# Please introduce yourself and your book(s)!
Published historical fiction author Paul Rushworth-Brown author of Skulduggery and soon to be released Winter of Red and Dream of Courage.
# What is/are the real-life story(ies) behind your book(s)?
Five years ago I set about investigating my family history for my children and found that my oldest known ancestor was my great grandfather x10 Thomas Rushworth who was a copyholder (Peasant) living on the moors of Yorkshire in 1590.
Three years later, I fictionalised the life of he and his family living in this time using Thomas as the protagonist. The story is not a family history but more of a mystery, romance whodunit all historically accurate to the way they lived or survived at the time.
# What inspires/inspired your creativity?
The history of these people is rarely thought of and even less rarely written about because there are few records as most would have been illiterate. There is much written about the lords and ladies but what about the common people.
Having the ability to research and describe what life may have been like gives my readers the ability to step back in time. It was important for me to describe in detail the day to day hardships and adventures and not sanitise the story for the modern literary world.
# How do you deal with creative block?
Stop writing and have a break from it.
# What are the biggest mistakes you can make in a book?
Not having the money to get it professionally edited. Skulduggery was self-published until Shawline picked it up and re-released it in April 2021. My second novel Winter of Red is currently being looked at by a major publisher in New York.
# Do you have tips on choosing titles and covers?
I let the publisher take care of this.
# How do bad reviews and negative feedback affect you and how do you deal with them?
Smile and Ignore them. Write for the readers that do like your work not for those that don’t. Know that you will grow as an author. The first review I got for Skulduggery was almost like a personal attack. Since it has been re-released the reviews have been very excellent and I have appeared on America Tonight, the BBC and the ABC. Being an author is a journey and you shouldn’t take yourself too seriously. Most importantly take on board the feedback that you receive from people that read your work.
# How has your creation process improved over time?
Patience
# What were the best, worst and most surprising things you encountered during the entire process of completing your book(s)?
The nice comments from fans of my work and the support I have received from total strangers.
# Do you tend towards personal satisfaction or aim to serve your readers? Do you balance the two and how?
I don’t write to make money or be famous, I write for my readers and one word of appreciation is enough to keep me writing.
# What role do emotions play in creativity?
Previous emotional experiences allow me to write with realism and authenticity.
# Do you have any creativity tricks?
Yes but I’m not going to let on 😉
# What are your plans for future books?
Winter of Red has turned from a 300 page book to a four hundred page book and will be re-released in October 2021.
# Tell us some quirky facts about yourself
I used to be a professional football (soccer) player and coach, I have been on every continent in the world except the Arctic and Antarctica, I once rode on the top of a train in India, I once dated Princess Diana’s cousin, I once gate crashed an official party then left only to be asked to come back.
Rushworth-Brown is available for interviews and appearances. For booking presentations, media appearances, interviews, and/or book-signings contact mail to [email protected]
Find out more on his website: www.paulrushworthbrownskulduggerywinterofred.com
Visit us on social media:
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/authorpaulrushworthbrown
Twitter https://twitter.com/Brown9Paul
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-rushworth-brown-9001317b/