Ask the Author: Alex Craigie
Answered Questions (11)
Alex Craigie
Thanks, Lauren! I've had a busy few days and just sat down at my computer. I'm off to follow your link - many thanks! Trish
Alex Craigie
My paternal grandmother's grandmother had a sister. They both lived and died in Edinburgh. One of them lived a life of comparative luxury married to a goldsmith, the other died in the poorhouse literally a few minutes down the road from her. It's not exactly a mystery, but I wish I'd asked my Granny about it when I had the chance. The one who married well would have been expected to obey her husband and may not have been allowed to visit the other in the poorhouse. I can't imagine what that would have been like.
Alex Craigie
My first thought was 'Spider Domination'
Then I thought that 'Public Ridicule' might be even worse...
Then I thought that 'Public Ridicule' might be even worse...
Alex Craigie
I'd go to Golding's island, organise everyone, mother the little ones and protect Piggy and give him some coping strategies.
Alex Craigie
Missing in Wales by Jenny O'Brien (Always nice to read something set in your own area)
The Silent Ones KL Slater
Found Erin Kinsley
The Time Traveller's Guide to Restoration Britain by Ian Mortimer(I've read the first two in this series and they're wonderful - give you an idea exactly what it was like if you weren't royalty!)
Victorian Pharmacy Jane Eastoe and Ruth Goodman
Self-Publishing Tools of the Trade: Online Resources Authors Must Know by Lama Jabr
The Very Best Fairy Tales in English and Spanish Carmen Huipe (I need to refresh my Spanish!)
Le Morte D'Arthur by Mallory - if I have the time...
The Silent Ones KL Slater
Found Erin Kinsley
The Time Traveller's Guide to Restoration Britain by Ian Mortimer(I've read the first two in this series and they're wonderful - give you an idea exactly what it was like if you weren't royalty!)
Victorian Pharmacy Jane Eastoe and Ruth Goodman
Self-Publishing Tools of the Trade: Online Resources Authors Must Know by Lama Jabr
The Very Best Fairy Tales in English and Spanish Carmen Huipe (I need to refresh my Spanish!)
Le Morte D'Arthur by Mallory - if I have the time...
Alex Craigie
I've just posted this to my page but it's the simplest way for me to answer the question.
I wrote Someone Close to Home because I was angry and distressed by the institutional neglect that goes on in far too many care homes. Most of these places are so underfunded that, with the best will in the world, there simply aren’t enough staff to ensure that every resident is comfortable, contented and safe. To go from one’s house with all its memories and memorabilia to one room with barely enough space for clothes and toiletries is a recipe for depression. Throw in staff unable to come to your aid because they’re fighting a backlog of other issues, substandard food, and the occasional carer who shouldn’t be allowed near vulnerable people, and you have a recipe for utter, hopeless, inescapable misery.
I wanted to highlight what is going on, right now, to thousands of people. Some readers have got back to me to share their own frightening experiences of care homes.
I wrote Someone Close to Home because I was angry and distressed by the institutional neglect that goes on in far too many care homes. Most of these places are so underfunded that, with the best will in the world, there simply aren’t enough staff to ensure that every resident is comfortable, contented and safe. To go from one’s house with all its memories and memorabilia to one room with barely enough space for clothes and toiletries is a recipe for depression. Throw in staff unable to come to your aid because they’re fighting a backlog of other issues, substandard food, and the occasional carer who shouldn’t be allowed near vulnerable people, and you have a recipe for utter, hopeless, inescapable misery.
I wanted to highlight what is going on, right now, to thousands of people. Some readers have got back to me to share their own frightening experiences of care homes.
Alex Craigie
That's a difficult one to answer. Sometimes I'm inspired to write after witnessing something that has disturbed or moved me. The inspiration for actually sitting down and writing is easier. If I have the time I'll read what I wrote during the last session, tweak it (probably!) and I'm sucked back in to the world I've created.
Alex Craigie
I started work on a thriller two years ago but the situation regarding health care needled me into abandoning that book for a while and writing something slightly dystopian set in the near future. My mother then became seriously ill and so everything has been on a back burner until just recently.
Alex Craigie
Start to write NOW! Don't put it off until you have nothing else to do - that never happens. Write a little, every day if you can, even if it's just ideas or characters that come into your head. Oh, and keep some paper and a pencil by the bed. Quite often a brilliant idea will surface as you sleep and you can capture it, scribble it down (you don't even have to see what you're doing!) and in the morning it will be there to inspire you.
Alex Craigie
I think it comes down to control - if that doesn't sound too Machiavelian! I can give a life on paper to the characters in my head and choose what happens to them and what paths they take. It's a bit like painting, I suppose. You work the themes and the light and dark until you're happy with the end result.
Alex Craigie
(First, I must admit that I thought that these questions were robot generated. Now I feel stupid and embarrassed...)
I sit down and write without any great expectations. I'll usually pour a scalding hot cup of tea and sip it as I scan the words and hopefully there's a nugget there that gets me back on track.
I sit down and write without any great expectations. I'll usually pour a scalding hot cup of tea and sip it as I scan the words and hopefully there's a nugget there that gets me back on track.
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