Arthur Hofn interview

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

A little introduction:

Thank you for including me and giving me the chance to talk about my books! I write under the name Arthur Hofn and I'm from Milton Keynes in England. I currently live just outside London, but have also lived for many years in Dublin.

When did your love of books begin?

I didn't really grow up in a book loving household but I'm a massive Doctor Who fan and like most fans of my age when I was a kid in the 80s we didn't get to watch repeats of old adventures on TV; however previous stories were novelised by a company called Target. Any Doctor Who fan from that era or before will wax lyrical for hours about their love and nostalgia of those Target books. I, like most, grew up reading them and there were well over a hundred to get through with more being produced each month, so naturally I developed a love for reading and because they were so diverse from a young age I became used to jumping from one type of story to another; naturally I began to pick up non Doctor Who books and it just grew from there. I've nearly always got a book on the go at any given point, I'll read pretty much anything.

When did you start to have the wish to become an author?

I think it's a natural progression that if you've always been used to having your head in a book, and have developed a deep love for literature you will want to have a go at writing something yourself. At school we'd be asked to write a story regularly and I remember even from the age of six or seven having chapters and prologues and various things, it just naturally came to me. I do wonder what the teacher thought when I handed in my stories, I don't know if I'd like to still be able to read them now, probably I'd be horrified.

Life then moves on and I became a teenager and whilst I still loved reading I was busy with “stuff” so I didn't have much thought about writing but I always thought it'd be a nice thing to do, if an unobtainable dream. Then when we got our first PC I wrote a novel, Humanity, on it and I was really pleased I'd done it, I'd lazily tried to send if off places but but it seemed daunting and again life took over but I was always proud I'd written the manuscript of one book.

I wrote short things for years after not really with any direction but when I moved back to England I got a job where I had a lot of free time in front of the computer and was told I could do what I wanted, so I redrafted Humanity.  It really needed it and I was kind of embarrassed by the state of it, even if I knew it had potential. Of course when I had first done it I was inexperienced, and it was just a first draft! So with years more learning on my side I redrafted it a lot more and it now is what I wanted it to be, almost.

From them on I've not really stopped.

How have you found the process for becoming an author?

When it occurred to me I could self publish I grew more confident. Self publishing is a whole conversation on it's own but I realised I could write what I wanted and didn't have the overwhelming idea of having to pass it via numerous people or committees. As a result it's been easy from that respect, but really hard from another as it means I am everything, therefore I have to be very strict with myself in the redrafts and editing, I have to make all the choices I'd be furious if others did as I refuse to just allow myself to produce self indulgent chaos, which is the danger when you self publish as actually those people and committees are the fresh pairs of eyes with the wise advice who see your work how readers will do.

I'm fully aware I'm too close to my work for it to be as perfect as I'd like it to be, simply because of that, despite as much as I try there are typos and such that slip through which I pick up on when I reread something. However it's finding a balance as if I wait until I thought something was perfect I'd never release anything, but it's a constant worry. The good thing is I can correct the remaining few typos when I find them and have the time.

What would you say to those wanting to become an author?

Make sure you have a plot, even a rough one, before you sit down to write Chapter One. It's easy to get good concepts, or a great setting and opening, and think “That'll be a brilliant book!” but there is a massive difference between your story concept and your plot. If you only have the concept you will get lost and stuck easily and find your enthusiasm wanes along with what you are writing.

The most important part of forming a novel for me is at the very beginning, I might love the concept but if I can't find a story to tell within that concept it rarely works . Simply having your characters discover “the secret” or get to the twist isn't enough. Give time to thinking about it, day dreaming is so important for your story, think of things you want to have happen, scenes, characters, lines of dialogue even jokes. Go for walks with your head in the clouds.

Once you know what your story will be if you then sit down to write it you have more of a chance of finishing it. It will probably change massively during redrafts and be prepared to let whole ideas and massive bits of plot go as you improve it, in fact you have to force yourself to give up something you know should be removed sometimes, but if you leave it it will always sit wrong. I'm sure loads of writers do it by the “seat of their pants” as the expression is, and there will be plenty of opportunity for that when in the middle of the first draft when suddenly have an amazing revelation, but you do have to be disciplined. 

Also keep a track somewhere of EVERY idea you have, keep them all in one place, be it a note book or a word file, it will prove invaluable when you need to remember them or when you discover something you'd forgotten which turns out to be a solution to a problem. If you wake up in the middle of the night with an idea you won't remember it in the morning.

Tell us about your book/books:

I have a few books that can be got from Amazon as either paperbacks or on the Kindle. Indoldrum is about Johann who is facing the end of the world in a number of ways, not least because his wife has died. It's a book about loss and how we deal with it; Johann faces this in different ways, for instance he has Ménière's disease, so is dealing the loss of his hearing as well.

Framed Of Rathgar is about three lads living in Dublin, struggling to keep control of their lives and then they accidentally start a gang war. Humanity, as mentioned above, is about a Science Fiction local group that discovers they have more power than they realised.

Currently I'm doing something a bit different as I've written an epic story set inside the London Underground and to do with a mysterious game that is played by only those in the know. There's a lot of secrets there and danger. Instead of publishing it as a book, which I might do later, I've written it as three series of six parts and I've been giving it away free for download from my website (https://arthurhofn.home.blog). I released a part a week over the summer of 2021, then the second series in winter 2022 and I've nearly finished the third series over autumn 2022. So far I've had nearly 25,000 downloads with the first two series each having over 1,000 per part, so I'm very pleased with that.

What do you love about the writing/reading community?

They have given me the confidence to be what I've always wanted to be, a writer. Seeing others do it made it achievable for me. It's frustrating as you just can't read everyone's books, there just isn't time, but what the community do is give each other the platforms to promote your books, either via writers lifts or promos. I'm very grateful for all the retweets and support I get. Generally they are always positive people and I appreciate that; again it's just a shame I can't chat to them all. I mainly use Twitter as again I can't be everywhere and this “dark side of Twitter” where people complain and insult is something I've never really seen as the writer's community just tend to be nice and get on with each other.

If you could say anything to your readers what would it be?

Thank you! It's not just that people pay money for my books (except the free ones) but it's a commitment of time to read a book, and the fact that someone is prepared to give my work that time is something I am very grateful for.

Where can people connect with you?

My website is https://arthurhofn.home.blog/ and I'm active on Twitter @ahofn I'm on other sites as well by mainly those.