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| Credit: Myron Edwards |
Myron, Welcome to Kreative Circle! Your childhood traces back to England where you completed your academia prior to pursuing a career in the travel industry. What type of arts and literature were you introduced to while growing up?
Thank you Sasha for the opportunity to be on Kreative Circle. My first steps into creativity was as a very young lad, probably about six or seven. We were asked to design clothes for a doll or toy figure. I produced a Scottish soldier complete with kilt and boots. My teachers were so impressed they asked the local school inspector to view my work. I got top marks for that. But shortly after my results began to fall off. One morning we had an eye test and I was found to be as blind as a bat, I couldn’t tell the figure of a dog from that of a cow, I was diagnosed short sighted and needed glasses. When I moved to secondary school my education was not too good, I only did well in English, Drama and Economics, I was bad at Maths and Geography, so how I became a travel agent is beyond me.
How did working in the travel and airline industry influence your life outlook and creativity while nurturing your growth?
When I started in travel, I worked first as a Saturday boy stamping brochures, selling Insurance policies and theater tickets. After I finished school I had a permanent job in the agency. I stayed for a couple of years before branching out to work in London. On my commutes I would often put pen to paper and write a few lines, not really thinking about doing anything with them. Of course travel broadens the mind so whilst working in airlines and tour operations I would come into contact with organisations who had various degrees of travel requirements, some of these were straightforward A-B requests, but on occasions others would be more elaborate, like a twelve or fifteen stage itinerary complete with a program of events. This would require me to create a program for the participants along the lines of a conference or incentive program. To win the business particularly in Incentive travel you had to be creative as this was very lucrative. During my travel career I organised conferences and incentives in Hong Kong, Portugal, Spain, and incentive groups in the Far East, Australia as well as the States.
In the mid 1970's you started working as a freelancer for BBC radio and television. How were you introduced to the BBC organization? What did you learn at BBC which helped you refine the art of writing and storytelling?
I fell into writing for the BBC, as prior to this I was a drummer in a pop rock band, the lead guitarist and singer is a guy called Phil Campbell, who had previously worked as a runner for Hammer Films, the makers of numerous horror films, starring the likes of Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing and Vincent Price to name but a few. So Phil suggested we get together as he had a friend who needed some scripts for a hospital radio program. We produced the scripts and were left with a plethora of material which Phil sent to the BBC. One of those jokes got selected by ‘The Two Ronnie’s’ who at the time were probably the leading comedy duo on TV and we had our material on their Christmas show. Once bitten by the comedy bug, we looked around for more places to approach, we chose ‘Hudd Lines’ which starred and was performed by the late Roy Hudd, the Producer was John Lloyd MBE, who is also the Producer of ‘Not the Nine O Clock News’ and Black Adder as well as many other comedy shows. Now we were in the BBC, all be it on the fringe, we wrote for a satirical show called ‘Week Ending’ starring David Jason who went on to become ’Dell Boy’ in Only Fools and Horses. Some of the Producers on ‘Week Ending’ became household names like Gryth Rhys Jones and the late Douglas Adams of ‘Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.’ I also started to try some one off scripts and was picked up by BBC Scotland who produced a show called ‘A kick up the 80’s’ with Tracey Ullman. Phil was writing for Dick Emery by then. All these people in many ways contributed to my education in writing, I don’t think I would have written much had it not been for this experience.
Your credits at BBC radio and television include The Two Ronnie’s, Week Endings, and The News Huddlines.
What was the most challenging assignment you had at BBC and why?
What did you learn from this opportunity?
What advice do you have for writers seeking opportunities in the news and media broadcasting field?
The most challenging aspect was without doubt getting into the BBC. ‘The Beeb’ as it is affectionately known is like an inner sanctum, you have to work at it to be accepted, you have to constantly churn out material and that material needs to be good. The standard of writing is exceptional. So to be involved in the creative process was an achievement in its own right. The doyens of script writing all began at the BBC, producing some of the best writers in that genre over and over again. One guy who stands out is a chap called Andy Hamilton who is a genius of comedy, if you were to look through his CV he has credits in every major production the BBC produced since the 70’s. What did I learn probably the most important lesson in life whether it is writing or something else and that is: Never Give Up! That is probably the best advice I can give to writers even today. What format the BBC uses now in freelance contributions I don’t know but I think they do still accept material for their shows, you probably need to contact them first and check what they are looking for. I suspect that goes for all media too.
