In this engaging interview, Mark Stinson explores the world of creativity with author Martin Tracey. They begin by discussing Martin's roots in Birmingham, UK, and how his upbringing and surroundings influence his storytelling. Martin's genre, which includes paranormal and fantasy elements, often draws from his working-class background, creating relatable and authentic characters and settings.

Martin shares insights into his writing process, emphasizing the importance of writing from the heart and mixing facts with fiction to keep stories engaging and original. He uses a loose framework rather than a strict outline, allowing room for creative inspiration along the way. They also touch on the challenge of juggling multiple projects, including the development of books five and six in his Judd Stone series.

Martin highlights the significance of engaging with the writing community and readers. He attends multi-author events and bookstores, connecting with fellow authors and building his profile. This sense of camaraderie and support within the book community resonates with Martin.

The interview concludes with a thrilling excerpt from Martin's latest work, "Double Fantasy," setting the scene for a suspenseful tale. Martin invites listeners to explore his website, social media profiles, and upcoming projects, including a collaboration with the '80s band Fuzzbox on their biography.

Throughout the conversation, Martin Tracy's passion for storytelling and his dedication to connecting with readers and fellow authors shine through, offering valuable insights for aspiring writers and avid readers alike.

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 Tap into your most original thinking, organize your ideas and create the opportunities to launch your creative work, unlocking your world of creativity. With bestselling author and brand innovator, mark Stinson.

Welcome back friends to our podcast, unlocking your world of creativity and our worldwide travels.

Talking to creative practitioners. Take us to the Midlands of the uk. In Birmingham, . And we'll drive about 12 miles Northwest of Birmingham to the town of Wolverhampton.. My guest is Martin Tracy. He's a author and we're going to talk about his genre and his passion for storytelling.

Martin, welcome to the show. Thank you, Mark. Thank you for having me. Yeah, tell me about this town of Wolverhampton.

Yeah, so the West Midlands per se, that's the Midlands but there's the West Midlands per se, they're all interlocking to one another. So I'm actually a Birmingham, born and bred. I live in the northwest part of Birmingham, which touches upon Walsall, which touches upon Wolverhampton, so they're all mish mashed together, really. However, Wolverhampton is actually the soccer team I support Wolverhampton Wanderers. So it's quite a tight knit area.

Whether it's Birmingham, Walsall, Wolverhampton there are other places like West Bromwich, Dudley, et cetera, et cetera. Yeah, the area that I live in is not famed for its hot summers, shall we say, it's usually quite rainy and it's very much industrial if people are familiar with the industrial revolution that happened back in the 17th century and 18th century where Birmingham was the pioneer in that there's an old saying Birmingham has more canals than Venice even because they use the waterways to transport the produce that was being made.

There's the jewellery quarter that's in Birmingham. Wolverhampton was very big in terms of industrial. Steel making and making locks, believe it or not. The locks, just locks that you have on your doors. It was a kind of a real groundbreaking. But yeah very industrial, furthest part of England from anywhere, any coastline.

So right smack in the middle of England. But she is where England, everything is quite. Small compact. So it is a reachable by car and train quite easily the coast, but we are we are in the we are the furthest from anyone.

I love it. Thanks for painting that picture for us.

Because Martin, I think like many writers, you're setting your town. Your background informs a lot of your writing. Now your genre is paranormal and a lot of fantasy storytelling, but you draw on some of your background and your, upbringing and this setting into your, the location, into your stories.

Tell us a little bit about that and your work.

Yeah, sure. Your listeners would have already signified identified that my accent is a true Birmingham accent. The only other people you've probably heard say this is UB40, the pop group. Oh, sure. Yeah. So they're got the Birmingham accent like myself.

And I don't know, Peaky Blinders, how big that is over in the States. But again that, that's a backdrop of. Birmingham history, but bringing it back to your question where I'm involved with using my background. I'm passionate about coming from what we call working class roots in Birmingham. So a lot of the characters, a lot of the situations are set in that kind of arena plus I do set a lot of my books, particularly the Judd Stone series that I'm writing.

I'm now embarking on five and six simultaneously, which is a bit of a challenge. So there's four of them available. They're set in Birmingham. Judd Stone, the protagonist, is a bit of an anti hero and, he pops up here then everywhere in Birmingham and the like and he's he's actually on a fictitional but it's obviously based on Westminster's police, but a fictitional police force.

