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28 April 2021

On Wednesdays on social media, people use the hashtag #WriterWednesday to chat about all things author, book and writing, including authors promoting their own work. As we love to support self-published authors, we thought we’d join in and we will be featuring a UK self-published author every Wednesday on the website.

This week, we met Steve Lumsden to find out more.

Please tell us about yourself; when did you first become interested in writing?
I was interested in books and the stories they contained from a very young age. As a small boy I had a huge collection of Enid Blyton and loved the exploits of Brer Rabbit and his friends. As I got older, I progressed to the YA books of Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators, I didn’t know who Alfred Hitchcock was back then, I just knew I really enjoyed the stories, and these set me on the path for more complex and intriguing tales.

I didn’t consider actually writing anything myself until much, much later. I was by now in my fifties and had read all kinds of books over the years but found that time to read was getting difficult to allocate. There was always something else needing my attention. I thought to myself, what sort of book would tempt you back into reading, and after discovering the Hard Case Crime series I thought, I could do that! And that’s when I decided to have a go and actually write something myself!

Do you remember the first story you ever wrote?
Other than writing essays about ‘what I did in the summer holidays’ at school, I always thought writing was something others could do, but wasn’t for me. There was no obvious reason for this opinion, other than whatever was inside driving me. I left school at 16 on a Friday afternoon and started working at 8am the following Monday morning (it was the 4th of July, an easy date to remember!). I continued to work in factories right up until I was 48 and realised that if I didn’t have a break, something else would (like my mind!). After some time off I went into Education, as a Trainer/Assessor for apprenticeships, and realised that I actually had some spare time.

This is when I decided I could try and write a proper story, something that I would enjoy, and maybe others would too. My first real story became my first book.

What genre/genres do your books fall under?
I would classify my books as crime thrillers with lots of twists and turns. They are in the old-fashioned pulp fiction style, not too long, lots of intrigue and gritty characters that keep you guessing.

What is your latest book called, what is it about and what was the inspiration behind the book?
The last book I self-published is the second in the Archer series, entitled ‘Playing Hide and Seek’. It is a follow up to the first book (A Dish Best Served Cold) and continues to tell Archer’s story (Archer is the main character). It has a split story line. Archer is asked to help the family of his old army buddy, who was killed some years previously, as they think they are being watched by an unknown gang. A second thread picks up another story line from the first book. Penelope (a character from the first book) is looking for information about her Aunty Jane, she doesn’t know if she is alive or dead so hires a PI to investigate.

My inspiration came from some of the serial style books by the likes of Donald Westlake/Richard Stark and Lawrence Block. I looked at the Parker books and thought, maybe there might be a few stories that can come from Archer and his back story, so started to write to see what would happen.

Besides your current book, do you have any new projects coming up?
I am currently working on the third in the Archer series, with the tentative title of ‘Family Fortunes’. I think this will be the book in which some of the key issues from the first two reach a conclusion. I started writing last year, but due to work commitments (I have been working from home ever since Covid hit) I have found it difficult to find time to dedicate to it.

I also started a ‘pre-quell’ which I thought might explore the creation of Archer, what brought him to the point in time we find him now. I thought this would be more a series of short stories rather than one longer one.

Where can people find your books?
My books are currently available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited.
A Dish Best Served Cold – An Archer Novel
Playing Hide and Seek – An Archer Novel

What has been the greatest moment in your writing career?
This has to be receiving the first ‘printed’ copies of my first self-published book from Amazon. Having the recognition of achieving something that I thought was, if not impossible, most definitely improbable, was mind blowing! Also, having real pages makes me happy. I don’t know if that’s an age thing or just a preference, but it somehow makes the achievement ‘more real’..

The one thing I have learned from the process is that it takes a lot of work to create a story. So, everyone who has achieved it, no matter what the genre or if it is to my taste or not, they all deserve massive congratulations.

Besides writing, what hobbies or interests do you enjoy in your spare time?
I have recently rediscovered my love of cycling having purchased an e-bike! I used to cycle a lot as a kid, and the feeling of freedom can’t be underestimated. The fact my bike now has an electric motor says more about my age and lack of fitness than any fashion trend. Without it I probably would give up.

As a born and bred Geordie I have the unfortunate affliction of being a Newcastle United supporter, but let’s not dwell on that, I don’t need any more sympathy.

I listen to music (rock of some description mostly), watch some TV and walk my Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

Which novelists do you admire?
This could be a very long list, so I will stick to the main ones.

It all starts and ends with Stephen King for me. I love his style and variation. He can be subtle, clever, weird and downright in your face, depending on his mood. I think I have a copy of nearly everything he has written, and I even have my name in the back of a special copy of The Green Mile (along with another 199 people).

I am a big fan of John Connolly and his Charlie Parker series. I love Lawrence Block and Donald E Westlake, for both their crime and their wit. I am also a massive Discworld fan and miss the musings of Terry Pratchett enormously.

Then there is Lee Child, Ann Cleeves, Max Allan Collins, LJ Ross, I literally could go on and on.

What has been the best piece of writing advice you’ve received?
I think one of the best pieces of advice I have received has been to try and write about what you know, or at least base it in some kind of situation you can relate to. Within my stories I have used situations and locations that I can relate to and this has made creating the scene much easier. I can add more detail and bring the prose to life because I understand or recognise what it is I am talking about.

Another good piece of advice was to remember who you are aiming at when constructing the work. In my case, I used long and complex sentences, but I was writing about simple and straight forward situations. It didn’t scan well. When I changed to short, punchy sentences the work came to life.

Do you have any tips or advice for other indie authors?
I think the best thing I could say is, enjoy the process. Let’s face it, you are unlikely to make it big unless you have enormous talent combined with massive luck. If you don’t enjoy it then you may as well not bother.

Write stories you want to read, sounds obvious but I think it’s important to keep this in your mind. An indie author friend of mine posted on Twitter recently, ‘just read the opening couple of paragraphs of my first book the other day, I thought to myself this isn’t bad, I would buy that!’ This made me smile because I had done something similar myself a few weeks back. Yeah, I thought, I would be interested, let’s see where this goes…

You can find out more about Steve and his books on his website or via X (Twitter), and you can email him via slumsd@live.co.uk.