Ask the Author: Ian Thomas Shaw
Answered Questions (8)
Ian Thomas Shaw
Hi Deborah,
My mother passed away this spring. As I spent the last few days at her bedside, I was inspired to accompany her on her journey beyond this existence by writing this poem. In the end, a few lines of verse is sometimes all we can share with those who are leaving us behind.
My mother passed away this spring. As I spent the last few days at her bedside, I was inspired to accompany her on her journey beyond this existence by writing this poem. In the end, a few lines of verse is sometimes all we can share with those who are leaving us behind.
Ian Thomas Shaw
I spend a lot of time talking about the plot of my next writing challenge with people I know. By the time I actually start writing a new book, I have a very good idea from start to finish how I am going to write the novel. This allows me to dodge writer's block. It may not work for everyone, but it has worked for me.
Ian Thomas Shaw
Don't accept being mediocre. Draft, re-draft and again re-draft until you get it right!
Ian Thomas Shaw
The absolute best thing is meeting the readers. There are a lot of wonderful people out there and literature is a great connector.
Ian Thomas Shaw
Most of my book launches are in Canadian cities. I keep an updated list of them on my website at https://www.ianthomasshaw.com/events
I have just finished a coast-to-coast book tour, starting in Vancouver and ending in Halifax.
I have just finished a coast-to-coast book tour, starting in Vancouver and ending in Halifax.
Ian Thomas Shaw
I am toying with the idea of writing a novel based on a dilemma faced by a young Peruvian girl who is coerced into the Shining Path guerrilla movement in order to protect her younger brother. In part, my inspiration comes from the stories that my late brother told me about the fourteen years that he lived in Peru and from my own study of the war between the Shining Path movement and the Peruvian government.
Ian Thomas Shaw
My inspiration to write stems from an urge to transfer personal experiences and knowledge to readers in a way that enables them to be drawn into the story and come out better informed.
Ian Thomas Shaw
I lived for several years in the Middle East as a diplomat, aid worker and student. I have found that the readers in the West are usually baffled by the complexity of the issues in the region and that many writers in the region are often too polarized along political lines to write fiction that furthers the readers' understanding. Quill of the Dove is an attempt to address the complexity of the Middle East in an accessible way to Western readers and without falling into harmful stereotyping.
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