Ms Violet India Cummings

My name is Violet India Cummings. Just to confuse, I also write under the name of Saul Ben. As a novelist I have yet to settle on a genre, perhaps I never will. Until I do it is my ambition to playfully attempt them all by turn. So far I have written an epic police procedural/thriller, a quantum fantasy/comedic horror, an LGBTQ+/private eye family saga, and my latest, an historic swashbuckling drama. Steampunk next, I think. Or sci-fi, maybe. My greatest influences are Annie Proulx, Michael Moorcock, James Crumley, Herman Melville, Robert B Parker, Robert Rankin and Leslie Thomas. Prior to taking up writing novels I made my way through life as a graphic designer/copywriter. I design my own covers (and perhaps shouldn't) and those of a small select clientele. My writing process, it won't come as a shock, is very visual. I assemble a comprehensive range of imagery, put it in order and simply describe what I see. After a while characters emerge and come to life. I wake up each morning amazed to find what they have been up to whilst I slept, and spend the day trailing after them recording their doings. You may have gathered by now, I write for the joy of it.