Meet Jamaican Award Winning Writer Earl Thompson

Earl Claudius Thompson was born in Wood Hall Clarendon, in May 1962.  He  attended Vere Technical high school and after two year he was transferred to Clarendon college.

In 1980  Earl joined the Jamaica Constable Force (JCF) until 1992 when he migrated to Canada where he spent ten years. He is currently living in New Jersey.

Earl found his passion in writing from a tender age of  twelve, and in August of 1995 he won an award from the International society of poets. Since then he has won other awards for poetry. He recently won an award called “Editor’s choice award”, for a poem he submitted to the International Society of poets last year.   His poetry can be seen on Poetry.com.
 
In 2000 he published first novel called “The Last Of The Con-men.” with on an online publishing company iuniverse.com.  His second novel “Jimmy’s New  Life” with the same company in 2002. In December of 2006 he published his third novel called “The Relocators”., which is available on Amazon.com, Bn.com, and Borders.com.
To date Earl has written over twenty five feature length screenplays and a few shorts. He also writes song lyrics.

In 2009 he won a Valentine poetry competition, which was held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He optioned a screenplay to a movie company in Miami in January 2009. He has been featured in the Jamaican Gleaner on numerous occasions, and in a few local newspapers in Florida. He presently has six e-books on Smashwords.com.

Book Review “The Relocators” by E. Claudius Thompson

Reviewed by : Garth A. Rose, Ph.D. Editor, Caribbean National Weekly

The quality of books being written by Caribbean authors is really becoming impressive. One of the most interesting and enjoyable books we have had the privilege to review is “The Relocators” written by Jamaican, and Fort Lauderdale resident, E. Claudius Thompson, a young man who has been writing for a number of years, and, in fact, has other novels to his credit.  

This book  published by Publish America is an intriguing and well-written mystery. Thompson has succeeded in writing a very suspenseful story that keeps the reader glued to the book, anxious to reach the plot’s conclusion. With keen interest we follow the story of the main character, Canadian John Anderson, as he tries to survive a plot spawned by a criminal organisation to eliminate him, as he hides in rural Jamaica.

Anderson is a former member of an organised crime unit that fronts as the Phoenix Contracting Company located in Toronto, Canada.  This company is purported to be one that recruits professional consultants to solve the problems of clients located internationally. The company’s policy is to recruit people who are loners, not having relatives, close friends or romantic relationships. The strange thing is that when these so-called consultants are sent out on an assignment, they never return to Canada. When questions are asked about their whereabouts, the company’s standing explanation is that they have been relocated.

However, Anderson gets wind of the real operations of the company, and realize that why the consultants disappear after their respective assignments, is that they are murdered. This makes him determined to leave the company, and he decides to do this after being sent on an assignment to assassinate a leading member of the Jamaican government. On his way to Jamaica Anderson meets, a female Jamaican police superintendent whom he befriends, and confides his predicament. She places him in a secure hiding place, while she and a clean cop battles, with members of the company, a deadly Jamaican gang and a set of corrupt cops. Intent on bringing down the Phoenix Contracting Company, the good guys encounter several skirmishes, some tragic, with the company’s paid execution goons. The story builds up to a very exciting conclusion, giving the reader the impression of having been in the centre of an exciting journey all over Jamaica, and Canada as the plot unfolds.

All in all, this is a very good suspenseful thriller written by Thompson, who incidentally hails from Woodhall, Clarendon, up to recently a relatively unknown district, now famous as the birthplace of Jamaica’s current prime-minister.

CEM Q & A with Earl Thompson

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

As a child I was an avid reader, and I used to like watching television. I was impressed with movies and I always wanted to know how they write them. At an early age I started writing in a hardcover book. It was from then that I realized that I wanted to write.

How old were you when you wrote your first book?

I think I was about twenty five, or maybe younger.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I first consider myself a writer when I wrote my first poem. This was back in 1989, or somewhere around there.

How long does it take you to write a book?

It depends how caught up I am. If I really feel what I'm writing about it can take about four months. And again it depends on how many pages I'm going for.

Do you have a specific writing style?

I guess everyone has a style that is specific to them. You see how people write and then you develop a style of your own.

I know you write novels, poems and lyrics, which do you, enjoy writing most?

I actually I write screenplays too. I enjoy writing novels; then again it's the way you feel at the moment whenever you're writing whatever it is that you're writing. I don't really have a specific one I would say I like doing more than any other. I just love to write. Whatever is in my mind at the moment that is what I write, whether it's a screenplay, lyrics, poems or novel.