And then he becomes a private investigator by the time he's on book four. But I think. There's an old saying, always write about what you know, and I think that's what I've done with settings with even with character development and certainly, probably the way I write even it comes over that the only one who I think who's similar in terms of Writing style to me.

I think Martina Cole who writes a lot of gangster novels and that kind of thing set in London. But that's just the approach of using the English language is probably similar to mine. And she's a very good author. I'm really like her. But from the supernatural and everything else.

Being brought in I, I always loved the Hammer House of Horror films as a kid. They really fascinated me all the classic gothic stuff, Jack, Dracula, Frankenstein, and all that. But then obviously reading one of America's Best Writing, Stephen King I was always really brought into his books.

That supernatural element is something I like to bring into the books, along with the Midland settings. And Yeah. And the other thing is, of course my background, primarily my first job was music. I played in a few bands in and around Birmingham. I did support a role in Gift of the Final Cannibals.

I think you should have heard of them in the 80s. Yeah. Yeah. So it drives me crazy. Yeah, there you go. Yeah, that's what Roland's famous for. My music career never got anywhere near as famous as his. However because music was my first love and I love songwriting, and you're telling a story, really, when it just came to moving to novel writing it, not that much difference.

To a certain degree, obviously there's more words and there's more scope and you're just telling a bigger, longer story with a lot more factors within it. But that sort of creativity of just wanting to tell a story that came from my musical background even. And music is something again that cuts through all of my writing and there's always a musical element within there as well.

Thanks for that background on the craftsmanship. I'm really curious from your point of view, Martin, this kind of suspense, dark fiction. You've talked about, crime and that sort of thing, these themes in the stories. How do you create the pacing, the story, quite literally from a craftsmanship standpoint?

How do you outline and create the flow of your stories?

Yeah, it's a great question. And my answer will be similar to other authors, but I know that other authors will create it differently in terms of their process. You have to do what works for you, what works for me and what allows me for, as you probably got a flavor thus far.

There are a lot of elements and sub layers and different things being pulled in all the time into my stories. And I think that's one way as long as you're careful with it. I think that's one way that keeps them original and keeps them as page turners. So when I outline it I have obviously the root cause.

Sorry, the roots.

core idea of what I want to do for that story. And then I'll create what I prefer to call a framework rather than a plan. So it will have a sort of a framework of where the chapter chapters are going to flow. But I don't stick too rigidly to that because You get little light bulb moments as you're developing the characters, developing the storylines, you might see something that inspires you from another piece of art or craftsmanship.

Even watching films, telly, reading other books, et cetera. That just inspire you to maybe go off in a slightly different direction. So it's about that framework and allowing the journey really to ebb and flow a little bit and to and the roads to become more winded and straight if that makes sense.

Definitely. And maybe we could get a look over your shoulder. Martin, as you're writing, are you using any particular methods or tools? I'll call them, a lot of people will put index cards on the wall. Some will use these online, writing tools. Anything that helps you with your craft?

I'm a bit old school really with that.

So you have to make a note of that. Otherwise, you're going to lose it. Yeah,

We all have those clip files. I'm looking across my desk now. I've got a magazine open. I've got three napkins and I got two post it notes. It's like where am I going with this

idea? Yeah. And what I do, and this was the same when I was songwriting you will always get your most inspirational ideas at the most inconvenient times.

Yes. Back in the day when I was writing songs, I'd have a little pad with me and I'd write down a lyric that come into my mind or something. Now when I get an idea of a way a character development could go or a story could go, I actually, what I do, I text myself the idea, so I don't lose it or forget it, and then I just.

Write that up into what you'd call your your plan, your framework your pieces of paper that you're going to bring in later. And I do, I am someone who does have lots of pieces of paper everywhere with little notes and doodles written on. They make sense to me. I don't know if they'd make sense to anyone else if they was to pull them off.

That's the

key. And you've talked about a lot of different kinds of writing Martin. You've got, like your songwriting some fiction, some nonfiction, even. Are you trying to create a different voice? You obviously have a particular style and voice of your own, very authentic, very genuine.

But are you trying to vary that in your different work?

