Charlie Hicks – Author

So I’ve been away from the desk for a week or two. Unfortunately I had to visit the real world for a while to earn some cash. But I’m back, and raring to go on my current project TPOTN. So what did I learn out there away from the desk.

Firstly normal people are weird, and I mean really weird. I thought my imagination was strange, but the shit normal people get up to; makes my feeble attempts at imagining stories seem a little lame to be honest.

Secondly, everyone is angry. I’m not just talking about what is happen in the world, but in general everyone is just angry. I asked a friend why this should be and she could only shrug her shoulders and say ‘Maybe someone or something is pissing with us for shits and giggles.’ I laughed and replied ‘that it’s all ok until someone giggles and shits themselves.’

And so as I’ve had to live in the real world for a little while, I got to thinking about about a possible storyline. I know it’s been done before, and in my opinion a damn sight more expertly by Tom Holt, in Here Comes the Sun and Falling Sideways. (both very funny reads IMHO).

I’ve been thinking about the follow on project from TPOTN, and I’ve been scribbling away in my old battered notebook. What started was a tiny kernel of an idea, has evolved inside my mind into another idea, until about half a notebook later the final mad inspiration hit me one morning as I was walking my dog. And so the story Clarence and Lynda was born of my imagination. And this in turn got me thinking about this my next blog post. My imagination is influenced not just by the people around me, but by my reading and to a certain extent what I watch on TV and the Movies. It’s like Stephen King says “You need to read in order to have a database of what works and what doesn’t.” but I also think that by reading as widely a possible across different genres, you can develop a creative imagination beyond the mere limitations of you current surroundings. Billy Connelly once said that the Library was his ticket to escaping his life in the Glasgow Docks. It enabled him to venture into whole new worlds through the pages of books. It is probably why his comedy is so insightful, observational and absurd in many respects.

And so I end this weeks blog by saying, go out there and read something you usually wouldn’t read. If you have a Library close by, pop in become a member if you aren’t already. Take a walk on the wild side. Go to a different genre and take a journey to another place or time through the pages of a good book.

I hope to see you here again soon, take care and stay happy, lost in your imagination fed by the dreams in the pages of a good book.