To the waffle born
Why I write
Trite, I know, but actually true: I write because that’s what I seem to be hardwired to do. There’s always writing going on, even if it’s just in my mind.
I was five when I wrote my first story. This masterpiece involved children wrongfully accused of stealing apples, when these had actually just rolled away on a sloping pavement. Sadly, this glittering gem is lost to posterity. Ice cream stains on much-handled paper, apparently, at a time before readily accessible copy machines, never mind scanners. But hey.
Read more…
I haven’t stopped writing since. It came to be my day job, albeit in a line leveraging my fascination with actual facts rather than my flights of fancy.
Recently, the fiction part has moved centre stage. It had been clamouring for attention.
“Hard facts are a fabulous thing,” it’s been arguing, “but what makes us human is best explored through fiction.”
I’m not sure I agree – there’s plenty of extremely rigourous research into topics such as compassion, kindness and empathy as well. But my fictional side and I aren’t scientists, so stories are what we turn to.
What I write
I like a good laugh. If something weird occurs to me, I’ll probably want to build a story around it.
And I like to think about people. What they’ll make of situations that challenge their perceptions and convictions. About the way emerging technologies, mind-boggling discoveries or shifting realities might affect them.
Read more…
Turns out that my characters are easily befuddled. Very few of them seem to have great coping skills, but they’re mostly willing to give changes the benefit of the doubt if they do actually have to engage with them.
Which, on the whole, they’d rather not. It’s surprising how many of my protagonists share my preference for just curling up with a good book rather than heading out into the unknown. At some point, I’ll have to write a confident, unflappable adventurer who feels at home in any situation. Don’t hold your breath, though.
Meanwhile, the people in my stories are all a little bit flawed. Any new-fangled gadgets will inevitably be glitchy. My magicians tend to be incompetent. My talking frogs are prone to sarcasm; my angels are despondent, my robots all outdated. You’ve been warned.
And for whom
I write for my imaginary readers… As an unpublished author, I have no real ones to talk about.
So at the moment, I’m mostly talking to myself. But I’m hoping that will change.
My imaginary readers are all very different people. But they do have a few things in common: they’re interested in other worlds – future or imaginary; they feel a kinship with other people despite any superficial differences; and they enjoy stories that leave at least some hope the future might be bearable.
They probably also enjoy their fiction slightly tongue-in-cheek, if occasionally a bit melancholy. And they’ll be willing to put up with my geeky sci-fi/fantasy references!
I so look forward to meeting you.