‘Where do you get your ideas from?’

It’s a question most writers will be asked at some point.
If you look around at the world, stories are everywhere – the latest news report, your grandfather’s adventures as a boy, a relationship between two famous people made public, a new type of scientific discovery that might change the lives of hundreds of people…

The very fabric of life is story – layers of events that have already happened, are presently unfurling or are yet to come, maybe. Our memories, hopes and fears are all stories. Not only do stories form the basis of human experience, they are also currency which we use to negotiate in relationships; gossip, jokes, promises, and even commitment – when we merge our stories with others, and maybe a new story will be created.

As a writer, many of the tales I tell come from my response to the world around me. Imaginary stories are often conceived when we examine people, situations and experiences that we come across – and add the magic ingredient…WHAT IF…?

The story of WITNESS X started in my mind as a response to my frustration about truth. Does truth exist? Is there such a thing as objective truth or is it all coloured by our own life experiences, perceptions and emotions? How do we get to the truth when someone is trying to deliberately deceive us, particularly when justice hangs in the balance?

I added the important WHAT IF – what if the truth could be somehow extracted from a person’s brain and examined without all the confusion of the human condition? What if we could get to the truth of the matter, even if the person concerned didn’t want to – or couldn’t – give us the truth themselves – and then my story was born.