As the second son of the Duke of Hampshire, Grenville St John Hampton isn’t likely to inherit his family’s title or estate, leaving him pondering an empty, aimless future. During the summer break from university, he impulsively decides to go backpacking with one of his oldest friends, Johnathan; their destination is Belize.
One sultry night on the Central American coastline, Grenville and Johnathan meet Tom. A game of darts takes a vicious turn. Realising he has nothing to look forward to back at home, Grenville decides to stay on in Belize with Tom, in pursuit of adventure. Together, the new friends establish an import business, and for the rst time in his life, Grenville has a sense of purpose.
But back in England all is not well. The sudden death of his brother leaves Grenville with an unexpected – and now unwanted – inheritance, with new consequences and responsibilities. He will return to claim the family’s seat with a dark secret in tow.
Andy Blackman is the author of For the Love of Grace (published by Clink Street, 2016).
Many thanks to Blog tour organiser Rachel Gilbey and Clink Street publishing for inviting me to be part of the blog tour for The Second Son.
I would like to thank its author Andy Blackman for taking the time to share his top tips on how to write a thriller.
This is quite a hard question to answer, as a new author and not a trained one, by which I mean I have no formal background in the art of writing, I just write from my gut most of the time, as long as your outline story is sound and believable then most of it will fall into place, but I guessed pressed my top tips are:
Never try and over complicate the plot let the characters become natural and let them grow into themselves.
Never get a character do something which is totally out of their comfort zone, you would not in the real world, we all live by our own moral compasses.
Try and pick places you have visited or know well, this way when writing the story will flow plus you will have knowledge for background information, it is believable.
Do not over complicate the plot with characters, try and keep them to a minimum, introduce some briefly, but remember you are trying to let your book flow.
Do not baffle your book with over complicated and boring sub plots, a good book must flow from the start to the end, and have the reader gripped.
Think about where the book is going, is it a one off then by all means end characters, but do not end a character realising you want to use him later, this will be picked up on by eagle eyed readers.
Lastly enjoy what you write, read and re-read and change as you go, what started off like a good idea you can later realise it is not, so always been prepared to adapt, but never compromise.
I will finish by saying that throughout my writing experience I enjoyed writing, sometimes I would write a chapter or a part of it, got to bed and sleep on it or mull it over in a few days, and dream or think of a better way, so don’t get despondent, remember anyone can write a book, perhaps not a Shakespeare, but enjoy it, it is a learning process like everything in life, and never ever let anyone crush your dreams, be true to yourself and the words will flow.
The Second Son can be bought from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Author spotlight
After serving in the British Army for over twenty-five years in the Parachute Regiment, Andy Blackman today lives in Bedworth, Warwickshire and works within in the IT sector. In his spare time he can be found visiting his three daughters and grandchildren. His previous novel, For the Love of Grace, was published in 2016.
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