ManicWorld Magazine

– What are some of the things you’ve learned about yourself over your years as an author?

I talk too much! Seriously, I love writing dialogue. I have a university degree in Film and Screenwriting, so a lot of my formal writing education was spent writing scripts, which are very dialogue-heavy, and I think my love for it comes from that. When you’re writing a script, lengthy descriptions are a no-no, so you have to generate an image of your character by making their speech unique; using accents, g-dropping, curse words and all the little fun things like that. Dialogue is delicious to me.

The other thing I’ve learnt is that I refuse to be defined by any genre. When I was starting out people were reminding me that my first book was what people would categorise me as, so I wrote sci-fi because that was what I primarily wanted to write. But then I came up with the concept of Sketching Scarlett, which is a kind of cute, cosy romance story, and then On the Stroke of Twelve, which is a fantasy retelling of The Nutcracker ballet. I have The Mermazing Adventures of Penelope Pond coming out soon, which is a children’s story! To me, a story that needs to be told is a story that needs to be told, regardless of genre.   

-When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I remember when I was about seven, I told my mum I wanted to be a vet. She pointed out that I would have to do a lot of math in order to be a vet, which terrified me, so I decided to be a writer instead and was one for the rest of my life. A lot of my classmates predicted that I was going to be a writer when I graduated high school, and it seems like they were right!

-What would you say is the nexus of your writing?

I like addressing real-world issues within a fictional setting so that the reader is required think a bit about the world around them. Socio-political issues are really important to me. A lot of my stories feature disabled people too, because I wanted to represent my people in a realistic manner rather than just as a device for an able-bodied person’s redemption arc. That’s not a ‘must-have’ though, and I never intend to get preachy about it in my work. I want disability to be present, like it is it is in real life, but ultimately, I want to write stories that are entertaining. 

– Do you think creative writing in the world is getting better or worse?

So much worse, and it’s not just limited to creative writing. There was a time, in the 80s and 90s, where, for every adapted idea, there was an original idea. Now, the market is just oversaturated with whatever original idea is popular at any given time, because those in charge are so concerned with making money they’re too scared to take a risk. For example, in the 2000’s, Twilight was released, and the market became saturated with vampire books. Then The Hunger Games was released, and the market was saturated with YA dystopian books. Now, thanks to BookTok, we seem to have an epidemic of romantasy, which is a genre I personally find really boring. Why set up this wonderful land full of magic and lore only for the focus to be on the more-often-than-not-cliché romantic couple? In stories like that, I’m rooting for the dragon. Dragons are way cooler than people kissing. In fact, I strongly believe adult fiction should have more dragons. More dragons and original ideas. 

– Are you the type to plan out the whole story or do you tend to take it one paragraph at a time?

It is my firm conviction that planning is the death of creativity. My advice to new writers is always the same: don’t spend time making a big beautiful plan and writing things in pretty notebooks. Just get on Word and write. Write the thing. It doesn’t matter how many drafts it takes to get things perfect. No one cares or is counting. Because until you take those steps, you’re not a writer, you’re just a procrastinator. A story is a living thing and should be given space to breathe, grow and develop in its own time. Like a sourdough starter, but with less flour.