At 67, Maurice Perkins is turning personal memories and hard-earned life experience into compelling fiction
INTERVIEW
Author Maurice Perkins wrote short stories at school in the 1960s and had others published during the 1980s. Nevertheless, he says writing was never his primary profession for most of his life. ‘My writing career for many years was limited to business development and submitting tenders for contracts,’ he lets on, speaking with Global Despatch in an exclusive interaction. The 67-year-old, who currently lives at Stockport in Greater Manchester, the United Kingdom, says it took the Covid pandemic in 2020 to reignite his passion for storytelling. Spending more time reflecting on life encouraged him to return to creative writing after decades away from it. ‘It took Covid in 2020 to reignite my passion for sharing stories,’ he shares.
Turning Real Life into Fiction
Speaking about one of his latest books, Revenge, Maurice says the story was inspired by something he witnessed years ago. He says he expanded the idea dramatically to make it more gripping and intense. ‘Old ex-military men with dormant skills stumble into a gang turf war with disastrous consequences,’ he shares, revealing that several characters in the novel are based on real people he knows personally.
Although the individuals do not possess the dangerous skills seen in the book, he borrowed their personalities and mannerisms to shape the characters. ‘It allowed me to incorporate all of their idiosyncrasies into some humorous dialogue. They also acted as the initial beta readers. It is quite brutal and has some tough dialogue,’ Maurice lets us know.
Many Thanks to Social Media
The author says social media unexpectedly played a major role in his return to writing. He had been sharing personal experiences online, many of them funny, difficult, or emotional, and people encouraged him to document them properly. According to Maurice, that support made him realise his stories deserved a more permanent home.
‘It also made me realise that my grandchildren may never hear me tell those raucous stories as they grow old enough to hear them and I remain compos mentis enough to tell them,’ he says. That thought eventually pushed him to write three books based on his life experiences. ‘So, I wrote three books about my life so far, told through a series of funny and sometimes sad stories. It was so they could hear them in my own words and not retold by others,’ he lets on.
Building Worlds and Characters
Maurice admits he never expected his books to become as successful as they have been. The positive response from readers gave him the confidence to pursue larger fictional ideas that had remained in his imagination for years. One of those ideas became his dystopian novel Quest.
The novel explores survival in a world where resources are steadily disappearing. ‘A motley group travels west in search of answers while trying to survive against the odds,’ Maurice explains. ‘However, there are others, from a different time and a different place, who are also trying to survive. The futures of both groups are inextricably linked.’
Taking Unexpected Directions
Asked whether he carefully plans his plots or writes more instinctively, Maurice says he begins with a rough structure. He usually creates a simple outline featuring the chronology of events and the key characters he believes the story requires. From there, the process becomes far more flexible and organic. ‘I then overlay that with set-piece scenes or events that I want included,’ he explains.
The notes are either pinned to the wall in front of his writing desk or organised on a spreadsheet displayed on a separate screen. Even then, he says the original structure rarely survives unchanged. ‘It could be that the chronology does not work or I need to introduce another character, or eliminate one during editing,’ he tells us. According to Maurice, stories naturally evolve during the writing process and often take unexpected directions. ‘The story then evolves as it must to create the image I want the reader to understand,’ he adds.
Inspired by Lee Child & Frank Herbert
Lee Child, creator of the Jack Reacher series, happens to be Maurice’s favourite writer. He admires Child’s ability to combine dry humour with action-packed storytelling and problem-solving. Maurice says those qualities strongly appeal to him as a reader and writer. ‘I also like Frank Herbert, who wrote the Dune series, recently adapted into films again,’ Maurice shares, adding that the scale of Herbert’s fictional universe and its theological depth left a strong impression on him.
Maurice, who usually writes only when he feels genuinely inspired and prefers to work away from distractions, insists becoming an author was never part of a long-term plan. Instead, he describes it as an accidental consequence of sharing stories online and discovering that readers connected with them. Even now, he admits balancing writing with family life and friendships can sometimes be difficult.
‘Remain Creative and Be True to Yourself’
Currently, Maurice is preparing a rough outline for another novel while also gathering ideas for a fresh collection of humorous personal stories. Despite his growing readership, he insists writing remains a passion project rather than a business venture. ‘I am retired and being an author is a hobby,’ he says, adding that he has set the price of his books at a modest level and therefore it will never become a sustainable source of income. According to him, financial success was never the motivation behind his work. ‘It is about sharing the stories in my head,’ he tells us.
For aspiring indie authors, Maurice believes authenticity matters more than perfection. He encourages writers to trust their instincts and avoid overthinking the process too early. ‘Remain creative and be true to yourself. Write what you want to write and, somewhere out there, you will find the right audience,’ he says.
Final Say
Maurice also believes excessive research can sometimes damage creativity instead of strengthening it. ‘You need to write the story down as you see it and then check it afterwards,’ he explains. ‘If you spend too much time researching when you should be writing, it can limit your creativity, in my humble opinion.’
Finally, when asked what he would most like to change about the world, Maurice’s answer is immediate and deeply personal. He says he would eliminate wars of every kind because innocent people are always the ones who suffer most. ‘It is always the innocent who suffer in wars, rarely the people who start them. People in the military can only do what they are commanded to do,’ he says, signing off.
If you spend too much time researching when you should be writing, it can limit your creativity, in my humble opinion.
~ MAURICE PERKINS
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