June 10th: Do you revise and add more plot if you feel your story is too short?

Not at all. I add or subtract as I see fit, if it feels like there's more to be told. Usually, I have an excess of material and it's more a question of cutting back and polishing until I have the final piece.

June 11th: Is it okay to use a comma before a dependent ( Read more... )

8. Do you agree with Michael Moorcock: "ignore all proffered rules and create your own, suitable for what you want to say?"

Yes, but only after you've become familiar with the rules. If you're going to create your own rules, do it for good reasons.

9. How do you select ideas from all the ones floating around?I don't think too much; I'm a go-with- ( Read more... )

7. What do you do first when you start a new writing project?I pour everything down on paper, as much as possible, without worrying about coherence, point of view, syntax. Just write and write, getting past the "internal editor", until I have a good solid chunk of material down. Once I'm done, I let it sit for a bit then treat it as a rough outline ( Read more... )

5. Have you ever dreamed about characters in your work?

Very rarely. The few times it's happened, I've tried to incorporate the scene into my work, almost as if it were a talisman, and fully aware that it might not survive later edits.

6. Have you queried agents for traditional publishing? How did it go?Never. My only experience has been with ( Read more... )

4. How do you handle highly intimate scenes?It varies from story to story. My two current works in progress are horror novels which contain intimate scenes. Sometimes they are there to help the reader connect with characters and care for them, sometimes they are there to maximise horror. I try to avoid explicit content, unless there's a point to it ( Read more... )

3. Should books include a content warning?For me, personally, no. But that's probably because I'm Gen X: I grew up without any content warning, anywhere. I find it a bit weird now if a book tells me what I'm expected to find inside, going as far as give away major plot points ( Read more... )

2. Do you have any regrets as a writer, or do you never look back?Never look back: I don't believe in free will and don't think I could have reached this point in my life without all the successes and failures that came before, or done anything different that would have made me a better writer. It is what it is, and I'm glad of what I've learned ( Read more... )

Intro and update: introduce yourself and/or update us on your writing journey since your last intro.Friends call me Ollie. Nearly-49-years-old gay men living in a small guesthouse in the Brazilian countryside, caring for a parent with Alzheimer's. Literary translator and fiction writer in my spare time ( Read more... )

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This is weird but... I appear to have won that LJ hashmob competition?! I honestly wasn't even trying. Just wanted to participate as I thought it would be fun... and I love a LJ questionnaire ( Read more... )