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| Credit: Mistress of the Rock |
How did your wife Niki play a role in introducing you to Cyprus, Greece? What was the unexpected discovery that inspired you to write your first book Mistress of the Rock?
My Wife is Greek Cypriot second generation, although she was born in London, her parents are Greek Cypriot a bit like me as both my parents were Welsh, but I was born in England. The role Niki played was for us to visit the famous landmark of Aphrodite’s Rock (Petra Tou Romiou) for lunch. So call it kismet or fate, we went for lunch in a restaurant overlooking the rock. Whilst we were there we talked about the legend of the Goddess of Love, which was a conversation that was mainly about me not believing in the myth or in the legend, doubting any veracity to the story. But something caught my attention, it was a poster on the wall, an aerial view of the rock produced by the Cypriot Tourist Board, which clearly showed an image of a woman under the sea. The irony is I have never been able to trace that poster again and even when I went back to the restaurant some months later it was nowhere to be seen. That was my epiphany moment and the beginning of the story.
What was the epiphany that provided emotional and intellectual fuel for you to pen Mistress of the Rock and Scylla: The Revenge?
Seeing the image in the sea provided me with a plot line, but I knew I could not write the story unless I could live some of it. That is to say I needed to do more research and I needed to be closer to the location than I was in the UK. As it happens both of my kids were at an age where it would be possible to move them across to Cyprus because the education they were getting in the UK was not great. It would offer them a new life and at the same time give Niki and her Mum and sister more time to spend together, as both were living in Cyprus already. Once I settled in and got a job and a house I could look at the idea of the Mistress again. I wrote a screenplay first, showed it to some people who suggested I turn it into a book. I did this for a Christmas present for Niki, she read it, liked it and gave it to others to read. They said I should get it published. I contacted a local publisher in Nicosia who asked for a synopsis and then a manuscript, the following week he called me and asked me to go to his office. We published 5,000 copies in English and Greek. I think the encouragement I got from people convinced me to find a publisher. With Scylla the circumstances were much different, as my previous publisher had gone bust due to the Cypriot financial crisis.
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| Credit: Scylla: The Revenge |
Aphrodite's Rock is a famous landmark on the island of Cyprus. What are the few characteristics of this landmark that are only known by the locals?
Petra Tou Romiou or ‘The Rock of the Greek,’ has two legends the first of course is the birth of the ‘Goddess of Love, Aphrodite’ so beautifully captured in Botticelli’s masterpiece, where she is pictured emerging from a conk shell, although the background shows no trace of the rocks in the picture. The second, where the literal translation of ‘Rock of the Greek.’ refers to the Greek hero Digenis Akritas who defeated invading hordes by hurling a huge rock from the Troodos Mountains at them. By far it is the Aphrodite legend that attracts the tourists, not just for its sheer beauty and magnetism, being described as one of the most romantic places on the planet which may be an exaggeration but there is no doubting the sheer majesty of its sunsets against a backdrop of a spectrum of natural colours, utterly breathtaking and is no doubt why so many newlyweds come to the rocks to have their first wedding pictures together on ‘The Island of Love.’
Myron, your genre of writing is fact fiction. Can you please share an overview of this specific niche of writing?
There are seven basic plots to writing:
- Overcoming the Monster.
- Rags to Riches.
- The Quest.
- Voyage and Return.
- Comedy.
- Tragedy.
- Rebirth.
Mine doesn’t fit into any of these as fact fiction. Why because it is a fiction based on a fact and vice versa. The myth of Aphrodite is after all just a legend, but the rock in the water is a fact. Whether you believe it or not to be the image of the Goddess is entirely a personal choice, but there is no disputing that the rock is there. Hence fact, the fiction is in the story, and the blending of myth with reality. In particular the episodes where Richard Cole suffers with his PTSD, are also aligned to the plot of the story. I think this and again it’s my personal opinion that this story cuts through the basic plots and introduces a new perspective that of Fact Fiction novels.
At what point in your writing process did you decide the story 'Mistress of the Rock' will unfold in the form of a trilogy?
