The main question when writing any book is, will anyone publish it and hence read it? Against this is a more personal question – or series of questions – do I really want to write this book? Is it so important to me that I will spend months of hard labour on it? And, perhaps, will this book say something others don’t? Or, at least, say something I’ve not said before?

To try and answer these questions I have to go back to the beginning. I’ve been writing and performing songs since I was a teenager – many years ago – and they often tell a story. The narrative ballad is a very old form, of course, but a worthy one. A song is shorter, easier to digest (if sung well) and can portray many more emotions than a spoken or written version. It’s also a disciplined form, meaning the author must condense the plot into a few lines, although there are many examples (in the folk tradition, opera, music hall, etc) where the narrative may be extended for an hour or more. Generally speaking, this is not a good idea. However, I’ve always enjoyed the challenge of telling a story in song and have tried it many times with varying degrees of success.

First and foremost, the ballad has to work as a song. Be tuneful and entertaining. There’s a long tradition of murder or highwaymen ballads – often sold around the gallows tree when criminals were hanged – and served a useful purpose disseminating news to a largely illiterate public. But these were soon forgotten if not memorable as songs in their own right. Likewise, it’s no good saying a song is historically accurate if it’s also boring or poorly sung. What’s more, a good ballad doesn’t have to be long and complicated. For example: Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water, etc. Well we all know what happened next don’t we?

In my own case, I’ve always loved writing ballads and included the lyrics in previous books. Over the past few years I’ve also written a few short stories, plus many outlines which I promised myself I’d return to one day. So, looking back over these a few months ago, I started to get intrigued and wondered if this was the right time to see what I could make of them. After a while I found myself getting hooked since I never really knew where they were going. Though I tried outlining plots beforehand I soon found this wasn’t possible as each seemed to have a life of its own. In fact, just like most songs I’ve written, they just grew organically of their own volition. The characters, also, came to life and seemed like real people even though I knew they were not. It was weird.

So the answer to the above question is yes, I did need to tell these stories. They became important to me. But will anyone publish them? Who knows? The book is now available on Amazon (£6.99 paperback or £1.99 e-book) but obviously I’d love a regular publisher to take an interest. I think they’re good, but then I would say that wouldn’t I?