David Bush Author Bio:
David Bush is a medical doctor specialized in haematology. He was born in Malta but left for the UK when he was in his early twenties. He returned to his first home in 2003 where he still practises hospital medicine. He is the co-founder of a support group for patients with blood cancers. Since he gave up his private practice, he has had more time to spend with the family. He enjoys reading, swimming, travelling and doing any type of DIY job. Most of all, though, he cherishes the time he spends with his young great-nephews Jack and Luke.
He has published many papers in international peer reviewed medical journals. He also writes analytical opinion articles for a satirical political blog.
What inspires you to write?
I now am spending plenty of my free time with my two great-nephews. Both are attentive, imaginative and inquisitive. Their innocent enthusiasm rubs off me and I end up looking at ideas that I’ve had all my life in a refreshing and vivid format through the eyes of a child. I‘m apt to give rein to this rejuvenated creativity by narrating stories I make up on the spot in response to their questioning. In that way, together we create short stories that find their way into my novels. It quite a satisfying feeling. Since I’m a medical doctor, I’ve only written one medicine book before, apart from the many scientific papers I’ve had published in peer-reviewed medical journals. Also I contribute essays on political satire to a widely read political blog. So, writing children’s’ novels has been an exciting transition.
Tell us about your writing process.
Writing a book is like building a house. It can’t start until you lay the foundations. Then come the walls, then the roof. You add as many floors as you want, and you can go as deep as you feel necessary. Then come the fittings, the plumbing and the electricity. Finally, the plastering and painting over. In one or two long sessions, I lay out the basic plotline that usually is spread 60 pages divided into the basic chapters. Those are the bones of the body of work. Then I develop the main characters and introduce other secondary characters. I then concentrate of the dialogue and character development and progression by refining the dialogue and introducing subplots that tie into the main plot. Then I focus on various literary techniques, like the use of passive voice in areas and active voice in others. I decide when exposition is necessary and I also determine which parts of the story need to be told and which parts need to be shown. I then concentrate on the layers of the story and finally finalize the voice and tone of the book. With that the body is ready. It then needs to be dressed up with endless editing. That on short is the anatomy of my story building.
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
Both. Most of my characters are based on traits of real life characters I meet in day to day life. I try to balance the good and the bad points of a character so as to make them so three- dimensional that the reader can relate to them. I practice as a doctor and interact with many characters on a daily basis. The strengths and weakness of the various personalities come to the fore when dealing with patients who are tragically carrying the cross of a serious illness with an uncertain future ahead of them. It give me a good understanding of the psychology of the person in order to be able to empathize. It’s probably a reason some highly successful authors with a medical background have written such good books, like AJ Cronin, Somerset Maugham, Warrick Deeping, Michael Crichton and many others.
Who are your favorite authors?
There are so many. I’d go for AJ. Cronin, Somerset Maugham, Sigrit Undset, Emile Zola, Taylor Caldwell and Howard Spring. I’m a big fan of family sagas with a historical background like the Poldark series.
What genres do you write?
Young adult fiction, middle grade fiction, Christian fiction, allegory
How did you choose the genre(s) you write?
It’s mainly juvenile books, middle grade and young adults. I write the books for my great-nephews which they can then read when they reach the appropriate reading age. I want the books to be entertaining, but educational and inspiring at the same time. I wish to instill in them a love of literature that I have had for a long time.
What three things are on your writing desk at any given moment?
I don’t find much time to write because of my busy hospital schedule. I have to keep abreast of the developing medical literature as well. I wrote two novels, usually in the two hours of the early morning before going to work every day. Both books are published and most of my time is now taken up with their promotion and marketing. Being a self-publisher and a novice at that, it is quite an expensive and time consuming venture. I’ll let many ideas geminate in my mind in the coming years and when I retire from my medical profession, in six or seven years’ time, I should then have plenty of time on hand to take up the feathered quill and put those ideas on paper. I would like to write a series of historical novels.
What hobbies do you have when you need a break from writing?
I enjoy reading, rambling in the countryside and swimming. I also enjoy travelling and sightseeing. Because of my work, I get many invitations to attend conferences all over the world. I usually attend six annually, so I am widely travelled. I enjoy any form DIY. I designed my own house and my own furniture. I also helped design our new hematology ward. I am an avid collector of antique silver, furniture and oil paintings. We as a family also enjoy eating out, trying different restaurants. I was quite busy as the president of a support group for patients with blood cancers. What I relish most of the time now, is the joy of helping with the upbringing of my two great-nephews, and I can’t complain, they are quite a handful.
What formats are your books in?
eBook, Print
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All information is provided by the author and is presented as it was submitted so you the reader get to hear the author’s own “voice” in their interview.