Where do you get your inspiration when writing?

My inspirations come from things I see around me. I can see an ad on the television and I can have an idea for a novel or a screenplay. I can be walking and while walking an idea comes to me for a song or a poem.

What do you like to do when you're not writing?

I like to walk and think. Or I like to watch television. My favorite channel is the I.D. channel; they have some very interesting real life situations on it.

What does your family think of your writing?

Actually, they just accept me for who I am. I don't know anyone in my family who is a writer. They support me and I guess they would very much like to see me succeed.

How did you feel when you won your first award?

I was very happy. I felt like people were beginning to see me for who I am. I know I could write, but then I felt as if they were seeing that too, so they were showing me that they appreciate me as a writer.

What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?

I think I learnt that it's a great gift to be able to create characters that can become life like. Even though I know that my characters are not real, sometimes I feel so attached to them, and when it's time to kill them off, it's like you're killing a part of you, and it be so hard to do it sometimes.

Is there a market for your kind of writing?

Yes, there is. My writing is for young adult as well as for adults. Basically it's for the family. My works contain nothing that's disgusting or that is for adults only; they are books that can be read by anyone, so, yes, I think there is.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

No, not really. To me writing is fun, so there is nothing challenging in it for me.

How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?

I have written about eight books so far. One called 'Jimmy's New Life' is my favorite.

Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say?
I don't really hear much; the people who I hear from tell me how much they enjoy my writing and they tell me how talented they think I am. It's always good to hear that. One of my readers is someone I'm now working with to write her life story. Actually, I have already finished writing it. So it's good to hear from my readers.

What do you think makes a good story?

To make a good story, there has to be a lot of conflicts. Conflicts are what drive a story. What I mean is that you can't write a story where everything is okay; there has to be something bad happening that your protagonist has to resolve in one way or the other. You want to be able to feel for the character that you're reading about, and if it's only good then it becomes monotonous.

With the internet and many book stores closing down, is online publication the way to go?

I think it is, but I still think it's good to have that book in your hand. Not everyone will be able to look in the bright light to the Kindle or the nook. And it's good to have a book hanging around where someone can sit in a room and read from the book itself. And especially if you're the one who writes it, there is no greater feeling than looking at the actual book.

Tells us about writing for films, is it the same as writing a novel?

Writing for films is different from writing a novel. With screenplays, which are what is translated into a movie,  you need to have fewer words on the pages, while with novels you want to have more. Novels are more descriptive than screenplays, hence you need more words for the novels. A screenplay deals more with showing, because it's visual. What I mean is that you want to be able to show more than you tell. In a novel you're able to go deep into the characters' minds, you don't do that with a screenplay; people are not able to see into someone's mind when they are on screen, however, they can use the expressions on the person's face to guess what they are thinking; in books we read all of that.

What books, and films have the most influenced on your life?

I wouldn't really say books or films have an influence on my life. I like watching films and reading books, but once I'm finished watching a film or reading a book, I'm back to being whom I have always been; they don't really do anything for me. I enjoy them if they are good, but that's about it.

What first got you interested in film?

I remember when I was a kid growing up;  we didn't have a television, but our uncle, who lived next door to us had one. I used to like watching 'The Six Million Dollar Man,' 'Hawaii Five -O' and other shows, That's what got me hooked on movies, On Sundays we would watch movies with Randall Scott, Victor Mature, and other stars. So the television was what got me first hooked.

What do you consider some of the main differences between writing a poem, novel, film and lyrics?

To me it's easy writing a novel, once I get an idea for it. With screenplays, you have to format it different from a novel, with lyrics, it really follows a rhythm as does a poem. We all know that we can make songs from poems and vice versa. It's kind of hard to write lyrics and poems. I see some people write what they call 'Free verse' meaning it's not rhymed; with me I only write rhyming poems.

If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?

I like reading James Patterson, so I would have considered him my mentor if I were really looking at one as a mentor.

What are your dreams and aspirations as a writer

My dream is to be the best writer out of Jamaica. I write English, because I want my work to be read all over the world.


Do you have any suggestions for someone wants to become a writer? If so, what are they?
To become a better writer, it's like anything else; you have to practice and practice. Read a lot, write a lot. The more you write, the better you will be.

Do you have any advice for other writers?

Don't give up on your dreams; keep writing until you find the success you want.