Chris Allen's Blog - Posts Tagged "paratrooper"
Q&A ON COFFEE TALK BLOG
This post first appeared on: http://coffeetalkwitherin.com/2013/07...
1) Tell me about your main protagonist, Alex Morgan. How much of this character is based on yourself and your own experiences as a Paratrooper and Army Major?
Alex Morgan is a real mix of me and those I’ve served with. Like me, Alex Morgan is Australian with Welsh heritage who served with the British Parachute Regiment. He’s got a predisposition to bouts of melancholy due to some of the stuff he’s seen, he thinks of himself as one of the old-school defenders of the faith, and we both share an affinity with tea and a pint of Guinness. That’s about where the similarities end – right about the time that Morgan is picked as the new star agent at Intrepid (being the black-ops division of Interpol, naturally).
2) What made you decide to start writing a book?
A few different things propelled me in the direction of writing. I grew up on the yarns of Ian Fleming and Alastair Maclean, and their command of storytelling was such that I aspired to see some action in order to write about it convincingly. I was also an aspiring jazz and rock drummer when I was at school and I wasn’t too bad at it. But when the 80’s synthesized dance music like Tainted Love et al started gaining traction, that was it for me. I decided it was now or never, and joined the Army aged 18. Probably a funny way to do it, but with a family history steeped in military service, I reckon it was inevitable. That said, I didn’t actually start any serious writing until I returned from East Timor Emergency in 1999 – after I’d been medically discharged from the Army. And then it took ten years to discover my own style of storytelling through thousands of drafts. These things don’t happen overnight, as I’m sure you well know.
3) Can you describe your writing process? Are you a planner or do you “wing” it?
A bit of both, actually. After dreaming, researching and constructing the plot for each book, I’m head down and bum up writing a plethora of notes in my brown leather-bound notebook, filling post-it notes in my writing mancave, creating a map for the book on my whiteboard, the lot. It’s also brimming around in my head at this time to the point of overflow. So I’ve got to put it down somewhere so that I can then put the pieces of the puzzle together. After that, I wing it. The story comes out and I type it as fast as my two fingers can get it on the page! Editing is another story all together…
3) What is next for Alex Morgan? And Chris Allen?
Morgan has a lot on actually. He’s taking on some of the world’s shadiest and most despicable characters in Avenger – human traffickers. He’s also showing the first female agent in Intrepid the ropes, and I’m sure she will put Morgan through his paces too. My job is to see Morgan’s adventures go as far and wide as they can – be that on the big and small screens, throughout the book series, into different languages and published in different states and territories. It’s a big vision, but I know what is possible and I’ll not stop until I get there!
1) Tell me about your main protagonist, Alex Morgan. How much of this character is based on yourself and your own experiences as a Paratrooper and Army Major?
Alex Morgan is a real mix of me and those I’ve served with. Like me, Alex Morgan is Australian with Welsh heritage who served with the British Parachute Regiment. He’s got a predisposition to bouts of melancholy due to some of the stuff he’s seen, he thinks of himself as one of the old-school defenders of the faith, and we both share an affinity with tea and a pint of Guinness. That’s about where the similarities end – right about the time that Morgan is picked as the new star agent at Intrepid (being the black-ops division of Interpol, naturally).
2) What made you decide to start writing a book?
A few different things propelled me in the direction of writing. I grew up on the yarns of Ian Fleming and Alastair Maclean, and their command of storytelling was such that I aspired to see some action in order to write about it convincingly. I was also an aspiring jazz and rock drummer when I was at school and I wasn’t too bad at it. But when the 80’s synthesized dance music like Tainted Love et al started gaining traction, that was it for me. I decided it was now or never, and joined the Army aged 18. Probably a funny way to do it, but with a family history steeped in military service, I reckon it was inevitable. That said, I didn’t actually start any serious writing until I returned from East Timor Emergency in 1999 – after I’d been medically discharged from the Army. And then it took ten years to discover my own style of storytelling through thousands of drafts. These things don’t happen overnight, as I’m sure you well know.
3) Can you describe your writing process? Are you a planner or do you “wing” it?
A bit of both, actually. After dreaming, researching and constructing the plot for each book, I’m head down and bum up writing a plethora of notes in my brown leather-bound notebook, filling post-it notes in my writing mancave, creating a map for the book on my whiteboard, the lot. It’s also brimming around in my head at this time to the point of overflow. So I’ve got to put it down somewhere so that I can then put the pieces of the puzzle together. After that, I wing it. The story comes out and I type it as fast as my two fingers can get it on the page! Editing is another story all together…
3) What is next for Alex Morgan? And Chris Allen?
Morgan has a lot on actually. He’s taking on some of the world’s shadiest and most despicable characters in Avenger – human traffickers. He’s also showing the first female agent in Intrepid the ropes, and I’m sure she will put Morgan through his paces too. My job is to see Morgan’s adventures go as far and wide as they can – be that on the big and small screens, throughout the book series, into different languages and published in different states and territories. It’s a big vision, but I know what is possible and I’ll not stop until I get there!
