Writing and Inspiration

I get a tremendous amount of inspiration for writing from my interests.  This week, I have written several thousand words of the sequel to The 13th Doorway, called Worlds of Wonder.  One of the worlds the main characters visit is a mountainous world, full of deep valleys and fantastically high, steep sided hills with narrow ridges linking summits.  This all comes from my own love of hillwalking and my own experiences of Scottish mountains.  One of my favourite ridge walks is the Aonach Eagach ridge in Glencoe.  It's a dangerous walk with no safe passage off except at either end.  If the earth were to shake violently while on the ridge, for example (hint, hint) then someone could fall off and be in serious peril.

This is me on the Aonach Eagach last year.  You can see me at the end of "the Chancellor."

 
It's great fun writing about things you love.  I am also heavily into the science of Space and Time.  The main plot of Worlds of Wonder is about saving a world where time has gone badly wrong.  I am having to do a lot of research into theories about wormholes in space, distances between suns etc.  Then I have to try and simplify those theories so that the storyline is suitable for a young adult reader.  The great thing is - I am learning new things as I do some research.

I'm also a bit of a maths geek (well I am a maths teacher). There are two maths puzzles in The 13th Doorway and there will be more in Worlds of Wonder.  Last night I was writing a sequence set in a world where evolution has gone unchecked for a few billion years and, as you can imagine, the creatures on this planet are very advanced.  There are thirty of them lined up in a semi-circle, each working at a terminal.  The head of the team sits slightly forward of the thirty, inbetween the 15th and 16th member of the group.  I've named him Medius.  Can anyone tell me why that is a very suitable name? :)

Looking forward to doing some more writing later - and finding out some more secrets of the Universe!

D J Shaw 15/2/12

The 13th Doorway

Hi everyone.  This is my 1st attempt at writing a blog so I really don't know what to do except tell you what's on my mind in regard to The 13th Doorway series.

Have you read The 13th Doorway yet? 

It tells the story of three Scottish school pupils who take the plunge (literally) through the interactive whiteboard in their English classroom.  I won't give away any secrets just now but when they do go through this doorway, it throws them underwater and that adds some complications to using it on a regular basis. 

They also find that they are not the first to go through the doorway with a gruesome discovery on the other side.  Back in school, they have to try and find out who went before them and what was his/her fate.

A series of tests and trials await them, involving large sea creatures, invisible boxes, giant waterfalls, complex underground tunnels and even some good old-fashioned maths puzzles.  For readers who enjoy a bit of romance, two of the characters have a liking for one and other - but which two?

As the name suggests, The 13th Doorway leads them eventually to twelve more.  Where will they lead?  Who are the creatures who guard each doorway?  Why is the whole Universe in danger of collapse?

Join Megan, Mark and Andrew and come on a journey to several other worlds.  You won't regret it. :)

If you have read it, I really hope you enjoyed it.  It's had over 1200 downloads in the past six weeks and I'm very pleased with how it's selling.  The paperback is now flying off the virtual shelves and I am planning school visits and library talks to help sell some more.

Let me know what you think of the book if you have read it!