The Story Behind the Story with Author Robert Stutt of New Brunswick, Canada.

 

Let’s welcome Robert to the Scribbler

 

His debut novel was recently published by 

Merlin Star Press. 

It's generating a lot of attention.

He has kindly agreed to our invitation this week to tell us about it.

Read on my friends.

 

 

Born and raised in Dundas, On, I have been a professional puppeteer and scriptwriter for film and television for over forty years, including ten years with The Muppets. I was a puppeteer on Fraggle Rock, The Jim Henson Hour, Sesame Park, The Big Comfy Couch, Under the Umbrella Tree, The Friendly Giant and others. I puppeteered the lead character, Harry, on over eighty commercials for DSB, the Danish National Railway all shot in and around Copenhagen. I have performed live at the Smithsonian, and with the Ottawa Symphony, and written over three hundred scripts produced for CBC, PBS, CTV and Disney. Most recently, I worked on an eight episode pilot called, Fernsby’s Cryptid Control. Puppet is my first novel.

I live in Fredericton with my wife, Joanne, and my son, daughter and grandsons are also here. Life is good.

 

 

Title: Puppet - A Novel of Suspense

  

Synopsis:

Amiable TV puppeteer, James Tait, sits at the top of the children’s TV world. His show, Beaver Tales, is a hit, and his puppet, Benny Beaver, is becoming a star. It was not always so. From slinging dead cow heads at the lion park, to juggling with Russian killers, Jim’s puppetry career has been varied rather than profitable. Yet somehow he’s created a good life for himself, his wife and young daughter, and now, at last, his big break is here. At least until the police arrive on set and remove Benny in an evidence bag.

Jim’s contented family life is about to be swallowed whole by scandal, blackmail and murder, because there is a dark secret underlying Benny and the show, a secret that forces Jim to reassess his past and future, a secret that threatens his family and leads deep onto the frigid backwoods of Quebec where Benny must finally take his stand.

 

 

The Story Behind the Story:

I think that writers are all compulsive to some degree. I’ve written a daily journal for the last 53 years. I can’t not do it. Script writing under deadlines taught me the discipline to sit down and do the work, and I had long told myself that when I “retired” I would write a novel. Puppet is the result. My goal was to write something I would like to read. Although the book is in the first person and much of it is my experiences, James Tait’s family history and his psyche are certainly not mine. As for writing the book, I struggled plotting and getting down the first draft, but I loved rewriting.

  

Website: Please go HERE.

Buy the book HERE.

 

A question before you go, Robert:

Where is your favourite spot to write? Are you messy or neat ? Your beverage of choice? 

RS: I’m lucky enough to have my own office/studio/museum in the house set up just how I like it. I switch often between pen and keyboard. I hand wrote most of the first draft. I am a happy medium between messy and neat, I think, and like to have a water bottle nearby.

 

Thank you for being our guest this week, Robert. Congratulations on the novel. We wish you continued success with your writing.

 

And a BIG thank you to all our visitors and readers.