DADYMINDS AUTHOR INTERVIEW WITH DAVID ASTON

David Aston, author of Polar Stroke and A Stroke of Fortune

  1.  What is your most recent book? Tell us a bit about it.

  • I have recently completed A Stroke of Fortune. This is about a person called Dave, who had a car crash which caused a stroke and damaged his brain. That part is true, however the remaining part is fiction.

I feel that everything about a stroke is bad, apart from maybe the blue badges so I have given him the redeeming feature of developing magical powers as part of his recovery process. When I had my stroke, I had about three weeks which I don’t remember at all, but I had one dream which was clearly rubbish because the people  were too extraordinary to be true but it was obviously based on what happened. These three people form Dave’s team of mythical beings who guide him through his process of firstly getting revenge on the neighbours and secondly saving the world.

  1.  Tell us something about yourself. (Where are you from, what is your background, how long have you been writing or anything we might find interesting about you.)

  • I currently live in North Berwick, Scotland although I grew up in Canterbury, England and I consider myself English. An ex-girlfriend of mine was ditching me as a boyfriend and she said, “I am just too sporty for you”. She was right, but it annoyed me, so I decided, despite never having done anything physical before, that I would walk to the Magnetic North Pole.

I had a good job as a partner in a firm of accountants, during the day, but I spent the next eighteen months during the evenings and weekends training for the North Pole. I got there on 2 May 2005 and just left it as a good memory until I had a car crash on 27 April 2013 which changed everything and I was immediately retired from work. My Neurologist told me I had around twenty hours a week where I would be awake and alert, obviously not enough to do a proper job.

I decided in 2014 that I would write Polar Stroke, which was an auto-biography about the walking to the North Pole and the problems of the subsequent stroke. I did this really as something to do, but having written it I decided to use Amazon to publish it, and eventually did so on January 2016.

Having writes Polar Stroke, I decided that writing was a good industry for me, as there were no deadlines I had to meet and it would take as long as it needed, hence I decided I would keep on writing and set about creating a series of novels, of which A Stroke of Fortune, is the first but I have now started the second.

  1. How did you know you wanted to be a writer? How did you get started?

  • I became a writer really by default. It was really just something that I could do to keep me occupied in the short amounts of time I had being alert following the debilitating car crash.


  1. Are you a pantser or a plotter? (i.e., Do you outline and plan your story or do you just sit down and write?)

  • I do not have the energy or the skill any more to sit down and plan a story. So now I sort of plan a process for a book, in my head, and then just start writing. My wife is invaluable to me, and she performs the role of editor and I just accept I may have written the same piece twice or worse still missed out a bit.

  1. Do you have a daily or weekly writing schedule, or do you write only when you are inspired? How many words or pages do you complete in a typical day?

  • I write when I can for as long as I can but do not force myself to deadlines or so many words as I don’t know how alert I will be.

  1.  Where do you get information or ideas for your books?

  • The ideas for my book come from a distinct feeling that I have been cheated in life by having a stroke and not being able to work. It is desperate frustration which helps me write.

  1.  Do you read reviews? Or Do you hear from your readers much? What kind of thing do they say?

  • Unfortunately, with my stroke, I am only able to read very much at all. If I get a letter, I usually have to read it three or four times over a couple of days to know what it says, so normally I just leave it to Jacki to read. When I get reviews, I do want to know what it says, and usually people are supportive of me as they appreciate my background.

  1. What is the best advice you could give other writers or someone who wants to become an author about writing or publishing?

  • I really can’t give advice to people who want to write, as I do it for therapeutic reasons and ideally would still be an accountant, but if someone wants to write a book they should just do it. Finding excuses for not writing is easy, but if you want a book published you have to write it.


  1. When did you write your first book and how old were you? (tell us a little bit about your experience).

  • I published my first book in January 2016 at the age of 47 and in July 2020 I published my first novel at the age of 51. 

I am writing for the therapeutic aid it gives me, rather than for success as a writer. I stumbled across this industry as result of my car crash. It is a lovely way of keeping engaged and at least it makes me feel useful for a limited time.

  1. What do you like to do when you are not writing?

  • I have only been given around 20 hours a week of being alert so actually finding things to do is not that difficult in terms of the time spent, although extremely difficult in terms of the energy I give up.

Before the crash, I would happily go anywhere, I loved travelling. Now I have to be more selective about how and where I go. Before Covid I was getting into cruises as my hotel was always near to me, but that has been put on hold for a bit.

I still enjoy walking but will only do half a mile or so each day instead of spending all day walking aimlessly for the sake of it.

  1. What does your family think of your writing?

  • My wife thinks as long as I am doing something with intent then that is good enough for her.

  1. What were the most surprising things you learnt from creating your own books?

  • The fact that my being an author has enhanced my social standing more than things like walking to the North Pole. Particularly now I have written a novel.

  1. How many books have you written?

  • I have written two books which are Polar Stroke (autobiography) and A Stroke of Fortune (First novel, and first in A Stroke series)

  1. As a child, what did you want to become when you grew up?

  • As a child I wanted to be something which was public and awe inspiring to people, although in reality I wanted to be an accountant.

  1. What is your favorite book and author? How has that book changed you or what did you learn from the book? 

  • I have been unable to keep myself together to read a page of writing, let alone a complete book, for seven years. Before that I just read technical journals and books so I can’t remember reading a book, let alone choose a favourite.

  1. What does being a successful author look like to you?

  • It is more about the achievement of completing and publishing a book for me. I love to imagine Marvel ringing me up, and me signing huge film or book deal with them, but I am resigned to that maybe not happening.

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