Mistress of the Rock has evolved, first as a screenplay to test its merit, second as a one off book a gift for my Wife, thirdly as a published book. Each stage in this journey has taken me to the next level. Had there not been the crisis in Cyprus I am fairly confident that this would have become a film and it would probably have stopped there. That didn’t happen, so it fell upon me to progress the story. Purely by chance I was looking around on how to do this waiting for my contract to expire from my first publisher before approaching anyone else and during that time I read about a Cryptid (Sea Monster) which is said to inhabit the coasts around Ayia Napa beach resort, the locals call it “To Filiko Teras” the friendly monster. With the way book one ends, this gave me the opportunity to combine this legend with that of the Aphrodite one so as to be able to move the story forward. I took both books to my new publisher in the States, James Hill, and Proprietor of Rock Hill Publishing who produced both books. The way book two ends gave me the opportunity to do book 3 as the climax to the whole trilogy.
What is the name of your latest Trilogy and what inspired it?
I have settled on the title Alpha and Omega The Return, it seems fitting as the Greek translation of Alpha and Omega means the beginning and the end. This third book is possibly the best of all, as first of all it is really about Julie, Richard Cole’s Wife. It is also written from her perspective. As a male I have never before written in the persona of a female, I have used female characters of course, but not as the central one. I hope I have got it right. What I am particularly pleased about is Julie’s transformation from suburban housewife to that of a heroine. I won’t say any more than that as I don’t want to give too much away. But I think it could even stand alone as a story with a few adjustments.
Myron, tell us about your writing process. What has hosting over 40 years of writing experience taught you about your relationship with audiences among the field of radio, TV, advertising and writing books?
What a great question. Each topic that you mention has its own audience and therefore its own requirement. If the brief is to write one liners, you need to have at least twenty or more to show the producer, consistency as I mentioned before is essential with this type of comedy. Addressing the audience means understanding the product, which applies across all media. It is the same with advertising, knowing the product and its merits allows you to develop ideas and take those ideas into full blown campaigns which cut across all mediums. So if a product can be promoted on TV would it work as well on radio, or in print or on posters? Will it have the legs and be sustainable as a household name? Does it have a strap line that could become part of the language example “Have a break, have a Kit Kat.” In fact some of the most famous of all campaigns came just by chance. In the case of Kit Kat the agency had been working on the ad for days and couldn’t come up with something, until one writer said, “We have been doing this for hours, let’s take a break.” The rest is history. Book writing is a different science whereas script writing and advertising is time conscious. Books can be written over a period of time and require more detail, more research, this important time element gives you the opportunity to not only build your story and characters but also the chance to evaluate how this plays to your audience, you can also adapt your writing to a particular audience genre.
What books and authors have impacted your writing career?
No one in particular has influenced me or my style of writing. I have tried to keep my own style in my books. Of the authors who I perhaps have followed one man and his books stand out as unique, that is the late George McDonald Fraser of the Flashman series of books, the way he writes and uses Flashman as a foil for his adventures is ingenious, as he takes the anti-hero of Tom Brown’s schooldays and turns him into the most loveable rogue who travels around the world seeking pleasures in all shapes and sizes, but the clever thing is he interweaves the story line with actual facts, putting Flashman in the heat of the action. Of course I enjoy the classics, Dickens, Oscar Wilde and Stoker, as well as more contemporary writers such as Stephen King, James Herbert and Peter Benchhley to name but a few.
What is the best professional writing tip you've received in your career? In the past decade? From your friends and family?
In short never give up.
Myron, what activities do you entertain to relax when you're not writing?
I watch football, I have followed Tottenham Hotspur since 1961, and when this pandemic is over I will be going back to the Spurs Pub in Limassol to watch the games again. I also enjoy a game of pool, and of course spending time with the family. We are lucky we have a beach not too far away so in summer we go there.
If you could only choose one book as a reference guide for your life, which book would you choose and why?
In all honesty I would choose Mistress of the Rock, not just because I wrote it, but because it has lessons to offer, about love and jealousy, fear and terror, belief and passion, friendship and courage. That it is what I would choose, because it evokes all of these emotions in the ultimate test of true love.
Please share with audiences how they can support your work.
Bookshops selling Mistress series 2021.
Mistress of the Rock @ Amazon
Scylla: The Revenge @ Amazon
Mistress of the Rock @ WHSmith
Scylla: The Revenge @ WHSmith
Mistress of the Rock @ Foyles
Scylla: The Revenge @ Foyles
Mistress of the Rock @ Bookshop
Scylla: The Revenge @ Bookshop
Mistress of the Rock @ Barnes and Noble
Scylla: The Revenge @ Barnes and Noble
All books are also available at Rock Hill Publishing.
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