Ask the Author: Dane Cobain
Answered Questions (15)
Dane Cobain
Tough question! Perhaps one of the kids from Enid Blyton's Faraway Tree books because it was a simpler time and because I'd love to visit the different lands at the top of the tree.
Dane Cobain
Probably Meat. It took the most research and the most work in general, but I also think it's probably my magnum opus.
Dane Cobain
Probably Maile O'Hara from my Leipfold books. I could live my twenties again and she seems to have a pretty interesting life.
Dane Cobain
I'd probably go to Lyra's world from Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy and then learn how to see and communicate with my daemon.
Dane Cobain
Well, it's currently winter. But I also don't plan my reading ahead and so next summer, I'll just see what books I have on my shelves.
Dane Cobain
The strange case of who ate the Dreamies and shat on the living room sofa.
Dane Cobain
Yes, I can.
Oh, you actually want one? Here are a few from the flash fiction collection I've been working on.
THE LIBRARIAN SHIVERED as the thought hit her. Everyone has a last book after which they never read another, even if only because Death and his bleached bone hands arrived to take them away to the bookshop in the sky.
JIMMY’S STOMACH ACHE turned out to be something more serious. The acid ate its way out and he died in agony.
AS ENTERTAINERS GOT BETTER and better, people spent more and more time being entertained. Eventually, all that was left was entertainment – and the people starved in their seats as they entertained themselves into oblivion.
WHEN THE SCIENTISTS cured death, they thought it was the greatest advance the world had ever seen. It also turned out to be the biggest curse.
IT WAS THE SCARIEST horror story the world had ever seen. Marketing spent every penny of their budget without rustling up a single sale.
HER LIFE was like a bad book that never ended. And then one day it ended and suddenly it didn’t seem too bad after all.
THE WORLD ENDED on a Tuesday. But we were all so busy working we didn’t notice.
IT TOOK HIM FORTY YEARS, but Avinash finally quit smoking overnight, with no nicotine gum, e-cigs or patches required. It was little consolation to his family as they lowered the coffin into the ground.
Oh, you actually want one? Here are a few from the flash fiction collection I've been working on.
THE LIBRARIAN SHIVERED as the thought hit her. Everyone has a last book after which they never read another, even if only because Death and his bleached bone hands arrived to take them away to the bookshop in the sky.
JIMMY’S STOMACH ACHE turned out to be something more serious. The acid ate its way out and he died in agony.
AS ENTERTAINERS GOT BETTER and better, people spent more and more time being entertained. Eventually, all that was left was entertainment – and the people starved in their seats as they entertained themselves into oblivion.
WHEN THE SCIENTISTS cured death, they thought it was the greatest advance the world had ever seen. It also turned out to be the biggest curse.
IT WAS THE SCARIEST horror story the world had ever seen. Marketing spent every penny of their budget without rustling up a single sale.
HER LIFE was like a bad book that never ended. And then one day it ended and suddenly it didn’t seem too bad after all.
THE WORLD ENDED on a Tuesday. But we were all so busy working we didn’t notice.
IT TOOK HIM FORTY YEARS, but Avinash finally quit smoking overnight, with no nicotine gum, e-cigs or patches required. It was little consolation to his family as they lowered the coffin into the ground.
Dane Cobain
Unfortunately I collect all of my books and this particular one is a signed copy that's quite a special part of my collection.
Dane Cobain
Cats seem to have pretty good lives. They just sit around and wait to get fed. But I feel like I'd probably be a wolf - nocturnal, lonely and misunderstood. And just a little cunning when I have to be.
Dane Cobain
I don't get it. I'm still not convinced it's a thing. But to be fair, I work on so many different projects at any one time that if I get stuck on one project, I can just move on to another one instead.
Dane Cobain
Probably receiving feedback from readers who've enjoyed your books. I went to an event a little while back where I bumped into a blogger who'd read my work and it was super cool to tap them on the shoulder and surprise them. Other than that, the love of writing itself is its own reward. And it always feels amazing when you're holding your new release in your hands for the first time!
Dane Cobain
Read a lot, write a lot and make friends in the community. There's no big secret to becoming a writer, you just have to go ahead and do it. If you want it enough, it's there for the taking.
Dane Cobain
From a writing point of view, I'm on the first draft of a new novel called Meat about a factory farm, while from an editing point of view I'm on the last round of edits on a detective novel called Driven, which should be out soon-ish. I've also been working on my next poetry collection, Kiss Kiss Death Death, which is around 60% complete.
Dane Cobain
It's not really a case of inspiration because I write out of habit and necessity. It's a bit like asking 'how do you get inspired to eat'? I eat because I have to if I want to survive.
Dane Cobain
At the time of writing, my most recent release is Subject Verb Object: An Anthology of New Writing, which features contributions from eighteen different authors. The truth is that I wanted to create an anthology because I wanted to bring together all of my friends and my favourite fellow authors into a single release - and what better way to do that than by creating a challenge in which they all have to contribute original pieces? It was awesome (and inspiring!) to be the catalyst that led to them creating cool new stories.
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