|
|
|
|
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS |
FAQ Answers | ||||||||||||||
Where can I buy your books?Okay, so technically it's book - no plural, and only part of it is my work, but it's still a book! And you can buy it! Try Amazon or ask any bookshop to order it in for you - check the Book section for full details.Regarding my other books... watch this space ;-)
Why, oh why, are there little cat-women figures all over your site?!?!Oh, yes, those. Well, the truth is I have a little poseable figure that sits on my desk and when I need a quick mental break from writing, I pose her! She's an integral part of my writing process so I thought it was only polite to give her space on the website too!
Why do you write teenage fiction rather than adult or children’s books?It turns out I naturally write for teenagers, that's just my style - I think it helps that I'm mentally stuck at 15yr too! However, I do think teen fiction is the best. It has a real lust for life that other fiction seems to lack. Children’s books tend to be beautiful but very straight-forward and a little unrealistic. No one ever dies horribly in a children’s book and it always ends happily ever after. Both adults and teens know that life isn’t really like that. But adults seem to get desensitised by life. For them life is no longer a bright and shiny pebble but a rather dull grey one - and I think this is often reflected in their fiction. Teen fiction, however, is all shiny and full of possibilities, expectation and wonder. In short it’s always so full of life.That’s not to say I'll never write other types of fiction, of course. Never say never.
Where do you get your ideas from?My stories just come to me. I’m a real daydreamer and I’ll just be shopping or on the bus or doing the washing up when a story will start to develop. Sometimes I will even dream them in my sleep and have to write them down when I wake up. I have a special folder full of ideas that I keep for future reference.Once I’ve got the beginnings of a good story, though, it needs to be cultivated and I need peace and quiet to work out the plots. The best place for this is in the bath, with the lights out.
What three words best describe you?Hmmm.... I think: imaginative, fluffy, and hermit.
How long does it take you to write a book?I write quite fast, about 5000 words a day so I can finish a book quite quickly. But that doesn't take into account all the research you have to do before-hand or the editing you have to do afterwards. Both of which take longer than the actual writing. So to finish a book properly I would say it takes me about 9-12 months.
Have you always wanted to be a writer?I don’t really think of myself as a writer. Writers are experts with the written word. What I do is tell a story. I create characters and situations, and weave them together to entertain, teach and inspire. I think of myself as a storyteller. I work with the imagination not the written word. I just use words to do it.So in answer to the question, no, I haven’t always wanted to be a writer. I have, however, always been a storyteller, that’s innate, I was born with it.
Do you have any tips for wannabe writers?I believe you need three things to be a successful writer:* Natural Talent * Hard Work and * Luck If you've got natural talent and you work really hard at getting better and better by reading and writing loads, all you'll need is luck! Which is, of course, the hardest thing to come by!
What is your favourite colour?I love colours, so all of them! I suppose at a push I'd say pinky purple (which I refer to as catwoman purple because she has a catsuit in this colour).
Which authors/books have influenced your writing?Everything you read influences the way you write, even if you don’t notice it. I have a really broad taste in books so there must be many books and authors who have influenced my writing. The only really conscious influences I notice are 'avoiding' ones. If I read something truly terrible I try to work out why it's so bad and learn what not to do.For example I once read a book that was very much like this... "This is terrible," said Kate. "I know," said Tom. "I agree," said Roger. "I agree too," said Tom. "I’m glad," said Kate. AHHHHHH! How bad is that? No emotion, no description, no life in the characters. It’s like reading the back of a tub of lard - totally unexciting. When I write I try to make dialogue as realistic and descriptive as possible to bring the characters alive.
Who is your role model?You would expect it to be a writer/storyteller wouldn’t you? But it’s not. I have always been in awe of powerful female figures, from Boudicca (the legendary warrior queen) to Buffy the Vampire Slayer.The biggest impression came when I was 12yrs. I was just turning into a teen and went to see Batman Returns at the cinema. WOW! Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman knocked me sideways. She was exactly the independent, self-assured, and strong female role model I was looking for. And I have to admit I am still a HUGE Catwoman fan today (hence the poseable catwoman figure).
How old are you?My age changes, so I'll just say I was born on 15th January 1980 and you can work it out from there.
What is your favourite book ever?Ah, the classic question but almost impossible to answer. I love so many books! BUT there are only two books in the whole world that I have read more than once (I very rarely reread a book however much I loved it) and these are:Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and Watership Down by Richard Adams Between these two? Hmm, if I could only take one book to a desert island, it'd be the complete works of Lewis Carroll - because he wrote tons of other great stuff, whereas Mr Adams was a bit of a one hit wonder :-/
You say you're dyslexic. What does this mean?It means you don't have to be good at English to be a good writer!Dyslexia is when your brain is wired slightly differently than most people's and you might have problems in reading, spelling, writing, speaking, and/or listening. It appears differently in different people. I am not severly dyslexic (to some people words dance all over the page!) but I do have difficulty 'hearing' words and numbers. Because of this I find it very difficult to spell - I can't hear the sounds properly to reproduce on paper - but I've learnt to memorize words and to rely on the dictionary a lot (although there's nothing worse than trying to look up a word in the dictionary you don't know how to spell!) and also to have very good attention to detail so as to spot my mistakes. I do not consider dyslexia a learning difficultly, it's just part of what makes me who I am - a fully-fuctioning individual :-) There are many famous dyslexic writers including: Sally Gardner, Hans Christian Andersen, Agatha Christie, Terry Goodkind amongst others
|
| Back to Author page |
