I think it’s imperative that authors like their characters. The good and the bad. The good for obvious reasons that they are essentially good and likeable people and the bad because they add spice to the story and deep down everybody loves it when the villain gets his comeuppance. Also, ask any actor worth their salt and they will tell you that it’s always more fun to play the villain. But I don’t want to talk about villains today. I want to talk about my first and most endearing hero – Joe Wilkie.

I’ve spoken in my podcast (also called Blessham Hall, please check it out on Podbean) about how Joe came about and what influenced me to build his character the way I did. I wanted him to be the most likeable, loveable person in the whole of literature without making him soppy or mawkish. Is mawkish an actual word? My spell checker seems to think so at any rate.

What I like most about Joe is his innocence and how he treats all people and circumstances, both good and bad, with the same sunny outlook on life. You may be critical of me for using a slow-learner as the main character for a book but never at any time have I tried to make it so that people laugh at Joe for his learning difficulties but rather laugh with him as he makes his way through life with them. And it seems that most of you do. He’s a joy to write and I enjoy having him around my head for a few months at a time. Basically, if Joe Wilkie were a real person, I’d love to go for a pint or three with the guy. Fartleberry’s Mild of course.

I’ve mentioned recently in both the blog and the podcast about re-launching my first novel – Ah Boy, which of course is where we first meet Joe. Well, that’s still going to happen but not in the way I initially planned. You see, being an independent author is all well and good but sometimes I feel that I need a little help on the promotional side of things. Let’s face it, we all need a hand when we’re starting out on something and I’ve only been an indie for two years. Believe me, writing a novel is easy compared to trying to promote and sell the thing. Yep, I’m going to call in the big guns.

Basically, I’ll still be an indie but I’m going to re-launch via Reedsy. It’s early days and I’ve been doing my research and am not about to rush into anything in a rash and hasty way but it seems to me to be the right path to tread. I still need my talented stepdaughter Becky to redo the cover art and I shall be calling on the Mac-magician that is Kenny Scotland to work his technical wizardry with it. The difference with the re-launch is that it’s going to be professionally edited, reviewed and re-launched with all the bells and whistles. When I first self-published the book I made a catalogue of errors and it was a terrifyingly steep learning curve. This time, I feel I’ll have someone holding my hand and guiding me.

Yes, it’s going to cost me, both in time and money, but I believe that Joe is worth it. Ah Boy is a cracking little book, as so many of you have told me, and I thank each and every one of you for your kind words and encouragement. Now, however, it’s time to take Joe to another level.

Watch this space.

PS – The next novel after the one I’m currently writing will be the third in the Joe Wilkie saga. Yay!