#WritersCoffeeClub 14/12. What's the biggest edit you've ever needed to make to your work?
I’ve recently done some fairly hefty edits on Book 4. Not discarded very much material outright but moved things around to clean up timelines, which then necessitated rewriting several sections. There’s always some of this but this has been heavier than most. #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#writing#amwriting#mastobooks#books
#WordWeavers 14/12: different sexual orientations/gender identities? What guides your writing?
I started my series with two MCs, one M one F. As time has gone by, the female (Jerya) claimed centre stage. In Book 4 she’s one of four MCs, three of them female.
Unless you only write disguised autobiography, all fiction involves thinking yourself into the heads of people who are unlike you in some way. #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#writing#amwriting#mastobooks#books
#WordWeavers 9/12: If your antagonist were on social media, what kind of content would they create?
There’s no such thing as ‘online’ in my world and Perriad would surely be appalled by the concept… but she fails to understand that gossip and rumour still exist. The secret she’s desperate to protect (in Book 3) is already known to a few outside the Guild of Dawnsingers and it will inevitably spread. #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#writing#amwriting#mastobooks#books
#WritersCoffeeClub 9/12. How would you write an online chat or text message conversation?
There are no such things in my world; high-speed communication is by heliograph or pigeon post. Which have their own conventions and limitations. Heliograph depends on sunshine and pigeons are vulnerable to birds of prey, and messages have to be brief. For longer letters, a pony relay is the fastest means. #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#writing#amwriting#mastobooks#books
#WritersCoffeeClub 4/12. Do you write under your own name?
I’ve always written under my own name, on 60 non-fiction books and two novels so far. If I was straying into radically different territory I might consider a subtle variation (inspired by Iain Banks/Iain M Banks, because who better?). Or maybe not.
There’s at least one John Sparks out there in authorland, but no other Jon that I know of. #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#writing#amwriting#mastobooks#books
#WordWeavers 4/12: If your MC were looking for a place to live, what would be the most important factors?
This would be a novel experience for Jerya. Her dwelling place has always been determined for her and the best she’s been able to do is shape her own space within it. Her wants are pretty modest, mostly somewhere quiet to read—and access to books. And, later, access to a horse becomes important too. #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#writing#amwriting#mastobooks#books
📚 Pachinko, de Min Jin Lee, suit quatre générations d’une même famille coréenne au long du XXème siècle, à travers l’occupation japonaise, le ghetto à Osaka, puis dans un monde “libéré” devenu multiculturel mais où il est difficile de se situer entre origines coréennes, vie japonaise, influences et accointances américaines. D’autant que chacune de ces facettes vous assigne son lot de préjugés. Une vraie profondeur et de la subtilité 👍
#WordWeavers 29/11. If you could go back and change one thing about your writing in your earlier work, what would it be?
I can see plenty of faults in my earlier work, but I’m not sure I would change it. It’s an expression of who I was at the time, and it was as good as I could make it then. But I am still thinking about this because I am considering releasing a few of my earlier works in some way. #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#writing#amwriting#mastobooks#books
#WritersCoffeeClub 28/11. How do you approach a fight scene or other high-action scenes?
I don’t really have any fight scenes but in Book 2 there’s the scene where Jerya and Railu are taken by the freebooters, which is kind of violent. I just try to envision what happens and describe it as clearly as I can. There’s no very elaborate choreography to this scene. #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#writing#amwriting#mastobooks#books
#WordWeavers 28/11. Do you target your work to a specific audience?
I follow the maxim, ‘write a book you want to read’. I don’t consciously think of a specific readership. When it comes to editing I obviously try to make sure that everything makes sense and I don’t make references that only three other people will get, but that’s as far as it goes. #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#writing#amwriting#mastobooks#books
#WordWeavers 23/11. Do your characters ever express gratitude to each other?
Yes, definitely, though sometimes it’s more implicit than explicit. There’s a scene near the end of Book 4 (WIP) where Jerya tells Railu that she, more than anyone else, taught her about love—and she means it in the broadest sense, not just sexual love. #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#writing#amwriting#mastobooks#books
#WritersCoffeeClub 22/11. Who do you acknowledge in your work?
Mostly the usual suspects, especially my partner (who is also my main beta-reader and editor). But I also wanted to acknowledge all the health professionals without whom I probably wouldn’t have been around to bring these books to fruition, especially haematologist Dr David Howarth and cardiologist Dr Scott Gall. #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#writing#amwriting#mastobooks#books
#WordWeavers 20/11. What's your antagonist's soft spot?
Perriad would no doubt deny that she has any soft spot. Perhaps her key weakness, as seen in Book 3, is that she's brooded so long on Jerya's 'betrayal' that she's become incapable of seeing that, this time, Jerya might actually be telling nothing but the truth. #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#writing#amwriting#mastobooks#books
#WordWeavers 17/11. Do you get book cover ideas while you write, and have you ever used those?
Not really. My cover development process starts with a trawl through my own photo library (35000) for images that resonate in some way with the story (even if only in my head), and which hold up after applying the Find Edges filter in Photoshop. If nothing else, it assures a consistency across the whole series. #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#writing#mastobooks#books
#WritersCoffeeClub 16/11. Ancillary writing apps?
For many years, I’ve written everything, including complicated non-fiction books with numerous embedded tables, in Pages, and never felt the need for anything else. It suits me much better than Word, for several reasons. The only other app I use is Numbers, for the occasional timeline chart, especially in Book 4, with four POV characters. #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#writing#amwriting#mastobooks#books
#WordWeavers 14/11. Secondary character POV: How would the story be better if you were the MC?
Railu: well, here’s some news (news to me, too). In Book 4 I AM going to be an MC. I don’t know if this means my story is becoming more interesting, or just that our chronicler feels he’s left me in Jerya’s shade too long. You’d have to ask him. #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#writing#amwriting#mastobooks#books
#WritersCoffeeClub 14/11. Share an example of Chekhov's gun in your work.
I don’t accept the principle. The gun doesn’t have to be fired to have significance, e.g. in telling you something about the owner.
But here’s an example. In Book 2, when Jerya’s a slave, her owner has a handsome telescope, but all she can do is dust it. She doesn’t get to look through it until Book 3. #writingCommunity#ThreeKindsofNorth#TheSunderingWall#writing#amwriting#mastobooks#books