I’ve forgotten who said it but the point was it was perfectly okay to produce a totally rubbish first draft. The important thing was to get something down on paper that you can work with. Also the advice went on to say practically everybody wrote rubbish to start off with. That point has been very reassuring!
What do you find the most difficult thing to write?
It varies. Usually the poems. It takes me several drafts to get them right. The short stories I usually need two or three drafts for. But then in short stories I’m not worried about getting my syllable count right! In terms of time, it’s obviously the novels.
When is the best time for you to write or can you write anytime?
I can write at any time but rarely get the chance! My main writing time is in the evenings and some weekend afternoons. I would like to write more but can find it difficult to balance writing with reading writing publications/websites (both of these have taught me a lot). I can and do write into the night. I find it easier to be a night owl rather than an early bird.
If you had as much time as you could want to write whatever you want, what would you write?
More of the same!!! I’m generally happy with my output but would like there to be more of it so I can get more work out there and hopefully increase my chances of success. When writing is going well it’s amazing where the time goes to!
What would you say was the best short story ever written?
For me this is The Accident Syndicate by P.G. Wodehouse because it is wonderfully funny and the prose is sublime. It is so well crafted. Also the “hero”, Ukridge, is my least favourite Wodehouse character (reminds me too much of someone I knew!) yet here in this story the character has me gripped. It takes a special kind of author to get someone following the actions of a character that same someone dislikes. I’d also say I like Wodehouse’s golf stories and I can’t stand golf either (I agree with Mark Twain’s view here that “golf is a good walk wasted”).
What would you say was the best novel ever written?
In terms of breadth, vision, and for being the definition of an epic, I’d say The Lord of The Rings by J.R.R. Tolkein. It’s not without its faults. I dislike Tom Bombadil’s “songs” (they’re too twee) but it is for me the classic good versus evil story. C.S. Lewis’s Narnia series is high up on my list too. For humorous novels, which I say deserve a category of their own, I think Uncle Fred in the Springtime by P.G. Wodehouse clinches it for me.