Q1. Hello, can you please introduce yourself? Readers would love to know more about you.
A1: Hello there, I’m Kieran McGee, and I am the author of The Four Friends: Birthday. I come from the countryside of Gloucestershire, having lived here all my life, living essentially in the middle of nowhere. I was born in 1999, and I’ve always been a creative guy, even from a young age I was writing all sorts of silly stories, it’s only recently that I wanted to express my creative writings to the World to see. Despite this creative outlet, I myself work in IT, I actually got a Bachelor’s Degree in computing as well as several other qualifications from my education, such as English, Photography and Media Studies. I had worked for a visual effects company that worked on several films and TV shows before finding work closer to home for an e-commerce company, where I am at in this current time. As for my interests, I am big on history, film and TV, I am a massive fan of robotic combat, having attended several events over the years, I was even in the crowd during the filming of Series 6 and 7 of the BBC TV Series Robot Wars back when I was really young. To be fair, I consider myself a rather boring person in all honesty.
Q2. What were the key challenges you faced while writing your book “The Four Friends: Birthday”?
A2: In terms of key challenges, I’d say one aspect is that this is the first “proper” story in a series of other “The Four Friends” stories written, in fact Birthday is technically the eighth written but the first released, and so I’m pretty new to all this, especially with costs and advertisements etc. Beforehand, I had experimented with cheaper Kindle stories, including a prequel to Birthday and The Four Friends in general, with a series of short stories called “The Neighbourhod Kids” as well as an old short story I wrote years ago called “Dinner with a Vampire”, and let’s just say the process for the Kindle stories are a lot less complex than a full on paperback. It’s all new to me, so I guess because of that, I am sort of out figuring it out as I go along, plus there’s the aspect of “will people like it?”, “Will people want the other stories?” that rings in the back of my mind during production.
Q3. What books or authors have most influenced your own writing?
A3: The stories being centered on a select few cast of characters involved in menial events or tasks is based on Charles Shultz’s Peanuts comics and even the Mr Men series by Roger and later Adam Hargreaves in an odd way helped serve as inspiration for this story. However, when it comes to stories and authors I consider my favourites and are an inspiration for me to write in general, well J.R.R. Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and The Silmarillion were what motivated me in many ways to push forward with my writing, studying his world he created in Middle Earth and the wonderful cast of characters, rich with history and lore. Whilst Tolkien was indeed a massive inspiration, my favourite story of all time is Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, a story that has been retold time and time again yet the original book is one I hold close to my heart, the wonderful creativity of the creatures and the land that inhabits them, it’s rather ironic I’ve written a semi-realistic slice of life children’s book when my person favourites and inspirations are fantasy.
Q4. What’s your favourite spot to visit in your own country? And what makes it so special to you?
A4: Given that I am partially Welsh and I do visit Wales often, one of my all-time favourite locations to go to is the ruin of Chepstow Castle, a place full of history yet its tranquil to walk around it and simply embrace the stillness of what was most likely a place that used to be place that was bustling at one point in time. Mind, there are plenty of countryside walks in Wales as a whole that are simply beautiful and have a calmness that cannot be replicated anywhere else.
Q5. What inspired you to write the book ‘The Four Friends: Birthday’?
A5: The story and characters I somewhat based on media around the time of the 90s and early 2000s, the sort of shows that existed around that time such as that of Hey Arnold! or Ed, Edd n Eddy. In terms of books and authors, the title itself was based on other titles like “The Fabulous Five” which in a way the casual and day-to-day slice of life is also somewhat inspired also. One other factor I wanted to implicitly use is the historical element, especially as I am big on history and the way the world works during major events that shift society By setting the story in the year 2000, there’s the feeling of the time period that seems so much more calm and relaxed compared to more modern times and it was a reason as to why the primary setting of this story is New York, primarily the original World Trade Centre complex, a sort of reminder of a world now lost.
Q6. How long did it take you to write your book ‘The Four Friends: Birthday’?
A6: Funnily enough, the stories were not written in order; I had written short stories for “The Four Friends” for years now as it initially came from some silly stories I did when I was young, however, it sort of came back to me around 2020, so I began a process of development where I changed a few things around and started to develop a setting and storyline throughout. Birthday was written in 2023 and because I wanted this to be the first out, this one took a few months to write and amend to get just right and thankfully, publishers read it and then approved it in December 2023. Don’t fully remember how long this one took to write in the end.
Q7. On what platforms can readers buy your books?
A7: Available on Amazon right now as well as Austin Macauley Publishing’s website and should be available in stores as well.
Q8. Tell us about the process of coming up with the book cover and the title ‘The Four Friends: Birthday’?
A8: The cover art was done by hired artists, I cannot draw to save my life, with advice from me. Initially, I had said it could be something simple like a cake or a present, before an alternate idea was a moment from the story. I had given them a basic rundown of the characters and the specific scene and other instructions such as “make it colourful and slightly cartoony”. The title, technically, is simply “Birthday” but because it’s part of a larger set of stories, the title is “The Four Friends: Birthday”. Like the other short stories it’s a one-word title referring to main plot point, in this case a birthday.
Q9. When writing a book how do you keep things fresh, for both your readers and also yourself?
A9: For me the characters need to be varied and interesting but they themselves need to have developed histories that will motivate and interest people to want to know more. As for the world/setting, a lot of things are subtle and don’t include many in-depth details but enough to make readers want to understand and explore more, wonder what other stories and adventures are out there. But hopefully once later stories are released, you can see a grander picture emerge, especially with the aforementioned historical context.
Q10. What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve been given about writing?
A10: Best advice I can give is never let an idea go to waste, even if it’s something from years back or something you don’t want to include just now, try to use it at a later date or recreate it with better insight or motivation. No idea is a bad one, it can be refined and adjusted and who knows may even prove useful for a later time.
Buy The Four Friends: Birthday on Amazon
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