Author Interview and Free Book!!

I had the pleasure of chatting it up with Tony Morris, author of the book Prevention and most the most recent book Afghanistan. As a fellow indie author, I decided to find out a little bit more about him and his writing, so check out what he had to say!





For starters, tell us a bit about you, we like to get to know our authors as a person! 


Hello everyone, my name;s Tony Morris and I'm 21 years old. I live in Hackney, which is in East London. I'm also famous in the fishing world after I caught a snapping turtle which had been dumped in the Regent's Canal and I was in the local paper The Hackney Gazette. I first became a self published author at the age of 18, and I hope to one day be a bestselling author in the UK. My other ambition is to be a personal trainer and work in a gym.



Nice to meet you! So tell us, where did you find the inspiration for your most recent book?


The idea for Prevention came from a dream, and the morning after I wrote it down which took about four to six hours.



So, do you have any kind of ritual for writing? Such as, you have to write with music on, or you can only write when you’re completely alone, etc?


My ritual for writing is to sit at the dinner table with my laptop in the front room, making sure that I have my Oxford Thesaurus and Oxford Dictionary and write Monday to Friday for about six hours. I find it both easy to write on my own and with people around me. I tried once writing to music but found I ended listening more to the music than writing.



Who is your favorite character in your book, and why? How about the character you had the most trouble with?


My favorite character in the book is Matt Knight and the reason is he's tough, smart and he's the good guy. I also have to say that Matt Knight was the character that I had the most trouble with as when writing a main character. You have to make sure that they're different to the one before them and the one after them.



Now, when you sit down to write a book, a paragraph, or whatever you‘re working on at the moment, do you just sit down in front of the computer, or do you need an outline? Is there any other prep you need in order to organize your thoughts either before you write or in the process of writing?


Before I sit down to write I think of the plotline and make sure that it works. I also work out the beginning and the ending; while the rest just falls into place.



Do you foresee any more books to continue this story? If so, do you think we can get a taste of what’s to come?


I do see more books in this series but at the minute I have a few other projects in the pipeline.



Other than this most recent story, do you have any ideas for different books that might be published in the future? Care to give us a teaser?


At the minute I have two other books that will be published in the future. The first one is called The Ghost, which is a SAS thriller. It starts in March 2001 with an Al Qaeda terrorist killing doctors, nurses and patients at the Royal London Hospitial. It turns out to be in revenge for a Al Qaeda commander who's son was killed by the SAS in Afghanistan back in 1998. So Bob Hawke, who everybody calls the Ghost due to him getting around without being seen, is sent to Afghanistan along with his son Sean Hawke who is new to the SAS and they must kill the Al Qaeda commander.


The second book is a kids one called The Wrong Team in which a manager of a kids football team enter them into the youth FA cup but a mix up happens and the end up playing in the adult FA cup. In the first round they end up knocking Manchester United out of the FA cup and it then becomes a question of can they go all the way and win it. The book is aimed at seven to ten year olds.




Who is your greatest inspiration to write? What person makes you believe in yourself, and how?


I have to say my greatest inspiration to write is my dog Max, who I got as a puppy after my Nan and Grandad died, which was a low point in my life as they looked after me while my mum was working hard to put food on the table. And my Max turned my life round for me and made me happy, so one day if I make it as a bestselling author then I plan on buying a house with a big garden for him to run around in. And I have to say the people that make me believe in myself is my mum and dad who support me in what I'm doing.





Do you have any aspirations to be similar or comparable to another author? Why?


I would say the authors that I'm comparable to is Chris Ryan. as he writes about the SAS which I also do and his books are action packed like mine. The other author is Gerald Seymour who has a lot of stories about the UK being the main target for attack and I find my books are the same as too many British authors now have a character who goes around stopping a terrorist attack in America; while the Americans could just send someone from the SEALS or Delta to stop them.





Okay, one last question, and this one is different for every author, not to mention completely off the wall!   If Hollywood were to make a movie about your life, who would you expect to see playing the role of you, and who would play the supporting cast?

 I would say I would have the actor Eric Bana playing me as he's great and would be perfect at doing a London accent. I think for the actor to play my dad I would have Stephen Don, I think I would have my mum be herself in the film. And my dog Max I would have him in the movie as himself. Also my best friend Joe who I met in Haggerston park with his dog Forest. I would have the pair of them in the movie.

Well, I for one am definitely looking forward to reading Tony's books! If you want a chance to win a copy of  his book Afghanistan, comment below with the words "I love indie authors!" and your email address so I can send you the link for your free book. Every entry through Sunday at 11:59pm wins a free eBook, courtesy of author Tony Morris! Get your copy today and support indie authors everywhere!!

-Ash