I think so. I think the answer to that is yes and no, and if I can try and explain that I think first and foremost I think if you try and write to formula too much it's not going to be as an interesting story. I think you've got to write from the heart and the gut and believe what you're writing.

And another bit of an old cliche, I want to write books that I'd like to read. I know what interests me. Bear in mind, I understand there's a reader at the end of it and I definitely always want to connect with the reader, but you've got to write it from your own personal perspective, that you're going to like it first off, and then if you like it, hopefully someone else will.

But in terms of a voice, there are lots of great authors out there, and they all have voices, and I'm not necessarily trying to break the mold. But what I guess I do try and do is because I'm interested in so many different factors and sublayers that's probably what my voice is, that There will be these sub layers, these sub plots.

It can probably be a little, look a little bit like an organised chaos sometimes, whether they're in the middle of my book, if that makes sense. From trying to be, I think it's important to try and always be original. Because, there have been stories and things that have been told before, but in so many different ways that, and are even quite similar.

So I always try and come up with An original subject, and then hopefully it's an original story by the end of what the readers found as well. And try and keep it interesting, even though with subplots and Sublayers, you have your cliff angers at the end of the chapters like any other sort of thriller writer you build up the suspense. Yeah. I guess the other thing is my subjects and what I'm. There's not many people, for example, one of my books, Beneath the Floodlights, it's literally about a soccer team that's took over by vampires. And I think that's probably something that no one else has done before or thought of.

I love that.

Yeah. We're talking about voice then , Martin, but do you have a copy of Double Fantasy, your latest work? I'd love to hear an excerpt.

This is chapter 10 House of Four. Give a little bit of context so this is from Double Fantasy some of you might recognize that title from a John Lennon album, actually John Lennon's last album as I said, music inspires me, and Judd Stone, who's the protagonist, he's actually a big John Lennon and a big Beatles fan, just like myself, so he's into his music as well.

What's happened here is, in Double Fantasy, with him being a big Beatles fan, he's He thinks he's got away for the weekend from doing private investigating and some old friends have phoned him up and he's gone on a boozy weekend in Liverpool, so he thinks, and he's actually replacing Andrew Ridgely as one half of Wham in an 80s festival because the Andrew Ridgely tribute act has had a skiing accident but at this 80s festival take place at Liverpool Docks.

There's a tribute actor, Boy George, tribute actor Madonna, tribute actor George Michael, Duran, et cetera, et cetera, all these 80 people. They get mixed up with some gangsters After something goes hideously wrong, so they get chased out of town, and then they head towards the Merseyside Countryside.

And this is where we're gonna pick it up, House of Fun, because Judd, along with his friend Rufus, and Diego, and then the boy George, his tribute act is actually Girl George and Madonna, etc. They're all there, and they've just come across, in a storm, they've come across a house where they think they can get some shelter.

That's the context for where we are now. Chapter 10, House of One. Judd was first to reach the door. It's locked, but I can tell that it doesn't have much hold in it firm. Stand back and I'll put some welly behind it. Please do, Judd, and hurry. This weather's terrible out here. It's making my mascara run, said Madonna.

Mine too, said Girl George. With all due respect, ladies, I think we have more important things to worry about than your makeup being compromised, said Rufus. Although Minnelli saying the same thing to me once during one of her visits to the UK. Rufus's remarks fell on indifferent ears as the door burst open courtesy of Judd's meaty shoulder.

We're in. Diego entered after Judd, just in case there were any surprises waiting, and was then swiftly followed by the others as they escaped the torrential rain. Is there a lighthouse, Madonna? Pleased to be out of the storm, but a little unnerved by the surrounding darkness. I've just tried the switch, answered Judd, but either the bulb was gone or the electric is cut off.

Here, I'll use the torch from my mobile phone off of Girl George. Good thinking, said Jud, as visibility instantly became clearer courtesy of the torch. That worked a treat. Yeah, it has, but I can't get any signal, said Girl George. And maybe it would have been better leaving our eyes ignorant, said Rufus.

Just look at this place. The torchlight on the phone surprisingly projected a much more powerful beam than imagined. However, it still cast an eerie arc, as it struggled to flood into every corner and parameter of the room. 'When was the last time anyone lived here? said Diego. 'It's like we've gone back in time, observed Madonna.

