Five 4 Friday #RPBP #Author #Interview with Richard Smith @RichardSmithTT and The Darziods' Stone!

Hello book friends! We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day with your friends and family! Today we are excited to be sharing with you a wonderful new young adult piece of literature.

When the school summer trip to Blackpool gets cancelled, Harry's parents offer to include Harry's friends in their trip to Tredock Cove in Cornwall. Amelia, Mitch and Asad are grateful - Cornwall will be great and, even if it isn't as great as Blackpool, anything is better than being stuck at home, right? Ryan is less convinced. He's not the most open-minded of boys and he sincerely believes that Cornwall is full of carrot-crunchers. But he goes along anyway, even if it is reluctantly. Even Ryan doesn't want to be left at home by himself.
And it doesn't take long for the quiet break in Cornwall to turn into something much more exciting - and frightening. The kids find a secret code and become convinced that cracking it will lead them to hidden treasure. And it might well do, but the code will also lead them to something much more dangerous...
... because as readers of The Darziods' Stone will already know, thanks to a prologue dating back to 1798, Tredock Cove was once the scene of something very sinister indeed. A ship returning from the Napoleonic wars once stopped off there. Its captain and boatswain were murdered and the rest of the crew disappeared, never to be found. The world never knew this but an experiment conducted by a band of prisoner alchemists, led by the evil de Richlieu, was to blame.
As our heroes search for treasure, they find themselves pitted against these ancient forces. And they will need some extraterrestrial help if they ever hope to defeat them.
This book is available in paperback and would make a wonderful stocking stuffer for your book loving teenager!

Get Your Copy of this enticing new YA Literature: 
Amazon: http://smarturl.it/DarziodsStone
Bookshop: www.fast-print.net/bookshop/1962/the-darziods-039-stone

---

A breif introduction about the author and his journey..
I call it "the journey", because that’s exactly what it has been. I don’t really know why I liked or started writing, but it all began when I was around nine years old. I remember my mum, Sylvie, telling me that her father used to like writing. I’m not sure if that’s the connection, but it could be. However, through the years, her encouragement to write was definitely a factor. I can recall being about ten, and reading one of my stories aloud to the whole class at school. The teacher had said it was so good that everyone should hear it. From that time, and throughout secondary school, when stories were set for homework, I felt the urge to write long, elaborate ones - and, more often than not, gained top marks for them.

---

Now, without further delay let's take a look at just five of questions that we asked Richard during our up close and personal interview with him!

What were you like at school?
I started secondary school determined to do well and I did early on, gaining good grades in school reports, but as time went on, alas to say, I got in with the wrong crowd and didn’t take school seriously. However, I always loved writing stories and would get mostly A’s for them.
​
Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you?
I worked on a plot for The Darziods’ Stone and when I reached half way, I began to write the story. Then, when I reached the point of where I stopped with the plot, the wheels fell off and I hit a solid wall. It was a big mistake for me not to have completed the plot. I actually left the story for a couple of years as I struggled to continue, but a nagging feeling kept telling to finish it. I worked on the plot again and did indeed finish the story, which I’m very happy with.

Any tips on how to get through the dreaded writer’s block?
I’ve also came to a stop when writing and hit difficulty getting through a situation. I stop and it sometimes take days to find a solution. It eventually comes, sometimes after a night’s sleep, but when it does, that’s one of the best things about writing, and if you don’t panic and let it come naturally, I find it’s always a very good solution.

What is your favourite motivational phrase?
A well-used one I suppose, but one my mother always said to me: “Never give up.”

Which famous person, living or dead would you like to meet and why?
Horatio Nelson. A genius with flaws. He was way ahead of his time, treating his crew fairly, which always repaid him back with a loyal, dutiful service. Plus, the small matter of keeping Great Britain safe from invasion for the next 130 after his death. I would like to know what made such a great person tick.  

Read more about Richard Smith at his Meet The Author Page

Thank you for stopping by and visiting with us and Richard. Check out his Book Showcase Page here at Rukia!

Don't forget to leave a review when you read a book, even a few words will go a long way!