Q1. Why do you write?
Answer: I think mostly I write as a form of therapy. I have so many ideas buzzing around inside my head that if I didn't get them out there I would probably be carted off to the funny farm. (sorry, not particularly PC that comment, but hopefully you get my drift) One thing I have always appreciated about wattpad is the way you can get an idea, and instantly bring it to life and upload it.That may mean you repent at leisure, but being able to edit on-line is a real bonus. Wattpad is also a safe environment to test out new ideas and concepts. Sure people can criticize, but constructive criticism I welcome, and I use it to try and improve. To date I have been pretty lucky with the people who read my work and comment.
Q2. What is the hardest part of writing for you?
Answer: For me the hardest part of writing is motivation. As I work full time, sometimes it takes a real effort to then sit at a keyboard and come up with interesting ideas and dialogue. If I ever get to retire writing will be so much easier. Though perhaps perversely, the world of work and rat racing does stimulate ideas and influence a lot of the things that I write. So maybe I should embrace it more.
Q3. Where do you get your inspiration?
Answer: I am a keen observer of the human condition and tend to have a rather cynical view of the world and its strange ways. So a lot, actually most of my inspiration comes from the every day, but with an edge or slant, often combined with humor. This hopefully makes the mundane interesting. Adding humor to a serious subject often makes the serious side more potent and thought provoking. Delivering a message without being preachy. I think I have a rather dark sense of humor that people either really like, or just leaves them cold. A bit like Marmite, if you know what that is :)
Q4. What is your favorite quote?
Answer: I am not a collector of literary quotes, but tend to like lines from novels or songs and wish I had written the line myself. This is often the case with novels written by Kurt Vonnegut or lyrics by Jim Morrison. I think one of the lines I like most is very old and from a rather rambling and at times almost unreadable poem by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, and refers to a sailing ship becalmed on a haunted ocean.The line is, " As idle as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean." Something about that line is mystical, evocative and eerie. Right up my street.
Q5. Do you ever get writer's block and what do you do to get out of it?
Answer: I do get writers block from time to time. I would liken it to insomnia, you feel you should sleep, you have to sleep but you just can't do it. So the blank screen confronts me and I make a few half hearted attempts to create something, but nothing really flows and although there are ideas I just can't catch them. The worst thing you can do in this situation is try to force it, upload something just for the sake of it. In the morning you will read it and know it is dire s**t and you have to delete it before too many people read it. Thankfully these block periods are brief and I get a new idea bubbling up that just has to force its way out kicking and screaming into the light of day.Always realize that we are our own worst critics. We all want to get published, but few of us ever will. Just remember that you have published something on here, something you have imagined and created, and people who you have never met have read it and may love it. That makes you, me and all the contributors on this site writers. That is what defines who we are.
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#5Qi - July 23rd, 2015
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5Qi
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