Episode 74: Living on Less, Writing from Life: A Conversationwith Author Mike Leaver
What if stripping your life back to almost nothing was the thing that finally gave you the space to write?
In this episode of the Writing with Purpose podcast, I’m joined by Mike Leaver, author of five books, who has spent 30 years living off-grid in a static lorry in Porthmadog, North Wales.
With no electricity, no mains water, and no internet, Mike writes by candlelight, spends around £15 a week on groceries, and has attracted over a million views on YouTube for simply living the way he does.
Mike writes from lived experience, thinking through narrative at night and committing it to the page each morning. His autobiographies draw on contemporaneous notes made across four decades. His novels use fictional characters to explore emotions he finds difficult to own directly. This conversation explores what it means to write honestly from a life that refuses any conventional script.
“Where other people are involved who I can’t actually tell their bit of the story, then sometimes I will put them situations into a fictional situation because then I’m free to go with thoughts that they might be having.”
In This Episode
- How Mike uses fictional characters to explore emotions he cannot express in his own voice
- Writing from contemporaneous notes kept across four decades
- What Mike learned about writing female characters from being the only boy in a class of fifteen girls
- How homelessness, job loss, and a sunken boat became raw material for two autobiographies
- The off-grid life as a writing environment: candlelight, no distractions, a routine built around creativity
- Living the adventures first, then finding the story in them
Practical Wisdom
- Think through your narrative before you write. Mike develops plot and memory at night before committing it to the page the following morning.
- Use fictional characters to explore what you cannot say directly. Fiction gives you the freedom to go there honestly.
- Write from observation. Read widely outside your own experience to understand perspectives you would not otherwise access.
- Record life as it happens. Both autobiographies were written from contemporaneous notes, not reconstructed from memory.
Connect With Mike
Also Mentioned
- Elizabeth Gill, ‘A Sister’s Dream’
- Enid Blyton, Famous Five series
- YouTube: Mike’s off-grid life, over 1 million views
Podcast Chapters
00:00 Introduction03:40 Literary Influences and Writing Style06:30 Themes in Mike’s Novels09:21 From Life Experience to Fiction12:09 The Gritty Realities of Mike’s Writing14:58 Living Off-Grid17:21 Fame, Writing, and Daily Life20:06 Life, Happiness, and Simplicity33:45 Creating Atmosphere for Writing35:39 Off-Grid Living: The Details42:17 Finding Inspiration in Adventure46:38 Balancing Fact and Fiction51:09 Practical Tips for Simple Living52:55 Future Plans and Community57:15 Outro
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