. However, I have seen a lot of atrocious use of the English language out there, so it is absolutely essential to be grammatically correct.

As I mentioned in a previous reply, I am absolutely useless at marketing and still haven't found a best way to reach an audience effectively. In my desperation, I have been led astray once or twice by certain people who promise "reviews" in exchange for thousands of sales. So, to all those new authors, just beware. If in doubt, stick to people like AllAuthor. They don't make promises. They just help one tick along. Then, with any luck, your book will suddenly go "boom"!

This is more of a question for the private tour guide in me. The islands, and in my case Tenerife, are like miniature continents. Tenerife has an amazing variety of scenic landscapes and flora. It has eleven different microclimates, each valley appearing to have its own identity. It has high cliffs, and charming black sand beaches. It has volcanoes, dense pine forests and even a subtropical rainforest. It has the majestic Mount Teide, with its peak floating above a nebulous horizon. It has a temperate climate, and local inhabitants whose generosity and kindness one rarely finds anywhere else. Their religious traditions, their harvest festivals and their fiestas have one wishing to be one of them. The islands also have their moodiness, especially when the Atlantic Ocean waves crash into the dark, volcanic rocks. What else could a writer, or a dreamer want? Does that answer your question?

From my short story collections I hope they take away a lot of history, plenty of culture, a touch of idiosyncrasies, amusement and love. So many readers have asked me, are any of these stories true, John? I smile and say "if you would like them to be true, let them be true".

I believe I have already answered this in your question 5. In other words, I am working on the sequel to "The Journalist". I'll give you another hint. Enemies will converge.

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