Who Fried The First Egg?

Hi ,

This hot month is drawing to a close and I swear I've sweat off two stone! It's been that hot its melted the tarmac over here.

#Where'stheiceage?

When I was cooking the other day my mind went into a weird place (happens often), and I found myself asking, who fried the first egg? What about cakes? Or waffles? Yum! We have a huge variety of ingredients available to us and yet we end up eating the same handful of dishes forever! Strange how we can make such scrumptious meals out of the same few ingredients. Baking especially.

That thought brought me onto writing.

Ever heard the phrase, there's no such thing as a new idea? Well it's true. All the stories have already been told. In fact, there's so many of them we bundle them together into genres. So if we've read a crime novel then why do we read another? It's like trying a new pancake topping. One little change can make it seem like a whole new experience.

As an example, a lot of great writers take ideas already seen and execute them in their own unique way. Anyone familiar with Brandon Sanderson knows that the first 'Mistborn' book (I know it's really called the Final Empire but humour me), is a heist plot. Inception and the Oceans movies are the same and yet we keep going back! Just look at James Bond.

Here's a little secret; a lot of authors take a plot 'type', mix it with another idea of theirs usually about a character, and presto! A new book to read. If you've ever seen Stranger Things you'll know what I mean. It's basically every Stephen King novel cut up into little pieces and then drawn from a raffle!

That's what I've done. I'll be honest. As we close in on a new cover for A Pale Winter and the next in the series well in the pipeline, I thought I'd let you know what it's all about. How would a non-combatant traverse a war to find one person? That's the basic question that got me writing. Or if you prefer using the above layout; Private Ryan in medieval fantasy land without weapons. How might that go?

And what's yours? Can you see a trend in any of your favourite authors? Or better yet, favourite pancake topping? I can't wait to hear!

To help fill the void until my "grand reveal", I've got a stupid amount of books for you to check out in celebration of August ending. Check it out -