Q1 Hello, can you please introduce yourself? Readers would love to know more about you.
My name is John Capon, and I spent 45 years in the Merchant Marine, along with driving trucks for a living. I now write children’s books during the day and thrillers under two pen names at night.
Q2 What were the key challenges you faced while writing your book “The Broken Line”?
The key challenges for The Broken Line were mostly the research. When you live so far away from what you are writing about, you tend to spend a lot of time in the county library.
Q3 What books or authors have most influenced your own writing?
The writer who started it all was firstly Herman Wouk; he wrote The Winds of War, then 7 years later published War and Remembrance, and secondly the Russian poet and novelist Boris Pasternak, who wrote Doctor Zhivago, which was first published in 1957 in Italy because the Russians refused to publish it, and he had to refuse the Nobel Prize because of state pressure
Q4 What’s your favourite spot to visit in your own country? And what makes it so special to you?
Well, if you mean my adopted country, New Zealand, it would be the Waikato. But if you meant my native country, the UK, it would be the Peak District.
Q5 What inspired you to write the book ‘The Long Shadow’?
I’ve always had a thing for the Texas Rangers ever since I was a boy watching westerns with the Rangers taking on impossible odds.
Q6 How long did it take you to write your book ‘The Ghost of Days Past’?
Nearly 40 years in total, because I started that book as scrap jottings on bits of paper and in a notebook whenever I could.
Q7 On what platforms can readers buy your books?
Amazon and most big bookstores and Libraries that order their books through IngramSpark and other distribution networks like Google and Infinite Library.
Q8 Tell us about the process of coming up with the book cover and the title ‘The Labyrinth’s Daughter’?
The Labyrinth’s Daughter is a complete carry-on from The Ghost of Days Past; the two books were originally one whole manuscript, but it was way too large for modern printing and distribution, so I decided to cut it in half and produce two books. Because The Ghost of Days Past had a labyrinth of tunnels near the end, I thought, well, Labyrinth’s, and since the second book is junior, I came up with The Labyrinth’s Daughter.
Q9 When writing a book how do you keep things fresh, for both your readers and also yourself.
I like to use a bit of pace and intrigue to keep the reader guessing, so a lot of readers can’t put the book down; they have to keep going to find out the result, and by the time they get the answers, the book is finished.
Q10 What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve been given about writing?
Never give up. If you want it bad enough, you keep going even when it feels like you are taking one step forward and two backward, and that’s the exact same in life. 67 years on this planet, I’ve had my fair share of setbacks, but I’m still here, and I’m still doing it.
