I could go on about the importance of story and how all great stories start with clearly defined characters (after all, what is a story but the result of a character or chracters responding to their own needs and desires?), but I won't. Mainly because it is my belief that it is the prose that the most important element of good writing. I might be drawn to a story by theme, subject matter, or even the promise of a few astonishing set-pieces but what makes me commit to a book is reading the opening few lines. If a book is written in clear and precise prose, it is for me. It is this that has drawn me to the works of Ian McEwan, James Ellroy, and even Hilary Mantel. Ornate prose, no matter how great the book it conveys, is just not for me (and I'm thinking of Tom Wolf and his - probably - blistering Bonfire of the Vanities; I just couldn't get past the first few pages).
I have always been an avid reader, even in my most formative years (one of my aunts used to call me "the bookworm", a term I didn't understand and always worried about!). Puffin books were the order of the day back then but in-between reading things like Treasure Island and The Jungle Book, I was also borrowing books from friends with somewhat more liberal parents, books like Jaws. Indeed, it was the latter that would have a much greater influence on me than any of the classics. By the time I reached the tender age of 11 and discovered that YA books had still to be invented, I swiftly transitioned to a writer who would become my single greatest influence: James Herbert. As for how long have been writing, it would be simpler to consider if I can remember a time when I wasn't writing. And the answer to that would be no. I have vague recollections of writing such genre fancies as The Time Corrdior, The Devil Hound, and even Half Man, Half Horror when I was about 8 years old. Nothing unusual there perhaps, except I do recall writing these stories on my own time and in addition to any school work that I had to complete. I suppose I just had to be writing.
