Hi David. Make yourself at home. I’ve just read your latest publication, In The Beginning. It’s a great premise for a story. How did you come up with it?
Thanks, glad you liked it. I wish I knew where it came from. Even though I walked out of Sunday School when I was six years old, not believing a word of it, I’ve always been fascinated by religion and why some people have it and I don’t.
Another part of it, no doubt comes from playing Populous a lot, back in the earlier days of computer games. For those that don’t know, Populous was a ‘God Game’, a strategy game where you take on the role of a god for your tribe of people, helping them grow and spread and killing their enemies with floods, volcanoes, earthquakes and so on.
The rest of it grew from this Although, as you can see the novel turned out very different to that original idea.
I think playing that kind of game has given many a kid a God complex.
I’ve also read some of your more serious work, such as What Dreams May Come, but even here, you can’t suppress the occasional laugh. Do you have difficulty taking life seriously?
Yes.
The universe doesn’t seem to want to take me seriously, so I refuse to take it seriously.
I once said, only half-joking, that I learnt more from Monty Python than I ever did from the educational system.
I think I feel happier writing funny books and I recently gave up working on the outline of a more serious one because I realised I wouldn’t enjoy writing it as much as I would a funny one. So, for the foreseeable future I think they will be more or less all funny ones of some shape or form.
I agree. If you aren't enjoying it, a reader won't.
Much of your output is humorous but you’ve ventured into what could be called speculative fiction. Is there another genre you’re itching to try?
I don’t know. I don’t really think of things in terms of genre as such. I’ll quite happily read anything from chick-lit to historical fiction to horror, science fiction to literary fiction to erotica and all points in-between as long as the story engages me. I see genre as an artificial boundary created for marketing purposes than anything significant or real. So I could see myself writing more or less anything, that is if I could be bothered to do the research for a genre that demands it. I’d much rather make things up than research them, though.
So, you don't like spitting writing into genres, but for the sake of argument, is there any genre you’d definitely not feel drawn to writing?
I suppose, if anything, Young Adult, New Adult or whatever they are calling it this week. Mainly because I don’t understand what it is. Back in my day, I read kids’ books until I was about 12 or 13 or so, and then I wanted to read proper grown up books, so I can’t really get my mind around having a sort of in-between category. Having said that though, I have read a fair few books classed as YA and loved them, so it is not the books themselves, just the category/genre that confuses me. But like I sad above, I’m not much of one for genre limitations.
I've always enjoyed Young Adult fiction. You can't get away with waffle or youngsters won't read it. And, if it’s not a state secret, what are you currently working on?
Ah.
I have a four-stage process: outline, first draft, second draft and final draft. I always try to have at least one project at each stage. The current final draft is one based on characters and situations from an old blog of mine – a very silly one indeed: combined with a sort of Dan Brown Da Vinci Code type story. The World famous antique treasure: The Golden Sex Spatula has been stolen from the British Museum of Perversion and it is feared that the erotic potential it possesses could – if misused - cause a cataclysmic destruction of all the sex particles in the universe. That is unless the UK’s leading investigators of the rude and naughty – Norbert and Maureen Trouser-Quandary, can recover it in time. There is a secret society, high-end physics, cream cakes, a very well-endowed blacksmith and a charabanc trip to the Naughtie Islands and its ancient monument, Stoneminge in it. It is very silly indeed and should be out in a few months.
The second draft one is about a bloke who writes a book and things get complicated.
The first draft one is my short story Twisting the Night Away, expanding out into a novel.
The current outline is going to be about a collision between magic and bureaucracy – possibly, although at the moment it is only a handful of sentences.
Thanks, David. I look forward to seeing those, and best of luck with In The Beginning, which I enjoyed very much.
You can find David and his writings on Amazon here.
Thanks, glad you liked it. I wish I knew where it came from. Even though I walked out of Sunday School when I was six years old, not believing a word of it, I’ve always been fascinated by religion and why some people have it and I don’t.
Another part of it, no doubt comes from playing Populous a lot, back in the earlier days of computer games. For those that don’t know, Populous was a ‘God Game’, a strategy game where you take on the role of a god for your tribe of people, helping them grow and spread and killing their enemies with floods, volcanoes, earthquakes and so on.
The rest of it grew from this Although, as you can see the novel turned out very different to that original idea.
I think playing that kind of game has given many a kid a God complex.
I’ve also read some of your more serious work, such as What Dreams May Come, but even here, you can’t suppress the occasional laugh. Do you have difficulty taking life seriously?
Yes.
The universe doesn’t seem to want to take me seriously, so I refuse to take it seriously.
I once said, only half-joking, that I learnt more from Monty Python than I ever did from the educational system.
I think I feel happier writing funny books and I recently gave up working on the outline of a more serious one because I realised I wouldn’t enjoy writing it as much as I would a funny one. So, for the foreseeable future I think they will be more or less all funny ones of some shape or form.
I agree. If you aren't enjoying it, a reader won't.
Much of your output is humorous but you’ve ventured into what could be called speculative fiction. Is there another genre you’re itching to try?
I don’t know. I don’t really think of things in terms of genre as such. I’ll quite happily read anything from chick-lit to historical fiction to horror, science fiction to literary fiction to erotica and all points in-between as long as the story engages me. I see genre as an artificial boundary created for marketing purposes than anything significant or real. So I could see myself writing more or less anything, that is if I could be bothered to do the research for a genre that demands it. I’d much rather make things up than research them, though.
So, you don't like spitting writing into genres, but for the sake of argument, is there any genre you’d definitely not feel drawn to writing?
I suppose, if anything, Young Adult, New Adult or whatever they are calling it this week. Mainly because I don’t understand what it is. Back in my day, I read kids’ books until I was about 12 or 13 or so, and then I wanted to read proper grown up books, so I can’t really get my mind around having a sort of in-between category. Having said that though, I have read a fair few books classed as YA and loved them, so it is not the books themselves, just the category/genre that confuses me. But like I sad above, I’m not much of one for genre limitations.
I've always enjoyed Young Adult fiction. You can't get away with waffle or youngsters won't read it. And, if it’s not a state secret, what are you currently working on?
Ah.
I have a four-stage process: outline, first draft, second draft and final draft. I always try to have at least one project at each stage. The current final draft is one based on characters and situations from an old blog of mine – a very silly one indeed: combined with a sort of Dan Brown Da Vinci Code type story. The World famous antique treasure: The Golden Sex Spatula has been stolen from the British Museum of Perversion and it is feared that the erotic potential it possesses could – if misused - cause a cataclysmic destruction of all the sex particles in the universe. That is unless the UK’s leading investigators of the rude and naughty – Norbert and Maureen Trouser-Quandary, can recover it in time. There is a secret society, high-end physics, cream cakes, a very well-endowed blacksmith and a charabanc trip to the Naughtie Islands and its ancient monument, Stoneminge in it. It is very silly indeed and should be out in a few months.
The second draft one is about a bloke who writes a book and things get complicated.
The first draft one is my short story Twisting the Night Away, expanding out into a novel.
The current outline is going to be about a collision between magic and bureaucracy – possibly, although at the moment it is only a handful of sentences.
Thanks, David. I look forward to seeing those, and best of luck with In The Beginning, which I enjoyed very much.
You can find David and his writings on Amazon here.
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