WRITING ON THE SIDE
When I was looking for new children’s adventure books to read to my daughter, they were all set in middle-class, middle England, written by reality TV stars, and the main character was always called Ben. So, during lockdown, I wrote one myself, set in the working-class places I grew up, where everyone has a Scottish accent and the main character is a wee boy called Rab, whose parents are electricians. I like to describe it as Viz for kids, with a dash of Irvine Welsh.
I invent pseudonyms and self-publish now and again. Julian Robertson is also me, he wrote S.A.N.D.R.A., a short novel for kids about the dangers of second-hand home assistants gone rogue.
Ray Brownlee is me too, but he writes essays and think pieces about the future. Ray Brownlee sounds like a physics teacher who writes sci-fi in his spare time, which feels right.
I also write crime stories, inspired by my beloved Doll books by Jonathan Ames, but I still need to settle on a decent enough pen name for them, something gritty, from the Highlands and presbyterian like Alec Drummond. Or maybe Ian Henderson, Robert Clark that sort of thing.
Know what I mean?
Email me names.
I grew up reading my older brother’s copies of Viz and Electric Soup. They made quite a lasting impression on me and ever since I’ve created characters for grown up comic books in the same vein.
