An Interview with Ken Ward

Today we've got Ken Ward in the hot seat. He's the author of the Norfolk-based crime thriller Time for Revenge. As usual, he's picked ten questions from Susan's list of thirty to answer. Please feel to free to Ask Him Anything in the comments (this is my favourite bit of the weekly interviews so do feel free to come up with some off-the-wall questions!).

At school were you good at English?

I always enjoyed the English lessons at school. They were made interesting by a very good teacher, Mr Hollins. I must admit though that I always felt, the lesson was held back by having to follow the curriculum. I would always want to discuss modern books as well as the older books. The lessons did start my interest in writing.

What genre do you write? What draws you to this genre?

If I can be cheeky, I'll answer 2 questions in one. I write crime novels from a police perspective this does mean there is no surprise in who did it; but shows the work of the police team in concluding a case. I was drawn to this genre, by my own reading. During my teenage years I read a lot of horror by authors such as James Herbert. Then in the mid 1970's I read the first Morse book, Last Bus to Woodstock. From then I was hooked. I enjoy reading all types of crime books, especially as I can never guess who the criminal is.

Do you have a special time to write?

I find I write better in the mornings, usually I start about 7.30am and write until lunchtime. If I have a particular scene in the book that is challenging, I may spend time in the afternoon working on it. Otherwise, my afternoons are spent advertising or reading.

Do you write every day?

I always write every day, when I first started, I would work to a word count each time I sat writing. I found this didn't work well for me, as if I failed to reach the target one day, I would get annoyed with myself. It works better for me that my target is to write something every day. Even if I am away from home, with my wife I sit and write while she gets ready for the day.

For your own reading do you prefer eBooks or paperback?

I always said to friends I would only ever read paperbacks or hardback books, then I discovered the ease of reading on a kindle. Having a vast library of books to hand it became obvious of what was best for me. Most of my reading is now eBooks, though occasionally I still read a paperback.

What book are you reading at the moment?

I am currently reading Number 4 in the DCI Bone series The Killing Parade by TG Reid.

How do you select the names of your characters?

My main character started with just a surname of Keane, as I had it in mind, he would have a nickname of mustard, though it would only ever be used behind his back. His first name of Ray just seemed to fit nicely. Most of my character names come to mind quite easily. The press officer in my latest book called Susan Rose was a case of I was sitting writing, looking out at the garden and found the inspiration for her surname. Some names are a combination of friends, names put together, I do always check if people are happy for me to do this.

What is the hardest thing about writing a book?

I think the hardest part of writing a story, is getting it to flow smoothly. This revolves around the storyline, as well as making the characters believable, so that readers want to follow them on their journey through the books. Having said that I find that most of the hard work starts after the book is finished, with advertising and appealing to readers to leave a review, so others notice the book.

Do you think the cover plays an important part of the buying?

I think the cover is a small part of the whole package, I always look at other covers when writing. I have been lucky in that I have a friend who is very good on the computer. Most of my covers are either pictures I have taken or stock photos, that you can use. My friend then works on them to design the finished cover. With the latest cover the publisher altered the colours slightly before using it. I found from a reader's, point of view I took more notice of covers when I was buying and reading paperbacks.

How can readers discover more about you and your work?

Here are the links for the book on Amazon. And my Facebook page, I am always happy to chat to readers. I can also be contacted via email, which is ken.ward1@hotmail.com

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Time.../dp/1398451312/ref=sr_1_1...

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