Origin Of The Passion (with a bonus character dissection thrown in for good measure!)

Dan Dare from the 80' Eagle

So where did I get this passion for writing?

When I was eleven in 1984, I read a comic called Eagle. Dan Dare-Pilot of The Future was the lead story and his exploits fired my imagination every week as he battled his old enemy The Mekon and his emotionless Treens.  I would sit every Friday night at tea time waiting on the paperboy to arrive, wondering how Dan and his companions would get out of last week’s cliff hanger!

The Mekon

The Character of Dare was, from my point of view, multi-layered but not too complex. They gave him a history in this universe I found him in. In my imagination he was real like you and me. (You are real, aren't you?) He had parents; ("Looks like this is the end of Mr And Mrs Dare's little boy!"). He had friends and friendships that had lasted since he had been a cadet in the Space Fleet academy. Fellow cadets were jealous of him because he was the great, great , grandson of the legendary Space Fleet hero/icon Dan Dare (whose exploits where followed by children in the 50's and 60's version of the Eagle). They believed that being related to a famous Space Fleet hero the powers that be must be inclined to give you a free pass. They projected their failings onto him while at the same time his superiors where harder on him because they thought he would expect an easy ride in the academy being related to said hero. This gave the character a nice dimension.  I’m sure there are a few lessons in there about character development for any new writer come to think about it.

 I wanted to create adventure stories just like Dan Dare. I started my own little comic (with Dan in it of course!) Not one original character in it mind you, but I was eleven, I didn’t care! I created about 50 of these little comics. I look on these times with fondness even though there was a darkness behind them too. I was mocked by my family. Told they were “shit” by adults who really should have known better to talk to a child creating something like that.  So I stopped. In the head of this eleven year old, I believed I wasn’t good enough.

Years went by and I grew into a man. Met a woman on the net, moved to the States, got married, separated, and moved back to Scotland. You know, the usual stuff. In the middle of all this I started writing again. I started and stopped at first. I just couldn't get going. doubts kept creeping in. "I really am shit at this" i said to myself, sounding just like my dad. I just didn’t know HOW to write properly.  My wife, who I have to say, even with all her faults, encouraged me to keep writing. I can't overstate this enough. She said I should go to a writers group and I met a fantastic bunch of people who encouraged each other. They offered me advice and didn’t tell me it was “shit” (not to my face anyway. Ha!) They gave me the confidence i always needed to hear and I wanted to please them with my writing. I still keep in touch with some of them and consider them friends for life. I hope they will follow this blog. So, Dedicated Reader, I found my passion again and want to please as many people as I can with my words. so onwards and upwards! ad astra! To the Stars!

As a foot note, thee Mighty Celtic Won 0-2. Ya Dancer!