journalist, novelist, screenwriter and producer
I’m from Vancouver, British Columbia on the west coast of Canada. It’s a beautiful city and one that I’m happy to call my home. I’ve lived here my entire life and though I often think of moving for a couple of years to other parts of the world, Vancouver will always be where I’m from. Although we often complain about the weather here, we have beautiful mountains, beautiful beaches and great scenery.
Where were you born?
I’ve always loved books and words as far back as I can remember. Movies and journalism came much later in life but I’ve always loved a good story, regardless of in what medium it’s told.
Also I think part of why I love writing is because I was never a very good talker. With writing I could organize my thoughts and say exactly what I wanted to say and not worry about how I sounded or saying the wrong thing.
Why did you become a writer?
I guess I’ve been luck in I have never been short of ideas. I have about ten different novels in my head. I just need to find time to write them. Getting good ideas is just about joining two separate thoughts into one. Like any physical structure you build you start with parts of something small and put them together. The same goes for writing. I read the news a lot and I might take something from that and combine it with something that has happened in my personal life to make a story.
Where do you get your ideas?
I became a journalist by accident. As a writer, I thought it would be a good way to actually get paid for writing and so that’s what I took in school. Little did I understand that newspapers and journalism as a whole was in a major flux at the time and so when I graduated there was little chance of getting a job unless you were at the top of your class.
How did you get into journalism?
I’m working on several different John Webster stories that significantly expand the John Webster universe by fleshing out some well-known characters while adding some new ones. I don’t want to give too much away until I know where they are heading but suffice to say I’m very excited about them.
How did you get into filmmaking?
It is very hard, although I don’t suppose it’s any harder than any other career out there. It seems there are no easy paths in life and gone are the days when you worked for a single company your entire life. Being a professional author takes guts, determination and ambition—not to mention tons of self-motivation to actually do the work. It means being good at multitasking, at marketing, at time management and of course writing.