Bookstagram Author Interview
1. Does writing energise or exhaust you?
Both, undoubtedly! Sometimes simultaneously. I love writing and researching and building my plots and characters. I can sometimes spend hours drafting scenes and writing notes. There are other times when I can barely manage the next sentence - though I believe this is often due to external factors or on days when I've allowed doubts and anxieties to creep in. Overall, I feel happiest when I'm writing and getting into the next scene always makes me feel happy and relaxed.
2. Does a big ego help or hurt writers?
I think perhaps ego may have the same impact for writers as it would in any area of your life or in any profession - if it gets too big, it'll get in the way; but it also needs to be big enough to allow for self-belief and self-confidence.
For writers, it's necessary for us to get inside the heads of our characters. We require a huge amount of empathy along with our imaginations. I suppose one's own ego being too big could get in the way of that. Equally, when you're writing, it's just you. If you don't believe in yourself and your writing, no one else is going to do it for you.
When it comes to putting your work out into the world, you need to have the confidence to do it. So perhaps you need to at least be able to fake it! I suppose we are good at making things up.
3. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly?
I think emotion plays a huge role in any creative artistic process, but it depends on what you may be writing. For me, empathy and imagination are vitally important in writing fiction, as it must be with many areas of non-fiction, poetry, music - particularly if you want to create authentic and believable characters. It's probably particularly important in genre-fiction, as the events and plots you describe may be rare, unusual or fantastical. If the characters aren't realistic, you run the risk of losing the reader.
I believe if you can connect to a character's thoughts and emotions, you can let them drive your story and your readers will connect with them, and in turn their stories will resonate. As a reader, I most enjoy those stories where I feel I've connected with the characters. As a writer, I strive to do the same for my readers.
4. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?
So far, everything I've written is a standalone, but while characters may not crossover, there are common themes between some stories. It may come to a point where characters will crossover at certain times or in certain places. I'm also planning for some characters to return in the future. There may be some sequels in the works, but I'm not ready to share what they may be quite yet!
5. Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones?
I always read my book reviews. I love hearing what readers thought of my work, if they've enjoyed the stories and found they resonated with them. I'm incredibly grateful to everyone who takes the time to read and review my work.
When it comes to anything that may not be so positive, I remind myself that art and entertainment are subjective. Not everyone is going to like everything. Though I am yet to receive an overtly negative review, so I have no doubt it would be disheartening.
What I've found most interesting with reviews for my short story collection, “Whispers from the Dead of Night”, is that different readers have different favourite stories. In fact, I've seen the same stories described as readers' favourites and least favourites. It just goes to show that people's opinions are different and you can't allow it to steer your writing.
Feedback for “Bitten” has been very positive so far, and I'm very excited to hear more of what readers think.
6. What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?
I find it very difficult learning to overcome my perfectionism, particularly when it comes to editing. It can, at times, be very overwhelming and wrought with anxiety.
Perhaps the greatest difficulty is in overcoming the doubts and anxieties that creep in along the way - thoughts that I may never finish writing the story; persevering through all those doubts to get to the end. Once it's complete, it's then about summoning the confidence to release it!
It is the feedback from readers that keeps me going. On days I'm not sure of myself, it's their comments about how much they have enjoyed my work that help me put aside the doubts and keep on writing.
7. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?
I have several plots and scenes for multiple books floating around at any given time, all of which I intend to return to. As for books I've already started, there are two that are currently unfinished. They've not been abandoned, just postponed.
"Bitten" was one such half-finished book when I chose to concentrate on "Whispers from the Dead of Night" in September 2018. Following its release, I returned to "Bitten" last year.
As for completed books, I have two stories for children that remain unpublished. I hope to share them one day. In the meantime, I have begun working on book six.
Interviewed by Tanmay Mehta - see the post on Instagram.
Order Bitten from Amazon, Lulu.com, and Barnes & Noble.
