On this edition of Where I Work, Steve Cole, the author of Senseless, takes us around his creative space filled with dinosaurs, spies, and the occasional trips down memory lane. Take it away Steve!

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This is my writing spot, upstairs in my house. I should tell you my desk is never normally clear like this, but when it heard it was going to have its picture taken it got all self-conscious and poshed itself up. I blame the fact that the central section of the desk can be pulled open to reveal a mirror: my desk is actually looking at itself all the time… in pitch blackness. This probably explains a lot about my work.

I like sitting here because there’s a window right in front of me, angled up so I can only see the sky. I like to imagine different views; that the sky out there is hanging over the sights my characters would see, wherever they are; it helps me get into their heads.

I’m not always the only one there: in my new book, Senseless, a bunch of young gamers find their senses being taken one by one by an unknown force. I wrote it here late at night with the blind down and the lights out for extra eeriness.

That meant I couldn’t see the comforting shape of Teggs Stegosaur, hero of my Astrosaurs adventures, standing in the office corner, nor the special artwork presented to me by Ian Fleming Publications when I finished my stint on Young Bond!

I have most of my books from across the years squashed into a bookcase too, guarded by the occasional plaything from my own childhood.

Since writing Senseless I’ve been much more aware of my surroundings – the hum of the computer, the clouds sniffing past outside, the feel of my chair’s flaking armrests under my elbows. Why not try sitting down in a spot you know well and concentrate on all that you can see and hear and feel? Then, next time you pick up a book, imagine you’re the central character and do the same. Stand in their shoes to get inside their head.

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Thanks for the tour Steve! That was awesome!

Hope you all enjoyed that! Head on here if you want to know more about Steve Cole’s thrilling new book, Senseless!