Sallie Eden catches up with locally based author Wayne Hackman

It’s 18 months since I interviewed Wayne Hackman, writer, cat-lover and multi-tasker. So, what’s been happening since the publication of his debut novel, ‘Diablo’?

We met to talk about his current projects, which include a book for young adults, a sequel to ‘Diablo’, possibly something set in the 1930s or 40s and, at the top of the list, a new book which has some links to Diablo but is a stand-alone story. Called ‘The Tramp’, it’s due for publication early in the new year,

Wayne tells me “it takes me around a year to produce a book. I’m working full time as well, which is both good news and bad news. My day job is in the service sector so it provides plenty of people watching opportunities, unfortunately it also limits the time I have for writing.”

“Although I enjoy different types of books and a range of authors, I definitely favour books of around 300 pages – my own and those written by others. They seem more readable and, as a writer, I find the discipline of sticking to that helps focus my mind and stops me diverting from the key elements of the plot.”

“The book I’m working on at the moment is slower to build than my previous one. There are two main characters and for me it’s a story about how a single action means that life takes a different direction.”

With plenty of winter evenings ahead of us, Wayne will be spending them reading tales of espionage, but he hopes Roseland online readers will choose to spend a few of them in the company of The Tramp (to be reviewed shortly).