Interview with Edgar Million

Published 2016-09-13.
What are your five favorite books, and why?
The Passion by Jeanette Winterson. The most perfectly written story of unrequited love and pain, war and beauty.

Something by John Irving, probably A Prayer for Owen Meany. JI brings this strange little character to life and makes I him and his tortuous voice so real and vivid that I've been back to it many times.

Fragile Things. Wonderful collection of Short Stories, intelligent, dark, and also brings the poorly treated Susan from the Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe in from the clutches of CS Lewis.

The Cement Garden. Creepy, sordid tale from the writer of his generation. Perfect from start to finish.

A brief history of nearly everything. Bill Bryson. The best book of popular science I've read. Brings difficult subjects to life.
What are you working on next?
Always writing stories, fragments in many cases, and re-writing and re-writing my novel, Ordinary about a man who travels to other realities and discovers in each that the versions of himself as the same boring berks as he in every world he visits.
Describe your desk
I haven't got a desk. I've got a table, but the kids put their things on twitter and by the time I've cleared it I find domesticity has driven all creative urges away.

I've got a tablet, for my first drafts, then I have a lap, and a laptop.

Most of my novel was written on my tablet on a train, a cup of tea perched on one on those tiny shelve things on the 9.13 to London Liverpool Street.

Nowadays I write lunchtimes beneath the brutalist wing of the building where I work.

The world is my desk. But not my oyster.
How do you approach cover design?
Very much of the Do It Yourself mindset: http://edgarmillion.wordpress.com/2014/07/
Who are your favorite authors?
Ian McKewan, Neil Gaiman, Isaac Asimov, Julian Barnes, Bill Bryson.
When you're not writing, how do you spend your time?
Cycling, working (the day job), walking the dog and doing Dad stuff. Some photography and a little cover design.
Do you remember the first story you ever read, and the impact it had on you?
That's a weird question. The first story I read probably featured Topsy and Tim and a sandpit or something. I remember being hooked by Isaac Asimov early on. He wrote these perfectly structured, idea driven tales and I've always wished I could come close.
What is your writing process?
Mostly I write into Google Drive, in great splurges, or with fragment of stories and plot points. Later, I flick between my laptop and my tablet to re-write until somewhere near complete.
What is your e-reading device of choice?
Kindle and my wonderful new Nvidia Shield.
What book marketing techniques have been most effective for you?
Giving away my stories for free. Turns out people like 'free' so much more than paying for things. Still, nice if people are reading them at least.
What do you read for pleasure?
Obituaries.
What do your fans mean to you?
I love both of them.
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