As at August 2017 you have four novels as well as a cluster of short stories that seem to vascillate between science fiction, humour, and horror. Did you set out to be a genre writer?
I love to write about people. Both horror and sci-fi allow me to frogmarch characters through extreme situations. Peeling back their layers bit by bit to discover what, if anything, lurks inside. Do we each treasure some inviolate core of self, kept safe from our actions and choices? Would it matter if nobody ever saw it?
With such an interest in people, do you write about real life?
I never write about real life. I figure if I wanted reality, I could stand on a street corner and watch it.
But I'm always thrilled to hear someone complain, "You wrote about me!", even though they're dead wrong. Because that's the idea: you're supposed to identify, it's what makes the characters rich. A male friend once proudly claimed I based Simon from Only Skin on him, which horrified me to hear. That character's a real jerk.
Pretty much every novel finds its germ in something that's happened to me, however. Even if you need to dig a long way back to find it.
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