Quiet the Waves by Michael Ross Virtual Book Tour

 

Guest Post

Pros and cons of writing in your genre

One of my problems is that I do not find myself restricted to a genre; an idea is generated from somewhere and then the characters take control and make many of the decisions for me. The question intrigues because I have just reread my third novel “Chasing What’s Already Gone,” and realised that if I was chasing an audience with “Quiet the Waves,” and following up on the success of CWAG then Quiet the Waves would have been so different. The villains would have been more comical than nasty, the plot line would have bounced around a bit more. There would not have been a character left hanging in mid-air.

This story has been hanging around in my head for 30 years, from when I delivered a car from the UK for a friend to Portugal. I loved the journey, just me, foreign travel, time to stop and start whenever and wherever I pleased. I stayed the night in a random hotel in Northern Spain and when I paid the bill in the morning the receptionist was moody and wouldn’t meet me in the eyes, I got back into the car, and as I drove south whichever radio station, I tried they were playing the most miserable music, even down into Portugal. After lunch that day I got a phone call from a friend telling me that Princess Di had died in a car crash that night. My oblivion to this world-shattering event has stuck with me, I started twisting the story to have my main character delivering the car back to the UK, not realising just how important this journey would be in the story of his lifetime. That night was a turning point in my life, and not a good one, so it was therapeutic to create something positive from the germ of an idea.   Many thanks for the tour stopover!

Mike

For Ryan Gould it's just another pay day, collect a car from Portugal deliver it to the UK. Nothing too complicated - until he decides on an unscheduled stopover in Northern France, in the city of Rennes, a quiet drink in the town square, where life would have turned out so differently if he not noticed the girl sitting on the bench was sobbing her heart out.

From there onwards his life twists and turns out of control until he finds himself in police custody charged with abduction and a journey to get to the truth. The girl on the bench, Claire, had misled him from the very beginning; who was she, and how had she managed to wreak so much havoc in his life?

Excerpt

The room stinks, the historic stench of soiled human bodies is overpowering.

There are No Smoking signs posted at either end of the room but the smeared and dirty state of windows suggests years of people defying that advice. When we first met, I was willing to give the man the benefit of doubt, but the way he looks at me now is a challenge; maybe I was right - he is a total bastard after all. In all fairness it’s been a long day for him, and an even longer one for me. Leaning back in his chair he stares into space for a full two minutes before speaking, his voice gravelled with fatigue.

“Let me ask you this Ryan. If we swapped places and you were me, sitting here in my chair, would you believe one single word of the statement you’ve made today?” He takes a breath before continuing. “You need to quiet the waves.”

“Sorry?”

“You need to pull something special out of the bag to get you off the hook here, Ryan. You’re on your own in a single boat in the middle of a raging storm and without a change of direction to pacify me you’re in real trouble my friend.”

My friend? I’m screaming inside - it is not a story - it’s the truth, but the point he’s making is fair, because even I have a job to believe the witness statement I’ve just signed. Much has happened in the few days since I left Rennes, almost too much to recollect properly and somewhat impossible to comprehend. Last Friday seems like a hundred years ago, and yet it feels like only a few hours have passed since I was sitting in the city square, relaxed, drinking coffee and reflecting on my life.

Born and raised in Bristol, England I now live halfway up a mountain in the Welsh Valleys, with my partner Mari and our rescue dog Wenna. I have a BA in English Literature from Bristol Uni and after creative writing classes at Cardiff Uni I won prizes for short stories. I write with a smile on my face.

I have self-published (including Quiet the Waves) five short story anthologies and five novels

Website http://www.michaelrosswriter.com 

Facebook www.facebook.com/michaelross.writer 

Twitter https://twitter.com/mikerosswriter 

Email mikerosswriter@outlook.com 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Quiet-Waves-there-wrong-person-ebook/dp/B0D7TG2564/ref=sr_1_1

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