Peter Raposo was born in London to Portuguese parents and now lives in Coventry. His first book dUst came out in 2021. Peter writes science-fiction novels, fiction, romance, and he’s now working on a horror novel. He’s also a member of the New Street Authors and has a YouTube channel called that boring dude.

How do you discipline/motivate yourself to write and do you set daily targets?
I always make sure to take a couple of hours to write or to do a bit of research every day, but if no ideas are coming to mind, I take a break where I either read something or do a bit of meditation. As I get older, the writing tends to get a bit easier, but I don’t set myself any daily targets. I just wait for the words to come to me. There are days when I can write 10 to 20 pages in one go, and then there are days where I find it hard to write half a page.

What are the most important qualities required by a writer? Do you have them?
Imagination. Pain. Love. Be a bit funny. Or dramatic. I think I’m a bit of both.
I’ve written some of my best work while going through some of the most painful moments in my life. It’s almost as if I’m a sadomasochist that craves the pain just so I can write. Maybe I should have been a poet.

How do you market yourself and your books?
I use a lot of social media, including my YouTube channel, and I email magazines, radio stations and other writers/bloggers asking if they would like to have me on their show or interview me for their blogs.
I also email libraries and independent bookshops asking if I could do a book event, and I usually get good replies. Plus I’m a member of a local writing group and we always find a few events to do throughout the year. And then there’s Facebook and Instagram, but, to be honest, I’m still learning the process of marketing myself.

Which writing resources have you found useful, e.g., books, courses, organisations, websites etc.?
Communicate with people. Go out there, see the world, talk to people, to other writers, etc. During the lockdown of 2020-2021, I started to help out at a food bank and I met so many people who had such crazy stories to tell me that, in the end, I ended up writing a trilogy of books.

A top tip for other writers?
Only one: write. If you’re stuck and you don’t know what to write, just start journaling. That will help you to write.

About The Mechanical Tears of the Immortal Being – published January 2024

A famous author is invited to a party in the middle of nowhere, a party attended by some of the most powerful people in the world. On the way there, he meets a porn star. Later, when they’re already at the party, he watches as the poor woman is taken away because some people want to have fun with her. And why was he invited to that party?
Years later, that same writer takes a private flight to New Zealand. One of the passengers on that flight is the billionaire Samuel Obberbrunner. Unknown to everyone, Samuel is heading to his bunker where immortality is waiting for him. But to achieve immortality he will have to leave love and everything else behind him for a long time.