I am thrilled to have interviewed author N S Ford, who shared with us details of her writing life, her book ‘A Strange Belief: Weird Stories‘, which will be released on 5th October 2023, and answered a few fun questions. This post contains affiliate links.

N S Ford is a book fanatic, blogger and cat lover who lives in the UK. She is the author of two cross-genre psychological thrillers, ‘We Watch You’ and ‘They Lie Here,’ plus two short story collections, ‘After the Burning’ and ‘A Strange Belief’.

I have an over-active imagination and loads of ideas for short stories. Lately I’ve read quite a few collections of bizarre tales, some the traditional kind of weird fiction and others more of a modern kind with contemporary perspectives, so these have definitely inspired me.

Short stories do not require nearly as much planning as novels do, so an initial concept for each story was followed by some intense thinking and a few notes on the plot, then I just started to write.

I didn’t have a title until I had written one of the stories, ‘A Strange Belief’. I mulled it over and decided that this title would be suitable for the whole collection.

Names are not especially important in my book. In fact, five out of the eight stories have unnamed narrators, which adds to the sense of weirdness and mystery. The names I do have are quite ordinary ones, with the exception of ‘The Sad and Surprising History of the Axcrofte Apple’, in which I chose the name Axcrofte for a historical character because I wanted something that sounded old and English.

The first story I wrote, I ended up leaving out. Although it was definitely weird, it was also a political satire, so it didn’t quite fit with the other stories I wrote for the collection.

‘Weird fiction’ is a cross-genre which encompasses science fiction, fantasy and horror. I had it on my list of short story collections to write, having already published a dystopian one, so I put a poll on Twitter to decide which genre should be next. Weird fiction was the winner, chosen by my fans

I would say it has taken about five months, from ‘weird fiction’ winning the poll, to completing the manuscript. I didn’t start writing immediately and there have been gaps where my busy life got in the way, but each story took me two or three days to write and refine.

Strange. Thought-provoking. Unique.

Getting your work noticed in an extremely competitive market. There are many literary gems published by independent authors or very small presses which deserve more readers and reviews. It’s difficult not to feel disheartened sometimes, but you keep writing because it’s what you love.

If you have a curious mind and a taste for the unusual, A Strange Belief is for you. The stories are quick reads, so they are also ideal for coffee breaks, travel reads and as something different when you are between books.

My fluffy cat Archie is always close by. It’s just as well I don’t use a typewriter or it would be full of cat hair.

Surprisingly for a quirky person such as myself, I don’t really have any quirks when it comes to writing. I’m just happy if I can grab a free hour or two in which to write.

I usually write while sitting on the sofa, closest to my speakers in case I want to listen to music.

The short stories would be a TV series with different actors in each episode, like Black Mirror, but if I had a cameo it would be in the story ‘Follow Me to the Ends of the Earth’ as one of the shoppers in the mall.

“I need a tinfoil hat” (if you read the book, you’ll know why), then he’ll screech: “Why did the teapot do that? Why? WHY? Twit-twoo WHO ever wants to read this book, be warned that it’s both weird and brilliant.”

A big thank you to N S Ford for sharing her writing life with us and for a wonderful interview.