Neither Diego nor Madonna were mistaken. There's no evidence afoot of living in the 21st century, and that much more of even the 20th century. There didn't appear to be a television present in the building. However, there was some sort of old turntable perched precariously on top of a homemade bookshelf.

It was a type of record player that had speakers built within its frame. The bookshelf was crudely put together with bits of unmatched wood, and its shelves hosted album sleeves as well as books. Cupboards clung onto almost every available opportunity in the room, creating a multitude of silky coverings.

Also, a number of wicker baskets were dotted here and there, each with a random cloth of yesteryear, covering any contacts that may be within. A rag rug covered a section of the quarry tile floor, neither of which seemed to have benefited from any cleaning agents in a while. A couple of The walls are absent a plaster, exposing an actual stone long ago, and none of them are decorated, except that was for one of those dark and eerie portraits of someone from centuries before, where the eyes followed you no matter which way you turned.

A beveled mirror also hung above the open fireplace. Over the passage of time, the reflective glass of the mirror fell vecting to desilvering as a number of dark spots were in situ. Rufus noticed there to be a small number of candle holders scattered around the place and proceeded to light the only two that were housing any candles, albeit they had already been partly used.

The drip by drip gathering of the once melted max could have provided the illusion of eerie shapes to the most dormant of imaginations. Furthermore, the protruding stone of the wall seemed to conjure up what seemed to be twisted faces amid the flickering flames. There weren't many windows in view, and an even smaller amount of curtains to cover them.

Just small random pieces of cloth haphazardly positioned over the odd pane. The wind howled through a broken corner of one window. A jug collected a lonesome cloth from the floor before stuffing it into the jagged hole, in an attempt to try and plug the force of the elements. This place sure gives me the creeps, said the Madonna, tributes that.

At least it's dry, said Rufus, but I can't find myself disagreeing with you, Madonna. I wonder what's through that door, asked Madonna, looking at the only doorway out of the room, other than the one that they had used to gain entry from the outside. It's probably a good place to start, because what is behind that door?

What is behind that door? Yes,

yes. Very descriptive. Very, thank you. Lots of painting the picture. And plus now I like to add the author's voice. We've been talking about voice, but literally your voice as part of the scene now for me. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Very good. I was playing the picture of, they've stumbled across this place, which they think is going to be a safe haven, but is it?

That's right. I love the suspense. We've been talking about your background, your setting, your town. You also like to get a, get around town, visit the bookstores, visit some local events tell me about how you get involved in the community. That

is really true actually. You've done your research well, I'm impressed Mark

Yeah, connecting with readers and other authors is really important to me to learn from one another and just support one another. Really, we're all in it together. So what I tend to do is Sign up and be a part of these multi author events, if I can call them that, where if you can imagine, I don't know if you're familiar with it, it's a bit like a convention yeah, they're like market stalls, so each author will have their own market stall, so to speak, and they sell their wares and their signed copies of their books at their market stalls, and then readers can come and meet them, obviously and They a wonderful way to a build your profile visually.

They get to meet an author, you get to meet a reader and and they can buy a book, a signed copy. So that's what I like to do. And I've. Been all over the UK doing that, Liverpool, Manchester, my own town of Birmingham, where I actually co hosted one of these events. I'm doing Brighton towards the end of October, and that's a particularly dark fiction genre one.

So I'm really looking forward to that. And then other bookstores, of course the usual ones that are around in and around the UK. I'll get around them as well. Yeah, it's

good. It's good advice for authors. You really have had some success with this. So I wanted to share that because I think a lot of writers do ask themselves, how do I get the word out or how do I get inspiration or support from other authors?

And it sounds like you find a lot of value in

these events. Definitely. You connect with the same people on social media and then obviously when you then meet up at the events, it's like you know each other anyway, but then that just builds a new layer of connection because you've, the people you've connected with on social media.

You'd always meet new people, of course, which is wonderful as well, but then going to the physical event you can really connect and make really good contacts and friends. And everyone, the book community is quite supportive of one another, so it's a good old community. It's not cutthroat really in terms of if you're with your peers.

Your peers are actually quite good at being supportive and we all help one another. So yeah, it's a good thing to do. It's a good thing to do. It's brilliant to raise your profile because, marketing is such a difficult part of the writing world. And I find this personally as a good way to build the profile and people actually know that my books exist, yeah,

It's been fantastic talking to you about your completed work. What else is on the screen? What else is in the hopper for you?

