The Potentially Cringey ‘About’ Bit
Biogs can be a bit of a cringe, can’t they? Especially when you know that the person the blurb is about has written it themselves. In the third person. I mean, what’s that about? To spare myself the humiliation, here’s an author profile which I didn’t write. Well, not entirely. It appears in the back of An Accident in Paris and goes something like this…
Before becoming a full-time writer Collinson’s career lurched from camp site management to journalism and marketing within the movie industry. He later enjoyed stints on Coronation Street and Emmerdale before working across a number of roles on Doctor Who for almost a decade. Since leaving the TARDIS he’s written for the stage, radio, computer games and Virtual Reality experiences. He scripted 2021’s The Lonely Assassins (starring Jodie Whittaker), hailed by Engadget as ‘the best Doctor Who game ever made’ and he’s the author of the dark thriller, The Hitchcock Murders.
A fan of classic film/TV he’s delivered talks and events on topics ranging from James Bond, Sherlock Holmes and Ghostwatch, to Leni Riefenstahl and Alfred Hitchcock.
Raised in Blackpool, he currently lives in Guildford, Surrey.
So, what else can I tell you? I love old movies. Stick on pretty much anything starring Will Hay or Gordon Harker and I’m happy. In fact, aficionados of those guys might find a few references to their films in An Accident in Paris…
I’m also a fan of Alfred Hitchcock and you’ll find more than one sly reference to his works in the book. Well, I say ‘sly’. One allusion is so in-your-face your first instinct may well be to duck. But hey, I enjoyed including it!
I adore Ella Fitzgerald (who doesn’t?), so ‘the First Lady of Song’ of song also sashays into the story. Sort of.
Aside from writing books I write screenplays, radio shows, console games and pretty much everything in between. I’ve anonymously written speeches for entertainment A-listers, BBC Radio One presenters (that sounds like a dig but honestly isn’t!) and Managing Directors, CEOs and the like. That latter group sounds like the dullest, but they’re often the most fun to work with. Who knew? Having said that, I once wrote (literally) a couple of lines for the iconic Martha Reeves (one of my absolute faves) and I was on cloud nine for three days. That was a fun and unexpected gig…
That’s what I like about my job. I never know what the day will bring and I often meet the most interesting people.
Talking of writing, I’ve got a couple of projects that are hurtling towards the point where I can announce them to the world! (Yes, I know that probably didn’t merit an exclamation mark. Sorry.) But honestly, I’m excited about something you’ll be able to see later this year…
Until then… Cheers!