Ask the Author: Simon Brading
Answered Questions (7)
Simon Brading
It really depends if your original plan is there to lead you into another book. If you go with the flow and end up somewhere different will it make the rest of the series (if it is a series) harder to write?
Personally I never really make a plan. I have a start point and an approximate end point and then I let the characters get there how they want.
I would say go with the flow, at least for a while, and if it takes you somewhere that is better than what you had thought of originally then so much the better, if not you can always go back and rewrite.
Personally I never really make a plan. I have a start point and an approximate end point and then I let the characters get there how they want.
I would say go with the flow, at least for a while, and if it takes you somewhere that is better than what you had thought of originally then so much the better, if not you can always go back and rewrite.
Simon Brading
The initial inspiration for "The Pirate's Challenge" was a TV series from the seventies called "Mr Benn". I wanted to write a series of really short adventure stories for a friend's son, starring him, and it just spiralled out of control from there, it's turned into an entire book series.
Simon Brading
Quite a lot of the film scripts I've written are the result of dreams I've had or ideas that have just popped into my head, which is why a lot of them are quirky and so non-commercial they'll probably never be made.
Inspiration can come from anywhere, if I get an idea I run with it, no matter what it is. Sometimes you can be surprised at where something that seems silly or downright weird can take you. And never be too reluctant to let go of something that seemed like a good idea but isn't going to go anywhere.
Inspiration can come from anywhere, if I get an idea I run with it, no matter what it is. Sometimes you can be surprised at where something that seems silly or downright weird can take you. And never be too reluctant to let go of something that seemed like a good idea but isn't going to go anywhere.
Simon Brading
Book 2 of the Displacer's series. The first draft is done but it needs a lot of work. It might be ready for December 2015 but we'll see!
Simon Brading
Don't ask me! Go find someone who knows what they're doing, I've spent too much of my life moving from one job to another.
Simon Brading
Being on my own timetable. I can go to the gym every day, take a few hours off to read a book or watch a film, and as long as that daily word count gets up to about 2000 I'm happy.
That and getting to create characters that I love and make them live.
That and getting to create characters that I love and make them live.
Simon Brading
It's hard to get writer's block when you are so excited about what you write about as I am. It's like when I was a kid at school, I'd do the assignments in English class but then write other stories on top of that, stories that just flowed out of me onto the paper, it was easy because I wanted to write them.
There are of course occasions when I get stuck on a piece of plot and don't know how to proceed, but I have an easy solution for that - I do a Spinning class! There's just something about the repetitive motion that frees my mind, it's like an active meditation, I concentrate on where I am in the plot and the answers (usually) just come to me.
There are of course occasions when I get stuck on a piece of plot and don't know how to proceed, but I have an easy solution for that - I do a Spinning class! There's just something about the repetitive motion that frees my mind, it's like an active meditation, I concentrate on where I am in the plot and the answers (usually) just come to me.
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