Yeah. There's a few different projects. My immediate sort of novel writing, as I mentioned earlier, is books five and six in the Judd Stone series.

The reason that is, is because I've had two simultaneous ideas. I told you that they come at the worst time. So I'm actually been quite ambitious in trying to write them side by side. But that's worked well, good, because I can make little linkages in the series. So book five is called.

Working title at the moment is When the Levee Breaks, and it's about actually inspired by a Mexican what would I call it, a story, but it's more than a story, a legend, that's it, a sort of a Mexican legend story around where the haunting of a lake takes place So I've brought that theory into Birmingham.

There's a famous park in Birmingham called Swarton Park. So that theory of this Mexican legend of a girl who drowned being haunted and what Judd has to do is try and find out, amongst other things, why that has happened. In the sixth one which hasn't really got a title yet, that, that is in very early progress.

It's about, it's going to try and look into the black market of organ. Organs being sold on the black market like kidneys, livers, etc. So I know it sounds a bit grim for some people. But it's a story that it's something that is happening, I believe. Obviously I'll put a fictional slant on that.

But with all my books, I do mix facts and fiction together. Which is something I was inspired by Dan Brown, actually, when he'd done it with Da Vinci. Yeah, good source of inspiration. Yeah, exactly. But the way he done that gave me the confidence to, to actually attempt that myself. And then the other two projects are actually nonfiction where I've just released a discography, which is as a short biography and all the artwork of Duran.

But I'm now working with, a publisher called Andrew Spark and a lady called Maggie Kay de Monde, who was actually an 80s pop star and a band called Scarlet Fantastic. Certainly made the top charts in the UK, not sure about the US, but her brother, who sadly passed away, he was in and around the scene of the Birmingham scene.

late 70s, early 80s and caught very early pictures of Duran and other bands Culture Club as well Boy George before they were famous. So we're actually working on getting them. harnessed into a series, a collective series. So that's really exciting project. And it's something that we're excited to see.

Yeah. Yeah. Lots to look forward to. So we're going to want to stay connected with you, Martin. Where can our listeners find you and follow your work?

Yeah, so I have my own website, www. martintracey. co. uk, and that is martintracey, C E Y at the end of Tracey co. uk, so not com something I should probably sort out, com actually.

So I have a UK, uk is my domain name, but if you Google it, I should pop up. Obviously I've got an Amazon author page, and you'll find all my books on Amazon, and the links are from the page, but there's certainly some biogs there. Also, I'm on all social media platforms, Twitter, my oh, it's X now, isn't it?

Yes, formerly

known as Twitter. Now that, yeah,

commonly

known as Twitter. I'm at martintracey1. So just my name with one on the end. Martin of mollynewwater on Instagram and TikTok. Molyneux, that's the home of my beloved Wolverhampton Wanderers, Molyneux, where they play. I'm trying to think of, I missed out a social media platform, but you'll find, they're all connected from the website.

Yeah, they're all there. So go to martintracy. co. uk and you'll find all the information in the contact section. Martin, what a great conversation. I've really enjoyed talking with you today.

I've really enjoyed talking to you Mark, thank you so much. There is, if I just, very quickly, there is one other project I'm working on so again, working non fiction with an 80s band called Fuzzbox we've got Fuzzbox, we're going to use it, I'm working with them to create their biography, so that's something exciting that's in the pipeline as well.

But sorry, just thought I'd get that.

I love all the 80s revival work. It's bringing all those names back to the front of my brain now. Martin, it's been really fun talking with you. I can't wait to see more of this work coming out and hope all the listeners have a chance to gain some insight and some inspiration.

We've been talking about craft. And the unique style and passion that Martin has for storytelling, but also, how his writing journey and influences from his setting and from his background and from other authors all give ingredients into the work. So we can learn a lot from that. Thanks

again, Martin.

Thank you. It's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you, Mark. And listeners,

come back again next time. We're going to continue our around the world journeys. We'll be stopping in Amsterdam. We'll be stopping in let's see, New York City. So we've got lots of stops along the way to talk to other creative practitioners about how they get inspired, how they organize their ideas, and most of all, how they gain the confidence and the connections.

To launch their work out into the world. So until next time I'm Mark Stinson and we'll be unlocking your world of creativity.