What are your top 10 favorite
books/authors?
My all-time favorite author is Terry Pratchett. His Discworld
books offer a fantastic insight into our own world. He is the master of satire
and I’m completely in love with his humor. Sadly, he died a few years ago.
What book do you think everyone
should read?
Anyone in business or who is astounded by the lack of common
sense in the business world should definitely read “Eric” by Terry Pratchett.
It will clarify a lot.
How long have you been writing?
My first book: Primal Nature was published in 2018. I took my
time writing it. I think I started jotting down notes for that book somewhere
around 2010
Do the characters all come to you
at the same time or do some of them come to you as you write?
Everything comes as I write. I’m what they call a “Pantser” I
write by the seat of my pants. I make it up as I go along. I don’t write
sequentially, and I don’t make an outline. I have no idea why the books turn
out as a cohesive story when the odds are stacked against me because of my way
of writing, but they seem to work.
What kind of research do you do
before you begin writing a book?
I do extensive research while I’m writing. This is mainly due
to the fact that I never know where the story will lead me. It evolves and so
does the research.
Do you see writing as a career?
Definitely and I hope to make it my only career soon. As yet
I still have a part-time job that pays most of the bills, but I’m aiming to
decrease that every year.
What do you think about the
current publishing market?
I think the current publishing market is in the middle of a
big change. There are so many opportunities to self-publish now that it has
opened up the possibilities for many more authors. Traditional publishing is
being challenged by authors, both new and established, that causes them to take
a long hard look at how they are organized. It does seem very illogical to
expect authors to choose traditional publishing with strongly diminished income
possibilities, if they still need to do all of the marketing themselves.
Naturally not all self-published authors do so in a quality that is comparable
with traditionally edited books. But that does not mean that self-published
works are inferior to traditionaly published books, as some traditionalists
would have you believe.
Do you read yourself and if so
what is your favorite genre?
I am an avid reader with too little time. When I do have
quality reading time I like to read mystery and Urban Fantasy.
Do you prefer to write in silence
or with noise? Why?
I always write with background music or sometimes even a film
in the background. I find I’m easily distracted when there is no background
noise. I know, sounds crazy. But I think it’s the result of long 2-hour train
rides to work where I write.
Do you write one book at a time
or do you have several going at a time?
At the moment I have a few going at the same time, though I
do concentrate on one. I need to get ideas put down to paper, or in my case, in
the computer, as soon as possible to make sure that I don’t forget the details
I already have. It seems my mind works best when I have multiple story lines to
think about.
If you could have been the author
of any book ever written, which book would you choose?
Pen or type writer or computer?
I started off writing in notebooks, but that turned out to be
quite impactable because I needed it digitally to be able to publish anyway. So
I invested in writer software and have used that ever since.
What made you want to become an
author and do you feel it was the right decision?
I have always been very creative. I used to paint a lot and
actually lived off art for a few years before I chose a more secure lifestyle.
Stories and strange fantasy have always run amok in my head and it had to be
put to paper, either by paint brush or by type writer. I found that writing was
easier in very busy times. Lugging an easel around is not an option on the
train.
Advice they would give new
authors?
Don’t worry too much to start with whether your book will
appeal to others. Write what inspires you. What makes you tick. Then, at
editing, you can adapt if absolutely necessary. Writing is a very personal
thing. And most important: enjoy what you are doing.
Describe your writing style.
I write as I speak. So not too many difficult words or
sentences. Short and to the point. I guess critics would say I still “tell” too
much instead of “showing”, so I’m working on that. I don’t pull punches and
that can be confrontational. I think my style of writing is easy to read and
hopefully easy to immerse yourself in the story.
What is your writing process? For
instance, do you do an outline first? Do you do the chapters first? What are
common traps for aspiring writers?
I don’t do an outline. I write a scene that comes into my
head and place it on a timeline. Most of the time I do not know what the whole
story is, but it seems to work perfectly. I have tried outlining, but that
didn’t work for me. My stories evolve.
A common trap for aspiring authors is trying to follow the
“rules” and write as others do. Write in a way that feels good for you.
What is your writing Kryptonite?
Thinking too much. I just have to
let the story flow as it wants to.
If you could tell your younger
writing self anything, what would it be?
Start earlier. Just do it.
What’s the most difficult thing
about writing characters from the opposite sex?
I’m finding that out now as I have a male main character in
my recent books. I have to watch out that I don’t revert too much to chiches.
Do you believe in writer’s block?
Definitely. For me it is not such a problem as I just start a
different chapter somewhere else in the book and see where that brings me. If I
try to work sequentially, start with chapter one, then two, and go on from
there, I immediately run into a brick wall. So, I don’t.
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