Ask the Author: D.J. Cockburn
Answered Questions (7)
D.J. Cockburn
Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin from Patrick O'Brian's 'Master and Commander' series. It's a friendship between two very different men that remains constant while everything else changes around them.
D.J. Cockburn
It's a way of exorcising all the strange ideas that leap into my mind. There's something immensely satisfying about crafting them into stories. It's even more satisfying if people read and enjoy them.
D.J. Cockburn
I picked a passing author's pocket.
D.J. Cockburn
A chair, an idea and usually a cup of coffee. Waiting for any inspiration more complicated than that is a reliable way of getting nothing done.
D.J. Cockburn
I have several short stories at various stages of development. Like every short story writer, I have a half written novel on my hard drive.
D.J. Cockburn
First, decide if you want to spend hours at a time putting words on a page. If not, there are plenty of more lucrative and less frustrating ways to spend your time.
If you do, then treat writing as a craft that has to be learned. Don't expect to write a masterpiece at the first attempt. Writing short stories and passing them through a good workshop is a good way of climbing a steep learning curve, and a far less frustrating way of making all the basic mistakes than with a full-length novel.
If you do, then treat writing as a craft that has to be learned. Don't expect to write a masterpiece at the first attempt. Writing short stories and passing them through a good workshop is a good way of climbing a steep learning curve, and a far less frustrating way of making all the basic mistakes than with a full-length novel.
D.J. Cockburn
I don't. I have to fit writing around work, so the problem has always been finding time to write rather than not knowing what to write when I have time.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more