I’ve just finished the first draft of ‘Good Neighbour’ Part Four. The story’s getting a bit more complicated than I first imagined it, but that can only be a good thing, I suppose. This is a way of challenging myself and improving my writing. I wanted to write something quickly and get it out there and not care about it too much, but it’s taken a bit longer than expected. This should be the first of many stories that I’ll publish exclusively on this site, but who knows? Maybe some of the characters that I come up with will find their way into my ebooks and paperbacks. I might do a sci-fi one next about a sort of lighthouse in space I’ve had slowly brewing in the back of my head for a while. I’ll get this one finished first, though. Just one more part to write…
Author: John Payne
I write novels and short stories and draw and write cartoons. The main cartoon I'm working on at the moment is Still Life. It's about a man who sits at home on his sofa all day and yet bizarre things still happen to him. At the moment him and his sofa are stuck on a desert island. Check out Still Life Series Five: Beyond the Sofa on this site.
My debut novel is out now. It's called 'A Fifth Visitor', and it's a very unofficial sequel to 'A Christmas Carol'. The story picks up five years after the events of Dickens' classic, and we see how Scrooge is getting on with his promise to always keep Christmas. A new spirit pays him a visit and convinces Scrooge that he's not doing enough to redeem himself, so they both travel to the future to save a young nurse called Grace, but there's something big that this new spirit is keeping to himself. I'm developing a website dedicated to my writing, so watch this space. One of my short stories is available on amazon kindle. If you want to check it out, it's called 'Richmond's Rarity'. It's about a late night hospital radio DJ. I've written it under my author name of John D Payne.
The Southern Screamers
Went back to Martin Mere today, and I was reminded that one of the many made-up band names in ‘The Pulse Hospital Radio Chronicles’ was inspired by these birds which are a favourite of mine to go and visit whenever I’m there. I think Dave mentions them in ‘Richmond’s Halloween Horror’, quite appropriately.
Good Neighbour Update
I wrote a good chunk of part 4 last night. The whole thing should be ready very soon. I’m going to work on a blurb as a bit of a teaser. I’m quite excited to be releasing some original work on this website. Hopefully, I’ll be able to make this a regular thing and get several stories up on here over the course of the year, bringing more attention to my printed works.
The Badger Helper Watcher Or Hidden Paths
I’m making good progress on my children’s adventure novel: ‘The Badger Helper Watcher: The Misadventures of Sam and Sally Book One’. So far this week, I’ve typed a little bit up every day, so I’m hoping to keep up with that. I can definitely see how much I’ve improved as a writer since I first scribbled down the words in these now ancient notebooks, but I’m not editing it too much as I go along. It’s more important to get to the end and then edit it later. There are huge chunks that I can cut out (I’m up to chapter 59, so that tells you something about how ridiculously long it became) and I can see why I had to step away from it for a while, but in stepping away from it I went on to write (and finish, most importantly) my first full novel: ‘A Fifth Visitor’, so some things happen for a reason. All paths lead somewhere, I suppose, even if they just connect you to another path that you didn’t see coming.
