Authors Electric

Gone are the days when I could be so into writing a book that I’d be in front of the computer at 6am, eat all my meals there, and go to bed at midnight having written several thousand words. And I’d still be the same weight the following week, without having had any form of exercise whatsoever.  I wrote  The Divide   in three weeks, all 70,000 words of it. It needed editing, obviously, but not as substantially as you might think. I’m 71 now. My 70 th birthday really upset me, and I hated it. On one level I simply couldn’t believe it. I still can’t. I didn’t like 40, but 50 and 60 were fine. But 70? That’s old . So how has ageing affected the way I write? Far more substantially than I might have wished. I get up early, that’s no problem, but there always seem to be so many jobs to do before I can settle down in front of the computer. For an hour at most. Because then it’s time for breakfast and after that, The Walk. Wrist problems rule out a lot of other forms of physical...

          A fantasy setting is, in many ways, closer to the world as we know it than a science fiction one. It’s more accessible, and consequently more attractive to a child who is still awed by things that are all too familiar to an adult. Fantasy is unlikely to change gravity, or body chemistry, or a breathable atmosphere. Therefore the creatures that populate that particular world would be at home in ours.  There are several ways of creating these creatures – either by changing the size or behaviour or appendages of an existing creature, or by making a hybrid of creatures already known. Many mythical beasts are clear mixtures of two or more real animals. The griffin is half eagle and half lion; the minotaur half bull, half man; and the chimera had the body of a goat, the hindquarters of a dragon, and the head of a lion, although descriptions do vary.      When I needed to invent a really scary animal myse...