Do you write under your real name or is this a pen name you use?

This is my real name. The only time I used a pseudonym was when I started as a broadcaster. I swapped my two Christian names around and was known as Jon Stewart on air at the first radio station I worked at.  

Where are you from?

I was born and brought up in Derbyshire in the UK, but have lived in Leicestershire since 1981.

Did you write as a child?

The writing bug infected me when I was just seven years old, thanks to my favourite television show, Doctor Who. The original series, way back in 1963, inspired me when I became enraptured by the storylines which could take place at any time in Earth’s history and future, and absolutely anywhere in the universe and beyond. I started creating my own worlds and my own characters, writing my stories in little blue notebooks until my parents bought me a portable typewriter for my ninth birthday. And those make-believe worlds became invaluable after my Dad died when I was 11. I retreated more and more into those places where I was in control of my characters’ fate – knowing that whatever happened to them during the story I would make sure they were okay in the end. My worlds were certainly better than the real one at that time.

What was the first thing you ever had published?

The first thing overall was a chess column for the local newspaper where I trained as a journalist (yes, I was a chess geek back in those days – my claim to fame being that I beat the British champion while he was trying to refute an opening system I had devised). My first two pieces of published fiction were in a magazine in the 1980s, but then there was a break until 2012 when my first novel, Malfunction, came out. Throughout my 20s, when I was working as a broadcaster, I set my ambition to become a published novelist by the time I was 30. Hhmmm, I was only 26 years late for that, as I was 56 when Malfunction arrived. Life, family and work took preference over my dreams of becoming a novelist.

Do you have a writing routine?

I’m not a full-time novelist, but I am a full-time writer juggling three writing roles, so routine is of paramount importance. The day job is a Public Relations writer for the world’s leading industrial CAD/CAM software developer, and I have my own column in a fortnightly local magazine. By being a meticulous time manager and being prepared to put in long hours means I can keep on top of all three.  

My day job is based from home, which is a big help. I can log off from my company computer at around 6 pm, have dinner, and then fire up the personal laptop to either write, or, as at the moment, work on marketing activities for In Shadows Waiting. Since the book was published in August I have rarely finished work before midnight.

Do you have any writing rituals?

Can’t say that I do…unless you count the fact that I only ever work in bare feet as a ritual.  But going barefoot is a complete lifestyle choice, not just for writing. I’m barefoot while working; out and about in town; and in the countryside.

Maybe making endless cups of coffee during the writing day could also be classed as a ritual!

 Do you have a current work in progress?

Two, actually. I’m working on suggestions from my publisher’s editor for the new Booktrope edition of my time travel novel, Timeshaft, which is scheduled to come out around the turn of the year. This was inspired by a walk in a park on the outskirts of London, which forms a scene in the book! I have a little cameo role, along with my wife, my son in his pram, and my Father-In-Law. And I’m working on the first draft of a new novel called To Rise Again, set on Jersey both in the 1980s and during the German occupation in World War Two. It was inspired by my memories of a visit to one of the German underground installations on Jersey while I was on honeymoon there in 1982.

Where did the idea for your book come from?

Three things. My own personal experience of seeing the ghost that I describe in In Shadows Waiting. It stood at the top of the stairs at around 4.30 a.m. one November morning when I was leaving my lodgings to go to the BBC for my job at the time of newsreader into a radio breakfast show.

Secondly, although my book is not a vampire story, I have always been fascinated by the concept that vampires can only enter a house by invitation. In my book the apparition is outside first of all, and then makes its way into the house.

Thirdly, my previous home bordered a massive farmer’s field, which had a bomb crater in it from the Second World War. I wove those three aspects into the story, and In Shadows Waiting was born.

Who was the first person you gave the book to to read?

Fellow novelist DM Cain, the author of The Phoenix Project, and A Chronicle Of Chaos. Her unstinting enthusiasm and encouragement has kept my writing on the straight and narrow and I trust her judgement implicitly. We met on Twitter when we both started having a conversation with a mutual follower. Then we discovered we live just 500 yards from each other, and now get together regularly to discuss writing and help bottles of wine to become empty.   

Do you have any advice for budding authors?

Write for yourself, first and foremost – your stories should make you happy. Keep persevering and never give up. But above all…submit your work to publishers! I never thought my work was good enough to be published and didn’t bother to polish beyond a first draft. Then a friend encouraged me to submit to a publisher. I did, and the rest, as they say, is history.

And you are never too old to make it.

Author links –

Website: http://stewartbintauthor.weebly.com/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/@AuthorSJB

Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/StewartBintAuthor/

Blog: http://stewartbintauthor.weebly.com/stewart-bints-blog

Buy Links –

Amazon author page:  http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stewart-Bint/e/B00D18IARS

Barnes and Noble:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/stewart+bint?_requestid=20846

Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/StewartJBint

Book Blurb  

Young Simon Reynolds lives a bucolic life at his family home, White Pastures, surrounded by a loving family and a charming community. Simon finishes his A levels and looks forward to unwinding while his sisters work on their tans.

Meanwhile the tiny community of Meriton has been plagued by a spate of burglaries, and White Pastures seems to be next. A shadowy figure stalks the house, but the police can find no signs of an intruder.

Inspired by the author’s real-life experience with the supernatural, In Shadows Waiting recounts a summer that changes the Reynolds’ lives forever. As the summer progresses, the shadows take on an altogether more sinister implication, and White Pastures begins to reveal a terrifying secret.

The epicentre of an event that has scarred an entire community, White Pastures grows more and more dark, possessed by a shadow that yearns, a shadow that will not be denied. At White Pastures, someone will die – but love never will.

Author bio  

Stewart Bint is a novelist, magazine columnist and Public Relations writer. He lives with his wife Sue in Leicestershire in the UK, and has two grown-up children. 

When not writing he can often be found hiking barefoot on woodland trails.