Ask the Author: S.J. Garland
Answered Questions (3)
S.J. Garland
I'm currently working on a series of diary entries for my main character Esmond Clyde-Dalton in Scotch Rising and Pretender at the Gate. The diary is set as he first leaves England to fight with the English army in Boston. It really is about him becoming the soldier and the man we know him as in the Markinch series. Esmond's diary is free on my website!
S.J. Garland
The best advice I can give aspiring writers is to sit down and write. If you've got a story to tell, your the only one who can write it and the world is missing out when its stuck in your head! Find the time and be determined.Try not to let all the mundane worries over your writing style, grammar and character development get in the way of just making a start. All of the mistakes and weak points in your story can be easily fixed during the developmental edit and subsequent proofreads. The most important thing is to write.
S.J. Garland
I was inspired to write Scotch Rising after visiting a friend in Scotland. We did a number of Scotch distillery tours. At a small distillery called Edradour, the tour began in a small cottage where the English excise officer lived. I thought it would be very lonely for a man to live as an outsider in a small village where everyone probably hated you. The character of Ichabod Crane from Washington Irving's book The Legend of Sleepy Hollow came to mind. From the main character of Esmond Clyde-Dalton, the rest of the story unfolded.
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