Visit me on Facebook
Follow me on Twitter
Follow me on Instagram
Both, undoubtedly! Sometimes simultaneously. I love writing and researching and building my plots and characters. I can sometimes spend hours drafting scenes and writing notes. There are other times when I can barely manage the next sentence - though I believe this is often due to external factors or on days when I've allowed doubts and anxieties to creep in. Overall, I feel happiest when I'm writing and getting into the next scene always makes me feel happy and relaxed.
2. Does a big ego help or hurt writers?
I think perhaps ego may have the same impact for writers as it would in any area of your life or in any profession - if it gets too big, it'll get in the way; but it also needs to be big enough to allow for self-belief and self-confidence.
For writers, it's necessary for us to get inside the heads of our characters. We require a huge amount of empathy along with our imaginations. I suppose one's own ego being too big could get in the way of that. Equally, when you're writing, it's just you. If you don't believe in yourself and your writing, no one else is going to do it for you.
When it comes to putting your work out into the world, you need to have the confidence to do it. So perhaps you need to at least be able to fake it! I suppose we are good at making things up.
3. Do you think someone could be a writer if they don’t feel emotions strongly?
I think emotion plays a huge role in any creative artistic process, but it depends on what you may be writing. For me, empathy and imagination are vitally important in writing fiction, as it must be with many areas of non-fiction, poetry, music - particularly if you want to create authentic and believable characters. It's probably particularly important in genre-fiction, as the events and plots you describe may be rare, unusual or fantastical. If the characters aren't realistic, you run the risk of losing the reader.
I believe if you can connect to a character's thoughts and emotions, you can let them drive your story and your readers will connect with them, and in turn their stories will resonate. As a reader, I most enjoy those stories where I feel I've connected with the characters. As a writer, I strive to do the same for my readers.
4. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of work with connections between each book?
So far, everything I've written is a standalone, but while characters may not crossover, there are common themes between some stories. It may come to a point where characters will crossover at certain times or in certain places. I'm also planning for some characters to return in the future. There may be some sequels in the works, but I'm not ready to share what they may be quite yet!
5. Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones?
I always read my book reviews. I love hearing what readers thought of my work, if they've enjoyed the stories and found they resonated with them. I'm incredibly grateful to everyone who takes the time to read and review my work.
When it comes to anything that may not be so positive, I remind myself that art and entertainment are subjective. Not everyone is going to like everything. Though I am yet to receive an overtly negative review, so I have no doubt it would be disheartening.
What I've found most interesting with reviews for my short story collection, “Whispers from the Dead of Night”, is that different readers have different favourite stories. In fact, I've seen the same stories described as readers' favourites and least favourites. It just goes to show that people's opinions are different and you can't allow it to steer your writing.
Feedback for “Bitten” has been very positive so far, and I'm very excited to hear more of what readers think.
6. What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?
I find it very difficult learning to overcome my perfectionism, particularly when it comes to editing. It can, at times, be very overwhelming and wrought with anxiety.
Perhaps the greatest difficulty is in overcoming the doubts and anxieties that creep in along the way - thoughts that I may never finish writing the story; persevering through all those doubts to get to the end. Once it's complete, it's then about summoning the confidence to release it!
It is the feedback from readers that keeps me going. On days I'm not sure of myself, it's their comments about how much they have enjoyed my work that help me put aside the doubts and keep on writing.
7. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?
I have several plots and scenes for multiple books floating around at any given time, all of which I intend to return to. As for books I've already started, there are two that are currently unfinished. They've not been abandoned, just postponed.
"Bitten" was one such half-finished book when I chose to concentrate on "Whispers from the Dead of Night" in September 2018. Following its release, I returned to "Bitten" last year.
As for completed books, I have two stories for children that remain unpublished. I hope to share them one day. In the meantime, I have begun working on book six.
Interviewed by Tanmay Mehta - see the post on Instagram.
Order Bitten from Amazon, Lulu.com, and Barnes & Noble.
Visit me on Facebook
Follow me on Twitter
Follow me on Instagram
No comments have been added yet.
